Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Muffins

Stone is the primary breakfast maker in our house. Through the week, we tend to eat cereal, oatmeal, and toast - easy, fast food. On the weekend, Stone makes us biscuits, pancakes, omelets, and all manner of delicious treats. This morning he was making blueberry muffins. Since he was using real blueberries, we knew that Simon was unlikely to eat them (Simon disdains combining textures). So, I mixed up some chocolate chip and peanut butter muffins to round out the meal. The recipe came from cooks.com and was as delicious as it was easy.

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Muffins
2/3 cup smooth peanut butter
2 tbsp melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups self rising flour
1/2 cup milk
1 cup chocolate chips

1. Mix peanut butter and butter in a large bowl. Add in sugar, eggs and vanilla. Mix thoroughly.
2. Stir in flour. Add milk and chocolate chips, stirring until just combined.
3. Spoon by 1/3 cup measures into 12 cup muffin pan (use liners if using a metal pan - I use stoneware).
4. Bake 23 minutes at 350F.

Chocolate and Pecan Filled Cinnamon Waffles

I gave up baked goods for Lent this year. If you are not familiar with Lent, it is a 40 day fast celebrated by Liturgical Christians (Catholics, Methodists, etc). In addition to restrictions on certain days - like no meat on Friday - you are asked to choose something to give up, or fast from, throughout Lent. This year, I gave up baked goods. Each Sunday is a feast day, so on Sundays I am allowed to break my fast and indulge in some baked good. I had seen the idea of making cinnamon rolls in the waffle maker and thought it would be a lovely Sunday feast. However, since this is my one baked good of the week, I wanted to make it ridiculously good. Thus, I kicked it up a notch by adding chocolate and nuts.

Chocolate and Pecan Filled Cinnamon Waffles
1 can (8 count) cinnamon rolls with icing
1/3 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup chopped pecans

1. Use the bottom of a cup to flatten out the middle of each cinnamon roll. The result should be a flat disk with a slightly raised edge.
2. Place one cinnamon roll onto your heated waffle maker. Into the center of the roll, sprinkle chocolate chips and nuts to taste. Top this with another cinnamon roll. Close the waffle maker, pressing down the lid to seal the "waffle".
3. Allow the "waffle" to cook according to directions for a normal waffle. Remove the "waffle" to a warm oven (200F) and repeat this process with the remaining cinnamon rolls.
4. Before serving, top waffles with any leftover chips, pecans, and the icing from the cinnamon roll can.

Results = ridiculously good

A Random Post Including Wild Flours, No Bake Chocolate Chews (3 points), and Elmo

I am so proud of myself for getting up extra early to make sure that I could get to the Farmer's Market and back before taking my nephew on a "date". Look at my great haul - bok choy, local honey, ground beefalo, two dozen farm fresh eggs, and a loaf of the best whole wheat bread money can buy. There were so many beautiful things at the market today - with more money and more time I could have really cleaned up.

There are some great vendors at the Farmer's Market, and one of my favorites is Wild Flours (click on the name to see their blog, with a mouth watering list of available products). We tried their cinnamon rolls two weeks ago and were blown away.

Look at that list of ingredients! Nothing I have to pronounce syllable by syllable. All good stuff. We were on a family jaunt that day and my nephew completely loved his Wild Flours (click to see their Facebook page) muffin.

The whole wheat bread was one of the reasons I got up so early this morning. I knew that I could not wait another week for a loaf. It is super-duper good. If you live in this area, this would be my top recommendation for Saturday morning breakfast, hands down: Wild Flours at the Farmer's Market on the square.

The "date" with my nephew was a I Am the Best Aunt Ever trip to see Elmo Live. Floor seats, baby. How cool am I?

We had lunch at Panera Bread (the closest place to eat that is not on insane-on-Saturday Broadway) and Simon was fascinated with the building across the street.

After dropping off Simon and taking a major power nap, I whipped up some no bake cookies for my overworked grad student hubby.

I have posted a healthy version of these superb, chewy, chocolatey, sinfully easy cookies before. This is the old-school, full on butter version that I grew up on. 


