Maple Cinnamon Almond Butter (This is HOLY COW Incredible!!)

I LOVE the Trader Joe's Crunchy Almond Butter with flax- have you had it? It's in a short little jar, and it is fabulous! It's a bit pricey though, and I've been thinking about trying to make some of my own.

Oh. My. Gosh. I made a batch of this almond butter, and TRULY craved it on apples as my dessert of choice this weekend. It is THAT good. I don't know that I'll be buying store-made again anytime soon.

Don't you love that?? When you try to make something as a substitute for something that isn't in your budget, hoping you'll like it almost as much, only to discover that the "make-your-own" version is a gazillion times better!!

Maple Cinnamon Almond Butter with Golden Flax Seeds

From: The Edible Perspective

• 1 cup raw almonds (I used the kind below, raw slivered, because I had some on hand)
• 2.5 Tb pure maple syrup, divided
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 Tb Golden Toasted Flax seeds (optional, except not really because they're awesome)
• 1/2 Tb oil, optional, if needed (explained below)

Take the almonds and 1.5 Tb of the maple syrup and toss together. Spread onto a baking sheet that is covered with parchment paper or non-stick foil. (Don't try to be a cheapo like me and use regular foil sprayed with Pam. THE ALMONDS WILL STICK. You will be tempted to yell. You will burn your finger. Just use the right stuff. Learn from my mistake!)

Bake at 325 for 15 minutes, stirring 3 times.

Let them cool for 5 minutes. Apparently, letting them cool longer makes them harder to process.

Put the almonds into a food processor, and process for 10-15 minutes, scraping down the sides occasionally. You will start to worry, because it seems like nothing is happening. You will furiously refer to the recipe, thinking I've made you waste your money, and that you've done nothing but make almond sawdust.

...just wait. All of the sudden the almonds will sort of ball up and butterize. It's super cool!! Then you will be saying, "I knew I could trust Shari. She wouldn't lead me astray. (Except if I was on a diet and never wanted to eat anything delicious. Then she probably would....)"

If, for some reason, it doesn't butterize, then you can add the oil. That will take care of THAT. I didn't need it, but it's nice to have as an option!

Now, add in the rest of the ingredients, the 1 Tb maple syrup, salt, cinnamon, and the flax seeds, and process for a short time until combined.

Get thee an apple. Slice it. Spread some of the almond butter onto the apple. Eat. Delight in your ability to create such amazingness. 

I stored this in the fridge. It lasted 3 days. (Not because it went bad, because I ATE it.)

Make Your Own French Toast Bagels!

I love Panera.

I especially love the Cinnamon Crunch and French Toast bagels. Mmmmm.....

Sometimes, when I'm eating at Panera after a long run, I get partway through my bagel and start a rousing debate with myself over whether I am going to buy another bagel after I've finished the first.

I like food.

The only thing about Panera's bagels that I don't like is the price. They are expensive. So I decided to try and make some at home! I couldn't find a recipe for the Cinnamon Crunch version, but I found one for the French Toast flavor here. I halved the recipe and made 8 bagels.

I am going to give you the full recipe, which is supposed to make 15 bagels. Cut the recipe in half if you'd like- that is what I did. Oh, and I made these a second time and did 6 instead of 8 bagels, and liked the size better that way. But you choose. I apologize in advance for the horrid lighting in the photos, I baked these in the evening and the light wasn't great.

Here's what you need:
**updated 3/20/12

• 2 1/4 cups warm water, plus more as needed
• 1 pkg active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup sugar, divided ** I changed this to 1/4 cup + 2 Tb and used 1/4 cup in the dough
• 6 - 7 cups bread flour (I only had regular, so that's what I used)
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 3 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil, plus more for greasing
• 2 Tbsp vanilla
• 1 Tbsp maple extract
• (There's an egg in the photo because the original recipe called for an egg yolk wash before baking. But somehow that didn't sound good to me, so I omitted it.)

This stuff rocks!! I have made several recipe with maple extract- I LOVE the flavor of maple!

In the bowl of your kitchen aid, mix the warm water, 2 Tb of the sugar, and the yeast. Let the yeast foam up, like shown above. 

