Bran Muffins with Prunes

 I'm currently using Tirzepatide to lose weight with the hope that I can get off some of the medications that have slowly creeped up on me.  I have lost weight a whole bunch of times, but I always gain it back eventually.  My Primary Care Practitioner has assured me I can keep it off with microdosing after I get to my desired weight.  I don't really have a number so much as getting off meds, so I guess we will see.

GLP-1's work by slowing down digestion. This gives you the feeling of being full sooner so you stop eating and then it keeps you feeling full so you don't want to snack in between meals.  It's working for me.

But here is the major downside for me, other than most of my new clothes no longer fitting well. Digestion slows down all along the way. I decided to make some bran muffins in aid of better digestion.  

I didn't have a recipe in mind, but I bought some Kellogg's All-Bran and a package of prunes.

I took a tour around the recipes online and didn't see what I had I mind.  I took a little from Column A and some from Column B and came up with this recipe.

    

Bran Muffins with Prunes

2 cups Kellogg's All-Bran

1 1/4 cups milk

1 egg

1/2 cup prunes, chopped

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon Mapleine, or 2 teaspoons maple flavoring

1 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, optional

Preheat the oven to 400°.  Put paper muffin cups in a muffin tin.  Spray with Pam.  Set aside.

Place the 2 cups of All-Bran in a large bowl. Pour the milk over the it and stir to combine.  Let it soak while you assemble the rest of the ingredients.

In a medium bowl, place the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.  Stir to combine.

Chop the prunes and walnuts.  

Add the prunes, egg, oil and Mapleine to the All-Bran mixture and stir it in.

Add the flour mixture to the moist ingredients with the chopped walnuts.  Stir just until combined.  Do not over mix.

Fill the muffin cups.  I used a large ice cream scoop.

Bake for 20. minutes.  Test for doneness with a skewer that comes out clean.

Cool to just warm and serve with butter.

These muffins were tasty and had a just crispy enough top with a moist crumb.  I served them with a smear of butter.  

After they are completely cool put the muffins in an air tight container.  The next day I had one and heated it up in a 350° toaster oven for a few minutes. It was just as good as the first one.  

The digestion aid is yet to be determined.  Whether that is the result or not, it is still a delicious muffin

Fried Tacos

 I saw a post about baked tacos.  But it needed flour tortillas as the corn tortillas would not work. I prefer corn tortillas so I just did fried tacos.  Not in a deep fryer, but in a thin layer of hot oil in a fry pan.

I used rotisserie chicken, but you could use any type of taco meat you like.

Fried tacos

shredded chicken, I used rotisserie but you can go vegetarian and leave it out

diced onion

oil

taco seasoning

refried beans

shredded cheese

avocado

cilantro lime dressing

Cook the onions in oil until translucent. Add the chicken to the onions and heat through, or cook the meat of your choice.  Add the seasoning packet and follow the directions.

Spread a thin layer of the refried beans on a tortilla.  

            

Place some of the cooked chicken and some shredded cheese on one half of the tortilla. Don't over fill.  Repeat for as many tacos as you are cooking. 

Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a fry pan. Fold a taco in half and place in the hot oil, carefully.

Cook until golden brown and then flip over gently and fry the other side.  Add a bit more oil if needed to make all the tacos. As you cook, put the finished tacos on a plate lined with a paper towel.

I chopped an avocado and poured a small puddle of the cilantro lime dressing.  I scooped up the avocado and dipped the taco in the dressing, but I suppose you could peel open the taco and add whatever you wanted.

These fried tacos were quite delightful!  I liked the addition of the refried beans in a taco and the dressing added a piquant bite to the tacos!

I recommend this variation of our usual taco routine. It was especially nice served with half a papaya and a lime wedge!

Blueberry Sausage Bites

 This recipe popped up while I was lazing through Facebook.  It was promoted as a quick and easy breakfast.  Breakfast bites to freeze and grab when you are running late. It also looked like a fun breakfast for dinner to me.

Blueberry Breakfast Bites

Blueberry muffin mix

milk

pre-cooked sausage links

cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 400 °.

Heat up six pre-cooked sausages according to the package.  It only takes a minute or two.

While that is happening, spray Pam in 18 wells in a mini muffin pan.

In. medium bowl mix the muffin mix according to the directions.  Basically, just add milk and mix. 

Cut each sausage into equal 4 pieces.

Fill each well in the mini muffin pan half way up with the batter. Place one cut up section of sausage in the center of the each muffin tin.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.  

Cool slightly and serve warm.

Serve with pancake syrup, if desired.  Then they are like a blueberry pancake with sausages! If you want to save these for an easy morning treat, cool completely and freeze.  

These mini muffins were tasty, but I think they could have been better. 

The recipe called for pre-cooked sausages in an effort to make this easy and fast.  I liked them but they would have been better with fresh cooked sausages. That takes away some of the quick and easy part, but we just ate them for dinner a few times and the sausages didn't taste the same as fresh cooked.

