Banana & Walnut Muffins

What's better than bananas, walnuts and brown sugar? These muffins are so good - especially when they're warmed in the microwave.

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 cups smashed bananas (about 4-6)

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

dash of salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line 2 muffin pans with paper liners.

Whisk flour, baking soda, brown sugar and cinnamom together in a large bowl, set aside. In a large bowl with a spout, whisk the bananas, oil, milk, eggs, salt and vanilla.

Make a small well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the center and stir with a wooden spoon until the dry mixture is moistened but still lumpy. Do not over mix the batter or the muffins will come out dense. Gently stir in the walnuts. Divide the batter evenly into the muffin pan.

Place the muffin pans into the oven and immediately reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Bake until golden brown about 25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking. Insert a toothpick into the center of a muffin to check for doneness.

Cool muffins in the pan on a cooling rack for a couple of minutes. Turn the muffins out of the pan and contine to cool on the racks.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Easy Chicken Dijon

I've been falling back into my old recipes, so I broke out the binder of recipes I've taken out of magazines and found this one from the Weight Watchers Magazine. It's very easy to make and tasted great!

8 chicken drumsticks, skin removed

3 Tbsp whole-grain dijon mustard

2/3 cup panko

1 1/2 tsp dried herbs - I used thyme & oregano

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with foil and lightly spray with cooking spray.

Brush the drumsticks with the mustard; set aside. Mix the panko, herbs, salt and pepper in a large zip-closed bag; add the drumsticks. Squeeze out the air and seat the bag. Turn to coat the drumsticks.

Place the drumsticks on the prepared baking sheet and lightly spray with cooking spray. Bake until browned and cooked through, 35-40 minutes, spraying drumsticks with more cooking spray half way through baking. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Recipe from: Weight Watchers Magazine, January/February 2009 issue

Mini Scallop Caasseroles

These casseroles are very similar to potpies, but they also reminded me of seafood chowder. They’re the perfect little dish to warm up on a cold night.

3 celery ribs, chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup flour
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
2 cups fat-free milk
1 lb bay scallops
Topping:
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1 Tbsp butter, melted
¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese

In a large skillet, sauté the celery, mushrooms, green pepper and onion in butter until tender. Stir in the flour, salt and pepper until blended; gradually add milk. Bring to a boil, cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.

Reduce heat, add scallops. Cook stirring occasionally for 3-4 minutes or until scallops are firm and opaque.

Divide mixture among four 10-oz ramekins or custard cups. In a small bowl, combine panko and melted butter; sprinkle over scallop mixture. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until bubbly. Sprinkle with cheese, bake 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

Source: Taste of Home Healthy Cooking Magazine, February/March 2009

Baked Garlic Potato Wedges

These potatoes are so good. You’ll need to fight the urge to flip them halfway through baking, but trust me – DON’T!!!

2 large Yukon Gold potatoes
Extra virgin olive oil
Minced garlic
Sea salt
Fresh grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut potatoes in half and then in quarters. In a large bowl, coat potato wedges with olive oil and garlic.

Place coated potato wedges on a baking sheet and bake in oven for 30-35 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

Salsa Pot Roast

Need something quick and easy for dinner? Then this recipe is perfect! I love the flavors that develop from the salsa.

1 jar salsa

4-6 lbs pot roast

salt & pepper

Place roast in crockpot, season with salt and pepper. Pour entire jar of salsa over roast and turn on low for 4 to 6 hours.

Roasted Tilapia with Herbs, Mushrooms & Potatoes

This recipe was shared on my mom's online board. I made a few changes to use up what I had in the pantry. It was a little lemony for my husband and my tastes but it was still very good and healthy!

1.25 pounds tilapia

2 whole lemons, sliced

4 garlic cloves, sliced

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp dried basil

1/4 lb new potatoes, sliced into half inch pieces (I used Yukon gold potatoes)

8 oz button mushrooms, sliced

1/4 lb green beans, trimmed

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Arrange a 1/3 of lemons and garlic in bottom of Dutch oven. Add fish in single layer and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with another 1/3 of lemon and rest of garlic.

Sprinkle with thyme and basil. Add potatoes, mushrooms and beans in layers. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and bake 45 minutes or until potatoes are done. Serve with remaining lemon and garnish with parsley.

Roasted Red Pepper & Feta Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes

Here's another clean recipe. I really liked these potatoes, although my husband was just so-so on them. I also have to share a little nutritional fact about yukon gold potatoes. The more intense the yellow hue of a gold potato's flesh, the higher concentration of beta-carotene. And by leaving the skins on, you'll add even more vitamin C and potassium to these mashed potatoes.

