Ahhhh, finally back home from our week long vacation in sunny California. We had the best time ever and really wanted to stay just a little longer. Now that we are back to reality I am happy to get back on schedule. As soon as we arrived home I worked like mad to get everything unpacked, washed, and put away. I'm the type of person that can't relax until all these things are done after we've been gone. I was so excited to get back into my own kitchen and bake today. Although I had access to my sister-in-law's kitchen while on vacation I was happy to be back in my own where everything is familiar to me. The drive home from California to Arizona is about 5 hours. It seems more like 10 when you are riding with a 3 and 4 year old. I try to bring along a stack of magazines to browse through, it makes the time go by faster. I was flipping through a Better Homes and Gardens and found a recipe for this delicious sounding Carrot Bread with Cream Cheese Icing. I love sneaking putting vegetables in my baked goods. This recipe called for a whopping 2 cups of carrots so there is lots of tiny carrot flakes all through the bread, SCORE! I swapped in whole wheat white flour as well to up the nutrition a bit but you could use all purpose or a mixture of half and half. Anyway you make it you're going to love it. This bread is so moist and delicious. Just look at all the yummy carrot deliciousness:


I left off the cream cheese icing. I was out of cream cheese and I think it is sweet enough without it. I have included the recipe in case you want to try it. This bread would be perfect for breakfast, brunch, or even just a snack. I hope you enjoy!

Carrot Bread with Cream Cheese Icing
Recipe Source Better Homes and Gardens

2 cups whole wheat white flour or all purpose flour
2/3 cups packed brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups shredded carrots
2 eggs, beaten
2/3 cups milk
1/3 cup canola oil
1 recipe cream cheese icing, recipe below if desired

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of an 8x4x2 inch loaf pan, set aside.

In a bowl stir together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, soda, and salt. In another bowl combine carrots, eggs, milk, and oil; add to dry ingredients, stirring until just moistened.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Check the loaf 10 minutes before end of baking. If it is browning too quickly, cover loosly with foil for the remainder of the cooking time. Cool in pan 10 minutes; remove and cool completley on a rack. Glaze with cream cheese icing if desired.

Cream Cheese Icing
Whisk together 2 Tbsp of cream cheese, 3/4 cups powdered sugar, and a little milk (3 to 4 teaspoons) until smooth and glazelike. Drizzle over Carrot Bread.

I live in an area that gets pretty warm in the Spring & Summer. Well, the truth is it gets HOT!! So warm in fact that playing outside July, August, and September are pretty much off limits. This time of year I seem to crave either a big salad for dinner or a bowl of cereal and not much else. The past couple of days have been actually quite nice, a bit below the normal temperatures for this time of year. I decided it would be okay to fire up the oven to make this recipe that I found in Woman's Day magazine.

My husband loves his ham. Next to steak, it would be his meat of choice. This is a great way to use up leftover ham or even deli lunch meat ham from the grocery store. This is quick and easy to make. You just pair your ham with pizza dough for a savory supper that rolls right over its sandwich competition. You can either make your own pizza dough or buy the canned kind. I used my pizza dough recipe that you can find HERE. Add a salad or some fruit, we had watermelon, to round out this meal. I hope you enjoy and have a great weekend.

Ham & Swiss With A Twist

1 lb pizza dough (I used THIS recipe)
1 Tbsp whole grain mustard
1/2 lb thinly sliced ham
1/4 lb thinly sliced Swiss cheese
1/2 small onion, thinly sliced into rings

Heat oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll the pizza dough into a large circle and spread with the mustard. Cut the dough into 8 triangles. Divide the ham, cheese, and onions among the triangles. Starting at the wide end, roll the dough around the filling (some of the filling will stick out).


Transfer the rolls to the prepared baking sheet and bake until golden brown, 20-25 minutes. Serve warm!

*The rolls can be prepared and refrigerated (unbaked) for up to 1 day.

I've had this bunch of bananas sitting on my counter all week. They were so ripe and ready to bake with. I just didn't know what I wanted to make. I wasn't in the mood to make muffins because I already had a bunch in the freezer. I was thinking some kind of banana bread would be good so I went searching for a recipe. The problem with banana bread recipes is that most contain nuts. I can't stand nuts in my bread. I've never really enjoyed them that much, not even in ice cream or chocolate. I was flipping through my Pampered Chef cook book and came upon this recipe. It sounded like a nice Springtime bread and contained NO nuts. I was sold. It smelled soooo good while cooking I couldn't wait for a taste. I wasn't disappointed. This moist, fruit-filled breakfast/brunch bread tastes heavenly fresh from the oven, but it also could freeze beautifully to serve later on. The recipe called for all-purpose flour but I used my favorite whole wheat white flour and it worked beautifully. You could probably do half and half too if you wanted. Also, I found that the 1/3 cup of orange juice called for in the original wasn't enough, the batter was way stiff. I just added a little more juice tablespoon at a time, trying to to stir too much, till I felt it was right.


