Apple Cherry Cranberry Oatmeal Muffin #recipe

Need a wholesome after school snack, addition to your kiddos lunch, or just something yummy to have on hand? Whip up a batch of these Apple Cherry Cranberry Oatmeal Muffins!

I like to have a few different kids of peanut free muffins in the freezer so that our four year old, Owen, can choose his muffins the night before school when we are packing his lunch bag.

 

 

Preheat your oven to 400F

1 1/3 cups flour
3/4 cup oats
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 beaten egg
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter

Once you have mixed all of those lovely ingredients together, add in...

1/2 an apple, finely diced
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup dried cherries

Mix well, then put in your prepared muffin tin using a cookie scoop or spoon.

Bake for 18 minutes, then allow to cool in the muffin tin.

If your child has an issue with textures, you could bake your apples first with a bit of water and the dried cranberries and cherries, then puree. If you add a puree, keep in mind that the batter will turn whatever color your puree is. When this happens, I usually tell my son that is is something cool. This is how we came up with Dinosaur Juice for any juice that is green, and Tiger Juice for orange ones. Since these ones would turn a pinky red color, we would probably call them something like MacQueen Muffins.

No matter what you call them, they are wholesome and delicious!

Cherry Berry Carrot Apple Flax Waffle Recipe

Last fall, I noticed that one thing was consistent with my son's lunches: the containers of applesauce+veggies were coming home. He ate it the first day, even picked out more varieties at the grocery store, and then....they came home.

So, waste not...want not! I developed a recipe that incorporates them and gets some added goodness from ground flax.

Preheat your waffle iron so it is nice and hot when you need to drop your batter.

2 cups flour
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
5 tbsp ground flax

Once you have blended your dry ingredients together, mix in your wet ingredients.

1 1/2 cups milk
2 beaten eggs
1 tbsp melted butter
1 cup cherry berry carrot applesauce

Mix well and ensure all of your dry ingredients are combined into the batter.

I like using an ice cream scoop to drop my batter. This makes the waffles a little smaller, which is perfect for school lunches and small hands. Let cook for 4.5-5mins

And here's a bonus...all of the ingredients are lactation boosting and breastfeeding friendly! Make a batch and pop them in the freezer, then when you're in a pinch for breakfast for yourself or your kids, reheat in the toaster!

I {Heart} Kale #juice #recipe for #pickyeaters

This spring, I ventured into the world of juicing and found out that there are some really amazing ingredients that are readily available in your grocery store that you might not otherwise get into your diet.

Like...kale!

I was nervous to try it, but had heard such amazing things about juicing with kale. So...I whipped up this baby and well....the results were pretty incredible.

1 apple (cored)
1 pear (cored)
1 cup blueberries (rinsed)
1 cup strawberries (rinsed)
1 cup baby carrots (rinsed)
1 large handful kale (rinsed and dried)

I started by juicing my kale and apple, and while my juicer didn't grind and process it as much as I would have liked, I still got about 1.5oz of juice from the kale itself. Next, everything else went in the juicer.

At this point of my juicing journey (about 3 months in) my son was really interested and insisted on helping...then tasting...and drinking about 1/3 of my juice!

Knowing how much he enjoyed this juice made me really happy. He got all of that goodness in his little 1/3 portion (probably about 3-4oz), and loved it! The green mustache that he sported was pretty funny too.

Teaching your little ones about juicing is a great thing, and one that my son has really enjoyed. He likes to help push the produce through, and then give it a taste. Some he likes, and some he doesn't, but the point is that he's trying. He's a bit of a pick eater and while I'm pretty sure he could live on grilled cheese sandwiches, knowing that I can get a juice like this into him every now and again is really awesome.

I hope you love this kale juice recipe as much as we do!

Happy green mustaches!

Roasted Carrot Oatmeal Muffins #pickyeaters #recipe

Do you have a picky eater in your house? Perhaps one that is going to be starting kindergarten soon and you're worrying about what to send in his lunch?

