Easy Dinner Recipes: Blueberry Muffins

This is no easy dinner recipe but it is a make ahead easy breakfast recipe. I made the dough up to folding in the blueberries and then baked it in the morning. By the time I was done with my shower the whole house smelled like fresh muffins and my kids thought I was a rock star mom! I didn't have the lemon on hand so I skipped it and it was great with the fresh blueberries we got on sale. It made 20 medium size muffins for us but I also use paper so I don't have the tins to clean up.

Ingredients

3 cups of all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 Tbsp unsalted butter (1 1/4 stick), softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 1/2 cups blueberries
1 Tbsp flour (if using defrosted frozen berries)

Method

1 Adjust the oven rack to the middle-lower part of the oven. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2 Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.

3 In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together, beating until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated after each one. Beat in the grated lemon peel.

4 Beat in one half of the dry ingredients until just incorporated. Beat in one third of the yogurt. Beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients. Beat in a second third of the yogurt. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients and then the remaining yogurt. Again be careful to beat until just incorporated. Do not over beat. Fold in the berries. If you are using frozen berries, defrost them first, drain the excess liquid, and then coat them in a light dusting of flour.

5 Use a standard 12-muffin muffin pan. Coat each muffin cup lightly with olive oil or grapeseed oil using a pastry brush, or with a little butter. Or use one of those convenient vegetable oil sprays. Distribute the muffin dough equally among the cups. Bake until muffins are golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Test with a long toothpick (we use a thin bamboo skewer) to make sure the center of the muffins are done. Set on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from the tin and serve slightly warm.

Easy Dinner Recipes: Warm Carmel Apple Cake

Life doesn't ALWAYS have to be about easy dinner recipes.  Sometimes it's about making a looks-like-homemade desert with little work.  This one was emailed to me from Betty Crocker and I loved it! My in-laws loved it and after picking off the apples (we have the same problem with vegetables) my son loved it.

Warm Caramel Apple Cake

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Serve this yummy apple upside-down cake warm from the oven.

 

Prep Time: 30 min

Total Time: 1 hour 25 min

Makes: 15 servings

Cake
1/2	cup butter or margarine
1/4	cup whipping cream
1	cup packed brown sugar
1/2	cup chopped pecans
2	large cooking apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced (about 2 1/3 cups)
1	box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® yellow cake mix
1 1/4	cups water
1/3	cup vegetable oil
3	eggs
1/4	teaspoon apple pie spice
Topping
2/3	cup Betty Crocker® Whipped fluffy white frosting (from 12-oz container)
1/2	cup frozen (thawed) whipped topping
	Caramel topping, if desired

1.	Heat oven to 350°F. In 1-quart heavy saucepan, cook butter, whipping cream and brown sugar over low heat, stirring occasionally, just until butter is melted. Pour into 13x9-inch pan. Sprinkle with pecans; top with sliced apples.
2.	In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil, eggs and apple pie spice with electric mixer on low speed until moistened. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes. Carefully spoon batter over apple mixture.
3.	Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Loosen sides of cake from pan. Place heatproof serving platter upside down on pan; carefully turn platter and pan over. Let pan remain over cake about 1 minute so caramel can drizzle over cake. Remove pan.
4.	In small bowl, mix frosting and whipped topping. Serve warm cake topped with frosting mixture and drizzled with caramel topping.

Substitutions:

You can use cinnamon for the apple pie spice for a slightly different flavor.

Success

Granny Smith and Braeburn are good apple choices to use in this recipe.

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Easy Dinner Recipes: Asian Shrimp in Minutes

I get seriously tired of eating meat all of the time, but are there easy dinner recipes that my kids will actually touch that involve something a little different? Enter into my kitchen SHRIMP. It cooks in minutes, the kids actually enjoy it and it makes me feel like we've gotten out of a rut. The longest part of this recipe is waiting for the water to boil. And yes, I do serve it over TopRamen noodles which the whole family devours for pennies. And of course you know I found it on Tastebook... if you haven't checked them out yet click on their logo below.