1 1/2 lbs yukon gold potatoes, quartered

2 whole cloves garlic, peeled

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup low fat plain yogurt

1 roasted red pepper, diced

1/2 cup low fat feta cheese, crumbled

3 Tbsp lemon juice

parsley, chopped (about 2 Tbsp)

fresh ground pepper

Place potatoes and garlic into a medium pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat, add salt and cook until potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork, about 10 minutes.

Remove from heat, drain water then return to pot and mash until almost smooth. Potatoes should be slightly chunky.

Fold in yogurt, red pepper, feta, lemon juice and parsley. Season with salt & pepper and serve immediately.

Recipe from Clean Eating Magazine (Jan/Feb 2010)

White Chili with Chicken

So there's a chili cookoff at my work and I've been toying around with the idea of entering it, but wanted to try out a white chili befefore entering. I found a zillion and one recipes for white chili, but finally settled on one from Allrecipes. I modified it slightly and it came out great! I can't wait for leftovers later this week to see how much more the flavors marry.

1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 lbs chicken breast, cut into bite-sized chunks
2 (4 ounce) cans canned green chile peppers, chopped
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
ground cayenne pepper to taste
ground black pepper to taste
3 (15 ounce) cans cannellini beans (2 cans drained and rinsed)
2 1/4 cups chicken broth
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

In a large pot over medium heat, combine the onion, garlic and chicken and saute for 10 minutes, or until chicken is browned. Drain. Add the chile peppers, cumin, oregano, cinnamon, cayenne pepper to taste and pepper to taste and saute for 5 more minutes.

Add the two cans of drained and rinsed beans and the chicken broth to the pot. Take the third can of beans (along with the liquid) and puree them in a blender or food processor. Add this to the pot along with the cheese.

Stir well and simmer for 10 minutes, allowing the cheese to melt. I added some cornstarch to the chili to thicken up the sauce (2 tsp cornstarch mixed with cold water until smooth and then add to the chili).

Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.

Wingless Buffalo Chicken Pizza

I still had leftover chicken from the roaster I made last week and my daughter started dance class this week, so I needed something quick and easy to make before her class.

Here's the original recipe. I had precooked chicken as well as a whole wheat boboli thin pizza crust and cheddar cheese. It still came out good but I much prefer Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza dough and monterey jack cheese when making this.

3/4 pound chicken breast cutlets
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
2 teaspoons grill seasonig (recommended: McCormick Montreal Seasoning) eyeball it
1 pizza dough, store bought or from your favorite pizzeria
Cornmeal or flour, to handle dough
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, eyeball it
2 to 3 tablespoons hot sauce, medium to spicy heat
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese, a few generous handfuls
1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles
3 scallions, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Preheat grill pan to high.

Skip this step if using precooked chicken. Place chicken on a plate and drizzle extra-virgin olive oil over the chicken then season with grill seasoning. When grill is hot, add chicken and cook about 3 minutes on each side.

Stretch dough to form pizza using cornmeal or flour to help you handle it. If you let it rest and warm up a few minutes it will handle even easier. Set pizza on pizza pan to the side and clean board.

In a medium skillet over medium heat, melt butter and stir in Worcestershire, hot sauce, and tomato sauce.

Remove the chicken from grill and thinly slice it. Add chicken to sauce and coat. Cover the pizza dough with the saucy Buffalo chicken, cheeses, and scallions. Bake 18 minutes or until crisp.

Recipe adapted from The Food Network.

Grilled Shrimp with Citrus and Quinoa

I bought a bag of organic quiona a couple weeks ago and have been looking for a recipe to use it. I've never had it before, but have heard great things about it and it's really good for you - high in protein. I was looking through the latest issue of Food Network Magazine and came across a recipe for Scallops with Citrus and Quinoa. Scallops were expensive so I figured I would substitute with grilled shrimp. I think the combination worked well, but didn't care for the quinoa alone. I have some more and am going to try to work it into other recipes.

3/4 cup quinoa, rinsed well

salt

3 oranges (I used 2/3 cup orange juice)

4 tangerines

2 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp coriander seeds, crushed (I used 1/2 tsp crushed coriander)

2 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 lb shrimp

ground pepper

chopped fresh parsley, chives or scallions

Combine the quinoa, 2 cups water and 1/2 tsp salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered until the water is absorbed, 12-14 minutes.

Meanwhile, grate 1 tsp orange zest then juice the 3 oranges and 4 tangerines into a bowl.

Sprinkle the sugar in a skillet and cook over medium-high heat until dark amber, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in vinegar, citrus juices and zest and the coriander. Return to medium heat and whisk in butter; keep warm.

Season shrimp with salt and pepper. Place on a greased heated grill/grill pan and cook until pink.

