Food Fun Family

Flourless Banana Oatmeal Muffins

Lolli — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 06:00:21 +0000

Thanks for stopping by today! I’m excited to be sharing this Pinterest Remake of a delicious flourless banana oatmeal muffins recipe. You are going to LOVE them!

We go through bananas like crazy.

I’m talking about dozens of bananas a week, people. Crazy.

I use a banana in my smoothie almost every morning, my husband slices one over his cereal every day (usually twice) and my 15-year-old son eats at least one banana as a snack every day. It’s hard to keep up with the banana demand these days.

But every once in a while, a few of our bananas are around long enough to start turning a little brown, and then nobody will touch them. Until I make them into banana bread, of course.

I’ve made the same old banana bread for years. Not that there’s anything wrong with my banana bread recipe. It’s actually quite delicious.

I’ve never had complaints. That’s for sure.

But sometimes change is good.

So I searched on Pinterest for a banana muffin option that was a little bit healthier, and I was intrigued by this pin. I followed the pin to a recipe on NateandRachael.com.

I wanted to customize the recipe in a few ways. I knew that I wanted to add nuts to the banana muffins. And I knew that some of my family members would only eat them if they had chocolate chips. I also had a good stash of fresh blueberries in the fridge, so I was curious to see how those would taste mixed in. But I didn’t want everything in every muffin or I knew nobody would eat them.

It was a mix party, I tell you!

These muffins were SO good!

Don’t expect something with the same taste and texture as traditional banana bread. Because there is no flour in these muffins, the texture is more moist and dense. But we all loved them!

Are you ready for the recipe?

Not only am I going to show you how EASY these gluten-free muffins are, but I’ve got a BONUS for you of a ton of other fantastic Pinterest remakes.

Don’t you always wonder if those recipes and projects you see on Pinterest are as good as they look? I know I do!

Ready for the recipe? Click the button below to see how to make these delicious banana muffins and discover what the hype is all about!

The Best Crockpot Chili Recipe

Lolli — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 06:00:00 +0000

When I was making my menu plan a couple of weeks ago, I asked my kids what they’d like me to add to the menu. My 16-year-old daughter didn’t hesitate to ask for homemade chili, and I was happy to oblige. Not only is chili delicious and GREAT for this time of year (hello, comfort food!) but I love meals that I can fix in the morning and forget until dinner time. Crockpots are the best, especially for busy moms like me who spend the entire afternoon driving kids from here to there. When is there time to cook?

This recipe was a bit of an accident. A happy accident. I often make “half-homemade” chili by adding a bunch “Extras” to a can of chili (so that it stretches farther and so it tastes a little better) but I was determined to find a better alternative. I turned to Pinterest, of course, and searched for “best chili” and came back with this pin, which led me to this recipe from Pink When. I tucked it away so that I could make it within the next week.

Before I had a chance to make the chili, I tried making some hamburgers one night. In an effort to stretch my hamburger meat, I decided to mash some black beans and add them to the ground beef. I add black beans to dishes with ground beef all the time. I did not expect what happened….

My black bean hamburgers were a complete flop. They were a crumbly mess. I gave up on my notion of black bean hamburgers, added the cooked black bean-ground beef crumble to a tupperware, and took the kids out for fast food that night (something we never do on a week night!).

The next morning, I grabbed that chili recipe I’d been saving, pulled out the crumbled hamburger, and started making my pot of chili. It could not have been easier, and the entire family RAVED about how delicious it was. Definitely a huge improvement over canned chili (or even the half-homemade chili).

Note: this recipe makes a large crock pot full of chili. If you don’t have a family as big as mine and don’t want a ton of leftovers, then I would recommend freezing half of the chili for a quick meal at a later date. Just pull the saved chili out of the freezer and stick it back in the crock pot to warm up!

The BEST Chili Recipe – In the Crock Pot!

5.0 from 3 reviews

The Best Crock Pot Chili Recipe

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

5 hours

Total time

5 hours 15 mins

Author: Lolli

Serves: 12

Ingredients

3 lbs lean ground beef, seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic
1 can black beans, drained and mashed
1 medium onion, chopped
½ of a large bell pepper, chopped
½ tablespoon chili powder
1½ teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon white sugar
½ teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon minced garlic
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 (15 oz) can kidney beans, drained
1 (15 oz) can Great Northern beans, drained
2 (6 oz) cans tomato paste
1 (28 oz) can marinara sauce (I used Trader Joe's Tuscano Marinara Sauce)
1 cup water
Shredded cheese to top

Instructions

In a medium bowl, mix mashed black beans and ground beef. Add spices to season. Brown the ground beef mixture until cooked through. Drain grease, if necessary.
Add cooked ground beef mixture and all of the additional ingredients to a large crock pot and stir. Cover and cook on low for at least 5 hours (since your meat is cooked, you're mainly cooking the chili for that long to blend flavors). Serve warm with shredded cheese, if desired, and crackers or corn bread.

