Strawberry Banana French Toast & Calphalon Giveaway
Before I tell you how to win the Calphalon digital convection oven you must first read all about my strawberry banana french toast I baked up in my very own Calphalon digital convection oven that they so sweetly sent me.
For years I bugged the other half to buy me a convection oven to use endlessly for easy dinners. What I LOVE about this convection oven is the size. It fits a small pizza or a 9×13 cookies sheet. Yes, you can bake cookies in it in the summer without heating up the entire house. How brilliant is that in Texas’ super hot summer heat!
The oven is perfect for teenagers that have light cooking skills. On more then four occasions now my teenagers have used it to make their dinners while the other half and I headed out for date night. They love it too! The convection oven has custom time and temperature settings for bagels, pizza and cookies. The pull out crumb tray makes it a breeze to clean. It takes reading the manual and playing with the settings to get use to and remember how to work it. I already have it aced though!
Below the recipe is the giveaway but first here is a look at one of the easy make head or do the day of breakfast recipes we baked up in the digital convection oven.
Ingredients
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a medium bowl, add in egg, milk, cinnamon, sugar, and vanilla. Whisk until mixture is well blended.
In a baking dish, add bread, bananas, and strawberries. Toss to even out the fruit with bread. Top with wet mixture and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until egg is set and top is lightly browned. Serve warm.
http://mooshujenne.com/baked-strawberry-banana-french-toast/Please follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter below in order to enter to win the Calphalon digital convection oven. It is mandatory that you comment the blog in order to be entered to win! Don’t forget that you can tweet about the giveaway daily through the Rafflecopter for extra daily entries! If you share it on Pinterest let me know in the comments for another extra entry.
*Disclosure: Calphalon is providing one winner with a digital convection oven. I was not reimbursed for writing this post and all opinions expressed here are my own.
Granola Blueberry Muffins & Granola Banana Muffins
The lovely people over at Cascadian Farms were fabulous enough to send me two boxes of their new Ancient Grains Granola cereal and give me two to give away plus a tote! Before we get to the giveaway there is this delicious recipe for granola blueberry muffins and granola banana muffins I want to show you first. After the family sampled Ancient Grains Granola they instantly decided that we needed to make a recipe from it. A short discussion went from granola bars to muffins. Since it is on my food list to make my own muffin recipes, I figured why not!
My son, Chance, quickly stated that these were the BEST blueberry muffins he had ever tasted. Though his idea is he made them. He did all the measuring and mixing while I, of course, directed him with my recipe. Since they are teenagers now my goal is to teach them to cook like me but always keeping a few recipes secret. That way when they move out they have to come home to have their favorites.
These are simple muffins to bake and make a quick healthy breakfast on the way to school. In fact, my son was eating one on the way out the door this morning. However, today is my son Tommy Lee’s 17th birthday. He and I are about to head out to have lunch for just the two of us at the Chinese buffet; that way he will get his fill of sushi.
Bake these yummy muffins this Fall 
Ingredients
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
In large bowl or bowl of stand mixer, add in two cups whole wheat flour, one cup brown sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and granola. Mix on low for about 30 seconds to one minute. Add in one and half cups of buttermilk, vanilla, and olive oil. Mix for about 1 minute until well incorporated; do not over mix. Add in fruit and mix for about 30 seconds until fruit is distributed.
Line cupcake pan with liners and spray with olive oil cooking spray to help the muffins from sticking to the liners. This is optional. Using a large ice cream scoop, scoop in muffin mix which should be level with top of the cupcake liner. Sprinkle extra granola on top of each muffin and bake for 16 to 18 minutes.
Serve with fresh jam or pumpkin butter.
http://mooshujenne.com/granola-blueberry-muffins-granola-banana-muffins/To enter the giveaway fill out the Rafflecopter below.
*Disclosure: I was given two boxes of Cascadian Farms Ancient Grains Granola to review. I was not reimbursed for writing this post and all opinions expressed are my own.
