How to Chop an Onion

Learning this technique made me feel like a chef- fo' real. My eyes are always on fire when I cut onions but this is so fast that I can usually get by without wincing.  I use this method even when I'm doing a thicker dice.  It's just so much faster and you get a more uniform sized dice.

Other helpful tips are to keep your onion in the fridge and to use a sharp knife.  My grandma always put tissue in her nose, which helps.  I wore swimming goggles in college, which helped. I've also heard that holding a match between your teeth while chopping helps . . .

THE TECHNIQUE:

Basically, you cut an onion in half, splitting the root.  Cut off the other end and peel off the outer layers.  Using the tip of your knife pointed at the root, make thin parallel slices, being careful not to go through or past the root. Hold the slices together and make a few cuts perpendicular to the ones you just made.  Now, slice your onion.  Genius! Watch this short instructional video.

King Cake

Happy January 6th!  Did you know that today, known as "King's Day" or "Epiphany", officially marks the start Mardi Gras season?  "Epiphany" comes from a Greek word that means "to show." Jesus first showed himself to the three wisemen and to the world on this day. You may be thinking, "I didn't know that! What can I do to celebrate Epiphany?" The answer, friend, is to enjoy a King Cake! (New Year's resolutions can wait.)

Why is a King Cake the perfect way to celebrate?  

1. Because King Cake is delicious. It is a pastry that resembles a cross between coffee cake and a buttery croissant. Filled with cinnamon, cream cheese and/or fruit. Topped with icing. Decorated with sprinkles. 
2. Because King Cake is symbolic and rich in history. Reportedly first brought to the US from France, the cake is decorated in royal colors of purple, green and yellow. Purple for "Justice," green for "Faith," and gold for "Power." These colors were chosen to resemble a jeweled crown honoring the Wise Men who visited the Christ Child on Epiphany. 
3. Because King Cakes are fun...for kids and grown ups. Many King Cakes come packaged with Mardi Gras trinkets such as beaded necklaces or masks. And traditionally, a tiny plastic baby (symbolizing baby Jesus) is placed inside each King Cake. When the cake is sliced and served, each person looks to see if their piece contains the "baby." The person who finds the baby is named "King" for a day and bound by custom to host the next party and provide the King Cake. (With most King Cakes, you have to insert the baby yourself. Don't hide the baby if it is small enough to be a choking hazard!)  

It's safe to say that I am enamored with both the taste and history of the King Cake. I have loved it as long as I can remember. Maybe because I only had it once a year growing up. Or maybe it was because my dad's boss would send us the best of the best - a King Cake overnighted from Randazzo's bakery in Louisiana.  I still remember, as a kid, how excited I would get when I saw that big white box sitting on the kitchen counter in January.  

So, pick up a King Cake at your grocery store or local bakery, and start at January 6th tradition in your family today! 

(Note: I've tried grocery store versions of King Cake several times, and none are quite as good as Randazzo's.  But this year I got a cream cheese filled cake from the in-house bakery at HEB, and it is wonderful!) 

Pancake fun

I found this squeeze bottle at Bed Bath and Beyond and thought it would make for some food fun. You can let the kids decorate cookies or cake or you could use it to fill things like pastry or strawberries, etc.  And, really, you could just keep a bottle of icing in the fridge to bust out in emergencies- "MOM! My pancakes are too plain!  We must ice them!"    

 Or . . . you could use the bottle to make interesting pancakes that don't need to be iced! or look prettier iced!

Make Your Own Butter in a Mason Jar

This is a great way to teach your kids how butter is made - using a mason jar, marbles, and heavy cream. I remember making my own butter as a kid.  I couldn’t have been more than 5 years old, but this is still a vivid memory for me, so I couldn’t wait to try this with WP.  Just as I remember, the butter tastes wonderful: creamy and fresh. Here is how we made our butter: 

Step 1: Gather ingredients. You will need:

• 2-3 marbles - For those of you in Houston, the British Isles store in Rice Village sells individual marbles.  WP has fun picking out each one. Hobby Lobby sells marbles in a bag, and Restoration Hardware has some classic marbles on sale right now. 
• One glass mason jar or any container with a tight fitting lid (mini mason jars would be great for this, if you can find them.)
• Heavy whipping cream (enough to fill the container about half way)
• A pinch of salt (optional)

Step 2: Fill the glass container about halfway with cream (the cream will expand with shaking). Add a pinch of salt if you want salted butter. Add the marbles to the container, secure the lid, and start shaking! WP thought this was so fun, and he loved shaking the container.... for about 30 seconds.  I ended up shaking for the rest of the time! If you have more than one kid (or even have a friend over), let them take turns shaking. Otherwise, you will be getting a good arm workout!

