Orange Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins Recipe

These muffins were born of necessity. I accidentally bought a box of tangerines with seeds! I hate seeds in my oranges. I think everyone does. Not one to be wasteful I bought myself a hand juicer (that I don't know how to use properly) and juiced at least 20 tangerines. Before juicing I zested a few of them as well. Fresh squeezed orange juice is amazing. Nothing in the world like it. It's a mouthful of fresh deliciousness.

These muffins are super moist and delicious. I think they would be delicious with cranberries instead of blueberries as well. I also think the topping is not strictly necessary.

Orange Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins Recipe (original recipe here)
 Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked oats
1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
4 tsps baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup canola oil
3 eggs beaten
1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries
1 tbsp orange zest
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 2 muffin tins.
2. Mix orange juice and oats and set aside.
3. Combine dry ingredients. Make a well in the center of the bowl and add wet ingredients. Mix only until combined. Fold in blueberries and zest.
4. Divide evenly among 2 muffin tins. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar recipe. Bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. I rotated my pans at 8 minutes to ensure even baking.

Fro Yo.

FroYo aka frozen yogurt, is one of my favorite treats. Growing up, my nanny Louisa, worked at Yogen Fruz, so we would often get spoiled with lots of delicious treats. Ever since I can remember, my go-to flavour has been berry. For the longest time I wouldn't pick the mixed berry option because I hated blueberries. I would order a mix of strawberry, blackberry and raspberry. It would always turn out a beautiful pinky purple colour, which I'm pretty sure makes it taste better. These days, it turns out that I actually love blueberries, so that problem is resolved and I now order mix berry in the interest of brevity.

This week I happened to have a full container of plain yogurt sitting around and tons of berries in my freezer. Jess was coming over for dinner, so I decided to make a batch of FroYo for her... and me... mostly me, actually!

The recipe is as follows - grab a container of yogurt, a whole bunch of berries and blend it all together a little at a time. I added some splenda to sweeten it, as the yogurt I used is really quite sour. Speaking of the yogurt I used, check it out below... it's Halal brand, I bought it on sale! Most of the writing on the package is not English, which was tricky but it was cheap, who was I to argue?

Once you have everything all blended and you've tasted 30 or so spoonfuls (for quality control) put the froyo in an air tight container and hide it in the freezer away from anyone who might be looking for it. Or pour it into a popsicle mold like I did, and enjoy a frozen treat on a stick... becuase everything tastes better on a stick!



 



Shellington's Blueberry Banana Baked Oatmeal

Monday through Friday I am totally Bill Murray from Groundhog Day. I wake up, eat oatmeal for breakfast, go to work, go to the gym, eat the same thing for dinner, have a bath, watch some eps of Breaking Bad and go to bed. Wake up and repeat. I hope you didn't read that in a whiny voice, because I actually enjoy having a strict routine during the week. I never have to worry or wonder about what's for breakfast or lunch or dinner. I am food-motivated, so those things are important to me. That being said, sometimes by Thursday I am getting slightly less enthused by my pre-devised meals, and often on Friday I am stoked that they are coming to an end. This week, however, I suffered no such thing. Why? Let me tell you.

Spoon Fork Bacon. Huh? It's a blog I stumbled upon. I honestly can't remember what I was looking for when I found it, although it was probably something bacon related. What made me stop and fall in love was a recipe for "Persimmon and Cranberry Baked Oatmeal". It could have said poop and beans baked oatmeal and I still would have loved it. The idea of baking oatmeal for breakfast stole my heart. Why I haven't done this before is a huge mystery. Perhaps I was not ready for baked oatmeal. I sure am now! 6 days in a row of baked oatmeal for breakfast and I wish I had another six days to go.

I made some changes to her recipe, as I apparently am unwilling and able to follow a recipe as directed. It made 6 portions, which I left in the fridge all week. I heated in the microwave for about 1.5 minutes and served with skim milk, although Greek yogurt would be good too. My next batch will likely contain a sprinkling of chocolate chips and maybe some applesauce for extra fibre and moisture. Here she is:

Shellington's Blueberry Banana Baked Oatmeal

Ingredients:
2 cups steel cut porridge oats (contains oats, flax, oat bran and some other goodies. it's a step up from regular oats)
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup ground flax
2 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon plus some extra for the chef.
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 can low-fat coconut milk
1/3 cup skim milk
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 tablespoons melted coconut oil (it's the cheapest to buy at Costco, obviously)
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
2 banana, mashed with a fork, or chopped. (I think mashed will be more banana bread-like.)

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Generously grease an 8”x 8” baking dish and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients together.
4. In another mixing bowl whisk together both milks, the egg, vanilla and melted coconut oil.
5. Pour the milk mixture over the oat mixture and stir together.
6. Fold in the blueberries and banana until just combined.
6. Pour mixture into the prepared baking dish and smooth surface with a spatula.
7. Bake for 40 to 45 minute or until golden brown.