Clean Pumpkin Muffins

       That moment when you realize; the school year is back in full swing, your first wedding anniversary is fast approaching, and you feel like a bloated mess...

That's when you coax your hubby into a clean eating lifestyle, until further notice.

We're eating all fruits and veggies, lean proteins, healthy fats and staying away from white rice, pasta and bread.

Anywho, I've said all that to say, here is my first baked goodie. I was afraid that making a healthy muffin would result in a dry, flavorless, mess... So glad I was wrong. I loved the result and I want to share the recipe with you.

What you'll need:

Ingredients

3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 tsp all natural peanut butter ( or your fav nut butter)
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 tbsp flax seeds ( I didn't grind mine, I like the crunch factor. Otherwise, grind em!)

1tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1tsp baking soda

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup walnuts

1/4 dried cranberries

cooking spray

Tools:

Oven ;)

food processor

baking tins or muffin tin

Directions:

• preheat your oven to 350
• use your processor to grind the oats
• remove oats from processor and place in a medium bowl
• add dry ingredients to  bowl with oats, stir ( excluding walnuts and cranberries) 
• add pumpkin, egg, honey, nut butter and vanilla to processor
• mix until smooth
• add dry ingredients to wet, mix
• fold nuts and cranberries into your batter 
• spray your tin
• fill 2/3 full with batter ( top with more nuts and berries if you desire) 
• bake until a tooth pick comes out clean
• cool in pan then, remove and finish cooling on wire rack

 Recipe yields 6 muffins.

Your oatmeal should resemble flour, once chopped

Pumpkin puree

Filling the tins

Fresh from the oven

Hope you enjoy!

That's my 2 cents!

-Kimba

Pretty Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

An excerpt from  "Merry Autumn" By: Paul Laurence Dunbar

The earth is just so full of fun
It really can't contain it;
And streams of mirth so freely run
The heavens seem to rain it.

Don't talk to me of solemn days
In autumn's time of splendor,
Because the sun shows fewer rays,
And these grow slant and slender.

Why, it's the climax of the year,—
The highest time of living!—
Till naturally its bursting cheer
Just melts into thanksgiving.

Happy Saturday,

Fall is here HOORAY!!! Anyone who knows me well, knows I really like fall and I really love cupcakes!!   Today's post combines  two of my favs into a delicious treat!! Pretty Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes... With it being the first day of fall and all, I'm really excited to share this recipe with you.

No, your eyes are not fooling you. 

The cupcake is filled with pumpkin pie!

What you'll need:

For cake:
3 cups Softasilk cake flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla extract
1+1/2 sticks of butter

For pie:
One 15oz can pumpkin pie filling
2 eggs slightly beaten
3/4 cup evaporated milk

For frosting:
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp evaporated milk
Heaping tbsp of pumpkin puree

Recipe Yields 18 cupcakes

Pie instructions:

• Follow instructions on your favorite pumpkin pie mix for baking  pie. Typically it's one can of pie mix, 2 eggs, 3/4 cup evaporated milk. Once you've mixed the ingredients together, spray a casserole dish with cooking spray and fill with mixture. Bake according to instructions. (usually 450 for 15 minutes then 350 for 30-40) remove and cool. Once cooled, slice into 1-1 1/2 inch chunks. The chunks will be used to fill your cupcakes! YUM

Your chunks should look like this.

 Cake instructions:

• Oven should be preheated to 350

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together.

• In a separate bowl mix baking powder, baking soda and salt together with cake  flour

• Add eggs one at a time to sugar and butter mixture. Mixing well after each egg is added. 

• Stir in milk and cake flour. Alternating what you add. First flour then milk then flour then milk. ( until all cake flour has been added) Mix well
• once cake batter is fluffy add vanilla beans ( or vanilla extract)

To assemble cupcakes for baking:

• fill cupcake pan with liners. 
• Using a 1/8 measuring cup, fill liner with batter.

Take your chunks of pie and place in the middle of batter... Then cover with another 1/8 cup.

     

• Bake until firm and edges are golden. (aprox. 20 minutes)
• Allow cupcakes to cool fully before attempting to frost.

Frosting instructions:

• In a large mixing bowl cream 1/2 stick of room temp butter
• add sugar by the half cup, mixing well
• once all sugar has been added, add pumpkin puree ( this will give your frosting a nice tint and light flavor.)
• to frost, simply fill Ziploc bag with frosting and snip off corner. Frosting will glide smoothly out allowing you to frost your cupcakes in whatever manner you'd like. ( You can always just smear the frosting on too still yummy) 
• Use leftover pieces of pie to adorn the top of your cupcakes.

