New Blog website!

I will leave all recipes up here but here is the link to my new blog!

https://theadventuresofjusttryingtobebetty.wordpress.com

Dijon Mustard and Pear Ground Turkey Bites

Back to teaching mean back to lots of meal prep. I love finding easy, healthy, and QUICK recipes to put together that will last me a couple of days. I have a couple of go to bloggers that I follow for those recipes and usually adapt or change something around a bit. I love Sarah at Ingredients of a Fit Chick for these kinds of recipes! She uses minimal ingredients, all recipes are WHOLE foods and healthy for you, and usually very quick and easy to put together. My favorite that I have tried so far is a Shepherd's pie from her recipes! I changed a bit around but it was delish! I have it posted a while back but check out her site for more tasty recopies! I was at the store and bought ground turkey thinking that I would make turkey meatballs ( I have a recipe posted a bit back....but it is actually from Sarah as well!) but before I started making them I decided I wanted to try something new. The original recipe can be found here. All I did was double the ingredients and left out the ground flax ( I also did not measure the rosemary...just kept adding until it looked like a good enough amount to me). Enjoy! 

Ingredients

• 8oz ground turkey breast
• 4 tbs Trader Joe's whole grain Dijon mustard
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 small Bartlet pear, sliced and chopped.
• rosemary flakes (I would say about 1 tbs---I just sprinkled and mixed and repeated until looked good!)

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and spray muffin tin with coconut oil spray.

2. In your mixing bowl, combine the turkey, mustard, egg whites, and rosemary.

3. When the above is combined, fold in the pear. 

5. add the mixture to the prepared muffin tins (my mix made about 9 medium/small bites)

6. Cook for 20-25 minutes

7. Enjoy! 

8. Freeze any to last for meals super easy to pop out and defrost! 

Never Have I ever......baked with avocado

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•  I just wanted to bake something and a blogger I follow has been teasing me posting these cookies a couple of times in the past few weeks. I have 5000000 other things I need to be doing for the start of teaching again but I had a ripe avocado so why not, right? I have never baked with an avocado but these are so good! I did not have coconut sugar, SO I became creative and subbed some chocolate protein powder to keep a solid and then added some pure maple syrup for the sweetness! The original recipe is linked at the bottom! So easy and quick to make as well! Even better they are full of healthy fats from the avocado, almond meal, and hemp hearts as well as protein from the hemp hearts and protein powder.....and full of chocolate.....a win win in my book.
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•  Ingredients:
• 1 ripe avocado 
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup chocolate SLAP protein powder ( I used the old one)
• heafty pour of vanilla extract
• 2 tbs of pure maple syrup
• ¼ cup Hershey's cacao powder
• ¼ cup Trader Joe's hemp hearts
• ¼ cup almond meal or flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 Trader Joe's dark chocolate bar chopped up

 Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cookie sheet with parchment paper 
2. In your mixer bowl add the avocado and mix until it is all mashed up.
3. Add in the egg, vanilla, and maple syrup and mix until combined. 
4. Slowly add  in the SLAP, cocoa powder , hemp hearts, almond flour, and baking soda
5. Fold in the  chocolate bar  chunks
6. Using your cookie scooper place on pan and bake 7-8 minutes! 

     let cool on wire rack and enjoy! 

recipe adapted from: http://rachlmansfield.com/fatty-dark-chocolate-avocado-fudge-cookies/

Random meal ideas!

I have had a lot of time home this summer to experiment and have found my new favorite bread! Alvarado Street Bakery .....and have made many egg sandwiches and turkey melts with it! TIP----toast the bread in the frying pan with coconut oil! Most of these are not the full meals but hope it gives you some ideas! Ask if any questions! Making your own nut butters is so easy as well and I add Slap to mine! All yogurt is Siggis!  Most lunches also have a rxbar to go along with it too!

 RASPBERRY LIME MARINADED GRILLED CHICKEN SO GOOD!

peach breakfast cookies gone slap happy.

