Fabulous Food Friday: Sweet Potato Muffins

Today's Fabulous Food Friday is brought to you by the color orange and the word YUM!

This week I have been taste testing recipes from a new blog I discovered called Heavenly Homemakers. Every one of them has been delicious and as a side bonus, I've been using up things that we already have on hand. I'm sure I'll be posting more of our favorites, but you should check it out for yourself. Really good information on eating healthy...so you know I'm a huge fan!!!


This morning for breakfast I was excited to try out the Sweet Potato Muffins...not only because I needed something to feed the kids, but more specifically I needed to use up the sweet potatoes that were sprouting in my pantry!


Soooo...before you begin mixing the ingredients for the muffins, take your sweet potatoes and wash, poke and bake them in a 400 degree oven for about 50-60 minutes. I baked 5 which will give me enough for 2 batches!

Sweet Potato Muffins
2 cups whole wheat flour2 t. baking powder
1 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. sea salt
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup raisins (optional)
1 egg
1 cup mashed sweet potato
1/2 cup milk
3 T. melted butter



Topping:
3T Sucanat (dehydrated cane sugar juice) or brown sugar
1 T. butter, softened
2 T. chopped nuts (optional)
In a small bowl, combine topping ingredients. Sprinkle evenly over each muffin. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
Sure

they may look yummy, but the real test is my kids reactions:

"wow" "yum" and "mom these are so tasty!"

I even got a hug from Zander after breakfast as he was thanking me for making such good food! Yay!!
While the muffins were baking, I decided to make up a batch of Mango Salsa before my precious mangoes turned rancid...Nothing worse than slicing open a juicy mango only to discover it has gone bad. Not to worry though, I got to them just in the nick of time! Bring on the mango madness!

Sadly I don't really have a recipe, I go by what tastes good to me...but here are the ingredients:
2 Mangos, red onion, cilantro, garlic and juice of 1 lime



My last orange item up for grabs is a strawberry-peach smoothie that really hits the spot for breakfast lunch or dinner...we had it for dinner tonight and I'm quite pleased to say that my kids with their mighty vegetable radar didn't suspect a thing!

Yep, that thar is spinach in ma blender!

Add a fancy umbrella and a dash of nutmeg and they will never suspect that they are drinking spinach...paper umbrellas are very sneaky!

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

When life gives you lemons (and blueberries), make these muffins...they're delicious!

Blueberry Streusel Muffins:

1 cup (240 ml) milk

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 cups (390 grams) all-purpose flour

1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar

1 tablespoon (12 grams) baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

2 cups (260 grams) fresh or frozen blueberries

1/2 tablespoon grated lemon zest

2 tablespoons (28 grams) unsalted butter, melted

Blueberry Streusel Muffins: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C). Place rack in middle of oven. Line 16 - 18 muffin cups with paper liners or spray with a non stick vegetable spray.

In a measuring cup mix together the milk, eggs, and vanilla extract.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. (The mixture should look like coarse crumbs.) Remove one cup of the mixture and set aside in a separate bowl to make the streusel topping. To the remaining muffin batter, gently fold in the blueberries and lemon zest. Add the milk and egg mixture to the flour mixture. Stir until just combined. (Do not over mix this mixture or the muffins will be tough when baked.)

Fill each muffin cup with the batter, using two spoons or an ice cream scoop. Fill any unused muffins cups with water to prevent the pan from warping.

For streusel topping: Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons (28 grams) butter and drizzle over the reserved 1 one cup of streusel topping. Mix together with a fork until it is crumbly and looks like coarse meal. Sprinkle a couple of teaspoons of the streusel over the top of each muffin. Place in the oven and bake until very lightly browned and firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18 - 22 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool.

Makes 16 - 18 regular-sized muffins.

Note: Frozen blueberries can be used instead of fresh. Do not thaw the berries before using them. Make sure you do not overmix the batter after you add the blueberries or the batter will turn blue.

These muffins taste great paired with Tillamook Lemon Squeeze yogurt!

Fabulous Food Friday: Cottage Cheese Pancakes

I scoured the blog for this recipe, because I swear I'd posted it already, but it was no where to be found. I did however, find it posted on Facebook, so I'm really only half losing my mind!

These pancakes are great with syrup, but try them with Raspberry Butter for an extra yummy treat!

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

1 cup cottage cheese

6 large eggs

pinch of salt

2/3 cup flour

1 tbsp oil

Combine in a blender and poor on a greased griddle. My Grandma Swanson used to make these when we stayed over, now I make them. Our kids love these so much that I have to double the recipe! Enjoy!

Raspberry Lemon Scones

It's hard to believe that just a few days ago we were sitting at the table in my friend Merrilee's kitchen in Philadelphia eating her homemade scones. After a long flight back to Oregon, my parents greeted us with a big container of fresh raspberries from their garden...I knew just what I was going to use them for!!!

This morning I tried out a new recipe using lemon zest in the scone mix...They were a huge hit served with some Jamaica Iced Tea!

Raspberry Lemon Scones with a Lemony Glaze

Scone Recipe:

2 cups All-Purpose Flour

1 tablespoon Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon Salt

2 tablespoons Sugar

5 tablespoons cold Unsalted Butter

1 cup Heavy Cream*, plus more for brushing the scones.
1 cup frozen fresh Raspberries

1 Lemon zested

*NOTE I didn't have heavy cream, so I just used 1/2 C milk and 1/2 cup sour cream

Lemony Glaze:

1/2 cup fresh squeezed and strained lemon juice

2 cups Powdered Sugar, sifted

1 tablespoon Unsalted Butter, softened

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

For the scones; sift together all the dry ingredients and zest of one lemon. Using a pastry cutter or 2 forks, blend the butter into the flour until it resembles wet crumbly sand. Make a well in the center and pour in the heavy cream, mix just until combined making sure not to over work the dough. Fold in the raspberries, be careful not to mash or break the berries.

