The Best Things for You

Granola is a wonderful, healthy food! Homemade is tasty, but sometimes I want a little something special! My mom devised these tasty and surprisingly sweet Granola Muffins that do not have pre-made granola in them but have the ingredients that are in granola! They are so hearty and filling that you only need to eat one for breakfast! They are the best breakfast muffins I have ever had.

Since they are the best, I thought of "The Best Thing for You" sung by Nat King Cole for today's Valentine song. What is better for you than someone who loves you?

GRANOLA MUFFINS

2 ½ cups All-Bran® cereal

¼ cups Grapenuts® cereal

¾ cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup wheat flour

5 tablespoons wheat germ

½ cup dry oatmeal

¾ teaspoon baking powder

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

½ cup brown sugar, packed

1 cup Craisins®

1 cup coconut chips (Bulk Foods)

2 eggs

2 tablespoons molasses

2 tablespoons honey

½ cup butter, softened

1 tablespoon canola oil

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups sour cream

5 tablespoons skim milk

2 bananas

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, combine All-Bran®, Grapenuts®, all-purpose flour, wheat flour, wheat germ, oatmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and brown sugar. Stir to mix.
3. Add Criasins® and coconut. Stir to coat Craisins® with flours.
4. In a very large, separate bowl with high sides, whip the eggs with an electric mixer until creamy. Add molasses, honey, butter, canola oil, and vanilla. Beat on low speed until smooth.
5. Add sour cream and milk. Beat on low speed until combined. There will be little chunks of sour cream still visible.
6. Pour dry ingredients into bowl with wet ingredients. Stir together with a large spoon or scraper spatula.
7. Peel bananas and put on a plate. With a fork, just slightly smash the bananas. Stir into muffin mixture just until combined.
8. Line muffin pan with foil cupcake liners. Fill the liners almost to the top.
9. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until a small knife comes out almost clean after being inserted into one muffin.
10. Cool on a cooling rack.

Finals: The End

It's time. Yep. It's time to get ready for finals. And not just any finals: law finals, my first law finals.

Not sure what else there is to say except finals are so...final. The end. Which brings me to today's song "The Song is Ended (But the Melody Lingers On)" performed by Nat King Cole. Hooray for the end of the semester finals!

New Glasses: The More I See You

I love getting new glasses!  Not only is it a great time to change the style of an accessory, but I also enjoy the crisper view!  I love seeing things better!

For a song that is perfectly paired to today's blog, check out "The More I See You" by Nat King Cole.

Pumpkin Gingerbread Cake: 'Tis Autumn

This lightly spiced cake with generous pieces of crystallized ginger is a moist treat made even more delicious by the tart sauce!  It is the combination of pumpkin and ginger that makes this seasonal cake marvelous.  What would autumn-time be without pumpkin...and without ginger?!

I'm on an autumn-song kick, so here's another to check out: "'Tis Autumn" sung by Nat King Cole.

PUMPKIN GINGERBREAD CAKE

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup butter, room temperature

½ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon allspice

½ teaspoon ground ginger

2 eggs

¼ cup apple juice

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 cup crystallized ginger, sliced into ¼-inch slivers then cut cross-wise into tiny pieces (optional)

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees.  Line a 9-inch by 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper
2. With electric mixer, combine brown sugar, butter, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, allspice, ginger and eggs in a large bowl.
3. Add apple juice and pumpkin.  Mix.
4. Add flour, baking soda and baking powder.  Mix just until blended.
5. Stir in crystallized ginger.
6. Spoon batter into parchment paper lined pan. 
7. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.
8. Lift cake out of pan by the edges of the parchment paper.  Set on a cooling rack for five minutes.
9. Cut cake while still warm.  Place each piece on individual serving plates.  Spoon sauce over warm cake and serve.

SAUCE

2 ½ teaspoons cornstarch

¼ cup brown sugar, packed

½ cup apple juice

4 teaspoons lemon juice concentrate

1 tablespoon butter

1. In a saucepan, combine cornstarch and brown sugar by stirring together with a fork.  Add apple juice.  Over medium heat, bring mixture to a boil stirring all the whole time. 
2. Boil for 2 minutes and remove from heat.  Add lemon juice and butter. 
3. Stir until consistency is smooth.

Raspberry Cream Cheese Dessert Bars: Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup

My mom came up with this lovely recipe for a refreshing dessert bar.  There are two things that make any dessert better: raspberries and chocolate.  There isn't any chocolate in this dessert, but there are plenty of raspberries!

To emphasize how much I think of these dessert bars, actually how much I love them a lot, here's Nat King Cole singing "Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup."