Step 3: Shake until you have butter.  It takes about 20 minutes in total. You first need to shake the cream into a thick, dense consistency that coats the inside of the jar. You will know you have a thick cream when the marbles start to slow down, and eventually, you will not hear them at all.  This took me about 10 minutes. The butter is not ready yet... but the cream is delicious, if you want to sneak a taste!!!
Step 4: Once you get the thick cream, you will need to keep shaking about another 10 minutes until the  cream separates into a yellow solid (butter) and a white liquid (butter milk).  The cream will slowly start to turn a slight yellow color right before it separates.  

Step 5: Separate the butter from the buttermilk (the buttermilk will sour the butter) with a strainer. Joy the Baker posted a neat trick: after the buttermilk is strained away, rinse the butter in ice-cold water, then stir it until creamy. Return the butter to the mason jar. Store in refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Step 1: Gather ingredients

Step 2: Fill jar half-way with cream and add marbles.

Step 3: Shake until the cream thickens and begins to coat the jar (about 10 minutes.) 

You're almost there when it looks like this... 

Step 4: Keep shaking until the cream turns pale yellow and separates into a solid (butter) and a liquid (buttermilk) 

Step 5: Strain away the buttermilk so that all you have left is butter. Rinse butter in ice-cold water and return to mason jar.

Enjoy!! ~Lauren

Best Ever Waffles

Here are our leftover waffles, stacked between coffee filters, ready to go in the freezer for a future breakfast

I am extremely grateful to Molly at Orangette for introducing me to the best waffle in the world. I didn't even like waffles that much before trying this one. But now, this is one of my favorite breakfasts - a favorite of my whole family too. I have made this recipe MANY times, and I have lots of tips and tricks on making it for a family and/or a crowd (see below).  But first, I need to gush about Molly. 

I love so many of Molly's recipes. I have her book 'A Homemade Life', and about 10 recipes from that book have become staples in our house. That's saying a LOT. I LOVE cookbooks. I have many cookbooks. I read them like they are novels.  I try lots of recipes from them (and dislike many.) But if I find even just one or two recipes from a cookbook that are good enough to incorporate into my cooking routine, then I consider it a worthwhile book. Needless to say, Molly's book and blog are among my very favorites. I bet I don't go a week without making something of hers.  She not only has great recipes, but she writes so beautifully. Every recipe comes with a story. I dare you to read one of her recipes and not try it... it's almost impossible to do!

Last year Molly blogged about this 'Winning Waffle', and by the way she described it, I had to try it.  I have borrowed her words from her blog because she PERFECTLY describes these waffles.  Read this and tell me you do not want to make them.  

  

"Here’s the thing. For me, the Marion Cunningham waffle, the yeasted one, is capital-W Winner. It’s incredibly light and crisp, but the inner crumb is soft, tender, almost custardy. I can’t say enough about that texture. I wanted to eat waffle after waffle after waffle, just for the way it felt between my teeth. It isn’t particularly sweet, which I like very much, and at first appraisal, it can even seem a little salty. But as soon as you pour on some maple syrup, it makes sense: the salt and the sweetness make each other hum. That complexity, plus the complexity brought by the yeast, plus the good hit of butter in the batter, combine to make the kind of flavor that lasts, that hangs around long after the waffle itself is gone. Plus, and this is a big plus, because the yeasted batter requires an overnight rest, you do 90% of the work - which is very easy work - the night before. The morning of, you have almost nothing to do, except make some coffee and turn on the radio and feel pleased that you have almost nothing to do. It’s heaven. It’s the top. I wouldn’t change a thing."