If you like this recipe, you are going to love these recipes, too:

Note: I used a canned marinara sauce from Trader Joe’s, which I think looks more like crushed tomatoes with spices than a spaghetti sauce.

For more Pinterest remakes, visit a few of my favorite bloggers:

Berry Sipper Mocktail by Confessions of an Overworked Mom
Starbucks Cup Gift Card Holder by Homemaking Hacks
Ice Lanterns by Upstate Ramblings
Lip Scrub by Mom Always Finds Out
The Best Homemade Vanilla Extract by How Was Your Day?
Vintage Cheddar and Gruyere Mac and Cheese with Polish Kielbasa by A Day in Motherhood
Flourless Brownies with Craisins and Pistachios by Day by Day in Our World
DIY Hot Chocolate Mix Recipe by Just 2 Sisters
Tiger Nut Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies by Home and Garden Cafe
Bang Bang Chicken by Jennifer Sikora
Frozen Banana Yogurt Peanut Dog Treats by 2Boys+1Girl=OneCrazyMom
Dark Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Oatmeal by Sincerely Mindy
Garlic Monkey Bread Recipe by Gator Mommy
Homemade Vanilla Orange Mint Sugar Scrub by Baby Loving Mama
Valentine’s Day Strawberries by Sizzling Eats
All Natural 2 Ingredient Lip Gloss by The Socialite’s Closet
Pantry Tomato Pasta by The Guavalicious Life
How to Make Strawberry Pecan Bread by Mommy Snippets

Snowy “Muddy Buddy” Chocolate Pinecones

Lolli — Sun, 15 Nov 2015 06:00:07 +0000

It’s very likely that you’ve seen those gorgeous, can’t-tell-they’re-not-real-pinecones chocolate pinecone treats on Pinterest. I was intrigued by the pinecones so I had to give them a try for this month’s Pinterest Remake challenge.

I learned a couple of things making my own version of this wintery treat: chocolate pinecones taste incredible (no one could stop eating them) and they are a whole lot harder to make than they sounded in the instructions. You’ve been warned. They just happen to be totally worth it.

When I read through the original recipe on Hand Made Charlotte, I decided that the first change I wanted to make was to use a classic muddy buddy recipe instead of plain cereal. I was NOT disappointed in this decision. I don’t make muddy buddies often (like maybe 3 times in the last 20 years?) so that in itself was a huge treat – for myself and for the kids (and husband) who couldn’t stay out of them. After we had finished the muddy buddy pieces, I had some of the pinecone base left and tried it with the plain cereal. Muddy buddies ALL the way, let me tell you!

5.0 from 3 reviews

Chocolate "Muddy Buddy" Snowy Pinecones

Author: Lolli

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 6

Ingredients

Muddy Buddies

4½ cups Chocolate Chex cereal (or other Chex flavor)
½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
¼ cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
½ teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup powdered sugar

Pinecone base

½ cup peanut butter
¼ cup Nutella
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1½ cups powdered sugar
6 pretzel sticks
Powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions

To Make Muddy Buddies:

Measure cereal into a large bowl; set aside.
In microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter uncovered on High about 1 minute; stir. Add a 10-30 seconds as needed until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated.
Sprinkle powdered sugar over cereal and toss gently with large spoon or hands until evenly coated.

To Make Pinecone Base:

Mix peanut butter, Nutella, coconut oil, and powdered sugar in a bowl. I found it easiest to knead with my hands at the end. Add additional powdered sugar if needed to make a firm dough.
Separate dough into 6 equal parts. I found it helpful to chill the base sections you aren't using in refrigerator while you're working on the other pinecones.

To Assemble Pinecones:

Form each of the sections of pinecone base into cones with the large part on the bottom. Stick a pretzel stick through the top for a little stability. Sprinkle work area generously with powdered sugar so the pinecone won't stick when you try to move it.
Beginning at the bottom of the cone, stick cereal (muddy buddy) pieces around the base. Work up the pinecone, sticking cereal pieces into the base, angled so that the cereal points upwards. Keep working upwards and around until you've covered the entire "pinecone" with cereal. I angled my cereal pieces more as I got closer to the top.
Dust each pinecone with powdered sugar. To eat: remove the cereal pieces from the base (and be sure to grab a little bit of that Nutella and peanut butter dough in each bite!).

