Maple Bundt Cake

Hello, this cake is my new favorite! Delicious, beautiful, and good for you. :)

3 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour (or you can sift whole-wheat flour, making it lighter like pastry flour)
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups pure maple syrup
2/3 cup canola oil
2 Tbs. vanilla extract
1 Tbs. apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. maple extract
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
berries for garnish

Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly coat 10-inch Bundt pan with cooking spray.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in bowl.

Whisk maple syrup, oil, vanilla extract, apple cider vinegar, maple extract, and 1 1/3 cups water in large separate bowl. Stir in flour mixture until just blended.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and cake begins to pull away from sides of pan. Cool in pan on rack 20 minutes. Unmold onto rack, and cool completely. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and decorate with berries before serving.

Biscotti with Thyme and Lemon Glaze

These are DELICIOUS! And seeing as my first attempt at biscotti nearly two years ago was an epic failure, I'm pretty proud of how they turned out. Don't even worry about what the rest of them looked like! Ha ha...take 2 should be even better. :)

½ c amaranth flour
½ c corn flour/cornmeal
¼ tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
2 egg whites
¾ c raw sugar
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
zest and juice of 2 small lemons
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves

Preheat oven to 350. Coat 2 baking sheets with cooking spray. In a large bowl, stir together the amaranth flour, corn flour, baking soda, and salt. Using an electric mixer, beat in the egg whites at low speed until a crumbly dough forms.

In another bowl, beat ½ c of the sugar, the butter, vanilla, lemon zest (reserve the juice), and thyme, until combined. Scrape the mixture into the flour mixture, and beat at medium speed, until a soft, sticky dough forms.

Divide the dough into 2 mounds and transfer one to each baking sheet. Form each into an 8 inch long cylinder. Pat the cylinders into loaves about 2 inches wide and ¾ inch thick. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the loaves are puffed and springy to the touch. Rotate the pans halfway through baking. Carefully transfer the loaves to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 200.

Using a sharp knife, cut the loaves crosswise into scant half inch thick slices. Each will yield about 8 slices. Return the slices to the baking sheets, each slice lying on its side, and bake for about 30 minutes longer, flipping after 15 minutes, until crisp. Transfer to racks to cool.

Place the remaining ¼ c sugar in a small saucepan with the lemon juice. Bring to a boil, and cook 1-2 minutes more, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reduces by half. Cool slightly, then drizzle over the biscotti.

Cranberry-Lime Muffins

These are so so good! Mine were a little bitter on Day 2, which may have been because I used too much lime zest or they were undercooked, I'm not really sure, but I'm leaning toward the latter. Anyway, they're worth a try!

2 cups gluten-free all-purpose baking flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
zest and juice of two limes
2/3 c raw sugar
2/3 c soy milk
¼ c corn oil
2 egg whites
1 Tbsp vanilla
½ c craisins

Preheat oven to 325. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the lime zest and juice, sugar, soy milk, oil, egg whites, and vanilla to the dry ingredients, stirring until the batter is smooth. Gently fold in the craisins until they are evenly distributed.

Pour ¼ c of the batter into each prepared cup, almost filling the cup. Bake the muffins on the center rack for 22 minutes, rotating the pan 180 degrees after 15 minutes. When done, the muffins will bounce back slightly when pressed, and a toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean.

Remove the muffins from the oven and let stand for 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack, and cool completely. Store the muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Yay Successful Experimenting!

Those of you that know me know that I am a recipe-using cook. I hardly ever experiment, because it hardly ever works out for me. Well, my luck is changing!


The other night I was hungry and didn't have a lot of time, so I opened up a can of black beans, sauteed some garlic in olive oil, added the beans and some onion powder and cayenne pepper and heated it through. Then I added some spinach and cooked it until the spinach was perfect. Voila! It was really yummy, especially in a whole wheat pita. Ok, I'm feeling braver...


So I experimented with my buckwheat banana pancake recipe (next post down) by using whole wheat flour instead of white flour, which was way yummier! And I experimented with different toppings. Remember how I said applesauce was the best? Well, I lied. Cinnamon and honey are definitely the best topping! Hands down. Yummy, yummy, yummy. :) Try it! Feeling braver still...


I was cleaning my fridge out last night, and again didn't have a lot of time to cook dinner. So I cut up a cucumber, some tomatoes, and a bell pepper and tossed them altogether with a little bit of French vinaigrette dressing. So yummy! I cooked up some bulgur to go with it, and it was delicious.


Hey, this cooking stuff is kinda fun!

Banana Buckwheat Pancakes

Mouth-watering good!! Yummiest pancakes I've ever had. :) You can serve them with the traditional butter and syrup, but I like them best with apple sauce on top! I tried peanut butter and almond butter too, and both were good, but the apple sauce is definitely the best! Also, I didn't have baking powder, so I used a 1/2 tsp baking soda and left the powder out, and it worked great!

2 cups plain soy milk
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 c buckwheat flour
1 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp egg replacer powder
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 Tbsp maple syrup (pure is best!)
2 bananas, thinly sliced

Mix 1 3/4 c soy milk with lemon juice in small bowl. Let stand 5 minutes.

Combine flours, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in medium bowl.

Whisk egg replacer and remaining 1/4 c soy milk in small bowl. Add to soy milk mixture. Whisk in oil and syrup. (For those of you who don't know what egg replacer powder is, see the picture below.)

Stir flour mixture into soy milk mixture. Fold in bananas.

Lightly oil griddle, and cook the pancakes just like any other pancake. Yummy!

