Lucky You!

My friend Annjilla has a really fun sort of giveaway/tag going on. So, I'm playing along. Check it out!
Lucky you!
The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

2. What I create will be just for you.

3. It'll be done this year. {might be a little while}

4. You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!

5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.
The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first

5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!

*Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!*

Everyone's favorite muffins.

I also like to call these "Meal in a Muffins", because they make a perfect healthy on the go breakfast or snack.
Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup applesauce
1 banana, mashed
1/2 cup skim milk
1 cup vegetable puree (these work well: pumpkin, zucchini, spinach, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower) Hint: if you use broccoli or cauliflower, reduce the amount to 3/4 cup, as they have a stronger flavor and may be more detectable to the kids!
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs (or substitute 1 tablespoon milled flax seed plus 3 tablespoons water for each egg)
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Sugar in the Raw, or natural (course)sugar for sprinkling on top
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift dry ingredients in medium bowl, set aside. In large bowl, mix wet ingredients, vegetable puree and sugar until well blended. Mix in dry ingredients, add chocolate chips. Pour into greased or paper-lined muffin tins, about 1/4 cup per muffin. Sprinkle tops with course sugar. Bake for 16-18 minutes. Insert toothpick after 16 minutes, if it comes out clean, remove muffins from oven. Do not over bake, as they will tend to dry out.
Another tip is to experiment with the vegetable purees for flavor and texture preferences. I have found that one of my family's favorite is when I use pumpkin (1/2 cup) and carrots (1/2 cup). Add a little dash of nutmeg to the dry mix - yummy! Also try adding 1/3 of a cup of cocoa powder to dry ingredients, and adding a couple of tablespoons of water, as needed, to wet mixture, when using spinach and/or zucchini. These are like brownie muffins - super moist and delicious, almost like a cupcake! Finally, if you're a fan of blueberry muffins, try substituting the chocolate chips with 1 cup of blueberries. Have fun!

Think Pink.

Valentine's Day is quickly approaching, so here's an idea: serve breakfast in bed to your special someone, and make it pink!

We call these "Pink Power Pancakes" at our house, because they're choc full of vitamins and protein.
You can use your favorite store-bought pancake mix (I like Krusteaze brand honey whole wheat), or your own pancake recipe for the dry mix ingredients.
3/4 cup water, or skim milk
1/2 ricotta or low-fat cottage cheese
1/2 can beets, or 1/4 cup beet puree
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup pancake mix
1/4 cup grated apple or unsweetened applesauce
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
In a blender or food processor, combine water, ricotta/cottage cheese, beets or beet puree, apple, vanilla and cinnamon; blend until smooth. Pour into large bowl, add dry mix and stir until combined. Spray a griddle with cooking spray, and set to med/high heat (about 300 deg.) Once the griddle is hot, put vegetable oil on and spread. Spoon the batter on, using about 1/4 for each pancake. Cook until bubbles start to form in batter, then flip and cook for about another minute. To make them extra special, use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the center, serve both parts with syrup, fresh berries, or powdered sugar, and of course, a big glass of milk!

Deceptively Delicious

One morning in 2007 I saw Jessica Seinfeld on the Today Show promoting her new book. I asked Chris to stop at the book store that very day and pick it up for me. I have used it a lot since then, and have varied several of the recipes to fit our family's tastes. Those of you who haven't yet gotten your copy of "Deceptively Delicious", I highly recommend it as an addition to your recipe book library, especially if you have finicky kids, or husbands!
Since many recipes that I share on this blog are from her book, or some variation of a recipe from the book, I just thought I'd give credit where credit is due!

Super Sugar Cookies!

I had a request for the sugar cookie recipe I use, so here it is. This recipe makes soft, delicious cookies. They taste like the kind you buy in the bakery dept. One tip, make sure you don't roll the dough out too thin, or they'll be more crispy. We like them thick and soft!
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups butter, softened (or you can use butter flavor Crisco, which also works great. Just add 6 tblspns. water for every 1 cup Crisco, if you do the substitution.)
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Directions:
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely before frosting.
Here's the frosting recipe I use. Just divide up the batch into small bowls and add food coloring, if you desire.
Ingredients:
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup shortening
5 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
food coloring
Directions:
In a large bowl, cream together the confectioners' sugar and shortening until smooth. Gradually mix in the milk and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth and stiff, about 5 minutes. If frosting is too thick, add more milk to desired consistency.

Egg Nog Pie: For serious Egg Nog lovers only!

In light of the fact that next week is Thanksgiving, or in other words, the official start of culinary indulgences excused until January, I thought I would share my recipe for Egg Nog Pie. This dessert is really delicious and great to take to family gatherings. Any egg nog fan will definitely love this pie.

Ingredients:

1 (4.6 ounce) package of vanilla non-instant pudding mix

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 cups of heavy cream

1 baked deep dish pie shell

1 1/2 cups egg nog

Directions:

In saucepan, combine pudding mix, nutmeg and egg nog. Mix well. Over medium heat, stir constantly until thick and bubbly. Transfer into large bowl, refrigerate until well chilled. In a medium bowl, whip heavy cream to soft peaks. Remove cold pudding from fridge and beat until smooth. Fold in whipped cream. Spoon into pie shell. Sprinkle top lightly with nutmeg. Refrigerate for about 4 hours. Enjoy!

Check this out!

Look at all the cute items and ideas on this fun blog:
www.purplepansyboutique.blogspot.com