toasted oats with yogurt & fresh applesauce

Remember way back when I declared myself a genius? Well, I'm toasting oats again and riding those genius coattails into fame and fortune. Okay, there's no fame and certainly no fortune, I'm still half asleep and haven't had my daily dose of caffeine yet. But I can most certainly tell you about the amazing breakfast I had last week. Read all about it and grab the recipe on Poppytalk.

I realized I had twittered about this, but never posted a link here. Want to find out more about me? My small business heros, Lauren Bacon & Emira Mears interviewed me on their blog. Go on, read all about it. If you haven't read their book, The Boss of You: Everything A Woman Needs to Know to Start, Run, and Maintain Her Own Business, go out and do it now! It's filled with practical and inspiring advice about running your own business (and it ain't just for the ladies). I was also very recently interviewed by Karencilla from Sweet Little Hearts. So please go on over and say hi.

Also, how about a little more self-promotion? My etsy shop is filled to the brim with lots of new cards, including seasonal holiday cards. If you haven't dropped by in a while, go on over and take a peek. If you are in Vancouver, I'll be setting up shop at Toque at the Western Front, November 27th and 28th and at Got Craft? on December 6th.

wait, there's green in my muffin!

The other night I discovered a new food blog, Pinch My Salt. It's filled with lovely photographs and beautiful looking recipes. And when I spotted the recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Muffins, I knew it would be the perfect recipe to start off the long Labour Day weekend. These muffins use applesauce instead of a lot of oil and I definitely liked the sound of a low-fat treat. I had a little bit of applesauce in the fridge, but I quickly made some more out of 2 very large and truthfully, rather unappealing Granny Smith apples. Here's my very simple recipe for applesauce.

applesauce
2 large apples, diced or sliced thinly
1/4 c of water or more
1 t cinnamon

1. Combine all three ingredients into a medium sized pot. Turn heat to medium and cover. Stir occassionally, adding more water if needed. About 20 minutes later, you should have applesauce! You can blend it or mash it with a fork to acheive a fine purreed consistency. Or enjoy it a bit chunky. Makes about 3 cups.

Cornelius is pretty much enamoured with these muffins...the only thing he would have changed to improve them slightly is to add mashed bananas instead of the applesauce. I'd have to agree.

chocolate zucchini muffins
(adapted from Pinch My Salt)
1/4 c sugar
3 T vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 c applesauce or mushed bananas
2 c all-purpose flour
2 T unsweetened cocoa
1 1/4 t baking soda
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/4 t salt
1 1/2 c finely shredded zucchini
1/2 c semisweet chocolate chips
cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, oil and eggs until pale and creamy. Add in the fruit puree and mix well.

3. In another bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add this dry mixture to the wet ingredients, stirring until just combined. Add in the zucchini and chocolate chips and mix well.

4. Drop batter into muffins tins sprayed with oil. Fill about 3/4 full. Bake for about 20 minutes or until done. Makes about 18 muffins.