Some process photos:

A few notes: The base “dough,” no matter what I did, was determined to fall. You have to work kind of fast to assemble each one before it ends up looking like a big, messy blob of chocolate and cereal. The powdered sugar does a really good job of hiding imperfections, but it’s still hard to make these look as pretty as the original poster’s. Granted, that could have something to do with the fact that I substituted coconut oil for the butter in the base. Regardless of the tendency for this dough to be a little messy, the taste made up for any headache. I personally loved the slight coconuty taste. Next time, I might decrease the amount of coconut oil to 1 tablespoon to see if that would help the consistency of the base.

There WILL be muddy buddy mix left over after you assemble your pinecones. Unless you snack on them the entire time. Not that that happened in our house or anything…Just warning you that you will not need to use all of the cereal to create the 6 pinecones.

Have fun making your pinecones (and eating them, too, of course!).

For more Pinterest Remakes, here are a few of my favorite bloggers:

Peppermint Body Scrub in 5 Minutes by Confessions of an Overworked Mom
Maple Roasted Carrots by Upstate Ramblings
Stamped Alcohol Inked Coasters by How Was Your Day?
Acorn Squash Stuffing Recipe by A Mom’s Take
How to Make Lightbulb Christmas Ornaments by Jennifer Sikora
Winter White Red Velvet Fudge by Mom Does it All
How to Make a Coffee Filter Wreath by Mom Always Finds Out
Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Pie Bars by Home and Garden Cafe
Coconut Crescent Layer Bars by Sincerely, Mindy
Make your Own Christmas Tree by 2Boys+1Girl=OneCrazyMom
Do It Yourself Cork Coasters by Philzendia

Pumpkin Seed Granola

Lolli — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 05:00:56 +0000

Last month, I made some homemade chewy cinnamon raisin granola bars, and I swear that I’ve been thinking about them ever since we finished them (which didn’t take very long…they were SO GOOD). So when I was trying to think of something to make for this month’s Pinterest Remakes blog hop, my mind immediately went to granola.

I had picked up some pumpkin seeds at the grocery store last week, so I headed over to Pinterest to find a pumpkin seed granola that was relatively healthy and looked like something I’d eat. I ended up finding a pumpkin spice granola which didn’t have pumpkin seeds in it…yet. I changed the recipe around just a little (by adding pumpkin seeds and flaxseed meal and reducing the sugar a little) and was completely smitten with the results.

Already, I have grabbed small handfuls of granola to snack on, I’ve added it to the top of pudding, and my husband has already talked about replacing his normal cereal with this granola. Because there’s just a small amount of sugar in this recipe and it’s filled with relatively healthy.

And I’ve already got plans to make more of it. In fact, I think I might have to get serious about trying several granola variations. I’m totally hooked on coconut oil granolas!

Yum

Pumpkin Seed Granola

Ingredients

1 cup pecans, chopped
3 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup roasted pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 heaping tablespoons flaxseed meal
1 1/2 heaping teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup honey
3 tablespoons coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350° degrees.
Mix oats, chopped pecans, brown sugar, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin pie spice, and salt in a medium bowl; stir to combine.
In a small microwaveable bowl, heat honey and coconut oil on medium heat for 40-60 seconds. Stir in vanilla extract.
Pour the hot honey mixture over the oat and nuts mixture, and stir so that the dry ingredients are evenly coated with the wet ingredients.
Spread the granola mixture evenly onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat baking mat.
Bake the oats at 350° for about 5 minutes; stir. Bake for another 5-7 minutes.
After granola has cooled, break it into pieces and store in an airtight container.

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See the original recipe that I based this Pinterest Remake on here.