No Bake Chocolate Chews from In the Kitchen with the AWA
4 tbsp cocoa
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup lowfat milk
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
3 cups rolled oats

1. Combine first four ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly,  for one minute. Remove from the stove and then add the next three ingredients.
2. After the peanut butter is melted, add the oats. Beat until the mixture starts to set (just a few minutes). Spoon out on waxed paper by teaspoonful and let cool.
3. Yields 39, 3 point servings

These poor things never get cooled before Stone steals one.

Wow! That was a long post. I could go on because I really wanted to share my weekly menu. But, I had better stop it - you never know what Bob Newhart might do to me otherwise.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars - 4 points

Do you listen when people say things like, "I don't want a cake for my birthday." I do. I am such a good friend. When my lovely chum said she didn't not want a cake for her 29th birthday, I did not make her a cake. I made her oatmeal chocolate chip bars instead - and decorated them with a bit of frosting and candles. I thought this was so nice of me because I completely abode by her moratorium against cake.  She didn't seem to see the brilliance of my plan and was rather miffed with me. Oh, well, perhaps next year I will try cookies. Maybe that will go over better. (Everyone else present seemed quite happy and loved the bars; one guy especially, because he had second and third helpings and took another home).
 
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup butter, softened
4 eggs, beaten

1. In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients save white and brown sugar.
2. In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and eggs with an electric mixer until well combined. Add the dry ingredients an stir until well blended. Spread batter into a lightly greased 9x11" pan.
3. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
4. Yields 24, 4 point servings

I am mentally tired from another day of Vacation Bible School, but I am not physically tired. I know I need to get to bed or I will be knackered tomorrow when I am meant to be herding small people from place to place. Perhaps I need my own celebrity lullaby to send me off to sleep.

Chocolate Chip-Cinnamon Easter Bread - 7 points

I finally did it! After bemoaning my lack of planning and time, I did sit down on Saturday morning to make my weekly menu and managed to find some easy recipes for today. But...when to shop? Well, I have the best husband in the world. Between the Happy First Birthday party and the quinceneara yesterday, Stone ran to store for me while I took a quick bath and got all dolled up. What a great guy!

As our day yesterday was rather a blur, it is appropriate that my first picture for you is a rather blurry shot of myself attempting to keep my nephew from getting a head start on the Easter egg hunt that was our first event of the day. 

I decided that I may as well make something ridiculously indulgent for Easter. Easters is supposed to be a joyous celebration, so it is a good day to share to special occasion food. Thus, I decided to go back to a pre-Weight Watchers treat that I haven't in a very long time. It is full of prepackaged food (which I do not shun on special occasions or busy days - growing up with absolutely no convenience foods makes you quite thankful for the woman who first put spaghetti sauce in a jar and the man who decided to box up some cake mix).

Second photo break...look at this little cake covered hand at the Happy First Birthday Party!

You will have to excuse me for using a little bit of slang in my description of this breakfast treat. My students  - and thus I, by exposure to them - often describe something that is extreme as being "on crack". So, for example, fried green tomatoes from Miller's Grocery are like tomatoes on crack.  Chocolate Chip-Cinnamon Easter Bread is like the middle of a cinnamon roll on crack. You know...the part of the cinnamon roll that you eat the whole rest of the roll just to get to? The gooey, sweet, cinnamon center. That is what this is, except it is even better.

Chocolate Chip-Cinnamon Easter Bread - from Pillsbury Annual Recipes 2008
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cans refrigerated cinnamon rolls with icing
1 box vanilla pudding and pie filling mix (not instant according to the recipe - I used instant and it was fine)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

1. Use 1 tbsp butter to grease a bundt pan. Melt remaining butter in microwave (or over the stove if you are trying not to wake your sleeping spouse).
2. Separate roll dough into 16 rolls. Cut each roll in half crosswise. Place half of the roll pieces in the pan. (If you are like me, this will not look like enough to constitute a bottom layer. Trust me, it is.)
3. Over the rolls in the pan pour half of the pudding mix, half of the brown sugar, and half of the melted butter. Repeat layers; top with chocolate chips.
4. Bake 25 minutes at 375F. Cool for 2 minutes before inverting the pan to remove the ring to a plate. Top immediately with icing. (The recipe says to wait 15 minutes. The recipe is wrong). Serve immediately.
5. Yields 16, 7 point servings

With that much sugar and that much fat, how could it not taste delicious?

