Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin Recipe

January 21, 2019 By: Sweet Frugal Life2 Comments

The very best whole wheat banana chocolate chip muffin recipe!

My friend shared this whole wheat banana chocolate chip muffin recipe with me years ago and I have been hooked on them ever since! We eat them for breakfast, for after school snacks and I add them in my kids’ school lunches.

whole wheat banana chocolate chips muffins

These muffins are quick and easy to make, fairly healthy thanks to the whole wheat. They are also super easy to make a large batch to freeze for later….and my ENTIRE family LOVES them. So, basically just a win all around!

I will usually double the recipe and put half of them in the freezer. To freeze you simply place the baked muffins in a ziplock freezer bag and throw them (or I guess gently place them….either way works 😉 ) into the freezer.

When you are ready to eat the muffins, just take them out of the freezer and thaw on the counter. You can even just pop them into the microwave for a minute if you don’t want to wait for them to thaw. (this is my kids’ fave trick!)

whole wheat banana chocolate chips muffins (1)

Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

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Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs
1/4 cup honey
3 ripe bananas mashed
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat the butter, sugar, vanilla, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg together until smooth.
Add the eggs, honey and mashed bananas. Beat well.
Next, mix in the flour and chocolate chips.
Fill greased muffin cups 3/4 full.
Bake for 23-28 minutes.
This recipes yields 12 regular sized muffins.

You might be interested in a few of my other recipes:

Light and Fluffy Pancake Recipe

Homemade Graham Cracker Recipe

Quick and Easy Overnight Oatmeal

whole wheat banana muffin recipe

How to freeze Pancakes for a Quick Frugal Breakfast

January 15, 2019 By: Sweet Frugal Life1 Comment

The easy way to freeze pancakes!

Making large batches of pancakes not only saves me time in the morning…it is also a VERY frugal breakfast! You can spend 30 minutes one afternoon each week making a large batch of pancakes for the freezer, or the next time you make pancakes for breakfast simply double the batch and freeze the extras! Here’s how!

for all ages

This idea really started because I’m trying to be like mom. I really think my mom was supermom. Granted, I didn’t think that when I was growing up….but now that I have become a mom myself, I am able to look back and realize just how hard she worked for our family.

I feel fairly confident when I say that many of you are supermoms as well. You wake up early, spend all day serving your family, and go to bed late worrying about your kids. My goal is to be supermom! I fail about everyday, but I continue to try!

One of the many “supermom” traits from my mom was her willingness to make us a hot breakfast every single morning before school. I knew that when I walked upstairs after getting dressed the table would be set, and a fresh warm breakfast would be served. I TRY to do the same with my kids….but I REALLY struggle some mornings to find the energy and motivation.

I’ve recently started batch cooking many breakfast items and stocking up my freezer for quick breakfasts for my kids before they head out the door for school. I want to share how you can do that too!

Related: Quick and Easy Overnight Oatmeal Recipe

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How to Freeze Pancakes

Make your pancakes following your favorite pancake recipe. You can find my fave recipe here! Let them cool completely.

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Place pancakes on a cookie sheet in a single layer making sure the sides aren’t touching.

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While the pancakes are in the freezer you can prepare your freezer bags. All this takes is writing what “pancakes” and the date on the bag.

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Put the cookie sheets in the freezer for 30 minutes. Once frozen take the pancakes off of the cookie sheets and place them all in your freezer bag. It can be full as large as you need to. Because you pre-froze them, they should be easy to break apart when you need to use them.

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Stick the bag of pancakes in the freezer and you are done! Yay! Easy peasy!

When you are ready to use the pancakes, simply take out the number of pancakes you need and microwave them until they are warm. I usually microwave them for about a minute.

These are also easy for the kids to get out of the freezer themselves! If I’m busy getting ready in the morning I sometimes tell my oldest to get out a few pancakes for all of the kids.

how to freeze pancakes to save time and money

Easy Hot Chocolate Mix Recipe

December 5, 2018 By: Sweet Frugal Life24 Comments

A good hot chocolate mix recipe makes everything better!

Hot cocoa is such a fun staple to have in your home during these cold winter months. My kids will spend hours playing outside in the snow and the first thing they ask for when they come inside is some hot chocolate! Back in my “spender” days I use to buy hot chocolate mix at the store like it was nobody’s business! Once I started learning how to save and live a frugal life I learned how to make hot chocolate mix from scratch with this easy hot chocolate mix recipe and I have never looked back! Not only does making your own hot cocoa save you money, it is also so quick and easy to do. It also tastes much better than what you will buy from the store!

Hot Cocoa Mix

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Ingredients

2 cups nonfat dry milk powder
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup powdered creamer
1/8 tsp salt

Instructions

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Store in a tightly covered container.
To make hot chocolate: Stir 1/4 cup mix with 3/4 cup boiling water. Enjoy!

Related: 25 Completely Free Family Winter Activities

We usually make this mix for our family to enjoy all winter, but it would also be a really frugal Christmas gift for friends and neighbors. Whip up a large batch, portion it into cute jars and tie a bow around it. Done!

Related: Cheap Gift Ideas for Neighbors, Teachers, and Friends

Let me know if you make this hot chocolate! I would love to hear how it turns out!

