To A New Beginning

Let's just get things straight from the start, I am not good at a lot of things. I have, however, always been good at my job. Four months ago though, I made a major career change, I went from full time, always on the go, career driven woman, to stay at home mom with lots of time (and no money) on my hands. 
I have 2 beautiful daughters, Bailey, who will be 5 soon, and Taylor, who was the blessing that has sent me into the trenches like so many mothers before me. I have never once believed that women who stayed at home had it easy, but now that I am one, man... I don't even know what to say. There are still lots of days I don't know how I make it through and even more that I wonder how so many women have the patience to do this their whole lives. Don't get me wrong, I love every minute of this insane, crazy life, but serious kudos to all stay at home mom veterans.
Now in my new life, I have found that I have had a lot more time to cook and bake, which I have always loved, and good thing too since we just recently found out that Bailey may have some kind of food allergies. When the doctor told me that Bailey's health issues could be due to food allergies and she wanted us to try food elimination trials, I had no idea what I was getting into. "Oh cut out milk and soy first off? Sounds good. Should be a cinch!" HA! What the heck was I thinking?! We've had some definite failures of recipes in this dairy free soy free world we've entered, but we're starting to get the hang of it and would like to help out those families that have kiddos (or themselves) with the same issues.

So, first things first, breakfast! No better way than to start at the beginning right? These tasty, moist, fruit-packed muffins are an awesome morning meal that were pretty easy to turn dairy/soy free without a lot of expensive specialty products. (And for those of us counting calories, only 150 calories in one of these filling little bad boys!)

 

Bailey's Sunrise Muffins

(Makes 12 Muffins)

 

 
 

1 cup almond milk
½ cup orange juice
1 cup quick cooking oats
1 mashed banana
¼ cup Craisins (I like the cherry flavored variety)
¼ cup raspberries, broken into small pieces
½ cup apples (granny smith or pink lady's work the best)
1 egg
¼ cup canola oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Grease muffin cups. (If using paper muffin cups, spray with cooking spray as mixture will stick to liners since they are so moist).
2. In a small bowl, combine milk, orange juice, fruit and oats; let soak for 15 minutes.
3. In a separate bowl, beat together egg and oil; stir in oatmeal mixture.
4.  In a third bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Fold flour mixture into wet ingredients, just until combined.     
5. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups until cups are 2/3 full.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.



 



 

 

Hope that you all enjoy this yummy breakfast treat! Bailey and I sure did! Let us know what you think!