I would love to end with a picture from the event that ended our blur of a Saturday - the quinceneara. Alas, I have no pictures that do not show multiple faces of other peoples' children. As I did not ask their permission to post those pictures, I will leave it up to you to imagine a girl in a beautiful pink dress celebrating young womanhood...tier upon tier of chocolate cake...smiling faces...and me, in a pale blue dress, dancing with my handsome husband.

Simple Cocoa Cake - 3 points

This is another adaptation of my Aunt's simple spice cake.

Simple Cocoa Cake

1 1/4 cups flour

1/4 cup cocoa

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 tsp salt

1 3/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

1. Sift flour and cocoa into a large mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients and beat for 2 to 3 minutes.

2. Bake in a greased 9x13" pan for 30 minutes at 350F.

3. Yeilds 24, 3 point servings

Alas, this is not the best photograph. I was just so, so hungry! And so, so desperate for chocolate! I took the cake piping hot from the pan, sprinkled on the powedered sugar, and stuffed my face. It was...bliss. 

I am a bit late for Menu Plan Monday, but here is my plan nonetheless.

Sunday

chicken country captian

Monday

crock pot hot Cornish game hen

Tuesday

tuna in chili oil

Wednesday

roasted eggplant soup

Thursday

book club

Friday

fini-dini shrimp

Saturday

dinner with friends

Dark Chocolate No Bake Cookies - 2 points, Menu, Baking Votes Needed!

This is a twist on my husband's favorite cookie - the chocolate no-bake cookie. I adapted this from Health magazine because I needed a cookie recipe that my students could make at school. That means - no oven, ready in less than 20 minutes, and acceptable for a diabetic. This recipe fit all three requirements and got all - around approval from a group of adolescents who will freely complain if they do not like what you feed them! Stone even says that these are just as good as the classic, less healthy version, (which is high praise indeed).

Dark Chocolate No Bake Cookies

4 tbsp creamy peanut butter

4 tbsp soy milk, original flavor, light

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats

1. Place peanut butter, milk, and chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high 45 seconds; stir. Continue to heat at 15 second intervals, stirring each time, until chips are completely melted.

2. Stir oats into bowl. Mix until coated.

3. Drop by spoon fulls onto waxed paper. Refrigerate 10 minutes before serving.

4. Yields 16, 2 point servings

Menu Plan Monday

Sunday

macaroni with tomatoes

Monday

crock pot black beans

Tuesday

apple cinnamon muffins (for work event)

sushi

Wednesday

salmon burgers

Thursday

crock pot chicken

Friday

night out

Saturday

Sunday School Picnic

grilled Italian chicken

mojito cupcakes

Baking question: My church is having a baking competition. I know I won't win, but I would love to partake and help raise money for the church mission trip to an Oklahoma reservation this summer. What should I make? Right now the votes are between Strawberry Brownie Bonbons (Stone, fab friend Lisa, and super co-teacher Carr) and Dulche de Leche Bars (that one is just me). What do you think?

Strawberry Brownie Bonbons - 4 points

Let the count down to Valentine's Day begin! When I went to pick up Simon today his teacher said, "Be sure to look at the papers in his cubby before you give them to his mommy. We are having a Valentine's Day party. I know you will want to make something yummy for us!"

Pressure! Now I have to figure out what to make for the big V day party! I have seen several really great ideas in the blogosphere (blogroll to come- I have been making a list of my faves). I still haven't decided what I will do. While I think about it, here is an idea for a yummy Valentine's treat - strawberry brownie bonbons. Trust me- people will love you for these! They are like little bites of heaven - the hint of strawberry and cream cheese mixed chocolately goodness and rolled in a semisweet shell. They are also rich enough that I can eat just one and completely satisfy my sweet tooth.

Strawberry Brownie Bonbons
1 package brownie mix
1 can cream cheese frosting
1 cup strawberries, fresh or frozen
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3 tbsp butter
6 tbsp chocolate milk (I used dark chocolate almond milk)

