Crockpot Pumpkin Pie Steel Cut Oatmeal

I don't know about y'all, but I am welcoming fall with open arms.  We have been enjoying the cooler weather, warm soups, lots of family time and of course, many pumpkin recipes.  We went to a pumpkin patch and my friend Amber shot this family photo for us - I LOVE it!  ALL the girls are looking!

I love steel-cut oatmeal.  I usually make a batch (on the stove) at the beginning of the week to store in the fridge breakfast.  I decided to try making them in the crockpot. I adapted the recipe from Weight Watchers and I REALLY love it.   It smells amazing while cooking, and I have been enjoying it for breakfast every morning.  You can add your own "fixings"...whatever suits your fancy!  I usually add a few chocolate chips, flax seed, raisins and bananas.  It's like eating dessert for breakfast.  

Ingredients:

3 cups water

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 cup steel cut oats

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup honey (optional...you can add sweetener of choice when serving)

Instructions:

Put everything in the crockpot and stir together really well.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.  Stir together well before serving.  ENJOY!

Peanut Butter Pretzel Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

Here's a quick, easy, NO bake recipe for homemade granola bars.  They were a hit at our house!

Peanut Butter Pretzel Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

Ingredients:

1/4 cup unsalted butter or coconut oil

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups old fashioned oats

1/2 cup crispy rice cereal

3/4 cup crushed pretzels

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:

Place parchment paper in the bottom of an 8x8 inch pan.  

Combine butter, sugar, honey and peanut butter in a large sauce pan.  Stir occasionally over medium-low heat until it starts to bubble.  Once it starts bubbling, cook for 2 minutes stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.  

Add oats, cereal and pretzels.  Stir well until evenly coated and pour into the prepared pan.  Press the mixture evenly into the pan.  Sprinkle the mini chocolate chips and press into the mixture with your hands or a spatula.

Pop in the fridge for about 30 minutes, or so until firm.  Cut into bars.  Store in the fridge and ENJOY!

Cinnamon Crunch Coffee Cake - Guest Post by Kellie

I am so excited to welcome my amazingly talented friend Kellie to This Hungry Mama Bakes today!  She is my first guest blogger!  I would like to start featuring a guest every week, to build my "online recipe book" and give all my friends the opportunity to share a favorite recipe!

Meet Kellie...

Isn't she adorable?!?  She and her husband Daniel are just the cutest newlyweds...

Kellie & I worked at Northland Camp together over at Pioneer Village.  I have some fond memories of my last summer at Camp.  We need to have a reunion!!!

You can visit her blog here.  She has some amazing recipes and diy tutorials you will love!

Thanks for guest posting today Kellie....on to your Cinnamon Crunch Coffee Cake!

Happy October!  With the start of fall comes lots of baking!  It's one of my favorite parts of this season (though I usually pay for it with a few pounds).  I really enjoy following the lives of the Millers via Tamara's blog, "Four Girls & a Daddy", but I'm especially glad she has "This Hungry Mama Bakes" back in business!  I've missed it.  I appreciate Tamara letting me guest post on this blog.  How fun!

I want to share with y'all one of my favorite breakfast sweets, Cinnamon Crunch Coffee Cake.  A friend from camp shared this recipe with me several years ago and I've made it many times since.  It's an easy, go-to recipe to feed a lot of people.  My extended Kaminski family especially loves it!  I've make it on two vacations for them.  Now mind you, this is not a recipe for those of you trying to be super healthy (i try too)...because it is very sweet!  But maybe you can treat yourself!

Cinnamon Crunch Coffee Cake

Ingredients:

1 package of yellow cake mix

2 packages of instant vanilla pudding

4 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 T. cinnamon

1 cup of nuts (pecans or walnuts or mixture)

1 cup water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease 9x13 inch baking pan, or a 10-inch bundt cake pan.

In a medium bowl, stir together the cake mix and vanilla pudding mixes.  Add the eggs, oil, and water.  Mix until well blended.  In another bowl, stir together the brown sugar, cinnamon and nuts.  Pour half the batter into the pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle with half of the nut mixture.  Cover with the rest of the batter and sprinkle with the rest of the nut mixture.  

Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven and then turn the oven down to 325 and bake for an additional 35-40 minutes.  Enjoy this coffee cake for breakfast or brunch!

*visit my blog at kelliekaminski.blogspot.com!

Back in "Business"

A year ago I decided to stop keeping up with this blog.  For the last year, I have been referring to this  blog for all my favorite recipes.  It's kind of like my online recipe book.  It's actually easier to document my favorite recipes on here for easy reference, and I know that a few of y'all were disappointed that I wasn't sharing my favorite recipes......so I decided to start sharing again!  I can't promise the pictures will be pretty OR staged (i will try my best to make it look appetizing), but I CAN promise that any recipe I post is a keeper!!!  I've got lots of crockpot recipes to share, and some clean eating meals as well!