Visit Orangette here for the awesome waffle recipe. Keep these things in mind when you make them:

• 90% of the prep work is done the night before (awesome if you are not a morning person!)
• The recipe calls for whole milk. The waffles turn out best if you use whole milk, and do not substitute for a lower-fat version.
• The waffle batter is really thin. I think a standard (not Belgium) waffle maker works best.
• The texture of these waffles is part of what makes them so perfect. To keep them crisp and warm, place waffles on a wire rack in a jelly roll pan and keep them in the oven at 200 degrees until ready to serve. (Don't set a hot waffle on a plate! The steam will hit the plate and make the waffle soggy.)
• If you are on vacation and/or have a house full of people who want waffles but wake up at different times, just make the batter and let each person cook their own waffle. 
• I serve these waffles to WP alongside a demitasse cup of warm pure maple syrup so he can dip them. For an extra-special treat, I sift powdered sugar on top of the waffles - tastes just like a funnel cake!
• Do not throw away leftovers! These waffles freeze and reheat beautifully!  I separate mine with flattened coffee filters and store them in a freezer bag. I reheat waffle quarters in a toaster and they taste perfectly fresh. 

This is what the batter looks like once it is complete.  

Because the batter is thin, be careful not to over 'flood' the waffle iron. 

Store waffles on wire racks, in a jelly roll pan, in an oven set to 200 degrees until they are ready to be served.

Happy 2012!

Lauren

Oven Baked Chicken Parmesan

This Oven Baked Chicken Parmesan has become a staple in our house - one of those recipes I make as often as I can because we all like it.  The first time I tried it was when my Mother-in-law made it. I loved it then and I still am impressed with it every time I make it: it's easy, tasty, and healthy not fried. I am never able to get chicken so tender unless I follow this recipe. And aside from Kim's Yummy Chicken Balls, this is one of the few meats WP will eat. Really, what kid wouldn't like it? It's like pizza with a chicken-crust.  

I have included a picture of the original recipe from my Mother-in-law. She and I have both made modifications to the original recipe, including:

• For the chicken breasts: trim off all the fat and slice each breast in half (so that they are half as thick).  This is easier to do if the breasts are partially frozen. You can slice them partially frozen, then completely defrost them in the microwave. (Note: if you want to make strips or nuggets for the kids, just cut the chicken before fully defrosting it.) After halving and defrosting the chicken breasts, place them in a freezer bag and use a meat tenderizer to pound them out. I like them very thin - 1/2" or thinner. 
• Dip the chicken breasts in butter mixture, then coat them in the breadcrumb mixture according to the recipe. 
• Bake the chicken at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove the chicken from the oven and top with pasta (or pizza) sauce and mozzarella cheese. (I am obsessed with HEB/Central Market grocery stores. I do not get paid to say that - I just love them that much. Their HEB brand pizza sauce is delicious, so I always use it on this dish. My husband swears that the pizza sauce makes the recipe. If you don't live in South Texas, or near an HEB, my condolences! Please come visit one if you are ever here. I digress.) Return the chicken to the oven for an additional 15 minutes. 

The Oven Baked Chicken Parmesan goes well with many different sides. I usually serve it with a salad, a vegetable and/or buttered noodles with Parmesan. 

Set up an assembly line: half then pound out chicken breasts; dip in butter/sauce; dredge in breadcrumbs & Parmesan; add to pan

Stove Top Popcorn!

Stove top popcorn is special... maybe even the kind of special that childhood memories are made from. I recently popped popcorn on the stove and our whole family was amazed at how wonderful and fresh it tasted. What makes it so good?! Is it the hot oil, the corn kernels, the fun of watching the popping, or the satisfaction of doing something an old-fashioned way? I don't know exactly, but I do know that I never want microwaved popcorn again! 

This is a great activity and snack for kids. They can help measure and pour oil and kernels. They will love watching the corn pop, and you can even work in a teaching moment to talk about the history of popcorn and how our ancestors popped it. There is some great info here at popcorn.org. 

Stove Top Popcorn

1/3 cup popping corn 

2 Tablespoons oil (any cooking oil works... but not butter - it burns)

Herb Topping

3 Tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon truffle-flavored oil (optional - but a really nice addition if you have it)

3 cloves garlic, minced 

1 teaspoon dried dill 

Dash of salt 

Heat oil on the stove in a large pot (or even wok) over medium high heat. When the oil is hot, but not smoking, add the popping corn. Cover and allow the corn to pop.  It will only take a few minutes for popping to complete.  You know it's done the same way as in the microwave - when it's been about 5 seconds and no kernels have popped. If you are looking for a healthy, kid-friendly recipe, stop here!  WP loves his popcorn right out of the pot.  