I just wanted to bake and honestly I haven't baked a protein or a quick breakfast or snack in a while! I have always loved slap nutrition protein powder but the new slap is a bit sweeter making it even tastier and better for baking (it was always great but now it is eve better....and doesn't bother your stomach because there is no added junk in it! Go check it out at slap!!   Then it gets even better when you combine it with siggis yogurt and farm fresh peaches! These cookies are a bit like baked oatmeal! I kept them in the fridge and actually froze a couple as well! They are quite tasty topped with some nut butters as well :) Enjoy!

2 overripe naners

3 cups old fashioned oats 

1 scoop of slap nutrition creamy vanilla frosting

1 tablespoon of  cinnamon

1 teaspoon of nutmeg 

1 tablespoon of chia seeds 

1/3 cup plain Siggis dairy yogurt

4 tablespoons of pure maple syrup

1 peach cut and sliced 

Spoon onto cookie pan and bake 10-12 minutes (the bottoms should be set and the tops will be a little moist still) 

I don't even like lemon desserts....but here are some lemon and lemon raspberry cupcakes.

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• I have only been back from my world travels for about a day and a half but have love being back in my own kitchen! Did a bunch of meal prep ( I can post pictures for ideas but didn't measure anything!) and added in some baking today! I am not a huge lemon dessert fan but lemon was requested so lemon is what I made. I do not like lemon bars at all so did not really want to make those but did come up with a good idea for them so maybe next time! Was thinking of doing lemon raspberry or strawberry lemonade but just lemon was requested so I stuck with lemon on lemon....lemon cupcakes with lemon frosting. I will say the frosting might have swayed my lemon opinions.....
• **also just because I wanted to I stuck a few raspberries in the end of the batch and YUM! Lemon raspberry and the smell of these cooking was delightful! Enjoy! 
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• Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2  eggs                                                                                     
• hearty pour of pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup of cake flour
• 1/2 cup of AP flour 
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 2 pinches of ginger
• 1/2 cup milk 
• zest of two lemons
• juice of two lemons
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• -favorite vanilla (or raspberry) butter cream recipe. I used my regular one and just added in the zest of half a lemon.
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• Directions:

•  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake tin with liners.
• 2. add butter and sugar to you mixing bowl. 
• 3. combine on medium speed until fluffy. 
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• 4. add the eggs, vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest. 
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• 5. mix until just combined. 
• 6. In a separate bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, salt, and ginger. 
• 7. add half of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. 
• 8. add in the milk and mix until just combined. 
• 9. add in the remaining flour mixture and stop mixing when combined! 
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• 10. add batter to prepared tin. 
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• **my batter made about 17 medium/smaller cupcakes so after the first 12 I added in a handful of fresh raspberries to the batter and folded them in!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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• 11. Bake for 16-20 minutes. Knife should come out clean but they will still be light in color! 
• 12. let cool, frost and enjoy!
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recipe adapted from: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/04/11/homemade-lemon-cupcakes-with-vanilla-frosting/

 I was asked to bake something gluten free after seeing my cupcakes last week. I have baked some gluten free treats before but never cupcakes so this was a new adventure. Some came out better than others but that is expected! Hope you try/enjoy :)

Coconut Flour Cupcakes 

½ cup coconut flour
4 Eggs
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup melted coconut oil
2 tablespoons skim milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon Baking Powder
½ teaspoon Baking Soda
½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
a pinch of sea salt 

 
Directions: 

1.  Preheat oven to 350 and line cupcake tin with liners.

2. add eggs, honey, oil and flour to your mixing bowl and mix.

3. add the baking powder, soda, salt, vinegar, vanilla, vinegar, and milk to the bowl and mix until combined. 

4. bake 12-15 mins. until golden brown. Let cool and frost with your favorite frosting recipe! 

recipe adapted from: 

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=9216118739662657689#editor/target=post;postID=2491296499867895577

Chewy Chocolate Chunk Blondies

It is a holiday weekend.....or more like a four day holiday for some people and of course with this brings BBQ after BBQ. Tried a new blondie bar recipe. Enjoy! 

