apple cinnamon raisin granola

On Thursday, my family and I are driving down to Cape Town, South Africa to meet my grandparents who we haven't seen in a YEAR! I'm SO excited! I think the 17 hour drive through the boring, hot dessert will somehow be worth it. I mean, I get to look forward to the beautiful ocean, time with family, insane shopping, an overabundance of seafood and other yummy stuff, time away from my crazy hectic life {2 weeks off of school? Umm, yes please.}, AAAAAAND McDonald's! I never ever ever ever ever thought I would crave that crap. Ever.

 

My iPod's little earphone thingy doesn't work anymore, so I won't be able to listen to music on the way there which totally stinks, man. My grandparents are bringing a new one with them though, and OHMYGOSH I'm so excited. Instagram? I think yes. I've also been having to run without music for the last two months. Seriously, do you know how hard that is? Running without music for me, is like… running without running shoes. It just does not. work. However, I think I've turned into my own running playlist if you know what I mean… Gotta motivate myself somehow!

Anyways, since we're going to be laying around on the beach, reading, and sipping ice cold coke zeroes, that means I'll be in bikini. My poor little tummy hasn't seen the light of day in a year and a half. Look away, Cape Town! I don't want to blind you with my neon whiteness! Sadly, blondies and layer cakes aren't really the best pre-beach foods to be eating. {dude, I wish.} I thought I'd whip up some granola for a tasty, waist-happy breakfast! 

Apple Cinnamon Raisin Granola

3 c. oats

1/2 c. dark brown sugar

3 tbsp. olive oil

1/4 c. honey

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

3 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 c. diced apples {about 2 small apples, 1 large}

3/4 c. raisins

Preheat oven to 350ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In a large bowl, combine the oats, brown sugar, olive oil, and honey. Add in the spices, vanilla, and apples. Stir until combined. Pour granola onto prepared baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes or until just browned, stirring every 2-3 minutes to prevent burning. Once the granola is done baking, add the raisins. Cool slightly before moving to an airtight container to store. 

P.S. After we get back from Cape Town, we'll be spending time with my grandparents in our town and also traveling a little around Namibia. I'll do my best to sneak in a recipe or two, but just a heads up, I won't be back to my normal posting for a few weeks at least. I can't wait to come back and share some pictures of the trip with you all :) 

chocolate chip cinnamon swirl coffee cake

Oh my lanta, you guys. MY THIIIIIIIIIIIIGHS! They hurt. I wish I could tell you my thighs hurt because I went on a kick-butt run this morning. Or because I did like a hundred lunges. But nope and nope. They're flipping SUNBURNT! Poor leggies of mine, so red and painful are ye.

I went on a little picnic with my friendlies earlier. This was a legit African-style picnic… We didn't go out to to a green grassy park, lay out a red and white checkered blanket, and munch on grapes and egg salad sandwiches. UHH no. At noon, we met at my house and walked to the grocery store to get food… About a mile or so. Then we walked AAAAAAAAAALL the way back over by my house and our fearless leader lead us into the bush. Like the. bush. In the middle of nowhere land. 

While we were walking, I was just wanting to cry. You guys! It's like 100 degrees minimum in the sun. Now, Namibia is not necessarily the most green and lush place on the planet. It's dry and sandy and hot. And the sand was burning the crap outa my feet. I'm not really the type for adventure-y stuff like this. I mean, I love adventures. I just find adventures more enjoyable when they take place in air conditioning. I'm sure I was super annoying. Just ask my friends… I'm sure they'd say yes.

I kept trudging along, whining about the heat and yelling to my friend, "WALLARD! {That's not his real name. His name is really hard to pronounce so let's just go with Wallard. Close enough.} Are you dragging us out here to DIE!? You know, there's cobras and pythons out here. {no joke.} And my feet are going to blister! Can we please just stop nooooooooooooooow! Pleeeeeeeeeeeease Wallard! PLEEEEEASE!" No response. He just kept walking while us girls are yelling at the top of our lungs for him to stop. After all, he was the one with the FOOD! 

Life words, people- never take a woman's food. Especially when there's fancy cheese involved. Just… Don't do it. 

