Big batch muffins!

At home during the holidays, with nothing but time on my hands! What to do?
Why not bake a huge batch of muffins?!

source

When I start January all motivated to make great lunches to take to school with me, I'm going to be so ready in the snack department. Just grab some muffins from the freezer, and they'll be perfectly defrosted by snack time. No effort required!!

I started with this basic muffin recipe (it's good to double or triple it):

Note: It uses light spelt flour, which gives a more 'cake like' texture.

Basic Muffins

Ingredients

• 2 cups light spelt flour
• 2 tbsp wheat bran
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup evaporated cane juice
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).
2. Stir together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Make a well in the center. In a small bowl or 2 cup measuring cup, beat egg with a fork. Stir in milk and oil. Pour all at once into the well in the flour mixture. Mix quickly and lightly with a fork until moistened, but do not beat. The batter will be lumpy. Pour the batter into paper lined muffin pan cups.               
3. Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden.         

I followed this recipe, but before I poured them into the muffin tray, I separated the dough into a few batches and made some variations. Look ma, no recipe!!!

Granola muffins: Kashi granola, dried fruit, sliced almonds. (Top right)
Blueberry walnut: fresh blueberries, chopped walnuts, vanila, cinnamon. (Bottom left)
Tropical muffins: flaked coconut, rum extract, toopped with banana slices ( Bottom right)
Cinnamon bun muffins: cinnamon, raisins (Top left)

Hope everyone had a great new years, and your heads feel okay today ;)

~Princess

Eat your breakfast, ya darn kid!!!

Hey! This post goes out to my Auntie! Apparently she's been having trouble finding breakfast foods that her kids both enjoy and are nutritious. Her 3 little first graders (that's right, 3! They're triples!) have a bit of a picky streak. So I thought I would try and attempt to help, seeing as I am the numero uno picky eater of the family.

But first, what exactly makes a good breakfast for kids??
- Whole grains: A good source of carbs to energize them for the day, like whole grain breads and hot or cold cereal.
-Lower fat protein: This keeps their little legs and imagination running all day. Good ideas are eggs, nut butter, low-fat cheese, milk, yogurt.
-Fruits and veggies: So important! Kids need those vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Fruits and veggies also offer a source of healthy fibre.

QUICK MORNINGS

Fresh Berry smoothie [Thefamilykitchen]

 Fresh fruit breakfast pizza [Canyoustayfordinner]

Peanut butter Banana Sushi [RachaelRay]  

 MEDIUM MORNINGS

 

Egg in a hole [Weelicious]

breakfast quesadilla  [Weelicious]

WEEKENDS

Whole grain chocolate waffles [heartandstroke]

Double chocolate walnut muffins (Surprisingly healthy!) [theparentingmagazine]

"GET OUT THE DOOR NOW,  WE ARE LAAATE!!!!" MORNINGS

Kashi Honey Sunshine: High fiber (5g), 20 g whole grains, no artificial sweeteners, flavors, colors or preservatives.

Van's maple 8 whole grain waffles

And save this baby for yourself..
Peanut butter cocoa banana smoothie:

[vegweb]

But obviously, I have no idea how difficult it would be to feed kids of my own! These are simply ideas that I hope may serve as some use to those who already have little munchkins. So if my future kids have a breakfast table looking like this, no calling me a hypocrite :)

Happy living,
~Princess

Muffins made pretty!

Happy Monday!! And what, I ask you, goes better with Monday than muffins? Pretty muffins of course!

And why not use these these printable muffin wrappers to beautify your own muffins? They also work great if you bake a batch of cupcakes. No child (or child at heart) will be able to resist your baking when you use these!

From foodartparty :

 From pixeltrashmania :

 Even more designs available at tipnut.

They would be perfect on any kind of muffin, but I'm eager to try them on Cinnamon swirl muffins, from fatfreevegan.

Happy living,
~Princess