This is my first time participating in the Improv challenge, mostly because I could not commit during the holidays. This month’s Improv challenged us to use sour cream and lemons. So I started with this Basic Sour Cream Muffin recipe because its one of our favorites and I really wanted to keep it simple. I went back and forth between adding lemon zest to the muffin batter and actually decided against it, only because I said I wanted to keep it simple. So instead I create a quick lemon glaze to drizzle over the top. I also decided to give the muffins a little more oomph with some simple lemon extract, of course you could use lemon zest instead.

Lemon Glaze Sour Cream Muffins

1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. lemon extract
4 large eggs (or 8 egg whites + 4 tsp. oil)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 c. sour cream
2 3/4 c. all purpose flour

Lemon Glaze
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Grease the muffin cups or line with paper liners.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and creamy, about a minute. Next, beat in the lemon extract, eggs, salt and baking soda.
Next, fold in the sour cream and then the flour.

Scoop the batter into muffin cups. Place in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean.

Allow to cool for about 5 minutes in pan.

Remove from pan and place on wire rack. In a bowl, combine the powdered sugar and the lemon juice to create the muffin glaze; drizzle over muffins. Serve warm.

Makes 24 muffins.

Lemon Sour Cream Muffins originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on January 19, 2012.

It’s that time again! Monday means, it’s time for This Week’s Cravings. What are we craving this week?

Our theme this week is Christmas Dinners and Holiday Food Traditions. More on that in a minute.

I’m proud to be co-hosting This Week’s Cravings along with Tina over at MOMS CRAZY COOKING, Kristen from From My Tiny Kitchen, Angie from Big Bear’s Wife  & Kristi from Veggie Converter.

Have you made any recipes for Christmas Dinners and/or Holiday Food Traditions and want to link up with us? Go ahead and link it up down below in the linky, just please make sure you’re following our theme – we delete them if they don’t. Also, please make sure you read the simple rules first. This will ensure you have it all right.

Now, onto my yummy recipe and the story behind it.

When I saw the theme for Christmas Dinners, I panicked a little, since I don’t actually make Christmas dinner at our house – we go over the river and through the woods (yes literally) to my mom’s house each year for Christmas. And our Christmas Eve is not like anyone elses I’m sure. We usually create an odd hodge podge of foods and advertisers and we don’t usually do the same thing twice. So what in the world was I going to post?

Then I realized that it also said Holiday Food Traditions. And that opens up a whole new area, because we do Holiday Food Traditions, no problem. Christmas morning every year, we make a huge breakfast with our favorite egg, sausage and cheese casserole, hash brown casserole and these delicious Gingerbread Pancakes.

Now, I can’t really remember where I got this recipe, but we’ve tweaked it and modified it over the years, so its really ours by now. I hope your family will enjoy it as much as ours does.

Gingerbread Pancakes

• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 c. milk

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, the baking powder, the baking soda and the salt. Add the ginger, the cinnamon, the cloves and the nutmeg. In another mixing bowl, beat the egg with the vanilla and the molasses until it is all smooth. Whisk in the milk until it is completely incorporated with the molasses mixture.  Slowly stir the molasses mixture into the flour and spice mixture. Stir just until combined, there will be some lumps.

Heat your griddle over med-high heat. Brush your griddle with some butter. Add about 1/4 cup of batter to the griddle for each pancake.  Lower the heat just a bit to about medium. Cook until bubbles appear on the surface of the pancakes and they begin to brown just a bit around the edges, this is about 2 minutes, and then flip them over and cook them on the other side for around 2 minutes more. Watch them closely as they do burn more easily than regular pancakes.

When you finish them, if you need to keep them warm a little longer, preheat your oven to about 250 degrees and set them on a pan and keep them toasty in there until you’re finished making the rest.

These are amazing with just syrup, but we often top them with powdered sugar and whipped cream, we us fruit toppings, your possibilities really are endless. So good!!

