Lovin' From the Oven

Baked Apple Walnut Oatmeal

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It’s that time of the year again, folks; It’s girl scout season! That means plenty of cookies to buy and devour. You’re either lucky or unlucky when it comes to finding them. When you’re most craving some Samoas, there won’t be any girl scout in sight. You’ll drive to all of your Targets, grocery stores, and school campuses to see if there’s a table stationed anywhere, but you’ll always drive away disappointed. Welcome to my life.

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Lucky for me, I have a niece that just started her first year in girl scouts. I have to be the good auntie and buy boxes from her, of course! That makes my life so much easier because I don’t have to walk around stalking troops. Not that that has stopped us from buying boxes from anyone else. My DB came home from school with a box of Thin Mints that we could rip open immediately. No waiting necessary.

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Not only that, but working at the Y has its perks. There are at least three kids in every grade that are determined to win that mini Ipad by selling 3,000 boxes.

By the way, that’s ridiculous. How can one child sell 3,000 boxes?! They probably know 30 people in their lives. That means everyone they know would have to buy 100 boxes from them.Ā That’s like when I was in elementary school and we tried to sell rolls of wrapping paper. They always enticed us by having the “money hurricane machine.” Thinking back on it, I have no idea what the big prize was. Now, they have Ipods, Ipads, Shuffles, and all those electronics, but that certainly didn’t exist when I was in grade school. Does anyone remember?

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Either way, I never sold anything. My parents would buy two rolls of wrapping paper so I wouldn’t feel so bad and then call it a day. I never walked door to door asking neighbors to buy from my catalog. My parents would kill me if I ever did that.

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Here’s an easy breakfast meal that you can make for the week. Just store the portion you don’t eat in the fridge and warm it in the microwave whenever you want it. You can also make this bake for guests. It’s nutritious, has a pleasant cinnamon spice taste to wake you up, and can be served alongside eggs if you want just a little sweet treat to finish your breakfast.

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The oatmeal is soft without being gooey or mushy. If you want it for dessert, serve a piece with a scoop of ice cream. I promise I won’t tell anyone. šŸ™‚Ā From Sweet Pea’s Kitchen.

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Baked Apple Walnut Oatmeal

Ingredients

  • 2 cups uncooked quick-cooking oats
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/3 cup cranberries
  • 1 tablespoon chopped walnuts
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 1/2 cups fat-free milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 apple, grated
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • Cooking spray

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375Ā° F. Spray an 8x8 inch pan with cooking spray.
  2. In a mixing bowl, combine oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, cranberries, walnuts, and baking powder.
  3. Gradually stir in the milk, vanilla, grated apple, butter, and egg and mix until well combined.
  4. Pour into prepared pan, leveling it out.
  5. Bake for 20 minutes and serve warm.
https://lovintheoven.com/baked-apple-walnut-oatmeal/

Chocolate Chip Muffins

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My work has a program to encourage us to work out and be more active in our daily lifestyle. The more we work out, the greater the prize. They gave us each a pedometer to keep track of it all. I didn’t really pay any attention to it for the first month.

The pedometer laid on my coffee table for two weeks before I decided I should use it and see how it goes. I didn’t want to upload the new software on my computer to connect my pedometer, and that was my excuse for being lazy for the first two weeks of the year. Once I started, it became addicting. I wanted to reach that goal of 7,000 steps a day and upload it onto my page so I can see how I was doing.

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Now, it’s like my new and improved Tamagotchi. I take that baby with me everywhere I go and sulk about it if I forget it at home. It’s attached to my purse, my backpack, my inside pocket… If I’ve been sitting on my butt blogging all day, I realize it because I’ll have 1,000 steps plastered on my pedometer. That’ll motivate me to move around and go out in the evening.

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My work is quite brilliant for coming up with this program. Awarding people for working out? Giving them a goal that’s reachable? Being able to track your progress everyday for the year? Just brilliant. It’s like they’re making you live a healthier life by turning it into a game. In exchange, they have better looking and in shape workers.

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This muffin recipe comesĀ fromĀ BakerellaĀ and is just mediocre to me. Somehow, Bakerella makes everything look so appealing and drool worthy that I always assume the best. Too bad that’s not the case in real life. They were a little plain, without that extra something special. Maybe I just prefer my muffins to be doused with a streusel topping. Don’t get me wrong– These muffins aren’t bad, they’re just… meh.

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Chocolate Chip Muffins

Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup sour cream
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1/4 cup melted butter, cooled slightly
  • 6 oz. semisweet chocolate chunks

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tray with 12 regular size baking cups.
  2. In a mixing bowl bowl, stir flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together with a wire whisk until combined.
  3. Add in the sour cream, milk, eggs, vanilla and melted butter. Stir until combined.
  4. Fold in chocolate chunks and divide batter into baking cups.
  5. Bake for about 18-20 minutes or until done.
https://lovintheoven.com/chocolate-chip-muffins/

Funfetti Cake Batter Waffles

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Gloomy days call for some color. I don’t mind the gloom and rain– in fact, I kind of love it. I like being in my PJ’s until noon and wrapped up in blankets on the couch catching up with T.V. shows with my DB. Of course, this isn’t always the case for cloudy days. I’m only able to do this because I’m currently off from work.

If I’m working, cloudy days entirely suck because that means there’s going to be delays. Lot of them. SFO (San Francisco International Airport) is the worst airport when it comes to handling a little bit of fog. Why? Because visibility gets shot to the ground, they shut down ramps for construction during peak weekends, and there’s just not enough landing/takeoff space when you have to close a ramp down.

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I may be just talking from experience and no hard facts, but here’s the nitty gritty from Travel and Leisure:

“How much slack can you cut an airport just for fog? SFO has been in the bottom 10 since 2008, and keeps inching closer to the No. 1 worst spot. Perhaps due to that poor visibility, it has the earliest start time for the period in which delays rise above 20 percent: a depressing 10 a.m. Your best strategy here is to leaveĀ reallyĀ early.”

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Nearly 22% of flights out of SFO are delayed. 22%!! That’s a large number. If percentages are not your thing, that means nearly one out of five flights are delayed. Since I can work up to four flights a day, that’s not good news for me.

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So, whenever I’m killing time for delays, I’d gladly snack on funfetti anything to brighten my day. Whether it be cupcakes, these cupcakes,Ā from scratch cookies, rice crispy treats, orĀ donuts, I will munch on them all day long. That’s a lot of funfetti recipes!

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These waffles taste just like cake. You’re basically eating cake for breakfast in a waffle form. They’re quite sweet and you don’t even need to add maple syrup. You can eat them as is and that’d be enough.

However, if you were making these for a birthday breakfast, then you’d need extra sprinkles, whipped cream, maple syrup, and chocolate syrup to go on the side. I mean, who am I to cut back on birthdays?

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I can imagine waking up to these waffles on my birthday as a child. I’d be delighted! These will definitely be added to my list for my future children.

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Funfetti Cake Batter Waffles

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups funfetti cake mix
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons oil
  • 1 1/3 cup water

Directions

  1. Stir together the cake mix, flour, baking powder, and salt.
  2. Gradually whisk in the egg, oil, and water until just mixed. A few clumps are fine.
  3. Pour 1/4-1/3 cup batter into waffle maker and follow the machine's directions.
https://lovintheoven.com/funfetti-cake-batter-waffles/

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