Oatmeal Breakfast Cake #ChristmasSweetsWeek

This delicious, moist cake is perfect for a Holiday Breakfast Buffet or just by itself with a cup of coffee, holding you over until dinner is served.

Today is the second day of Christmas Sweets Week, an event scheduled by Christie of A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures for Monday, today, and Friday.

O is for Overnight Oats

This high-protein, high-fiber breakfast is easily adaptable to your taste.  I used Chocolate Almond Milk and Strawberries, but any milk and/or fruit will work just as well.

O is for Overnight Oats.......

Banana Oat Pancakes #BreadBakers

These pancakes are made with oats in place of flour.  The batter incorporates banana and maple syrup for a touch of sweetness.

The Bread Bakers are using Ancient Grains in their recipes today.......

Pumpkin Oatmeal Bread

This pumpkin quick bread includes oats for extra texture, fiber, and nutrition.  I baked mine up in a jack-o-lantern pan that I pull out of storage and use each Halloween.

This is my last post for this year's Halloween Treats event......

Beef and Oats Sliders #SundayFunday

The addition of oats to this ground beef keeps the meat juicier and adds extra fiber to make them more filling.  I used one pound of ground beef and a 1/4 c. of oats and ended up with 6 delicious sliders in under half an hour.  You can't get carryout that is as quick or as good.

The Sunday Funday Bloggers are sharing Savory Oat Recipes today......

Apple Oatmeal Muffins to welcome you to #AppleWeek #MuffinMonday

Happy Muffin Monday everybody and Welcome to the first day of Apple Week.

This week long party is being hosted by Carlee of Cooking With Carlee.  She invited a slew of bloggers to join in the fun and she also arranged for some amazing sponsors who, not only supplied us with product to use in the creation of recipes, but also are offering great prize packages to be raffled off to you, our readers.

These sponsors ask for nothing in return except for our complete and honest review of their products. None of us received any monetary compensation and all opinions on this blogsite are always 100% my own.

I decided to start off this week by joining another great group to which I belong, Muffin Monday.  I had received a wonderful gift package from Flahavan's, a company with which I was not familiar before this event.  Flahavan's is a century old company based in Ireland. You can buy their products here in Michigan only by mail order, however they do sell at other locations throughout the USA.

Apples and Oatmeal are a natural so I knew that they would make a terrific muffin to share with everyone from both groups today. 

We were lucky enough to receive a shipment of gorgeous HoneyCrisp apples from Rainier Fruit Company out of Washington that were perfect to match with the oatmeal in today's recipe.

They are perfectly flavored with pure vanilla extract from Rodelle, a French Company that moved to Colorado in the 1930's.

I used these nifty measuring cups and spoons, provided by DreamFarm, while making this recipe. These measuring tools not only stack but snap together at the handles so that they don't get separated. They also level off your dry goods with a squeeze of the handle saving a step during preparation.

I was very excited to be able to introduce you to so many of our sponsors in this first recipe. You will find information about all of our sponsors, what gifts they are offering to our readers and be given the opportunity to enter the raffle, at the bottom of this post.  I really hope one of my readers is a lucky winner!!

Oatmeal Apple Muffins

1 1/2 c. flour

2 pkgs, single serving 3 minute oats, or 1 c. quick cooking oats

2 1/2 t. baking powder

large pinch kosher salt

1/2 t. ground cinnamon

3/4 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 stick butter, melted and cooled

1/2 c. milk

1/2 t. vanilla

1 Honeycrisp apple, peeled, cored and diced

Whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.  Create a well in the dry ingredients and set aside.

Whisk together the sugar, butter, eggs, milk and vanilla.  Empty into well of dry ingredients.  Mix just until moistened. Fold in the apples.