NOTE: If you'd prefer vanilla frosting, just add 1 tsp of vanilla extract and skip the pumpkin puree.

Thanks for stopping along on the fall crawl! I hope you've enjoyed ;-)

Make sure you check out all of the awesome, creative, seasonal crafts
that have been shared along the way!! 

That's my 2 cents!

-Kimba

Flour-less Peanut Butter Cookies

Hello Friends,

With the weather cooling down, I'm happy to be able to use my oven again without the risk of overheating my apartment... blah.  As fall rolls in, my love for baking comes back full throttle! I mean, it never really left, I just don't do much of it during the warm summer months.

If you're like me, a lover of all things peanut butter... Don't go anywhere. I have a recipe you will love!!!! While watching tv the other day, I saw this recipe, decided to try it, and loved it. After the delicious results, I figured I must share this fantastic find with my readers.

My mama who is the pickiest peanut butter cookie eater ever, was in love with the cookies. I'm ready to  share the recipe. I'm sure you will be in love too!

Flour-less Peanut Butter Cookies

What you'll need:

1 cup all natural peanut butter

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

pinch salt

1 cup of sugar

(yields 20-24 small cookies)

NOTE: If you are using peanut butter that is not all natural, use less sugar.

Simple Instructions:

•  preheat oven to 350.
• in a large mixing bowl, combine peanut butter and sugar. Blend well.
•  add egg, vanilla, and salt. Mix again.

NOTE: Make sure that your dough is mixed together thoroughly, as the only thing binding the dough together is the egg.

• on a large cookie sheet,  drop dough on by the spoonful.
• once all your dough is on cookie sheet, press each cookie gently with a fork vertically and again horizontally to create the lined imprint on cookie tops.

• bake on 350 for 10-12 minutes (check after 10).
• remove from oven,cool, gently lift with spatula and place in your cookie jar. (Be careful, these babies are fragile!)

Good luck trying not to eat the entire batch. These cookies are seriously YUMMY!!

ENJOY!

That's my 2 cents!

-Kimba

Chewy Cranberry Almond Oat Bars

Hello Friends,

Need a healthy snack? Want to make it fresh?  If so, keep reading.

Healthy, check. Flavorful, check. Vegan, check. Today I'd like to share a simple cranberry almond oatmeal bar recipe with you. (I made this recipe with my vegan friends in mind.)  You'll only need 7 ingredients. With mashed banana standing in for sugar and fat, you're on your way to a healthy snack.

What you'll need:

2 cups old fashioned oats

2 ripe bananas

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup almonds (crush half, leave half whole)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

NOTE: This recipe yields 8 oat bars.

Easy instructions:

• Preheat your oven to 350.
• In a large bowl, mash two large bananas. Press out all lumps. (use a large spoon to mash the bananas against the side of your bowl.)

• Add 2 cups of oats and mix well with spoon until all oats have lumped together.
• Sprinkle with salt, drizzle vanilla, mix again.

      

•  Add cranberries and almonds by folding into mixture with spoon.

• Coat cookie sheet with cooking spray press your oat mixture onto pan. (Cookie sheets are too big. Use the edge of your spoon to press your oats into a rectangular shape.)
• Sprinkle with cinnamon.

• Bake for 30 minutes
• Remove, allow to cool. Cut, and enjoy. Wrap your leftovers in wax paper to snack on later.

 That's my 2 cents!

-Kimba

Scrambled Eggs and Biscuit Bake

Scrambled Eggs and Biscuit Bake

Breakfast is said to be the most important meal of the day. Why not savor it... This morning I baked scrambled eggs, veggies, cheese, and biscuit mix. The result was amazing. Keep reading if you'd like the recipe and simple instructions!! 

What you'll need:

1 cup Jiffy Baking Mix

1/3 cup 1% milk

2 tbsp shredded Parmesan 

1/4 cup diced onion

1/4 diced peppers(red or green)

4 eggs

onion salt -to taste

black pepper- to taste

cooking spray

Instructions:

• In a mixing bowl, blend 1 cup of Jiffy mix with 1/3 cup milk. Stir until a lumpy dough is formed. 
• In a second  mixing bowl, crack 4 eggs and scramble lightly with fork. Add onion salt and pepper to taste.
•  Heat a small pan with cooking spray and saute  diced onions and peppers. 
•  Add peppers ,onions, and 1 tbsp of Parmesan to scrambled eggs.  blend. 

• Coat the bottom of a glass baking dish with cooking spray. Pour in egg mixture. Take spoonfuls of biscuit mix and drop into eggs. Top with remaining  Parmesan cheese. 
•  Bake at 450 for 20 minutes.  Serve with one cup of fruit ENJOY!!

That's my 2 cents!

-Kimba