Tasty Treats — MomStart

Truly Organic Baking’s Bakers Basics Banana Bread Mix Recipe

September 15, 2011 By Momstart 9 Comments

It doesn’t have to be 100% homemade to be good for you. My personal recipes each week are homemade; I love to make things “from the scratch store” as my 4YO would say. However, even if you also like to make homemade goods sometimes you need to make something but don’t have the time to invest. Just because something is semi-homemade or you use a box doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice your food values. Using Truly Organic Baking’s Bakers Basics is one option.

Truly Organic Baking’s Bakers Basics Banana Bread Mix Recipe

INGREDIENTS

1 box Truly Organic Baking’s Banana Bread Mix (get your own on Amazon [http://www.amazon.com/Truly-Organic-Baking-Bakers-15-7-Ounce/dp/B00351Z52E])
2 large organic eggs
3 ripe organic bananas
¼ cup organic butter, melted

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350^oF. Grease mini-muffin pan’s cups.

2. Combine all ingredients until dough forms.

3. For mini-muffins bake for 10 minutes, or until golden brown and inserted toothpick comes out clean.

I’m a fan of making mini-muffins but you can make regular muffins, king muffins, or loaves with this recipe. You can do more too if you feel comfortable altering baking instructions and possible ingredients.

You can learn more about Truly Organic Baking on their website, at Truly Organic Baking on Facebook, and Twitter @TOBLLC.

About Summer:

Summer is very active in our Local MOMS Club chapter, she is the mother of two adorable active boys, and is always thinking of ways to help others. She is a friend, a wife, and always busy as all mommies are. She is very active on Facebook, addicted to Geocaching and very interested in organic and green living while cooking up a storm.

Filed Under: recipe, Summer, Tasty Treats Tagged With: banana bread, oragnic mix, Tasty Treat Thursday, Truly Organic Baking's Bakers Basics

Tasty Treat Thursday Low Sugar Bob’s Red Mill Granola Oat Cookies Recipe

September 8, 2011 By Momstart 23 Comments

When I made my High-Altitude Chocolate Cake I told you all that my FIL likes low sugar desserts. These cookies are for him; so if you’d like then add ½ cup more of sugar or for some natural sweetness add raisins.

Low-Sugar Bob’s Red Mill Granola Oat Cookies Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
½ cup light brown sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup flour
2 large eggs
½ cup wheat germ
½ cup ground flaxseed
2 cups quick oats
1 cup Bob’s Red Granola (any desired flavor, I used natural)

clip_image002

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350^oF.

2. Cream together butter and sugar. Add vanilla, baking soda, and cinnamon. While mixing drop in ½ cup of flour, then egg, repeat. Add wheat germ then flaxseed in the same way. Then add
oats and granola.

[Stir in optional items such as 1 cup of chocolate chips or raisins. Stir well.]

3. Bake for 8 minutes or until golden brown.

I rolled my dough into balls; these cookies keep their shape so make flat or drop cookies for whatever you desire as a shape after baking. My whole family (including the kids) loved this low-sugar option. I made half with the patch without raisins and half with, so this is another option for your family to enjoy!

About Summer:

Filed Under: recipe, Summer, Tasty Treats Tagged With: Bob's red mill granola, cookie recipe, low sugar, Oat Cookies, recipe, Red Mill Granola, Tasty Treat Thursday

Tasty Treat Thursday Strawberry Rhubarb Oatmeal Mini Muffins

September 1, 2011 By Momstart 25 Comments

I like to add a little something extra when I deliver a new mom meal for a member of my MOMS Club. I find it nice to offer a low to semi-sweet dessert, breakfast or snack option. Mini muffins are great because a mom can snack on them when they’re busy but need a pick-me-up, or their older child(ren) can have one in hand … dads like them too of course. Make these for yourself, for a brunch date, or to give a friend. Enjoy!

