Carrot Apple Coffee Cake

Just a dressed-up cake mix...

432g (15 oz) carrot cake mix
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 carrot, shredded
4 or 5 apples, sliced
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Crumble:
1 cup flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup cold butter

Mix the dry ingredients for the crumble together and cut in the butter. Keep chilled in fridge until needed.

Mix apples with lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon.

In a large mixer bowl combine cake mix, sour cream, vegetable oil, eggs and shredded carrot. The batter will be thick.

Line a 13 X 9" baking dish with parchment and pour the batter in. As it is thick you need to spread it out evenly.
Sprinkle on 1/2 the crumble.

Distribute the apples evenly and cover with the remaining crumble. Press lightly with your hands.

Bake at 350 F for 40-45 minutes.

Serve plain or à la mode. 

English Muffin Sausage Breakfast

Crusty on top, cheesy and creamy inside. You need this tomorrow morning!

4 English muffins
6 or 7 breakfast sausages
1/2 cup chopped onions
1  1/2 cups shredded cheese
4 eggs
1  1/4 cups milk
Salt and pepper to taste
A few drops of hot sauce, like Tabasco

Grease an 8 X 8" baking dish. Split English muffins and cut each half into 6 pieces then layer half the pieces in the bottom of the baking dish.

In a frying pan brown sausages until fully cooked. Remove from pan and brown chopped onions. Slice sausages. Add half the sausages and onions to the dish, then half the cheese. Repeat the layers...muffin, sausage, cheese.

Whisk together eggs, milk, hot sauce, salt and pepper. 

Pour over everything. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight. Believe it or not the English muffins do not get soggy. Great texture!

Bake at 325 F for 50-60 minutes.

Sit 5-10 minutes before slicing to ensure a nice clean cut.

Serves 4

A nice change from the McMuffin!

Adapted from http://www.plainchicken.com/2016/04/sausage-mcmuffin-casserole.html

Cheesy BBQ Hasselback Potatoes

Start these potatoes off in the microwave and finish off on the barbecue.

Slice potatoes using this trick so you don't cut right through to the bottom...chopsticks. 

We made 12 slices in each.
For 3 potatoes microwave 6-8 minutes then gently fan out the slices and brush with melted butter, about 1/4 cup. Sprinkle with garlic powder and paprika.

Wrap with foil and BBQ on high heat 30-40 minutes.

Remove from BBQ, carefully unwrap and place slices of your favourite cheese in between each slice of potato. This is strong cheddar. Give them a sprinkle of salt, re-seal the foil and return to the BBQ for 5 minutes.

Then enjoy the cheesy goodness!

Easy Burrito Bowls

Simple to make, healthy and customizable. And bonus...you can make the rice and beef ahead of time. Just re-heat when you want to eat, slice up your favourite veggie toppers and go! A great weekday meal.

1  3/4 lb ground beef
1  1/2 cups diced onions
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup salsa
3 tbsps taco seasoning 
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp lime zest
1 tsp lime juice
salt and pepper to taste
hot pepper flakes (optional)
1 cup kernel corn

rice pilaf
avocado
tomato
lettuce
cucumber

lime sour cream 

You can use store bought salsa and taco seasoning or try my Cooked Tomato Salsa and Homemade Taco Seasoning. Links to the recipes at the end of this post. You'll also find a link to my No Fail Rice Pilaf.

For this dish I made rice pilaf but replaced half the broth with tomato juice and seasoned it with some cumin and garlic. You can use any rice you like for the base of your burrito bowl. Just prepare it and set aside.

Next brown the beef, onion and garlic in a large skillet. Remove excess fat.

Add salsa, taco seasoning, cumin, lime zest, lime juice, salt and pepper (and hot pepper flakes if using). Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer, uncovered, 30 minutes. Add the corn and heat through 5-10 minutes.

Add a good helping of rice to the bottom of your bowl along with a serving of the meat mixture. Now customize with whatever veggies you like. The only thing missing on mine was black beans : ( 

Serve as is or add a little Lime Sour Cream:

1/4 cup sour cream

3 tbsps mayo

1 tbsp fresh lime juice

1/4 tsp salt 

1/4 tsp honey

If you want to make ahead just refrigerate the cooked rice and meat and re-heat at mealtime. 

And here are those recipes I mentioned above.

http://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.com/2013/09/cooked-tomato-salsa.html

http://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.ca/2016/05/homemade-taco-seasoning.html

http://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.ca/2017/04/no-fail-rice-pilaf.html

Itty Bitty Energy Balls

When you need a little pick-me-up, but you don't want to grab that bag of cookies....

