Strawberry shortcake monkey bread cupcakes recipe review

Strawberry Shortcake Monkey Bread Cupcakes...wow, that's a mouthful! A mouthful of yumminess! These "cupcakes" are gluten free and grain free, and can also be made sugar and dairy free!!! You would absolutely never know these are gluten free. They are just that good. The whole recipe can be found over at Real Sustenance. I made some very minor changes and I'll tell you what I did but go over and check out her blog because it's great! Especially if you are gluten/grain/dairy/sugar free!!! I've made these twice now (in the same week) and everyone is requesting I make them again.

The recipe says it makes 10 "cupcakes" (though I don't really find these to be very cupcake like, more muffin like) but I used a regular muffin tin and was able to get 12. It would be great to be able to double the recipe (which I haven't tried yet) but almond flour is not cheap my friends. Which brings me to the next thing...

The second time I made them I used flour I made from grinding up sunflower seeds in my vitamix. These still came out GREAT with a slightly different taste since you can really taste the sunflower seeds. I also have heard that mixing sunflower seed flour with baking powder or soda at a certain ratio can turn it green. When these first came out of the oven they were not green. After sitting for a little while they maybe had a slight green tinge, but was only noticeable because we were looking for it.

I used 1/2 ts of salt both times instead of 1/4 ts. 1/4 ts just didn't seem like enough. They were not at all salty, so I highly recommend that.

I used butter and cane sugar but there's options in the original recipe for not using either if that's something you avoid.

The second time I made them I forgot the powdered sugar glaze and it wasn't missed, so skip it if you like.

Overall these were great and I will continue to make them. Thank you realsustenance.com for this amazingly healthy recipe.

I think I may try blueberries next time...though that completely changes the name of them ;)

French Toast with Strawberry Butter

Here is another yummy recipe from the kids cook book that my kids have been enjoying. It may not look super great in the picture but boy is it tasty! My kids made this entirely by themselves, with me standing by twiddling my thumbs. So, kids, roll up your sleeves and wash your hands, lets get cooking! Moms-you want to stand by to supervise the stove. My older kids (8 and 6) can cook on the stove pretty safely, but I still like to be standing by.

French Toast with Strawberry Butter
Adapted from KidsCooking - A very Slightly Messy Manual
Brought to you by Amanda @ Natural and Organic Lifestyle

Serves 6

6 organic eggs
6 slices of bread
1/4 cup organic milk
1/2 vanilla extract

3/4 stick organic butter, softened, plus extra for greasing pan.
1 cup organic strawberries (stems removed)
1/4 cup organic sugar

For butter: In a blender, mix together butter, strawberries, and sugar. Set aside.

Heat your pan to medium heat. In a wide bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. Melt some butter in your pan. Place one slice of bread at at time in your egg mixture and let them get good and wet, don't need to soak them. Add to pan and cook on each side until just brown. Repeat with all the bread.

Top each slice of french toast with a dollop of strawberry butter. Dig in!

Baked Oatmeal Squares

 

These are Great! But really, how would I know, my kids never let me have any! I really need to start doubling this recipe and use a bigger dish. Literally I get a few bites. I actually usually make this for lunch, and I eat leftovers, which most of my kids aren't fond of, so we're all good! This makes a great breakfast though if you have the time! Super yummy! It even reheats well, if you have any left =)

Ingredients:

 2 bananas, sliced

1 cup blueberries

1/4 cup organic raw agave or honey

1 cup organic quick cooking oats

1/4 cup raw organic sunflower seeds (other nuts and seeds could be substituted)

1/4 cup organic chia seeds

1 ts organic cinamon

1/2 ts aluminum free baking powder

pinch of good salt

3/4-1 cup organic milk (3/4 if using frozen blueberries, 1 cup if using fresh)

1 organic egg

1 ts organic vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly spray a 9x9 inch glass baking dish. Spread sliced bananas covering the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle with half the blueberries, 1/2 ts cinnamon, and half the agave or honey. Invert another 9x9 dish and place on top of dish to cover (or use a dish with a lid). Bake for 15 minutes.

In a large bowl, mix together oats, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, the rest of the cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, mix together milk, egg, the rest of the agave or honey, and vanilla. Mix well.

When banana dish has softened in the oven, pull out and sprinkle oat mixture evenly in the dish. Pour milk mixture evenly over oat mixture. Sprinkle with the rest of the blueberries. I sometimes add chocolate chips too. Bake uncovered for  30-40 minutes until lightly brown and firm-ish. 

Variations: You could mix up the fruit in this to whatever you have. I've done sliced apples and blueberries. I've done sliced apples and dried cranberries. Sometimes I add chocolates chips, sometimes I don't. Be creative!

Make your own oatmeal flavor packets

I've heard many times that you should never eat instant oatmeal but have never actually heard a reason why. So until I learn why I keep buying instant oatmeal (Now I know someone is going to tell me since I said that!!!). I'm a busy mom of 4 kids, I love instant oatmeal. Granted I also have regular cook on the stove oatmeal too. But sometimes I just don't have the 10 minutes to cook it. Now that I've typed that it seems silly that I don't have 10 minutes to cook oatmeal. But every time I cook oatmeal on the stove it's guaranteed that someone didn't want oatmeal, or someone wants more than I made, etc.  But organic instant oatmeal packets are SO expensive for what you get! There's only like 6 packets in a box, divide that between 4 kids....yeah, a day and a half of oatmeal IF they only want one packet each, which rarely happens. So I thought, why couldn't I make my own? Absolutely I could! Our grocery store sells canisters of plain organic instant oatmeal. So I buy a couple of those for a week. So at $2 each, that's a max of $4 in oatmeal a week...IF they finish both, and they don't usually. For $4 I can buy one box of 6 packets of instant oatmeal. To go with the oatmeal I take a small glass jar with a lid. I fill it about 3/4 of the way with Sucanat (stands for sugar cane natural). Then I add a couple tb of organic cinnamon. Shake, and voila, flavor for your oatmeal. In the past I've also dehydrated apples, ran them through the food processor to get small pieces and added that to the flavor container. But with four kids I've learned that not everyone of them will want the same flavor as everyone else every time. So I now keep them in a separate container and sprinkle them on if requested. Or raisins, same deal. Or dried cranberries. Or blueberries. You get the idea! Keep all those in separate containers and it's like your own homemade oatmeal variety pack =) I think it's genius, my kids think it's breakfast.




Oatmeal Flavor container
Small glass jar with a lid
3/4 full with organic Sucanat, or organic sugar, or turbinado, or brown sugar
2 tb organic cinnamon

Optional ingredients in a separate container:
organic dehydrated apples, chopped
organic raisins
organic dried cranberries
organic dried blueberries (or fresh...or frozen!)

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Banana Crumb Mini Muffins

I like mini muffins because you can eat more than one and not feel too guilty about it. Plus they are perfect for kids! Try these super yummy banana muffins...and don't forget the crumb topping!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour, organic
1 ts baking soda
1 ts aluminum free baking powder
1/2 ts sea salt
3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup organic cane sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup organic milk
1/3 cup organic butter melted

Crumb topping:
1/2 cup organic brown sugar
4 TB organic white whole wheat flour
1/4 ts organic cinnamon
2 TB organic butter, soft

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease or line your mini muffin cups.
In a large bowl, mix together 1/1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg, melted butter, and milk.
Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
Spoon batter into muffin cups.

In a food processor (or in a small bowl with a fork) mix together crumb ingredients until mixture is crumby.
Sprinkle over muffins.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Enjoy!