Applesauce Crumble Muffins

I got this recipe from my best friend in Cali, every time I make them they remind me of her.  While the original recipe was good, one morning I decided they needed a little salt after the batter was in the muffin tin so I decided to create a crumble topping with salt to give them a little kick and the result was AMAZING! Yum, yum, yummy!

Applesauce Crumble Muffins
2 c. flour (I use 1 c. white, 1 c. wheat)
1/2 T. Cinnamon
1/2 T. Allspice (or if you’re like me and you don’t have this I just add a bunch of nutmeg.)
1 tsp. Baking soda
1/2 c. Butter ( use 1/3 c. and I don’t miss the extra)
1 c. Sugar
1 Egg
1 c. Applesauce, if reducing butter add extra applesauce (I used homemade, but I am a lucky lady like that!)
1 T. Vanilla
Shake or two of salt

Topping (here’s a little bit of Jana cooking for you!)
Handful of oatmeal (1/4 c. - 1/3 c. ?)
Handful of brown sugar (1/4 c.  - 1/3 c. ?)
3-4 T. Cold butter
1/4 c. Flour
Couple of shakes of salt (This MAKES the muffin!)
Shake of cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine dry ingredients and set aside. Cream butter and sugar, beat in eggs, applesauce and vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients just until moist. (don’t over mix! I tend to even leave it a little under-mixed and it works best.) Fill muffin tins 3/4 of the way full.

Combine all crumble ingredients until they combine to form a crumble with a pasty blender or your hands. Sprinkle each muffin with topping and bake for 20 minutes for full size and maybe 12 for mini. Be careful not to over bake.

Should make a dozen, I usually only make mini muffins mainly because I want a higher crumble to muffin ratio, this makes somewhere around 30 minis.

Oatmeal Rolls

At one of many failed attempts at a RS recipe exchange a dear friend brought these incredible rolls. For months I craved them until I finally contacted her and got the recipe. Now we make them on a regular basis, they are soft and delicious and I figure the oatmeal cancels out all of that butter!

Lion House Oatmeal Rolls

2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal
2 cups boiling water
1 cup butter (I have successfully cut out 3T. of the butter, if desired)
1 1/2 Tbsp yeast
2 large eggs
2 tsps. salt
3/8 cup sugar
4 1/2 cups flour
2 Tbsp butter; melted

In a large bowl, measure oatmeal and pour the boiling water over the top of it. Stir slightly so all of the oatmeal is moistened. Cut the butter into small chunks and place on top of oatmeal mixture; set aside until butter is melted and the mixture has cooled.

Sprinkle yeast on top of oatmeal mixture. Add eggs, salt, sugar, and flour. Mix on low speed for 8 - 10 minutes. The dough will be very soft and sticky, but do not add more flour.

Allow dough to rise until it doubles in size. Roll out on a well-floured board until dough is about 1/4 inch thick. Brush with melted butter and cut with 3 1/2 inch round cutter. Fold each round in half, then take two rounds and fold them so the ends interlock; round edges up, folded sides down.

Place rolls in regular size muffin tines that have been sprayed with nonstick spray.

Let rise until double in size.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes.

Rolls should be lightly golden brown. If they are dark golden brown, they are overdone and will be dry.

Makes 2 dozen rolls.

Chicken Tikka Masala

My good friend got me into Indian food and now I love it. I decided to try a recipe for one of my favorite dishes. Its from Pioneer Woman but I did a little bit different. We loved it. The picture is not mine, the camera was out of power when I made it. Sorry.

Ingredients

3 chicken breasts

2 tbs butter

1 Large onion

3 cloves of garlic

1 piece of ginger (2 inch)

Garam Masala

1 can (28 oz) diced tomatos

sugar

1 1/2 cup heavy cream

2 cups basmati rice

Cook and cut up chicken.

Next dice onion. In a large skillet melt 2 tbs butter over medium-high heat. Toss in the onions and saute until they are slightly browned. As the onions cook, mince your garlic. Next, cut off the outer skin of the ginger and grate a 1 by 2 inch chunk. Add the garlic and ginger to the onions. Also through in some salt.

Next you are going to add about 3 tbs Garam Masala spice. I like it a bit spicy so I put in a bit of crushed red pepper flakes. Now you are going to add your can of tomatoes. Continue cooking and stirring, scraping the bottom of the pan to deglaze it. Add about 1 tbs sugar. Let this mixture simmer on medium for about 5 minutes.

To a rice cooker add 2 cups Basmati rice and 4 cups water. Cover and cook.

After the Tikka Masala sauce has had a chance to simmer for a bit put it all in a blender and blend it up. Then add in the 1 1/2 cups of cream. Now, chop up your chicken into chunks and stir them into the Tikka Masala sauce. Serve with rice.