Banana-Orange Muffin Bread
Recipe Source Pampered Chef adapted slightly

2 cups all-purpose flour or whole wheat white flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 medium)
1 egg
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 tsp orange zest
1/3-1/2 cup orange juice

Preheat oven to 400 F. Spray bottom of loaf pan with cooking spray. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in medium sized bowl. In a separate bowl, mash the bananas; add eggs, butter, orange zest and  1/3 cup of the juice; mix well. If mixture seems too stiff add in more juice a couple of tablespoons at a time until desired consistency. Add banana mixture to dry ingredients; mix just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.

*For best results, cool the bread in the loaf pan on cooling rack for 10 minutes. Then loosen the sides of bread from pan with knife and turn the loaf out onto the cooling rack.

*To freeze the baked loaf, wrap the cooled loaf in foil, and place in a plastic bag. Freeze for up to 3 months. Let stand at room temperature to thaw.

1 cup water (very warm about 104 F.)
2 pkgs active dry yeast or 4 1/2 tsp
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 stick butter
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup boiling water
2 eggs, beaten
6 cups flour

Mix first two ingredients and set aside. In another bowl, mix sugar, butter, and salt. To this add boiling water. Mix and let cool. Once cool, mix with yeast mixture and then add the eggs to all the liquid. Now add flour. Mix to cover all flour. Put in refrigerator covered with foil, for 5 hours or overnight. Take out 1/2 dough and roll into circle, no more than 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 12 triangles. Roll each triangle into a crescent shape beginning with wide end. Tuck small end under roll and place on greased baking sheet. Let rise until double in size, covered with towel. Bake at 400 F for 8 to 10 minutes. Makes 24 rolls.

*You could evenly cut this recipe in half in you don't want quite so many roll. They do freeze very well though if you want to make extra and store some for later use.

You know how I've been posting lots of food that is wrapped up in some kind of breading? Well, I'm not done and have another one here for you. Let me start by saying I have an awesome mother-in-law. She is a great cook and I always look forward to dinner over at her house. My father-in-law is pretty awesome too but don't expect him to make dinner for you, unless you are in the mood for popcorn as a main dish. We had a wonderfully delicious Easter dinner prepared by my as mentioned mother-in-law. The star of the show was the ham. I don't get too excited over ham, I like it but not a favorite. If there was a choice between turkey or ham I would go for the turkey. I do enjoy the smell of the ham baking in the oven though. This particular ham she made on Easter was so good and really hit the spot for me. We lucked out too because they were going out of town the next few days and didn't want any leftovers in the house. We were excited because this meant that we got to take them all home! SCORE! So I was left with all this ham and ready to make something yummy with it. I came upon THIS recipe for Calzones using leftover ham. I made them today and they were a big hit with my family. They were very simple too. You use a special yeast for pizza. Here is what the package looks like:


This is so simple. You just mix up the dough and don't have to worry about rising. It is ready to use right away. I found that the dough was way more easy to roll out than my other pizza crust recipes. There was none of that bounce back deal you get sometimes. The crust has a mixture of whole wheat flour in it to add some nutrition. They are easy to whip up and I know your family will enjoy them. Enjoy!

Cheesy Ham & Broccoli Calzones
recipe source Good Life Eats

No Rise Calzone or Pizza Crust:
1 1/3 cup warm water
2 packets Fleischmann’s Pizza Crust Yeast
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 - 3 cups all-purpose flour

For the Calzone Filling:
1 3/4 cups diced ham
1 3/4 cups small broccoli florets, cut into bite sized pieces
6 ounces mild chedder cheese, shredded
2 - 3 green onions, sliced thin
1 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoons flour
10 ounces milk
1 cube or 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 tablespoon sour cream

For the Calzone Crust:
In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the warm water and yeast. Let stand for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, whisk in the olive oil.

Meanwhile, combine sugar, salt, whole wheat, and 2 cups of all purpose flour in a bowl. Reserve the remaining 1 cup all-purpose in a separate bowl. Add the flour mixture to the water 1 cup at a time while mixing with the stand mixer's dough hook until a soft dough is formed.