Anyways, after like what seemed like an ETERNITY {in real life, it was like 15 minutes.}, we decided to set up camp by a dried up riverbed. We then preceded to eat apples, crackers, some daaaang good cheese, and peach iced tea. Yup, this is how we party it up in Africa, people. 

I thoooought we were sitting in the shade. Apparently we weren't. Why is that, when you think you're in the shade, but all the while you're obliviously burning yourself to a crisp? Lesson learned, when you go on a picnic in the middle of the bush… Wear sunscreen. 

What does this have to do with coffee cake? Hmm… Let me think. 

 Nothing. 

chocolate chip cinnamon swirl coffee cake 

{adapted from Smitten Kitchen}

cake: 

1/2 c. butter, softened

1 1/2 c. sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 c. plain yogurt

1 c. buttermilk

3 c. flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 c. chocolate chips

cinnamon swirl:

1/2 c. sugar

3 tsp. cinnamon 

Preheat oven to 350ºF and grease a 9x13 pan. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add in the eggs, vanilla, yogurt, and buttermilk. Combine the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix together the dry and wet ingredients until smooth. Pour 3/4 of the batter into greased pan. Evenly spread the cinnamon sugar on top, and swirl with the rest of the batter. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

peanut butter blondies

I'm a little late on this whole National Peanut Butter day thing, but c'est la vie. I made these yesterday, which was the holiday dedicated to the amazingness we call… Peanut butter. So I should get a pass or something. 

Anyways.

You guys! I passed my geography exam the other day! BOOM!

I spent hours upon countless, excruciatingly boring hours, in my fluffy bed {I'm trying to make this sound bad.}, studying for this thing. 

My work paid off and I got a 90! Not to brag or anything… ;)

When I finished the exam, I celebrated by going into the kitchen, blasting Mumford & Sons, dancing like a loony lunatic aaaaaaaalmost blasting the speakers, singing all pitchy with reckless abandon, and stuffing my face with more dark chocolate M&M's than I thought humanly possible. 

All at the same time, while ALSO putting away the dishes. 

I've got mad kills, I tell you.

Seriously though, M&M's weren't gonna cut it. You see, I've cut down on carbs and sugar this week TREMENDOUSLY… And I've actually lost a pound or two. Let's be real here… How long did you think that would last? Not long. 

I needed something chewy. And peanut buttery. And I needed said peanut buttery chewy thing faster than the speed of light. Enough of this healthy stuff. I'll take a peanut butter blondie or five please thankyouverymuch. 

These were amazing and umm… HOLY ADDICTING! I ate more than my fair share, that is for sure…

Winner, winner, peanut butter blondies for dinner!

The texture and flavor is pretty much identical to your typical peanut butter cookie… They're a little crumbly, but it's a good crumbly and they're still able to be picked up and keep their shape.

I thought about adding chocolate chips in there, but instead decided to just bask in all their chewy gloriousness. 

In lu of passing my semester exam, I bring to you… peanut butter blondies. *applause*

chewy peanut butter blondies

1 c. butter, softened

3/4 c. creamy peanut butter

1 c. dark brown sugar

1/2 c. white sugar

1 egg

2 tsp. vanilla

1 c. flour

1 c. cake flour

1 tsp. baking powder

Preheat oven to 375ºF and grease a 9x9 in. pan; set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla. Add in the flours and baking powder. Mix until smooth. Once combined, press dough into greased pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool before slicing.

buttermilk red velvet cake with chocolate fudge frosting

I made you a cake! Partly because I wanted to. Partly because I wanted to make my friends fat and happy. And partly because HOLYGOOOOSH, we reached 500 followers on GFC last weekend! That would be 500 people who actually READ this blog. 500 people who like food as much as me. 500 people that follow along on this baking journey of mine. 500 people who encourage me to keep on doing what I love to do. Thank you! I love you guys as much as a fat kid loves cake.

Guess that makes me a fat kid. Ha. 

Moving on… I think as food bloggers, we do some pretty extreme things just to get a good picture of food. Like, really? And a lot of our friends and family suffer from our weirdness. God bless 'em. Someone comes walking in while I'm taking pictures of cookies… And then I scream "NO DON'T TOUCH THAT!", tilting said cookies just so. Not many people I know do that. Actually, no people I know do that.  

