Pumpkin time !!!

October 24th, 2010

I love pumpkin time.  Pumpkin lattes, pumpkin bread (muffins), pumpkin pie & pumpkin soup… YUMMMMMM

I tested a pumpkin bread (muffin) recipe yesterday and took it to a party. Everyone loved it, they said it was very moist and tasty.

Here it is..

PUMPKIN Cake (muffins)

  • ¾ cup Steel cut oats ~ process in your blender till turns into a flour (measure then grind)
  • ¾ cup almond flour (almond meal)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs
  • ¾  cup of splenda
  • 1 ½ cup pumpkin puree
  • 2 tablespoons SF Vanilla coffee syrup (or increase splenda by two tablespoons and add a teaspoon of vanilla extract)
  • ¼ cup of golden raisins or walnut pieces

In your blender grind the steel cut oats into flour, pour into a bowl. To the bowl add Almond flour, baking soda, spices and salt ~ stir to combine. In a separate bowl mix the splenda, pumpkin, eggs and coffee syrup.  Pour wet over the dry ingredients, add raisins or walnuts and stir just till combined.

Use an ice-cream scooper to place batter in 12 muffin tins that have been lined with paper cups or spray a 9 inch round cake pan with non stick spray and pour in batter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 mins or till toothpick comes out clean.

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Brownies, yes I said it brownies!!!

August 12th, 2010

I was given a recipe for brownies made with black beans and spinach. I took the recipe apart and made it something I could eat. Yes, they are still a treat and have to be treated as such. Lets be real we all like treats so why not make one that is almost healthy and tastes pretty darn good if I do say so myself…

Black Bean Brownies

  • 1 cup of black beans (rinsed and drained)
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • ½ cup chopped frozen spinach (defrosted and squeezed dry)
  • 3 tablespoons Dutch Processed Unsweetened Coco
  • ¼ cup Cottage Cheese
  • 2 large eggs plus one yolk
  • 1 ¼ cup splenda
  • 1 ½ teaspoons espresso powder
  • 2 Tablespoons SF Vanilla Coffee syrup
  • 2 tablespoons sf chocolate syrup
  • 2 Tablespoons Butter
  • 3 Ounces unsweetened chocolate (chopped)
  • ½ cup almond meal
  • ½ cup chopped walnuts

Mix/blend everything in a blender or food processor except the last four items, till smooth and beans are no longer visible. In a small glass bowl melt the butter and the chocolate till melted, stopping every 15 seconds to stir ~ let it cool for 5 minutes before adding to the mixture along with the almond meal. Blend just till combined. Pour batter in a 9×9 baking dish that has been sprayed with no-stick spray then top with the chopped walnuts. Bake for 25 minutes at 350. Let cool before serving, please be sure to cover and refrigerate or store in a sealed container in the fridge.

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banana nut muffins

August 1st, 2010

I had some bananas that were just about ready to make it to the garbage so I thought I would save them and make some muffins, I was going to make them so that they were gluten free but forgot about the wheat bran and so I figured I would go ahead with the oats too… If you need items that are wheat free let me know and I can show you how to tweak my recipes to make them gluten (wheat and oat) free. We have a friend who cant eat them so when he is coming over I make sure to tweak stuff so he can eat it… but I forgot last minute so this is not written that way.

Banana nut muffins

  • ¾ cup unsweetened dried coconut
  • ½ cup almond meal
  • ½ walnuts
  • ¼ wheat bran
  • ¼ cup flat oats (quick cook)
  • ¼ cup walnut pieces
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 medium very ripe bananas
  • ½ cup of splenda
  • ½ cup cottage cheese
  • 2 tablespoons SF Vanilla coffee syrup (or increase splenda to ¾ cup and add a teaspoon of vanilla extract)

Put the coconut, almond meal, wheat bran and the ½ cup of walnuts in a blender and blend till the nuts are a coarse flour consistency. Pour into a bowl and mix in the remaining walnuts, oats, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  In your blender put the bananas, cottage cheese eggs, coffee syrup and splenda blend till the bananas are completely mashed. Pour wet ingredients from the blender over the dry items and stir till combined.