Cap’n Crunch Cookies
Everyone in my household simply loves Cap’n Crunch. For a few years now, I have been baking some simple cereal cookies out of cake mix and cereal. The cookies are good but the texture was soft and just not like a traditional cookie. The creativity bug hit me smack dab in the face. Ooh! What if I took a butter cookie (basic) recipe and just tossed in Cap’n Crunch! To my surprise, I manage to have them come out perfect the first time. Pure luck!
I sent these bad boys to a few guy friends of a friend for taste testing. Hopefully, they will comment here and let us all know their opinion on these super dunking cookies.
After completing these cookies and being oh so proud of myself, watching everyone devour them, I headed over to Cap’n Crunch’s website to see that they actually have a different recipe. Yes, folks this is not their recipe. I am in the future planning on trying the Cap’n Crunch French Toast!
The perfect dunking cookie
Ingredients
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325F.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Whisk until fully combined; to aerate.
Melt butter completely in a microwave safe bowl. In a large bowl using an electric mixer, cream together the brown sugar, white sugar, and melted butter. Beat in the vanilla and eggs. Continue beating until batter is light and creamy. In increments, add in flour mixture, mixing after each addition.
In a small bowl, crush 1 cup of the Cap'n Crunch with a potato masher. If you do not have a potato masher, put the Cap'n Crunch into a small zip lock bag and smash. Add crushed Cap'n Crunch to the dough mix, stirring by hand. Then add in the other cup of non-crushed Cap'n Crunch and mix well by hand.
Roll the cookies into 1/2 balls and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. These cookies spread a lot. You want to make sure to make the cookie balls small. Place a dozen to a sheet.
Bake for 15 to 17 minutes until the edges are a light golden brown. Cool on baking sheet for a few minutes and then remove to a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely.
http://mooshujenne.com/capn-crunch-cookies/Apple and Carrot Hearts Salad
This morning I came across a site that gave me the perfect inspiration for a recipe involving carrots for the Fall Fest at FN Dish on Food Network. V’s family is from Prague and they make a wonderful salad involving carrots and apples. The dish is scrumptious but generally not visually appealing. I wanted to put a twist on the dish but I wasn’t sure just what to do till I stumbled upon this interesting carrot art “how to” at Sophistimom. For a tutorial on how to cut the carrots in hearts as featured below please check out her website. This is a simply fresh way to serve up carrots and apples with a cuteness factor. Our family loves this recipe and even eat it at breakfast!
Ingredients
Instructions
Sliced up all of the carrots and apples and place in a medium size bowl. Squeeze lemon juice over apples and carrots. Drizzle sugar over and toss to coat.
http://mooshujenne.com/apple-and-carrot-hearts-salad/
For more Fall Fest Recipes please visit the FN Dish – Fall Fest on Food Network or check out the list below for more recipes from the Fall Fest including carrots.
Thursday Night Dinner: Pickled Carrots
Virtually Homemade: Roasted Red Onions and Carrots With Pomegranate Gremolata
Haute Apple Pie: Carrot, Apple and Radicchio Slaw
What’s Gaby Cooking: Thyme and Honey Roasted Carrots
Glory Foods: Honey-Carrot Bread
Daily*Dishin: Carrot Cake Hawaiian-Style
FN Dish: Quick Carrot Sides for Thanksgiving
Cooking With Elise: Spiced Carrot Marmalade
Dishin and Dishes: Roasted Honey Balsamic Glazed Carrots
Daydreamer Desserts: Carrot Cheesecake
Mooshu Jenne: Apple and Carrot Hearts Salad
The Sensitive Epicure: Maple Bourbon Glazed and Braised Carrots
Daydreamer Desserts: Carrot Martini
Napa Farmhouse 1885: Carrot Slaw
Pumpkin Nutella Bread – Fall Fest FN Dish
This is my contribution to the Fall Fest FN Dish on Food Network this week. Don’t forget to check out the other great recipes below my recipe here.
