Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins

Sunday afternoon i decided to do some baking...healthy baking of course!

I found this recipe on SparkPeople and read all the great reviews - It realy is as good as they all say it is so i thought i would share the recipe.

Ingredients
1 cup old fashion rolled oats (not instant)

1 cup non-fat milk

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 egg whites

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. sugar

raisins or nuts (optional)

Nutritional Info
Fat: 0.5g
Carbohydrates: 20.5g
Calories:93.5
Protein: 2.9g

Directions

Soak the oats in milk for about one hour. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray muffin pan with cooking spray. Combine the oat mixture with the applesauce and egg whites, and mix until combined. In a separate bowl measure and whisk the dry ingredients together. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until just combined. Add nuts or raisins if desired. Do not over mix the batter or the muffins will be tough. Spoon muffin mixture into muffin pan. Combine the cinnamon and sugar and top each muffin with some of the mixture. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until done. Remove from pan, cool and enjoy.

These can be frozen and reheated in the microwave for a quick breakfast.

Number of Servings: 12

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user JOJOMKE.

Living in the Kitchen

I am loving my kitchen at the moment. My new flat has lots of countertop space and it makes for fabulous cooking. These are two recipes that i tried last week that will be in my "to do again" book.
Scrummy Brownies


POINTS® value: 1.5


Ingredients


3 medium egg(s)
30 g cocoa powder
80 g half-fat butter
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
50 g self raising flour
150 g caster sugar


Insturctions


Whisk the eggs and caster sugar together. Whisk in the cocoa, vanilla and flour. Melt the butter and then whisk into the mix. Pour into a lined square baking tin greased with a spray of fry lite. Bake in oven preheated to 180 C for approx. 10 minutes . Check if the brownies are ready by putting a thin knife or skewer into the tin, if it comes out clean of mixture they are done, if not leave a little longer. When done, take out the tin, cut into 16 squares and leave to cool in the tin. When cool, turn them out and enjoy!
I found this recipe on the community board of WeightWatchers and decided that it looked too go to pass by. This is now definately one of my all time favourites and i have already made this twice. The first time i added some green leafies to it and the second time it was just as the recipe called for. Both times it was totally yum. The only thing that i did not add either time was the cumin but perhaps next time i will give that a go too.

Quick and Easy Butternut Soup

From the kitchen of SARAHBOX

Estimated POINTS® value Per Serving 0
Servings 4

Soups Community built Recipe

Ingredients

1 Butternut Squash
1 onion
1 1/2 pints chicken or vegetable stock
1 tsp olive oil
Salt and Pepper
1 tsp cumin (optional)
Few drops Worcestershire Sauce (optional)

Instructions

Finely chop the onion and gentl fry in the olive oil to soften.
Meanwhile, chop the butternut squash into 1 inch cubes.
Add butternut squash and hot stock to the pan and boil for 15 minutes, or until squash is soft.
Whizz in a food processor and season to taste, adding cumin or Worcestershire sauce if desired.

A lot of cooking

So how was your weekend? Mine was very busy but very good. I managed to get a lot of things done which is especially nice this time of year.

Thursday night we had our company Christmas party. It was a little weird having it on a school night rather than a party night but it was a nice evening. I took a few photos from Thursday night but for now i just have two to show you. One of me and well....one of the back of me...lol

Saturday we decided to put up the Christmas tree and decorations. This is our tree this year. We also have lights but i couldn't get a nice photos with the lights on so this will have to do.
Friday morning my foam wreath arrived in the post. I had ordered it off of eBay and was so pleased that it had arrived in time for the weekend. I pulled out my Christmas fabric and spent about 45 minutes making this for our front door.
Saturday afternoon we went braved the crowds and went shopping. I came home with a new steamer which folds away to practically the size of a pot which is just fantastic for my small kitchenand a whole bunch of blank stretch canvas's. I had run out of them but since Saturday evening i have already started on two of the small ones. I am hoping to to finish one of them tonight and the other one later in the week.Sunday was filled with cooking. After visiting my parents for a few hours i came home and made some Bacon, Potato and Leek Soup for my lunch for the week. This photo is the soup only half way through but it has turned out very nice.
Ingredients
Serves 5

