watermelon smoothie

Deceptively delicious!  Adapted from Vegetable Carnival.

As for the ingredient list ... hold on to your hats!

~1 C frozen, cubed watermelon
~ 1/2 C almond milk

Cut a watermelon into small cubes and freeze, oh, maybe 2 cups worth (if you freeze on a cookie sheet they won't stick together.) When frozen blend, oh, maybe 1 cup of watermelon.  Add almond milk to desired texture.  I probably end up with 1/2 cup.

It's truly delightful!

The almond milk will be by the soy milk @ the store. I used the vanilla almond milk, but you could probably use the original flavor with just as tasty results. This is my new favorite smoothie!

cinnamon-sugar muffins

AKA: "Muffins that Taste Like Donuts." For reals.

from Tasty Kitchen

1 3/4 C flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 C oil
3/4 C white sugar
1 egg
3/4 C milk

Topping:
1/4 C melted butter
1/3 C white sugar
1 TB cinnamon

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg & cinnamon.
In a separate bowl, combine oil, sugar, egg & milk. Add wet to dry ingredients; stir only to combine.
Bake @ 350 for 15-20 minutes (until golden).
Melt butter in a bowl. Combine sugar & cinnamon in another bowl.
Shake hot muffins out of pan & while hot/warm roll in butter then cinnamon-sugar.
Devour 3 and pretend like you only made 9 instead of 12.**







**Please don't forget this last step. It's vital to the success of this recipe. More importantly, it's vital to the success of our friendship because I need someone to join in my gluttony. Much obliged.

bowtie lasagna

For those of you who are savvier in the kitchen than I, I'm sure you could dink around for a few minutes and come up with this tasty number. For those of you who are more like me, you need a recipe for inspiration and dink-around capabilities. 

Adapted from Tasty Kitchen.

1 lb. ground turkey
~5 C bowtie pasta
3 C (24 oz bottle) your favorite spaghetti sauce
~1 TB olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp Italian seasoning (or basil, oregano, etc.)
3/4 C shredded mozzarella cheese
1/3 C sour cream
fresh parmesan (opt.)

Cook pasta to al dente.

Meanwhile, brown meat in a large skillet.

Drain & rinse pasta. Add to skillet with meet. Drizzle olive oil on top of noodles & lightly toss, but don't stir with meat yet. Add spaghetti sauce and all seasonings. Stir to combine with noodles & meat.

Stir in cheese & sour cream. Allow everything to melt together and warm, about 5 minutes.

**Notes**
Red pepper flakes are totally a matter of preference. I think it gives it a nice little something every now & again, but little ones might not appreciate it. I added more mozzarella and less sour cream than the original recipe, as well. I shredded fresh parmesan on top which was delightful. This reheats really well, too.

Another Muffin Recipe

These muffins are real winners. Probably my favorite muffin recipe to date (though I LOVE the lime/lemon flavor of the last muffins I posted). These are pretty sweet, but definitely muffiny, not cakey, just the way they ought to be. :)

Blueberry Apricot Muffins
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
3 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
1 cup fresh apricots, thinly sliced (about 4 medium)

-Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
-In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
-In a medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk, egg, melted butter and vanilla extract. Pour into dry ingredients and stir until mixture is almost fully combined, then add in the blueberries and apricots – reserving 12 small, thin slices of apricot – and give the batter a few more stirs, just until no streaks of flour remain visible.
-Divide batter evenly into muffin cups (cups will be very full) and garnish each one with one of the small reserved slices of apricot.
-Bake for 18-22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of each muffin comes out clean.
-Turn muffins out of the pan onto wire rack to cool.
-Store leftovers in an airtight container when muffins have cooled completely.

Makes 12

frozen cookie dough balls

QUITE easily the most shameless thing I've made to date. Seriously. These are impossible to justify using any semblance of rational thinking.

However, completely worth it for that cookie dough fix, and no raw egg guilt.

I used peanut butter, but want to try with the Greek yogurt next time. Obviously the PB isn't a problem, just curious about the yogurt. I didn't make the larger balls like the recipe suggests, just normal cookie-size dough balls (yield ~ 20). I figure they'll last longer this way.

Or, at least that's what I'm telling myself.

chocolate chip cookie dough balls

I'm going to make them.

This weekend.

Frozen cookie dough* dipped in chocolate?

Yes, please.

I'll let you know how it goes ...



[Recipe from Joy the Baker]


*for those of you concerned, the recipe doesn't have raw eggs.