Baking

Hearty Oatmeal Bake

14 Mar 2013

Hearty Oatmeal Bake is an easy recipe that will stick to your family’s ribs. I got this recipe from my Mother-in-Law and with a few clean eating alterations, it’s the perfect breakfast treat!

Six ingredients that are in most pantries, coconut oil, eggs, milk, sugar, quick oats and baking powder.

It’s easy to make the night before while dinner is cooking. Once we are eating, I throw it in the oven. By the time the kid has had a book and is in bed, its done. Ready for the next morning.

To serve, cut out a square, heat in the microwave for 30 seconds, add maple syrup and a splash of milk. I hope your family enjoys it as much as we do. An easy nutritious way to get your family started in the morning. Here’s the recipe:

Hearty Oatmeal Bake

1/2 cup coconut oil

2 eggs

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cups sugar

3 cups quick oats

2 tsp baking powder

Directions: mix together oil, sugar and eggs. Add oatmeal, baking powder, milk and blend. Pour into a greased 8×8 baking pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 mins.

Enjoy!

By: PomegranateGrl Category: Food Tags: Baking, cooking, Recipes

A Funny Story about Cookies

15 Jan 2013

1 Comment

Griff and I made cookies on Sunday. I altered an apple sauce recipe that we made last year. The alterations made them better, in my opinion anyway. Once they were out of the oven and cooled off, Griff enjoyed one. Well, at least he looked as though he enjoyed it. I asked if he wanted another. He politely responded, “No thank you,” he was ready to get down and play. It was odd, but didn’t think much of it. Later that evening, my dear husband took a few bites of a cookie. He asked if it was another one of my “healthy creations?” I responded, yes, aren’t they good! To which he said, “I don’t really care for them” and left the remainder of the cookie on the counter. The following day at lunchtime, Griff devoured his lunch. I was so proud and said, “Wow, that was fast! Do you want a cookie for dessert?” He turned away and said “No thank you, I am full.” What? He didn’t want a cookie? So I quickly asked “Griff, do you not like the cookies?” he just looked at me, like a deer in headlights (I know this look well from his Father). “It’s okay Griffin, you can tell me.” He shyly muttered “Mommy, I don’t really like the cookies.” I broke out laughing. He just looked at me in shock, I think worried that he might offend me by his admission. “It’s okay,” I said “Daddy didn’t like them either.” His face lighted up. “Oh good!” He cheered, “Does this mean we can make real cookies now?”

Sure kid. Sure. I do have the recipe if anyone IS interested. Although, I don’t believe this story is the best way to market my healthy baked goods! Let me know if you want it, and I can post it!

Happy Baking!

By: PomegranateGrl Category: The Pomegranate Chronicles Tags: Baking, Food, misses

Weekending

14 Jan 2013

3 Comments

:: a wonderful weekend to be sure.
:: Friday lunch with Grammie Fuji for a bento box.

:: a slow Saturday morning with Ms. Elna.
:: one step closer to assembling the top of my quilt.

: crustless quiche for breakfast in a beautiful red Christmas present

: a successful test for my green belt (I am intermediate now, yay!)

:: a warmer than average Sunday leading to a foggy, yet refreshing walk in the woods.

:: fresh 100% whole wheat bread rolls for the week.

:: paperwhites blooming beautifully (although, not a fan of the smell).

:: a bit of nervous knitting during the Pats game (GO PATRIOTS!)
:: a nice hotty toddy to relax those nerves and settle into Downton Abbey.

A quiet and wonderful family weekend. Did you do anything fun?

By: PomegranateGrl Category: The Pomegranate Chronicles Tags: Baking, Food, quilting, Tae Kwon Do, TKD, weekending

Queasy Bake Oven – Cooking Mixes for Boys

7 Jan 2013

1 Comment

A family friend’s son turned five last week. Knowing how hard it is to have a birthday so close to Christmas, I really try to be creative each year with his gift. Last year, we got him a nice chef hat, mixing utensils, an oven mitt and all the supplies needed to make cupcakes. The kid likes to cook. His Mom and Dad are foodies and spend time in the kitchen. Just after Christmas, my friend posted a picture of this, now five year old, using a hand-me-down Easy Bake Oven. He looked like he was having a blast. Then, it clicked for me…he needed some Easy Bake Oven Recipes for boys. After doing some research, I found this great post from Budget101.com with all kinds of Easy Bake Oven Recipes. When scrolling through all of the great recipes, I saw the short list of “Queasy Bake Oven” recipes, and there my idea was born! Why not take the same recipes and give them yucky, gross names? So here goes…