Strawberry-Rhubarb-Oatmeal Mini Muffins

Tasty Treat Thursday Strawberry Rhubarb Oatmeal Mini Muffins

5.0 from 2 reviews

Recipe Type: Dessert, Breakfast

Author: Summer Oleksy

Ingredients

1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup salted butter, melted or softened
1 cup quick oatmeal
1 cup flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
11 oz strawberries (it’s what I had on hand)
5 oz rhubarb (also what I had on hand)
2 eggs

Directions

Preheat oven to 350oF. Lightly grease mini muffin pan
Place strawberries and rhubarb in blender or food processer to chop finely.
In mixed bowl cream together butter and sugar.
Add remaining ingredients and stir.
Portion muffins into prepared cups. These do not rise much!
Cook in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Toothpick should come out clean.

Google Recipe View Microformatting by Easy Recipe

Makes about 4 dozen mini muffins

About Summer:

Filed Under: recipe, Summer, Tasty Treats Tagged With: Oatmeal muffins, recipe, Strawberry Rhubarb, Tasty Treat Thursday

Tasty Treat Thursday Cheesy Spinach Dip Recipe

August 4, 2011 By Momstart 24 Comments

This is always a favorite and takes no time to make but a bit longer to cook. This dip comes out piping hot and should be served warm. The dip needs to be cooked to melt the cheeses together, but doesn’t work well in your mouth hot or as a dip at all if cold.

This dip, a recipe given to me from a cousin, is always loved. I get many compliments, and have passed this recipe around a lot … and now I share it with you!

Cheesy Spinach Dip Recipe

IF DESIRED:

· Use a new combination of cheese flavors every time.

· For simplicity you can combine ingredients in baking dish.

Cheesy Spinach Dip Recipe

4.5 from 2 reviews

Recipe Type: Appetiser

Author: MOMS Club

Ingredients

10oz frozen Spinach, thawed and drained
3 boxes Cream Cheese
3 packages of Cheese containing 4 cup each, mix and match your favorites
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1 to 2 Tablespoons minced Garlic, to taste
Dash of Hot Sauce

Directions

Preheat oven to 400oF. Grease dish.
Combine ingredients. Place in greased dish.
Cook for 40 minutes. Allow to cook about 10-15 minutes.

Google Recipe View Microformatting by Easy Recipe

About Summer:

Filed Under: recipe, Summer, Tasty Treats Tagged With: Cheesy Spinach Dip, recipe

Tasty Treat Thursday Peach Cookie Crumble Recipe

July 28, 2011 By Momstart 13 Comments

I wanted to make something similar to a crumble or cobbler; something which would provide more oat goodness and sustenance. I think this dessert would be excellent paired with ice cream or whipped cream, but due to resources and timing neither was available to me. Enjoy!

Peach Cookie Crumble Recipe:

INGREDIENTS
1 cup non-salted butter, softened
1 ¾ cup brown sugar, divided
½ cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
½ cups wheat germ
½ cups ground flaxseed
1½ cups flour
3 cups quick rolled oats
2 jars of sliced can peaches in water or juices
as desired: slivered almonds (1 tablespoon per serving), ice cream, whipped cream

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350^oF.

2. In a large bowl, beat butter, ¾ cup brown sugar, and white sugar until creamed. Mix in eggs, vanilla, almond, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in wheat germ, flaxseed, and flour; mix well until ingredients are moist.

3. Shape dough as desired size and shapes. (I used large ramekins for my DH’s work, but make a cookie for the photo.) Cook for 15 minute for large cookies or until golden brown on tops and edges.

4. In a large sauce pan, add whole jars of peaches including waters/juices and 1 cup brown sugar. Over high heat bring to a boil. Reduce to medium-low and simmer for 30 minutes. Peaches will become soft.

5. Assemble Peach Cookie Crumble with cookie base, sauce and peaches. Made approximately 30 minutes before serving to allow cookie to soak up juices; do not allow to sit overnight/long to prevent mushiness of cookies.

Decorate with almonds, or as desired with whipped or ice cream.

About Summer:

Filed Under: recipe, Summer, Tasty Treats Tagged With: Peach Cookie, Peach Cookie Crumble Recipe, recipe, Tasty Treat Thursday

Tasty Treat Thursday: I Want Marshmallow Cookies Mom

July 7, 2011 By Momstart 9 Comments

My son loves sweets; he gets it honest enough. We always seem to have marshmallows on hand – s’mores in the summer and hot cocoa in the winter. My sons love marshmallows. My children also know what I love to bake and cookies are easy enough to throw together and slap into the oven, and they cook so quickly … it’s immediate gratification! My 4YO has been asking for weeks now for marshmallow cookies. I thought he’d drop it but he hasn’t. So today I decided to make some. I thought long and hard about what type of cookie to make and in the end (this time) I decided to settle on making a honey cookie with marshmallows and chocolate mixed in.