<a href="http://dailydishrecipes.com/" target="_blank "><img src="http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k498/Hudgens6/Buttons/ThisWeeksCravingsButton.jpg" /></a>

Participate in upcoming linky parties:

• 1/2/2012 Week # 62 Let’s Get Healthy… Healthy Meals & Snacks
• 1/9/2012 Week # 63 COMFORT FOOD: Soups & Casseroles
• 1/16/2012 Week # 64 CHEESE LOVER DAY… YUMMY Cheese recipes
• 1/23/2012 Week # 65 Homemade Pies
• 1/30/2012 Week # 66 Recipe from Your Favorite COOKBOOK
• 2/6/2012 Week # 67 Nutella DAY (Peanut Butter, Almond Butter & More)

This is a BLOG Party hosted by MOMS CRAZY COOKING and co-hosted by the blogs listed in the top paragraph.

If you are a regular link-up we’re excited to see what you made this week. If you are new please read and follow the simple rules, so that everyone can enjoy the linky party!

If you forget to follow the theme, your post will be deleted. Please don’t feel hurt, just come back and link up a recipe that follows the theme. Thanks a million, we look forward to blogging with you! The LINKY PARTY is opened ALL Week!

PLEASE do not link more then 3 recipes per week. This week’s theme is:Christmas Dinners and Holiday Food Traditions.
Please only link recipes with our theme!

This post linked to: Melt in your Mouth Monday, Motivate Me Monday, Made by You Monday, Makin’ You Crave Monday, Tuesday Talent Show, Tasty Tuesdays, What I Whipped Up Wednesday, Look What I Made Wednesday, Will See It Wednesday,

Gingerbread Pancakes originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on December 19, 2011.

It’s time for This Week’s Cravings again and what a fun week!

Our theme this week is French Toast, Pancakes and Waffles in honor of National French Toast Day. I am very proud to be co-hosting This Week’s Cravings along with Tina over at MOMS CRAZY COOKING, Kristen from From My Tiny Kitchen, Angie from Big Bear’s Wife  & Kristi from Veggie Converter.

So have you made any delicious French Toast, Pancakes or Waffle recipes lately? Want to link up? Yes, you – if you have a recipe that follows that theme, link it up down there at the bottom in the linky. It will be awesome. (make sure you read the simple rules first). And make sure it’s for French Toast, Waffles or Pancakes.

Now, onto mine. At holiday time we love to spice up our traditional foods to make them more festive, and that’s what happened one morning when we decided to play around with Pumpkin Pie Pancakes. Surely there had to be a way to make them yummy.

Pumpkin Pie Pancakes

• 3/4 c. milk
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 c. all-purpose flour
• 3 Tbs. white sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 Tbs. pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbs. butter, melted
• 2 Tbs. canned pumpkin (more if desired)

Combine the milk with the vinegar in a bowl and allow it to sit for about 5 minutes to let it sour.

In another bowl, combine the flour, the sugar, the baking powder, the baking soda, pumpkin pie spice and the salt.

After five minutes has passed, whisk the egg and the butter into the soured milk. Add the canned pumpkin and whisk again.

Pour the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture whisk until lumps are gone. At this point, you can see whether you need more liquid or more flour. (this will probably depend somewhat on how much pumpkin you used) Add milk and/or flour by Tablespoons until you are happy with the consistency. (usually I just leave it as is, but in case you like a different texture batter).

Heat a large skillet over medium heat or a griddle set to 360 degrees, and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cup of batter onto the skillet or griddle, and cook until bubbles begin to appear on the surface.

Flip ONLY once with a spatula, and cook until golden on the other side.

Top with whipped cream and some pumpkin pie spice or syrup. Yum!! So festive, so good, and so warming!

<a href="http://dailydishrecipes.com/" target="_blank "><img src="http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k498/Hudgens6/Buttons/ThisWeeksCravingsButton.jpg" /></a>

Participate in upcoming linky parties:

• 12/05/2011 Week # 58 Christmas Baking: Sweets, Treats, Candy & Gift Ideas
• 12/12/2011 Week # 59 Macaroni & Cheese
• 12/19/2011 Week # 60 Christmas Dinners & Holiday Food Traditions
• 12/26/2011 Week # 61 Appetizers & Party Platters

This is a BLOG Party hosted by MOMS CRAZY COOKING, From My Tiny Kitchen, Big Bears Wife, The Daily Dish and Veggie Converter.

