Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins

April 9, 2013 By Leave a Comment

I love oatmeal. I love it so much I eat it everyday. Okay almost everyday. Eventually you would think that this would get boring, but man, oatmeal is so delicious and versatile! And it keeps you feeling full and warm on cold days. It even taste good on hot days! I’m not talking about your soggy, pasty instant oats either. No, it’s gotta be real rolled oats. They’re just so good for you and delicious!

Anyways, a few months ago, I started to think about how I could change up my morning oatmeal routine. Every morning, I cook a bowl of oatmeal and add a few chopped almonds. I’m boring, I know. But I don’t like the uncertainty of  trying to decide what I’ll eat in the morning! But then I got adventurous. I started adding cinnamon. Vanilla. Apple slices. And these were born. Sometimes I toss in some chopped nuts. Some times a few pieces of dark chocolate. What ever tickles my fancy on Sunday night might go in the mix. These are like apple pie for breakfast. Guilt free apple pie.

The best part is not only are they delicious… they are healthy to boot! Yes! No oil, no added sugar! I even toss in a few tablespoons of ground flaxseed to make them EXTRA healthy. Make a batch on Sunday night and put them in the fridge for easy to grab breakfast of snack all week.

Happy  Eating!

~nikki

Print
Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins
Cuisine: Breakfast
Cook time: 
Total time: 

Serves: 10-12
 

No added sugar, no added oil, Not even any flour! Just delicious healthy apples and oatmeal. Good for you AND tastes like apple pie for breakfast. Or any time you decide to have one!
Ingredients
  • 2 cups rolled oats, divided
  • 2 medium to large pink apples (I use Gala or Fuji)
  • ½ cup hot water
  • 1 egg white
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed (optional)
  • **Also chopped nuts like almonds or walnuts are yummy in these and sometimes I skip the cinnamon and add two tablespoons of cocoa powder instead.***

Instructions
  1. Heat oven to 350 F.
  2. In food processor or blender, grind 1 cup of the oats for 1-2 minutes.
  3. Core and roughly chop the apples. Set about ½ of an apple aside and chop it into slightly smaller chunks. You won’t want puree these bits, so add them last.
  4. Add the remaining apple and hot water to the oats in the food processor. Blend for about 2 minutes, until the mixture is relatively smooth (you aren’t looking for applesauce smoothness here, just not chunky).
  5. Add egg white, vanilla, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and flaxseed. Mix until well combined.
  6. Stir in remaining 1 cup of oats and the ½ of an apple you set aside. Don’t blend this! Just stir until well combined.
  7. Spoon mixture into muffin tins. I find it’s easier to just do unlined tins, but you can line them with paper to make them easier to travel with.
  8. Bake for about 25 minutes. Allow to cool before removing from tins. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for about a week.

 

Filed Under: Breakfast, Desserts, Snacks, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , ,

Sydney, Hunter Valley and Another McDonald’s

February 25, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Earlier this month it was Chinese New Year, or Lunar New Year if you’re keeping it PC. I never know, things change. Most of the signs for sales here said Chinese New Year or CNY. But I digress. CNY meant a long weekend here in Singapore, because it is an official public holiday. Now, originally J and I didn’t have any plans to travel for the long weekend because everyone else is on holiday at the same time and prices for airfare triple. Seriously worse than the Christmas Travel Effect.  But then J’s work wanted to send him to a training in Sydney that week. And since I was already going to be on vacation…I decided to tag along!

So I thought I’d share with you some of my Sydney Travel Insights (lol, from my whole four days there!) and of course, as per the usual I dropped in to a McDonald’s to check out the local menu. So first things first, we stayed in an area of of Sydney called “The Rocks”  which is a historical district right on the harbor and is walking distance from everything. It’s got great views, great ambience, great culture and was just really easy access.

In the morning I went for a nice run around the Circular Quay, past the Opera house and into the Royal Botanical Gardens, Um, seriously, seeing the Opera House on your morning run, pretty great way to start the day. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Food Travel, McDonald's Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Carrot Cake for Two

February 4, 2013 By 1 Comment


It’s not my fault. It just happened.

