Cooking in Pajamas

Inspired by Joy of Baking . Muffins 1 c. All-purpose flour 1 c. Whole wheat flour 1/4 c. Ground flax seeds (optional) 1/4 tsp Salt 3/4 tsp Baking soda 1/2 tsp Cinnamon 1/2 c. Vegetable oil 1/2 c. White sugar 1 large egg 1/2 c. Milk (3.5%) 1 can (14 fl. oz) Crushed pineapple Zest from one large navel orange 1/2 c. Almonds Pineapple Glaze 1/4 c. White sugar 1/4 c. Pineapple juice Preheat the oven to 350°F. Toast the almonds until lightly browned, about 8 min.  Cool and chop into small pieces.  Set aside. Line muffin pan with paper liners or grease with nonstick spray. Whisk together the flour, ground flax seed, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda. Strain the pineapple and collect the juice. Transfer about 2/3 cup of the pineapple juice to a measuring cup and top up to 3/4 cup with milk.  Stir to mix.  The milk may start to curdle a little but it's ok. In another bowl, beat the oil and sugar together. Add the egg and beat until incorporated....

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen . 1 cup All-purpose flour 1 cup Whole wheat flour 1 tbsp Baking powder 1/2 tsp Salt 1/2 cup Butter, diced and keep cold 1/2 cup Whipping cream 3 Eggs 1 1/4 cup Old Cheddar cheese, diced or shredded 1 clove Garlic, minced 1/2 cup Red onion, diced Preheat oven to 400°F.  Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper. In a small frying pan, melt about 1/2 tbsp of butter and sauté the onions and garlic until soft. Place the sautéed onion and garlic mixture in the freezer to cool quickly. Transfer the onion and garlic mixture in a small bowl with the cheddar cheese.  Coat them lightly with a little bit of flour. Whisk to combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in the remaining butter with a pastry blender or a fork until the butter is pea-sized lumps. Lightly whip 2 eggs with the cream and add to the flour-butter mixture. Fold the mixture until it begins to come together to form a dough.  The doug...

Adapted from  Gooey Cinnamon Biscuits  by  Two Peas and their Pod . Biscuits 2 cup All-purpose flour 2/3 cup Rolled oats 1 tbsp Brown sugar 2 tsp Baking powder 1tsp Cinnamon 1/2 tsp Salt 2 cup Heavy cream (or 1/4 cup unsalted butter + 1 3/4 cup whole milk) 2 Apples, medium size, cut into 1 cm cubes Filling 6 tbsp Brown sugar 2 tsp Cinnamon Toppings 1 Apple, medium size, cut into thin slices 1/3 cup Confectioner's sugar 1tsp Vanilla extract Preheat oven to 425°F. Lightly greased a 9x9" baking pan or use a silicone mold. For the filling, combine brown sugar and cinnamon with a fork. Mix well. Take 1-1.5 tbsp of this mixture and sprinkle over the sliced apples; toss to coat. Set aside the remaining sugar mixture aside. For the biscuit, mix together the flour, rolled oats, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Break up any clumps of brown sugar. Make a well with the flour mixture and pour in the heavy cream. (Al...

Adapted from Kary Osmond 's Best Recipes Ever - Canada's Best Carrot Cake Cupcake 2 c. Whole wheat flour 2 tsp Baking powder 2 tsp Cinnamon 1 tsp Baking soda 1/2 tsp Salt 1/2 tsp Nutmeg 1/2 cup White sugar 1/2 cup Brown sugar 3 eggs 3/4 c. Vegetable oil 1 tsp Vanilla 2 c. Carrots, grated (or use the food processor to chop) 1 c. Crushed pineapple, drained Icing 1 pkg Cream cheese, room temperature 1/4 c. Butter, room temperature 1/2 tsp Vanilla 1/2 - 3/4 c. Icing sugar Decoration 1 c. Coconut flakes, unsweetened, medium coarseness Blue food colouring Jumbo chocolate chips Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Line the muffin pan with paper liners. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. In another bowl, beat together the vegetable oil and sugars until smooth.  Add one egg at a time, beat until well mixed.  Add vanilla and beat until combined. Add the dry ingredient to the wet.  Stir until just combine...