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes in a silicone cupcake pan that has been sprayed with non stick spray. You can use paper cups but the muffins kind of stick to the paper a bit.

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Zucchini anyone??

June 21st, 2010

I had a request for zucchini muffins, so I thought what the heck I could do them. I made them for Jeff for Father’s day for breakfast (I made pancakes for Kassie).. They turned out very moist and tasted great !! Ellen, I hope you like them when you make them. I would ship you some but they would get squished and they dry out with time so I thought the two days in transit would be bad… sorry…. I took a few to work today and they were gone almost instantly !

Zucchini Muffins

  • ½ cup Steel cut oats ~ process in your blender till turns into a flour
  • ¼ cup unsweetened grated coconut (this is the dry coconut that is in the health food/nut isle not the sweetened stuff)
  • ¼ cup wheat bran
  • ¾ cup almond flour (almond meal)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½  teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 3 eggs
  • ½ cup of splenda
  • 1 small zucchini grated (about a cup and a half)
  • ½ cup sour cream or cottage cheese
  • 2 tablespoons SF Vanilla coffee syrup (or increase splenda to ¾ cup and add a teaspoon of vanilla extract)

Measure oats and place in a blender and process till it turns into a flour, add coconut, wheat bran, almond flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, salt and splenda to blender and pulse till combined.

In a medium mixing bowl whisk together eggs, coffee syrup, cottage cheese and zucchini till well combined. Add dry items to bowl and stir with a spoon till just combined, do not over mix. Use an ice-cream scooper to divide into 12 muffins. I prefer to use a silicone muffin pan since the muffins will pop out easily. Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 mins, they will be a little soft inside till they cool completely and you want them that way since they contain oats and the oats absorb the moisture.

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Granola ~ Peanut butter…

June 11th, 2010

My daughter love granola bars, but she didn’t like my plain granola so I thought she might eat a peanut butter version. She would eat a granola bar every day for breakfast if I let her, this might pass her sniff test since it is loaded with peanuts and peanut butter. I will also say it smells so wonderful baking, better than any candle you could ever buy.

I think it would be excellent smeared with peanut butter, it would be a mock version of one of those “naturally made” crunchy bars that are sold commercially but loaded with sugar and carbs. This is my low carb low sugar version.

Peanut Butter Granola

  • ¼ cup flax seeds
  • ¼ cup unsweetened coconut
  • ¼ cup wheat bran
  • ¾ cup almond meal
  • 1 cup peanuts
  • 3 tablespoons PB2
  • ½ cup rolled oats
  • ¼ cup Splenda®
  • 3 scoops vanilla protein powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup warm water
  • 2 tablespoons oil
  • 3 tablespoons peanut butter

In a blender or food processor, grind the flax seeds, coconut, and wheat bran to a coarse powder.
Transfer the powder to a bowl and mix in the remaining dry ingredients.
Pulse peanuts in blender or food processor till they are a medium chop
In a small bowl warm oil and peanut butter in microwave for 15 seconds
Add the oil/peanut butter mixture and water then mix until well combined.
On a baking sheet lined with a silicone pad or parchment paper (or coated with non-stick cooking spray), press the mixture flat to a thickness of approximately ¼ inch.
Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes or until the mixture begins to turn golden brown on the edges.
Let the granola cool, and then break into chunks. Store in a zip-top bag or a sealed container.

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    5k and granola

    May 16th, 2010

    Well it is time to register for the Avon 2 day walk in NY, I have decided I am going to do it this year. This is a huge deal for me, I never thought I would ever be able to do it but I am very confident I will be able to complete the event.

    It is also time to start doing 5k’s for this season, last year I did my first one.. and today was the first on of the season. We did the October Woman 5K in Park Ridge NJ. It took forever…… My girlfriend and I did it together along with her dog and my 5 year old daughter, we had to stop to give them both a break so it took us 1 hour and 11 mins. If we didn’t have to stop we could have done it in 40 minutes or less, but I am so proud of my little girl she did the whole walk and Park Ridge is a town with tons of hills and we all made it.