One minute I was slicing up veggies to make lunches for the week and the next thing I knew there  were two carrot cakes in the oven. I blame the carrots. I was chopping away and I started thinking about how sweet and delicious those carrots were going be be when they were all roasted up with the broccoli and the cauliflower. They were begging me to make them into a dessert. So I may have accidentally on purpose left that one really big carrot in the sink and then packaged up all of the other veggies. And the apples were out too, waiting to be baked into oatmeal breakfast muffins, so I needed some of that in there too.  [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bread, Desserts, Snacks Tagged With: , , , , ,

Creamy Avocado Quinoa and Black Beans

January 19, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Have you ever looked in the pantry or the fridge and just been inspired? Most days it isn’t like that. You either know what you are going to make or you don’t. And when you don’t you look at recipes, then you open the fridge again, then you go back to looking at recipes and then back to the fridge…because maybe if you open and close it enough times dinner ideas will magically appear? Or you’ll have a sudden moment of dinner time clarity and create something delicious, healthy and just amazing. And then you settle on a sandwich?  Ah, moments of true inspiration are rare I suppose, unless your on Iron Chef or Chopped.

However, when I was visiting my parents recently I had one of those truly delicious moments. I was digging through the pantry and fridge when I found a giant bag of avocados, a bag of tortilla chips and a Costco sized container of Feta. I spent the rest of the day fantasying about how good these would taste together. Could I blend the Mexican and the Greek? Would it be served hot? Cold? Salad? Soup? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Entrees, Vegetarian

Garlic Ginger Fried Rice

January 3, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Do you like chinese food? I’ll admit it openly. I’m not a fan. I’m a seriously picky eater.  Literally picky. I will spread things around on a plate, examine bits, smell pieces. So when it comes to chinese food, I’m generally only eating rice. Plain rice preferably. And forget vegetables! Oh yes, let’s take perfectly delicious and wholesome veggies and drown them in sauces to make them taste like fish! I agree with Monti from Master Chef “What the hell is fish sauce? And why does it taste like DEATH?!”  Making veggies slimy and covering them in fish and oyster sauce…bleck!

But I do like fried rice. Usually. As long as their are no stray bits of chicken in there. Or shrimp. Double bleck!  And a while back I saw this recipe for ginger fried rice. And I thought, ginger and garlic, that sounds yummy. I like ginger. I like garlic. I think they will taste good with rice. But I’m lazy, and I didn’t make it. And I have a well documented history of being unable to fry a decent egg.  And then I saw this recipe for skinny fried rice and I thought, YES!  I can fry rice with out having to fry an egg. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Entrees Tagged With: , , ,

Bye Bye Christmas

December 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Vacations are supposed to be relaxing, right? Why is it not relaxing? It’s probably because I’ve been using my free time to attempt to plan our wedding. Isn’t that supposed to be something fun?  Why don’t I think it’s fun? Perhaps it’s because I’m trying to plan a wedding in one country while I live in another. Maybe because I’m a control freak do it yourself-er and I can’t do ANYTHING from here. It’s not fun. It’s a fun sucking succubus. I give up. I’m emailing wedding planners. They can sort that out…

But I, I can show you this magic trick to make the frustrating task of trying to cram that artificial Christmas tree, back into that little, itty bitty box that you never thought it would fit back into. The secret, is cling wrap.

Yep, easy peasy, take the tree apart and then press all of the branches together as best you can. Then take the roll of cling wrap, it’s easiest if you take the roll out of the box. It works best if you wrap a few times around each layer of branches to hold them down first. Tear the cling wrap by running cutting edge from the box along the cling wrap. 

Then once the branches are secure wrap securely all the way around, compressing it tightly. Then pop the pieces back in the box! I even was able to fit most of the ornaments and the lights in the box with the tree. Fantastic space saver!  But now that all of the Christmas decorations are put away…I suppose I should think about wedding planning again? Argh! Wish me luck!

