Homemade Whole Wheat Pop Tarts

H, my son, has become addicted to pancakes.....He used to be addicted to eggs.....Over easy eggs to be exact, but now, pancakes!  I am SICK OF MAKING PANCAKES!  I'm sick of making a lot of them and freezing them, I'm sick of running out of them and making another batch.  I am happy to be out of the egg stage though......making an egg, to have him not touch it, then it solidifies into this amazing adherent mess on the plate....Ugh, EGGS!

So, I had a thought, what did I like to eat when I was a kid....Toaster Strudels!  Not really pop tarts, but the flakier ones, with the frosting that you put on yourself....the one that my dad would make for me every morning, and the one, where he taught me the best way to warm up the plastic packet of frosting (gross) was to hold it between the palm of your hands rather than microwaving so it had the perfect "spreading consistency" (really gross) Ohhhhhh, those were GOOD!!! Love the days before we knew about all the weird crap in our food.

I made a homemade poptart....I made the whole wheat pie crust a day in advance and kept it in the fridge (freezing the rest.)  I made the filling all healthy yet yummy of different berries (frozen but fab.) I was thinking, this kid is going to LOVE ME! He is going to think, holy moly, dessert for breakfast...YES!

He wouldn't touch it! I was in the giving mood, I offered it to my husband. Again, wouldn't eat it, stating "I'm not eating all that sugar!" (don't know who he was trying to kid...) I replied, "it's healthy," reply, "maybe later"...

WHAT, no takers on a warm, just out of the oven, berry poptart with a sprinkling of sugar on top??????

i ate it.

it was wonderful.

i want another one right now.

i'm fat.

not really, it's healthy.

Whole Wheat PopTarts 
pie crust adapted from "Cheeky Kitchen", filling made up by me...

CRUST:
1 C whole wheat
1/2 C white flour
2 t sugar
1/2 t salt
½ c. cold butter, sliced (keep butter in fridge until adding- you want it COLD)
5-7 Tbsp. cold milk

Put flour, sugar and salt in food processor. Pulse to mix.  Add butter, pulse until it looks crumbly, like peas but smaller--- then add milk, maybe 3 Tablespoons at first and then pulse, and then run for a couple seconds, if you can tell that it isn't going to come together into a ball, add another tablespoon or 2 (use your best judgment) pulse, and then leave on for a couple second (it took 6 tablespoons for me). It will eventually all firm up in one side of your processor.  Dump out onto a flour surface and just maneuver it enough to get it into a ball and place in fridge until ready.

FILLING:

You could fill these with anything---you could cut up apple...put it on the stove with a lil' water, cinnamon, vanilla, allspice, nutmeg, tad bit a sugar...cook until it's just falling apart. You could use all jelly/jam, chocolate, Nutella, peanut butter, anything... I used frozen berries and a bit of "just fruit" jelly because it is what I had.

1 c. frozen mixed berries, still frozen
3-4 T jelly- I used blackberry "all fruit" but whatever you have will work
water

Put fruit in small sauce pan and warm up until thawed and starting to become liquid.  Smoosh the fruit with a fork or spoon to help it thicken a bit. If it's too thick add water (tablespoon at a time.)  Add your jelly and stir.  If your mixture is "too loose," let it cool a bit before deciding your next step.  It will not be to a boiling point when inside the poptart, just  "appropriately hot" so it will firm up a bit....if you still think it is all too liquid you can add a touch of cornstarch to your mixture.

Cool filling and add a couple tablespoons to your poptarts!!!

WHAT TO DO:

I pulled my ball out (hahaha-dirty) and split it into 4 hunks, 1 hunk makes one poptart.  roll it into long oval and fold over or cut into rectangles if your a perfectionist (or wanting to take a photo) add filling, leaving an edge.  Using a fork, seal edges....poke a couple holes to let steam out.  I used, whole milk because it was all I had but if you had cream it would work better....brush some milk over the top, sprinkle with a lil' sugar....(you can skip the sugar but my filling had very little sugar so I wanted some sweetness to hit the tongue first)

Bake at 400 degrees, for 10-12 minutes....all depends on your oven, watch for your edges to brown.  Remember this is whole wheat dough, it's not going to be as pretty as regular...it's not going to be as golden or as flaky but I tell ya, it's pretty damn good for being better for you!

Chow down!!