Adapted from AllRecipes 's To Die For Blueberry Muffins Muffin 1 c. All-purpose flour 1/2 c. Rolled oats 2/3 c. Brown sugar 1/2 tsp Salt 2 tsp Baking powder 1/3 cup Vegetable oil 1 Egg ~1/3 c. Milk 1 c. Blueberries, fresh or frozen Streusel Toppings 1/3 c. Brown sugar 1/6 c. All-purpose flour 1/6 c. Rolled oats 1/4 c. Unsalted butter, cubed 1.5 tsp Ground cinnamon Preheat oven to 400 ° F.  Line muffin pan with paper liners. For the streusel topping, combine the ingredients in a bowl.  Smush the ingredients around with the finger tips but do not over-handle the butter.  Cold butter is necessary for great streusel toppings.  Set this aside while making muffin batter. For the muffin batter, whisk together the flour, rolled oats, brown sugar, salt and baking powder. Measure the vegetable oil into a large measuring cup.  Whisk in the egg.  Then, add enough milk to make the volume up to 1 cup.  (I used 1 large egg and I used a litt...

8-9 c. Apples, peeled, cored and cubed 3-4 Tbsp Fresh lemon juice 1 Cinnamon stick 1/4 - 1/2 c. Brown sugar 1.5 c. Water 4 strips Lemon peel Place the apples in a large sauce pan. Add water, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, cinnamon stick, 1/4 c. brown sugar and lemon peel. Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 20 min. Adjust the amount of lemon juice and brown sugar according to your taste. Remove the lemon peels and cinnamon stick.  Mash the apples with a potato masher. My comment: My friend and I took our boys to a local apple orchard a few weekends ago and we came home with way too many MacIntosh apples for us to eat by themselves.  So I decided to make some applesauce and I found this wonderful recipe on Simply Recipe  that promised a hint of citrus flavour in the applesauce.  My family loves lemony treats, so I was rather excited about this recipe. As always, I didn't follow the recipe to the dot.  I ended up with a lemon-flavoured a...

2 slices Bread, thick slices 2 Eggs 1/3 c. Milk 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract 1 c. Special K cereal 1 c. Rolled oats Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly toast the bread. Set aside and allow them to cool. Cut the bread in half. Whisk together the eggs, milk and vanilla extract. Soak the bread in the egg mixture for approximately 1 min on each side. Mix together the Special K and rolled oats in a shallow dish. Carefully transfer the soaked bread to the crunchy mix and coat the bread on both sides. Line the cookie sheet with a Silpat (or a silicone mat or parchment paper). Bake the French toast for 10 min, flip them and bake for another 5 min. Top and bottom of the toast should be brown. Serve warm with butter and maple syrup. My comments: I am a huge fan of baked french toast. I love this recipe with the baguette because I can prepare it ahead of time and it tastes great.  Not to mention I totally suck at frying french toast on the stove top because I always...

2/3 c. Vegetable oil 1/3 c. Unsweetened applesauce 1 c. Brown sugar, unpacked 2 Eggs 1 tsp Vanilla extract 2 c. Flour 1 tsp Baking soda 1/2 tsp Baking powder 1/2 tsp Salt 1.5 tsp Cinnamon powder 2 c. Rolled oats 1 c. Special K cereal 1/4 c. Coconut shreds, unsweetened, medium 1/2 c. Flax seeds 1/2 c. Sesame seeds, toasted 3/4 c. Sunflower seeds, unsalted 3/4 c. Raisins Preheat oven to 350 ˚F. Creamed together the vegetable oil, applesauce and brown sugar using an electric beater.  Beat in eggs one at a time.  Stir in vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, combined the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  Stir into creamed mixture. Stir in oats, Special K, coconut shreds, flax seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds and raisins. Drop a walnut-size ball of cookie dough on a Silpat  or greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 min.  Check the cookies around 8 min.  They should be done when the edges start to brown.  ...

