Stuffed Carrot Bran Muffins

Stuffed Carrot Bran Muffins

1 1/4 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon, divided
1 1/2 cups grated carrot
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2 cups bran flakes, crushed to 1 cup
2 oz. light cream cheese, cut in 12 pieces
2 teaspoons sugar

• Combine ingredients, stir just until moistened. Divide half of batter into paper lined muffin cups. Place 1 piece of cream cheese in the center of each and place remaining batter over cream cheese. 
• Combine remaining 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and sugar
• Sprinkle sugar over top of each muffin
• Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Notes: I added about 2 tablespoons of coconut and a few raisins. I used fat-free cream cheese and it cooked perfectly. These are awesome bran muffins!

Jan's Dilly Bread

JAN'S DILLY BREAD

1 package (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup cottage cheese, heat to lukewarm
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon minced dried onion (optional - I left it out, on purpose)
1 tablespoon softened butter
2 teaspoons dill seed
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
2 1/4 cups flour (more if needed) 

•  Dissolve yeast in warm water. Combine warm cottage cheese, sugar, mince onion, butter, dill seed, salt, soda, and egg. Stir to combine.

•  Stir in yeast mixture gently, then add flour gradually, stirring gently.
•  Cover dough with plastic wrap and allow to rise until double in bulk (about 1 hour). Punch down dough, then turn into a well-buttered round baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 45 more minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake bread in lower half of the oven for 40 to 50 minutes.  Brush top with melted butter after baking. Serve warm with butter.

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Notes:  I got this recipe off of The Pioneer Woman website. I didn't have a round glass dish to bake this in so I placed some corn meal on my pizza pan and flattened the dough out just a bit and it worked just fine.  I'm going to try this with caraway seeds next time. Don't worry about the cottage cheese. Once it is baked, no one will ever guess it has cottage cheese in it. I used the fat-free cottage cheese and this bread baked perfectly.  Gene loved this bread!

Bake on a pizza pan if you don't have a round glass pan.

You can see cottage cheese here but you'll never know it's in there once it's baked!!

Homemade Hot Chocolate

Homemade 
Hot Chocolate

1 cup half-n-half or skim milk 
1 tablespoon cocoa
2 teaspoons sugar (or more!)

Optional: 
Drop a peppermint candy in the cup before serving. 

Or use a candy cane as a stirrer.  I called that a Peppermint Patty.

Or add a pinch of cinnamon for a taste of Mexico.

Heat milk in microwave.
Add cocoa & sugar.

Rocket yourself to warmer places.
P.S. Use skim milk & Splenda if you're watching your calories or diabetic. 

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I forget how much I love homemade hot cocoa. I was looking in the cupboard the other day and I have two containers of cocoa. With the weather being so cold outside, I thought, "why don't I make Gene a cup of cocoa!"  I don't know if I've ever made him the homemade stuff before but I think he's hooked.  I don't like that packaged stuff you add to water.  Yuck.  Trust me. If you try this recipe, you'll never go back to watered down hot chocolate again, ever.  Stay warm people!!!!

Potato Crepes

Potato Crepes (made with leftover mashed potatoes)

1 cup leftover mashed potatoes
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp onion powder (optional)
1/4 tsp white pepper
2 eggs

Pour milk into mixing bowl. Add two eggs. Add flour, salt, onion powder & pepper. Mix. Add mashed potatoes last. You can mix this with a whisk. Mixture should be thin.

Pour onto a hot griddle and cook like a pancake. The thinner they are, the better! NOTE: If you are going to make them with any sweet fillers, SKIP the onion powder. I skip the onion powder anyway ... I don't like it!

We filled ours with raspberries & sprinkle a little powdered sugar on top. Gene made a mixture of jam & sour cream to fill his. This is a great way to use up leftover mashed potatoes.

 

Yum!

Hopped Up Turkey Sandwich

I love lunch time. It's the hour I live for during my work day. Everybody in my office knows it, too! It means half the work day is over and at 1:01 p.m., we're on the down slide to 5 o'clock.


This is my favorite sandwich in the whole world!  Today, I made it on a couple of slices of home-made English Muffin bread.


Spread a little fat free cream cheese on the bread, add thinly sliced cucumbers and jalapenos, add the turkey.  Throw some green olives in a container on the side.  Mmmm ...


I can hardly wait til lunch!

Homemade English Muffins

Cher gave me this recipe last year. I heart it! There is no kneading involved. So easy to throw together the ingredients, put it in the fridge and have fresh made bread or muffins for up to 7 days. I made a batch yesterday. So yummy on a cold winter day. I hope you'll try it.

Homemade English Muffins

2 C lukewarm water

2 C buttermilk (Adjust this accordingly. Better to add in more flour later than have it too dry)

1 1/2 TBLS yeast (or 2 packets)

1 1/2 TBLS salt

1 1/2 TBLS sugar

6 1/2 cups flour (I use 4 c white, 2 1/2 c whole wheat)

Mix yeast, salt, sugar, water buttermilk. Stir in flour. No kneading required. Dough will be soft and wettish. Let sit loosely covered for about 2 hours. Then refrigerate covered but not airtight for 3-plus hours.  Use within the next 7 days.  Makes 3 1/2 pound loaves (or lots of English muffins).

For loaves, dust top of dough with flour and pull off a 1 1/2 lb. piece (cantaloupe size) ball and form into a ball that you stretch into an oval and drop into a greased loaf pan. Let dough rest for 1 hour 45 min.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slash top of bread with a knife 3 or 4 times, then brush with a litte melted butter.  Bake for 45 minutes and cool completely (we can never wait this long) before slicing to get good slices.

For English Muffins, get out as much dough as you want to use and roll out on a cornmeal covered board to 1/2 " thickness. I use my hands but you can use a rolling pin if you feel like it. Cut out muffins with round cutter (I use a drinking glass).  Let rest 30 minutes.  Heat non-stick electric skillet to 350 degrees and cook on each side for 5 minutes.  You're gonna love these!  They are better than store-bought.