Chelsea, my best friend and cousin, came in on Sunday to visit me. Monday night we went to see one of our old friends and phenomenal guitarist Jonny Radtke from Kill Hannah (Polar Moon). Although, he was not on tour with Kill Hannah he was playing with the band Filter; which was cool to see. One of the arts we at Muusat enjoy is making treats for our friends in a few bands. Monday night we took them some popcorn balls and pumpkin nutella bread. After a few marriage proposals from Phil ( jokingly of course 
) we were glad to see they enjoyed the food just as much as we enjoyed the show. Can not wait till next time! Lots of hugs to Jonny and Filter!
For pictures and more about the show; check out Muusat.com
Ingredients
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray two regular sized glass loaf pans with olive oil cooking spray. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, water,sour cream, pumpkin, eggs, and extracts. Whisk until smooth and combined. Slowly stir in the flour mixture. Mix until ingredients are combined. Pour the batter into the loaf pans, making sure batter is evenly divided. Drop one large spatula full of Nutella onto each loaf pan. Swirl the Nutella into the pumpkin batter with a knife. Place the loaf pans onto a baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes in the pan and then carefully remove the loaves. Cool half way before slicing.
http://mooshujenne.com/pumpkin-nutella-bread/
Other great recipes for Pumpkin on the FN Dish Fall Fest this week:
What’s Gaby Cooking: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars
The Cultural Dish: Pumpkin Waffles
Cooking With Elise: Pumpkin Chip Scones
And Love It Too: Creamy Pumpkin Fruit Dip
CIA Dropout: Pumpkin Panna Cotta With Gingerbread
Haute Apple Pie Girls: Pumpkin Bread Parfait
I Am Mommy: Pumpkin Pancakes
Dishin and Dishes: Maple Pumpkin Creme Brulee
Virtually Homemade: Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins With Pumpkin Seed Streusel
Napa Farmhouse 1885: Pumpkin Pizza
Daydreamer Desserts: Pumpkin Fattigman
From My Corner of Saratoga: Baking Pie In The Pumpkin
FN Dish: The Ultimate Pumpkin Soup
Cooking Channel: Pumpkin Risotto
The Sensitive Epicure: Pumpkin Whoopie Pies With Molasses Marshmallows
Daily*Dishin: Pumpkin Praline Cheesecake
ZaikaZabardast: Pumpkin Jalebi
Big Girls Small Kitchen: Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Loaf
Coco Monkey Pancakes with Tommy
First, I would like to say that this is recipe comes from Our Best Bites. It’s the yummy Chunky Monkey pancakes aka chocolate banana pancakes. We also experimented and added a new ingredient. This is such a filling pancake that I could not even eat a full one!
So, yesterday my son and I were discussing food and his picky eating habits. He is 15 and should love food but doesn’t. He loves breakfast but not much dinner food. I thought if I prompted him to cook that maybe he would get a interest into experimenting with foods. I am hoping this will open him up to more flavors and trying new foods.
This morning I was looking at Our Best Bites website at the Apple Cider Caramels. I showed him the caramels and he said they looked good and we started to browse. He said “What are those pancakes?!”. He asked to make them. I, of course was like absolutely! My son made his first batch of pancakes on his own. He loved them and even decided to add cocoa into the batter after making a few from the recipe. Now he has a fantastic idea for another set of pancakes that him and I together will be posting soon!
Here’s the recipe for the Chunky Monkey Pancakes at Our Best Bites site. Below is pictures and our adaption from Our Best Bites recipe.
Ingredients
Instructions
Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk together. In a separate bowl combine milk, eggs, oil, and vanilla and whisk well. Add the wet ingredients into the dry and mix just until moistened and combined. Place bananas in a bowl and roughly mash with a fork. Fold into batter. Add the chocolate chips that have been tossed with flour and stir. Add in your cocoa and stir.
For syrup, heat peanut butter in the microwave for 30 seconds. Add maple syrup and gently whisk to combine. Heat in the microwave for another 30 seconds, whisk, and then set aside.
Heat a nonstick griddle or skillet to medium heat. Coat pan with little butter or cooking spray and then pour on pancake batter. Wait until bubbles form and edges are set and then flip. Pull from griddle and top with butter, syrup and some cocoa powder.
This recipe makes about 15 pancakes depending on size.
http://mooshujenne.com/coco-monkey-pancakes-with-tommy/
