Sunday, September 8, 2013

The BEST Banana Bread/Muffin Recipe

A lot of recipes claim to be the best, this one really is!  This recipe comes out light and fluffy with amazing flavor!  I like to make muffins with mine since they are portable and easy to grab on the go.  This recipe could be made healthier, but I really love it just as is.  Feel free to substitute applesauce for the butter to make it lower in fat.

This recipe can be made into bread, muffins, and mini muffins and is absolutely delicious no matter how you bake it.


The BEST Banana Bread/Muffin Recipe




3 ripe bananas, smashed         
1/3 cup melted butter
2 Tbsp packed brown sugar   
14 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 beaten egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
1 ½ cup flour
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp nutmeg
----------------
1 tsp brown sugar (optional)
1 tsp water (optional)

Method:


Preheat oven to 350 and grease or paper line your muffin pans. Melt the butter in a large bowl in the microwave.  Add the bananas and smash them with a pastry cutter or potato masher and mix well.  In a 1 cup measuring cup, add the 2 Tbsp packed brown sugar and add the granulated sugar until the 1 cup is full (approximately 14 Tbsp granulated sugar).  Add both sugars to the banana mixture, then add the egg & vanilla and stir.  Sprinkle the baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg over the mixture and stir.  Add the flour and mix well.

Bake the muffins/bread as directed below.  While in the oven, dissolve the 1 tsp brown sugar in 1 tsp of water.  One minute before the baked goods are done, use a pastry brush to brush the brown sugar/water on the tops of the bread/muffin for a sweet and crispy top.

The bread/muffins are done when top springs up when touched or when a wooden toothpick comes out clean.
This can be baked in a 4x8 inch loaf pan for 1 hour or full size muffin pan for approximately 18-20 mins.  Mini muffins bake perfectly at 11 minutes.
 



 


Thursday, June 20, 2013

Tuna Avocado Sandwich



A recipe for a sandwich? Yup!
This Tuna Avocado sandwich is a family favorite and it's full of good nutrition and flavor!

This recipe isn't scientific it's just based on the maker's preferences, so you can play with the quantities and add garlic & spices, whatever you like.

Here is what I do:

Ingredients:

1 6oz can of white albacore tuna
3TBSP Hellmann's mayonnaise*
1/8 of an avocado
1/2 cup baby spinach leaves*
a few slices of tomato
2 slices toasted 100% whole wheat bread *

In a resealable dish, smoosh up the avocado with a fork until it is a creamy consistency.  Add the mayonnaise and mix well.  Toss in the tuna and mix it up until it is well coated with mayo & avocado.  Layer the tuna/avocado mix on the bread with your spinach & tomato.  Voila!

*I use Hellmann's mayonnaise as opposed to Vegenaise because we are not vegan and even though both products have the same serving size (1Tbsp), the Vegenaise has 30 more calories (but 2% less saturated fat).  I really just like the flavor of the Hellmann's better & we don't use it often.

*I use spinach because it's slightly healthier than Romaine and much healthier than iceberg.  This site is great for looking at the complete nutrition score of any food http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2626/2

*Whole wheat bread.  I simply detest white bread (it's sticky and gross.)

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Vegan "Fish" Fillet

Vegan fish? Oh yes, and it's goooood!!!

Just ignore the fries & sweet potato fries...those were the not-so-healthy portion of my meal...I love fries!!!

Vegan Fish Fillet

Ingredients:

1 Brick of extra firm tofu
1/4 Cup of Coconut flour
1/4 cup of Quinoa flour
1 1/2 cups Panko breadcrumbs
7 to 10 Kale leaves
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon nutritional yeast flakes (optional, but great if you have them!)
Black pepper to taste

Bit of soy milk
1-2 Tbsp olive oil

Method:

Drain and squeeze liquid out of tofu and throw into the freezer while you prepare the other ingredients.
Chop up the kale until it's in very fine pieces (diced or in a little chopper).
Combine kale with the rest of the ingredients besides the milk and oil and mix up until fully combined.
Remove tofu from freezer.  If it's not a little frozen or hard, put it back in until it really firms up.
Once the tofu is firm, slice it about 1/4 to 1/2 inches thick (depending on how many you are feeding.)
Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat.
Dip each piece of tofu into the soy milk then dip into the dry mixture and coat very well.
Fry the tofu on each side just until the breading becomes a beautiful golden brown and voila! Vegan fish fillet!!

You can also combine a bit of Vegenaise with some chopped up dill pickles to make your own vegan tartar sauce. (This was also amazing.)

Let me know what you think.
Happy cooking!

Healthy Almond Goji Berry Bars

These bars are both healthy and delicious!  My man said they reminded him of Almond Joy bars and he could've eaten the whole batch.  They are not only tasty, but quick & easy too!  10 mins to prep and 30 mins to bake. 
I'm sorry I didn't get a better pic before the three of us savages attacked them, but here is the remaining piece of the Healthy Almond Goji Berry Bars.


