THESE MUFFINS STARTED IT ALL. The first time I made our pumpkin spice mini-muffins in Rome, I knew we were on to something because the kids liked them, but I loved them. Finally a decadent tasting baked good that I didn’t have mixed feelings about. So we made spin-offs: carrot cake muffins, sweet potato muffins and more. But the original…
homemade strawberry cereal bars with whole oats
I’VE TRIED TO MAKE BARS LIKE THESE BEFORE. A bunch of times. The results were too thick, too crumbly or just not flavorful enough. This time we got it right. Look out Nutrigrain bars, we’ve got a homemade version that’s fresher, less expensive and even yummier.
peach crisp so good (and good for you) you’ll eat it for breakfast too
IF YOU WANT TO SCORE POINTS WITH THE RASCALS, serve them dessert for breakfast. Make it this dessert and you won’t even have to feel weird about it. It’s basically fresh fruit, oats, nuts, a little honey and yep, wheat germ.
healthy apple spice quick bread
I DON’T KNOW WHO ATE MORE OF THIS, ME OR BABY GEORGE (or what that says about either of us). But what I do know is that we packed this apple spice loaf with as many good-for-you ingredients as we could, and it was still so delicious the older kids were asking about it long…
Honey-Sweetened Blueberry Muffins
JUST IN TIME FOR BLUEBERRY MUFFINS! I love summer food. All those berries, sweet peaches and juicy cherries are so easy to serve as snacks (minus the juicy cleanup) but there’s an even better side effect: When I see my three rascals lined up on the counter stools, eating all that fresh goodness I feel…
zucchini chocolate chip breakfast cookies
YEP, ZUCCHINI. Barbara Kingsolver wrote in her amazing book, “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle”, about the windfall of zucchini she had after planting her first garden. They had piles of the stuff everywhere, on every surface of the kitchen. That’s when her daughter decided to get drastic. Bake them into cookies, she said. And that’s just what…
a healthy twist on green eggs and ham
THIS IS ONE OF MY TRICKS. Since I try to cook (almost) every night, I take a shortcut and make breakfast for dinner about once a week. It’s always easy, usually inexpensive, handy because the ingredients are in the pantry–and best of all, the kids love it.
homemade whole wheat apple bread
MUFFINS, YOU MAY HAVE MET YOUR MATCH. My mother-in-law sent us home from a recent Florida visit with a bread making machine, and boy have we been baking. I know it’s very 1996 to say it but, I love making bread in this thing! All you do is dump in ingredients, then wait. Um, I…
We have a Muffin Madness 2013 winner! The muffin recipe of the year is…
SO MANY DELICIOUS CHOICES, so few baking opportunities during nap time. Over the last few weeks, we tried something new in hopes of finding something new. New muffin recipes to be exact and with this six-pack we hit the jackpot.
Double chocolate zucchini muffins, a Muffin Madness contender
THERE’S A MUFFIN BRACKET GOING ON. It’s between Easy Peasy Organic’s sweet potato muffins and these double chocolate zucchini muffins from Mom’s Kitchen Handbook. Since we’ve already started hearing from you about the sweet potato muffins, we tried baking the zucchini first. After patiently waiting driving me crazy while the muffins baked and cooled off,…
Lower-sugar, lower-fat golden yam brownies (An Allrecipes.com makeover)
THIS REQUEST CAME IN FROM ALASKA. Tricia, who is a mom to three boys living waaay up north, sent me a link via Facebook to these decadent treats with a healthy sounding name, Golden Yam Brownies on Allrecipes. She asked if I could do a healthier makeover. “My family LOVES it but it’s loaded with…
Make-Ahead Breakfast Pockets with Egg, Cheese & Ham
For a delicious breakfast that comes together in a snap, you can’t beat these breakfast pockets full of eggs, ham and cheese. Plus the whole thing can be assembled ahead of time and baked when you’re good and ready. What you need to make breakfast pockets with eggs, ham & cheese 1 package of 8…
Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins (With Beans!) 2 Ways
Don’t stop reading yet. I made chocolate pumpkin muffins with beans. A full can of beans. And they’re awesome. This breakfast was originally a dessert, similar to our chocolate cake with beans, but if there’s an option to wake up to chocolate I have only one thing to say: yes, please! Our muffins are packed…
Frittata with spinach, pancetta & ricotta (a Barefoot Contessa makeover)
MY BIG INDULGENCE IN ITALY, other than one trip to the Gucci outlet and one million bowls of gelato (which was probably more expensive in the long run!), has been an international subscription to the Food Network magazine. I’ve definitely learned a lot from Italians when it comes to food, family and the combination of…
Healthy chocolate-zucchini muffins for kids (a Paula Deen zucchini bread makeover)
STOP EVERYTHING. THESE ARE THE BEST MUFFINS you’ll ever make. And don’t tell Ina Garten because I’ve strayed again and updated another Paula Deen recipe for this one. Right now Paula’s zucchini bread is the most popular thing on the Food Network website; and my remake of her pumpkin cake (now pumpkin spice mini-muffins) is…
pumpkin pancakes or waffles
ONE OF MY DREAMS FOR THIS WEBSITE is to create an amazing collection of family-friendly recipes and meal ideas from moms and dads everywhere. There’s a special section on Foodlets devoted to this mission; you can upload your family’s favorite recipes (with photo) easily right here. But sometimes I hear from you directly, which is…
Fresh peach & cinnamon muffins
THERE’S NO BETTER TIME FOR PEACHES than the last weeks of warm weather. (Ditto for tomatoes!) Inspired by all the juicy looking fruit overflowing on our supermarket shelves, Phoebe and I set out to make a new muffin: peach spice muffins.
Banana oat muffins
WE WERE GOING ON VACATION just as the first opportunity to volunteer at our church came my way. We go to Rome Baptist Church here in Italy not because we’re necessarily Baptists (though my husband grew up in the Baptist church) but because the sermon is in English. And they’re nice folks. Anyway, it seems…
carrot cake pancakes
LAST NIGHT I PANICKED. It was nearly time to pick up the girls from nursery school, George was set on nursing until the cows came home (almost literally in this case) and no dinner was made. The 90 something degree heat didn’t help. But Pinterest did. I’d become obsessed with seen a recipe for Carrot…
Poached eggs with hash brown potatoes and peppers
BREAKFAST FOR DINNER is one of our go-to techniques for dinner in a hurry. Now that we’ve got a third Foodlet on-hand, make that in-arms, cooking can be a little more complicated. As in, how can I make dinner and look after the toddler, preschooler and newborn baby without anyone accidentally getting grilled in the…