Morning Glory Muffins

Morning Glory Muffins - home made with King Arthur Flour, coconut, sesame seeds, walnuts, carrots, Massachusetts Macintosh apples from our own Cold Spring Orchard & raisins. Too yummy not to share. I love taking food photos and updating my favorite recipes on my blog - and this ranks up as one of my favorite muffins and I found the recipe on the King Arthur Flour website.  Below is my rendition and I use both the sunflower seeds and the wheat germ because the recipe is so moist the wheat germ really makes it perfect. 

Morning Glory Muffins Nancy Style !

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (2 1/2 ounces) raisins
2 cups (8 1/2 ounces) King Arthur whole wheat flour, traditional or white whole wheat
1 cup (7 1/2 ounces) brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons Extra Fancy Penzeys Vietnamese Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups (7 ounces) carrots, peeled and grated
1 large tart apple, peeled, cored, and grated
1/2 cup (1 1/2 ounces) sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup (2 ounces) chopped walnuts
1/3 cup (1 1/2 ounces) sunflower seeds or wheat germ, optional
3 large eggs
2/3 cup (4 5/8 ounces) vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup (2 ounces) orange juice
Penzeys Cinnamon Sugar 

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin, or line it with papers and spray the insides of the papers.  Bake 25-28 minutes. Best made in large size muffins. 

To make the muffins: 

Use a liquid measuring cup to soak the raisins in hot water & set aside while you make the rest of the muffins.  In kitchen aid mixer, mix together the flour, sugar, baking soda, spices, and salt. Add coconut, nuts, sunflower seeds and wheat germ. 

In the Vitamix pulverize the carrots, apple and orange juice, If you don't have a Vitamix you can grate the carrots & apple. Add the wet to the dry and mix with  the eggs, oil, and vanilla. 

Mix until evenly moistened. Drain the raisins and stir them in. Fill the muffin tins almost to the top -- it is  a moist recipe and they do not raise that much. Wonderful to eat hot with butter. Yummy treat for fall mornings!

Pumpkin Applesauce Bread

Fall is here and the foliage is in full bloom.  In New England we look around at the beautiful "bursting" colors of red, yellow, greens and orange and feel the cool brisk air.  It is a season where the leaves fall to the ground and the trees stand strong.  Pumpkins, corn husks, squash, and mums of all colors don the doorsteps as the Halloween decorations come out and the days get shorter.  I love this time of year!  We have started to move the wood from the pile to the house and need to get out there and chop some more before the snow starts to fly.  Apples season is almost complete and hot apple cider is my latest favorite along with my favorite Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte.  That is.... a   "Nonfat, Grande, Triple Shot, 1 pump Pumpkin spice with extra whip cream AND sprinkles"

That was me not trying to be complicated.  :)

We love our Vitamix and have used it mainly for smoothies for recovery and building muscle with whey & soy protein combinations with strawberries, OJ, bananas, Physique & Performance (Shaklee magic)  But when in apple season the blended apple with Penzey's Extra Fancy Vietnamese Cinnamon warm in the microwave is my all time favorite comfort food. 

Recently I have been breaking out some pumpkin bread recipes and served a carrot pumpkin for Schuyler's party... but today with the applesauce flowing I found a few variations on a Pumpkin Applesauce bread and made my own variation.  Being the only one to test so far -- I will say it is incredibly YUMMY!  Try it yourself - I am posting the recipe below! 

Thanks for stopping by!   Please leave me a comment!  I love comments!

I got some great photos today of the foliage and am sharing those along with this post - but have begun to love the foodie shots.....  let me know which angle and photo is your favorite that i have here and also if you think there is something you do with food photography that I should try.   I love our teak table dressed with a harvest runner, wooden candle holders, Simon Pearce dishes and the pewter bowl with the apples.  

Nancy's Pumpkin Applesauce Bread

Preheat oven to 350 F

Grease 3 loaf pans

Mix together in Kitchen Aid Mixer - in this order (wet first - dry second): 

1 cup Egg Beaters (or 4 eggs)

1 cup freshly made pureed pumpkin

1 cup freshly made applesauce 

1 cup vegetable oil

2/3 apple juice or water

3 1/2 cups flour 
2 cups white sugar

1 cup light or dark brown sugar

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp Penzey's Vietnamese Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Nutmeg

1/2 tsp Ginger

1/2 tsp Cloves

Optional:  1 cup walnuts and/or 1 cup raisins
PS: You can use canned pumpkin and applesauce in a pinch! :)


Sprinkle cinnamon, nutmeg & sugar on the top before baking

Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes - test with a knife to be sure it is done. 

Cool in loaf pans for 10 minutes

Enjoy!

Happy Fall!

This above last photo is my submission for Macro Monday.  Enjoy!  

More Massachusetts Foliage Photos from Nancy E Photography - enjoy!

Click on the photo to link into the gallery.

