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....

1/4 c. Vegetable oil 1/2 c. Brown sugar* 2 tsp Vanilla extract 1/2  tsp Almond extract (optional)* 2 Eggs 1 3/4 c. All purpose flour 1/4 tsp Salt 1 tsp Baking powder 1/2 c. Dried cranberries (mine were pomegranate flavoured) 1/2 c. White chocolate chips*   [Note: Original recipe used 3/4 cups of white sugar instead of brown sugar and it also used the 1/2 tsp of almond extract and 1 1/2 cups of pistachio nuts. Omit salt if using salted pistachios.] Preheat oven to 300°F. Line the cookie sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. Mix oil and sugar together until well combined.  Add vanilla (and almond extract, if using).  Whisk in the eggs one at a time. Combine flour, salt and baking powder.  Slowly stir into the egg mixture.  The dough will be soft and sticky. Fold in the cranberries and white chocolate chips. Divide the dough in half and form two long skinny logs.  Silicone spoons works well for forming the logs since the...

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...

3 bulbs Garlic 2-3 Tbsp Olive oil 1/2 c. Butter, salted 1 Tbsp Fresh parsley, finely chopped or 1/2 Tbsp Dried parsley flakes (optional) 2 Tbsp Frech Parmesan cheese, grated (optional) 1 French baguette (This recipe makes approximately 1 cup of garlic spread.) Preheat the oven to 350 ˚ F. Slice the tops off of the garlic bulbs to expose the tips of the cloves. Place the bulbs in an oven-safe container (or a baking sheet) and drizzle the top with olive oil. Bake for 35-40 min.  The garlic should be soft and slightly browned. When the garlic is cool enough to touch, squeeze the cloves from their skin into a small bowl.  Reserve the olive oil if you used a bowl for roasting. Mash the garlic with the olive oil.  Then mix in the butter, parsley and parmesan cheese. Cut the baguette diagonally into 1" slices.  Generously spread the garlic butter on one side. Toasting methods: Quick 'n Easy - Heat in the toaster oven for 5 min or until the ed...

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...

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...

Cracked Pepper & Olive Triscuits Sandwich ham Provolone cheese , light Spicy garlic and curry dipping sauce Green onion, chopped Place a small piece of ham on the triscuits and overlay the ham with a piece of provolone cheese. Toast in a toaster oven for 3 minutes. Drop a dollop of dipping sauce on the cheese and sprinkle with green onion. Spicy Garlic and Curry Dipping Sauce 1 c. Hellmann's light mayo 1-2 tbsp Chilli garlic sauce 3 Green onion, chopped 1 clove Garlic, minced 1 tsp Curry powder 1 tsp Dill 1/2 tsp Crushed chilli pepper 2 tsp Lime juice Ground pepper Mix all the ingredients together. Chill for 1 hour before serving. My comments: This dipping sauce is a variation of the sauces we made for our meat fondue and it's really good dip for crackers, bread or veggies. It has a lot of flavour and you can adjust the ingredients to your preference. The whole snack was delicious and flavourful. This is a great recipe because you can play around with the type of meat, che...