Almost One Bowl Berry Mini-Muffins

My current favorite muffin recipe because of how easy and yummy it is:

Ingredients:

2 cups rolled oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1 cup berries (I typically use frozen mixed berries from Costco)
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup honey
1 egg

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a mini-muffin tin.

In a food processor, process the rolled oats into a fine flour. Add the baking powder and salt and pulse to mix in.

Pour dry ingredients into another bowl so you can process the other ingredients (this is why these cannot be called one bowl muffins). Add the rest of the ingredients to the food processor and process until everything is smooth (takes longer if you use frozen berries).

Add dry ingredients back in with the wet ones and pulse until everything is wet.

Spoon into muffin tin, and bake for 15 minutes.

Blender Pancakes

Our current favorite breakfast (because they are yummy and easy and quick).

In a blender or food processor, add:

4 eggs
4 bananas
1 cup coconut oil (or applesauce, or pumpkin purée, or a combo of 2 or 3; just get to one cup total of whatever you use)
1 t salt
1 T cinnamon

Blend together until smooth, then add 2 cups oats. Blend again until combined (you may need to scrape the sides down a little). Cook on a griddle and serve.

Delicious, plus really quick and easy.

*For "Fall" use pumpkin, and add chocolate chips while cooking on the griddle-a big hit for us.

Baked Oatmeal

This is my favorite way to eat oatmeal.  Since I'm not a fan of mushy textures, this has become a common breakfast for me (plus the eggs make it a little more filling). I love that I can mix this all in one 9 by 13 the night before, throw it in the oven without preheating the next morning, and have a warm, nourishing breakfast ready an hour later. The original idea came from here. 


Ingredients & Instructions:

Grease a 9 by 13 pan. Fill the pan with rolled oats an inch or so high (about 5-6 cups). Add the following (to the pan-this is a one pan recipe):

1 t baking soda
1 T salt
1 T cinnamon

Mix those dry ingredients together and then add:

1 cup milk (we use coconut or almond)
1/3 cup melted coconut oil or butter
4 eggs
Up to half a cup of sweetener (maple syrup, honey, brown sugar, etc); we have cut back on our sugar intake recently, so I usually make mine without any sweetener, and then drizzle some maple syrup on top afterwards. But if I'm entertaining (or if you like things on the sweet side) definitely add the extra sweetener now.

Stir everything together well, cover with foil, and put in the fridge overnight. The next morning, pop the covered pan in the cold oven, turn on to 350 degrees, and set a timer for an hour (yes, there is no need to preheat the oven on this). Serve with maple syrup drizzled on top, fruit, nuts, anything you  like on your oatmeal. 

Cucumber Tomato Salad

This is my recent favorite salad, and one of my favorite ways to use tomatoes and cucumbers in season. Simple and yummy.

Ingredients:

2-3 medium tomatoes, sliced thin (a pint of cherry tomatoes cut in half works well too)
1 medium cucumber, peeled and sliced thin
1/2 white onion, sliced thin and rings pulled apart
1-2 T olive oil
1-2 T apple cider vinegar
Salt & Pepper

Mix everything together and serve. The flavor gets better if it sits a while, so if you can prepare it a couple of hours in advance, store it in the fridge and then pull out when ready to eat. Yum!

Crockpot Chicken Tacos

This recipe is a frequent one at our home, and is always slightly different. It's a combination of a whole bunch of different recipes I've seen and is a good recipe for our family's tastes. I keep the spices about the same, but sometimes I don't have peppers or beans so they are left out. This is a good base for our favorite easy, yummy, crockpot tacos.

Ingredients:

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1-2 bell peppers (red, yellow, green, orange, whatever I have), sliced in thin strips
1 onion, sliced in thin strip or rings
1 can blacks beans (or 2 cups cooked)
2-3 tomatoes, diced (or 1 can of diced tomatoes, or 1 cup of whatever salsa we have)
1 heaping tablespoon cumin
1 heaping tablespoon oregano
1 heaping tablespoon chili powder
1 heaping tablespoon garlic salt
Juice of 1 lime (I freeze extra when I have limes on hand and freeze it in ice cube trays; one frozen cube is what I use if I don't have fresh)


Combine everything except the lime juice in the crockpot and cook on low for 6-8 hours (or less depending on your crockpot). When finished cooking, shred the chicken, add the lime juice, and serve on tortillas with any toppings you like. It's also yummy to use for taco salad over chips, or just over rice.

Roasted Carrots, Onions, & Beets

A yummy veggie side dish when beets are in season.

Ingredients:

4-6 large carrots, peeled and sliced thin
4-6 beets, peeled and sliced thin
1 large white or yellow onion,sliced thin
2-3 T olive oil
1 T minced garlic
1 T sage
Salt and pepper (to taste - can add more after roasting if needed)

Preheat oven to 425. Mix everything together and spread on a cookie sheet. Roast in preheated oven about 20 minutes or until veggies are fork tender.

Mini Chocolate Tarts

If you  like chocolate, these are for you. Idea came from here.


Crust:

1 1/4 c almonds
1/2 c unsweetened shredded coconut
pinch of salt
2 T maple syrup
2 T coconut oil, melted

Preheat oven to 375. In food processor, process almonds to a fine meal (not almond butter). Add coconut and salt and process for a few seconds, then add maple syrup and coconut oil and process until combined in  sticky clumps (add more coconut oil and maple syrup if needed). Spoon crust into greased mini-muffin tin, pressing down. Crust should fill each hole about 1/3-1/2 of the way up. Bake for 10 min, or until golden brown. Let cool.

Filling:

1/2 can full fat coconut milk
1 c dark chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla

In a saucepan, bring the coconut milk to a boil. Pour chocolate chips in a separate bowl and pour boiling milk over. Let it sit for a minute, then whisk together. Add vanilla and continue stirring until smooth. Spoon filling on top of mini-crusts in muffin tin.

Topping:

1/4 c chopped nuts (my favorites are macadamia nuts and pistachios, but almonds and walnuts are delicious too)
1/4 c unsweetened shredded coconut

Toast nuts and coconut on stove-top. Sprinkle on top of filling. Refrigerate mini-tarts until solid, and pop out just before serving. You can freeze them too.