Kid-Friendly Yogurt Zucchini Carrot Muffins

These muffins are H's FAVORITE!!  He tends to wake up every morning starving and these muffins are just the ticket.  Warning for those of you who lean toward the sugar laden "cupcake" style, these are not them.  I have cut the sugar down to very minimal sweetness.  Pretty much just sweet enough for H to eat.  I will say though, they are still pretty good.  You can add nuts, wheat germ, flax seed, dried fruit...whatever you want and they will still be yummy!

Steff- These are the muffins that E ate when you guys were in town.











Recipe adapted from AllRecipes.com

1 cup All Purpose Flour
1 1/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour
3/4 cup Oat Flour* (I have used regular oatmeal as well as oatmeal ground up in food processor)
1 t salt
1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
2 1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t ground nutmeg
3 eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup honey
2 t vanilla extract
1-1 1/2 cup zucchini shredded- if I have more I put more in...doesn't need to be specific
1-1 1/2 cup carrot shredded- if I have more I put more in...again doesn't need to be specific

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Spray or lightly grease mini muffin pan(s)

Shred your carrot and zucchini using a box grader's smallest option.  I also run a knife through it again to make sure there isn't a funny texture.  

 











Place zucchini in a strainer over a bowl because there is a lot of liquid that will drain off...if you do not do this your muffin batter will be very runny.

Liquid from zucchini

 In a bowl, mix/whisk together the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, oat flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

 In a separate bowl, beat together eggs, canola oil, applesauce, yogurt, honey, and vanilla. 

Mix the flour mixture into the egg mixture. Fold in the zucchini and carrots.  Scoop into the prepared muffin cups. 

 

Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Baked Eggs with Thyme and Dill

I'm going to start out by saying, "I love ramekins!"  I own a million of them.  When I see them at the store in different colors, sizes and shapes, I want to buy all of them.  So, when I saw this recipe, it gave me the perfect excuse to use my beloved collection of porcelain white babies! I used 1 cup ramekins in this recipe but any size would work.

Now, I must tell you that I had to make this recipe 5 times before I could get my cooking time correct.  I think it was in part due to my "cheapy" oven and maybe the size of the egg (there may have been a lil' user error as well but we won't mention that.)

There is something about taking strips of toasty bread, dipping it into the runny yolk, that is homey and comforting.  A perfect morning treat!  The addition of herbs adds wonderful flavor and depth...Feel free to use other flavor combinations.  You will not be disappointed.

Baked Eggs

Cooking Spray
4 eggs - I used large eggs
4 T of heavy cream (I used half and half)
spinkle of salt
sprinkle of pepper
sprinkle of fresh thyme
sprinkle of dill
sprinkle of paprika

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Take your ramekins and spray them with cooking spray.

Break an egg into each and top with 1 T of heavy cream.

Sprinkle on your salt/pepper and herbs.

Place ramekins in a cooking dish and fill dish with hot water approx 1/2 up the side of the ramekins.

Place in oven and cook for 15 minutes.

Serve with toasted bread cut into small strips for dipping.

I would experiment with this before trying to serve to guests.  The cooking time and temp in which to cook will definitely differ from oven to oven.

BULLSEYE

Early this morning I received a text from my brother...."Hey Sis, How do you make a bullseye again?"  Which, obviously, spurred this post.  I immediately went to work...slaving in front of the stove. hahaha Just kidding.  These are the easiest to make and they taste wonderful.  Some of you may know these under a different name.  My old roommate, BG, his family called them "One eyed Egyptians."

BullsEye

Eggs
Bread
Butter

Take your bread and butter both sides.

Then find a small glass (or just use a knife) and create a hole in the middle of the piece of bread.  Be sure to use a small glass because if the hole is too big it will rip while cooking.

 

Over medium-high heat, melt a pat of butter or use cooking spray and place bread with hole in it and the left over hole itself (which will also have butter on it) in the pan and let "lightly" brown on one side. I say "lightly" because you will be turning it back onto this side to finish cooking off the egg so you dont want to overdo it this time around.

Flip bread (and hole,) and dollop a small amount of butter or spray more cooking spray into the middle of the hole in the bread. This will allow the egg to not stick to the bottom of the pan.

Break egg into hole in bread.  I leave the yolk intact so that it will ooze yumminess when I eat it but if you would like to break while cooking instead-- feel free.  Cook until your liking on that side, then flip back over to original side to finish the cooking of the egg.

 
Serve with toasted hole on top.

When I read this over it seems a little confusing but you really can't screw this up.  Even if the bread breaks and the egg breaks, it will still taste wonderful!

(Call me if you need me brotherman....miss you.)