Fresh strawberries Basil (dry or fresh) Honey 1-2 tbsp Light cream (or 2% evaporated milk) Whipped cream Mash up a handful of strawberries. Sprinkle a little bit of dried basil.  (Alternatively, you can add some finely chopped fresh basil leaves.) Drizzle a little bit of honey over the strawberries and add the light cream.  Mix. Top with whipped cream. My comments: My little guy loves fruits but even he is getting a little tired of the plain boring things I feed him on a regular basis.  So tonight I thought I'd jazz up the strawberries a bit and see if I can fool him into eating the last of the strawberries. When I was young, my grandmother used to cut the strawberries into cubes and serve them with white sugar and evaporated milk.  I loved the taste of it and I knew my son would too.  I had some light cream at home and I sweetened the dessert with a drizzle of honey.  Honey is a natural sugar which is a healthier choice of sweetener than...

1/4 - 1/2 c. Your favourite fruits (bananas, mangoes, blackberries, strawberries, etc.) 2-3 Tbsp Plain yogurt 2 Tbsp Special K cereal Honey Combine the fruits, yogurt and Special K cereal in a bowl. Drizzle some honey on top for taste. Mix and serve immediately. My comments: I love yogurt but a small 100 g of flavoured yogurt contains 15 g of sugar. Although the sugar is supposed to be "natural", from the fruits, 15 g is equivalent to approximately 1.4 Tbsp of sugar and it tastes quite sweet. So I've decided that if I'm going to be eating that much sugar, I might as well get it straight from the source, especially summer time is the best time to stuff ourselves with fresh fruits. I tried this without adding the honey but the plain yogurt was a bit bland for my palette. But I think drizzling a small amount of honey is still better than eating flavoured yogurt because it is definitely less sugary and I can also control the level of sweetness better th...

Banana Bread 1.5-2 c. Ripe banana, mashed (approximately 2-3 large bananas) 1 c. Sour cream, fat free ½ c. Vegetable oil 1 c. Brown sugar (do not pack down) 2 Eggs, room temperature 2 tsp Vanilla 3 c. All purpose flour 2 tsp Baking powder 2 tsp Baking soda 1.5 tsp Cinnamon ¼ tsp Salt Chocolate Sauce 2 c. Unsweeten dark chocolate wafers 3 tbsp Butter ½ tsp Vanilla extract Preheat oven to 350˚F. Butter bundt pan if not using silicone mold. Combine banana and sour cream. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil and brown sugar. Beat in one egg at a time. Then stir in the vanilla and the banana mixture. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Slowly stir into the banana mixture. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate wafers with the butter. Add vanilla. Put 1/3 of the banana bread batter in the bundt pan and then add ½ of the chocolate sauce on top of the batter. Careful not to get chocolate on the side of the pan. Repeat with more batter, chocolate ...

Crepes 3/4 c. All purpose flour 1 c. Milk 1 Egg Sprinkle of salt 1 tsp Butter 1 tsp Olive oil Filling 5-6 White mushrooms, sliced 1/2 Red onion, sliced 2 c. Baby spinach, wilted Swiss cheese Olive oil Salt and pepper to taste Sauté the onions for a few minutes with small amount of olive oil. Then add in the mushroom and cook until the liquids (sweat from the mushroom) are gone. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside. Using the same frying pan, heat the baby spinach until just wilted. Set aside. Whisk together the flour and milk until smooth. Add egg. Set aside for 1 minute. Melt together the butter and olive oil in the microwave for about 20 seconds. Heat a large non-stick frying pan. To test the temperature, sprinkle some water on the pan and it should sizzle. Reduce the heat to medium. Lightly coat the surface of the pan with the oil mixture using a silicone brush. Pour 1/4 cup of crepe batter onto the pan and swirl quickly to spread the batter as much as possible. Cook for ...

