Granola Muffins

What's cute and small? Sweet and crunchy? With a little bit of sass? 

Well me when I was 5! (minus the crunch!) But also these Granola Muffins!

They are a perfect little treat that can be customized to fit any taste palate. Not to mention easy to make... so easy you can even get the children you babysit involved for a fun way to pass the time!

First things first - get you dry ingredients all stirred together (this is a perfect job for little hands)

Then... while the little one(s) are doing that, you can melt up the wet-ish side of things...

When it's warm and all thoroughly mixed together, wait about 3-4 minutes after it starts simmering... then you are ready to pour it over the dry!

You'll mix them together really well and press into muffin tins. 

Then place in a 350* oven for 20ish minutes (sides will be golden brown)

And viola! 

Also a perfect on the go treat for you!

I threw these into the car as they were just cool enough to pack up before I went out and picked up the rest of the kids from school. 

It was a perfect in the car snack! This is due to these Granola Muffin's 3 qualities:

1. Healthy (so I can feel good about feeding them to children)

2. Delicious (so the kids actually want to eat them!)

and

3. More on the chewy side of things instead of crunchy ... aka-not a HUGE mess in my backseat!

:)

So here is the full out recipe-

Ingredients:

(wet)

-1 banana

-1/4 cup peanut butter

-1/4 cup honey

-2 TBSP. butter

-1 tsp. salt

(dry)

-1 1/2 cups oats

-1/2 cup flour

-1/2 cup cereal of choice

-1/2 cup coconut (or any nuts/cereal)

-1 tsp. baking powder

-1/4 cup nuts (or any other mix-in... choco chips, raisins, etc.)

1. Mix dry together

2. Heat wet on stove, mashing banana and mixing well.

3. Let wet simmer on stove for 3-4 minutes, then remove and let cool a minute or two

4. Add to dry and mix well

5. Press big spoonfuls into muffin tin (greased)

6. Place in 350* oven for 20 minutes, sides of muffins should be golden

7. Cool, remove and ENJOY!

Reese's Muffins (healthy!)

We all know I'm a sucker for breakfast...

anytime of the day.

And I'm a sucker for peanut butter...

So in the celebration of Easter (reminds me of Reese's Eggs-YUM!)

My friend and I decided to storm the kitchen and make an explosion of breakfast deliciousness containing peanut butter and chocolate, but in a healthy way! 

(*drum roll*)

REESE'S MUFFINS!

This recipe was inspired by Equal Exchange Cocoa

What is this Equal Exchange company you ask?

Check out my review here-

So back to the recipe!

The wet stuff (cream it all up!) ~

-2 ripe bananas (about a cup)

-1/2 cup sugar (or substitute, or 1/4 cup honey)

-2 egg whites (or one whole egg)

-3/4 cup Greek yogurt

-1 tsp. vanilla extract

-1 tsp. butter extract (optional)

The dry stuff (sift it baby!) ~

-1 cup whole wheat flour

-1/2 cup Equal Exchange Cocoa (or your favorite brand of unsweetened cocoa powder)

-1 tsp. salt

-1 tsp. baking powder

-1 tsp. baking soda

When you're done sifting...

Melt up 1/4 (heaping if you're like me!) cup of peanut butter

Mmmm... 

Use all your self control to not stick your head into the measuring cup and drink that amazing melty peanut butter!

Alright.

Now- add the wet to the dry and fold in 1/4 cup peanut butter chips and 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Then fill your muffin tins (will make about 15ish) 3/4 full with batter

Then add a heaping spoonful of peanut butter to each muffin tin and swirl, swirl, swirl!

Ahhh Yeahhh.... 

Bake at 350* for about 15 minutes

Remove

and 

DEVOUR!

Let me hear ya- what's your favorite muffin?

Hit me up with some new recipes friends!

adapted from: Sally's Baking Addiction

Tropically Coconutty Bars

Need a new granola bar recipe?
Are you kidding?!
Who DOESN'T?!

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup rice crispies 

1/4 cup cereal (can be anything really~as in grape nuts, granola, shredded wheat, etc.)

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 tbsp coconut oil 

1/4 cup coconut

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup sugar (sugar substitute works fine)

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 tbsp juice (like apple juice)

THE DRILL:

-Heat oven to 350*, get a 9x13 pan and cover bottom with parchment paper

-Melt coconut oil, add honey, sugar, salt, soda, vanilla extract and juice... mix well

-Throw together the dry ingredients; flour, oats, crispies and cereal

-Heat in microwave again

-Add the wet and mix well until all the dry is completely covered with gooey amazingness

-Dump into a 9x13 pan, cover with parchment paper and step, yes step on it to press it down completely

-Bake in oven about 10 minutes (edges will be golden)

Oh yum oh yum oh yum

These are slightly sweet. Coconutty and tropical in delicious ways.

Yes, coconutty is a word.