And if you're like me, you may or may not slice into a cake before your company arrives. It may seem kinda… rude maybe. But I NEED A PICTURE! Really though, I deserve it. After all, I made you people a pretty cake. A layered one at that! We're getting serious here. 

So, let's talk about this cake shall we? It didn't turn out super red… But, let's just call it a Burgandy {I'm pretty sure that's not how you spell it. But life goes on.} Velvet cake, mmkay? Cool. Thanks for agreeing. The buttermilk in this cake gives it a little kick in the pants, adding some extra flavor. Seriously perfection. 

The frosting… Umm whoa. It's pretty dang thick and fudgey. Literally FUUUUDGE. When you lick the spoon {don't deny it. I know you do.}, it'll make you want to close your eyes, go to your happy place, maybe do a little dance, and thank God for all things chocolatey and fudgey. Amen. 

I just had to take a bite of that fudgey frosting. And a little cake too. Maaaaybe just another bite. 

Fine, I'll be done. 

Just one more. 

Buttermilk Red Velvet Cake 

2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. butter, softened
1 c. milk {see note on buttermilk}
2 tbsp. vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla
red food coloring {just add it drop by drop until you have the desired redness.}

Chocolate Fudge Frosting 

1/2 c. chocolate chips, melted
1/2 c. milk
4 3/4 c. powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

Note: For the buttermilk flavor, I just used vinegar and milk. However, if you're not using this option and want to use regular buttermilk, use 1 c. buttermilk.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour two 8 inch cake pans.In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter, eggs, milk, vinegar, and vanilla.In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients mix until completely combined. Add in the red food coloring. Pour into cake pans and then drop the pans on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles.Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. After about ten minutes, remove from pans and cool completely on a wire rack. After the cakes were completely cooled, I wrapped them in plastic wrap and refrigerated them over tonight so they were ready to frost. When you're ready to frost the cakes, combine all the frosting ingredients until smooth. First, frost one layer of the cake with about half of the frosting. Place the other cake on top and repeat with more frosting. Frost the sides, if desired!

chocolate peanut butter crunch granola

This right here is the best excuse for breakfast known to man. 

Chocolate and peanut butter? Uhh yah please. The weird thing is… It's healthy. I know you're probably getting annoyed at me saying "AAAAND this recipe is healthy!" in like every other post. But it is. Hey, I just speak the truth, people. HOWEVER, I sincerely promise you the healthiness most definitely did NOT compromise the yummy factor. Holy moly, no. it. did. not. I didn't even try to make this healthy. It just… *dramatic pause* came naturally.

I often find a lack of chewiness in the granola I make. But oooooh boy, is this granola CHEWY! It's so perfect and made me do my happy dance. Due to my lack of patience {aha.}, I put in the chocolate chunks while the granola was still a little warm. Then it got all gooey, yet the chunks still kept a little of their shape. After I added the mix ins, I threw it in a big plastic bag and popped it in the fridge. When I went back to the bag for a munch {read: 2 bowls.} the chocolate had cooled and there were HUMUNGO chunks of granola. It was seriously the best bite of granola I have ever had in my entire 14 years. {whoa.} Needless to say, this granola has a lot goin' on as far as texture. I used quite a lot of honey and olive oil in here, as well as peanut butter {duh.}, resulting in an abundance of chunks, clusters, and chewiness. 

This was seriously probably my favorite granola recipe I've made so far. It's the perfect balance of sinfully chocolatey, but not too much to the point of bad for you. Lately I've been trying to cut down on morning time carbs, so this was a nice little splurge for me :) Not that I even had it for breakfast though… It was gone within 24 hours. I made in at dinnertime one night, and it was gone the next morning before I could get a bowl. My family LOVED this stuff and I know it'll be one of the few things on my blog I actually go back to and make again. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Granola

1/2 c. creamy all natural peanut butter, slightly melted

5 tbsp. honey

2 tsp. vanilla extract

4 tbsp. olive oil

1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tbsp. white sugar {feel free to sub in another tablespoon or two of honey instead.}

3 c. oats

1/2 c. salted peanuts

1/2 c. chocolate chips/chunks

Preheat one to 325ºF. In a large bowl, combine the oil, honey, peanut butter, and vanilla. Add in the oats, sugar, and cocoa powder. Stir until combined. Pour on a cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes,  stirring around every 2-3 minutes to prevent burning. Once cooled, add in the peanuts and chocolate chunks. Store in a large plastic bag or airtight container for up to 5-7 days.

