TMT ~ Strawberries Galore!

I'm catching up on recipes I've made so here are three of my favorites that had strawberries in them in some form. I hope you enjoy!

PB&J Oatmeal Pancakes ~ The boys love PB&J sandwiches and I'm trying to get more whole wheat and oatmeal in their diets so I found this! They were so YUMMY!!!

PB&J Oatmeal Pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups skim milk
• 2 egg, lightly beaten
• 3 tablespoons natural peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• cooking spray
• 1/4 cup strawberry jam

Directions

1. Combine oats, flour, baking soda, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Set bowl aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together the skim milk, eggs, peanut butter, and melted butter. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients, being careful not to over mix the batter.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side, about 2 minutes per side. Serve with strawberry jam.

ALEXIS NOTES: As noted above I used Whole Wheat Flour and even added a little cinnamon sugar that gave it just that little zing it needed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Strawberry-Banana Muffins ~ Yet another way to get some whole wheat and fruit in for the boys. The boys also love banana's but they seem to ripen to quick these days so I end up baking with them a lot. Plus since it hasn't stopped raining here I had to bust out the flower baking cups to bring us a taste of Spring/Sumer :).

Strawberry-Banana Muffin

1/2 cup (1 stick) (113 grams) unsaltedbutter, melted

3/4 cup (160 grams) light brownsugar

2 largeeggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon (4 grams) purevanillaextract

2 large ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)

1 cup (240 ml) freshstrawberries(cut into bite sized pieces)

2 1/4 cups (295 grams) all-purposeflour

1 1/2 teaspoonsbaking powder

1/4 teaspoonbaking soda

1 teaspoon (4 grams) ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon (2.5 grams) salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C). Position rack in center of oven. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners or grease with butter or a vegetable spray.

In a small saucepan melt the butter. Set aside.

In a medium sized bowl whisk together the brown sugar,eggs, vanilla extract and mashed banana. Add the melted butter to the brown sugar mixture and stir to combine.

In another large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda,cinnamon, and salt. Gently fold in the berries, making sure they are coated with flour. This helps to prevent the berries from sinking during baking. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are just combined. Do not over mix the batter or tough muffins will result.

Divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups, using two spoons or an ice cream scoop. Place in the oven and bake until a tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Makes 12 regular sized muffins.

ALEXIS NOTES: I used whole wheat flour and no one seemed to notice the difference these days.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Easy Cheesecake ~ For my birthday I made my all time favorite Cheesecake, first time with this recipe but it was super easy and oh so yummy!!!

Easy Cheesecake

1 pkg. yellow Duncan Hines cake mix
2 tbsp. oil
2 (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 c. milk
3 tbsp. lemon juice
3 tsp. vanilla
1 (1 lb. 5 oz.) can fruit filling (strawberry, apple, blueberry or cherry)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Reserve 1 cup dry cake mix. In large bowl, combine rest of cake mix, 1 egg and oil. Mix until crumbly. Press into sides and bottom of two greased 9 inch cake pans or one 13x9x2 inch pan.

In a bowl, blend cream cheese and sugar. Add 3 eggs and rest of cake mix. Beat 1 minute at medium speed. At low add milk and flavorings. Mix until smooth. Pour into crust. Bake at 300 degrees for 45-55 minutes until center is firm. Cool. Top with fruit. Store in refrigerator or cover with foil and freeze.

ALEXIS NOTES: I used my large pie pan and just made one pie. Since it was deeper it did take a bit longer to cook. I recommend spraying your pan with cooking spray it came right out with no problem! I topped mine with some strawberries and used the neufchatel cheese to save on calories :).