I took some snack size ziplock bags, added the ingredients and sealed it up. From there, I put them in brown paper bags. Then I made cute labels with bugs and changed the names of the recipes to peek the interest of any little boy. Then to finish the boy look, I tied each brown bag with twine.

Which recipes did I use from the Budget101.com recipes?

Yellow Cake Mix became Yucky Yellow Mix.

Snow Mound Mix became Snowball Fight Cookies

The Creepin’ Crud Chocolate Mix stayed the same, cuz let’s face it, it’s cool.

Then, to explore what other things they could make in their oven, I used Ken’s Deep Dish Pizza recipe. I changed the name to Dirty Dish Pizza (I do feel sorry about this one, Ken seems to really know his pizza, but it’s for the kid!)

I made two packages of each and also included a quick flip book of other recipes from EBOrecipes.com.

Cheesy Bake Hot Dogs became Tader Toes
English Muffin Pizzas became Brain Muffin Pizza
Lasagna became Lizard Lovin’ Lasagna
Quick Quesadillas became Quick Flying Saucers

I also included two of my family frosting recipes:

Fishy Frosting
Ingredients:
1 Large Egg
½ tsp cream of tartar
1 lb confectioners’ sugar

Directions: Beat the white of one large egg with ½ tsp cream of tartar until foamy. Slowly beat in 1lb confectioners’ sugar until stiff peaks form. Keep covered with a damp cloth.

Cruddy Cream Cheese Frosting
(adapted from Cream Cheese Frosting by foodnetwork.com)
Ingredients:
4 ounces unsalted butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions: In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer. With the mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar a cup at a time until smooth and creamy. Beat in the vanilla extract.

With all that packaged in a birthday bag, I think we did pretty good this year. Griffin loved them so much, he wants an Easy Bake Oven now! I better keep my eyes out at the thrift stores!

Happy Baking!

By: PomegranateGrl Category: Food, The Pomegranate Chronicles Tags: Baking, boys, cooking, easy, Recipes

Clover Inspired Chocolate Chip Muffins

21 Oct 2012

3 Comments

My favorite blueberry muffin recipe in the whole world is from my great bloggy friend Tracy over at Clover. This recipe has become a family favorite for Sunday morning muffins. These bite size clouds of yumminess always comes out perfect. Last week, I had no more blueberries in my freezer, but did come across some semi-sweet chocolate chips in my pantry.

Following Tracey’s recipe, I combined all the dry ingredients in a bowl.

Then I creamed the sugar and butter.

I added a splash more milk until I got the right “muffin” consistency in the mix. Then I simply added the chocolate chips.

This muffin recipe is simply fantastic!

I now want to try cranberries and walnut muffins…apple muffins…or maybe apricots…Her base recipe can’t be beat! (Thanks Tracey!)

**Note: I also omitted the lemon juice – I just wanted to be sure that was on here too!**

Happy Baking!

By: PomegranateGrl Category: Food Tags: Baking, Food, Recipes

In the Kitchen

23 Sep 2012

2 Comments

Friday night was greeted with a bag full of peppers from the neighbors garden.

This is just a picture of a few of them. I am working through my recipe keeper for all the pepper menu items I can find. I will probably cut up a bunch and put them in the freezer for later use.

Saturday caught me and my favorite Sous Chef working our magic with the mixer.

It makes me so proud to see how much he loves helping in the kitchen. He loves measuring things out and is now starting to help me read the recipes. We baked a loaf of Five Minute Wheat Bread for dipping in olive oil, garlic and rosemary later in the afternoon.

We also worked on a loaf of banana bread. Truth be told, this loaf came out terrible. After trying a few pieces, it went into the trash can. Oh well, can’t win all of them. Do you have a good banana bread recipe to share?

What’s going on in your kitchen?