Divide between 12 muffin cups that have been lined with paper cups or treated with baking spray.  Bake in a preheated 350* oven for about 20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted removes cleanly.  Print Recipe

More Amazing Apple Recipes

• Apple Bacon Turkey Burgers from Jonesin' for Taste 
• Apple Brickle Mini Tarts with Oatmeal Crust from The Freshman Cook 
• Apple-Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal from Amy's Cooking Adventures 
• Apple Cobbler French Toast Casserole from Tip Garden 
• Apple Fritter Yeast Bread from House of Nash Eats 
• Apple Oatmeal Coffee Mug Cake from Corn, Beans, Pigs and Kids 
• Apple Oatmeal Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm 
• Apple Pie Steel Cut Oatmeal from Cooking With Carlee 
• Caramel Apple Nut Bars from Family Around the Table 
• Cinnamon Apple Cider Sangria from The Redhead Baker 
• Creamy Maple Gouda Apple Soup with Pecan-Oat Granola from Culinary Adventures with Camilla 
• Healthy Apple Muffins from Caroline's Cooking 
• Mulled Apple Cider from Books n' Cooks 
• Oatmeal Crusted Apple Stuffed French Toast from Jolene's Recipe Journal 
• Salted Caramel Apple Cake from Grumpy's Honeybunch 
• Savory Apple Sausage Tart from The Crumby Kitchen 
• Vanilla Brined Pork Chops with Applesauce  from Bear & Bug Eats 
• Swedish Apple Oatmeal Pie with Vanilla Sauce from All That's Jas 
• Torta di Mele Sicilian Apple Cake from Girl Abroad

More Magnificent Muffin Recipes

• Appalachian Pawpaw Muffinsfrom Palatable Pastime
• Apple Oatmeal Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Pineapple Coconut Banana Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Sourdough Date Nut Cranberry Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Sweet Pineapple Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Whole Grain Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins from Farm Fresh Feasts

Don't Forget to Enter the Giveaway!!

Prize Pack #1 from Rodelle:

A baker's dream come true! This delicious prize pack includes premium vanilla products, gourmet dutch-processed cocoa and specialty extracts.

Items include:

Pure Vanilla Extract
Gourmet Dutch-Processed Baking Cocoa
Gourmet Vanilla Extract
Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Beans
Organic Vanilla Extract
Organic Chocolate Extract
Almond Extract
Vanilla Paste
And some fun baking supplies to whip up your next batch of goodies with!

Prize Pack #2 from Dreamfarm and Casabella:

Items include:

a 2 'n 1 veggie brush
a clip n strip shears
a set up levups
a set of levoons

Prize Pack #3 from Flahavan's Irish Oatmeal:

A goodie basket of Flahavan's items

Prize Pack #4 from Pyrex and Chicago Cutlery:

A Prime™ by Chicago Cutlery® 7 Slot Digital Tablet Holder Block

Prize Pack #5 from Rainier Fruit:

A prize pack from Rainier Fruit including a box of freshly farvested Rainier Fruit apples, a stainless steel apple slicer, apple corer, "Baked with Love" ceramic pie pan, copper apple loaf pan and a $25 Williams Sonoma gift card!

Prize Pack #5 from Veggie Wash:

A prize pack from Veggie Wash

Disclaimer: Thank you to #AppleWeek Sponsors: Rodelle, Dreamfarm, Casabella, Flahavan's Irish Oatmeal, Pryex, Chicago Cutlery, Rainier Fruit, and Veggie Wash for providing prizes for #AppleWeek free of charge. These companies also provided the bloggers with samples and product to use for #AppleWeek. All opinions are my own.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Baked Oatmeal for #FoodieExtravaganza

I am privileged to be hosting Foodie Extravaganza this month.  For those of you new to my blog, Foodie Extravaganza is a fun group where we gather each month and make a recipe based on a food or themes from The Nibble. The Nibble is a website that lists all of the American Food Holidays throughout the year.  You can search by month and you will be surprised how many National Food Holidays there are.

We always post our recipes on the first Wednesday of the month.  This month it also happens to be the first day of the month as well.  February has so many food holidays.....some that you would expect....it is national chocolate month, of course.  It is also national heart health month, national fiber focus month, national cherry month and national hot breakfast month. 

We also have days for national holidays.  February 14th is national cream filled chocolate day, today is national baked Alaska day and the second Monday of the month is national oatmeal day. 

I decided that, since it is still fairly early in the year and a lot of us are still focusing on making 2017 a healthy year, I would combine several themes and ask for recipes made with Heart Healthy, Fiber Rich Foods.  That is a very broad theme and wait until you see all the great recipes that my friends chose to share with us today.  You will find links to them underneath the recipe I have decided to share.