This ended up making 3 dozen for me and I did roll each cookie into a ball for placement and cooking. This recipe makes a sticky dough and a fluffy cookie. ENJOY!

Marshmallow Cookie Recipe

INGREDIENTS:
2 eggs
¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup honey
½ cup Agave
½ cup CalNaturale svelte spiced chai
2 ½ cups flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup quick oats
½ cup wheat germ
½ cup ground flaxseed
2 cups mini-marshmallows, frozen
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350^oF. Grease cookie sheet.

2. Mix all ingredients except marshmallows and chocolate. When well combined add marshmallows and chocolate chips; dough is very sticky, use the “stir” speed on your Kitchen Aid stand mixer to help mix-in the final two ingredients.

3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. DO NOT OVER BAKE. Remove promptly from cookie sheet and allow to cool on wax paper for 20 minutes before moving to serving dish.

About Summer:

Summer is the President of our Local MOMS Club chapter, she is the mother of two adorable active boys, and is always thinking of ways to help others. She is a friend, a wife, and always busy as all mommies are. She is very active on Facebook, addicted to Geocaching and very interested in organic and green living while cooking up a storm.

Filed Under: recipe, Summer, Tasty Treats Tagged With: cookie recipe, Marshmallow cookies, recipe, Tasty Treat Thursday

Tasty Treat Thursday Strawberry Tall Cake Recipe

June 30, 2011 By Momstart 6 Comments

With minor modifications, I have helped my son create the Strawberry Tall Cake from The Do It Myself Kids’ Cookbook by Laura Goldrich Wolf.

My son (4YO) and I made this cake together but changed the strawberry syrup to a homemade multi-berry sauce by simply boiling a package of Dole frozen fruit over medium to medium-low heat until saucy; to thicken a bit add 1 teaspoon of cornstarch or a ¼ cup powdered sugar as desired. We also made our own whipped cream using our Kitchen Aid stand mixer with the whisk attachment using 1 cups whipping cream and ¼ cup powdered sugar. On one layer we used strawberries as the recipe states and the other layer we used blueberries for a red, white, and blue cake in honor of the 4^th of July.

Find the Strawberry Tall Cake in The Do It Myself Kids’ Cookbook on pages 106-9. My 4YO is learning to read so the cookbook’s full pictures help him read what’s next.

Here’s my little helper! Do you love to cook with your kids too? My son told me the other day he’s going to be a chef … that would be a dream for me. I do hope he follows his dreams to do whatever he wants as he grows up!

Strawberry Tall Cake Recipe

INGREDIENTS:
12 large Strawberries
1 frozen pound cake, defrosted
10 tablespoons strawberry syrup
1 can whipped cream

DIRECTIONS:

Grown-Up Prep: pound cake, defrosted and sliced horizontally into 3 equal pieces

1. On a cutting board, use a plastic knife to thinly slice the strawberries. (Save 1 whole strawberry.) Place a bowl securely on the work surface and put the strawberries in it.

2. Place the platter on your working surface. Put the bottom slice of cake on the platter. Spread about half of the strawberries over the cake slice. Drizzle the strawberries with 5 tablespoons of strawberry syrup. Cover the berries with whipped cream. (Shake well and squirt! But not too close to the berries.)

3. Place another slice of cake on top of the whipped cream. Place almost half the remaining strawberries on the cake slice and again drizzle with 5 tablespoons of strawberry syrup. Again, cover the berries in whipped cream.

4. Place the last slice of the pound cake on the layered cake. Top with the remaining berry slices and whole berry.

About Summer:

Filed Under: recipe, Summer, Tasty Treats Tagged With: cooking with kids, DIY, do it yourself, Fourth of July, Fourth of July Recipe, recipe, Tasty Treat Thursday, The Do It Myself Kids' Cookbook

Tasty Treat Thursday Individual Cran-Apple Pies Recipe

June 23, 2011 By Momstart 17 Comments

My husband loves apple desserts which is why when I bake I try to include apples if it’s a fruit treat. Since this past Sunday was Father’s Day and I didn’t do anything special for him on that day, and we just got back from a vacation and he returned to a 14-hour day of work due to reviews he deserves this … well, not that he doesn’t deserve it anyways, but I made these for him. Enjoy this comfort food!