If dough is still sticky, add the reserved flour 1/4 cup at a time (while still mixing) until desired consistency is reached. Dough should be soft and moist, but not sticky.
Dough does not need to rise, but keep it covered while you mix up the filling.

For the Calzone Filling:
Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.

Prepare the ham, broccoli, cheese, and green onion. Stir together in a medium-large bowl. Set aside.

In a small sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour until it has absorbed the butter. Slowly add the milk, whisking vigorously as you pour, until the sauce is thick and smooth. Add the bouillon and stir until dissolved. Season with pepper and, if desired, salt. Stir in the sour cream. Add the sauce into the ham mixture and stir to combine.

Divide dough into 8 equal portions and roll them into balls. It helps if you have a kitchen scale.

Roll each ball into an 8 inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Top each circle with approximately 1/2 cup of the filling mixture. Pull edge of lower crust over top to form a half circle. Press the layers together to seal.

Lower the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Transfer calzones to a greased baking sheet or a parchment lined pizza stone. If desired, brush with olive oil or an egg wash (1 egg + 1 tablespoon water, beaten). Bake at 400 degrees F for 10-20 minutes, until browned and puffy. Transfer to cooling rack to keep bottom crust crisp to sit until cool enough to handle.

Note: To freeze - cool completely, then store in a freezer safe ziploc bag in the freezer for up to a month. Defrost in the refrigerator and reheat in the oven or toaster oven at 300 degrees F.

Fruit is the perfect side dish.

Are you ready for muffin Monday? Just kidding, I don't have a muffin Monday but it sounds like a fun idea. I do have a killer muffin recipe for you to start the week out. Remember back a few posts when I was raving about my new favorite baking friend the BANANA and how I am so amazed at how it can stand in the place of butter and oil in baked goods? Well, I have another recipe for you where this works beautifully. I whipped these up this afternoon hoping for the same great result and was not disappointed. If you are at all a fan of chocolate you are gonna love these muffins. They are bursting with chocolaty goodness. Honestly, the banana flavor isn't that powerful in these. I think the chocolate overpowers it but you won't miss it. When I tried mine it was fresh from the oven and still warm which is how I would recommend eating them. Now I have three favorite muffin recipes on my blog all different from each other but equally yummy. The recipe comes from Handle the Heat. I adapted her recipe slightly by adding 1/2 tsp of cinnamon. I love the flavors of chocolate and cinnamon together. Just leave it out if you aren't a fan. I hope you enjoy and have a great Monday.


Chocolate Banana Muffins
slightly adapted from Handle the Heat

• 3 large bananas
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 cup white whole-wheat flour (or whole wheat pastry flour or whole wheat flour)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Enjoy with a big glass of moo juice!


*Recipe Note* She used half whole wheat and half white flour. I just used all (1 cup) of white whole wheat flour and the results where great.

This post is linked up with Sweet as Sugar Cookies

Easter is right around the corner and I've been trying to think of some fun Easter foods to make. I came upon these Easter Bunny Buns over at Mommy's Kitchen and knew right away that I wanted to make them. These are so easy to make because you use a cake mix. I've never used a cake mix in my bread baking but was intrigued at the idea. I have to say that they rose beautifully. I made four Easter Bunny Buns and with the rest of the dough I shaped into crescents for dinner tonight. The original recipe calls for a powdered sugar glaze to brush over the bunnies but opted out and kept them simple with a butter and cinnamon sugar dusting. Okay, it was pure laziness but they were still awesome just the same. I think these would make a fun Easter morning treat for your family. I hope you enjoy!

Easter Bunny Buns
Recipe source Mommy's Kitchen

1 - (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast (I use rapid rise)
1 1/2 - cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
3 1/4 - cups all-purpose or bread flour (I prefer bread flour)
1 - 9 oz package jiffy yellow cake mix or 1/2 of
regular 18.5 oz cake mix approx 1 1/4 cups
1/4 cup butter, softened to brush on baked rolls
Cinnamon Sugar
Colored Easter Sprinkles (optional)

Glaze

2 - cups powdered sugar
2 - tablespoons milk
1/2 - teaspoon vanilla extract
1 - teaspoon butter, softened

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. Stir in the flour and cake mix. Beat until dough is smooth. Add some flour on the counter and knead any additional flour into the dough. Knead until it is no longer sticky. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes - 1 hour. Punch down the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface.

Roll dough into a long rectangle 1/2-inch thick.

Cut dough into strips 1/2-inch wide and 14-inches long. (sorry I did not get a photo of that part). Reserve 1-2 of the strips to cut into pieces about 1/2-inch long and roll into small balls (use for bunny tails).

