This is a recipe I found in a neighborhood cookbook. We LOVE muffins at our house and these are EXCELLENT! Spread some butter on one straight from the oven—itsHEAVENLY!

Raspberry Lemon Muffins
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup cream or whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 1/2 to 2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries

Combine all ingredients in a bowl except raspberries. Gently fold in the raspberries. Spoon into muffin tin and bake at 400 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

TIP: This would be delicious with other types of berries—strawberries, blueberries, you name it! You could also try using different flavored fruity extracts to mix things up as well.

This time of year, the FRUIT starts to get boring, doesn't it? Well, to dress it up a little, I like to make this super EASY salad. My family always enjoys it—it just seems like an extra special TREAT.

Easy Winter Fruit Salad
1 to 2 red apples (I like Gala or Fuji)
1 to 2 Granny Smith apples
2 to 4 clementines
2 bananas
1 container Yoplait blackberry or raspberry yogurt
1/2 to 1 cup Cool Whip, to taste

Chop the apples and place in a large bowl. Peel the clementines and put the segments into the bowl with the apples. Slice the bananas and add to the other fruit. Pour the yogurt over the fruit as well as the Cool Whip and mix all together. Chill until ready to serve.

TIP: The bananas and apples may turn brown if you make the salad in advance. Try tossing with some lemon juice, orange juice, or even pineapple juice before mixing into the salad to prevent browning. Also, another great addition to make the salad go a little farther . . . mini marshmallows and/or chopped nuts!

Sometimes I just want some really YUMMY sweet bread. This recipe totally fills thatCRAVING! It's super simple and has just the right amount of TREAT factor to it—especially if you add the white chocolate chips as mentioned in the tip! Maybe you could whip this up for your SPECIAL someone in a couple of weeks . . .

Blackberry Cheesecake Bread

1 yellow or white cake mix

1 small box instant cheesecake pudding mix

3/4 cup water

3 eggs

1/2 cup applesauce

Dash of cinnamon, optional

3/4 to 1 cup slightly smashed blackberries (fresh or frozen)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together the dry cake mix, dry pudding mix, water, eggs, applesauce, and cinnamon, if using. Gently fold in the blackberries until swirled throughout the batter. Pour into two loaf pans and bake for about 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then completely on a wire rack.

TIP: If your blackberries are extra juicy, you may want to drain them! Also, another great addition to this  recipe would be some white chocolate chips. Yum!

We always have tons of PEACHES, so I'm always trying to think of new ways to use them! I thought a peach PIE sounded yummy, but knew we didn't need a whole one. So, I made some MINI pies, and then FROZE the ones we didn't eat. Perfect!

Mini Peach Pie Pockets

4 cups peeled and chopped peaches

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon (heaping) cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Dash of salt

1 box store-bought pie crusts, cut into fourths

 Combine all the ingredients in a bowl except the crust. Spoon the peaches into the center of each piece of uncooked pie crust and then fold over sides to enclose. Place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and then brush with a little of the peach juice from the bowl. Bake at 450 degrees for 20 to 22 minutes, or until golden brown and filling is bubbling. Makes 8 mini pies.

TIP: You could brush the top with butter to help it brown better, but I figured the sugary juices would be yummy. Obviously you can serve this with vanilla ice cream (my family's number one choice!) or whipped cream.

We love homemade ICE CREAM at our house, and we especially love coming up with NEW flavor combinations. This FRUITY and chocolatey cookie mixture is divine, especially with some HOT FUDGE drizzled over top!

Raspberry Oreo Ice Cream

2 cups whole milk

1 1/8 cups sugar

2 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 tablespoon vanilla

3/4 cup fresh or frozen raspberries

15 to 20 Oreos, chopped

In a bowl, combine the milk and sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the cream and vanilla then add mixture to ice cream maker. Use ice cream maker as directed. About 5 to 10 minutes before ice cream is done, slowly add the raspberries and cookies while ice cream maker is still running. When done the ice cream will be really soft, so we like to put it in a container in the freezer for a couple of hours before serving. Mmmmm!

TIP: You can any other fruit and cookie or chocolate combination. Strawberries would be yummy with the cookies or with chocolate chips. We've done fresh cherries with chocolate chunks, or chopped peaches would be really yummy with Golden Oreos. You can get really creative and add a teaspoon or two of other flavorings like coconut, almond, or mint if you just do cookies or chocolate and leave out the fruit!

Technically, I suppose “French” toast isn’t Texan. But this scrumptious French Toast Bake is big and hearty, and the saying goes that everything is bigger in Texas.

What makes this French Toast Bake superb is the use of Texas Toast, in place of regular sliced bread. If you aren’t familiar with Texas Toast, it is typically found in the sliced bread aisle of grocery stores, and the thing about it is… well, it’s Texas-sized. It looks like white bread, sliced extra thick and made extra dense.

