Carrot pineapple muffins with chia seed topping

I've been testing recipes for healthy on-the-go breakfasts, and this one is a winner! The kids have always loved "sunrise muffins" -- carrot pineapple muffins that they traditionally make at their preschool in the spring. I took the basic recipe and tweaked it, substituting whole wheat and oat flour for part of the bleached flour, and adding ground flax and chia seeds to add protein and fiber. Instead of refined white sugar, I used coconut sugar, which has a much lower glycemic index.

The final product was moist and lightly sweet, with a crunch from the chia seeds on top. Mom-tested, kid-approved!

I used the recipe below, with the following substitutions:

1 cup coconut sugar (rather than 1 cup refined sugar)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour + 1/2 cup oat flour + 1/2 cup bleached flour + 1 tbsp flax meal (rather than 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour)
1/3 cup nonfat plain yogurt + 1/3 cup vegetable oil (rather than 2/3 cup vegetable oil)
1/2 cup chia seeds, sprinkled on top


Carrot Pineapple Muffins

Banana chocolate chip muffins with chia seeds

I have been on a health kick recently. But with 2 growing kids, and being the baker that I am, I couldn't completely cut out carbohydrates. Instead, I am trying to tweak classic recipes to be a bit more nutritious. Having our cake and eating it too, so to speak.

This morning I decided to bake banana chocolate chip muffins for a playdate. After all, two four year-old boys need lots of energy to run around and wreck havoc on the house!

I started with a straightforward recipe for banana chocolate chip bread, but made the following substitutions:

3/4 cup wheat flour for 3/4 cup bleached all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon ground flax seed

1/4 cup nonfat greek yogurt for 1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup agave syrup for 1/4 cup refined sugar

I also mixed together 3 tablespoons of chia seeds, 1 tsp of refined sugar, and 1/4 cup crushed banana chips as a crunchy topping.

The final product was moist, banana-y, and not too sweet. Added bonus? It has much more fiber and protein than the original recipe. The boys (and I) gobbled it up!

Banana chocolate chip bread

My favorite chocolate cake

I found this recipe for Beatty's chocolate cake a few years ago and it has changed my life. An amazingly simple recipe for chocolate cake that manages to be both light and decadent at the same time. I've used it to make cupcakes for the kids' birthday parties, and am now working on making layer cakes.

Combined with tangy cream cheese frosting, this cake was a hit for Father's Day yesterday. An easy layer cake? Yes please!

Beatty's Chocolate Cake

Fluffy Cream Cheese Frosting

playdate tea sandwiches

One of my greatest victories this past year as a mom has been to get my kids to eat sandwiches. Yes, sandwiches. We're not all the way there yet - the kids pretty much only accept PB&J, nutella, and butter, though they've graduated from shapes and will happily eat whole wheat bread, sometimes even with crust.

The best moment came a couple of weeks ago when I made a cucumber sandwich and told my daughter that it was fancy. "Fancy?" she asked, unimpressed. But when I told her that the cucumber sandwich was Belle's favored snack during princess tea time, she took a bite and declared herself a convert. Awesome, especially since it doesn't take much to spread cream cheese on sliced bread, layer cucumbers, and top with buttered bread.

The reason I'm loving this whole sandwich development is how much easier it has made lunchtime playdates. I basically plop down a loaf of bread, various jams, nut butters, and butter, string cheese, veggie sticks, and fruit, and let the kids go at it. Super easy and every kid gets to customize their own meal.

For today's playdate, I went fancy and pre-made a plateful of sandwiches, including PB&J, the aforementioned cucumber sandwiches, and, for the adults, deviled egg salad. I've always been a fan of deviled eggs, and when brainstorming what to serve for lunch today, thought I'd create an egg salad version to escape the boredom of eating kid sandwiches for lunch. It turned out great - creamy and eggy, with a nice kick from capers and horesradish. Playdate success!

Egg Salad Tea Sandwiches
Ingredients
Sliced whole wheat bread
4 hard-boiled eggs, cooled 
1 tbsp capers
1 radish, diced fine
1/2 scallion, diced fine
1 tbsp mayo
1 tsp horeradish
1 tsp whole grain mustard


Roughly chop eggs and place in mixing bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients, and roughly mash with a fork, making sure to leave some texture in the eggs. Spread on a slice of whole wheat bread, top with another, cut off crusts, and into triangles. Makes 4-6 sandwiches, depending on how much filling you like in your sandwiches. Bonus points for getting the kids to partake!

funfetti whoopie pies!

This is a bit of a cheat, but my daughter requested funfetti cupcakes for her birthday this year, and the only made-from-scratch recipe I found resulted in eggy but heavy cupcakes. I also have to admit, a secret part of me loves cake from a box. There's something so light and sugary about it - I usually inhale three or four cupcakes immediately after they come out of the oven! So I overbought funfetti cake mix in December, and now it is February and I am sick of cupcakes but needed to use up these extra boxes of cake mix.

Yesterday afternoon I found myself in a funk and needed something happy to cheer myself up. I remembered those funfetti cake mixes, and decided to doctor up some funfetti whoopie pies from what I had on hand. I followed the directions for "funfetti cookies" on the box, then whipped up some pink cream cheese frosting. The cookies only took 8 minutes to bake, and after they cooled, I sandwiched them together and rolled in confetti sprinkles for an instant late afternoon pick-me-up!

Funfetti Whoopie Pies
Ingredients
For Whoopie Pies:
1 box Pillsbury funfetti cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
For Filling:
1 cup cream cheese
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
red food coloring (I used 3 drops)
confetti sprinkles


Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Mix cake mix with 2 eggs and 1/3 cup vegetable oil, dough will be cookie dough consistency
Roll into balls (use a tablespoon to ensure they were all the same size) and place on parchment paper lined baking trays
Bake for 8-10 minutes until they're flattened and slightly golden brown, cool
Make cream cheese filling by whipping together cream cheese, confectioners sugar, vanilla, and food coloring with a hand mixer
When cooled, fill with cream cheese icing and roll in confetti sprinkles
Enjoy!