Mini Muffin Mania

Yep, here I go on a muffin kick again. These little muffins were such a yummy bite-sized treat, something about tiny food makes it so much cuter and tastier. The recipe came out of my Totally Muffins Cookbook, which is like totally awesome! Enjoy!



Almond Poppy seed Muffins

2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup poppy seeds
1 1/2 cups ap flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease tins or line with paper cups.
Heat milk to scalding. Pour over poppy seeds and set aside to cool
In a bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a large bowl cream butter and sugar until light. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add almond extract and cooled milk mixture.
Fold in dry ingredients and almonds and stir just to blend.
Divide mixture among muffin cups, bake 20 minutes or until tester comes out clean.

Notes:
If you choose to make many muffins I crushed the almonds smaller and I only used 1/4 cup. I would also add a little more almond extract, but I really love the flavor. Also, next time I am going to try these with lemon extract and zest, to make a lemon poppy seed muffin.

Banana Crumb Muffins

This recipe has been popping up on quite a few blogs lately, and for good reason. It is a great banana muffin, although it doesn't quite edge out the banana coconut muffins that I love just a little bit more. They got rave reviews at work, the crumb topping definitely makes them a bit more special. Check out Brooke's blog Desert First for this recipe and many other great ones!


not a great picture, sorry

Banana Crumb Muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.

In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Easy breakfast casserole

Please allow yourself a moment to picture this scene: My mom sitting on the couch at 9am with a bag of cheetos in one hand and a diet pepsi in the other. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Oh yea, of course not, only my mother finds cheetos and sugar water to be an appropriate breakfast. If only I had been home to make sure she had an appropriate meal. Unfortuantely I had to work, which left my mother and my husband alone to fend for themselves for breakfast. Mom, I promise I will always be prepared with this casserole for any future mornings with us. (please don't get me wrong though, my mother would rather eat cheetos and a diet pepsi for breakfast then real food, it just appaled my husband so much I made this for their future mornings together.) And just so you know that my mother didn't starve that morning, Michael took her to a sports bar for breakfast...please insert sigh here, if you knew my mother you would know she doesn't belong in a sports bar.

This recipe came about to prevent another morning like the above mentioned. My friend Lindsay had made a similar casserole, so this was my attempt to copy it without actually knowing what she put in it. The recipe below is with pretty basic, there are lots of ways to jazz it up. Think peppers and onions and bacon and/or sausage. Change it to suit your tastes.


Breakfast Casserole


INGREDIENTS:

cooking spray (PAM)

1 bag of cubed frozen hashbrowns

8 eggs (I used egg substitute)

1/2 cup milk

2 cans of diced green chiles

1/2 pound of thick sliced ham

1 cup of shredded cheese

1/2 cup diced onion (I saute them first)

salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Spread frozen hashrowns in the bottow of a lightly sprayed 9x13 pan. In a medium bowl whisk together eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. Pour egg mixture over hashbrows, layer the diced chile peppers and onions over the top, followed by the ham and finally the cheese. Bake in a 350 oven for 30 minutes, or until eggs are set and cheese is golden brown. Top off with a dallop of sour cream and enjoy.