Happy weekend to me. 

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Muffins

In case you didn't know, pink is my favorite color. I'm even thinking about dying my hair pink at some point… Not. even. joking. Some people are able to pull off pink hair, some people can't. I'm sure I'm one of those people who can't… I'd probably look like a crazy person and get weird looks in town, because umm… how many people in Africa have pink hair? Not many. But whatever. Normal is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay overrated. I honestly couldn't care less about what people think of me- the soon to be pink head.

So since I love pink so much, I knew it wouldn't be long until I would put my favorite color and my favorite food {uhh. chocolate.} into my absolute favorite baked goods… The muchos beloved muffin. I'm sure you know I love muffins. I almost feel kinda bad about how many muffin recipes I share… Do you share my love for muffins too? Good, let's be friends.

Maybe I should think about changing this blog to My Muffin Place.

Yup, muffins and pink hair… My life is obviously undergoing a huge change. 

Ok, so let's stop talking about ME and start talking about zeeeees moooofins. 

For the first time in quite a long time, I went into these muffins having NO intentions of making them healthy. Some things are just left untouched and unchanged… Like black coffee. I honestly don't understand how people put sugar and milk in there. Umm, eww.

In my last muffin recipe, I used a higher whole wheat to regular flour ratio. This time I switched it up, using more AP flour than whole wheat. I feel like sometimes wheat flour can weigh down the recipe and results in more of a chewy texture compared to the fluffy texture AP flour lends. 

For the raspberries, I used frozen since it's all that I can get my hands on here. I didn't thaw them out before putting them in the batter- straight from the bag to the muffins! That way they don't bleed AS much resulting in a purple-ish muffin. Yuck. 

I used two kinds of chocolate in this recipe- a dark chocolate bar, that tastes more like semi-sweet chocolate {I don't know the exact cocoa percentage} and an 85% cocoa dark chocolate bar. That stuff is pretty bitter and tastes like your biting into a cocoa bean… In the best way possible. 

These muffins are fluffy, tart, sweet, chocolatey, and PINK... Perfect for Valentine's!

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Muffins

1 c. plain yogurt

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3/4 c. granulated sugar

3 c. flour {I used 2 c. AP flour and 1 c. wholewheat}

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 c. frozen raspberries {or fresh}

3/4 c. dark chocolate chunks

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Butter 12 muffins tins; set aside. 

2. In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, eggs, vanilla, and sugar. 

3. Add in the dry ingredients. Stir until everything is combined. 

4. Slowly fold in the raspberries and dark chocolate chunks. Do this slowly so that the juice doesn't bleed into the batter. 

5. Spoon batter into each muffin tin, filling about 3/4. 

6. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown. Cool before moving to a wire rack.  

Oozey muffins for the win!

Blueberry, Pineapple & Spinach Detox Smoothie

So this is definitely not the most photogenic recipe I've ever posted… Let's just go with that. While I was in the office editing these pictures {I physically cannot make them look pretty.}, my dad walked in and asked if my dog puked in a cup. Nope. This is indeed a smoothie I drank for breakfast thankyouverymuch. Thanks, dad. 

While it may not be the most, umm… appealing thing to make for breakfast, I promise you it tastes great! Let me warn you, there are veggies in it. Yes, veggies for breakfast. What is this world coming to! There's cucumber, spinach, and celery in there. But the green taste is covered up pretty great from the blueberries and pineapple. 

Blueberry, Pineapple & Spinach Detox Smoothie

Serves 2

1 c. blueberries {fresh or frozen}

1 1/2 c. pineapple {fresh or canned and drained}

1/3 cucumber 

3 celery stocks

3 large spinach leaves

2 c. ice

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Add 100% fruit juice if it's too thick.