I usually buy whole-grain bread, so it’s something special for me to reach for the enriched stuff. Though whole-grain sandwich bread has come a long way in texture and flavor, the white slices brought me back to my childhood. Back when wheat bread tasted like cardboard and my mom kindly bought us white loaves. It’s a special occasion to bite into these Texas soft slices. It’s hard not to cheat and eat the bread straight out of the bag. Just remember that you’ll need to use almost the entire loaf for the French Toast Bake, so try. Just try.

This is one of the most ideal, no-fuss offerings for brunch on Christmas, New Years, or any weekend morning. It’s simple to assemble the night before. Wake up late the next morning, pop it in the oven, and give your family a carefree smile. My family loves anything French Toast-ish, and they flipped for this one. Devoured the whole pan the same day. I’m talking no leftovers, not even a few crumbs.

This Texas French Toast Bake is something that will easily go on your family’s list of favorites. The thick, dense slices of Texas Toast soak up the custard perfectly. The brown sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon meld together like magic. It’s just the right amount of sweetness. You can serve with pure maple syrup, but you might not need it.

Oh, this is important – be sure to scrape out all the gooey yummy goodness you’ll find on the bottom of pan. Enjoy!

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RECIPE (one 9×13 pan)

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 loaf Texas Toast

4 large eggs

1 1/2 cup whole milk

1 TB vanilla extract

2 TB light brown sugar, mixed with 2 tsp cinnamon

Powdered sugar for sprinkling

Real maple syrup for serving, if desired

DIRECTIONS

Put butter in a microwave safe bowl and microwave in 20 second increments, stirring in between, until melted. Add 1 cup brown sugar and stir until well incorporated Pour into bottom of a greased 9×13 pan, spreading mixture evenly.

Beat eggs, milk, and vanilla until incorporated. Set aside.

Lay a single layer of Texas Toast in pan, cutting pieces to fit if needed. Spoon 1 cup of egg mixture over bread. Sprinkle with half of the brown sugar/cinnamon mixture. Repeat with second layer, ending with a sprinkling of brown sugar/cinnamon mixture.

Cover tightly and chill overnight in fridge.

Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes, covered for the first 30 minutes, and uncovered after that. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. If desired, serve with pure maple syrup.

The holidays can be a difficult period, what with the unending parade of dense and rich foods. I desperately needed a break from it yesterday. I started removing cans from the pantry and rummaging through the refrigerator and this is what I came up with. I will just call it a warm pasta salad. It is fresh and full of convenient and easy to prepare vegetables. The bottom line is that you chop up some veggies and toss them in the warm pot out of which you just poured the boiling pasta. Thus, it is a bit warm, but not hot. It has a simple lemon vinaigrette and is topped with feta. I bet you have already thought of a million ways to bend this salad to your will. Add tuna or some leftover turkey to make it a little more substantial.

So start a pot to boil, and get ready to do a little chopping. A few easy meals like this and you may be ready for some for more holiday feasts before you know it. Save the leftovers in the fridge for an easy lunch.

Preparation: (serves 4)

1 medium carrot, peeled and julienned

1 can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

1 can garbanzo beans, drained

1 cup baby spinach leaves, cut into thin slices

1 stalk celery, diced

¼ teaspoon lemon zest

½ pound farfalle pasta

¼ cup lemon juice

⅔ cup grapeseed oil (or olive oil)

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

¼ teaspoon sugar

½ cup feta cheese, crumbled

Boil pasta in a pot of boiling water for 11 minutes. Meanwhile, chop the carrot, artichoke hearts, spinach and celery. Zest a bit of the lemon before cutting it to juice it for the dressing. (I often forget to zest before I halve my lemon and there is nothing more annoying than trying to zest a cut lemon.)

Mix the lemon juice and oil in a bowl with the salt and pepper and whisk to combine.

Drain the pasta through a colander. While the pasta drains, place the beans, and all of the remaining ingredients, except the dressing and feta in the empty (hot) stock pot. Mix in the drained pasta and half of the dressing. Stir to combine the ingredients thoroughly. Taste and add more dressing, as needed.

Season with additional salt and pepper. Pour the warm salad onto a serving platter and top with the crumbled feta. Serve immediately with garlic bread.

Note: Julienne is a very loose term here. Generally, cut them into long and skinny bits. No cooking school teacher in the world would call the cuts I made to that poor carrot “julienne.” It is just the nearest descriptive term. Don’t get hung up on perfect carrots as it utterly defeats the point of such a simple throw-down meal. Also, you should be happy to know that I have confirmed, yet again, that julienne is not only a noun, but a verb. What I did to my spinach might loosely be called “chiffonade” but this is hardly the time or place to get all technical. We are tired…just cause it to be smaller.

Also, while a classic vinaigrette has a 3:1 oil to acid ratio, I rarely fall right on the mark. But, know that when you are putting together a dressing, you really need no recipe…just shoot for that general ratio of oil to acid (citrus, vinegar, or a combination) and then start tasting. Depending on the quality and unique attributes of the ingredients you are using, adjustments will be in order. Just have a little fun with it and customize ’til your heart is content.