Happy New Year!

~nikki

 

Filed Under: DIY Crafts, Randomness Tagged With: ,

Make Ahead Gingerbread French Toast

December 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Quick, what are you making for breakfast on Christmas morning? Cold cereal? Eck!! But really, who has time to prepare a delicious breakfast BEFORE presents are opened? Well, YOU do. I swear, It’s easy, delicious and come Christmas Morning you’re going to thank me. The trick is prepping these delicious little treats the night before Christmas. Prep them the night before and then pop them in the oven for 20 minutes, while you shower or change and tada! Hot, delicious breakfast! [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bread, Breakfast Tagged With: , , , ,

Chocolate Drop Cookies

December 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Who doesn’t love chocolate cookies? Okay you and you can go. If you don’t like chocolate cookies, something must be wrong with you. Especially these oh so easy, soft cakey cookies. They are pretty good. I love these cookies for a couple of reasons. First, they are super simple to throw together. So if you are in a hurry because you’ve just realized you need to bring treats to work  for tomorrow’s meeting or your son or daughter told you you’re supposed to bake a 2 dozen cookies for their class tomorrow and it’s already 8 pm. These are perfect.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Cookies, Desserts, Holiday Baking Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Dark Chocolate Dipped Peppermint Cookies

December 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I’m trying a little science experiment out at work this week. I’m baking people treats. And no, before you panic, I haven’t include any strange ingredients in my cookies and trying to measure the effects. But this year, there is a significant physical distance between myself and my co-teachers.  I’m on the fifth floor in the east corner of our building. And all the other grade 7 and 8 teachers are all on the 4th floor in the west corner of our building. It means I’m having a bit of a hard time getting to know them. After all, they all see each other every day. They share a staff room, a copy machine, a common area and even connecting rooms. And I’m up in a corner, in a room at the end of an isolated hallway, isolated. Sad.

This week, due to a special schedule for the week before Winter Break. I get to spend my days down with the other grade 7 and 8 teachers. And I have a plan, or rather a little experiment, to make them want to come visit me. Or at least associate  me with happy thoughts. It’s a little Pavlovian, I’ll admit. Normally I bring baked goodies because I like people and I want to show them. Not because I want to make them like me. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Cookies, Desserts, Holiday Baking Tagged With: , , , , ,

Simple Gingerbread House

December 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

This was one of my first blog posts, from a year ago! I made gingerbread again this year and I wanted to share with you, it’s not to late to make your own house! It’s fun, it’s easy, and it’s super gratifying to see you’re pretty little house all decorated on the table. Give it a try and let me know what you thing! 

Don’t panic. I know exactly what you’re thinking. “Oh my god! It’s already the second week of December and I haven’t made a Gingerbread house yet!!” Wait, that isn’t what you are thinking? Well maybe you should be…

If that IS what you are thinking, pause. Take a deep breath. Now remember to exhale that breath. I have just what you need. An easy gingerbread recipe that you can make with ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen (and if you don’t they are easy to get) and will make a nice sturdy house.  You’ll also need a pattern for your gingerbread house; I liked this pattern from the BBC  (where I also adapted this recipe from) because it’s got a nice Swiss chalet look to it and it all fit on one page that you just print twice. Easy Peasy.

Because this dough gets a little tougher to work with as it cools, I’d highly recommend printing two copies of the template and cutting out the pieces BEFORE you do any cooking. Also you will want to have a craft or xacto knife handy for cutting out and trimming the pieces.

In a medium saucepan melt the butter, sugar and corn syrup (or molasses) over medium low heat. Because I used fresh ginger I add it to the liquids. If you are using powdered ground ginger, add it to the dry ingredients.

I used freshly ground ginger because it smells lovely and it’s abundant and cheap at groceries here.

While the butter sugar mixture is melting, in a large mixing bowl add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice and, if you are using powdered ginger, add it now.  Mix well.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Holiday Baking Tagged With: , , , , ,
« Older Posts