Morning Glory Muffins

I'm on a muffin kick again...are you surprised?!   It was hard NOT to make these ones, found over at Ezra Pound Cake.  Hey, I'm heading back to work after my extended maternity leave and I already know that mornings are going to be a challenge.  I am NOT a morning person...yet I am surrounded by morning people!  My hubby leaves for work really stinking early, so I'm on my own with the kids to get ready for the day.  I need all the help that I can get...and be prepared to see some breakfast type recipes here over the next while :-)  Here is today's recipe:

Morning Glory Muffins

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sweetened coconut (shredded)
3/4 cup raisins, dried cranberries, or in my case, a mixture of the two
1 large apple, peeled and grated
1 cup pineapple, crushed and drained
2 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts
3 large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.

Add in the coconut, raisins/cranberries and nuts.  Mix. 

Add in the apple, pinapple and carrots.  Mix.

In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, oil and vanilla.  Whisk well.  Add to the dry ingrediants, stir to combine. 

Line muffin tins with cups, fill cups full with batter.
Bake for 28-30 minutes (original recipe said 35 minutes, but mine were done by 30 minutes).

Remove from oven, cool on cooling rack, and store in airtight container.

VERDICT:
These smelled amazing when they came out of the oven.  Our oldest son ate one as soon as it was cool enough to do so, and he LOVED it.  He's usually not a muffin kid, but these passed with flying colours!

Carrot Pineapple Raisin Bran Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting

My son's preschool held their Easter party this week and each family contributed a little something to the "Easter Buffet".  Originally I wrote down that I would bring "something sweet" with good intentions to make some fun Easter treat, but time got away from me (we re-did our oldest son's room this past weekend...and our house is still a mess!) so I opted to go for something a bit healthier but still with a little sweet.  I decided on an old favourite of ours, and one that is always popular with the kids, Carrot Pineapple Raisin Bran Muffins with Cream Cheese Icing.  Hey...it's Easter, we needed a little bit of carrot!  And it turned out that one of his classmates (and teacher) were both celebrating their birthdays this week, so a cake was brought to the Easter party - I'm glad I changed my "something sweet" choice...imagine all those 4 and 5 year olds after a tonne of sweet?!

And, since it is Easter I did feel the need to dress the muffins just a little.  Off to the Dollar Store and I found the cutest little chicks that were the perfect size for mini-muffins.  Here is the recipe, slightly adapted from Company's Coming - Muffins & More:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup natural bran
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 cup grated carrot
1 cup crushed pineapple and juice
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup walnuts (I didn't add the walnuts this time as my son's classroom is a nut-free zone)

Preheat oven to 400F.

Combine flour, brown sugar, bran, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.  Stir together well, and make a well in the centre.

In a separate bowl, beat eggs until frothy.  Add in oil, carrots, pineapple, juice, raisins and walnuts.  Add to dry ingredients, into the well.  Mix, but only to moisten.  The batter will be lumpy.  Fill lined or greased muffin cups 3/4 full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes (regular sized muffins) or 10-11 minutes (mini muffins).  Cool on wire rack.  Frost if desired.

Make 12-14 large or 24-30 mini muffins.

Cream Cheese Frosting (from Company's Coming - Desserts)

4 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups icing sugar

In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, butter and vanilla.  Beat well.  Gradually add sugar, beating until fluffy.  Spread over muffins.

VERDICT:
These are delicious muffins.  Nice and moist, and a nice blend of "stuff" inside.  Not overwhelming with too much carrot, pineapple ot raisins.  And the cream cheese icing, which is optional but a nice a way to dress them up a bit, is always so so so good!  My son and I enjoyed cleaning off the spatula and mixing bowl when we were done icing the muffins    :-)

Mini Pizza Party

Hello to my friends from Okanagan4Kids!  I hope you enjoyed the article on Greening Up Your Grocery Shopping!

Now, on to the PIZZA PARTY!

Recently my oldest son hosted his first sleepover!  His cousin came over last weekend for 24 hours of playing, running, eating and sleeping.  It was a huge success, the boys both had so much fun and our son was pretty exhausted by Sunday evening!

I wanted their Saturday night/sleepover dinner to be a fun time, after all, this was my son's first hosting gig and I wanted it to be extra special.  So I figured, "Hey, what kid doesn't like pizza?"  (Actually I must admit, my brother and I both didn't like pizza when we were kids, but we soon wised up!)  Anyways, I decided that we were going to have a "MAKE YOUR OWN MINI PIZZA NIGHT" for supper, and it was a huge hit!  Here is what we did:

Ingredients:

Bakestone Brothers Multigrain Thin Bun (found at Costco)
Pizza Sauce (in the squeeze bottle = more fun!)
Olives
Red pepper
Green Pepper
Yellow Pepper
Orange Pepper
Onion
Fresh Pineapple
Mushrooms
Fresh Tomatoes
Deli Meats (pack from Costco - Hot Capicolli, Pepper Salami and Hot Salami)

Mozzarella Cheese

Process:

Heat oven to 350F.

Split a thin bun to make two pizza "crusts".  Squeeze on some pizza sauce, spread with a spoon.  Add your toppings, as many as you'd like.  Top with cheese.  Place mini pizzas onto a large cookie sheet and bake in the oven for approximately 7 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.

VERDICT:
As my nephew would say, they were "deeelicious" and both boys gave the pizzas "thumbs up".  My husband and I both really enjoyed them too.  So easy to put together, lots of fresh vegetables, even a little fruit!  Lots of fun colour, and the best thing, the kids had FUN!

The mini pizzas were so popular that my boys asked that we have them for dinner the next night.  So we did.  I happened to have a mango on the counter which we added to our list of toppings, and both my husband and my son loved that addition!

If you would like to read my April article over at Okanagan4Kids, please click here! It's full of tips about greening up your grocery shopping!

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