Fluff the quinoa with a fork and divide among 4 plates. Top with shrimp and sprinkle with the citrus sauce and sprinkle with desired herbs.

Adapted from Food Network Magazine, January/February 2010

Perfect Roast Chicken

The local grocery store I shop at was having a buy 1 get 1 free sale on roasting chickens -PERFECT! I was in the mood to make a roast chicken and wanted something simple to use for other dishes later in the week (be on the look out for a new recipe later this week). So I just threw this "recipe" together and it turned out perfect.

1 roasting chicken, cleaned and patted dry

Mix together 1 Tbsp of each of the following: onion powder, garlic powder, oregano and add 1 tsp of thyme and some salt and ground black pepper.

Rub the dry mixture all over the chicken (inside and out) and then stuff it with a couple stalks of celery.

Roast in the oven at 25o degrees for 4 hours or until done.

Pasta Roll-ups with Spinach & Turkey

One of my resolutions for 2010 is to eat cleaner. We eat fairly clean, but I'm always looking for new recipes. I was looking at Clean Eating Magazine and came across this recipe. I made it tonight for dinner and it was so good! My daughter kept saying how yummy it was and ate everything off her plate!

1 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb ground turkey breast
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 28-oz can whole tomatoes in juice
1 tsp salt
8 sheets dried high-protein or whole-wheat lasagna
1 10-oz box frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 15-oz container non-fat ricotta cheese
1 egg
3/4 cup shredded reduced-fat mozzarella cheese

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook another minute. Turn heat to medium-high and add ground turkey, breaking it up with a spatula until meat shows no sign of pink. Stir in cinnamon and nutmeg, then add tomatoes and salt. Reduce heat to medium-low, stir, cover and let simmer for 20 minutes, occasionally stirring and breaking up tomatoes with a wooden spoon.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to boil. Cook pasta according to package directions, drain, rinse and allow to cool in a colander.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Squeeze all remaining moisture from thawed spinach and place in large bowl. Add ricotta cheese, egg and a 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese to bowl. Stir until combined.
Spread 1 cup of cooked tomato sauce into bottom of a 9" x 10" casserole dish. Lay a cooked lasagna noodle flat in front of you. Use your fingers to spread 1/8 of ricotta mixture across the noodle and roll it up. Place the rolled pasta seam side down, into the casserole dish. Repeat with remaining noodles. Spread remaining tomato sauce over roll-ups, then top with remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella.

Bake, covered with foil, for 20 minutes. Remove foil and broil for 5 minutes or until the rollups are browned and bubbly.

Brie Stuffed Mushrooms

My sister-in-law Lindsay invited us over for New Year's Day dinner and I brought a couple appetizers for us to snack on before our dinner of pork & sauerkraut was ready (hoping for some luck this year!). I made my usual creamy chicken cups and Pioneer Woman's Brie Stuffed Mushrooms. PW was right, you need to make 3 times what you think you really need. They were so good!!!!

1 package White Button Mushrooms, Washed And Stems Removed
4 cloves Garlic, Minced
¼ cups Flat-leaf Parsley, Chopped
4 whole (to 5) Green Onions, Sliced (up To Middle Of Dark Green Part)
Splash Of White Wine (optional)
1 slice (wedge) Of Brie Cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in large saucepan. Add mushroom caps and toss to coat in butter. Sprinkle lightly with salt and cook for 1 minute. Remove mushrooms from pan and place upside down in a baking dish.

In the same saucepan (without cleaning it) throw in garlic, parsley, and green onions. Sprinkle very lightly with salt and splash in wine, if using. Stir around until wine evaporates, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Cut rind off of brie wedge, then cut pieces of brie to fit each mushroom cap. Place inside, lightly pressing to anchor each piece of brie.

Top mushrooms with parsley/garlic mixture. Place into the oven for 15 minutes, or until brie is melted

Eggnog Gingerbread Trifle

Happy New Year! I made this dessert using the gingerbread cake I made earlier in the week.

Gingerbread cake
3 cups eggnog
1 (5.1 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix

container of Cool Whip, thawed
1/4 cup sweetened dried cranberries, chopped
2 tablespoons gingersnap cookie crumbs

Place the pudding mix in a large bowl. Pour in the eggnog and whisk for about 2 minutes. Refrigerate pudding until the gingerbread cake is cool and you are ready to assemble the trifle.

Crumble 1/2 of the gingerbread into the bottom of a trifle bowl or a large glass bowl. Spread 1/2 of the eggnog pudding over the gingerbread, then spread 1/2 of the Cool Whip on top of the pudding. Repeat the layers with the remaining gingerbread, pudding, and Cool Whip.

Refrigerate 6 hours or overnight. Sprinkle the top with the cranberries and cookie crumbs before serving.

Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.