If you are a regular link-up we’re excited to see what you made this week. If you are new please read and follow the simple rules, so that everyone can enjoy the linky party!

If you forget to follow the theme, your post will be deleted. Please don’t feel hurt, just come back and link up a recipe that follows the theme. Thanks a million, we look forward to blogging with you! The LINKY PARTY is opened ALL Week!

PLEASE do not link more then 3 recipes per week. This week’s theme is: French Toast, Pancakes and Waffles.
Please only link recipes with our theme!

This week’s theme is: FRENCH TOAST, PANCAKES and WAFFLES. Please only link recipes with our theme!

This post is linked up with: Melt in Your Mouth Monday, Made By You Monday, Mangia Mondays, On The Menu Monday, My Sweet & Savory Meatless Mondays, Savvy Homemade Monday, Homemaker Monday, Amaze Me Monday,

Pumpkin Pie Pancake Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on November 28, 2011.

We made this recipe up ourselves one evening in the kitchen when we had a can of pumpkin and we were making our french toast casserole recipe. We decided that for a Fall treat, it would be nice to make it pumpkin pie french toast and so this recipe was born. I’ve tried it a couple of different ways since we first made it, but this is the easiest and tastiest way to make it. This makes one casserole, but we double it to make two. (remember I’m feeding five hungry teenagers here.)

Overnight Pumpkin French Toast Casserole

• 1/2 C Butter
• 12  slices White Bread
• 1/2 C Brown Sugar
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 – 1/2 c.  pumpkin
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 5 eggs
• 1 1/2 c Milk

Melt the margarine and pour into a 9×13 pan.

Mix the brown sugar and the pumpkin spice seasoning.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, milk and vanilla together.

Layer 6 pieces of bread into the casserole dish.  Spread a thin layer of pumpkin (as if you were buttering a piece of bread) on each of the six slices of bread.

Next, sprinkle half of the brown sugar and pumpkin spice mixture over the top of the pumpkin that is spread on the bread.

Now repeat all steps again – layer the rest of the bread on top, then the pumpkin, the rest of the topping.

Pour the egg mixture over the top of all of it and then sprinkle the remaining brown sugar/pumpkin spice mixture over the top.

Cover and refrigerate overnight or at least 4-8 hours. Honestly, the longer the better. In the morning, cover the dish with tinfoil and bake in a 350 degree over for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, uncover the dish and bake an additional 15 more minutes. It should be golden and set.

Remove from oven and serve hot. Sprinkle with some powdered sugar if you want. This can also be served with syrup, butter, whipped cream or just eaten plain. It is delicious!

P.S. We are going to try it with some other “flavors” and I will let you know what we come up with, that actually works and tastes good.

Pumpkin French Toast Casserole Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on November 18, 2011.

I love bagels and Cream Cheese and so does the rest of my family. We have an amazing Homemade Bagel recipe (I will share that very soon) that we found that we love to make, saves us tons of money on bagels and they taste great. But what we didn’t have, was some different cream cheese recipes to try out on our bagels. We invented this one ourselves, because we were craving chocolate one night and didn’t feel like baking brownies or cake. I know there are other Chocolate Cream Cheese Recipes out there, but I’ve never been able to find one that tastes like this one. The best part is, it tastes great on toast, crackers… and more. This is a repost of an article originally published several months back. Needs some attention. It’s yummy!

Chocolate Cream Cheese Recipe

What you need:
1/4 c. Cocoa Powder,
1/2 c. Powdered Sugar,
1 pkg. Cream Cheese (I used Fat Free, so the calories weren’t so high)
1/4 c.  mini chocolate chips

Step 1: Put your cream cheese in a bowl. Yes, I know that I have two pictured.
I was doubling it. We have seven people in our family and we like having extra. LOL

Step 2: Toss in your cocoa powder.

Step 3: Dump the powdered sugar in. If you want it sweeter, add more.
We don’t use more than the recipe calls for, but many like it sweeter.