Add the extracts and oil to the liquid, then add the rest of the ingredients (except the reserved 2 Tb sugar). Start with the 6 cups flour, and add more if needed. Knead with the dough hook, or by hand, for 10 minutes or so.

The dough should clean the sides of the bowl, but still be moist and soft. 

After the dough is done kneading, place it into a greased bowl, turning to coat both sides with the oil. The dough smells AMAZING!! Let the dough rise for about an hour, or until almost doubled in size.

In the meantime, like a few baking sheets with parchment paper, or this non-stick foil (LOVE this stuff)- or if you don't have either of those, like the pans with regular foil and spray the heck out of them with Pam.

Divide the dough- if you've made the recipe I've given, you'll divide it into 15 pieces. ** I like the size better if I make 12 instead of 15. Shape each piece into a bagel shape:

Then place on the lined baking sheets. Cover with saran wrap, and let rise again for about 30-40 minutes.

When the second rise is almost complete, preheat the oven to 500, and put a large, deep skillet or a pot on the stove with about 4 inches of water added. Add the remaining 2 Tb sugar, and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling rapidly, you're going to add the bagels, 2 or 3 at a time (Don't crowd them- bagels like their space!) (One time I went to this marathon expo, and it was SO crowded and everyone was shoving- it was terrible!! Don't do that to the poor bagels!)

Boil the bagels for one minute, then flip (I used the handle of a wooden spoon) then boil another minute. Then remove with the handle of the spoon and place back on the lined pan.

See?? No crowding.

As you can see, I did NOT make perfect bagels. In my defense, I was also cooking dinner, and fielding questions from my son about how gas masks are made. (Who knows how they're made??! I mean, honestly!) I can't do everything all at once....... So the bagel shaping suffered. But it was fine, they still tasted delish!!

Bake at 500 for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Your house will smell so wonderful. 

A word about topping these bagels- they aren't overly sweet bagels. So when I used plain cream cheese, I thought they needed a touch more sweetness. So I mixed a few tablespoons of maple syrup with a package of cream cheese. Perfect. Alternately, butter and a light sprinkle of brown sugar was also quite delightful. 

After cooling on a wire rack, store in a Ziploc bag. 

Enjoy!!

Make Your Own Chai Latte Mix!

I am cheap.

Well, there are some things I am less cheap about (Like paying for race fees or running shoes), but in general, I don't like to spend a lot of money on "extra" things. I often feel like I'm getting ripped off when I buy convenience or gourmet things, because I think to myself, "I could make this." (I think part of the cheapness comes from the early years of being a housewife, when we truly had NO money. My friend Aimee- also a housewife- and I often refer to this time as the "time when we didn't have enough money to buy trash bags")

Such is the case with the recipe for this mix. Really, with all of the recipe collection sites, and people blogging their tried-and-true recipes, you can make nearly anything yourself!

This makes a great gift- I made it for Christmas this last year- but we love having it in the afternoon, or in the morning instead of coffee!

Here's what you need to make a batch:

• 1 cup nonfat dry milk powder
• 1 cup powdered non-dairy creamer
• 1 cup French vanilla flavored powdered non-dairy creamer
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened  instant tea
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp ground cardamom (If you've never bought cardamom before, it is EXPENSIVE, so just be prepared. I paid $13 for a jar. My friend Kim said you can buy cardamom pods at Asian markets and grind them in a coffee grinder. I will totally do this next time. Or, if you have a friend who bakes a lot, ask her to have a tsp of her cardamom, and tell her you'll give her some tea!)

Dump everything into a huge bowl and stir it with a whisk until it's all blended. The recipe said to blend it in a blender, but that seemed like a hassle to me, and it turned out AWESOME. So I say that isn't necessary. To make a Chai Latte, stir 2 Tb of the mix into 8 oz boiling water. 

This recipe made enough for 6 gift-sized Ziploc containers, or a big huge container for our family to use.

I got this recipe from allrecipes.

DIY Frozen Breakfast Burritos- Cheap, Easy, GOOD.....

We have this restaurant where we live that makes the most awesome breakfast burritos.

Seriously. They're the size of my head. I heart them. They are loaded with eggs, bacon, cheese, and potatoes. Sometimes after a long bike ride, we'll end up there, stuffing down as much of a burrito as we can handle.

