I love making big breakfasts on Sunday that will last me throughout the week. With a long drive to work, I have to leave the house before I have a chance to eat breakfast. Baked oatmeal makes a great breakfast to easily eat and enjoy when I get to work. I love that this recipe is hearty and helps keep me satisfied until lunch time.
Baked Peanut Butter Apple Oatmeal
Slightly modified from Two Peas and Their Pod
2 cups old fashioned oats
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups skim milk (or milk of your choice)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup creamy all-natural peanut butter
1 1/4 cups diced apples (leave the skins on, about 1 large apple)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 baking dish.
In a medium bowl, mix together oats, brown sugar, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon. In a small bowl wish together milk, egg, and vanilla extract. Add milk mixture to oats. Stir in peanut butter until smooth. Mix in apples.
Place oatmeal in 8x8 baking dish and bake until golden brown, 35 minutes.
I'm always on the hunt for "the best" recipe for simple, everyday baked goods and dinners. I think I've finally stumbled upon that for banana bread. Simply Recipes recipe for banana bread has almost 1,000 comments and I can see why. I love this recipe. It makes a consistently good loaf of banana bread every time.
My favorite thing about it? The flexibility. Sometimes I have two bananas that need to be used up, sometimes I have three. Sometimes you want your bread a little sweeter, so you can adjust the sugar accordingly. This time around I added some cranberries for a tart compliment to this sweet bread. It came out wonderfully.
Recipe: Banana Bread
Source: Simply Recipes
2 - 3 very ripe bananas, peeled
1/3 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1/2 - 1 cup of sugar (I usually go with 1/2 cup!)
1 large egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
optional: add-ins such as walnuts, chocolate chips, or cranberries!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mash bananas with a fork in a large mixing bowl. Once bananas are fully mashed, stir in melted butter.
Add baking soda, pinch of salt, sugar, egg, and vanilla. Once combined, slowly mix in flour, making sure not to over mix. Add any add-ins if using.
Pour mixture into a greased 4x8 baking pan. Cook for 50 minutes to an hour, until done all the way through. After 20 minutes of baking, I always place aluminum foil over the bread to prevent over brown.
Cool bread on a wire rack once fully baked.
Recipe: Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Source: Sally's Baking Addiction
This recipe is my standby chocolate chip cookie recipe. I think I've made them 5 times this holiday season. For the holiday season, I add in holiday M&Ms which make them really festive! I prefer using the dark chocolate M&Ms, but have had a really hard time finding them this year. I should have stocked up when I first saw them!
The only downside to this recipe is the chilling time, but with melted butter, there's really no other option to chill them, or they'll turn into little cookie puddles when baked. To make my life easier, I'll make the cookie dough the night before I need the cookies and then bake the next day. This makes the whole process so much smoother, but requires a bit of foresight. If your looking for a classic, soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie, this recipe is a winner.
