Breakfast of Champions

I've noticed recently that my breakfasts seem to be getting larger and larger while at the same time becoming less varied. The cereal bowl overfloweth. To get back on track, I found this Applesauce Oatmeal Muffin recipe on Spark People and varied it a little. To be honest, it wasn't a fabulous muffin because the texture was extremely dense. However, it was extremely filling and pretty tasty. It also had the added benefit of portion control and forced me to think outside of the (cereal) box. I supplemented my breakfast with some toasted almonds, golden raisins, and some plain yogurt.


Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins adapted from Spark people
Makes 12 muffins
(each muffin around 93 cal. according to Spark People)

Ingredients:

1 c. oats
1 c. nonfat milk
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
1/2 c. egg whites
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. sugar

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, soak the oats in the milk for 20-30 minutes while you preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Place muffin liners in 12 muffin cups.
3. Combine oat mixture with applesauce, brown sugar and egg whites.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
6. Spoon the batter into the 12 muffin cups.
7. In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle on each muffin.
8. Bake muffins for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Camping food Part III

As summer is winding down, we are enjoying these last few warm weekends for all they are worth by filling our souls with the joys of camping, and filling our bellies with camping food!  Last week, we took our longest camping adventure yet (3 nights!).  My menu was not as fancy as it had been in the past because frankly I didn't know if I could fit 3 days worth of food in our cooler if I cooked fancy, but I thought you might enjoy the menu and some recipes for ideas for your next camp-out.  

Sunday dinner:  Flank Steak burritos with salsa, sour cream, guacamole and cheese.  Marshmallows.

Monday breakfast:  Cranberry Flax Muffins (we ended up pulling the leftovers out the next two mornings as well), coffee and juice.

Monday lunch:  Hot dogs and chips

Monday dinner:  Salmon cakes, melon, black beans.

Tuesday breakfast:  cereal with rice milk, leftover cranberry flax muffins, coffee and juice.

Tuesday Lunch:  Tuna salad with crackers

Tuesday dinner:  Hamburgers

Wednesday breakfast:  I cheated and bought Jimmy Dean frozen ham hash that you add eggs to and fry it all up.

Wednesday lunch:  Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chips.

As you see, the fare was more traditional, but we did feel quite fancy with our salmon cakes for Monday's dinner and our flank steak burritos for Sunday's dinner.  Also, the muffins were a homey touch and very quick to prepare when all the boys wanted to go fishing early Monday morning.

Cranberry Flax Muffins  adapted from Taste of Home Muffins and Quick Breads

Yeild 1 1/2 dozen muffins

1 1/2 cups bran flakes cereal

3/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup ground flaxseed

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cup dried cranberries

2 Tbls. whole flaxseed

In a large bowl, combine the first nine ingredients.  Whisk the eggs, buttermilk, honey and oil; stir into dry ingredients until just moistened.  Stir in cranberries.  Coat muffin cups with cooking spray or use paper liners; fill two-thirds full.  Sprinkle with whole flaxseed.  Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks.  These do not necessarily "look" finished, use a toothpick if unsure.

Beef Flank Burritos by Joie de vivre

1 1/2 lb. beef flank steak

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup water

2 Tbls. molasses

2 tsp. stone ground mustard

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Place soy sauce, water, molasses, mustard and garlic powder in a ziplock bag.  Squeeze to combine, then add steak, remove the air and seal well.  Place in your cooler.  When you are at camp, light your coals and wait until they are ready.  Cook the flank steak approx 5-6 minutes per side.  Cut flank steak into strips.  Layer tortilla with guacamole, sour cream, salsa, cheese and flank steak and roll up.

Salmon cakes  (pictured above)

Ha!  One of our fancier meals and I got it off of the back of the can of salmon!  The can was super cheap (between 1-2 dollars for a 15 oz. can of salmon).  Add bread crumbs, lemon juice, mayonnaise, and onion and fry.  

We still have one last camping hurrah planned for this year so I'll post Camping Part IV before we settle into fall.  Enjoy!