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Thursday, April 30, 2009

Muffins for my Little Muffin

Zachary loves muffins. I mean, he LOVES them! He calls them "muff-muffs." Too cute, huh? I have to say that one of our new favorite products is the new toaster mini muffin-tops made by the Eggo waffle folks. However, they are a bit pricy for muffins and Zachary goes through a box in no time flat. Plus the ingredient list is too long and filled with a bunch of stuff I can't pronounce, so I decided to make my own muffins today. I found a recipe for Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins, and I adapted it to make my own recipe. They turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. Zachary certainly approved!

Banana Muffins

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup plain skim milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (roughly two bananas)
1/2 - 3/4 cup chopped walnuts or chocolate chips (optional)

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, combine the egg, oil, applesauce, milk and vanilla. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in bananas and walnuts/chocolate chips. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350 degrees for 22-25 minutes (for standard sized muffins) or 10-13 minutes (for mini muffins), until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Kids Cookbooks


My mother-in-law recently gave me (and Ethan) a couple of cookbooks for kids. Ethan loves to help out in the kitchen and we have really enjoyed making a few of the recipes. One of his favorites was this club sandwich. We didn't have skewers, so we used chopsticks that we saved from our last Chinese night instead.

Last night we made pizza roll-ups, adapted from one of their recipes. They'd be great for dinner or even as a snack or appetizer. Here's what we did:

Pizza Roll-Ups

Crescent Rolls (we used reduced fat)
Your favorite pizza toppings
Mozzarella Cheese
Pizza Sauce

Heat oven to 375. Separate crescent roll dough triangles and lay flat on a baking sheet. On each triangle, add a bit of your favorite pizza toppings (Ethan's favorites are bell peppers, onions & mushrooms, and Joel's is pepperoni!). Now top with a pinch of cheese. You don't want too many toppings or you won't be able to roll it up! Now, roll it up from the wide end to the short end, just like you would if you were making the plain rolls. Bake in the oven for about 10 to 14 minutes, until golden brown.

While rolls are baking, heat pizza sauce on stove or in microwave. When rolls are done, serve with pizza sauce for dipping. YUMM-O!