Chocolate Chip Coffee Muffins & Meal Planning Made Easy

Because school is starting very soon, I have been trying to get things in line for our dinners.  Everything seems to go crazy once school ramps up and we will still need to eat in the middle of that chaos.  Last week I started putting dinner ideas on my Plan to Eat calendar.  That went over well, so this week I added snacks and breakfast muffins.  I thought I’d share the recipe to these Chocolate Chip Coffee muffins with you.  I hope you enjoy them!

Chocolate Chip Coffee Muffins

Source: www.myrecipes.com

Course: Breakfast

Prep Time: 20 Min

Cook Time: 15 Min

Total Time: 35 Min

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup whole milk
• 5 tablespoons butter melted
• 3 tablespoons instant coffee granules
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 large egg lightly beaten
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°. Line 12 muffin pan.
2. Combine first 5 ingredients.
3. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Make a well in center of flour mixture. Add milk mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moist.
4. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups. Bake at 400° for 18 minutes or until done. Remove muffins from pan immediately; place on a wire rack.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 214
Fat: 7.9g
Cholesterol: 29mg
Sodium: 163mg
Fiber: 1g
Protein: 3.6g

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Exercise: Run, Tracy Anderson Method & Yoga

Photo of Tracy Anderson from http://www.womenfitness.net

Every year I seem to go through an exercise cycle. In the winter months, I find it hardest to do any sort of workout, so it is more like a season of rest. And as soon as it begins warming up, I start exercising again. Last year, I made a goal to learn to run a mile, and I enjoyed it tremendously.  I know it sounds like a silly, small goal, but truly it was the start of something I really enjoy today.

I made that goal the first time I ran because I went so slow.  It just made me more excited to see what I was able to do.  I actually worked my way up to 7 miles.  It was quite a journey.  I battled all sorts of things I had no idea I would.

Orange Cranberry Tea Biscuits

Today our youngest daughter walked in the room with a tray for tea, pretend tea.  She offered it to me and asked if I would like a biscuit.  Of course I did!  And after we had our tea and biscuits, I asked if she’d ever had an actual tea biscuit before.  She had not, so I offered to make some.  I didn’t have a recipe, but I was certain I could find one.  I scoured the internet looking for tea biscuits.  Many had ingredients I don’t keep on hand, so I kept looking.  I came across one on Cooks.com called Welsh Tea Biscuits.  The recipe sounded fairly simple.  The only real problem was that I didn’t have an electric skillet or a way to determine the temperature of a skillet.  I had to change the way I’d cook them, so I decided I’d change the recipe to an orange cranberry flavor too. 

Brie and honey!

This week I took a quick trip with my husband to Ojai.  We were able to visit lots of interesting markets, restaurants and the ever-so-interesting Bart’s books.  We also had a visit to the spa and the local tasting room.  It was meant to be a relaxing trip and it was definitely that.  We stayed at the Su Nido Inn which happened to be steps to almost every place we wanted to go.  We actually ate at the same place for dinner two nights in a row, it was so good.

Chocolate? Yes, please!

Today I am sharing some chocolate recipes from some of my favorite sites. And withValentine’s day around the corner, I think chocolate is its perfect pair.  I’m not sure how to share the pictures from these sites, but I’ve linked you to them.  They are worth a look.  You will not be disappointed.

First there is Heidi Swanson of 101cookbooks.com.  She lives in San Francisco and has the ability to find just about any ingredient she desires.  Lucky girl.  She’s written several books, I have 3 of them.  I reach for these time and time again.  I discovered her last year after my husband returned from a trip to Harvard.  He brought books home for all of us.

The Path to Healthy Living

Seems like we are all going back to the land and getting back to a slow lifestyle, doesn’t it?  Check out Sophia Uliano at www.gorgeouslygreen.com. This website is dedicated to creating and using products that are practically good enough to eat.  She shares a large array of recipes for homemade bath, body and other products, along with a ton of information.

At our house, we’ve got chickens and we are doing our part to raise them for eggs (just eggs, I keep telling myself).  My husband deals mostly with the poultry, but the girls pitch in too.

The Wooden Pillow

Today I read an email which led me to www.thewellnesscafe.com and reminded me about the wooden pillow.  Most of my friends and family have heard me talk about this pillow, or perhaps I had them try it.  It is one of those items that when I think about using it, I absolutely love it.  But to be honest it has been a couple of months since I pulled it out last. I know it doesn’t sound very comfortable, but there is definitely something to it.  

Steve’s Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

So I went to a party at my brother-in-law’s house, and his friend Steve made this incredible macaroni and cheese. I had to ask for the recipe.  Luckily, he knew it by heart. I could only find a pencil and a clean paper plate to write it on and that worked just fine. Since then, I have tweaked the recipe due to our family’s particular tastes, mainly our girls.  His recipe calls for cream cheese and my children just don’t care for that flavor.  I’ve swapped it for cottage cheese and our family loves it.  We hope you enjoy it too!

Lane’s Chicken Noodle Soup

Earlier this week, I promised my sister Erin that I would post a couple of our favorite recipes on the blog.  Since this is a new thing we are doing together, I haven’t quite got my blogging schedule figured out yet.  Let’s just say, between having a baby that still wakes up every couple of hours, plus two other kids that have school, church, and other extra curricular activities-it can get pretty hectic around our house…Did I mention my husband caught a stomach virus this week?  Which leads me to my first recipe.  When someone is feeling under the weather at our house this is the first thing I make.  I guess I got that from my Grandmother. She was always ready to whip up some of her homemade chicken noodle soup and deliver it when we were sick.  It was the best!  Although this is not her recipe, which includes making your own stock and rolling the noodles by hand, it is quite delicious and can be ready to eat in about 45 minutes.

Assignment Complete!

That was A LOT of work!  I’m thrilled it is done.  I’m lucky enough that my kids love to play outside, they were able to do things with family and friends for a while, and even chip in on the kitchen cleanse.  Apartment Therapy really put our household to work this weekend.

I originally posted from my sister’s house on Friday and had hoped to take pictures of the before for her.  Unfortunately, we left her house in such a hurry I left my camera there.  That means there are not going to be before and after pictures of this.  What I can tell you is that it feels GREAT to have accomplished the scrub down.

I can hardly believe we finished.