    I was also thinking that I had to find some snacks to take with me to NY when I do the 2 day walk. I know they will hand things out but I am willing to guess they will have sugar or will be full of the wrong type of carbs for me.  So I made this today… this is my second attempt and a NON- WLS person ate it today and liked it.. I will confess my daughter didn’t like it but my husband did. I think it would be great on yogurt or as a cereal with milk.

    Granola/Protein Bars

    • ¼ cup flax seeds
    • ¼ un-sweetened coconut
    • ¼ cup wheat bran
    • ¾ cup almond meal
    • ¼ cup slivered almonds
    • ½ cup chopped walnuts
    • ½ cup rolled oats
    • ¼ cup splenda
    • ½ cup sf coffee syrup ~ I had caramel on hand but vanilla would be better
    • 3 tablespoons oil
    • 3 scoops of vanilla protein powder (I use GNC 100% Whey)
    • 1 teaspoon baking powder
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • 1 teaspoon cinnamon and a dash of ground ginger

    Heat oven to 350

    Put flax seeds, coconut and wheat bran in a blender or food processor and blend till coconut and flax seeds are ground.  Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl before adding the oil and coffee syrup – mix till well combined.

    Line a baking sheet with a silpat pad, if you don’t have one you can just spray pan with non stick spray.  Press mixture flat onto lined sheet till it is about ¼ inch thick and bake till it is starts getting golden brown on the edges. Let it cool then break apart in large chunks. Be sure to keep it in a zip top bag or in a sealed container or it will get soggy.

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    More muffins…. Love them!

    March 22nd, 2010

    More muffins…. Love them!

    In the fall we have a tradition of going to pick apples as a family and with all the apples I make a wonderful (high carb high sugar) apple cake. I wanted to find an alternative to the bread I normally make with my extra apples. I know it is not fall but I had some extra apples hanging around that needed to be used so I thought no time like the present to figure it out.

    Apple spice muffins

    • ¾ cup steel cut oats ~ grind them into flour in the blender
    • ¾ cup Almond flour/meal
    • 1 teaspoon baking soda
    • ¼ teaspoon salt
    • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    • 1/8 teaspoon of each ~ ground ginger, cloves and nutmeg
    • ½ cup cottage cheese
    • 2 large eggs
    • ¼ cup splenda
    • ½ cup brown splenda
    • 4 small apples peeled , cored and rough chopped

    Grind the steel cut oats in the blender till they are flour like consistency.  Add the almond meal, baking soda, salt and spices to the blender and blend to combine ~ pour into a bowl. Add apples, eggs, cottage cheese and splenda (both) to the blender and mix till the apples are chopped ~ pour over the dry mixture, stir just till it comes together ~ do not over mix.

    Bake at 350 in lined muffin tins for 25 minutes, makes 16 muffins.

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    Sometimes in life you just need a muffin…

    March 15th, 2010

    No really, sometimes a muffin sounds like a great plan for breakfast. This weekend we went to Washington DC to meet up with some of my Family (BTW we had a wonderful time !!!) and breakfast is an expensive idea in towns like DC, not to mention that it is not totally WLS friendly unless you go to a restaurant and waste your time sitting there to eat.. So I decided I needed to come up with a muffin..

    This is my first attempt..

    Carrot Raisin Muffins

    • ¾ cup Steel cut oats ~ process in your blender till turns into a flour
    • ¾ cup almond flour (almond meal)
    • 1 teaspoon baking soda
    • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
    • ¼ teaspoon salt
    • 2 eggs
    • ½ cup of splenda
    • 1 cup of ground or grated carrots
    • ½ cup sour cream or cottage cheese
    • 2 tablespoons SF Vanilla coffee syrup (or increase splenda to ¾ cup and add a teaspoon of vanilla extract)
    • ¼ cup of golden raisins

    In your blender grind the steel cut oats into flour, pour into a bowl. To the bowl add Almond flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt ~ stir to combine. In the blender grind carrots, and then add sour cream, splenda, eggs and coffee syrup ~ pulse to combine.  Pour wet over the dry ingredients, add raisins and stir just till combined.

    Use an ice-cream scooper to divide it into 12 muffin tins that have been lined with paper cups. Bake at 350 for 25 mins or till toothpick comes out clean.

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