Asian Shrimp

INGREDIENTS

• 2 1/2 cups water
• 3 cubes chicken bouillon
• 3 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/3 cup chopped green onion
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• salt to taste
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 12 ounces trimmed snow peas
• 4 small ripe tomatoes, diced

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large saucepan, heat 2 1/2 cups water to a boil over medium-high heat. Dissolve bouillon in boiling water. Add shrimp, green onion, soy sauce and salt. Boil for 3 minutes.
2. Dissolve cornstarch in cold water; stir into shrimp mixture. Cook until sauce is thick, then add tomatoes and snow peas. Serve hot.

Easy Dinner Recipes: Creamy Kielbasa Bake

Kielbasa sausage is one of those staple items we keep in the pantry because it makes an easy dinner recipe. We've been making a version of this creamy bake for years now, although our version consists of kielbasa, an onion, chopped potatoes and a sweet potato in the over for 350 for an hour. It is fun to change it up from time to time so I found this on TasteBook and we tried it tonight - my daughter and I cleaned the baking dish! Creamy, yummy, sausage-y goodness! For more recipe ideas be sure to check out Tastebook here.

Ingredients

• 16 oz of Kielbasa sausage
• 6 russet potatoes
• 1 family size can of cream of chicken
• 1 can hot water
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp salt

Dice potatoes and put them in large baking dish. Slice kielbasa sausage into rounds and mix them into the potatoes. Pour cream of chicken into a large mixing bowl with hot water, salt, and pepper. Stir with a wisk until cream of chicken is dissolved. Pour the mixture over the potatoes and sausage. Place into oven at 425 degrees F and cook for about 45 minutes to one hour, or until potatoes are tender.

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Easy Dinner Recipes: Slow Cooker Ribs

I made these yesterday for my birthday and they were absolutely delicious, but they fell right off the bone before I could even get them out of the pot. That's not necessarily a bad thing of course. The kids didn't like the heat from the chili so I'll eliminate it next time but I thought the spice was just right. The only downfall was the browning in the oven prior to cooking. I don't think it made any difference at all and will be skipping that step next time. Of course I got this recipe from TasteBook and have it in my holiday cookbook for gifts already. Start your personal cookbook today and you'll be ready to rock this Christmas!

INGREDIENTS

• 4 pounds pork baby back ribs
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cups ketchup
• 1 cup chili sauce
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons vinegar
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 dash hot sauce

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
   
2. Season ribs with salt and pepper. Place in a shallow baking pan. Brown
   in oven 15 minutes. Turn over, and brown another 15 minutes; drain fat.
   
3. In a medium bowl, mix together the ketchup, chili sauce, brown sugar,
   vinegar, oregano, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and salt and pepper.
   Place ribs in slow cooker. Pour sauce over ribs, and turn to coat.
4. Cover, and cook on Low 6 to 8 hours, or until ribs are tender.

Easy Dinner Recipes: Sweet Crock Pot Chuck Roast

Easy dinner recipes are made much easier using a crock pot, but sometimes the recipes involve browning and chopping and all sorts of other instructions that at 7am aren't fun.  This one is a dump and go.  I just serve it up with some rice and a salad and dinner's done!  I found this on on TasteBook of course.

Sweet Crock Pot Chuck Roast

• 1 large beef chuck roast
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 bottle teriyaki sauce
• Water

In crock pot add chuck roast, brown sugar and teriyaki sauce. Cover roast with water and cook all day on high heat setting.

Seriously - that's it.

For more great easy dinner recipes or to create your own easy cooking cookbook for your family, go to TasteBook here...

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Easy Dinner Recipes: Butter Chicken

Making easy dinner recipes very often does include some sort of chicken dish, sigh.  I know it's boring but this chicken is so tasty that my family actually requests is - not something that usually happens in my household.  We serve it with some rice pilaf (o.k. it's boxed Rice-a-Roni but did I not mention I'm a busy person?) and some veggies and call it a day.  I found this at TasteBook and it's included in my personal cookbook that I share with family and friends.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon dried tarragon
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup butter

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Season the chicken with salt, pepper and tarragon; drizzle with lemon juice. Set aside.
3. Place an oven proof skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat and melt the butter. Place the chicken in the dish, turning to coat both sides.
4. Cover the chicken with a sheet of parchment paper, and then cover with a lid.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

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