Bananas Foster Muffins

Today started out a sunny and nice summer morning, somewhere along the way the clouds and fog rolled in. Boo. 

But, on the bright side, perfect baking weather....bonus. 

My kiddos love banana muffins. They ask for them all the time. Everytime they see bananas in the fruit bowl getting really ripe they bug me...non...stop. 

I was kind of getting sick of the same old banana muffins so I though I'd put a twist on this classic favourite.

Then it popped into my head. Why not try bananas foster muffins?

Voila!...here they are.

They're super yummy.

I chopped up the walnuts quite fine. You can omit them too if you'd like.

Doesn't the sauce on top make them look divine?

Here's the recipe

Bananas Foster Muffins

Yield: 12 Muffins  
Bake Time: 20-25 minutes  
Total Time: 40-45 minutes

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 ripe bananas
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup butter melted
1 tbsp rum extract or 3 tbsp rum
1/4 cup walnuts


Glaze:

4tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp butter
2tbsp rum or 1 tbsp rum extract
pinch of cinnamon


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and prepare 12 muffin tins with liners

In a bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. In a separate bowl mash bananas, sugar, egg, and rum. combine wet and dry ingredients.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

Top with chopped walnuts and pat them in gently.

Bake for 20-25 minutes

While the muffins are baking, make the glaze.

Combine brown sugar, rum, butter and cinnamon in a small saucepan and simmer for a few minutes. Whisk frequently. Allow to cool until warm but not hot anymore.

Remove the muffins from the oven and place on wire cooling rack. 

Drizzle glaze on top while muffins are still warm.

Enjoy!

Nutella Multigrain Cheerios Treats

A sweet treat with a healthy twist. Just a few simple ingredients.

Say what?

Healthy multi grain cheerios marries nutella and marshmallow???

Yes! I made these little treats yesterday when the kids were looking for a snack. I didn't want to give them total garbage (we've been trying to eat healthy you know?).

I spotted the cereal in the cupboard and thought, "Why not?…I can make these into a nice little snack."

All you need for these babies is Cheeries (multi grain or honey will do fine), butter, marshmallow, and nutella. That's it! Easy Peasy.

Just melt your butter, add your marshmallows and Nutella

Toss in your Cheerios

Enjoy! These taste like a treat, but are packed with the goodness of multi grains from the Cheerios.


Nutella Multigrain Cheerios

Ingredients:

2 tbs butter
1/3 cup Nutella (more if you love it)
1 10 oz pkg mini marshmallows
6 cups of multigrain Cheerios

Directions:

Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the marshmallows and melt on low stirring frequently. Then add your Nutella and stir until incorporated. Stir in the Cheerios and mix until combined.

Spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray and pour in the mixture. Gently pat it down and let it cool.

That's It!

So easy right?

I'm going to need to pick up some more marshmallows so I can make these suckers again.

Blueberry Pie Oatmeal…with Chia Seeds

Who wants blueberry pie for breakfast???……..I do!

This Blueberry Pie Oatmeal is so healthy and delicious! What a fabulous healthy twist on a yummy dessert. 

I don't know about you guys but when my kids have oatmeal they keep trying to load on the brown sugar. So today I thought, there's got to be a way to get them to eat oatmeal without complaining for more sugar.

The solution was giving them "Blueberry pie". As soon as I told them I had made them blueberry pie oatmeal they gobbled it right up. They were asking for more "filling" of course, but at least it was healthy stuff.

So here's how I made it….

Cook up some oatmeal

You'll need these…

These frozen blueberries look so beautiful...

Put it all in a saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes…..

 Looks so yummy!…..

Blueberry Pie Oatmeal with Chia

Oats (cook as much as you need as per package)
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 tsp chia seeds
a pinch of cinnamon
1 tbsp water
1 1/2 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 tsp corn starch

1. Cook your oatmeal
2. While oatmeal is cooking, combine blueberries, chia, cinnamon, water, and maple syrup. Sprinkle the corn starch on top. Mix all together and simmer for about five minutes.
3. Spoon oatmeal into a bowl and top with blueberry "pie filling"

The Day My Caravan Caught Fire....with my kids strapped inside!!!

 The first thing most of think about when shopping for a new vehicle is safety and comfort. Naturally I  did my reading and saw that the Dodge Grand Caravan was the #1 best selling mini van on the market. How could I go wrong, right? That all changed the day the side door caught fire while driving with my four kids.

It was a cool day in March, we were driving home from my son's hockey game. We weren't too far from home, maybe five minutes. As we were driving along the road I began to smell something very unfamiliar, but the smell just didn't seem right. I began slowing at an intersection and something told me to look back. That's when I saw smoke and FLAMES!!! Directly behind me where my baby is sitting in his car seat carrier. Are you kidding me? What is happening here??? My husband was in the passenger seat on a business call, that's when I yelled "OMG Fire!!!" We jumped out out of the car in the middle of the busy road. I opened the sliding back passenger door and that's where I saw flames in the track of the door. I couldn't understand what was happening. All I knew was that I had to get the kids out of the car. The flames were burning at my legs at this point. My main concern was was the gas tank door was right against the door that I just slid back. I grabbed the baby and my husband grabbed the other two kids. There was still one more strapped in his carseat in the very back. My husband reached back there and pulled him out so fast. I have never seen someone move so fast before. Once they were all out we ran to get away from the van. I still didn't know the cause of the fire and I wasn't sure if the van was going to explode or what. 

Luckily there were bystanders who took me and my kids into their vehicle. This happened right across from a gas station, so one of the attendants saw what was happening and came running with a fire extinguisher. We were lucky enough to get a ride home from some nice people (it was too cold to be out there with the baby and the kids) my poor husband had to stay out there and wait for the police and fire truck to get there. 

Once the fire was put out the fireman wanted to start the van up again to move it. But once he turned it on....it started smoking from the door again!!!! They decided to disconnect the battery, this indicated an electrical issue.

I am so thankful we were able to get the kids out of the car safely. But I still shudder to think what could have happened. These flames were inches away from my baby's car seat!!!

The worst part about this all is that we contacted the dealership and Dodge/Chrysler to warn them about this issue, and nobody seemed to care. Not an acknowledgement, not an apology, no sympathy, no concern whatsoever!!! I am still shocked that with a problem like this, that they wouldn't want to look into this for the safety of their customers. I guess ignoring the problem makes it go away right?

I did a little digging online and found this article...Dodge Recall.

Funny thing is, I never received a recall notice. I also called Dodge as well as the dealership after the incident to ask if there had been any recalls on this model and they said "none that had not already been repaired". No mention at all of a recall for an electrical issue.

So, we purchased a new vehicle. Wanna bet it wasn't another Caravan! 

If you do drive a Caravan and you begin to smell something funny, please keep my story in mind.

Here are some pictures of the aftermath. This seat in the picture below is the seat my baby was sitting in.