Recipe: Apple Strudel Muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 large apples
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

topping

• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon melted butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375° F. Grease muffin pan with non-stick spray/butter or use muffin cups.
2. Wash both apples. Peel and chop one apple into chunks roughly 1/2 inch. Peel and coarsely shred the remaining apple with a cheese grater. Place apples in a medium bowl. Add 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp nutmeg to the apples. Mix well and set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and set aside.
4. In a large bowl, beat together softened butter, white sugar and eggs. Add vanilla and mix well.
5. Gradually add dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Mix well.
6. Spoon into muffin cups.

     7. In a small bowl, combine topping ingredients. Sprinkle evenly onto unbaked muffins. 

     8. Bake for 20 mins at 375°F. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack or plate.

Recipe: Mango Banana Smoothie

I was in the mood for a smoothie so I just threw something together and it happened to be delicious!


You Need:

1 mango
1 ripe banana
1 blueberry yogurt


What to do:

Peel mango. Slice it up and toss it into the blender.

Peel banana. Break it a few times and put in blender.

Add yogurt to the blender.

Blend until smooth.

Enjoy! Its super easy and it tastes amazing!

Recipe: Easy Granola

Ingredients:

1 cup almonds
1 cup walnuts
Desired amount of soy nuts/ dehydrated cranberries, banana chips, other dried fruits (I used 1 cup of each)
2-3 cups old fashioned oats
2tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1 c packed brown sugar
1/2-1 tsp salt (optional)
honey to clump - desired amount (I used about 1 cup)


(Measurements above are approximate. Add according to your own taste.) Add dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Stir together well.

Spray baking pan(s) with cooking oil. Fill with granola, but leave enough room to stir without spilling. I had to use 2 large casserole pans. Add desired amount of honey to mixture, enough to dampen and clump granola. Stir well.


Bake at 350 in 15 min intervals, stirring often. Its done when it is a light toasted brown. Granola will harden upon cooling. Don't burn it! Makes about a gallon or so, depending on how much you use.

(My first batch was a little too toasted.)

Recipe: Pulled BBQ Pork!

This week I made some awesome Pulled BBQ Pork. Its a really easy recipe and tastes so yummy! Here is my exact recipe!


Ingredients:

• 3-4 pounds of pork. [I used boneless pork shoulder ribs]
• 16 oz your favorite BBQ sauce [I use Montgomery Inn]
• 1 medium onion- diced
• 1 clove garlic- minced/pressed
• 3 tablespoon butter
• 1 cup beef or chicken broth -OR- 1 cup hot water & 1 bouillon cube
• 4 cups water
• salt & pepper

Directions

1] Add diced onion, minced garlic, butter and broth into your slow cooker. Turn heat to high.

2] Turn pork onto clean cutting board. Generously salt & pepper both sides of the meat.

3] Separate meat and put into the slow cooker. Add about 4 cups of water, or just enough to fully submerge the pork. 

4] Cook on high for 8-10 hours, or until the meat is tender and falls apart easily.

5] Preheat oven to 350°F. Ladle the pork [& onions if you want!] out into a deep pan. Using a fork, shred the pork away from fatty pieces [there shouldn't be much fat, cooking it for so long really reduces it to next to nothing]. Discard unwanted fat.

6] Mix in BBQ sauce. Add as much or as little as you like. I use 16 oz per 3 pounds of meat.

7] Place in oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until sauce is bubbling hot.

8] Serve warm on an awesome bun!

I really hope you guys try this recipe. Sorry for the lack of quality pictures. I will add more the next time I make this! <3

Twix Copycat Recipe

Yesterday I made some amazing cookies that were inspired by Twix candies! I got the recipe here, but I made a few changes, so I'll post my exact recipe on here.

Ingredients:
Cookie layer:
2 Sticks of unsalted butter (softened)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup confectioner's sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cup all purpose flour

Caramel layer:
2 cup caramel pieces (I used Kraft traditional Caramels)
3 tablespoons heavy cream

Chocolate layer:
3 cups milk chocolate, or dark chocolate (I used Hershey's Milk Chocolate chips)

Instructions:
>>Preheat the oven to 300°F
>>Spray 9x13" pan with cooking spray or line with parchment paper
>>In a medium bowl, beat together your softened butter, sugar, salt & vanilla. Once mixed well, add flour and continue to beat on medium speed. Dough will be stiff.

>>Using lightly floured (& clean!!) fingertips, press the dough evenly into the pan.

>>Poke holes in the dough with a fork to let air bubbles escape while baking.

>>Bake 35-45 mins or until edges are golden brown.

>>Remove from oven and immediately run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen & set aside to cool. (I put mine in the fridge)

>>Melt caramel and heavy cream over low heat, making sure you don't burn. These take awhile to melt, so be patient.

>>When caramel is melted and creamy, remove from heat and immediately pour over the cookie layer and smooth it out evenly. You have to do this fast, because the caramel really starts stiffening up pretty quickly.

>>Place into the fridge or freezer to cool quickly and firm up.

>>Melt your chocolate chips in a double boiler, or on very low heat. Don't let the chocolate burn! It melts very fast.(if its too thick for your taste, add a bit of butter or heavy cream to thin it just a little)

>>Pour chocolate over hardened caramel cookie layers and chill until hard.

>>Enjoy! These are sooo yummy. :D

>>Keeps best when stored in the fridge.

I really hope you try this recipe. They were so much better than I had even imagined!

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway! You can enter once, or up to 6 times! I'm offering my favorite items from my Etsy shop to giveaway, so don't miss out!