For a special treat, add the Herb Topping.  While the popcorn pops, melt the butter in a small pan over medium heat. Add the truffle oil and garlic and cook 1-2 minutes. Stir in dill and salt to taste. Pour over popcorn and toss. 

I made popcorn with the herb topping, and my husband said this is the best popcorn he has ever had! It's really delicious - good enough even to be a side dish for a meal. 

In an unrelated note, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I was blessed this Christmas by both giving and receiving. Even writing this post, I am using Christmas presents from family who know me so well. I hope that you were able to give and receive joy too!

Love, Lauren

Eggs Benedict for a Crowd

The green basil and pink prosciutto make it look Christmasy, don't they? 

Assemble all ingredients on baking sheets and muffin tins so they can bake at the same time.

Eggs benedict might be my very favorite food. It is definitely my favorite breakfast food. My mom used to make it on Christmas mornings, so it has lots of happy memories associated with it. And, before WP was born, the husband and I used to go out to eat... a lot. We only half jokingly claimed that eating was our "thing we do together."  I have probably eaten 30 different versions of Eggs Benedict. This recipe includes elements from all of my favorites... including my mom's Hollandaise Sauce.  I have made true Hollandaise sauces from scratch (with egg yolks), but this one is by far the most flavorful, the lightest, and the easiest to make.  I have also altered the cooking methods a bit to make this easier to prepare for a crowd. I'm excited to share this recipe - it is one of my very favorites! 


Lauren's Eggs Benedict - serves 6
2 cups water

12 eggs

12 slices Italian bread (or 6 rolls, cut in half)

8-16 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto (6-12 thin slices)

2 large tomatoes
Salt & pepper

capers (optional)

'Hollandaise' Sauce

2/3 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup milk

3 Tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 cup fresh basil, finely chopped

The key to preparing this dish for a crowd is to prepare all of the ingredients on baking sheets and in muffin tins so they can bake in the oven at the same time. 

Preheat oven to 400. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil.  While the water boils:

• Slice bread into small toast-sized pieces. Butter the bread and place on baking sheet or in muffin tins. (I have also used King's Hawaiin Rolls in place of Italian bread. Kids love this sweet bread!) 
• Pull the thin slices of proscuitto apart and lay them individually on a foil-lined jelly roll pan (some of the fat will cook out, so make sure your pan has sides.) 
• Slice the tomatoes and lay the slices out on a foil-lined jelly roll pan (same one as the prosciutto if you have room.) Lightly salt & pepper the tomatoes.
• Lightly spray 12 silicone muffin cups with cooking spray.

Once the water is boiling, place 2 tablespoons water into a muffin cup then add one egg. Cover the egg with 1 additional tablespoon of water. Repeat until all eggs are in muffin cups. (Note: if you don't have silicone baking cups, you could still follow this same process with a muffin pan. It's just easier to remove the cooked eggs if you have the silicone cups.)

Place the eggs, bread, tomatoes and prosciutto in the oven for 10-12 minutes. Check the eggs for doneness.  The eggs are done when the whites are set/white.  Cook a bit longer for firm yolks, less for runnier yolks. Remove ingredients from oven.  Use a paper towel to dab water from the tops of the eggs. 


While the ingredients bake, prepare the sauce by whisking together mayonnaise, milk, lemon juice and basil. 


Assemble Eggs Benedict: bread, tomato, prosciutto, egg, sauce and capers (optional).  

Print recipe here. 

Cookie Winners!

Congratulations to our two cookie winners: 

• Laura at Sprint 2 the Table, and 
• Kim Frawmer

Email us at kideatsco(at)gmail(dot)com with the address to which you would like us to send the Ginger & White cookies. They will soon be on their way to you!

Love, 

Kim & Lauren

Picture Gift Tags

My in-laws were visiting this weekend and my MIL had the sweetest addition to our gifts.  Instead of writing each of our names on the Christmas presents, she printed a picture of the recipient and taped it to the gift.

Gingerbread Playdoh

I meant to mention this in yesterday's Kid-Friendly Gingerbread Cookie post, but Gingerbread Playdoh is awesome! One of WP's friends gave a jar of it to him for Christmas - with a cookie cutter tied around the jar.  The gift just made me smile - it looked precious, smelled delicious, and we started playing with it right away.  While I was finishing up the Gingerbread Cookies, WP played with his Gingerbread Playdoh and pretended that he was making his own cookies. He loved it.  