1. Prepare the brownies according to the directions for "cakelike brownies" (usually this means adding an extra egg). Allow brownies to cool.
2. Combine cream cheese frosting and strawberries in a food processor. Mix until smooth.
3. In a large bowl, break apart and crumble the brownies (I use my hands). Add the frosting puree and mix until smooth (for this part I use a mix 'n chop). This is the filling of your bonbons.
5. Using a tablespoon or scoop, form the filling into balls. Layer the balls in a freezer safe container, separating layers with waxed paper. Place the container in the freezer for 2 hours or until the balls are firm.
6. Over a double boiler, heat chocolate chips, butter, and milk - stirring constantly - until chips are completely melted. (Alternately, use a microwave save dish and heat at 20 second intervals, stopping to stir at each interval, until melted.)
7. Using a spoon, dip the frozen filling balls into the melted chocolate and turn them to coat on all sides. Place the balls on waxed paper.
8. After the chocolate has cooled, place the bonbons back into the freezer safe container, separating with waxed paper as before. Return bonbons to the freezer. Remove from the freezer 1 hour before serving.
9. Yields 44, 4 point servings

Now back to thinking about what to make for Simon and his tiny cronies.

Diet Cola Brownies - 4 points

Yesterday was food pantry day at church, which means that I was going through my cabinets trying to get a bag of food together at 8:00 AM (heaven forbid I should plan ahead). I noticed that there are a lot of things in my cabinet that are not going to make Weight Watchers happy. I put several of them in my food pantry bag, and then decided to put aside a box of brownies for my Sunday school class.

When I looked at the directions on the box, the recipe called for three whole eggs and a half a cup of oil! Wow! That is just a whole lot of fat, and I knew that I was going to be tempted to eat one when they were sitting in the middle of the Sunday school table. There had to be a healthier way to make those brownies. I looked at the Betty Crocker website for inspiration and found a recipe for brownies made with Coke.

Baking with canned soda is not a foreign idea to me. In the south, a Dr. Pepper chocolate cake is a staple of the covered dish dinner (AKA dinner on the ground or pot luck). This recipe called for much less oil than the one on the box, and I figured that diet soda would work just as well as regular.

I don't know how the brownies would have tasted otherwise, but the Diet Cola version was amazing - delicious- moist - fabulous! Everyone loved them.  Here is the recipe, which I adapted to be a little bit friendlier to the waistline.

Diet Cola Brownies
1 box brownie mix
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 egg
1/2 cup diet soda
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vinegar
1/8 cup powdered sugar

1. Pour brownie mix, oil, egg, and soda into a medium bowl.
2. Pour 1/2 cup milk into a measuring cup; add the vinegar to the milk. The milk should immediately curdle.
3. Add the milk mixture to the other ingredients. Stir just until moistened.
4. Spread the batter into a greased 13x9 inch pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.
5. Sprinkle powdered sugar over the brownies before cutting into 24, 4 point servings.

Christmas Bon-Bons

People are always complaining about how much food there is during the holidays. Everyday I hear someone moaning about the fact that she isn't going to fit into her jeans after New Year's or suggesting that we have "healthy treats", perhaps a "no food" gift exchange. People keep eating cookies and cake and turkey anyway - they just make themselves feel guilty while they are doing it.

Here is my take on holiday food - bring it on. I eat healthy, lean, raw, organic all through the year. This is my window - from Thanksgiving until Christmas - to raise gastronomic hell. I want all the cookies, all the gravy, all the pineapple drenched ham you can throw at me. I will be very penitent and extremely good on the 26th. Until then, let debauchery reign!

In addition to eating, I love to cook. I am in my kitchen almost every day during the holiday season, cooking up something sinful. One of my favorite Christmas confections is the red velvet bonbon. Years ago, a friend introduced me to these amazing little things. When she told me how they were made, I thought she was pulling my leg. Nothing that tastes this good should be so easy.  Here is how they work:

1. Prepare a box of red velvet cake mix according to the package directions.
2. After the cake has cooled, crumble the whole thing up with your hands. Mix in with a can of cream cheese frosting. Form the mixture into balls. Place the balls in a freezer safe container, stacking them with wax paper between layers.
3. Once the balls are frozen (after night works for me) dip them in melted almond bark and set them on waxed paper to dry. You can sprinkle them with colored sugar if you want to be extra fancy.

You will love them - your friends will be impressed. Just don't be like my friend and give away how easy they are - pretend they were ridiculously laborious and you were in the kitchen forever. Say they were from a French cookbook or that your Grandmother learned how to make them from a famous chocolatier. People will believe you.

Now, if you will excuse me, in the spirit of Christmas Eve - I am going to go play a little Vince Guaraldi and eat some bonbons.