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter, melted

2 cups packed light brown sugar
hearty pour of pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup cake flour
1 cup AP flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
2 Trader Joe's dark chocolate bars chopped.


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Line a 7x 11 baking dish with parchment paper.
3. Mix in the sugar and butter until fluffy.
4. Add in the vanilla and eggs. Mix until combined.
5. Add in the flours, salt, and baking powder. Mix until combined.
5. Mix in the chocolate bars (chopped up).
6. Place batter in prepared dish and bake for 35-40 minutes ( edges will brown and middle should look gooey but cooked.)
7. Cool , cut and enjoy!

recipe adapted from:

http://www.somethingswanky.com/classic-chocolate-chip-blondies/

Raspberry Rhubarb Pie

Well,  it is summertime anddddd one of my favorite things to do in the summer is go berry picking! I know that I could just buy them at the farm, farmers market, or at the market but I don't know why they just taste so much better knowing that you picked them. Or maybe (the real reason) is because they were just picked! I also use summer to try and bake more because I have more time to experiment. I love to bake anything new and I like to repeat recipes that I/ or other people really like. But for some reason I don't make pies too often or really at all. I am thinking it is probably because I tend to bake and give the goods to different groups of people (and myself) and you can't split a pie like that. So when I do bake pie like treats, they tend to be smaller tarts or mini pies. I have a go to pie crust recipe that I usually use but was unsure if it would make enough to make a top as well (because I usually just make tarts with it). Also my first real attempt at a lattice top! I tired once last summer or the summer before but sort of half tried and then said never mind....whoops. Didn't end up the prettiest but could have put more effort into slicing the strips! (Next time......apple raspberry...come apple season.) So today I tried all new recipes after I did some raspberry picking! Enjoy a raspberry rhubarb pie NOT a strawberry rhubarb pie (we are having strawberry shortcake as well so I didn't want to have so many strawberry things).

Ingredients:

• For the crust: 
• 2 1/4 cups flour ( I used 1 cup cake, and 1 and 1/4 white wheat)
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 1/2 sticks butter, cold (in slices)
• 2 eggs
• 4 TBS cold water ( I only ended up using 3 but depends) 
• hearty pour of pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• For the filling: 
• About 4 and 1/2 cups rhubarb (sliced and chopped) 
• 2 cups of raspberries
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
•  milk for brushing the pie crust

Directions: 

Crust: 
1. In a  bowl, mix the flour and salt together. 
2. Cut the cold butter into the bowl in small pieces. 
3. Add the flour and butter into your mixer and mix with the dough hook until small pea sized crumbs form. 
5. Add the cinnamon and vanilla 
4. Add the eggs and water.
5. Mix together using the dough hook until just combined and a ball forms. 
6. When the ball forms and holds in a ball wrap in plastic and chill for 30-45 minutes. 

Filling: 
1. Add the  rhubarb, sugars and then raspberries. 

 

2. Stir with a wooden spoon until the fruits and sugars are mixed. 

3. Add in the cornstarch. Stir gently until all combined. 

4. Place in fridge while dough finishes chilling. 

When ready to bake: 
1. Preheat oven to 400. 
2. Take chilled dough out and roll out 2/3 of the dough. 
3. Line your pie dish with that dough making sure there is enough dough going up the sides. 
4. Add in the filling ( if you have a lot of excess liquid I would not add all the liquid). 

5. Roll out the remaining dough and slice into thin slices. 
6. Place the slices into a lattice pattern on the top of the filling and then I also lined the circumference with a strip of dough. 
7. Brush top of pie with milk and sprinkle more white sugar on top. 

8. Place in oven and bake for 20 mins at 400. 
9. Turn the oven  down to 350 and bake for 40-50 more minutes until crust is browning and filling is cooked.
10. Let cool and enjoy topped with some ice cream, more berries, and whipped cream (make your own!)

(and yes that is my hot plate I made in middle school IA class circa. 2000. HA)

recipe adapted from: 
http://katieatthekitchendoor.com/2017/06/17/strawberry-rhubarb-raspberry-pie/