Here is a quick and easy recipe I made TWICE last week.  It is adapted from the Banana Nutella Cake with Nutella Frosting over at Two Peas & Their Pod.  Although I haven't made the frosting, I'm sure that it is AMAZING.  The cake is perfect without the frosting (and added calories) so I'll keep it that way for now.  I made it into muffins for a breakfast play date!  Please see the original recipe by clicking the link above if you are interested in making the frosting.  :O)

Banana Nutella Chocolate Chip Muffins/Snack Cake

Makes a 9x13 pan or about 18 muffins

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar (i used half stevia/half sugar)

2 large eggs

1 cup plain greek yogurt (i used fage 0%)

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed

1/2 cup nutella

handfull of chocolate chips if you want!

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x13 pan or muffin tin.

Cream the butter and sugar until creamy and smooth.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the yogurt and vanilla.  Mix in the bananas.  

Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.  Gradually add the dry mixture only until blended.  Throw in the chocolate chips and give it a quick stir if you are using them! Spread the batter evenly in the pan.  I didn't measure the Nutella, I just dropped little spoonfuls on top of the cake and swirled it in with a knife.  

Bake for 20-25 minutes for the cake and 15-18 minutes for the muffins, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

ENJOY!

English Muffin Bread

I just love quick bread recipes! Here is a quick and easy english muffin loaf recipe. I halved the recipe and made 3 mini loaves. Hope you enjoy!

English Muffin Loaf Recipe (found from Allrecipes)

Ingredients:

2 packages active dry yeast

6 c flour

1 T white sugar

2 c milk

1/4 t baking soda

1/2 c water

1 t salt

2 T cornmeal

Directions:

Heat the mlk and water until very warm in a saucepan or microwave

Combine 3 cups of flour, yeast, sugar, salt and soda in a large bowl. Add the warm milk and water and beat well. Stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a stiff batter. (i used about 5 1/2 cups total). Spoon into two 9x5 inch loaf pans that have been greased and dusted with cornmeal. Cover with a tea towel and let rise for 45 minutes in a warm place.

Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Remove from the pans and cool. ENJOY!

Morning Oats

Our Beautiful Kitchen

We have finally moved into our new home! We love everything about it and really appreciate all the little things. My favorite room of our house is the kitchen. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen and I love that it opens up to the living room. It has a dishwasher (my first!), granite, and several outlets. Our last little house only had 2 outlets for the entire kitchen. I know our kitchen has some amazing granite (which I love), but I can't get over the number of outlets.

Since things have been so busy here and baking has been slow, I thought I would post my favorite breakfast recipe. This is a breakfast I make for myself almost every day of the week. I love homemade oatmeal, and this is a quick and easy recipe. You can change it up with your favorite toppings for variety. The banana makes the oatmeal creamy and sweet. My favorite variation is Dark Chocolate Almond Butter and Coconut. Healthy and Hearty!

My Favorite Oatmeal

Ingredients:

1/3 c old fashioned oats

2/3 c water

splash of milk

Half of a banana (sliced)

Add-in's

Nutella (yum)

Peanut Butter/Almond Butter

Raisins/Cinnamon

Blueberries/Strawberries

Almonds/Pecans

Brown Sugar

Coconut

Chocolate Chips

Throw everything in a small saucepan and turn the heat on medium. Wait until the oatmeal starts bubbling (about 3 minutes) and stir with a spoon for just a couple minutes. The bananas will heat up and melt into the oatmeal. When the oatmeal is thick, top with your favorite add-ins and enjoy a yummy breakfast.

Hawaiian French Toast

So while I was doing my "clearance spot" shopping at Wal-Mart I saw this bread on sale. We buy the little rolls at Sam's, but I have always wanted to buy a BIG loaf. I usually make french toast bites with the little rolls and was excited to have bigger pieces to work with. If you like french toast...try it with this hawaiian bread. It is light, fluffy and sweet. It is currently Brooke's favorite breakfast. I saw a recipe for coconut syrup the other day...I might have to try it for this french toast!

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Ingredients:
1 stick of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 c of sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 c sour cream, room temperature
2 t vanilla extract

2 c flour

1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1/2 c packed brown sugar
2 t cinnamon

Glaze:
1/2 c powdered sugar
1 t cinnamon
2 1/2 t milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a 10 inch tube pan or Bundt pan with cooking spray.

Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating until well mixed before adding the next one. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula between additions.

Stir in half the flour mixture until almost mixed in. Mix in the sour cream and vanilla all at once, then stir in the remaining flour mixture. Be careful not to over mix! Using a spatula, scrape the bottom of the bowl to make sure all the ingredients are incorporated. In a small bowl, stir the brown sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon together with a fork.

Pour half of the batter into the pan, and use the spatula to spread it evenly. Using your fingers, sprinkle the brown sugar-cinnamon mixture evenly over the batter. Spread the remaining batter over the brown sugar mixture. Bake the cake for 45 to 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let the cake cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Run a knife along the outside of the cake and inside the pan to separate the cake from the sides of the pan. Quickly invert the cake on a wire rack and cool.

In a small bowl, using a fork, mix the confectioner’s sugar, cinnamom, and milk. Use a fork to drizzle the glaze over the cake.

Enjoy!