Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

As a fan of peanut butter and chocolate, this muffin recipe was a no-brainer for trying out.  The original peanut butter chocolate chip muffin recipe is vegan, but with a few small tweaks (natural peanut butter, milk and gluten-free baking mix) it morphed into more of what this wheat-free/gluten-free carnivore family eats on a regular basis.

And it sure is good!  Just as advertised, the muffins perkily puffed up in the oven and released an amazing aroma while baking.  They're nice and tender with a bit of a crust on the outside.  Kind of a nice touch in my book.

Baking is a favorite activity for my daughter and I.  She gets to help scoop flour, sugar, etc., and pour in other ingredients like vanilla and milk, plus taste-test the peanut butter and chocolate chips.  She gets to be helpful and is starting to learn some basics of measurement like two half-cups make one whole cup.  Plus we get delicious results for our efforts.

While this isn't the epitome of a healthy recipe, it's got its bonuses like protein and a somewhat smaller amount of sugar.  You can also substitute sucanat (natural cane sugar) for the regular sugar and get some nutrients instead of just processed white sugar.

Overall, this is a big winner as a rainy day activity.  Nothing like the smell of baking on a cloudy day!

New Year -- Can I Get a Do-Over?

To be quite frank, 2010 was not my best year for writing.  I feel like I let this blog wither like an unwatered houseplant.  Now here I am with the watering can, plant food, and new sunny window to revive it. 

Here's what you can expect for 2011... toy reviews, couponing tips, and family-friendly recipes, to name the main categories.  I'm still centered on the things that help make a mom's life easier, more enjoyable and help save money.  In addition to Mommy's Favorite Things, I also write websites that go more indepth on the stuff I talk about here.

In any case, if you've been following me (you super-loyal and patient person, you), I want to thank you and also apologize for my spotty posting.  I'm kicking it back in gear.

All the best,

Erin
Mommy's Favorite Things

Spicing it up with some new recipes

I love to try new recipes, and couponing as well as the Eat from The Pantry Challenge that I did in January in February has helped me continue to stretch my creative muscles to use the food we have on hand or what's cheap.  This year I've already found a couple of great go-to recipes that are easy to fix and extremely tasty.   My current fave:  Shrimp Fried Rice.  When you're able to get shrimp and rice on sale, it's a fairly frugal recipe to prepare, with sesame oil being a possible exception if you don't use it much.

If you like to make things ahead, this is a recipe for you.  It's SUPPOSED to be prepared with leftover cold rice, so I just cook that and dice the vegetables earlier in the afternoon during my daughter's nap.  Near dinnertime, just saute the shrimp and follow the directions.  Dinner on the plate within 15 min.  At least to my taste buds, this rivals takeout...mmmm!

Mini Apple-Cheddar Meatloaves is another recent find which can be whipped up in a short amount of time to rave reviews.  It's ground turkey-based, so there's an added level of healthfulness.  To cut the prep time, opted to put my onion and apple in the food processor to get it into small pieces rather than shred them.  You can also substitute regular breadcrumbs for panko. 

I've been able to get amazing deals on pork tenderloin in the past couple of weeks, but I really didn't have any pork tenderloin recipes.  Enter Pan Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Blue Cheese and Olive Stuffing.  This isn't a cheap recipe to prepare, nor is it quick; but it's easy and tastes fan-freaking-tastic.  Think restaurant-quality-impress-your-guests delicious.  I'm still dreaming about the sauce.  From all the money we've been saving, it was a bit easier for me to fork out the extra cash for olive tapenade and blue cheese to make this splurge meal.  Well worth it for a dish that makes me miss going out to nice restaurants just a bit less.  ;)

Best of all, my 2 year old will eat all three of these!  Woo hoo!

photo courtesy of dearbarbie on flickr