These muffins may or may not be featured in the next cookbook.

What do you think?!?  Should I include them?!?

Ingredients

2 eggs
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup milk
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 granny smith apples, peeled and diced
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup packed brown sugar

Directions

This is the key to their yumminess.  Mix together the diced apples, dried cranberries and brown sugar and fold them into the batter just before filling up the muffin tin.

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 12 regular size muffin tin wells. (Also makes 24 mini muffins.)

Add the eggs, white sugar, oil, milk, vanilla to a stand mixer or mixing bowl.  Mix until smooth.

Add in the dry ingredients (minus the apples, cranberries and brown sugar.) and mix until batter is smooth.

In a smaller mixing bowl, toss the apples, cranberries and brown sugar.  Fold into the muffin batter.  Pour into the greased muffin tin, filling 3/4 full.

Bake in the preheated oven for 22 to 24 minutes for regular size, or 16 to 18 minutes for mini-muffins. Let cool on cooling rack before serving.

Serve warm with some butter!

So this meal was pretty good.  Came out a little on the bitter side, so I just sprinkled a little sugar over the cranberries on everyone’s plate and we were all happy!

So…you could add a little extra sweetener in before you bake it, or you could do as I did.

It really was tasty…after it was properly sweetened.

And boy am I glad that I froze some fresh produce from the fall and the holidays…because good prices on produce are SCARCE these days!!!

(Below is the recipe as I made it!)

Ingredients
3 cups cooked brown rice ($.40)  (or 1 cup raw brown rice)
About 1/2 cup of apple juice ($.15)
3 large chicken breasts ($2.54)
Salt and pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder ($.03)
1 bag cranberries ($1.25) Bought on sale over holidays and froze
2 Tbsp sugar, sprinkled over the cranberries ($.10) Increase for a sweet sauce
Dashes of cinnamon and ground ginger, enough to lightly coat the cranberries ($.05)
2 cups cooked butternut squash, warmed ($.50) About half a butternut squash, bought when on sale for $.49/lb.

Directions

(Cook 1 cup raw brown rice according to package instructions.)

1. Place cooked brown rice into a 9×13 glass baking dish.  (This is a great way to use frozen rice from a big batch.  Rice doesn’t keep it’s consistency after being frozen, but baking it with some juice and cranberries, I didn’t notice the “mush” so much!)  Pour apple juice into the baking dish with the rice.

2. Nestle the chicken breasts into the baking dish.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

3. Top with thawed cranberries.

4. Sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon and ground ginger.

5. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes, or until chicken has cooked through. Cooking time may vary depending on thickness of chicken.

6. Once baked, sweeten if need be.  Or don’t if you like tart cranberries.  Toss some cranberries with some rice.

7. Serve Cranberry Chicken and Rice with Baked Butternut Squash.

Cost $5.02

A delicious fall after school snack!

Makes 18 regular sized muffins, or 12 regular sized muffins plus 12 mini muffins

Ingredients
4 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup applesauce
4 Tbsp canola or vegetable oil
1/4 cup milk
1 cup white flour
1 cup wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup dried cranberries
1 medium Jonathon or Macintosh apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease 12 muffin tin wells and 12 mini muffin wells, or 18 regular size muffin tin wells.

2. In stand mixer or large mixing bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, applesauce, oil and milk.

3. In small mixing bowl, combine white flour, wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add to the wet ingredients in the mixer/mixing bowl and combine until batter forms.

4. In another small bowl, stir together cranberries, finely chopped apples, cinnamon and brown sugar. Fold the cranberries and apples into the batter.

5. Bake in preheated oven, using these time frames: Regular sized muffins for 16-18 minutes. Or mini muffins for 13-15 minutes.

**Note: If you don’t use all the wells in your muffin tin, just fill them with water so they don’t brown.  Plus the water creates a nice steamy environment in the oven!

Enjoy!

I *heart* French Toast Casseroles!  I love how you can take SUPER STALE french bread and turn it into a breakfast (or dinner) masterpiece!  By soaking the bread overnight in a fruity, egg-milk mixture, stale french bread can be completely transformed and redeemed!!!  When Andrea sent this recipe, I HAD to try it!

Note: The marked down french loaf bread that I *knew* was in the freezer was not to be found   So I used some burger buns from the freezer instead!  This was sweet enough in and of itself that it did not need any syrup!

Ingredients
1/2 cup brown sugar ($.15)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon ($.03)
1/2 cup melted butter or margarine ($.40)
3 apples – peeled, cored and sliced ($.99)
1 cup dried cranberries (FREE!) From Walgreens trip two weeks ago!
1 French Loaf, cut into 1 inch slices ($.79) Look for these when they are marked down and then freeze if you don’t eat right away!
6 eggs, lightly beaten ($.60)
1 1/2 cups milk (I used rice milk!) ($.15)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract ($.10)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon ($.05)
Favorite fruit: bananas, cantaloupe, berries or Fruit Salad ($1)
6-8 slices bacon ($.75)  We rarely eat a whole package of bacon because it’s not a part of our regular diet, so I freeze what we don’t eat right away!  Just separate it into however many slices you wish to eat so that you can just thaw what you need!

Directions
1. In a large bowl, mix together brown sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Mix in melted butter or margarine. Stir in chopped apples and dried cranberries until evenly coated. Pour into prepared pan.

Arrange french loaf slices in an even layer over apples.
2. In same bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla and 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Pour over bread, making sure every slice is fully soaked. Cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate over night. THIS IS KEY!

3. Preheat over to 375 degrees. Remove dish from refrigerator while the over is heating. Bake covered for 40 minutes. Remove cover, and bake 5 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
4. Prepare your favorite fruit or turkey bacon.
5. Serve Apple Cranberry French Toast Bake with Fruit and/or Bacon!

Cost $5.01

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35 – CC who said, “If I won I’d make a yummy baked pasta dish! ”

Ingredients
~1 lb stew beef ($2.32)
1/2 bag cranberries ($.50)
1/2 onion, chopped ($.15)
2 stalks celery, chopped ($.10)
1/2 cup rice ($.20)
8 oz can crushed pineapple ($.59)
1 granny smith apple, chopped ($.25)
1 cup apple juice ($.15)
1/2 bag Cascadian Farm organic frozen green beans ($.75)

Directions
1. Place all ingredients EXCEPT rice in the crockpot. Set on low for 8 hours. Add rice an hour before you want to eat. If there is not enough liquid, add a cup or so of water for the rice to soak up!
2. Cook frozen green beans on stovetop or microwave. Serve on the side. This stew will certainly warm your tummy on a brisk fall day! And a perfect “pre-Thanksgiving” stew!

Cost $5.01