P.S. – My DH loved them and ate 3 of the 12 I sent with him to work. NAILED IT!

Individual Cran-Apple Pies Recipe

Filling
INGREDIENTS
6 Granny Smith apples
½ to 1 cup dried cranberries, as desired (if you use a full cup only use 5 apples)
¾ cup sugar
2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground clove
2 Tablespoons flour

DIRECTIONS

1. Peel, core, and slice the apples. I LOVE my Back-to-Basics apple peeler and corer from Williams-Sonoma. If you bake a lot with apples or if you have an apple tree I can’t recommend this product enough for fast turnaround on any apples you’re using in your cooking.

2. Combine apples, cranberries, sugar and cinnamon. Let set for at least an hour (I let mine sit for 3 hours), stirring every half hour to allow apples to juice and allow the cranberries to soak up the apple juice. ***GREAT TIME TO MAKE THE CRUST***

3. Add nutmeg and clove. Stir. Add in ½ tablespoon of flour at a time; stir after each deposit.

Crust
INGREDIENTS
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup flour
½ cup wheat germ
½ cup ground flaxseed
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup cold water (or less)

DIRECTIONS

1. Heavily grease a 12-cup regular sized muffin tin.

2. Mix butter, flour, wheat germ, flaxseed, and salt with a fork (or pastry blender) until very crumbly. Add as much water as needed to hold the dough together and mix lightly with a fork. Do not over wet. Do not over mix dough.

3. Dump out onto a floured surface. Roll until 1/16 inch thick. Cut 4×4 squares out of rolled dough. Place in a square into each of the cups.

Crumble
INGREDIENTS
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup light brown sugar
¼ cup quick cook oats

DIRECTIONS: Combine ingredients and stir until crumbs form.

Assemble and Cook

1. Preheat oven to 350^oF.

2. Fill raw crust cups with filling. Top with crumble.

3. Cook for 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown the edges.

4. Cool for 7-10 minutes and serve warm.

5. Garnish as desired – cinnamon sticks and apple peel are nice . Also add ice cream or whipped cream as desired.

About Summer:

Filed Under: recipe, Summer, Tasty Treats Tagged With: apple recipe, Back-to-basics apple peeler, cooking with apples, Cran-Apple Pies Recipe, Individual Cran-Apple Pies, recipe, Tasty Treat Thursday

Tasty Treat Thursday Cinnamon Apple Raisin Muffins

June 2, 2011 By Momstart 9 Comments

You’ve read the name and it’s quite a mouthful, as the muffins will be. But these are so easy to make and aren’t too sweet so they make a nice dessert, snack or breakfast.

I like a lot to crumb topping, so if you don’t I’d recommend cutting it in half. This batch pictured has half the crumb topping as they were for another family as part of their “new mom meal” from me. When I make meals for new mom I like to add a set of muffins or the like so the family can have a healthy snack or breakfast alternative. I kept a lot of my baby weight from my first son due to poor food selection on my behalf.

Well, no matter who or what you make these Cinnamon Apple Raisin Muffins for, I hope you get to enjoy at least one with a glass of milk!

Cinnamon Apple Raisin Muffins Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

MUFFIN
1 cup flour
¼ cup wheat germ
¼ cup ground flaxseed
½ cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground all spice
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg
½ cup milk
¼ cup apple sauce
2 small apples, peels and chopped
½ cup raisins

CRUMB TOPPING
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons quick cook oats
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons butter, melted

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375^oF. Grease or line muffin tins as desired.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, wheat germ, flaxseed, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, all spice and salt. Add to it egg, milk, and apple sauce. Stir together until all ingredients are wet. Fold in apples and raisins. Set aside.

3. In a small mixing bowl, combine all “crumb topping” ingredients. Stir until small clumps form.

4. Fill muffin tin cups (batter makes 12 regular size muffins) with batter. Sprinkle with crumb topping. Cook in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

5. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving. Best severed warm.