Blueberry Pancake Muffins

I think blueberries are one of the many tiny blessings God gives us. Which means that blueberry pancakes are medium sized blessings. But how often do you really, really want a blueberry pancake but don’t have an hour to make them? (Well, it takes our family an hour because we quadruple our recipe!)

The solution… Blueberry Pancake Muffins! They keep for days in an airtight container. They freeze and thaw well. And they taste just as good a couple of days old as fresh from the oven, whereas pancakes are best just off the griddle. How much better can it get?

Every July for the past several years, my family has gone blueberry picking. For the first few days after that, we have blueberries with our breakfasts, blueberries with our lunch and blueberry desserts.

The rest of the berries we freeze in gallon bags to have in smoothies... or, in this case, in muffins. Here's the recipe:

Blueberry Pancake Muffins
(Makes 3 Dozen)

• 6 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/3 cups sucanat
• 8 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups orange juice
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup melted coconut oil or butter
• 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
• 3/4 cup slivered almonds (optional)

First mix together the whole wheat flour, sucanat, baking powder, and salt. Add the eggs, orange juice, water, and butter or coconut oil... and stir until fully combined. Fold in the blueberries. At this point you could add 3/4 cup of slivered almonds for a heartier muffin. Spoon into 3 dozen medium muffin tins, filling 2/3 full. (The batter will be very thick, more like dough than batter... as you can see from the above picture.) Bake at 400 for 20 to 25 minutes.

Note: the longer you cook these, the less like a pancake in texture they will be. You don’t want to under cook them though. They should be done when the tops are browning a bit and the blueberries are bubbly.

All my siblings love this recipe... even Tickle, who doesn't like blueberries. I guess that makes them really good!

Rainbow

Old Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

For my 14^th birthday a couple weeks ago, Mamma made me a Mochaccino Cheesecake, Fettuccine Alfredo with chicken, and a garden salad. But my grandmother wasn’t able to come down at that point so last weekend, when she came to visit, I made a cookie cake to celebrate with her.

In fact, I made a chocolate chip cookie cake… to have with vanilla ice cream. It was delicious in every way. It looked delicious, smelled delicious, tasted delicious. (It felt and sounded delicious too… Just kidding.)

Looks good doesn’t it? (Sorry this pic isn’t professional. I’m still practicing.)

I just used an old fashioned chocolate chip cookie recipe, made a few substitutions, and baked it for 25 minutes instead of 12. (I did keep a good eye on it.)

I ended up substituting honey into the recipe because our sucanat is running low. I used 3/4 cup of sucanat and 1/2 cup of honey instead of 3/4 of each since honey is so much more intense than sucanat. That made me a bit apprehensive about the results.

The final result was great though, much to my relief. The honey gave it just the right richness, and it was neither too sweet nor too plain. Here’s the recipe/what I did.

Old Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

3/4 cup butter or coconut oil (or half butter, half coconut oil like I did)

1 1/2 cups sucanat or other unrefined sweetener

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups chocolate chips

Combine butter and sucanat in a mixer bowl. Blend until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla and mix again. Slowly add baking soda, salt and flour mixing until thoroughly blended. Fold in chocolate chips.

Press into a lightly greased 14 inch pizza pan. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes. You will want to watch this pretty carefully as it will burn quickly.

This was another simple recipe. It took so little time to mix it up and stick in the oven. Recently, my little brothers, Superman and Curious George, have wanted to help me with my baking so these easier recipes make it more fun for them and easier for me. 

Rainbow 

Choose Your Own Granola Bars

Hi, my name is Rainbow, the eldest daughter of the mamma of this blog. 

I am fourteen years old and working through my freshman year of high school. I’ve been homeschooled from the very beginning, and I am so glad my Mamma and Daddy decided to keep their children at home. 

Mamma started teaching me to cook a couple of years ago, and now I am in charge of all our breakfasts and most of the baked goods our family of eight eats. 

