Whole Wheat Cinnamon Spice Sweet Potato Muffins

The weather here in Boston has been downright cold compared to just a few weeks ago. I'm not complaining, though. It has started to remind me of fall, which is by far my favorite season. I love when the leaves start to change and the weather gets cool and crisp. Sweaters become necessary and apple season arrives! I love, love, love apple season. I could probably live off Honeycrisps if necessary.

These muffins remind me of fall. I know most people are not ready for it yet, and to be perfectly honest, I'm not quite ready for it yet. I still have a vacation to go on and I'm not ready for nursing school to take back over my life. I'm also moving at the beginning of September and we all know just how torturous  fun moving is.

These muffins are seriously delicious. The first time I made them, they disappeared within two days and were a huge hit with my family. The sweet potatoes make them incredibly moist and I love biting into the little bits that weren't completely mashed. The spices are reminiscent of gingerbread, another one of my favorite things when the weather turns cooler.

Regardless of the weather, you should make these muffins ASAP. They are the perfect breakfast/snack/dessert any time of the year!

Coconut Shrimp

I must admit, shrimp and I have never really gotten along. Fish is pretty much the only seafood that I like to eat. However, I went out to eat a couple weeks ago at a restaurant and coconut shrimp was ordered as an appetizer. I tried a bit of it and I was surprised that I actually like it. Since I do tend to have limited taste interests and in the interest of expanding my culinary horizons, I decided to try to recreate the shrimp at home. Since I also had no clue what I was doing, I got this recipe from Skinnytaste.

While shrimp definitely is not my favorite food, I think I am learning to tolerate it a little more. Next on my "to try" list are scallops.

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

Need a last minute Mother's Day brunch recipe? This delicious bread is perfect for it. My nana would have called this a "tea bread" because it goes perfectly with a cup of tea and coffee. I have been enjoying this bread for breakfast or an afternoon snack for a few days now and  it holds up very well.

Zucchini Chips

If you told me 10 years ago that I would ever willingly eat zucchini, I would have totally laughed at you. I used to hate it. It was mushy and slimy and had a weird taste. However, since I am trying to expand my culinary horizons, I decided to give it one more shot. This recipe is perfect for someone like me who thought zucchini was too soft because the chips bake up really crunchy. Problem solved!

I have a total weakness for regular chips. That saying about not being able to have just one is totally true for me. I had these chips along with a sandwich I made for lunch and thought it was perfect. They were crunchy just like regular chips and way more healthy - just 1 Points+ and 55 calories a serving!

To bake these, I just sprayed a large cookie sheet with cooking spray and flipped the zucchini half way through. Some of the zucchini crisped up (read: burned) a little more than others so if you do it this way, make sure all of your chips are equal sized as much as possible. An alternative is to cook them on an oven safe rack.

Carrot Muffins with Cinnamon Glaze

I love carrot cake and carrot muffins. I saw these muffins on Allrecipes and knew I had to try them out. I made a few adjustments and they were perfect. Dense like muffins should be and the glaze gives it a delicious sweetness. I brought them for a family dinner and they were a big hit! They were such a big hit that I only got that one picture of them. Oops!

Even though the glaze needs to be given time to thicken, it is still pretty runny, so it is not really evident in the photos.

Homemade Tomato Salsa

I'm not sure I have ever met a person who does not enjoy chips and salsa. It is one of the best snacks out there. I decided that homemade salsa was probably better than anything I could buy in the store ( I am convinced homemade >>> store-bought anything) and was pleased to find out I am right. The key is using very fresh ingredients. You can used canned tomatoes and bottled minced garlic for example, but using fresh ingredients really livens up the taste. Normally I do all my shopping for recipes at the beginning of the week but I bought the ingredients for the salsa the night before to ensure their freshness.

Chocolate Chip Meringue Clouds

This recipe was another first for me. I had wanted to try out meringues when I bought myself a stand mixer, bit I chickened out. I had planned to post a meringue recipe before the holidays but I heard that meringues are finicky. They often didn't set, stuck to pans, we just difficult in general. In the spirit of trying something new in the new year, I decided to just give them a try. I was very pleased to discover that they are not hard at all! I looked up many different variations of this recipe: some called for different flavored extracts, nuts, flour, etc. I decided to just keep it simple: just egg whites, sugar and chocolate chips. No stabilizers or anything and I am very happy to report that they turned out just fine.

I really like the subtle taste of the chocolate in these cookies. It does not overpower the meringue, but the chocolate taste is definitely there. 

Broiled Grapefruit

What?? This is the typical response I get whenever I mention broiled grapefruit. But let me explain.This recipe is so simple that I don't really feel right calling it a recipe. All it is is cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on grapefruit and then caramelized under the broiler. This gives a nice light and sweet coating to the normally sour grapefruit.

My mother passed away when I was quite young, but I remember her making this for me. I have always liked grapefruit by itself, but having sugar and cinnamon sprinkled on top was always a treat. Especially when I got to have it for breakfast.  

Fat Free Blueberry Cinnamon Muffins

Blueberry muffins with a hint of cinnamon - a perfect match. And almost no guilt because they are fat free! What could be better? These muffins are a wonderful start to any day. There once was a time when my weekends would not be complete without a gigantic blueberry muffin from Dunkin' Donuts. Sadly, those times are over. But, muffins need not be cut out completely. These muffins are definitely not as large as the ones you would get at a bakery, but knowing exactly what goes into them and feeling good about your choices totally makes up for that.

Pumpkin Cornbread

More pumpkin?? I mentioned in another post that I stocked up on canned pumpkin when I heard that there might be a shortage. So I'm not quite done with the pumpkin yet! Since the weather is almost seasonable (I should not be able to get away with just a sweater in December in New England) I have been wanting a lot of soup and chili. What a better accompaniment than cornbread? Add pumpkin to that and it's almost perfect.

Another suggestion for this cornbread is to serve it with honey or maple syrup drizzled on top. A deliciously sweet end to a dinner. Or as a quick, on the go breakfast.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Yummy pumpkin bread and chocolate chips, the perfect fall treat. When I hear that there may be a canned pumpkin shortage this season, I stocked up, hence all the pumpkin recipes. Now there is canned pumpkin everywhere, but I'm still enjoying all the pumpkin foods. The pumpkin bread recipe comes from Gina at Skinny Taste. I added the chocolate chips because I think the combination goes well together. This recipe is perfect for an afternoon snack or as nice breakfast with a cup of tea.

Making lightened up versions of baked goods is not something I am not too familiar with. I find cooking to be a lot easier because the measurements can be very imprecise and adding something or taking something away doesn't necessarily detract from the dish. Baking is more like a chemistry experiment - everything combines in some way to make the final product and deviating too much can cause problems. Even so, I am excited to begin experimenting with making baked goods lighter.

Maple Nut Muffins

I got the idea for this recipe from one of my old Bisquick cookbooks. Since the weather is (slowly) turning colder, I decided it was time to start using the oven again. Something about maple syrup always reminds me of fall, so as the leaves start to change color, I thought this would be a perfect recipe. I modified the recipe significantly to make it lighter and to also change the taste up a little bit. The maple flavor is pretty subtle, but definitely still there. These muffins are best served warm and with a big cup of tea.

To make these muffins even lighter, I am sure you could use Splenda brown sugar. I am not a big fan of cooking with artificial sweeteners, but chances are it will not change the taste very much.