I combined all of those themes that I listed above and made a heart healthy, baked oatmeal with dried cherries.  To stick with the Valentine's theme, I baked them up in heart shaped muffin cups so that they could be popped into the freezer and taken out to be microwaved and served up as a hot breakfast throughout the month.  They can be served in a bowl with milk or they can be handed to your loved one like a muffin or granola bar as they run out the door. Better yet, take them with you on your next snow shoe, x country ski or hiking adventure to snack on as an energy boost half way through the activity.  Your heart will thank you.

Baked Oatmeal

1/2 c. canola oil

3/4 c. brown sugar

2 eggs

3 c. old fashioned oats

2 t. baking powder

1 c. milk

2 t. cinnamon

1 t. vanilla

1/2 c. dried cherries

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.  Pour into a 9x9" baking pan or into 12 individual muffin tins and bake in a preheated 350* oven for 20-25 minutes, until brown.  Print Recipe

More Heart Healthy, Fiber Rich Dishes

•  5-Way Cincinnati Chili Spaghetti Squash Boats from Palatable Pastime 
• Apple Oatmeal Breakfast Bake from Cookaholic Wife
•  Baked Oatmeal from A Day in the Life on the Farm
•  Black-eyed Pea Salad - Saladu Ñebbe from Food Lust People Love | 
•  Cranberry Nut Muffins from Hardly A Goddess
• Easy Breakfast Oatmeal from Basic N Delicious
•  Farmer's Salad from Fearlessly Creative Mammas 
•  Fruity chewy granola bars from  Caroline's Cooking 
•  Fruity Custard from Sneha's Recipe 
•  Heart Beet Smoothie from Sew You Think You Can Cook
•  Moroccan Sweet Potato and Lentil Stew from Culinary Adventures with Camilla 
•  Vegetarian Spicy Asian Lettuce Wraps from cookinandcraftin 

Fall Harvest Muffins #MuffinMonday

The last Monday of each month I join my friend, Stacy of Food Lust People Love, and other like minded bloggers to celebrate Muffin Monday.  I try to join in each month because muffins are a great thing.  They can be savory or sweet.  They freeze well, so last until the next month when it is time to make another batch.  They are portable so you can grab one as you run out the door or hand one to your family as they run out the door, feeling good that they are starting the day with a (somewhat) healthy breakfast.

The muffins I am sharing today contain a good amount of sugar but they are also chock full of fruit, veggies and nuts so are better than a bowl of sugary cereal.  They taste better than cereal too so your kids won't balk about eating breakfast.  They also make a great afternoon snack to stave of the hangries before dinner.  You know the hangries...that anger people get when they allow their blood sugar to drop because they haven't eaten in 4 or 5 hours.

I adapted this recipe from one found on the Land o Lakes website.  I substituted a pear for one of the apples, zucchini for the carrots, pepitas for the nuts and dried cranberries for the dried cherries. I pretty much made it my own but I did get the original idea from this recipe. 

Muffins are so quick and easy to put together that you can squeeze in making them between showering and leaving for work, or between television programs or before you do the dishes so they can bake while you clean.  You get the idea.  Anywhere you find a free half an hour.

Simply combine your dry ingredients.

Stir in your add ins.

Add the wet ingredients.

Stir just until moistened.

Scoop into tins lined with papers or treated with baking spray.

Pop them into the oven for 18-20 minutes.

Enjoy!!

Fall Harvest Muffins

inspired by Land O Lakes

1 1/2 c. flour

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. old fashioned oats

1 T. cinnamon

2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1 med. apple, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4" dice

1 med. pear, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4" dice

1 1/2 c. grated zucchini

3/4 c. dried cranberries

1/2 c. roasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

3 eggs

1/2 c. butter, melted

1/2 c. applesauce

2 t. vanilla

Combine flour, sugar, oats, cinnamon, soda and salt in a large bowl.  Add apple, pear, zucchini, cranberries and pepitas to flour mixture.  In a small bowl, whisk together the butter, eggs, applesauce and vanilla.  Pour over dry ingredients and mix just until moistened. Place 1/4 c. batter into each of 18 muffin tins that have been lined with paper or treated with baking spray.  Bake in a preheated oven for 18-20 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center of  a muffin removes cleanly. Print Recipe

More Monday Muffins

• Cheese and Garlic Muffins from Making Miracles
• Cream Cheese Filled Pumpkin Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Fall Harvest Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Orange Chocolate Chip Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Purple Sweet Potato Muffins from Farm Fresh Feasts
• Spicy Chicken Salad Muffins from Food Lust People Love

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board.

Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page.