Freeze Chicken in Bulk and 6 Freezer Chicken Recipes

November 25, 2018 By: Sweet Frugal Life4 Comments

Buying your chicken in bulk will save you both time and money. Here is a quick tutorial how to prep it for the freezer including 6 freezer chicken recipes you can prepare ahead of time and enjoy later for quick dinners!

I will receive compensation from purchases made through links in this post. Thank you!

I just tried out Savory Butcher for the first time, and I was SO impressed! The customer service was incredible and the meat was high quality and delicious! And the price is right!

I bought the 40 lb case of chicken for $1.99 lb, which is an awesome deal. Their chicken comes fresh from the farm, already trimmed, and no added hormones, anti-biotics, or preservatives. Savory Butcher also offers high quality bacon and ground beef.

Savory Butcher has limited delivery locations, so check to see if they will be delivering near you. Currently they deliver to areas in Washington, Oregon, Utah and Idaho. If you live in one of these areas, look into when they will be delivering near you.

I just spent a couple of hours prepping my bulk chicken. It makes me happy to stock my freezer full of chicken for quick, easy dinners. I prepped 8 ready to cook dinners; and 6 bags of plain chicken. It does take a little bit of effort to prepare your bulk chicken, but the amount of money you save is SO worth it!

Freezing Your Bulk Chicken

When preparing chicken for the freezer I highly recommend using a vacuum sealer. The vacuum sealer will make the process simple and helps prevent any freezer burn. My sealer was not working (resulting in quite a bit of frustration on my part!). I decided to freeze my chicken in freezer bags instead. The freezer bags will work, just not as well as the vacuum sealer!

Separate your chicken into dinner sized portions, this resulted in about 2-3 chicken breasts per bag for my family. Place each portioned chicken into freezer bag, remove all of the air and seal tightly.

These will store well in your freezer for 6 months.

Freezer Chicken Recipes

Slow Cooker Honey Chicken

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Ingredients

2 lbs. chicken breasts
Salt and Pepper
1 cup honey
1/2 cup soy sauce
4 Tbsp diced onion
4 Tbsp ketchup
2 tsp garlic powder
4 tsp cornstarch
6 Tbsp water

Instructions

Combine chicken, salt, pepper, honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup and garlic powder in a freezer bag.
Let all air out of bag. Seal tight and freeze.
When ready to prepare take it out of freezer and allow to thaw.
Dump entire bag of chicken and sauce into slow cooker. Cook on low for 3-4 hours.
When finished cooking take chicken out of slow cooker and leave the sauce.
Combine cornstarch with water, stir well.
Add it into slow cooker with sauce. Cook sauce on high until it begins to thicken (5-10 minutes).
Slice chicken into small chunks. Return to slow cooker and stir with sauce.
Serve over rice.

Barbecue Chicken

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Ingredients

2 lbs. chicken breasts
1 container of barbecue sauce

Instructions

Put chicken in a freezer bag. Pour entire container of barbecue sauce on top.
Let all air out of bag. Seal tight and freeze.
When ready to prepare take it out of freezer and allow to thaw.
Cook on grill. Top with barbecue sauce to serve.

Lemon Garlic Chicken

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Ingredients

2 lb. chicken breasts sliced thin
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Combine chicken, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic powder, salt and pepper in freezer bag.
Put chicken in a freezer bag. Pour entire container of barbecue sauce on top.
Let all air out of bag. Seal tight and freeze.
When ready to prepare take it out of freezer and allow to thaw.
Cook chicken on grill.
Serve with rice and veggies.

Balsamic Chicken

This balsamic chicken recipe is available as part of my Free 5 Days to Frugal ecourse. You can sign up using this link and my 5 favorite frugal recipes will be e-mailed to you on Day 3 of the challenge.

Sweet and Spicy Chicken Tacos

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Ingredients

2 lb. chicken breasts
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Instructions

Combine chicken, tomatoes, brown sugar and red pepper flakes in freezer bag.
Let all air out of bag. Seal tight and freeze.
When ready to prepare take it out of freezer and allow to thaw.
Pour chicken and sauce into slow cooker.
Cook in slow cooker on high for 5 hours.
When done cooking shred chicken in sauce.
Serve in flour tortillas with your favorite toppings.

Grilled (or baked!) Island Chicken

This grilled island chicken recipe is available as part of my Free 5 Days to Frugal ecourse. You can sign up using this link and my 5 favorite frugal recipes will be e-mailed to you on Day 3 of the challenge.

Favorite Baked Chicken

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Ingredients

2 lb. chicken breasts
3/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tsp garlic powder

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in freezer bag.
Let all air out of bag. Seal tight and freeze.
When ready to prepare take it out of freezer and allow to thaw.
Bake in 375 degree oven for 30 minutes.
Serve with baked potatoes and veggies.

Honey Lime Enchiladas

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Ingredients

1 lb. chicken
6 Tbsp honey
4.5 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
10 oz. can green enchilada sauce
flour tortillas
shredded monterey jack cheese

Instructions

Combine chicken, honey, lime juice, chili powder, and garlic powder in freezer bag.
Let all air out of bag. Seal tight and freeze.
When ready to prepare take it out of freezer and allow to thaw.
Pour chicken and sauce into slow cooker.
Cook on low for 8 hours.
Shred chicken in sauce.
Pour a small amount of green enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 pan.
Fill tortillas with shredded chicken and cheese. Place in pan.
Pour the rest of the green enchilada sauce over the tortillas. Sprinkle with cheese.
Bake uncovered in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.