My Best Banana Bread

Here it is --- the recipe that I have truly perfected and loved for so many years -- shared with many --- loved by all --- accepted with hesitance, but once they try it they can't get enough.  It is so funny that people are not used to home made gifts or thank you gifts of food.  Maybe it is our cautious nature after the Halloween scares.  Remember the days of popcorn balls and apples...  well, anyway - I love to bake and if I ate it all I would be 300 lbs!  :)  So I love to give it as thank you gifts and just bring along to parties or backyard BBQ where everyone brings something.  I love having parties like that and people can bring what they love to make.  :)

Funny story about this bread I have to share.  When Steve was headed to an overnight PSIA event as an examiner a couple years ago I sent him along with a loaf of banana bread.  He didn't know if he could eat the whole thing - so he shared with his best friend Terry.  At first Terry says, "no, I am not a big banana bread eater...".  But with a little persuasion Terry took a bite, and then another.   Then Bugs (nickname for Don) came in and joined them --- hesitant, but tried it.  I was joining Steve that night and we were headed to our own room and the guys said  "He can go, but he is leaving the banana bread!"  :)

Sometimes to intice the dessert eaters, as this can truly be served as a dessert, (a healthy one at that) - add a little cream cheese in between slices and cut up to make a great presentation.  I love to make it as the bananas go brown and save it in the freezer.  You can spread the cream cheese on the frozen bread much better.

OK - enough of my Betty Homemaker tips -- Here's the recipe and some fun photos too!
Side note:  When I was a Personal Trainer working out of Artie's Chiropractic office in the Pico, Vermont area this cookbook was given to me as a gift by Shirley Goldman who was the chair of the group that put the cookbook together.

Her note to me:  "To a great friend and trainer.  Bon Appetite!  Shirley

Banana Bread
(Always Good)
Borrowed from the "Kosher Yankee II"
A Cookbook compiled by the Sisterhood of the Rutland Jewish Center
Rutland, Vermont

1 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cup flour
4 Tbsp sour cream
1 cup mashed bananas
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup walnuts (optional)

Cream oil and sugar; add eggs and beat well.  Add baking soda dissolved in sour cream; beat well.  Add bananas, flour, salt and vanilla; mix well.  Add walnuts if desired.  BAke for 1 hour in350 degree oven in a loaf pan greased or sprayed with Pam.  :)

My notes:
Just throw everything into your Kitchen Aid - beat and put into tins of choice - muffin, small loaf pans are my favorite - or double the recipe and make big loaves too!
I add a little PENZEYS Vietnamese Cinnamon (my special ingredient, optional)

Below some photos of a small loaf - not so perfectly shaped, but my "best" banana bread....  so yummy!
And what picture of food wouldn't be complete without Oakley - just wishing he could have a bite!

My favorite Challah bread

I love the striated texture of this incredible bread and have made it for my girlfriends who also love it. I shared the recipe with one of my colleagues Arlene at ACS and think of my favorite friend Susan when I make it. Her true spirit and sharing of traditions are some of my favorite memories of my time in Boulder, CO.

This morning I decided it was time to bake it for my love - after we plowed the driveway of the fresh wet snow.... later snow men with Schuyler and a New Year's eve party with our friends Alex, Betty & Harrison in Clifton Park.

CHALLAH

From Wikipedia: Challah, hallah (חלה), also known in different parts of the Jewish world as barches (German and western Yiddish), Berches (Swabian), barkis (Gothenburg), bergis (Stockholm), khale (eastern Yiddish) and kitke (South Africa), [1][2] is a special braided bread eaten by Jews on the Sabbath and holidays.
It is customary to begin the Friday night meal and meals eaten on Shabbat with a blessing over two loaves of bread. Challah (plural: challot), an enriched, braided bread is usually used. The loaves are covered with a cloth or napkin during the blessing.
The blessing, "Hamotzi," is the same blessing recited over all bread: "Baruch atah adonai, eloheinu melech ha'olam, hamotzi lechem min ha'aretz" (translation: "Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth".


My favorite of all recipes from the King Arthur Flour site is the challah bread.:
Rich with eggs and butter (or oil, to keep it kosher with a meat-based meal), shaped in various braids and coils, and often gilded with a sprinkle of poppy seeds, this bread is a Sabbath staple. Though not quite as rich, it's similar to French brioche; and, like brioche, it makes wonderful toast and French toast.

It's prepared for the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah; for that occasion, challah is formed into a round coil, symbolizing the continuity of life.

Mommy's "Famous" Cinnamon Rolls

When I was growing up in Vermont (Jericho & Georgia) my mom used to make these cinamon rolls every weekend (or so it seemed). When we would go places and need to bring a "dish", mom would always bring her "famous" rolls. It is a wonderful tradition that I have been sharing with Schuyler and he loves to help - since he could hold a wooden spoon and play with his toy wooden rolling pin he would "help". He still has his own piece of dough and spreads his own butter, dumps the sugar and SPRINKLES heavily his cinnamon on the dough. He is getting better and better at rolling the dough and actually cutting his own rolls too!

Mommy's "Famous" Cinnamon Rolls

In a bowl mix:
2 tbsp oil, 2 tbsp sugar, 2 tsp salt
Add: 1/2 cup water
Add: 1 cup scalded milk
Add: (be sure mixture is not to hot) - 1 pack active dry yeast
Let set for 10 min until bubbling
Add: 1/2 cup flour (King Arthur Flour is BEST)
Add: 1 egg - mix together
Add: 3 cups more flour
Let set for 1 hour to rise (double in size)

Roll out dough, spread melted butter, sprinkle sugar all over the dough, sprinkle cinnamon (Penzey's Vietnamese Cinnamon is BEST)
Roll jelly roll fashion and cut. Place on cookie sheets and bake in the oven.
350 degrees
15 minutes

YUMMY!