No? Just me? Surely, I can't be the only mom out there who is struggling with lunch options for their kiddo, so I developed this recipe for nutritious muffin recipe that gets its beautiful orange color from roasted carrots, extra fiber and protein from oatmeal, and sweetness from brown sugar instead of refined white sugar!

Preheat oven to 400F and line muffin tin with baking cups

Mix together:

1 3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup rolled oats

Add in and mix well:

1 cup roasted carrot cinnamon puree
3/4 cup milk
1 egg

Once well blended, divide into muffin cups. Bake for 18 minutes, then cool completely in the muffin tin.

This recipe will yield approximately 12 muffins. Typically, I keep out 4-6 at a time, and freeze the rest. They're perfect for quick breakfasts when we have to be out the door in a rush, and also make great additions to lunch time with some cubed cheese, and dried cranberries. He loves them, and is none the wiser that they contain very little sugar, and loads of veggies!

Dinosaur Kale #Juice #Recipe for #pickyeaters

This morning, I woke up with a sore belly and knew that there was one fix: juice.

I set off to make something a little different today. I haven't been eating alot of meat lately, then had some steak last night. BIG MISTAKE. Holy moly was my belly sore all night, and when you have a honeydew sized baby already pressing on your digestive system...yikes! It made for a very uncomfortable night.

I wanted something with protein, but also something that would calm my belly. Kale and apples would be in it...but what else?

First, let me explain the name. This is my Dinosaur Juice recipe, which my (almost) 4 year old named because it started out green then turned purple, apparently like a dinosaur. I knew it would be tasty, but definitely wasn't expecting him to want to try it.

3 large kale leaves
3 apples
1 pear
1/2 cup blackberries

Start by juicing one leaf of kale, followed by a wedge of apple or pear. Repeat until you've juiced all of your kale, then push your blackberries through, followed by the rest of your apples and pears.

Like I said, it will start off brilliantly green, then end a beautiful dark purple color.

And in terms of nutrition, you're getting loads of Copper, Vitamin K, Vitamin C, and 5.14g of Protein. (along with other good things listed above!)

What I wasn't expecting was for my little dude to want a glass. I poured him about 3oz (this recipe makes about 14oz), which he promptly guzzled and then asked for more. He probably had about 6 oz. and I got the rest.

So awesome, and what a great start to his day!

Happy Juicing!

Butter Pecan Waffle #recipe #breakfast

Struggling to find an easy waffle recipe? I have found one that I absolutely love, and tweaked it to become the ultimate easy waffle recipe. No added sodium, low on sugar, but light and fluffy...and the waffles only take 4 minutes per batch on a waffle iron!

For Easter brunch, I added a few ingredients to my standard waffle recipe to create these beautiful and hearty Butter Pecan Waffles. 

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 beaten eggs
1 1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup cooking oil (canola, vegetable, anything with no taste to it)
1 cup chopped pecans
1 tbsp melted butter

First, mix the flour, baking powder, brown sugar and pecans. Next, add your beaten eggs, milk and cooking oil and mix well. Swirl in the melted butter, and you're ready to take your batter to the waffle iron.

I use a large serving spoon to portion out my waffles. This recipe will yield about 8-10.

Serve with butter (optional, we just left a butter dish out so guests could put it on themselves) and syrup!

SWH4T$: Pizza Cones on the BBQ

I made these for the campout bithday party that we had last month, and they went over insanely well with the guests. Little did they know...

They took me all of 4 ingredients to make
Took me about 5 minutes to make a dozen of them
They were healthy {shhhh!}

Ingredients: Whole Wheat/Multigrain pita, pepperoni, extra veggie pasta sauce, skim milk mozza cheese {ignore the Iced Cap in the background!}

Step 1: cut the pita in half to make your shell pliable

Step 2: layer sauce, cheese, pepperoni (or other toppings if you'd like)

Step 3: roll into a cone shape

Step 4: roll with tinfoil

Step 5: BBQ just until melty and crispy

Step 6: devour!

They were so insanely good, and the shells were full of flax seed, multigrains and other seeds...the guests were none the wiser! I may even try dessert ones with pita's that have raisens in them...using peanut butter as the "sauce", and sliced banana!

YUM!