Then roll the dough to make rounded snake shapes.( I just cut them into strips without rolling). Place one long piece of dough on a greased baking sheet. Place one end of the strip over the other to make a loop; bring the end that is underneath up and cross it over the other end. Place a ball of dough on top of the bottom loop (to be the tail).


Brush the bunnies with melted butter and sprinkle on a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. You can also leave some of the bunnies plain. Cover the bunnies with plastic wrap that has been sprayed with baking spray. Allow the rolls to rise in a warm place for 45-60 minutes, until nearly double in size. Remove plastic wrap and bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Brush on a simple icing and add holiday sprinkles to the plain rolls. Just add the simple icing to the cinnamon ones.

GLAZE INSTRUCTIONS

Stir the powdered add the butter and blend with a fork. Add the milk and the vanilla extract and mix until you have the consistency of a pourable glaze. Brush on the glaze while the bunnies are still warm. Add colored sprinkles.

Note: These bunny buns can be left plain and used as a dinner roll. Just shape, rise and bake the bunnies. When they are finished brush with melted butter before serving.








I linked this post up with Sweet as Sugar Cookies & Mom's Crazy Cooking & Good Cheap Eats (What's on your Plate?) & At Home With Haley

Oh this is one of those MUST TRY recipes. I am telling you, go and make this bread!! I am craving some of those nice fluffy chunks of cheesy herbed dough right now. This bread is irresistible. If you've ever had monkey bread this is kind of the same concept but savory instead of sweet. This is so easy to make too because all you do is chunk up the dough and throw it into the baking pan, no rolling dough out. Kids will have fun helping with this. I think it would make a great appetizer. I can picture sitting around with friends and pulling chunks of this pull apart dough off to pop in your mouth. We sat around our dinner table last night with the kids and did just that. It's was fun to eat. Here is what our loaf looked like when we were done. There was some taken from the back end too but you can't see it from this picture.


There is whole wheat flour mixed into this for some extra nutrition and character. Just another warning that this is HIGHLY ADDICTIVE so must make sure you have people to share it with.

GOLDEN CHEESE BREAD
Adapted from King Arthur Flour & Tracey's Culinary Adventures

1 cup lukewarm water

4 tablespoons softened or sliced butter

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups white wheat flour

1 Tbsp sugar

1/4 cup dry milk powder

2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

3/4 teaspoon onion powder, optional but good

2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

Put 16 pieces of dough into the bottom of the prepared pan. Distribute 1/3 cup of the shredded cheese over the dough pieces then brush with some of the melted butter.

Oh fresh baked dinner rolls, how I love you! I tried to stop at just one and then told myself just two. Three rolls later and I knew I had to stop myself or I would regret it, plus I wanted some dessert and had to save some room. I hit the jackpot on this recipe. These are unique, I've never had anything like them before. I can honestly say that they are the best I've ever made or had for that manner, sorry to my mother-in-law. They have orange zest in them and I wondered how that was going to be but it gives it just a subtle taste of orange not overpowering at all. The smell of fresh bread baking with citrus undertones is absolutely wonderful! I found this recipe in a Cooking Light magazine so they are considered healthy. The recipe says 163 calories and 3.7 grams of fat, if you care about those kinds of things. What is 163x3 anyways? Who cares, it was worth it.

Orange-Buttermilk Dinner Rolls
Adapted from Cooking Light Magazine

1 1/4 cups warm buttermilk (100 to 110 F)
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. honey
1 package of dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp.)
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
4 tsp. grated orange zest
1 tsp. kosher salt
3 to 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
cooking spray
1 Tbsp. melted butter for brushing on

Combine first 3 ingredients in bowl of an electric mixer. Sprinkle yeast over milk mixture; let stand 5 minutes or until bubbly. Stir 2 Tbsp. butter, zest, and salt in. Weigh or lightly spoon 3 cups of the flour into dry measuring cups; level with knife. Add flour to yeast mixture; mix on low speed with dough hook until soft, elastic dough forms (about 5 minutes). *I ACTUALLY HAD TO ADD ABOUT 1/2 CUP MORE FLOUR TO THE RECIPE BECAUSE MY DOUGH WAS WAY TOO STICKY. JUST DO WHAT YOU THINK IS RIGHT* Dough will be somewhat sticky but not too wet.

Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.


Punch dough down; turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Cut dough into 13 equal pieces. Working with one piece at a time, roll dough into a ball. Arrange dough balls 2 inch apart on baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Brush lightly with melted butter (I forgot to do this). Cover and let rise 1 hour or until doubled in size.


Bake at 375 F for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Yields 13 rolls.