1  1/2 cups oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 tsp pink Himalayan salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 cup hemp protein powder
2 tbsp ground flaxseed

1 cup chopped dates
1 cup grated carrots
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup shredded coconut
1 tsp vanilla

In a food processor whirl together the oats, walnuts, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, hemp and flaxseed until walnuts are chopped finely. Place in a large bowl.

Again in the food processor, chop the dates, carrots and vanilla together, then add the cranberries and coconut. Process until you get a nice stickyish consistency.

Add the date mixture to the dry and combine well. You may need to get in there with your hands.

Roll into 1" balls like this.

(Ok...that was the pretty picture, rolling the balls looks more like this!)

When you're all done rolling you should have about 42 itty bitty energy balls ready to be placed in a covered container and refrigerated. Best part, no baking required!

And ready to grab on the go!

Fruit and Corn Salsa

Tropical yumminess right there!

1/4 cup niblet corn
1/2 cup cubed honeydew melon
1/2 cup cubed papaya
1/2 cup cubed pineapple
1/2 cup cubed watermelon
pinch or 2 hot pepper flakes
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp lemon or lime juice
1 tbsp sweet chili sauce
chopped coriander or parsley to taste 

Once you have all the fruit cubed just mix the dressing up, chill and serve.

I like it with fish. Seen here with my Barbecued Salmon in Pineapple Bark and Mushroom Rice Quinoa Pilaf.

If you want to keep that tropical vibe going here are the links to those recipes:

http://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.ca/2015/05/barbecued-salmon-in-pineapple-bark.html

http://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.ca/2017/05/mushroom-rice-quinoa-pilaf.html

Mushroom Rice Quinoa Pilaf

Thought I could hide the mushrooms from someone who doesn't like them by chopping them up really small. She found them and picked them out anyways. But if you like mushrooms, slice don't chop : )

1  1/4 cup jasmine rice
1/4 cup quinoa
3/4 cup chopped or sliced mushrooms
1 heaping tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsps coconut oil
3 cups chicken broth
2 tsps hemp protein powder (optional)
pumpkin seeds

Soak rice and quinoa in warm water for 15 minutes, then drain and set aside.

Heat oil in a fry pan and sauté garlic and mushrooms until lightly golden. Toss in the rice and quinoa (you may want to add a bit more coconut oil too) Stir to coat.

Add pumpkin seeds to taste along with hemp protein powder for a little nutty taste. Pour in the broth and heat through, then cover and bake in a 350 F oven for 15-20 minutes.

Once all the liquid has been absorbed your mushroom rice quinoa pilaf is ready!

Garnish with more pumpkin seeds and serve.

Watermelon Ice Cream

Just 3 ingredients and no ice cream churn needed!

6 cups cubed and frozen watermelon
1 can sweetened condensed milk (300 ml or 10 oz)
2 tbsps lemon or lime juice

Makes 7-8 cups

I had this watermelon that was probably a little past it's prime. Taste was there but it was getting a bit soft. No one wanted to eat it, soooo........ I froze it.

I started by defrosting this big slab of frozen watermelon for about 15 minutes until I could break it apart.

Because I don't have a big heavy-duty blender I used my food processor and blended in small batches. First blending some of the watermelon with some of the condensed milk and the juice.

Then blending watermelon alone and mixing it all together with any remaining condensed milk.

If you want a smoother consistency then blend it all together, but I wanted some bits of watermelon in mine.

Pour into a freezer-friendly container with lid and freeze until firm.

Then defrost 15-20 minutes, scoop and serve

Original recipe from: https://macthelm.blogspot.ca/2016/05/no-churn-watermelon-sherbet.html

Zesty Yogurt Dip with Fruit Platter

This was a lot of fun to arrange. I started with a bunch of my favourite fruits...pineapple, mango, papaya, kiwi, oranges, berries and melons.

Then I mixed up this dip:

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1  1/2 tbsps honey
1/4 tsp lime zest
1 tbsp lime juice
3 tbsps cream cheese

Makes 3/4 cup

In a small food processor add some of the yogurt with the cream cheese and process until smooth. Then gradually add the rest of the yogurt and remaining ingredients.

I cut the top off the pineapple for interest on the platter and used the bottom as a bowl for the cherries. Half the cantalope became the container for the grapes and I kept the peel on some of the fruit, like pineapple, orange, kiwi, watermelon, for texture and visual interest. But also being practical, the peel makes the fruit easier to handle. I peeled the kiwi 2/3 around leaving the peel attached.

And aren't the honeydew hearts a cute feature!