So, those are the burritos I had in mind when I decided to try making my own breakfast burritos. Except, I made them more reasonably filled/sized. Because, you know, eating a burrito the size of your head should never be a daily occurrence.

These are amazing! They heat up in the microwave in 3-4 minutes, and taste GREAT!! 

Here's what I used to make 8 burritos:

• 6 eggs
• 4 sliced cooked turkey bacon (leftover from breakfast)
• 3 small potatoes
• 2 cups shredded cheese (I had Mexican blend leftover from cooking day)
• 8 burrito sized tortillas (I made my own, I'll give you the recipe)

So, first I made 8 burrito-sized tortillas. I used this recipe (there are step-by-step instructions), but doubled the recipe and made 8 tortillas out of the doubled amount of dough. Some looked more round than others, but it is fine if they look like amoebas. Some of mine did.

Then I made the potatoes. Basically, I just peeled and cut into small dice 3 smallish potatoes. Then cooked them in a skillet with a few tablespoons of olive oil, some seasoned salt, and pepper. Since they were diced so small, they cooked quickly, maybe 10-15 minutes.

Then I diced up the 4 pieces of turkey bacon that we had left over from our breakfast:

Scrambled 6 eggs:

I let all the filling ingredients cool a bit. Then I set up my assembly station. (At this point, Wade came in wanting to wash his VERY GREASY HANDS in the kitchen sink, which was right next to all of my burrito stuff. I was not pleased. So he used the bathroom sink. The one with the WHITE hand towel. That is all I have to say about that.)

Ok, so I was pretty sparing when filling the burritos, since I'd never done them before and wanted to make sure I had enough for all 8 burritos. The only thing I measured was the cheese, I used a 1/4 cup measure to scoop it out. Fill the burritos, then roll them by folding the sides in first, then rolling up tightly.

I double wrapped them in Saran Wrap, and put them in the freezer.

To heat, unwrap the burrito, put onto a plate, and microwave for 3-4 minutes.

Mmmmmmmm.......

I will be making more of these in the future. The very near future.

Crock Pot Apple Butter

When we bought our house last year, we had to do a TON of work on the inside. We have started fixing up the yard, which, happily, houses several fruit trees! One of the trees is loaded with apples! Yummy, crispy, tart-sweet ones. (Yes, I know that's probably not the actual variety, but it IS descriptive!)

So I decided on Monday to make some homemade Apple Butter!!

If you have never tried Apple Butter (Wade tried a teeny tiny bit last night, but the idea of it grosses him out. He is weird.) it tastes SO good!! I had mine on a thick slice of homemade bread...... (OK, on TWO slices of homemade bread. I was HUNGRY!)

I put my Apple Butter into these Ziploc container thingys. I have no desire to can things. Please don't try and convince me to try canning. It's like sewing. I just don't want to.

It is ridiculously easy to make this delicious stuff. First, take 5 1/2 pounds of apples- I had to weigh mine on our scale, so first I weighed myself, then held the bag of apples and weighed again. 

Peel, core, and slice them, and throw them in the crock pot. If you are a lucky duck like me, you have one of these awesome apple slicer machine things. They rock!!

Then mix in 2 cups of white sugar, 2 tsp. ground cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp. salt. You can add 1/4 tsp. ground cloves if you'd like. I am not a huge fan, so I didn't. Also, the original recipe called for 4 cups sugar, but I cut it in half and used 2 and it was PLENTY sweet!!

Cook on high for 1 hour, then reduce to low and cook for about 9 hours, stirring occasionally. I used my potato smasher thing to squish the apples as they cooked. After the Apple Butter gets reduced by about half and turns brown, remove the lid and continue cooking for an hour, stirring more frequently. Watch that it doesn't burn at this point. 

I made it smooth by smashing it up with my potato smasher- you could also use a fork or the back of a large serving spoon. Just BE CAREFUL- it gets super hot and if it splatters on you it isn't very nice. Don't ask how I know.

I turned the crock pot off and let the Apple Butter cool, then spooned it into containers. I am quite sure (If such things interest you) you could can the Apple Butter at this point.

Mmmmmmm.... 

I adapted this recipe from allrecipes.com.