Easy Vegetable Quiche

1 C chopped fresh broccoli
1/4 C chopped onion
1/4 C chopped green pepper
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 C grated cheese
3/4 C milk
1/4 C and 2 TB Bisquick
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt

Cook broccoli in glass measuring cup with 1/2" of water, covered with plastic wrap, for 2 minutes in the microwave. Drain thoroughly. Spray 9" pie plate with non-stick cooking spray. Mix broccoli, onion, green pepper, and cheese in pie plate. Beat remaining ingredients until smooth. Beat remaining ingredients until smooth. Pour into pie plate. Bake at 350 F until golden, about 35-45 minutes (knife comes out clean). Let stand 5 minutes before cutting.

Breakfast Burrito

I think the favorite meal of the day at our house is breakfast. We really don't stray a lot from our regular menu either. I think this is pretty self-explanatory, but just in case . . .

Grill up your favorite breakfast meat like sausage or bacon or leftover pork roast or steak. Fry 2 eggs over hard and season with salt and pepper. Meanwhile grill tortilla and add cheese and GREEN Tabasco sauce. When cheese is nice and melty top with meat and eggs. Yummy!

We have also used hashbrowns, country gravy, leftover Cheesy Potatoes (soooo good), fresh salsa, etc. Not all of them at once though, well . . . maybe once or twice we did that. :)

Grandma Carol's Waffles

My wonderful, amazing, and inspiring Grandma passed away last week. She was such an inspiration to me. She AMAZED me every time we would visit because she could whip up a meal in a heartbeat and sometimes out of literally nothing. She was an amazing cook and she always encouraged me to cook because it was such a reward to cook for the people you love. I am starting to believe that this is true. She will be greatly missed, but I am so glad that I was able to snag some of her recipes from her. :)
The morning of her funeral, which I couldn't attend, I made her waffles. She would make these for us every single time we were there. She would get up at 5 and just wait for people to wake up and make them a fresh waffle. I have always LOVED this recipe and it makes me think of her every time I make them. Enjoy!

2 C flour
1 T baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 C buttermilk*
1 C oil
4 eggs, divided

Mix dry ingredients in large bowl. Divide eggs and beat egg whites until you have stiff peaks. In a different bowl mix the egg yolks, buttermilk, and oil. Beat egg mixture into dry mixture and carefully fold in egg whites.

Cook in your favorite waffle maker. Sometimes I double the recipe and freeze the leftovers for easy toaster waffles on quick mornings.

*Gma told me that is you don't have buttermilk, you can use regular milk, but add 1 T of lemon juice for every cup of milk.

Grandma I love and miss you more than you know, although you probably do know, but anyways . . . I love you the mostest!

French Toast

I didn't stick to my menu last night . . . big suprise. So this is what we REALLY had for dinner last night: French toast!Just in case you are wondering this is what I put in mine, here is my but I never measure so . . . there ya go. :)

In a bowl I whisk eggs, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon. Then I liberally dunk HOMEMADE bread or texas toast in the batter. French toast is ALWAYS better with homemade bread. I promise.

That is all. Comment below and teach me how to bake bread!!!

Cinnamon Ripple Muffins

Cinnamon Ripple:
1/2 C packed brown sugar
1/4 C flour
4 T butter cut in small pieces
2 tsp cinnamon

Combine ingredients in bowl and mix well. Butter will still be lumpy but that is perfect anyways. Set aside and heat oven to 400.

Muffin Batter:
2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C softened butter
1/2 C sugar
2 eggs
1/2 buttermilk*
1 tsp vanilla

In medium bowl whisk flour, powder, soda, and salt. In larger bowl beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then beat in eggs, milk, and vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients until just blended then gently FOLD in the ripple.
Divide in greased muffin tray and bake at 400 for 12-13 minutes.

We had ours this morning with hot apple cider. Yum.

*buttermilk substitute: 1 T of lemon juice for every 1 C of milk (so you would need a 1/2 T of lemon juice to add to your milk for this)

Buttermilk Syrup

This goes great with the Huffy Puffy listed below :) Just ignore the ingredients called "sugar and fat" and enjoy.

1 1/2 C sugar
3/4 C buttermilk*
1/2 C butter
2 T corn syrup
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla extract

In saucepan, combine sugar, buttermilk, butter, corn syrup, and soda. Bring to boil and let boil for 7 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
Serve warm.

*buttermilk substitute = 1 T lemon juice for every cup of milk

Huffy Puffy/German Pancakes

So this morning we had Huffy Puffy, aka German Pancakes for breakfast. I did not know the "official" term for this up until last year. I got the recipe from my Grandma Clark, which is where I had it for the first time for Christmas breakfast. Soooo yummy!!! I still call it Huffy Puffy, even nobody else in the world does. :) Love you Grandma!

Once again, I didn't think to take a picture since this whole recipe blogging thing is new to me. So with the great chef etiquite I have, I stole a picture from somebody else :)


Huffy Puffy/German Pancakes

6 eggs
1 C milk
1 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 T melted butter

Preheat oven to 400, put butter in 9x13 pan and set in oven to preheat. Meanwhile, beat eggs well. Add flour, milk, and salt.

Take pan out of oven when butter is completly melted. Add egg mixture. Bake for 10 -20 minutes or until sides curl up and brown and middle is cooked.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Serve with apple pie filling or buttermilk syrup. :)

Low and behold as I was typing up this recipe I took a break and checked out my friend's recipe blog "Barb Bake's" and sure enough she had just posted this same dish. I promise I won't imitate her blog all year :) Her recipe looks really good and I will probably make hers next time I make it, so check her out too. (Link to right)

(Courtesy of Grandma Clark)