Secret magic muffins

I make fresh baked muffins every day. Haha! Well I do, and I'm only sort if bragging because I have discovered a dirty little secret. 

The Quaker Oatmeal Muffin mix will take anything at all - like on this entire planet -added to it and it will come out a decent muffin. No recipes, no worry about measuring or having the exact ingredients in the cupboard, just throw stuff in and make em awesome. 

The magnitude of this is the equivalent to when I got my vitamix and realized I could get my kids to eat kale in a smoothie. I'll state it clearly for you. Kids will eat anything in a chocolate chip muffin. I mean. Of course they will. Chocolate chips!

I keep a bin in the car for the drive to gymnastics, and put them in lunches, nothing for breakfast? Perfect.ive got muffins.

The best part is that as long as I have a couple eggs, and muffin mix I can have something hot, filling and relatively healthy in minutes. Granted they are not gluten free, or dairy free, and the mix may not be as organic, or clean as I would like. But this is my compromise, and in our busy house, I'm cool with compromise.

Things I have been adding recently:

Pumpkin purée

Pumpkin pie spice mix

Raisins

Chocolate chips

Flax seeds

Extra eggs(I almost always add 3-4 eggs-I like them eggy)

A couple handfuls of oats

Hemp seeds

Grated zucchini

Grated carrot

Currants

Cooked quinoa

And the show stopper??? 

Chopped crabapples. 

These are spectacular. I didn't peel or core them. Just washed, removed stems and cut into eight pieces. Seriously. The crabapples are soooooooo good in these. 

Anyways, now you know my secret.

Let me know if you come up with anymore ideas!

Crunchie bits

Crunchie bits go on anything. They are delicious, and can keep in the fridge. They make plain roasted veggies a gourmet delicacy. Simple pasta and cheese is so good with them. 

The first dish I made them for was rice- pasta with steamed cauliflower, simple creamy cheese sauce and crunchie bits. The pasta was great. Goes so well with cauliflower. Make sure you steam cauliflower until it is just slightly tender-never mushy. For the sauce I don't have a recipe because I made it up, but any light cream/cheese sauce will work. The crunchie bits are awesome. This pic is totally lame because I took it the next day when I had it for leftovers...which I highly recommend.

The other dish I made crunchie bits for this week was roasted squash with garlic sauce, quinoa and fish sticks. This went over surprisingly well with the kids. Again the crunchie bits took it to a whole new level.

Crunchie bits:

1 onion

Bread crumbs (or stale bread to make your own)

Salt

Chile (or chil powder)

Olive oil

The key is to cut your onion very fine. I use the vitamix. Peel the onion and quarter it. Put in vitamix with lots of water. Pulse until onion is chopped to the size of course ground sugar. Strain the onions with a seive.

Put onions with splash of olive oil on medium heat and crispify until starting to turn golden. Add bread crumbs, salt and chile powder to taste as you toast the bits until they are crunchie. Spoon into a bowl with a spoon to serve.

Creamy beans

When I was in Spain, many years ago, I had this bean dish that blew my mind. It looked totally plain, no added veggies or spices that I could see, it was served in a cafeteria style restaurant with rice and a salad. It was amazing. I've been trying to recreate it ever since. It's been too long to remember the flavours exactly, but these ones I did the other night were really good.

I mixed a can of white pinto beans and a can if garbanzo beans with a splash of olive oil, a pat of butter, half a clove of crushed garlic, some salt and a teeny bit of good quality Apple Cider Vinegar. I warmed them on the stove with some water to let them soften a little. Then I blended them a little with the hand mixer. 

Super yummy. Be sure to check seasons because you want them just a little salty, with a mild full flavour. These are a good all- purpose side dish. We ate with quinoa and sautéed string beans, but I think I'll be making them very often.

Strawberry Ice Cream Smoothie

After all the Kale smoothies and chia seed energy drinks sometimes you just want to drink something that tastes just like strawberries, childhood and summer....Without the fibre. After our trip to Saskatoon a farms where we picked, then froze three buckets of ripe, juicy, strawberries, we have been drinking these a lot.

These have minimal ingredients, but each one is critical. Fresh lemon juice is the secret ingredient to getting that magical nostalgic straw-berry milkshake taste. 

One could substitute the milk for a dairy free option. I haven't tested that. 

I bought this bucket of local honey from Water Valley. Honey is magical and delicious.

Our mason jars are essential for cuteness factor. Lids and straws are curtesy of my lovely friends at the Cannery. 

http://www.the-cannery.ca

Recipe

1.5 cup frozen strawberries

2 peeled and quartered navel oranges

Overflowing tablespoon honey

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Enough organic milk to cover fruit.

Blast in the blender (vitamix does a great job)

What I should be eating

I spent the day at Patterson Springs Farm, and I remembered what I should be eating. How has it taken until mid-July before I actually change out of my winter diet? 

Anyways, the gluten free cornbread needs work, but the concept is right. The simple salad had spring greens, fresh basil, cherry tomatoes, toasted nuts and seeds, and avocado. The dressing was apple cider vinegar, olive oil, honey, garlic and salt. The salad and dressing was just right.

Courgette salad

Farmers market today. Inspired by this salad. It's Jaime Oliver's recipe but I had no mint so I used dill instead. 

Used a potato peeler to slice the courgettes. Fresh peas are so magical. We are eating it with wild grain mushroom risotto, and I really wish I had a nice slice of fresh white fish to go with it. Next time. :)

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/courgette-salad-with-mint-garlic-red-chilli-lemon-and-extra-virgin-olive-oil

Librarian cheesecakes

There are a lot of recipes for these online and to be honest I didn't really even need a recipe to make these. They were super easy and quick... They are delicious...not exactly my definition of healthful... But I did make some alterations to make them better for my family than some versions, and in my definition they are a good special treat. Perfect for the freezer to put in special lunches or as quick snacks before gymnastics or swim team.

For the bottom layer I just crushed graham crackers in the vitamix, and spooned them into the jars.

The middle layer is cream cheese (two blocks), plain yogurt, sour cream, lemon rind and sweetener. You could use honey, maple syrup or stevia. I whipped this in the mixer and it went deliciously light and fluffy. 

The top layer is just mixed frozen berries warmed over the stove top. I put a few drops of orange and tangerine essential oil in the warmed fruit aswell as some sweetener. Just add honey or syrup to taste. This is equally good sugar free with Stevia. I like it tart so I don't need much sweetener. Also I am really excited for summer peaches for this, or any fresh fruit that is in season. In that case, if they are perfectly ripe, I won't heat them or add sugar. I will just slice them and put them in the middle layer- after the graham crackers.

If you are heating the fruit sure to cool it before adding ontop. 

You can be super relaxed with proportions. I honestly didn't even measure. If it tastes divine when you are licking the spoon, I'm sure it's perfect. Just try to get some in the jars before your taste testing results in you devouring the entire bowl...   ;)

Then just pop in the freezer. Couldn't be easier. I want to get more tiny mason jars as this would be perfect as a tiny dessert...adorables.