Describing me would be pretty hard because I take pleasure in a lot of different things. First of all, I love dresses, heels, jewelry, and shopping (the girly kind, for clothes and accessories)… 

Secondly, I love the outdoors: gardening, hiking, boating, camping, doing farmwork, and just exploring on our property with a brother who was born for it… 

Thirdly, I love anything creative: knitting, sewing, cooking, designing outfits, making beaded jewelry, etc… 

Fourthly, I love school (currently my favorite subjects are Cultural Geography and Algebra 2)… 

And fifthly, I love Jesus. He’s my role model, my comforter, my strength, the one I can tell secrets to. He’s always there helping me along my walk with Him, catching me when I stumble, and whispering encouragement in my ear when I am discouraged.

Since we moved to a farm with nearly 40 acres last summer, Spiderman has taken on a lot of responsibility outside with our animals. He comes in extra hungry most afternoons, so for Christmas I made him a batch of granola bars crammed full of nuts, seeds and dried fruit. He loved them. But what’s funny is that he can’t decide whether to eat the last one or to leave it in the freezer for a while.

Anyway… the thing I love about this recipe is that you can tweak it to your heart's content (a thing I LOVE doing). We’ve made this recipe nearly a dozen times and I doubt we’ve done it the same way twice. I think my favorite was when we made cherry chocolate bars. I think that was Mamma’s favorite too. In case you haven’t noticed, her absolute favorite food is chocolate and her favorite fruit is a cherry. 

Spiderman’s bars had dried apricots (from Costco), dates (from Costco), cashews (from Costco), slivered almonds (from Costco), and dried, shredded, unsweetened coconut (from Frontier). Here's the recipe:

Choose Your Own Granola Bars

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 ½ cups sucanat, or other unrefined sweetener
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup coconut
• 1 ½ cups nuts and/or seeds
• 1 ½ cups dried fruit
• 1 cup melted butter, coconut oil, or combination
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Orange juice (if needed)

First mix together whole wheat flour, whole rolled oats, sucanat, baking soda, and salt. Here’s where the fun comes in! Coarsely chop 1 ½ cups nuts of your choice, and 1 ½ cups dried fruit of your choice. Feel free to mix and match. You could put in a half cup of six different things! You could put seeds in with the nuts. You could put dried blueberries, cherries, apricots, anything really … just be sure not to exceed 3 cups total. Mix that with the coconut into the other dry ingredients.

Add melted butter, eggs, and vanilla. Finally, mix it all together. You may need to use your hands to get it fully mixed. If it is too dry you can add a bit (maybe 2 tablespoons to a ¼ cup) of orange juice.

Press into a 9x13 pan. Put it in a 350 degree oven for around 30 minutes. It should be lightly browned. Let it cool completely before cutting. If not, it may crumble up or stick to the knife.

I love making these because they are so simple and easy… Well, unless you’re trying to make them as a surprise for a brother who’s always curious to know what food you will be setting on the table later. That was an adventure!

Sorry there are no pictures with this recipe,  but in my next post I will include a few to show you the yumminess.

Rainbow

There is no good title for this post. Really.

I have thought about this post for the last two weeks. And I still couldn't come up with a decent title. So, there it is.


This is my last post on Health Begins With Mom. At least for my foreseeable future. I have really enjoyed writing this blog, and I hope that you have been inspired by it... Inspired to be the voice of support, the source of joyful energy in your home. I hope I have encouraged you to embrace your nurturing role as mom... and to do your very best in keeping your loved ones healthy... to give it your all... and to give yourself grace when you can't do it all.


It's not that blogging is time-consuming. It is possible for me to order my day so that I have thirty minutes to an hour of computer time while my children "rest."

It is that blogging is thought-consuming. I find that I'm frequently thinking of the next post, of a series I am working on, of recipes I'd like to share, of photos that I need to snap while I'm cooking. I am privileged to have had the extra thinking time to blog over the last year and a half. But now, I need to direct those extra thoughts elsewhere.

I am not going to close up Health Begins With Mom though.

First, I would like all of these posts to still benefit others. So I am keeping all of this information (and these recipes) available for you and for those who will stumble upon this blog in time to come.

Second, I would like the option to come back to blogging at Health Begins With Mom if things work out that way in the future. It would be great to just pick up where I left off. Interestingly, this is my 300th post. So, I would pick up at 301...



I am still continuing as an Independent Shaklee Distributor and as a woman eager to serve other women -- so please continue to email me. I would love to hear your story. And I will still do my best to answer your questions.


