Food For Thought

I don't know about you, but I can sometimes find myself feeling a little breakfast challenged.  The kids would be perfectly content to eat cereal or bagels for every morning meal, but I get bored.  I want something to shake it up a bit and break up the monotony of milk-infused mush and half-eaten, cream cheese-licked bread.  I also find that on school mornings, things get a bit tight and I don't have enough minutes to whip up a batch of pancakes ... unless Daddy beats me to the punch and then it's "Yahoo!  Pancakes!" :)

So ... to get us out of the breakfast boredom, I would like to offer you three delicious bites which I will refer to as Baked Breakfast Bliss!  You can make all of them up ahead of time and WOW! your kids at the table in the morning with pure scrumptiousness!  You can thank me later ...

First up we have ...

Whole Wheat Apple Muffins
(This recipe is from Pillsbury: Best Muffins and Quick Breads, page 67.  Just a few tweaks.)

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 small apples, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 egg, slightly beaten

Topping:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 T pecans, finely chopped
1/4 t. cinnamon

In a small bowl, toss the apples with 1/2 cup of the all-purpose flour.  This will help the apples to mix into the batter better.

In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.  Toss in the apples and stir.  Add the remaining wet ingredients and mix just until the batter is moist.  There will be lumps.

Divide the batter evenly into the muffin tin (use either cooking spray or cupcake liners).  Set this aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine the topping ingredients.  Sprinkle this over each muffin.

Bake the for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Pop them out of the muffin pan after about 5 minutes and let cool.

The sweet topping was a hit and the apples were a surprise!

Next, I give you ...

Oatmeal Raisin Yogurt Muffins

(This recipe is from the foil liner of a Dannon Yogurt container.  Surprise!)

Ingredients:

1 cup flour (I used 1/2 white and 1/2 wheat.)

1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. cinnamon

1/2 cup raisins

1 cup yogurt (I used vanilla.)

1 egg, lightly beaten

2 T. oil

In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients, including the raisins.  In a small bowl, combine the wet ingredients.  Add the yogurt mixture to the dry mixture and stir just until combined.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Prepare the muffin tin either with cooking spray or cupcake liners.  Divide the batter between the 12 openings.

Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Be sure to remove them from the pan after letting them cool for about 5 minutes.  Leaving them in the pan causes their little bottoms to get soggy.  Not as appetizing.

Delicious little bites ... raisins, nuts, yum!

And the grand finale ...

Hearty Baked Granola

(This recipe is from my friend, Kelley Z.  Thanks for sharing!  I made a few adjustments, as usual.)

Ingredients:

1 stick butter, melted

1 cup brown sugar

4 eggs, beaten

6 cups rolled oats

4 t. baking powder

2 t. salt

2 cups milk

1 t. vanilla extract

Extras:  1 cup nuts, 1 cup raisins, 1/4 cup flax seed, 1 cup dried fruit ... get creative!

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix well.  Pour the mixture into an un-greased 9x13 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  How much more simple could it get?!?

Nutty, sweet, hearty ... and not bad for your heart, either!

Kelley encouraged us to pour a little milk over our granola "square" and we are really glad we did!  Norah commented that it was,  "kind of like eating milk & oatmeal cookies for breakfast ... only it's good for you!"  We polished the first pan off in matter of days ... hears hoping the one I made today lasts a little longer.  But I'm not holding my breath ... mainly 'cause I'm eating. :)

Ashley called this, "Pure Heaven" ... enough said.