4 rashers rindlesss lean bacon, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 leek, trimmed, halved, thinly sliced
750g Sebago potatoes, peeled, chopped
1L (4 cups) Continental Real Chicken Stock
1/4 cup cream or plain low fat yogurt
1/4 cup chopped chives

Method

Cook bacon in a large saucepan over medium-heat for 5 minutes or until crisp. Remove to plate lined with paper towels.
Add oil and leek to saucepan. Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until soft. Add potatoes. Toss to coat in leek mixture.
Add stock to saucepan. Cover. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, partially covered, for 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Blend, in batches, to desired consistency. Return to saucepan. Add cream and 3/4 of the bacon. Stir over low heat until heated through. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls. Sprinkle with remaining bacon and chives.

Then after i had made my soup i decided to try some Christmas cookies. These are from the Splenda website and had some really great reviews so thought i would try them.
Serves: 36
Ingredients

2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2/3 cup SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cream butter, brown sugar, SPLENDA® Granulated Sweetener and vanilla together in a medium mixing bowl. Mix until well blended and creamy.
Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Scrape sides of bowl. Add flour, baking soda and salt.
Mix until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips.
Place level tablespoons of cookie dough on an ungreased baking sheet.
Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from oven and cool on a wire cooling rack.

These are really tasty but they turned out to be more of a chocolate chip sponge cookie than they are cookie.

And finally on the knitting front I have probably knitted this now for the third time. First time I didn't have enough stitches. Then it was too big and now look what i have gone and done! Argghh. Now i am going to have to frog back to that row and carry on.
Well, its been a long post today. Hopefully tomorrow i will have a canvas to share.
Have a great Monday

Giving thanks

First off i just want to share this recipe with you. I am sure that a lot of you already have it, or at least something similar but for my non US friends this is definitely a very nice recipe to try.

Whipped Sweet Potato Casserole

Recipe found on Allrecipes.com

Original recipe yields: 5 servings but i just scaled it down for the two of us at our home.

INGREDIENTS
3 medium sized sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1 tablespoons orange juice
1.5 tablespoons brown sugar
Sprinkle of ground nutmeg and cinnamon
1 tablespoons butter

miniature marshmallows

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large saucepan cook sweet potatoes in salted water over medium-high heat for about 20 minutes, or until done.

Drain, and add orange juice, brown sugar, spices and butter. Whip until smooth. Spread into a medium size casserole dish and top with marshmallows.
Bake in preheated oven for about 10 minutes, or until marshmallows are golden brown

My notes

I did find this recipe a little on the sweet side so next time i will probably skip the sugar all together. Oh yeah, I almost forgot that i made one big casserole rather than smaller ones.

Now onto my tittle. Everyone knows that this month is Thanksgiving in the US. When i lived there, this as well as Christmas, was my favourite holiday. Since i moved to the UK i haven't celebrated it in the sense of decorations and turkey but i do still take this opportunity to give special thanks for those things in my life that are special to me. Often things that i overlook or take for granted suddenly get the attention that they deserve. I do try and live with a grateful heart but i guess there is always room for improvement, right?

So, here is my list of things that i am grateful for. Thing that have been around for as long as i can remember and things that i am grateful for just today.

* My new car, Feebie. I am so grateful to have her and to know that she is in good condition and is reliable.

* For being able to see my gran this year and to spend some time with her

* Having a little sachet of Hot Chocolate sitting in my desk draw just waiting for me to need a pick me up

* My family who have blessed me in so many ways this past year

* Stuart has managed to pass his truck licence test and is now much happier at his job

* I just love the talents that God has blessed me with. Painting, Knitting, scrapping, drawing and so much more.

* Thankful for my freedom and safety that i have

* For the job that i have even though at times i wish i worked somewhere else

There is so much more that i have to be grateful for but i am doing this at work today so probably should stop here for now.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Be safe!