Meatless Monday: Cran-Blueberry Mini Muffins

First of all, I want to thank everyone who shared kind words and wished me well after the news in my last post. Things continue to pick up and return to normalcy at home. We are very fortunate to have not been hit harder.

One of the things I was happiest about after getting my electricity back was getting my oven back along with it! Although it uses gas, it has an electric starter...so, no baking to keep things warm and cozy during our power outage :(

But, I got back to work right away and baked up these easy-to-make and super tasty little muffins. Lily's favored request of the day after trying these babies was: "I want more muffin, Mommy."

Cran-Blueberry Mini Corn Muffins
(makes 2 dozen muffins)

Ingredients:

1 cup corn meal
1 cup flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup honey
2/3 cup almond milk (or milk of choice)
1/2 cup canola or coconut oil
2 eggs
1/2 cup corn kernels
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine corn meal, flour, baking powder, and salt in bowl. Next, beat eggs in a separate large bowl, then add honey, milk, and oil and mix together. Slowly beat in dry ingredients until well-combined with wet. Add the blueberries, cranberries, and corn last.

I hope you do a neater job than I did...

Spoon mixture into greased or lined muffin tins, then put in oven to bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool for a few minutes before enjoying :)

These were easy and yummy and perfect for any time of the day. And don't they look cute?

Using fresh berries and corn packs these little muffins with antioxidants, vitamin C, fiber, and other beneficial nutrients. You can also try using whole wheat flour if you'd like to make them even healthier; the only reason I didn't is because I wasn't sure if they'd taste the same, but I may try that next time. The last time I used whole wheat flour when a recipe called for white I wasn't very pleased with the results.     

I'm not sure if you heard, but due to the reign of terror from Sandy, Halloween was post-poned to November 5th in NJ, so expect a be-lated Halloween post later this week, by Wednesday if not Friday. I hope you all aren't completely sick of October-related blog posts yet!

Now it's your turn to share your Meatless Monday dish below! No rules, other than please only link-up meat-free recipes. No other un-related links or I will remove them. Sorry to sound so harsh, but let's keep it true to what it is, ok? Link up as much as you want, and feel free to spread the word with the button below. Thanks, and have a great week! 

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Chocolate Sour Cream Tea Loaf

First of all, I just want to share that I broke 50 followers on Wednesday! Thanks to everyone who helped make that possible! It's kind of a big deal for me as I have only been writing this blog for about a year now, and to know that that many people actually follow along really means a lot.

In celebration of this momentous occasion, today's recipe will be a little more on the sweet side than the healthy side, but it will be good for the soul, which I think makes it healthy in a different way! You can use whole wheat or unbleached flour for it, and either way it will taste delish! This is perfect bread to make for a tea party or anytime you're having company over and want to serve an "ooooo-ahhhhh"-inducing dessert that you don't have to break a sweat over baking! this recipe was designed especially for my Kenmore Bread Maker, so if you notice anything that needs adjusting according to your machine, go ahead and adjust, or else make by hand. This is a cake bread, so it can easily be made with a dough mixed and then baked in the oven.

I can't live without it!

Chocolate Sour Cream Tea Loaf (makes 1 lb loaf)

6 tbsp lowfat milk or almond milk

1/3 cup sour cream

1 large egg, room temp

6 tbsp granulated sugar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup + 2 tbsp flour, unbleached or whole wheat

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 chocolate chips

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

3 tbsp chopped cherries and/or cranberries

Place all ingredients into your bread machine in order, unless your machine's instructions state otherwise. Select the "1 lb loaf" and "Cake" setting and press start. If desired, remove kneading blade from machine when it indicates it's time to do so. Once finished, remove from machine and allow to cool on rack before serving. Make about 8 servings.

You can also add some sliced almonds on top when the loaf is starting to bake by brushing the top of the loaf with a little honey mixed in water, then placing the almond slices on top. The loaf basically tastes like a chocolate chip-cherry cookie cake. Yummm.

Consequently, I have not made this bread in a while and the last time I did, the picture I took came out blurry, so I don't have an image :( It is very good, as you can clearly see just by reading the ingredients list. Paul once told me this was the best thing I ever made with the bread maker. Your whole family will love it, I promise!

This would even make a great cake for a small birthday party for your young child since it's not as sugary as most cakes are. Slap on some light egg-white icing or a honey glaze and voila! Birthday cake!

