Raisin Bran Muffins

I have this really bad habit I would buy food that I have craving for and think I would finish it. I am not those kind of person that likes to waste food so I will always find a way to use the food that's sitting there. I bought Raisin Bran a couple of months ago because I wanted to have it for breakfast but that only lasted two morning. I didn't touch it anymore so I decided to make something with it before it goes bad.

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Raisin Bran Muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups of Raisin Bran
  
• 1 cup yogurt/buttermilk
  
• 1/3 cup apple sauce/oil
  
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour (I used 1/2 C of Whole Wheat Flour and 1/2 C of all purpose flour)
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Honey(Optional)
• Quaker Oats (Optional)
  

Method
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
2. Mix together Raisin Bran and yogurt; let stand for 10 minutes.
3. Beat together apple sauce, egg, sugar and vanilla and add to buttermilk/bran mixture. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir flour mixture into yogurt mixture, until just blended. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins. Sprinkle oats on top.
4. Drizzle honey on top of muffin when they come out of oven.

I didn't think that hubby would like this because he's not really a big fan of muffins but then he said it was good. The reason why I made this is because I wanted to use up some of the ingredients that I have sitting in my house and also I wanted to find some healthy recipes so that hubby could have for breakfast.

Hershey's chocolate cake and carrot cupcakes

I've been feeling pretty tired this few days and not wanting to do anything..PMSing I'm assuming ..or maybe even because of the weather.
Since hubs birthday was on a Friday; I decided to start baking his cake on Thursday night so I can attempt to make the frosting and maybe even decorate it on Friday and leave me some time to get ready for his birthday dinner on Friday night. I made Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake and instead of making a whole carrot cake I made it into carrot cupcakes. The only changes I made to the chocolate cake was instead of using 2 Cups of Sugar I used 3/4C of sugar and 2TBSP of oil mixed with apple sauce to make it enough for 1/2C because I didn't want to use 1/2C of oil as specified. The did the same for the carrot cupcakes too. I used 2 TBSP of oil and the rest I substitute it with apple sauce and also used 3/4C of sugar. I also added walnuts to the carrot cupcakes as requested by Uncle Richie. The reason why I use less that half of the amount of sugar was because I knew that the icing will balance it out and I didn't want my cake to be too sweet hence more fattening.

chocolate cake

Carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

I was also going to write "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" on the chocolate cake but I didn't do it. I guess I was unmotivated and frustrated because the icing was starting to melt because of the hot weather but I figure hubby is a big boy now he don't need any special wording on his cake anyway :P. The verdict of the chocolate cake was it was good and just sweet enough and almost taste like a dark chocolate cake. The carrot cupcakes was yummy and hubby said that its one of my best carrot cake. I'm thinking it might be because of the walnuts that makes it more chewy who knows. I'm just glad every body liked the cake because I was in no mood what so ever to decorate and make the cakes pretty/beautiful.

We went for dinner on Friday night but it was pretty late because hubby had to work late. We went to this barbecue place by the mall (forgot the name). It was pretty good but a little expensive. No time for pictures because everyone ate their food as soon as it arrived as everyone got pretty hungry at that time.

On Saturday we went to the mall to return my jeans and to check out Iphone for my bestie in KL but surprisingly MAC store don't sell Iphone outright because they have this contract with AT&T the cell phone company here. So I'm going to have to stop by an AT&T store soon to see how much it would cost. Hubby was complaining and wanted to leave because he said that he's been to the willowbrook mall (this is only his second time!) and he wanted to go to a different mall. We passed by a Japanese restaurant by the mall and I've been telling him that I want to try this place since we arrived here so the deal was we would go to this Sports store and then go eat there. We walked around the sports store because hubby is looking for a bicycle for himself but I'm going to be using it first until mine arrives (we left mine up North because we had no room to take it with us). Then we went to eat at the Japanese restaurant. I would surely go back there again and this time I'll ask Uncle Richie and Aunt L to go with us because Uncle Richie would be more fun to eat with since hubs only eat specific food. Then Uncle Richie called to see if hubs was free to look at a Motorcycle with him that he was kind of interested. After that Uncle Richie took us to two more bicycle stores to look at them. It was about 4pm by the time we went home and I suggested that if Uncle Richie and Auntie L was home we should take Stanley to go play with their dogs since he hasn't really had any friends. It was too late to go to the Galleria anyway because I want to have a full day at the Galleria because I know it's huge and there is a lot of stores to visit..heheh..We then went over to their house (no pictures because it was just a zoo with 3 dogs [one big, one medium and small]) It was so funny seeing Stanley with them. They are also not used to Stanley and seeing a small dog. All the dogs were worn out after we left the house.
We attempted to go to the Galleria again on Sunday but we didn't because I just wanted to laze at home and do nothing. Stanley and I took naps while hubby was online doing personal and work related stuff. When I was sleeping I had a dream about ice cream cone so when I got up I made hubby go to the grocery store with me to go get some ice cream cone..hahah..and came home. We were also supposed to visit the gym Uncle and Auntie goes to but they were not going yesterday so we might visit the gym today. We want to go check and the gym and decide if we really want to join the gym which looks like we are going to but we will check it out first before we make any decision. It's pretty expensive but we are hoping that it'll be worth it health wise and we know that Uncle Richie will shame us into going the gym anyway. They have their own personal trainer there but we won't need to hire one because Uncle Richie can just show us how anyway. I'm hoping to be able to lose some weight and have some muscles when I join the gym...hahah..*finger cross*

Double Chocolate Chip Muffins

We went up to the cabin this past weekend. When I got home I was really tired from the trip and from the lack of sleep. On our way home we had to stop by the grocery store to get some milk and other necessity. It was so cold outside that all I wanted to go was go home and also because I had a ton of things to do when I get home (was planning on doing it anyway). After some of the chores was done I took a bath and was just browsing the web and suddenly thought of making some muffins so that I take it to work for breakfast. I used to eat breakfast before I go to work but to try and get to work early so I can get a good parking spot I decided to just eat breakfast at my desk therefore not only do I have to think of what to bring/cook for lunch I think breakfast too.

Double Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup chocolate chips plus some to sprinkle on the muffin

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup cocoa, sifted if lumpy

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 cup milk

1/3 cup cooking oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

Method
Combine all-purpose flour, chocolate chips, sugar, cocoa, salt and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Create a well in the center. Beat egg in a small bowl. Add milk, cooking oil, and vanilla. Stir and pour into well. Stir until just moistened. Grease 12 muffin cups with cooking spray. Fill cups 3/4 full. Sprinkle a little more chocolate chips.Bake at 400°F (205°C) for 15-18 minutes until golden.