Banana Blueberry Muffins

These muffins are delicious! And healthy! They use only whole wheat flour, which is reflected in their dense, chewy texture (which I loved).

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cups quick or regular oats
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 ripe bananas, lightly mashed
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• 2 teaspoons flour

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl (or the bowl of an electric stand mixer), beat together the butter, yogurt and sugars until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat well. In a blender or food processor, process the oats until they are finely ground. Add the wheat flour, baking soda and salt and pulse one or two times until the dry ingredients are lightly combined. Pour the dry mixture into the wet mixture and mix until just combined. Mix in the lightly mashed bananas. Stir in the milk and vanilla. Toss the blueberries with the 2 teaspoons flour and then gently fold them into the muffin batter. Divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (watch the muffins carefully since each oven may vary slightly in temperature affecting exact baking time). Let the muffins rest in the pan for about 5 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Matt's Thai

This is awesome. And Easy. And delicious. And spicy.

We have it almost every week becuase it is all of the above. We had friends over for dinner who loved it and now make it just as often. This is probably too spicy for children.

Ingredients:
4 cloves garlic minced
2 onions chopped into squares
1 red pepper "
2 green peppers "
2 chicken breasts sliced in thin short strips
4 tbsp veg/canola oil
2 tbsp chili paste
4 tbsp fish sauce (this stuff reeks, but the smell cooks out)

Directions:
Heat oil and dump in garlic and soon after add chicken until outside is cooked. Add the veggies then add the chili paste and fish sauce. Stir frequently until chicken is cooked and veggies are tender. Serve over rice.

Parmesan Basil Panini

 I need to grow a garden. . . in my apartment. . . because I am in love with herbs. And cheeses!

Moving on, tonight I made Matthew and I these paninis that I just named Parmesan Basil Panini because I never have had to name a recipe before and didn't know what to call it. I guess I could call it Whitney's paninis since I did make it up. Because all I did was put a ton of things I LOVE together in a sandwich and grilled it.

The point is, I know you all can make your own sandwiches and know that any of these ingredients can be swapped out for something else. I just thought this might just be another yummy mix up for you to try.

Ingredients:

-Yummy bread (I use whole wheat from the store because it is always on hand, but french bread is yummy too)
-olive oil (I feel like this makes the outside of the sandwich much more crispy than butter or margarine)
-miracle whip
-red crushed pepper
-fresh basil chopped or torn up
-freshly grated parmesan cheese
-sliced ham thinly sliced red onion

Directions:

Stick all of the ingredients between your two slices of bread in whatever order suits you. Brush the outside of the bread with olive oil (I use a paper towel, but someday I will own a brush) and place the sandwich in your panini/waffle maker (or frying pan) until the cheese is melted. Then EAT!

Awesome Basic Chocolate Brownies

I deleted my chocolate brownie post after cooking them twice more and not being happy with the taste and texture. Since then I have found and altered another recipe that Matthew and I feel can replace our love for box brownies. These brownies fall into the more cakey genre after my alterations because shiny gooey brownies due to the large amount of oil is just too nasty. So, without further ado. . .

Ingredients:
1/4 cup oil
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup flour

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Mix oil and sugar.
Add eggs and vanilla; stir just until blended.
Mix all dry ingredientes in a separate bowl.
Pour into a greased 9x9 or 9 round pan.
Bake for 20 minutes

**You can double the recipe and cook in a 9x13.

Creamy White Chili

Supposedly we're going to get snow this week. WHA?! I guess it means it's soup time. Here is one of our faves.

Ingredients:
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder or 2 cloves fresh garlic, finely minced
1 tablespoon oil
2 cans (15 1/2 ounces each) Great Northern Beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups chicken broth
2 cans (4 ounces each) chopped green chilies (I'm not very tolerant of spiciness, so I do just one can)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup whipping cream (in an effort to use less fat, I sub with half and half or just plain old milk)

In a large saucepan, saute chicken, onion and garlic powder (or fresh garlic, if using) in oil until chicken is no longer pink. Add beans, broth, chilies and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in sour cream and cream. Serve immediately with tortilla chips and/or shredded cheese. 

If you plan ahead, you can also do this in a slow cooker. Here are the directions for that:
In a medium round slow cooker, place 1 pound chicken breasts (fresh or frozen) without cubing them. Add the chopped onion, garlic powder, beans, green chiles and all of the spices. Do not add the sour cream or whipping cream yet! Reduce the chicken broth to 12 ounces (about 1 1/2 cups) and pour in over the other ingredients. Stir the mixture around a bit to incorporate the dry spices. Cook on low for 5-7 hours (if using frozen chicken you’ll cook on the longer end of that spectrum, fresh chicken will cook in less time). Remove the chicken to a cutting board and shred in bite-size pieces. Stir back into the slow cooker. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the sour cream and whipping cream  until smooth. Whisk the cream mixture into the crockpot with the other ingredients. Let the soup cook until heated through. Serve.

***recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Pumpkin Banana Muffins

These are a really yummy fall treat. Super moist and super easy.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup pumpkin, cooked or from a can
2 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup banana, very ripe,mashed (I used 2 bananas, a bit more than 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray muffin tin or line with paper liners.

Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda and salt in bowl. Stir.

Combine pumpkin, eggs, sugars, banana and oil in another bowl. Beat until smooth.

Gradually combine flour mixture into wet mixture. Beat until just combined.

Spoon into prepared pan(s). Bake 25-30 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Makes 12 HUGE muffins. Enjoy.

***I didn't have ground ginger, so for my spices I used 1 tsp. cinnamon and 2 tsp. allspice. Worked great. 

Lemon Bread- Sooooo FRESH!

This is GOOOOOOD! So good! It's refreshing instead of making you feel a bit heavy as most other breads do which means you usually ending up eating it quicker than you had planned. When we had finished the first loaf I was super bummed that we had given the second loaf away. I will be making this again this week.

*Makes 2 loaves

INGREDIENTS:

Bread:
3 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups granulated sugar
3 tablespoons lemon zest from about 3 large lemons
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt, lowfat or regular

Glaze:
1/3 to 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (from the lemons that were zested for the bread)
4 tablespoons sugar, more or less according to how sweet you want it

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat two 8 1/2-inch by 4 1/2 inch pans with cooking spray (I always use the Baker’s Joy spray with flour in it). You may have a bit of batter leftover to also make 1-2 mini loaves or a few muffins.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, combine the sugar and lemon zest and rub the mixture together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Stir in the eggs, vanilla, oil, applesauce and yogurt. Fold in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pans about 2/3 full (if you have leftover batter you can make mini loaves or a few muffins) and smooth the top. Bake the bread until the top of the loaf is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, about 45-55 minutes for a normal sized loaf and anywhere from 16-25 minutes for muffins or mini loaves.

While the bread is baking, combine the glaze ingredients in a small saucepan and let it come to a boil. Take it off the heat until the bread is finished baking. When the bread is done baking, carefully turn it out onto a cooling rack. Gently pour the warm glaze over the top of the warm bread (if the glaze runs off without soaking in, poke tiny holes with a toothpick over the top of the bread and then pour on the glaze). Let the bread cool completely. Store in an airtight container. It will stay moist for 2-3 days at room temperature.

 Recipe found here