I don't care what the red line under my about to be published blog post says. It is. 

~highly adapted from: http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/05/17/quaker-style-chewy-granola-bars/

"Date" Newton

If you thought this title had something to do with a romantic relationship between me and 'Newton' you are on the wrong post.

....but if you clicked on this post hoping to find a recipe for a "Fig Newton" like cookie, but with a sweet date filling instead - you are in the right place!

These may seem a little difficult, and I won't lie - there are a bunch of steps.. BUT they are all pretty straight forward and difficult to screw up!

Believe me - I tried... 

I got this idea from - eatliverun.com, but she used actual figs... and, well-I didn't have any, so what's a girl to do? 

SUBSTITUTE and pray it all works out!

First things first-get 2 tbsp. of ground flax seed soaking in 1/3 cup warm water (this is going to act as your egg in the recipe) 

Meanwhile... cream together brown sugar, butter and yogurt

1/2 cup + 2 tbsp. brown sugar

2 tbsp. yogurt

3 tbsp. butter

Then add your flax/water mixture

and 2 tbsp. of milk

Now add your tsp. of baking powder, and 1/2 tsp. each of cinnamon, baking soda, and salt

Add your flour- 1 1/2 cups each of whole wheat flour and all-purpose

Mix until a soft dough forms

Then you can get your filling going while the dough is resting in the frig

In a sauce pan combine 1 tbsp. honey, 1 cup water, 1 cup apple juice (or any fruit juice), and 1 1/2 cup dates

Heat on stove until boil, then allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes

Then puree in blender, place back into sauce pan, add 2 tsp. of cornstarch (already mixed with water) and heat again to thicken

Then remove from stove and allow to cool (about 30 minutes)

Take your dough out of the frig, and roll out to about 1/8 inch thickness

*Preheat oven to 350*

You will want a rectangle that is 12 inches tall (will probably be 20 inches or so wide)

Cut strips of dough that are 4 inches wide (and then of course 12 inches tall)

Place your cooled filling in the center and roll up both sides.

Pinch together to seal the dough and cut into cookie sized pieces

Bake in a 350* oven for 20-ish minutes (until they are golden)

Remove and enjoy with a BIG glass of milk

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp. ground flax

1/3 cup warm water

3 tbsp. butter

2 tbsp. yogurt

1/2 cup + 2 T brown sugar

2 tbsp. milk

1 1/2 cups dates

1 tbsp. honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup water

1 cup apple juice

2 tsp. cornstarch

Easy Peasy Breakfast in a Jar

So I'm jumping on the bandwagon and trying out (enter whatever the heck you can think of here)-In-A-Jar!
Anybody else tried this new-found trend?

Well, this morning, I had a little bit of peanut butter left in the jar...

I'd say about a tablespoon or so...

So I threw in the last of my Raisin Bran...

probably a half-cup

Topped it with one sliced banana

Stirred it all around-and DEVOURED!

It may sound strange... but boy oh boy was it nummy! 

If anyone else has some delish ...-in-a-jar recipes-leave the link in a comment below! 

Peace, love and peanut butter.

-Kristen

Jelly Beans and Sweat Beads

What do you do when you feel like this...

after Insantiy pure Cardio

You grab a hand-ful of jelly beans (given by the best brother ever!)

And feel more like this!

Then have this an hour or so later... after a shower perhaps :)

What I'm getting at is sometimes after a hard workout I get really really bad headaches which (and only a pure assumption here!) I think is caused by hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)

So I'm trying this thing where I eat fast acting carbs a few minutes after a workout... we'll see if it helps!

Anybody experience this problem? Any solutions?

Peanut Butter Cookie Granola

Peanut Butter + Granola = :)

Dare I say more?

This recipe requires no commentary, no extra words tell you how amazing it is and persuading your to make it-I mean, you'd be crazy to see a recipe containing the words peanut butter and granola and not deciding to make it within 35.39 seconds 

Just Crazy.

So here's the low-down...

melt peanut butter and margarine

til margarine is completely liquified - then add honey and egg white

combine it with a bunch of other random stuff.. 

throw it on a pan and stash in your 250* oven for 45 minutes or so

and magically it will turn into this!

Ingredients:

1.5 TBSP margarine

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 TBSP honey

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 egg white

1 tsp. baking powder

1 pinch salt

1 cup oats

1/2 cup fiber one cereal

1 1/2 cup crispy brown rice cereal

1 TBSP. chia seeds (opt.)

2 TBSP. flax seeds (opt.)

Preheat oven to 250*

Melt your peanut butter and margarine, then add all ingredients up to salt.

Mix well

Combine dry ingredients together

Pour wet-melted stuff over the dry and stir to coat all

Place on a cookie sheet and bake-stirring every 10 minutes for 40 minutes to an hour; until pieces are 'dry' but not overly brown

Swirled into a peanut butter smoothie? 

Heaven on Earth.