Step 4: Put in your chocolate chips. If you want to add more, you can.

Step 5: Mix it all up well. Spread on a bagel. Enjoy!

We store ours in our refrigerator in a reused butter container for up to a week.

Easy Chocolate Cream Cheese Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on October 26, 2011.

These are so yummy during the Fall! We make the Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffins all year long, but on holiday’s I like to change up the ingredients to fit the holiday. This recipe for Pumpkin Pie Spice Donut Muffins is super easy and my daughter is the one who made the ones pictured in the photo. So it’s easy enough for kids too.

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ginger
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. all spice (or you can just use pumpkin pie spice which we did)
• 1 c. sugar
• 2/3 c. shortening
• 2 lg. eggs
• 1/2 c. buttermilk
• 1 cup canned pumpkin (no sugar or spices added)

For the outside coating:

• 2 sticks of butter,  melted
• 1 1/2 c.  sugar
• 3 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

In a bowl, blend the sugar, shortening and eggs until you get a creamy mixture. Add the canned pumpkin, mixing the entire thing until smooth. Make sure you scrape the sides of the bowl and get that down in there too. In another bowl, mix all of your dry ingredients – the flour, the spices, baking powder & baking soda.

Blend everything up real good.

Now take turns adding the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture alternating between the dry stuff and your buttermilk. Mix well in between each addition. Make sure that everything is mixed well, including all the batter that gets stuck to the sides of the bowl.

Don’t forget to scrape that bowl!

We make these in mini muffin pans, but you could totally do this in a large muffin pan. Grease your muffin tin thoroughly. We use shortening, but you could do this also with non-stick cooking spray. Fill each muffin cup about 2/3 of the way full.

Now bake ‘em!

Bake these little gems at 350 degrees for about 20-24 minutes. (we usually pull them around 21)

Allow them to sit for about 2-5 minutes, and then remove and allow to cool for another 10-15 minutes on a cooling rack. You don’t want them to be cold, you just want them to be easy to handle. If they cool quicker than 10 minutes…

Go For it. Get ‘em covered in sugary/spicey goodness!

Now for the coating: Blend the sugar and pumpkin pie spice together in a bowl. Place the melted butter in another bowl next to it.

Dip each muffin into the butter for only a second or two, completely submerging it. Now roll the muffin into the Sugar & Spice mixture. Coat it really well, rolling it around so every inch is covered.

Now you can eat them. Or you can save them. But I recommend you eat them. Because as soon as others get a bite, they’re gonna go fast!

Happy Fall!

Pumpkin Pie Spice Donut Muffins originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on October 1, 2011.

I roughed the hot weather, and heated up the oven this morning while it was still… well, not 110 degrees heat index. We decided to make a triple batch of these awesome, delicious Pistachio Muffins. Basically we plan to freeze two dozen of them to save for next week, or the next time I do not wish to heat up the oven. Yes, it’s just that hot.

Pistachio Muffins

You need:

3 c. flour
1 1/2 c.sugar
2 Tbs baking powder
1 box Pistachio Jello Instant Pudding
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/4 c. milk
1 1/2 Tbs. honey
3/4 c. coconut or canola oil

In a big bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients: flour, the sugar, the baking powder and the pudding mix.

In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, the milk, the honey and the oil. Stir well.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and blend until moistened.

Fill the baking cups full.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes in preheated 375-degree oven, or until muffins test done.

Mmm… Enjoy! Makes 12 muffins.

Awesome with a hot cup of coffee or tea. Spread some butter or honey and eat up. Oh, and my kids really like peanut butter on them? It really does taste pretty good. LOL

Pistachio Muffins originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on July 21, 2011.

This recipe is made with ALL natural ingredients. And before you turn up your nose at any of it, just hear me out. First, I came from a junk food world – I love everything I’m not supposed to have. I have cravings all the time for everything I am not supposed to have. In fact, this health change has not been easy. However, among several other amazing foods and recipes I have discovered, I created this oatmeal and this oatmeal is the ticket. Whenever I am craving something sweet, I just make a bowl – not only is it extremely filling, but it’s delicious and has no added sugar or sodium. It’s a low-fat, low calorie treat and can be made morning, noon or night!