Blueberry Vodka Lemonade

I recently tried a Blueberry Vodka Lemonade while out at a restaurant.  It was delightful.  I came home and did some internet searching. There are a few different recipes. But this is what I did.

Blueberry Vodka Lemonade

Smirnoff Blueberry Vodka

Lemons

Blueberry Simple Syrup

water

ice

Blueberry Simple Syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen

First you need to make some blueberry simple syrup.  This is easy. 

Place the water, sugar and blueberries in a medium saucepan.  Stir and bring the mix to a boil.

Turn the heat down to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes.  It should reduce and thicken as the blueberries break down.

Place a strainer over a heat resistant container. I used a 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup. Pour the syrup through the strainer into the container. 

Use the back of a spoon to press out the blueberry juice.  Discard the smashed blueberries and let the syrup cool. Transfer to a container with a lid, then chill.

Squeeze 2 large lemons for each tall glass. 

Fill a glass 1/3 full of ice.  Add the juice of two lemons and 2 ounces of the blueberry simple syrup.  Pour 2 ounces of the blueberry vodka and fill with water. Stir and enjoy.

Once you try it my way you can adjust the blueberry simple syrup and the vodka to taste.  Some may prefer it less sweet, but then you get less of the blueberry flavor. Others may prefer just a touch of vodka.

You can also leave out the vodka entirely.  It is equally delightful and refreshing and perfect for those that don't want any alcohol.  Even the children visiting enjoyed it that way.

Strawberry Muffins

It is summer and the strawberries are getting better. We used to live  in California and the strawberries were so good as they were grown there.  When you live on the east coast the strawberries have a bit of travel and they just aren't as good.  Lately they are quite good.  But I can't eat a pound of strawberries by myself and Lee doesn't usually eat much.  So I decided to put them in some muffins. 

Strawberry Muffins

cupcake liners 

Pam

2 cups +2 teaspoons flour, divided use

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 cup milk or half and half. I used half and half.

2 1/4 diced strawberries, divided

Topping

3 Tablespoons raw sugar or Turbinado sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

        

Preheat the oven to 375°. Place the cupcake liners in a 12 cup muffin pan. Spray lightly with Pam.  Set aside.

In a stand mixer, I use a Kitchen Aid, beat the softened butter until light and fluffy, scraping down as needed.  While it is beating, mix 2 cups of the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Add the sugar into the mixer and keep beating.  When the sugar is incorporated add in the eggs and then the vanilla and almond extract.

Mix in half the flour and then 1/2 the milk.  When those are mixed, add in the other half of the flour and the rest of the milk.

Sprinkle 2 cups of the strawberries with the last 2 teaspoons of flour. Mix gently. This will help to prevent all the strawberries from sinking to the bottom of the muffin cups.

Set aside about 1/2 cup of the berries and fold the bigger portion into the batter. 

Use an ice cream scoop.  Place one scant scoop of batter in each muffin cup.  

Top with a few of the reserved strawberries and press down gently to keep them from rolling off.

For the topping, mix the vanilla with the raw sugar in a small bowl.  Sprinkle it over the muffins.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the tops start to turn brown and a cake tester comes out clean.

The muffins were just the right amount of sweet and tart.  They were moist and delicious.

        

They were great plain. But also delightful with butter.

Keep leftovers in an air tight container.  The fresh strawberries made the muffins a little too moist the next day.  I put them in the toaster oven on 300° for a couple of minutes and that fixed the issue.

Ooey Gooey Butter Cake

This recipe is really more a bar than a cake, although it is made with cake mix and is super easy. It is also called Neiman-Marcus Butter cake. There are a few recipes and they are similar. 

I liked it better the first day, but had no problems eating it the second day.  So much so that I was FORCED to put it out for my housekeeping crew.  They loved it, too.

Ooey Gooey Butter Cake

1 box yellow cake mix

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 eggs

1 Tablespoon vanilla

Topping

1 Package (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup butter, melted

4 cups (or one box) powdered sugar

Heat oven to 350°.  Spray 9x13 inch baking dish. Set aside. 

In a large bowl or stand mixer mix together the cake mix, 2 eggs, vanilla and melted butter. The batter will be thick.

Spread it in the prepared dish. You may need to pat and press it down to cover the bottom of the dish.

Place the softened cream cheese, eggs, vanilla and melted butter in a stand mixer, or use a hand held mixer. 

Mix until combined and smooth.  

Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time and mix until incorporated. 

Pour the cream cheese mixture over the cake mixture and spread evenly.  

Bake 35-45 minutes. Remove when the edges start to brown but the center is still a bit jiggly.  Don't over bake.

Cool, cut into squares and serve.  You may want to dust the top with a bit more powdered sugar.  I thought it added to the presentation!

This was a very delicious bar. And it was taste tested on a lot of people!