teacher by day - chef by night
Mornings are Busy ~ Life is Busy ~ Breakfast is Important Skipping Breakfast is a really bad choice! If you have an extra 5 minutes in the morning, you can whip up a healthy breakfast smoothie every morning (which is as simple as your favorite …
Have you made Mock Ice Cream from Bananas yet? If you haven’t, then YOU ARE MISSING OUT! I am telling you – this is magical! Frozen bananas whip up in the food processor to make a dairy-free, delicious, & healthy “Ice Cream” treat! Happy Healthy …
If you are looking for a quick, fast, easy, tasty, and ‘healthy’ breakfast muffin – than you’ve come to the right place! Now, these are not “the healthiest ever” because they still do have white flour and sugars but they do have peanut butter and banana and whole wheat and wheat germ SO they do qualify (in my book) for healthy.
I work with an amazing group of people at my Elementary School who are diving full force into Steven Covey’s Leader in Me program. Our kids are doing so well with this program and I cannot wait to see how much these leadership lessons and skills that they are learning is going to help them. As an adult I am learning so much by teaching these Habits to our kids and its making me a better person.
Part of being a better person is making those around me better as well. To make “deposits” into my co-workers “emotional bank accounts” I made some goodies for our Leader in Me Training Day. These tasty treats were a perfect breakfast snack as well as a mid-day pick-me-up!
Make these for someone you love, or show yourself how much you love you.
(adapted from Liv Life)
Preheat oven to 350º. Spray mini muffin tins (48 muffins) with cooking spray. In a large bowl stir together the flour, flax meal, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. In another bowl mix the milk and water with the sugars, mashed banana, peanut butter, vanilla and egg.
Add the chocolate chips & diced banana to the dry ingredients and stir to evenly distribute. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring just until combined, making sure not to over-mix.
Spoon the batter into the mini muffin tins and bake for about 15 minutes, or until muffins are browned (don’t over-bake or they become too dry). Remove to a wire rack and cool. Enjoy!
And I leave you with this, today’s Question of the Day… What “Emotional Bank Account” deposits do you like making to those around you to show them how much you care?
One of my Best Friends (Miss J.W.) loves Nutella. For the past three (I think) years I have given her Nutella for her birthday (and possibly even some as Christmas gifts in there too). I think she has come to expect it (when she opened …
I decided to round out “breakfast sweets” week with just one more recipe of another tasty breakfast goody that traveled to the shore with us last weekend! This one is in the HEALTHY breakfast goodies category and will be making a repeat in our kitchen …
Cupcakes = Good
Banana Bread = Comfort ‘healthy’ Dessert
Peanut Butter & Jelly = Childhood Classic
Banana Cupcakes filled with Jelly & topped with Peanut Butter Frosting… oh yeah!
As I was getting ready to make cupcakes for my “kids” & co-workers at Big Boulder last week, I was also watching Food Network and browsing FoodGawker (honestly, in the evening – when does this not happen!?). The Neelys were making Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes and Evil Shenanigans had posted jelly filled banana cupcakes with peanut butter frosting… it was a sign: I had to create these treats as soon as possible!
These cupcakes bring back memories of everything childhood (just don’t make them for most kids now since 1/2 the places you look are now peanut free – grr). Add a bit more jelly if you like (I wanted more) and feel free to make any cupcake to hold this childhood treat (a cinnamon swirled vanilla would probably be awesome).
Peanut Butter & Jelly (Banana) Cupcakes
Heat the oven to 350 F and line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners.
In a medium bowl combine the mashed bananas and buttermilk until smooth. Add the butter, egg, and vanilla and mix until well combined. In a large bowl combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until well mixed. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until no large lumps of flour remain. [These are a more dense cupcake – so feel free to play with this as needed – but they held up well to the jelly & peanut butter as they currently are!]
Scoop the batter evenly between the paper liners and bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the cakes are golden brown and spring back when gently pressed in the center. Cool in the pan for three minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once the cakes are cooled completely take a small paring knife and poke it into the center of the cupcake in a cross pattern about 1 inch deep. Take a pastry bag fitted with a small star tip and fill it with the jam. Press the tip into the cross and pipe in about one tablespoon of jelly. Clean off the tops of the cupcakes before frosting. I don’t really think there was enough jelly when I did this, next time I’ll scoop out a hole to fill with the jelly.
To prepare the frosting cream together the butter and peanut butter until well combined. Add in the powdered sugar and half the milk and mix until smooth, fluffy and your desired piping consistency. (I used more than the full 1/4 cup of milk.)
Your thought of the day…. Peter Pan & the Lost Boys had it right when they said “I won’t grow up”. So remember to grow older & more mature, but don’t ever truly grow up (don’t ever lose that inner child!)