Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins

I was looking through a cookbook and found a couple of recipes that I thought looked good. I love having healthy (okay..somewhat healthy) after school snacks for the kids--or else they ransack the pantry looking for granola bars and fruit snacks. These muffins seemed like they would be worth trying. I have to admit, they were pretty good! My husband did say that he thought they were a little too healthy (I tend to do that--hey, at least I didn't put pureed beans in them!) They have a VERY dense texture, but I feel like they would fill the kids up and would be great in lunches. We have three friends over and they all came back for seconds :)

I happened to have flax seed on hand, so these muffins worked great to get rid of those. If you don't, I would assume you could use more flour or oats in it's place.

Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins
1 egg
1/4 c. canola oil
1/2 c. applesauce
4 bananas
3 T. sour cream
1 t. vanilla

Mix above ingredients together.

1 1/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. flax (if you have flax in seed form, put in a blender with the wet mixture above for 1 minute until well blended)
1 1/4 c. quick oats
1/3 c. brown sugar or honey
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 c. raisins or craisins
1/2 c. chocolate chips (optional)

Mix together the wet ingredients. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Put muffins in a greased muffin tin and bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes (until they are browned on top and have a cake-like texture). You could use all raisins or all chocolate chips--personally I think chocolate makes everything taste better!

Another great recipe to use up that food storage!

Read more...

Crazy Cheap Croutons

Okay, for some of you this is going above and beyond in the Betty Homemaker category, but if you are like me and run out of croutons and still want a crunch on your salad, this is an EASY way to save a couple of dollars! Those of you who laughed when they read my post about making homemade breadcrumbs can just skip past this post ;)

Okay, to make homemade croutons, all you need is old/stale bread, butter, and seasonings. I had a package of dry hamburger buns that I kept for this very reason, so they came in handy the other night for dinner. Just cut them up into small cubes, put them on a pan (I put mine on my baking stone), drizzle some melted butter over your bread, season with garlic powder/spread, parsley, oregano, pepper, or whatever seasonings you like, and bake at 350 until they are golden brown. For leftover croutons, just store in a tupperware and they will last for a couple of days. Because you used fresh butter, they will begin to taste stale if you keep them on the shelf too long. I am sure you could keep them in the fridge if you needed to.

Put these delicious and EASY croutons on your favorite salad for the perfect crunch!

Read more...

GIve Away Winners!

Visit our blog www.dealstomeals.blogspot.com to find out the three winners of our Good Things Utah Give Away!

Read more...