French Bread

Well wouldn't ya know, I made a loaf of French bread here at home. I really believed this was beyond my abilities; anything beyond the bread machine seemed too hard. But with a new Italian themed dinner set, a loaf had to be tried. It was a total Success. Give it a try, it is really easy and can make you feel so domestic and successful.

Ingredients. (2 baguettes or 1 loaf)

1 cup water

2 3/4 cup white flour

1TBS sugar

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

---egg wash for top----

1 egg yolk (Use the egg white if you want a chewy crust, the egg yolk for a crunchy crust)

1 TBS water

(1) add first 5 ingredients to bread machine. Run on dough cycle.  

(2) remove dough from machine and put in a greased bowl. Turn to coat all sides in grease. Cover and rise 30 mins or until double in size. 

(3) grease cookie sheet. Punch down dough. Roll dough onto flat, floured surface into rectangle shape. For baguettes, cut rectangle in half and roll each half tightly into loaves. (For single loaf, do not divide large rectangle. Just roll it tightly to make 1 loaf) pinch edge of dough to seal. Cover and rise for 30-40 mins. 

This is the part that I wanted to skip but it really makes it French bread; crunchy on the outside with a soft middle. 

(4) preheat oven to 375 degree F 

(5) make egg wash: mix together 1 egg yolk with 1 TBS water. Brush mixture onto loaf(s). 

(6) bake loaf for 20-25 mins

1 slice: 60 calories; 10mg cholesterol; 2g protein

Drink Your Spinach Smoothie

Do you struggle getting in your greens like I do? Not to mention the kids! Here is a chocolate "milkshake" that works great with breakfast. My son drank it right up while watching his morning cartoons like it was nothing special. Win for mom!

Ingredients: 

1 cup milk (almond milk makes it more healthy but not necessary)

1 banana

Large handful of spinach (I like to just fill my blender full if it)

2 spoon fulls of coco powder (I just used a small spoon from my drawer because my measuring 

     spoons took more than a second to locate)

Sweetener packet to taste. (Or sugar, depending on how healthy you want the shake)

Blend and drink it up. 

WARNING: this is tasty but it is not a chocolate shake like your taste buds will expect. I liked it, so why not give it a try. Get your kids to drink their spinach without the fight. 

Blueberry Lemon Muffins

(With Yellow Squash)

Yes my friends, these muffins are deceptively delicious.  The little lad has been more of a pain when it comes to eating. Getting any kind of food into his growing body is a battle; let alone trying to keep his diet healthy. So when he was popping these down like candy, I was a thrilled parent! I highly recommend them with a green smoothie side for a healthy adult breakfast as well.

Prep: 10 minutes
Make and freeze for future eating.

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Firmly packed brown sugar
4 TBS butter
1 cup Lemon Yogurt (I used 6 oz because I didn't want to buy 2 containers just for this)
1 cup blueberries (I used frozen cuz they're cheaper)
1/2 yellow squash puree *
1 large egg
2 tsp lemon extract **
1 tsp grated lemon zest
2 cups flour
1/4 cup flaxseed meal ***
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

* To make squash puree - steam the squash for a few minutes, then stick it in the blender with a bit of the water you used to steam it. Wala.  I cooked 2 squash and then used the extra puree in my smoothie.

** I used 2 drops of doTERRA lemon oil and no zest.

*** At Winco you can buy flaxseed meal in bulk. That way you don't have to buy a whole bunch if you don't already have it in your pantry.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Beat the sugar and butter in a large bowl. Stir in yogurt, blueberries, yellow squash puree, egg, lemon extract, and zest.

Add flour, flaxseed meal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir just to combine, but do not over mix--the batter is supposed to be lumpy.

Divide batter into muffin cups and bake until tops of muffins are lightly browned, 13-16 minutes.

Store in airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days OR wrap individually and freeze for up to 1 month.

**Recipe compliments of Jessica Seinfeld.

Apple Puff Pancake

Everybody loves breakfast foods for dinner.  I especially love it on Sunday night when I am not motivated to make the chicken meal that I had planned.  Breakfast foods always win out. And this has become one of my favorites as of late and was acquired through the in-laws. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
2 apples -- peeled and sliced
6 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk
1 cup flour
3 TBS sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
3 TBS brown sugar

Heat oven to 425. Melt butter in 13x9 pan. Add apples, put in the oven until the butter sizzles. (about 4 minutes). Put eggs, milk, flour, sugar, vanilla, salt in blender and blend.

After butter is sizzling, pour blender ingredients on top of apples, then sprinkle with brown sugar.  Bake 20 mins.  Remove from oven and serve immediately

Toppings can be anything, but we especially like Apple Syrup, Apple Butter, Cinnamon/Sugar, or Strawberry Jam.

You can also make this without the apples if you don't have them on hand - it's just as delicious. Plus, you can save yourself on the stick of butter ingredient. That helps on the waistline.