The recipe is over at The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle. Thanks, Sugarbelle!  

Since I posted earlier about Peanut Butter Playdoh, I wanted to let you know how the Gingerbread version compares. The Gingerbread Playdoh is:

• a better consistency (very similar in consistency to real Playdoh - it worked in all of our Playdoh toys and was really easy for WP to manipulate... without being too sticky)
• better smelling (although the PB Playdoh smells good, this one smells like Christmas. Mmm.)
• worse tasting (I tried. Because it smelled so good. I mean, because I wanted to see if it was safe for WP.  It's salty and yucky and no good for eating.) 
• probably harder to make (it involves some simmering on the stove while the PB version only involves mixing ingredients)

All in all, the Gingerbread playdoh is worth making because of the wonderful smell and near-perfect consistency.  We are having lots of fun with it in our house... and I sure hope I remember this idea for kids gifts next year!

Love, Lauren

Kid-Friendly Gingerbread Cookies

I love gingerbread cookies, and can't seem to get enough of them this year!  This is a great recipe to use if you are making cookies for or with kids, because: 

• The dough is very forgiving - not too sticky, and pretty easy to roll out and cut (even for little hands)
• The cookies taste like gingerbread, but they are mild and not as 'spicy' as some gingerbread cookies
• The cookies are nice and sweet - even if you cut down on the sugar by using sugar-free pudding mix
• The mini gingerbread men are the perfect bite-sized sweet treat for kids and grown-ups. Because the dough is easy to work with, making the mini version is not hard!

This recipe is from the sister of one of my best friends. She gave me the recipe when I got married, as part of a cook book that some friends put together for me. It's a keeper, and I hope it becomes a holiday tradition for you and your kids!  


Gingerbread Cookies
1 packaged butterscotch pudding mix (sugar free can be used)
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon


Cream together pudding mix, butter, and sugar until smooth. Add egg and mix until combined.
Combine flour, baking soda, ginger and cinnamon. Slowly add dry mixture to pudding mixture and stir until combined. Cover and chill dough until firm - at least 1 hour. 
Preheat oven to 350. Grease baking sheets. On a floured board, roll dough to about 1/8" and cut into desired shapes.  Place on baking sheets and bake for 1o-12 minutes, until cookies are golden at edges. 
Remove quickly from baking sheets and allow cookies to completely cool on wire racks. Frost with Gingerbread Cookie Icing. 


Gingerbread Cookie Icing
4 egg whites
4 cups sifted powdered sugar


Beat eggs until foamy. Gradually add sugar. Beat on high until thickened. Add food coloring if desired. 
Add icing to desired piping tool (piping bags, candy-making bottles, or even Ziploc baggies with one corner snipped off - like this) and apply to cookies. 


For a really great tutorial/article on Royal Icing (which is very similar to the Gingerbread Cookie Icing), click here.  


Print recipe here. 

I may use these mini gingerbread men in our advent calendar next year. The candy didn't work out so well this year - it made WP a little too crazy (and then cranky.) But these cookies are just a tiny bite of sweetness. They could even be made ahead of time and then stored in the freezer until needed. 


Love, Lauren

Be Consistent!

I just read an article on msnbc.com about how babies just over a year display trust and distrust based on their adult.  Basically, they had 60 babies aged 13-16 months old paired with an adult who was either truthful and sincere or the opposite.  Babies who were paired with truthful adults copied their adult who tried to turn on a light switch with their foreheads while the babies paired with LIARS did not trust them enough to copy the behavior.  

Hmmm . . .

I've been struggling with being consistent and following through . . . oh yeah, AND trying to get things done.  I can 100% see that when I don't follow through with the boys, the poor behavior gets worse.  When I don't follow through, I'm basically lying to them and they therefore stop trusting what I'm telling them. That's right, THEY STOP LISTENING! 

"Whucha gonna do about it, WOMAN?!"

Enchiladas Verdes Lasagna

This recipe is adapted from one of my favorite 'Green Enchiladas' recipes. Rolling individual enchiladas takes a little time, so I prefer this method of layering the ingredients 'lasagna' style. The taste turns out the same, with a lot less effort!