If you like cake you are gonna love this cornbread. This is so good, I will say the best I've ever had and it gives you the excuse to eat something cake like for dinner. What could be better than that. I don't know how you prefer your cornbread but I've always liked mine a little on the sweet side. I usually make this to accompany split pea soup, chili or beef stew. The beauty of it all is that you probably have everything to make it and it is so simple to throw together. You can double the recipe to make it for a crowd or you can half the recipe to make it for a small family (which is what I do). I give credit again to my mother-in-law for my recipe source.

Cake Like Cornbread

2 cups Bisquick mix (I used the heart healthy one)
4 Tbsp. cornmeal
1 cup sugar
2 eggs (Egg substitute will make it come out lighter)
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Combine baking mix, cornmeal and sugar in a bowl. Add eggs and milk, beat until well combined. Mix in melted butter. Place in a greased 9 inch square baking pan. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until wooden toothpick comes out dry.

Once again I am carb loading on you. At least this one has some whole grains in it so naturally I slapped a healthy label on it. I am a huge fan of focaccia bread. We were at Disneyland a couple years ago and I ordered a turkey sandwich on rosemary focaccia bread. I though that sounded gourmetishly (is that a word?) good. It was is HEAVENLY. Ever since I've been a huge fan of this form of bread and Disneyland Cuisine for that matter. They have so many great food choices for the vegetarian or health conscious eater. I'm very proud of them. Anyways, I saw this recipe for focaccia bread in my trusty old Taste of Home magazine. I used the basic recipe and tweaked it to make it my own. I am superbly happy with the results and will make this a regular in our dinner rotations. I have big plans to make a turkey sandwich with the leftover's. They are just calling out for it!

Herb & Cheese Focaccia Bread
Adapted from Taste of Home

2 1/4 tsp. or one packet of active dry yeast (not quick rise)
1 cup warm water (110-115 F)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. dried parsley
Dash of Pepper
2 to 2 1/2 cups flour (I used half white wheat flour & half all purpose mixed)
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
1 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water for 5 minutes.
In the meantime mix salt, sugar, garlic powder, oregano, basil, parsley, and pepper in a little bowl.

Here is that Turkey Sandwich I promised you!

One of my favorite restaurants is The Olive Garden. The only reason I like the place is the breadsticks, and the little Andes mints you get with your check. Usually when we go I will order the soup, salad, and bread stick meal because by the time I eat 1,2,3,4 (keep going) breadsticks I am too full for the entree. They are so amazing. I have tried to recreate them here with this recipe, which claims to come close. Now I'm not going to lie, these are not like the ones at the Olive Garden. Maybe that is a good thing because I want to still fit into my skinny jeans. However, they are really good. I actually made two batches of these, one into the breadsticks and the other into rolls. I then bagged them up and froze them for busy weeknights.

Almost Famous BreadSticks Your Homebased Mom

1 package yeast (2 1/4 tsp.)
4 1/4 cups flour
2 Tbsp. butter, softened
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. salt
1 1/2 cups + 2 Tbsp. warm water (110-120 F)

Topping

3 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. oregano

To make dough, place 1/4 cup warm water in a bowl and sprinkle yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes until foamy. Add the flour, sugar, butter, salt and 1 1/4 C plus 2 Tbsp warm water to the yeast mixture and mix in mixer until sticky dough forms. Add some additional flour (a little at a time) and continue mixing until a nice soft, smooth dough forms.

Place on a floured surface and roll into a 2 ft. long log. Cut into 16 even pieces. Roll each piece into a 7 inch long breadstick. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet. Place about 2 inches apart. Cover with cloth and let rise in warm place for about 45 min to 1 hour.



Preheat oven to 400 F. Make the topping and brush breadsticks with 1/2 of mixture before baking. Bake until lightly golden brown, about 12-15 minutes. After you remove from oven brush with remaining butter mixture.


Like my little "runt" roll in the upper left?



There are so many pumpkin muffin recipes out there. I've tried quite a few of them myself. Like I said in my previous post, I like to try to make things using more whole grains. Some pumpkin recipes I've tried are super healthy but not very good and some are very good but not healthy at all. I found a recipe that is both healthy and absolutely FAB-U-LOUS! I got the base recipe out of Prevention magazine a few years back and have tinkered with it until it is perfect, in my professional opinion. I lived off these things when I was pregnant with my second child sometimes eating several a day. I didn't feel to bad because (A) I was pregnant and (B) they are nutritious. Her nick-name is "Spicy". Maybe it is from all the ginger and cinnamon she got while bak'in.