Press the dough out onto a floured surface forming a rectangle. Next fold up the sides to form a circle with all the berries on the inside. Next cut diagonal leaving you with 8-10 triangles. Brush the tops with a little heavy cream and bake for 15-20 minutes. Let the scones cool a little before applying the glaze.

For the glaze; sift the powdered sugar and whisk in the strained lemon juice. Whisk in the butter until smooth. Whisk again and set aside until scones are slightly cooled. Drizzle, Brush or Dunk the scones in the glaze.

Local Flavor: Bob's Red Mill Breakfast

Last night Dan asked me if I wanted to go out for breakfast. I thought that sounded like a nice treat, so I suggested we try Bob's Red Mill.
Many of you might recognise the Bob's Red Mill products from the grocery store. You can find them in the baking isle (also near the soup and rice), but there are much better selections at health food stores. If you want the best selection, you can go directly to Bob's Red Mill in Milwaukie where they sell everything. You can even get a price break by purchasing the items by the box (usually 3-4 bags of same product per box).

I had visited the Bob's Red Mill store once before Hayden was born and Bob himself was there checking up on operations. Back then I thought it would be fun to go back and eat at the restaurant..and three years later, we finally did.



The kids all had silver dollar pancakes and scrambled eggs, Dan ordered sunny side up eggs with hash browns and a side of fried grits and I ordered a big bowl of fruit and a blueberry date nut bran muffin. It was all so good and unlike most breakfast meals, it was made with whole grains and unprocessed, made-from-scratch food.


Here is an example of the grind stone that they use in the mill to grind the wheat into flour. Besides your typical wheat flour, you can also buy these types.

The kids enjoyed watching the water wheel in the front of the mill. Back in the day water wheels were used to turn the grind stones inside the mill. Now all of the grinding takes palce in a different building across the street, but the wheel remains as a cool reminder of days gone by.

We didn't leave empty handed. We found cinnamon rolls, blueberry date nut bran muffins, biscuits, freshly ground almond butter, potato bread mix, corn grits, buckwheat pancake mix and date nut bran muffin mix.

Camping Trip Part 2

What a night! It's a good thing we put the rain tarp on the tent before we got in bed because what started as a nice coastal drizzle ended up as rain that lasted all night long. The kids slept right through it, but all the adults were woken by the wind blowing against the tents.

Waking up daddy.

All the girls had fun arranging sea shells in the sand.
Here Becca and Alexis put all the crab shells in a circle pattern.

Natalie used muscles and oyster shells for her designs.

Breakfast

The boys enjoyed watching me cook pancakes for breakfast because they were first in line for food hot off the grill!

Tami whipped up eggs and hash browns at the other end of the table.

Tami, Me and Toni.

The kids all dishing up breakfast.


Dan feeding Hayden.


The girls hanging out for breakfast.


Uncle Chucky holding Brandon.

Alexis washing up.
Me and Dan.

Chucky going after the Frisbee that got caught in the tree.

The Frisbee finally came down.

Me and Hayden...this was his first camping trip...and my first camping trip in about 3 years.

Lunch

After we packed up our camping gear, Tami, Becca and Alexis headed out and the rest of us went out for lunch at the Pirate's Cove. While they were getting our table ready, Natalie and Zander had fun watching the crabs walk all over themselves.

Party of 9... We enjoyed our lunch with a great view of Tillamook Bay.
I had the Halibut of course!

Uncle Chucky kept the boys busy while the rest of us finished our lunch.

Kayaking

Dan went back to Bar View Jetty to go out in his kayak before we headed home. While I love to kayak, I'd rather go down the river and leave the pounding surf to Dan.

He had fun surfing the waves. It was too windy to play out on the beach, so we all watched him from the jetty (in the car).

Next Dan and Chucky both go out together.
They have a great time...until they get knocked over by a big wave!

After awhile they get back in the kayak and paddle to shore. Here they are dragging the water-logged kayak on to dry land.

Tillamook: Cheese Country!

On our way home we stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory for Tillamook ice cream...and cheese of course!

Zander and I chose French Silk.

Hayden shared Uncle Chucky's bubble gum cone.


Good to the last drop. Aunt Toni and Natalie loved their white licorice ice cream. Grandpa Roush would have liked this flavor for sure, but he and Grandma stayed home.

Hayden kept saying "Moooo." Pretty much every animal says "mooo," but he puts a little extra excitement behind his "mooo" when he sees cows.

Waiting in line for cheese samples!

Mmmmm "squeaky" cheese.
This cheese curd is a favorite purchase when visiting
the cheese factory because you can't get it in the stores.

Am I dreaming?... a whole case filled with my favorite food group!

Next we walked upstairs to see where all the cheese is made, packaged and shipped.

On the weekend, only half of the factory remains in operation. Here we saw them package up the cheese and heat seal it and load it up onto the conveyor belt.

After we left the cheese factory, we drove down the road for a few miles to the Blue Heron Cheese factory where we stopped and let the kids see the animals at the petting zoo.

Zander and Hayden enjoyed chasing these poor chicken all over the place.

Here's a shot of Hayden on an old truck...
his favorite things these days are trucks, tractors and trains.
From here we drove home and 2 hours later we were pulling into the driveway...it was a great trip and I can't wait until we go camping again!