RASPBERRY CREAM CHEESE DESSERT BARS

CRUST

¾ cup flour

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2/3 cup pecans, chopped

6 tablespoons butter, melted

CREAM CHEESE LAYER

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar

1 egg

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla

¼ teaspoon orange zest

1 tablespoon orange juice concentrate

RASPBERRY SAUCE

1 cup frozen raspberries

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon orange juice concentrate

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Dash nutmeg

2 tablespoons butter

GARNISH

1 cup fresh raspberries

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl combine the flour, brown sugar, and pecans.  Stir in butter until crumbly then dump loosely on to ungreased 9” X 13” baking pan.  Gently spread and press to connect all the crust dough.  Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.
3. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and confectioner’s sugar together until smooth.  Add eggs, vanilla, orange zest and orange juice concentrate, and beat well.  Spread over gently over cooled crust.  Bake for 20 minutes longer.
4. Remove from oven and cool completely. 
5. In saucepan, combine frozen raspberries, granulated sugar, orange juice concentrate, lemon juice, and nutmeg.  Stir over medium heat until slightly thickened.  Add butter.  Simmer on low until thickened a bit more.  Let cool.  Drizzle over cut and cooled cookies. 
6. Top with several fresh raspberries.

Bran Muffins: Stay as Sweet as You Are

Bran muffins may not be the normal muffin to crave but I love this bran muffin recipe and have since I was little.  The recipe is adapted from a recipe my mom got from the dietician at the hospital when she had me.  And no, these muffins don't taste like hospital food.

These muffins are surprisingly sweet as well as nourishing!  Since this sweet muffin has stayed around my kitchen since I was born, today's song is "Stay as Sweet as You Are" sung by Nat King Cole.

BRAN MUFFINS

3 cups Kellogg's All-Bran Original cereal, divided

1 cup boiling water
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups buttermilk

1/2 cup canola oil
2 eggs

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups All-Purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1. Put 2 cups Kellogg's All-Bran Original cereal in a bowl.  Pour boiling water over it.  Stir as cereal soaks up the water.  Add sugar, buttermilk, and oil then stir together.
2. Add eggs.  Stir.
3. Combine salt, flour and remaining one cup of Kellogg's All-Bran Original cereal in a separate bowl then add to first mixture.  Stir until just mixed.
4. Add baking soda and stir gently just until incorporated into the batter.
5. Using a quarter-cup measure, scoop batter into muffin tins lined with baking cups.  I use the Reynolds Wrap Foil Baking Cups 2 1/2-inch cups.  I leave the paper liner inside the foil cup.  This batter makes 24 regular sized muffins so make sure you have enough baking cups.
6. Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until top springs back when tapped.

Healthier, fewer calorie variation:  Use same amount of Splenda to replace sugar.  Use finely ground wheat flour in place of All-Purpose flour.  The wheat flour will make the muffins even heartier.

Garlic Pasta...You Stepped Out of a Dream

My brothers and I love pasta.  I think we could eat a pasta dinner every night!

My mom "dreamed" up this recipe one day and we all love it!  It's really simple!

Since this song was "dreamed" up and has "stepped" up into prominence in the family cookbook, here's Nat King Cole singing "You Stepped Out of a Dream."

GARLIC PASTA

1 pound Barilla Campanelle pasta
5 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, sliced
3 tablespoons garlic, chopped (I use Spice World Minced Garlic)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Cook pasta according to directions on the box.

Melt butter in a saucepan.

Add sliced onion and garlic.  Saute until the onion is par cooked.

Drain pasta and put it in a large serving bowl.  Pour hot butter, onion and garlic over the noodles and toss together lightly.  Serve hot.  This is a great side dish with steaks barbecued on the grill!

It's an Orange Colored Sky!

Who doesn't like a good sweet roll?  My favorite has always been orange!

But where to find a good orange filling and glaze?  There are tons of recipes for cinnamon, but not so many for orange.  So here's what I use!

And what would a sweet roll be without a song?  Well, I guess there's no answer for that, but here's Nat King Cole singing "Orange Colored Sky."

Orange Filling for Sweet Rolls

Prepare your favorite roll dough that makes 12 sweet rolls.

Filling:

6 T. Land O’ Lakes butter

3-4 T. orange juice concentrate

1 c. sugar

Grated orange peel from one large orange

Over low heat, let butter melt, then add orange juice concentrate.  Stir together.

Add sugar and stir.  Let simmer over low heat while making orange zest by grating orange peel into mixture.

Stir constantly for about 3 minutes over medium heat until all ingredients are combined and mixture is smooth.

Remove the sauce pan from the burner.  Make zest by grating orange into sauce pan.  Stir to combine.  Let mixture cool before spreading on rolled out dough.

Roll dough into a log and cut with unflavored dental floss into 12 rolls.

Let rise until double and bake as you would cinnamon rolls.

You can use the filling as a topping and put it on the hot rolls.  Or you can make a glaze.

Orange Glaze for Sweet Rolls

1 c. powdered sugar

¼ c. orange juice

Combine together.  If too runny, add more powdered sugar.  If too dry, add a little bit more orange juice.

Drizzle over hot rolls.