Mexican Lasagna With Chicken, Corn & Black Beans

I made this for dinner and everyone loved it. It was a nice spin on regular lasagna. I thought the leftovers were even better. Enjoy!

1 1/2 lbs. extra-lean ground beef, turkey or chicken
1 cup diced red onions
1 cup diced green bell pepper
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes
1 cup frozen corn
1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
2 cups of your favorite pasta sauce
1 cup salsa
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
2 Tbsp. minced fresh cilantro
4-6 large whole wheat or low carb tortillas ( used low carb and you couldn't tell)
2-3 cups shredded cheese (I used Costco Mexican cheese mix.)
1 cup light sour cream
1/4 cup chopped green onions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray or line a 9x13 pan or casserole dish with foil. Brown ground beef and with diced onion, green pepper and garlic. Add black beans, tomatoes, corn, chili powder and cumin. Cook and stir for 2 more minutes. Add pasta sauce, salsa and black pepper. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in cilantro and remove from heat.

To assemble lasagna, spread 1/3 of the meat sauce mixture over bottom of casserole dish. Top with 1/2 of the tortillas, overlapping and cutting them as necessary to fit. Top with 1/3 of the meat sauce , followed by 1/2 of the cheese. Cover cheese with remaining tortillas, followed by remaining sauce. Sprinkle remaining cheese over sauce. (When I made it I didn't use all of the sauce. I just used enough sauce on each layer to cover the pan completely. If you want thicker lasagna go ahead and use all the sauce.)

Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 minutes more. Let lasagna stand for at least 10 minutes before serving. Top each piece with a dollop of sour cream and some chopped green onions.

Orange Rolls

I found these on Pioneer Women and they are so good.

• FOR ROLLS:
• 2 cups Whole Milk
• 1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1 package Active Dry Yeast
• 4 cups (Plus 1/2 Cup Extra, Separated) All-purpose Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon (heaping) Baking Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon (scant) Baking Soda
• 1/2 Tablespoon (heaping) Salt
• 8 Tablespoons Orange Marmalade
• ½ cups Melted Butter
• 1 cup Brown Sugar
• ½ teaspoons Kosher Salt

• ORANGE GLAZE:
• 2 pounds Powdered Sugar
• 6 Tablespoons Melted Butter
• ½ cups Milk
• ½ cups Orange Juice
• 1 dash Salt

Preparation Instructions

Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. “Scald” the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in both packages of Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add 8 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour. After rising for at least an hour, add 1 more cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down). Roll out dough into a long rectangle. Spread marmalade over the top. Pour on butter, and then sprinkle on the brown sugar evenly. Sprinkle with salt. Beginning at the long side farthest from you, roll the dough in a long roll toward you; begin careful to keep it tucked tightly. Pinch edge to seal. Cut rolls into 1 to 1 1/2 inch rolls and place into buttered pans. Allow to rise for at least 20 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes, or until golden brown (but not overly brown). While baking, mix together the ingredients for the orange glaze, thinning with more milk or orange juice to make mixture thin enough to be pourable. Immediately drizzle orange glaze over the top. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Shrimp Burritos

1/4 cup lime juice
1 large cloves of garlic
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves (chopped)
3 TBS canola oil
pepper (I just ground a lot into it)
1 pound large shrimp unshelled, no tails.
(put in a ziploc bag and marinate in fridge for 45 min)

Then cook shrimp.

tortillas
lots of fresh spinach
pico salsa
sliced avocado
cheese
lime slices to squeeze onto the whole thing

Serve on tortillas with spinach, pico, avocado, cheese, and lime. It is really yummy. Pico recipe is below.

Pico

4 Roma tomatoes (seeded)
1/4 red onion (to taste)
1/2 jalapeno pepper (or more to taste)
1 small clove garlic
juice of one lime
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
ground black pepper

Seed and dice tomatoes. Chop onion, jalapeno and garlic to a fine consistency. To these ingredients, add the fresh cilantro, salt, pepper, olive oil and lime. Mix well.

BBQ Sloppy Joes

1 1/4 lb. ground turkey, chicken or beef (I use turkey)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 T. red wine vinegar
1 T. grill seasoning, Montreal Steak Seasoning is what I use
1 T. worcestershire sauce
1 T. hot sauce
1 14 oz. can tomato sauce

Brown ground turkey, onions in pan. When cooked through add peppers. In bowl combine tomato sauce, hot sauce, worcestershire sauce, grill seasoning, vinegar and brown sugar. Add to meat mixture and simmer for ten minutes. Serve on buns and top with chopped dill pickle. This is how hot we like it and it isn't that hot but if you are afraid you can decrease the hot sauce or leave it out completely. They are my new favorite sloppy joes! I found this recipe at http://www.rachaelray.com/Enjoy!