The addition of chopped cherries and/or cranberries to this recipe does not only make it even sweeter, but also adds a strong antioxidant benefit. Cherries and cranberries both contain a high level of antioxidants as most berries do, as well as a lot of vitamin C. An interesting fact I recently learned about fresh fruit versus dry fruit is the nutrition content is greatly diminished in the drying process. Some might say, "well, duh!", but honestly, I didn't think it had as strong an effect as I found out it does. Read here to learn more; it turns out you may also take in a greater number of calories and sugars when eatting fruit dried since the pieces of fruit are smaller, and therefore you may unconsciously eat a lot more than a single serving size. 

The reason I bring up dried fruit vs fresh fruit is because this recipe originally called for dried fruit which I used the first time, but when I found out fresh is (obviously) better, I opted for some chopped cherries instead that I had recently picked up at the local fruit stand. So, feel free to use dry instead for convenience, but just keep in mind that the nutritional value is not the same.

However, dried fruit is a much better on-the-go snack alternative to candy and cookies, or any other overly processed, sugary snacks they make for kids these days. Lily LOVES dried fruit, especially prunes, raisins and cranberries. Putting a handful of mixed dried fruit into a ziploc bag or re-usable container (like a snack trap!) along with some nuts is a great snack to take with you for your family on an outting. If you want to stay fresh, of course, you can also simply chop some fruit up and take it with you, or share and apple or an orange.

November Cookies: White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

I used to work at a Crabtree & Evelyn a few years ago and they sold cookies like the ones in the recipe below; they were my favorite! I figured I could try and make them myself, so here is a version that uses whole wheat flour and less sugar than most cookie recipes. The tartness of the cranberries with the delicate white chocolate makes them sweet enough, and the whole wheat flour and oats add the whole grain goodness that make these cookies guilt-free.

White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

    ½ cup sugar

    ½ cup packed brown sugar

    1 cup butter, softened

    2 large eggs

    1 teaspoon vanilla extract

    1 teaspoon baking soda

    ½  teaspoon salt

    1 ½ cups whole wheat flour

    1 ½ cups rolled oats

    1 cup dried cranberries

    1 cup white chocolate chips

Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl, mix the sugars, butter and vanilla together until smooth, then add the eggs one at a time. Bit by bit, add the dry ingredients to the wet, beating until well blended. Once the flour has been added, add the oats and then lastly add the white chocolate chips and cranberries.

Preheat the oven to 350. Drop rounded spoonfuls of cookie dough onto ungreased baking sheets in rows, at least 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-15 minutes in oven on center rack until golden brown. Allow to cool before serving and then enjoy.

Once again I did not have an image of them readily available, but this picture courtesy cookingchanneltv.com looks a lot like how mine turned out the last time I made them

Cranberries are a well-known diuretic that help prevent urinary track infection, and help your bladder in general. Because of this, they are great for helping flush out your system if there are toxins in your body you want to eliminate; I suggest giving some to your baby or child after they’ve had vaccines to help remove toxic preservative chemicals left over from the initial shot (apples and lemon juice are also verygood to help draw out the aluminum found in most vaccines). Cranberriesalso contain a fair amount of anti-oxidants, vitamin C, manganese andfiber. They’re also in season now, and these cookies would even make a great treat for after your big Thanksgiving meal this year.

These cookies are great for little ones the same way the Honey, Flax ‘n Almond Cookies are since they use whole wheat flour; honey can also be used in place of sugar if you want, just use about 25% less (3/4 cup).

Here is a bonus recipe since it’s flu season now and my little Lily has a little cold right now, giving her the runniest nose I have ever seen. Since she hasn’t quite mastered soup yet, I made her some chicken broth-infused pasta for dinner yesterday which she gobbled up, and it genuinely seemed to make her feel a lot better. Here it is below:

Lily-style Chicken Noodle Soup

1 cup chicken broth (preferably organic)

¼ cup small-shaped pasta (I used alphabet shapes)

1 clove garlic, diced

1 tsp olive oil

Sauté the garlic in the olive oil in a small pot for about 3 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil, then add the pasta and cook until fairly soft, or to your child’s preference. Serve the pasta strained from the broth, but still very wet. Add a little grated cheese like Parmesan (Lily’s favorite) to entice your tike even more, but just a little as the dairy could make their phlegm thicker. You can also add chopped veggies, like peas and carrots, to this soup; I would’ve, but not only was I out of any ready-to-use frozen veggies, but Lily has also been quite picky due to her little cold. You can keep the broth for other uses, or just drink it yourself (I gave it to Paul since he’s been sick too, hence why Lily now is and why I most likely will be by the weekend d%@%it!). 

Num-num pasta

My little sickface. She likes to take her bibs off now as you can see

Do you have any sick-busting recipes you’re kids enjoy that you’d like to share? Tell me about them in the comments! Have a great weekend!