For more Pinterest Remakes, visit a few of my favorite bloggers:

Fall centerpiece in less than 5 minutes by Confessions of an Overworked Mom
Garden fresh, creamy tomato basil soup by Oh So Savvy Mom
Candy corn wreath by Upstate Ramblings
Spaghetti squash pizza boats by Homemaking Hacks
Apple pecan stuffing recipe by A Mom’s Take
Pumpkin scones by Jennifer Sikora
Pumpkin cream cheese muffins by Mom Does it All
French onion soup by OurFamilyWorld
Mummy Halloween pumpkin centerpiece by Simply Southern Mom
Coffee rub burgers by Roasted Beanz
Rustic twig star wreath by Sweet Lil You
Buffalo chicken deviled eggs by Home and Garden Cafe
Pumpkin marshmallow M&M blondies by Simply Mindy
Honey lavender cupcakes by How Was Your Day?
Mini chocolate apple pops by 2Boys+1Girl=OneCrazyMom
Spaghetti and meatball muffins by Mom Always Finds Out

Chewy Cinnamon Raisin Granola Bars

Lolli — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 05:00:56 +0000

Now that my kids are back to school, I’ve been thinking a lot about school lunches for them and day-time snacks for me. In both cases, I desperately want to find better-for-us snacks. The trick is, those better-for-us snacks need to taste good. Frankly, they need to taste better or I probably won’t go through the effort of making everything by hand.

Convenience foods are….well…convenient, after all.

A certain yummy-looking better-for-you granola bar recipe caught my eye the other day on Pinterest, and I decided that it was exactly what I needed for my September Pinterest Remake. I don’t eat many granola bars any more, but I’ve always been a fan. And I’ve never tried making them myself. Now…I’m not sure why I never did it. They were so easy to make, they were full of whole, real ingredients, and – best of all – they tasted better than any other granola bar I’ve ever eaten.

Ever.

I’m not joking.

Ready?

Chewy Cinnamon Raisin Granola Bars

Hold on tight. These better-for-you granola bars taste way better than the bad-for-you alternatives! I changed them up quite a bit from the original posting. I think I might try the apple alternative to see how it is different from the raisin variety.

Yum

Chewy Cinnamon Raisin Granola Bars

Prep Time: 1 hour, 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Yield: 18 bars

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
2/3 cup chopped walnuts (or other nuts)
1/3 cup flax seeds
4 tablespoons coconut oil
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups crispy rice cereal
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray a 9x9 inch baking dish with nonstick spray or line with parchment paper.
Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray, and spread oats, nuts, and flax seeds out in an even layer (they can be mixed). Bake for 5-6 minutes, tossing/stirring twice, until the oats to just start to brown.
In a small sauce pan, heat honey, coconut oil, and brown sugar. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Stir for 3-4 minutes, or until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove pan from heat, stir in vanilla extract, and set aside to cool slightly.
In a large mixing bowl, gently stir together crispy rice cereal, raisins, cinnamon, salt and toasted oat mixture. Pour in the honey mixture and stir until everything is well coated.
Press everything into prepared 9x9 inch baking dish. Use a piece of parchment paper or waxed paper to press down on granola to pack it down evenly into baking dish.
Place baking dish in refrigerator to chill for at least an hour before removing to cut into bars. To cut into bars, cut 9x9 square in half down the middle, and then cut nine 1-inch bars on each side.
Wrap individual bars in plastic wrap or store in snack baggies to eat on the go.

Notes

You can substitute any of the dry ingredients (ie, oats, nuts, flax seeds, etc) for other similar ingredients as long as you keep the proportion similar (for instance, if you leave out the nuts, then add more oats or cereal, etc).

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My husband was hooked just like I was…but my 14-year-old son had some criticisms. I’m keeping it real and letting you know what he said. Personally, I think he’s being a little too picky.

First, he complained that the granola bars broke apart too easily. I’d have to agree. I don’t know if I just needed to press them down more firmly in the baking dish or if it was simply a result of using coconut oil instead of butter. Either way, these granola bars might end up more like regular granola (which would still taste amazing). He also thought that the golden raisins were not the right fit for this granola bar, and that regular raisins would have been better. He also would have left out the butterscotch chips because he isn’t a fan of them. Those are certainly optional.

For more fun Pinterest Remakes, here are a few of my favorite bloggers:

Halloween Bloody Eyeballs by Confessions of an Overworked Mom
Halloween Hand Soap by Homemaking Hacks
Sausage, Potatoes & Eggs Breakfast Skillet Recipe by A Mom”s Take
Pepperoni Pizza Puffs by Jennifer Sikora
High Fiber Pumpkin Spice Energy Bites Recipe by Sweep Tight
DIY Wooden Pumpkins by Mom Does it All
Chocolate Toffee Macaroons by How Was Your Day?
Browned Butter Sugar Cookies by Upstate Ramblings
Slow Cooker Pumpkin Spice Applesauce Recipe by Mom Always Finds Out
Repurpose Project: Men’s Sweater into a Boy’s Sweater by Our Homemade Life
Cookie Hacks by The Guavalicious Life