Healthy Almond Goji Berry Bars

Cookie Base Ingredients:

1/3 Cup Solid Coconut Oil
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
1 Egg
1 Cup Almonds (blended into a fine powder)
2 Tbsp Oat Flour
2 Tbsp Wheat Bran
1/4 Cup Wheat Flour

 Topping Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Chocolate*
1/4 Cup Goji Berries (Dried)
2 Tbsp Vanilla Agave Syrup
Handful of Dried Coconut
*The chocolate I use is Ghirardelli 60% cacao chips, the darker the healthier!

Method:

Heat oven to 350° Prepare a 9" square pan by either lining with parchment paper,
greasing, or spraying with cooking spray.

Place goji berries in a small dish, drizzle with agave syrup and set aside for now.

For the cookie base, beat coconut oil until smooth and creamy.  Add the egg and vanilla and beat just until creamy and combined.

In a separate bowl combine your blended almonds, oat flour, wheat bran, and wheat flour.

Add the flour mix to the coconut oil and stir just until everything comes together and forms a ball.
Press the mixture evenly into the bottom of your prepared 9" pan.
Combine the chocolate and the goji berries coated with agave syrup.  Stir this up real good and plop & spread onto the cookie base.  Sprinkle the handful of coconut (or more if you like) onto the chocolate.
Bake for approximately 30 minutes or whenever the cookie feels solid to the touch.
Remove from oven & let cool a bit before cutting.  Our cookie base turned out delicious, crumbly and messy, but I wouldn't change a thing!

Let me know how your bars came out and if you substituted any ingredients.  I'd love to hear different versions of this!

Happy baking!


Saturday, June 1, 2013

DIY Family Chore Chart

Ok, so not food at all, but this definitely improved my mood!

I decided to make a family chore chart and perused Pinterest for some great ideas.
This is what I came up with for our family.  It's simple and effective (so far) and is great for keeping track of who did what chores.  We are always in and out of the house at different times and this works great for us.






I used 2 Quartet Magnetic Dry Erase Boards 11" x 17" inches to start.  These I found at Wal-Mart for about $7.47 each.  I wanted the dry erase and not just a plain magnetic board so that I could write it on and change things up as needed.

For the chore magnets I used these awesome sheets from Avery called Printable Magnet Sheets.  They were a bit pricey at about $13.00 for a pack of 5 sheets, but I figured we would use them and my son already has plans to print out pics of our late dog to put on his own white board.



I used Excel to create the template for the labels (I simply added each chore in it's own cell and made each cell 1/2 inch tall) and simply fed these amazing sheets through our inkjet printer to create our magnets.  (If you make sure to add All Borders to each cell, then you will have perfect guidelines to cut the magnets out.  These magnet sheets were easily cut with scissors by my son.  He just loves having his picture taken! lol

I made it real simple by writing in our rooms with a dry erase marker and adding our cut out magnets under each heading.  I forgot to print out a few of the chores, but I wrote them on extra magnets so they don't look as nice, but I'm still happy with it. 

It may not be the neatest and most pristine family chore chart, but it pretty much matches my family; a little neat, a little quirky, and a little bit messy. Here are a few close ups of the finished project.







And the total finished project.  To Do on one white board and Done on the other.  We can easily move the magnets from the To Do side to the Done side to keep track of what was done.
It ain't fancy, but there it is :)





Thursday, March 21, 2013

Healthy! Quinoa Salad


Quinoa Salad

Not only is this fast, easy & delicious, but Quinoa is claimed to have all 9 essential amino acids which
makes it a complete protein source for vegans & vegetarians.
Use this recipe as a guide & mix and match your favorite veggies and spices.
My recipe has minimal spices since I like my veggies mostly naked.

Ingredients:

1/2 Brick of firm tofu
1 Medium tomato (diced or cubed)
1/2 Avocado cut into cubes (add more or less depending on your tastes)
2 to 3 Cups fresh baby spinach (washed & dried)
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Italian Seasoning
Olive Oil
Lemon Juice
2 to 3 Cups Quinoa (prepared according to your package instructions.  I use the plain Near East Quinoa)

Method:

  1. Prepare quinoa according to package instructions.
  2. While the quinoa is cooking, heat about 2 tsp. (more or less according to what you like) in a large skillet.
  3. Cut or crumble your tofu brick into the heated oil and cook until slightly yellowish and rather firm.
  4. Spill the cooked quinoa into the skillet with the tofu and add your spices (garlic, onion, Italian seasoning, lemon juice (about 1tsp or so) and toss around until spices, tofu, and quinoa are evenly mixed.
  5. Add the avocado and spinach and cook just until spinach starts to wilt (it shouldn't be mushy).
  6. Add tomato and cook just until heated.
  7. Serve & enjoy.