Healthier Cinnamon Bun Doughnuts with Cream Cheese Frosting

Who doesn't like cinnamon rolls? Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could get that great taste at home in  30 minutes with a healthier low fat baked doughnut? Yep you can.

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Banana Nut Cake

Super moist and delicious. The perfect cake for when you need to take a dish or family is coming for dinner. There is something special about a cake when you know what is in it and can pronounce all the ingredients.

This is a family recipe of a family friend (thanks Janet).  I have learned to accept gifts of this type. Many are great in an old fashion way (I can't remember the last time I used a shifter...). If you have a family favorite, email it to me.


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Low Fat Whole Wheat Blueberry Scones

Guilty pleasures - low fat edition. I love a tasty sweet something for breakfast but they usually ar not good for me.It must be good for you... it has blueberries and whole wheat. Plus it is only 200 calories and just under 3 grams of fat.

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Healthier Low Fat Carrot Cake

Wonderfully moist and almost good for you. At about 250 calories and 7 grams of fat you get one of the best carrot cakes I have had plus it won't leave a pool of oil on the plate. I away though carrot cake would be hard to make. Nope... it was relatively easy with 3/10 skill level and just a little more work than a coffee cake. You can do this cake.

A normal recipe for carrot cake starts with a cup of oil. Read that as almost 2000 calories and you have not added even a carrot yet. You can't really do that very often. So I looked around a lot for just the right recipe. Many had "odd" ingredients. While I'm not a "all natural" guy, it still needs to be reasonably natural ingredients.

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Cinnamon Sugar Swirl Quick Bread

A scrumptious quick bread. Simple enough for a family breakfast but eloquent enough for gifting.


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Favorite Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake aka Daddy Coffee Cake

Let's start the year with an old favorite. A tasty, quick, no planning needed coffee cake that any dad can do. Dads can cook too...

Before I "cooked", this is one of the things I cooked. I would get up in the morning with no plans and suddenly decide it was a coffee cake morning for everyone. So in 40 minutes, we had two hot out of the oven coffee cakes with what we always had on hand. (a double batch... why do one when you can do two in the same time). I did it so many times, I didn't open the cookbook after a while.
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Homemade Cinnamon Candied Nuts

Don't you just love the smell of the candied nuts at the mall or at a fair. I always have a hard time resisting.

These will make the perfect "hostess gift" for that holiday party. And nobody will believe you did it yourself at home. What could be better? Plus it's an easy cook. A 2/10 (maybe a 1/10) skill level. It's time to impress your friends with you cooking ability.

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Really Good Banana Nut Muffins

One heck of a tasty muffin. Good enough to hide a couple of bananas just to use for muffins later. Plus it's an easy (3/10) bake.

I had the bananas and decided to go for muffins this time. A great decision. I read about 10 recipes but the best ones seemed to have something in common. They controlled the liquid components. By that I mean all the non-dry things like the bananas, eggs etc are added together and only enough milk added to make 2 cups total. I works great.

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Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Banana Bread

Chucked full of chocolate, topped with cinnamon sugar and infused with banana. This is a different take on banana bread. Like all quick breads, an easy beginner recipe.

This is sometimes call "Willie Nelson’s Famous Banana Bread" and the first post I find about it is at Everybody Likes Sandwiches . There are some variations but really they are all about the same.
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Berry Crisp for Two

A great breakfast (or dessert) treat for the ones you love. Use any berries you have and topped with a crumble top, bake until crispy and you have a great treat.

This is a modified American Test Kitchen recipe but I don't own the book it's in (about the only one I don't own) so I went Googling. The first version had a few spelling errors and I felt some missing ingredients (no link for you) but the second version looked good (In Good Taste).  I combined the two since there were several other differences.
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Easy Fresh Strawberry Pie Just Like Big Boy

A wonderful summer classic, a fresh strawberry pie recipe just like Big Boy's. We have used this recipe for over 30 years. This simple killer recipe that will make your company refuse to leave without the recipe. Plus almost any fool including me can pull this off.

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Raspberry Cream Cheese Buttermilk Scones

My wife is a raspberry hound. Yep. If it has raspberries, she is hopeless. Add some cream cheese and she is putty in my hands. This is a lighter scone which balances the tartness of the raspberry with cream cheese. An excellent Mothers Day treat.

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Really Easy Apple Crumb Pie

A real crowd pleaser.  Some apples, a pie crust, sugar, flour, cinnamon and butter and you get a great tasting basic apple pie. Seconds all around.

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Old Fashioned Banana Nut Bread

An excellent old fashion banana nut bread that your grandmother would have made. Deep banana taste that is moist and nutty.
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Chocolate Cherry Pineapple Dump Cake

A tasty and moist treat that is dairy free. We were in need of a dairy free holiday treat last weekend and this was just the trick.

You can do this either non-diary or with diary depending on the ingredients you chose. I  went with a margarine and a cake mix that both were dairy free but if food allergies are not an issue for your family, almost any cake mix and margarine/butter will do.

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Rachael Ray's 5 Minute Fudge

An excellent and easy fudge for the holiday season. We first saw this recipe when Rachael Ray was on Oprah and Rachael Ray Throw a Holiday Party- about 5-6 years ago. Since then it has been a Christmas tradition at our house. It's been made for presents and cookie exchanges along with extra for family. And everybody asks for the recipe. So that is my Christmas present to you... easy fudge.

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Healthier Low Fat Brownie with Cream Cheese Frosting Under 200 Calories

A rich and chewy low fat brownie from scratch. I added some lower fat cream cheese frosting for a great combination that would be welcomed at any party. All for just under 200 calories.

I don't like mixes so I generally cook from scratch and really this is about the same amount of work as a box and you know what is in it. I somewhat simplified a recipe from food.com add some instant coffee to punch up the chocolate flavor and then made some cream cheese frosting with a lower fat cream cheese that is the perfect topping for the great tasting brownie.

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Apple Cinnamon Scones

It's apple season and what could start your day better than an apple-cinnamon scone. One apple with a little work and you're the hero of breakfast. Easy and quick.

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Carrot Cake Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

My wife thinks this is one of the best things I have ever made and she may well be right . It is right up there with my Whole Wheat Buttermilk Blueberry Cream Cheese Scones.  An evil treat that I could almost live on. Plus all major food groups are included: Grains (flour and oats) Fruits (raisins) Vegetables (carrots) Dairy (cream cheese) and Meat (eggs count).  It must be good for you (NOT).

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Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins

It's breakfast treat time for my wife. She's a good wife and deserves it. This is a simplified version of several recipes with excellent results.

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