Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients

1 cups fresh blueberries

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup margarine

1 1/2 cups white sugar

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Grease muffins tins, or line cups with paper liners.

Start with 1/4 cup flour to cover your blueberries, and stir to coat berries thoroughly.

In another bowl add 2 cups flour, baking powder and salt mix well.

In a large bowl, add margarine, and slowly mix in sugar.

Add eggs

and then vanilla

Make sure to stir well.

Then add milk and flour. Trade off between the two until all has been added.

Gently Fold in berries. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Enjoy

Homemade pizza

Pizza Dough

Ingredients

· 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

· 1/2 tablespoon white sugar

· 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

· 2 2 1/2 cups flour

· 2 tablespoons olive oil

· 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

2. Stir in flour, salt and oil. Beat until smooth. Let rest for 5 minutes.

3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round. Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan or baker's peel dusted with cornmeal. Spread with desired toppings and bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let baked pizza cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Sauce

· PIZZA SAUCE:

· 2 tablespoons olive oil

· 1/3 cup chopped onion

· 1 Garlic Clove

· 1 (28 oz) can of diced tomatoes, with juice

· 1 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste

· 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

· 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

· 1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano

· 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

To make the sauce: Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Saute onions until tender. Stir in garlic, and cook for 1 minute. Crush tomatoes into saucepan. Add tomato paste, basil, parsley and oregano. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Add to Pizza and topping cook and enjoy!

Granola Bars

Granola Bars

Gather your ingredients:

§ 2 cups oats

§ 1/4 cup wheat germ

§ 3/4 cup sunflower seeds

§ 1 cup peanuts, crushed

§ 2/3 cup brown sugar

§ 1/2 cup honey

§ 4 Tbsp butter

§ 2 tsp vanilla extract

§ 1/2 tsp Kosher salt

§ approximately 8 oz. dried fruit

Crush your peanuts, a great way to get out your frustrations for the day.

Then, mix the peanuts, oats, wheat germ, and sunflower seeds in a baking dish with sides. Toast them in the oven for 10-12 minutes, stirring every few minutes so that they don’t get burned. You can turn off your oven now.

Meanwhile, prepare a glass baking dish (about 11 x 13 inches) for your granola by lining it with waxed paper lightly sprayed with a nonstick spray.

Put the brown sugar, honey, butter, vanilla, and salt into a saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly.

By now, your grains and nuts should be toasted, so mix everything together in a large bowl. The grains, the liquid “glue,” and the dried fruit. Oh, and turn off your oven, because you’re finished with it now.

Mix everything REALLY WELL because you want to make sure the “glue” gets all over everything. Now, dump your granola mixture into your prepared baking dish.

Now fold over the sides of the waxed paper or add a sheet on top, and PRESS HARD all over the granola. You want to compact it together so that your bars won’t fall apart when you cut them.

Wait 2-3 hours or until the granola has totally cooled.

Then, open the waxed paper …

And carefully turn the granola onto a large cutting board, peeling away the rest of the paper.

Food Processor

Today I bought a food processor. I was so excited. I got a GE 14 cup food processor. It is great I love it. I made homemade pizza's today for dinner. Very simple to do. A little time consuming. It took about a hour to get both pizzas done. But the sauce was great. I had debated on getting on the scales and weighing myself. It hasn't been a pretty site. Although I am glad to say almost 2 weeks into my food fight I have lost almost 7 lbs. Which is great. Not too much weight but it is coming off slowly. So I am going to share some of my favorite recipes with you all. They are great. Make sure to make them our own. If you need to change something feel free. I am really impressed that I can still eat great food without having to gaining weight. I am only putting the recipes that we loved. So enjoy and check back for more updates and recipes so we all can live a long and healthy life.

Why I started this?

There was a time were I was not over weight. I never thought that I would become over weight. I have always paid attention to what I was eating. Now with the inspiration of Jamie Oliver I have decided that I am going to make a difference. This time I am going to follow through with it. It seems that in someway I lost myself over the last 10 years while I was busy being married and raising kids I lost focus on other things. My weight issues happened after my first knee surgery and then got worse after my second serious knee surgery. The pain in my knee kept me from doing a lot. I love to swim although, even this hurts my knee. The weight I am sure needs to come off in order to help manage some of the pain. I have a cholesterol issue. So I have cut out most of the over proceeded food in our house to now making most of our foods from scratch. So join me as I work my way through the best food fight ever. I will post pictures and recipe of the food that we have tried.