For your health,

Announcing the Winner, a Reading List, and a Video

"Thank you" to each of you who participated in my recent Ultima Replenisher giveaway! The winner, by random selection, is ..... pinecone304. I will be sending you an email with prize details. If for some reason, you don't receive the email, contact me at ae @ healthbeginswithmom.com (without the spaces).



And we're off... our family is headed to the beach. I debated republishing some of my favorite posts while I'm away. I'm really still debating. But I think instead of reposting, I'll just make a list of suggested reading... I don't really know why these posts jumped out to me, but here they are:

• A Day in the Life -- my daily meal plans outlined
• Healthy Summer Treats for Kids -- it's that time of year again!
• The Particulars of our Diet Choices
• Do I Believe in Supplementation?

Also, here is a great video on getting rid of unhealthy toxins in our homes. Hope you enjoy it!

Have a great week!

Salmon Cakes

So we've been eating a lot of Mexican food lately. (My husband pointed this out to me earlier this week.) You see, we have been entertaining a lot of company. And I always fix the same thing when we have people over for a meal. Yep, you read that right. I prepare the same meal every time -- lunch or supper. I like to keep things doable. My husband and I do not want to look back on our lives with young children and see that we neglected hospitality... so we keep things simple and doable.

I plan a big Taco Salad, buffet-style, for nights we have company. That way, each person can select what they want and leave what they don't want aside. Everyone seems to manage a full plate! I always cook a few pounds of beef and season it with my homemade blend of seasonings. I want there to be plenty for everyone. But we always tend to have some leftovers too.

That's where the "lot of Mexican food" comes in. The day after company, we often have tacos or quesidillas with the leftover meat. And when there is a double amount of leftover meat, we make taco pizza (use salsa for the sauce, then the taco meat, then cheddar cheese). So if we have company twice in one week and we have leftovers a few times for each... that's a week of Mexican meals.

All that is to say, we felt very refreshed by this meal the other night:

Baked Salmon Cakes with Rice and Garden Salad

I'm sure you know how to make rice and a green salad...  but here is how I made these tasty, fresh salmon patties: 

• 
  
  1/2 red onion
• 
  
  1/2 yellow bell pepper
• 
  
  2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 
  
  3 - 6 oz. cans boneless, skinless salmon (I wrote about safe seafood here.)
• 
  
  1 cup whole grain bread crumbs
• 
  
  2 Tbsp. plain yogurt or kefir
• 
  
  2 farm fresh eggs
• 
  
  1 tsp. organic zested lemon peel
• 
  
  1 Tbsp. brown mustard
• 
  
  1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 
  
  1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 
  
  1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 
  
  1/2 bunch of chopped fresh parsley or cilantro

Saute' the onions and peppers until soft in a large skillet. Take off the heat and mix in the rest of the ingredients. Form into 12 patties. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes (until nicely browned) in a 400 degree oven.

For your health, 

This is the last day to enter my current giveaway. Click here for entry details.

Saving Money? Is it Possible?

It seems that the number one health question I am asked these days goes something like "How can I feed my family healthy food without breaking the bank?!?"

When I started Health Begins With Mom a year and a half ago, the number one question was "How can I boost my child's immune system against all the crazy pathogens out there?!?"

But now, for sure, I hear moms asking about frugality.

A while ago I shared my hints for eating healthy on a budget. (Check out my first list of hints here, then read my series on "The Affordability of Eating Healthy" under this label.) Using these strategies, I keep a good budget. But with my growing family, and their growing appetites, I am always on the lookout for new ways to save money -- without compromising our food choices.

For a while now, I have been frequently reading Money Saving Mom and Southern Savers. When I see coupons or deals that fit with my health goals, I take advantage of them. But is there any more I could save with couponing if I put more time into it? That is the question, dear reader. And I intend to find out.

I have a friend that leads couponing workshops. While I am admittedly a bit skeptical, I am planning on attending one of her workshops with an open mind. Maybe there is something I am missing. And we always need to be learning... so, here's to an open mind!

If I learn any strategies that would help you out -- without bringing home junk -- I will be very pleased to share them.

What about you? Do you have any frugal hints for healthy-moms-on-a-budget? Please share!

PS Don't forget to enter my current giveaway for Ultima Replenisher, all-natural electrolyte beverages. Click this link to enter.