I serve this with any of the following things I have on hand: rice and beans, chips and salsa, queso, avocado, extra sour cream, etc...  


This is a favorite in our house and is one of those meals I take to people who just had a baby! :) 

Enchiladas Verdes Lasagna

18 corn tortillas

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 cup (8 oz) sour cream

2 cans cream of chicken soup (low fat/low sodium)

1 large (7 oz) can green chiles

1 (7 oz) can Herdez salsa verde*

2 large (10 oz) cans white chicken meat, drained

2 cups (16 oz) cheddar cheese, grated

For the sauce: Heat olive oil in a sauce pan over medium high heat. Saute the onion in the oil until translucent, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low and add the sour cream, cream of chicken soup, and green chiles to the onion. Stir or whisk the sauce together and heat until warmed.

For the filling: Mix together chicken and 1 1/2 cups of the cheese in a medium bowl.

To layer: Spread 1 cup of sauce in the bottom of a lasagna pan, or 9X13 baking dish. Place 6 tortillas over the sauce, to cover the bottom of the dish. Layer on top of the tortillas as follows: half of the chicken mixture, one third of the sauce, 6 tortillas, the remaining chicken mixture, one third of the sauce, 6 tortillas, remaining sauce. Top with cheddar cheese and bake at 350 until cheese is bubbly (about 30 minutes.)

*Note: you can assemble the dish early in the day and store in the refrigerator until ready to warm and eat. If you refrigerate first, cook at 350 for about 45 minutes. If you can't find the Herdez salsa verde, use about a cup of any salsa verde you like, or substitute with another 7 oz can of green chiles. 


If you make this all the time (like I do) and want a new variation, you can use Monterey Jack instead of Cheddar cheese and add 1 box of de-frosted, frozen, chopped spinach to the chicken and cheese mixture. 


Print recipe here. 

Love, Lauren

Veggie Muffins

Lots of fresh fruits and veggies go into these muffins!

I found the original recipe for these muffins in the Keeping Good Company cookbook I have here at home.  I love everything I have made from this cookbook, so when I saw all of the fruit and veggies in these muffins, I knew I had to give them a try.  To my delight, they tasted great, and WP ate them too!

As you can see, he can't keep his hands off them!

The original recipe was very good, but I made some modifications to make it more healthy and kid friendly.  They make great regular size or mini muffins and are one of my favorite things to take to a morning play date. I usually freeze the leftovers (any that won’t be eaten within 3 days) and then thaw them out in batches the night before I need them. They keep well in the freezer for a couple of months. 

Veggie Muffins

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup peeled, grated carrots (2-3 large carrots)

1 cup peeled, grated zucchini (1/2 large zucchini)

1 large green apple, peeled and grated

2 eggs

1/4 cup applesauce (I use Central Market's Organic Cinnamon Applesauce)

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup Greek yogurt (2% or whole; I use Fage)

1 tsp vanilla

Preaheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, sift together dry ingredients (flour through salt). Stir in carrots, zucchini and apples. In a smaller bowl, whisk together eggs, applesauce, oil, yogurt and vanilla and then add to the flour/veggie mixture.  

Spoon batter into greased, paper-lined, or silicone muffin molds, filling each cup to desired fullness.  They don't rise a whole lot, so it's fine to fill them to the top. The will rise a little, and some will spill over, giving you a nice, crusty top.  But you can fill them as little as 1/2 full if you want a smaller muffin for little hands. 

Bake regular size muffins 22-28 minutes (less for mini muffins), or until center of muffins springs back when touched. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan. 

Makes 12-24 muffins, depending on how full you fill each one.


Note: I have made these two ways: one way is to grate the veggies/apples and the other way is to pulse them in the food processor into fine pieces.  I prefer the grated way - you can see little grated pieces in the muffins, and you know what you are eating is fresh.  The grated pieces don't bother WP... but if your kiddo is big on texture, you may want to use the food processor to break the veggies/apple into tiny pieces that will be undetectable in the muffins. If you do this, the muffins might turn out a bit drier and/or need less bake time - so watch them closely.

Print recipe here. 

Love, Lauren

Kim says: "Thank you Lauren for dropping this off!  The boys loved them!!"

Now you see it . . .

Now you don't!