By: PomegranateGrl Category: The Pomegranate Chronicles Tags: Baking, bread, cooking, in the kitchen, Recipes

Cupcake Cuteness

21 Feb 2012

5 Comments

Inspired by this cupcake by Claire Wise, I decorated some cupcakes to take to our Tae Kwon Do Valentine’s Day party. Although new at confection creativeness, I took a stab at decorating them as beautifully as she did. They are super cute, but I need practice with decorating with icing.

I baked and decorated four dozen for the party. Each row had different colored belts.

All in all, they came out cute and they were a HUGE hit. I enjoyed giving this a try, it has encouraged me to add more cupcake decorating to my 2012 list.

Happy Baking!

By: PomegranateGrl Category: Food Tags: Baking, cooking

Apple Cinnamon Flax Muffins

22 Jan 2012

2 Comments

In my research for healthier eating, I found these menus for low carb eating by Laura Dolson. Although, I am not using the menus, I am taking tips and tricks from them. They do include some great recipes that I have altered to fit our tastes. On menu #2, there is a Apple Flax Muffin recipe. In the menu, she uses this muffin for quick snacks and to eat with breakfast. Here’s the recipe with my changes.

Apple Cinnamon Flax Muffins
(yields 12 muffins)

Ingredients:
1 and 1/4 cup flax seed meal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup Splenda
4 large eggs, beaten
1/8 cup veggie oil
2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 cup applesauce
1 Tablespoon vanilla
2 medium apple, chopped small

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 12-muffin tin very well.
1. Mix the dry ingredients together, then add the rest of them.
2. Let batter stand 10 minutes, then put into the muffin pan and bake for about 18 minutes until toothpick comes out clean and muffins just barely start to pull away from the sides of the tin.

There are still a few changes I’d like to make to these. In my next batch, I’d like to use honey in lieu of Splenda and I’d like to do away with the oil all together. But for now, I know this recipe is really really good.

Do you have a flax seed muffin recipe? I’d love to see a link.

Happy Baking!

By: PomegranateGrl Category: Food, The Pomegranate Chronicles Tags: Baking, Food, Recipes

Sugar Free Cookies

15 Jan 2012

1 Comment

In an attempt to get to know our food better this year, Griff and I decided to forgo our traditional Mommy’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookies and try something a little more healthy. I stumbled across this Applesauce Cookie recipe on Delish.com. This is a great recipe and does not use any butter or sugar (it does contain nuts).

We substituted the raisins in the recipe with dried cranberries, it’s all I had in the cupboard.

I quickly put my sous chef to work measuring, mixing and creaming.

This is a tasty recipe and a great alternative to normal cookies. They are fluffy and tender with sweet blasts from the cranberries and hints of butter from the walnuts. They are not sweet cookies. They remind me a bit of scones, and are perfect with tea. I do think they are worth trying once.

Do you have any applesauce or sugar free cookie recipes?

Happy Baking!

By: PomegranateGrl Category: Food, The Pomegranate Chronicles Tags: Baking, Food, Recipes

A New Home

20 Dec 2011

4 Comments

It’s gingerbread house time. We cheated a little and created a model to paste graham crackers to.

The perfect paste is an old recipe my Mom had from an old magazine.

Royal Frosting Recipe:

Beat the white of one large egg (or more for desired consistency) with 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar until foamy. Slowly beat in 1lb confectioners sugar until stiff peaks form. Keep covered with a damp towel.

Let the decorating begin!

Gum drops, snow caps, peppermints, spearmints and more were used to creatively decorate the house.

Lastly, we added some gingerbread men and Scottie shortbread cookie to the lawn.

Confection Perfection. Merry Christmas!

By: PomegranateGrl Category: Food, The Pomegranate Chronicles Tags: Baking, Holidays

1 2 3 4

Baking

Hearty Oatmeal Bake

A Funny Story about Cookies

Weekending

Queasy Bake Oven – Cooking Mixes for Boys

Clover Inspired Chocolate Chip Muffins

In the Kitchen

Cupcake Cuteness

Apple Cinnamon Flax Muffins

Sugar Free Cookies

A New Home

Welcome!

Categories

Baking

Welcome!

Follow Me:

Chronicles

Categories