Nicole’s Homemade Peanut Butter & Banana Oatmeal Recipe
Nicole’s Weight Loss Recipes
Servings: 2
Calories: 210 • Fat: 6 g • Protein: 5 g • Carb: 37 g • Fiber: 4 g • Sugar: 16 g
(In this recipe at a glance, it seems the carbs and sugar are extremely high, but please remember a lot of this has to do with the Banana, which is the good carbs and good sugars your body needs.)

1/4 c. Steel Cut Oatmeal
1 Tbs. Organic Peanut Butter
1 Tbs. Honey (you can use less to taste)
1 medium Banana

Prepare the steel cut oatmeal as directed on package. Once the oatmeal is finished cooking, remove from heat and add 1 whole medium size banana, 1 Tbs. honey (more or less to taste, I use quite a bit less actually, around about 1 tsp.) and 1 Tbs. organic peanut butter. Obviously you can use any type of peanut butter, oatmeal and honey, but to select healthier products, made the outcome much healthier.
Stir everything together and allow to sit about 1 minute or so before serving.

Serves 2. (actually it is one large serving, but most of the time I want to eat something else with it, so I half it and eat the rest the next day. Store in sealed container in refrigerator. ) Please let me know what you think!

Homemade Peanut Butter & Banana Oatmeal Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on March 15, 2011.

This delicious spinach breakfast recipe was passed along to me by a friend recently. It will totally get people eating their spinach and it tastes great. Plus, if you make this recipe you will have enough for each morning. That’s awesome. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Once cooked it can be frozen, but I recommend cutting it into squares first and storing them not touching in an airtight container lined with waxed paper. When ready to eat, remove a piece from the freezer, wrap loosely in a paper towel, and heat in the microwave for 1 minute, turn or flip, then add 30 -45 seconds or until hot. Enjoy!!

Delicious Spinach Breakfast Recipe

First Ingredients
1 c. reduced-fat baking mix (I usually use Bisquick)
2 egg whites
1 egg
1/4 c. fat-free or low fat milk
1/4 c. finely chopped onion

Second Ingredients
1 10oz. pkg. of frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 1/2 c. fat-free cottage cheese
3/4 c. low-fat or fat-free Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese. grated
2 egg whites
1 egg
1 tsp. dried minced onion

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove the thawed spinach from package, and press dry with a towel, removing as much moisture as possible.
In one bowl, combine the first five ingredients. Spread the batter into a greased 11″X7″ baking pan. In another bowl, combine the second set of ingredients. Gently spoon the mixture over the batter already in the pan.
Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 28-30 minutes or until cooked through and golden brown. Check to be sure it is cooked all the way through, by inserting a into the center. It should come out clean. This makes 6 servings, and thanks to my friend who gave me the recipe, it also has nutrition information provided. YES!

Nutrition Information: 1 piece equals 251 calories, 9 grams of fat (5 grams of saturated fat), 92 mg cholesterol, 725 mg sodium (this can be cut down by watching the type of baking mix you use), 21 grams carbohydrate, 2 grams fiber, 20 grams protein.

Photo Credit: Craig Bennett

Delicious Spinach Breakfast Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on January 5, 2011.

This is my go-to recipe for a basic sour cream muffin. It’s wonderful with add-ins like chocolate chips, nuts, spices or berries.

Basic Sour Cream Muffins

1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
4 large eggs (or 8 egg whites + 4 tsp. oil)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 c. sour cream
2 3/4 c/ all purpose flour
1/2 cup of add-ins (chocolate chips, any berries, raisins, nuts, etc.)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Grease the muffin cups or line with paper liners.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and creamy, about a minute. Next, beat in the vanilla, eggs, salt and baking soda.
Next, fold in the sour cream.
Now fold in the flour and any of the add-ins that you have chosen.

Scoop batter into muffin cups. Place in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean.
Allow to cool for about 10 minutes in pan.
Remove from pan and allow to completely cool on wire rack. Makes 24 muffins.

Basic Sour Cream Muffin Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on January 4, 2011.