4 Eggs 3/4 c. Milk 1 tbsp Honey Dijon mustard 1/4 tsp Salt 1/2 tsp Pepper 5 c. Bread (approx. 5 slices) 1 c. Cheese, shredded (eg. Mozzarella, Cheddar, Swiss...anything you like) 1/2 c. Ham, cubed 1/2 Onion, medium size, diced 12 Cherry tomatoes , sliced in half Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter the muffin pan or use a silicone muffin mold or liner. Whisk together the eggs, milk, mustard, salt and pepper. Stir in the bread, cheese, onion and ham in to the egg mixture until evenly coated. Spoon into muffin pan and drizzle in any leftover liquid. Place 1-2 halves of the cherry tomatoes on each muffin. Bake for approximately 25 min. The muffins should be golden on top and the toothpicked inserted in the center should come out clean. Cool on rack for 10 min before serving. My comments: I received a Got Milk calendar for free in the mail. There are tons of recipes that looks delicious and probably easy to do. Most of the recipes use ingredients that can be easily be found around the house on...

2 Eggs 1/2 c. Milk 1/2 c. All-purpose flour, sifted 1 pinch Ground nutmeg 1 pinch Salt 1 tbsp Butter 1 tsp Pure vanilla extract Ground cinnamon 2 tbsp Confection sugar (optional) Place a 9-in. glass casserole dish in the oven and preheat to 450°F. Warm up the milk in the microwave for 20 sec. Warm up the eggs in a bowl of hot tap water for 5 min. Combine flour, nutmeg, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk until light. Then add the milk and vanilla extract. Gradually whisk in the dry ingredient. Remove the glass dish from the oven and lower the oven temperature to 350°F. Drop the butter onto the glass dish and spread the butter around the dish with a brush (make sure the sides are buttered). Pour the batter into the glass dish and bake at 350°F for 15 min, or until the top is puffed and golden brown. (Check the pancake after 10-12 min.) Remove the pancake from the oven and serve with confection sugar or maple syrup. My comments: I found this Dutc...

1/2 c. Vegetable oil 1/2 c. White sugar 3 Large eggs 1 tsp Pure vanilla extract 2 c. Flour 1/2 tsp Baking powder 1/2 tsp Baking soda 1/4 tsp Salt 1 tsp Ground cinnamon 3/4 c. Sour cream (or plain yogurt) 3/4 c. Fresh blueberries 3/4 c. Fresh ripe mangos 1 c. Walnut pieces, chopped Preheat oven to 350˚F. Toast walnut pieces for 8 minute on a baking sheet. Set aside and let cool. Cut the mangoes into cubes and set aside with the blueberries. (If you don't know how to cut a mango, check out Elise's instructions on her Simply Recipes blog. She gave detailed instructions with fantastic photos to follow along.) Beat the oil and sugar together for about 1 minute. Add eggs one at a time, beat well. Beat in vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add the flour mixture and sour cream alternately, starting and ending with the flour. Fold in the blueberries, mango and walnuts. Spray the insides of two 9x5x3" loaf pans. Di...

1/2 c. Butter 1/2 c. White sugar 3 Large eggs 1 tsp Pure vanilla extract 2 c. Flour 1/2 tsp Baking powder 1/2 tsp Baking soda 1/4 tsp Salt 1 tsp Ground cinnamon 3/4 c. Sour cream (or plain yogurt) 1 1/2 c. Fresh strawberries, chopped Preheat oven to 350˚F. Spray the side and bottom of a 9x5x3" loaf pan. Beat the butter until soft (~ 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beat well. Beat in vanilla. (The mixture curdles a little bit at this point but it should go away after the addition of the remaining ingredients.) In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add the flour mixture and sour cream alternately, starting and ending with the flour. Fold in the strawberries. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and smooth out the top. Bake for approximately 50-60 minute, until the top is golden brown and the toothpick comes out clean. If the top is golden brown but the center is not cooked, turn off the hea...