Oatmeal Blueberry Applesauce Muffins

I love muffins. And cupcakes. So does my son... In fact, my son pretty much thinks of cupcakes and muffins as the same thing, and really the biggest difference is the glob of icing on the top, so naturally, when he gets a muffin with his breakfast he thinks it's the best day in the world! Tonight I decided to try a new recipe for muffins that I found on, none other than, Pinterest! I love muffins, especially blueberry, s I knew this would be a likely hit and boy was I right! So, of course I had to share with you all! Here you go!

(My picture, but not my original recipe. To see original, click title)

Oatmeal Blueberry Applesauce Muffins

Ingredients:

1 1/4 c. whole wheat flour

1 1/4 c. oats

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 c. unsweetened applesauce

1/2 c. low-fat buttermilk

1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar

2 Tbsp. canola oil

1 large egg, lightly beaten

3/4 c. blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. In a medium bowl, combine applesauce, buttermilk, sugar, oil, and egg. Make a well in dry ingredients and add applesauce mixture. Stir until just moist. Fold in blueberries and fill muffin cups 2/3 full.

Bake for 16-18 minutes. Enjoy!

It's a really simple and quick recipe AND it tastes delicious! I hope you and your family enjoy them as much as we do!

For the pin, click here!

Until next time, 

Amanda.

Brownie Christmas Trees

I realize that Christmas was already a week and a half ago, but I've decided to share this recipe with you now as it's one of the few things I made during my holiday baking that I managed to actually take a picture of, albeit a crappy picture. Either way, enjoy this! It's GOOD!

Every year at Christmas I do some baking, like many people. I love to bake and craft, so every Christmas I make a bunch of goodies for mine and my husbands families, as well as some friends and give left overs to co-workers. Among those goodies this year were some Brownie Christmas Trees. I originally found the idea somewhere on Pinterest but ended up not actually pinning it for whatever reason, probably because it's actually ridiculously easy and doesn't really require any instructions at all.

And so, I bring you...

Brownie Christmas Trees

Ingredients:

Brownie mix (either boxed or your own personal recipe) and ingredients for mix/recipe

Green icing (or whatever icing you have and green food coloring)

Candy canes

Red cinnamon hot candies or any other candies you might have around for decorating

Directions:

Make your brownies according to directions, including baking them. I found if you make it in a bigger pan the more brownies you get, however, bake in whatever size pan you deem worthy. Cool the brownies.

Once brownies are cool, cut them into triangles. I just cut them in half lengthwise and then made triangles by cutting on diagonals. I think I got about 8 trees per 9x9-inch pan, but it depends on how big you really want them I suppose.

Take your icing and either pipe it or smooth it on with a knife in a crossing formation, much like garland on a tree.

Finally, decorate your tree as you wish with your candies. Then, carefully push a 1-2 inch long piece of candy cane in the bottom to make the trunk.

And there you have it, a Brownie Christmas tree! :)

I hope you enjoy these as much as our families and my son did!

You can view my pin here.

Until next time,

-Amanda

New blog! :)

Howdy!

I've been thinking for some time about creating a new blog. I've tried in the past but failed miserably, but I'm determined to keep this going because I need something to do with myself.

This blog will primarily be about things going on in my life, any recipes I like, cool things I find, crafts I'm doing.. Basically anything that tickles my fancy! A part from being a life blog, this is also going to be a personal challenge for me. I'm an avid user of this little website called Pinterest and love to repin and try new things from there. I'm trying to do some sort of new Pinterest thing every week, every day if I can make it. We'll see how long this lasts I suppose!

Now a little about me! My name is Amanda, I'm 23, a newlywed (as of September 14, 2012), and a mother to a fun, happy, exciting little 3 year old boy. I love to keep busy, usually by baking or crafting. I'm also opinionated and love to talk (often too much).

So here it is! It's my blog, hello everyone (or no one - haha!), I hope you enjoy it. :)

-Amanda