Peanut Butter Banana Cookies

After sharing my standard whole wheat muffin go-to recipe, I thought I'd toss another frequently consumed baked good out there. Like its predecessor, it does not require any oil or butter and its ingredients are on the "somewhat decent" list. I suspect they freeze fine, as well, but somehow these things disappear pretty quickly so I can't say for sure. Kids' snacktime? Throw them a couple of these. Lazy morning? Eat some for breakfast with your tea. Post workout snack? Consider this a protein puck for your muscles to munch on.

I have no clue where the recipe originated from and I have tweaked it a few times so I don't even know what to call these things. Let's call them PB² Oat Cookies. [And all y'allz need to know I looked up html tag information in order to make that number "2" appear in superscript so it has proper exponential placement. If you didn't think I was a dedicated blogger before, well then: "Bam!"]

Anyhooooodles, preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

2 ripe bananas, mashed
3/4c peanut butter (I use chunky because its a favorite, but whatever floats your boat)
1/4c white sugar
1/2c brown sugar
2 eggs
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1.5c whole wheat flour
1c oats
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon

Mix the wet stuff with the sugars in one bowl and mix the dry stuff in another bowl. Combine. I get a couple dozen of these suckers when I use a tablespoon cookie scooper thingamajig. Bake for 15 minutes and let cool on a drying rack. They do better when stored in the fridge after a day or so.

Simple Whole Wheat Muffins

I've been making a lot of these whole wheat muffins lately. They are just slightly sweet and are perfect for buttering up, jamming up, honeying up or just eating them plain. The boys get excited about them and considering they are fairly innocuous, they fit the bill.

The other thing I like about this recipe is that it makes eighteen muffins and they freeze nicely. I usually bake the twelve regular muffins (as per what a standard muffin pan allows) and then have some leftover batter to get a little creative and make mini muffins with little dark chocolate chunks and craisins or nuts or whatever is closest on the pantry shelf that day.

Without further ado:

1/2 c sugar
1 egg
2 cups buttermilk (or a couple TBSP of vinegar and enough milk to reach 2 c mark - let sit for a few minutes to curdle)
1 tsp baking soda
2 c whole wheat flour
1 c all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat egg and sugar together. Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and then add in the egg/sugar mixture and the milk until combined.

Grease your muffin tins (for some reason, these just don't work well with liners) and bake about 15-20 min. If you are making mini muffins, scale it back to 10-12 min.

They're the kind of muffins that should be stored in a container or bag and even then, I would throw that in the fridge after a day or so. They stay pretty moist, but they kinda get that sticky sheen on them if they chill with their homies in a room temperature container too long. Otherwise, I store them in a ziplock bag in the freezer.

I found this recipe via the Money Saving Mom. I like a lot of her stuff - no frills, real simple!

Quinoa Kate

My friend once joked that I could be nicknamed "Quinoa Kate" as I have an affinity for using the grain often. I think its one of those scenarios where I buy it at Costco and think how the hell am I going to use all of this stuff and it basically becomes a personal mission to whittle away at the three pound bag.

Quinoa is one of those things that I'm not necessarily in love with but I have to admit it is a win win: it cooks easily and does have some nutritional bang for the buck. Its protein content comes in handy for the littlest turds in the house that aren't really big meat eaters. I can make a batch in the rice cooker earlier in the week and spread the love across dishes.

A few of my go to quinoa dishes are listed below if you are looking for new ideas. Or maybe you already have seen these ideas and it helps to know that one of the laziest gals on planet Earth can execute the dishes. I don't really have exact measurements except for baking the muffins. Eyeball the rest.

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Quinoa Caprese Salad
Mix a couple cups of cooked and cooled quinoa with some freshly diced tomatoes, some fresh basil and little chunks of mozzarella (if you're classy like me, you'll dice up one or two sticks of the kids' string cheese and call it a day). Toss it all with some olive oil, salt, pepper and a few dashes of balsamic vinegar.

Quinoa Black Bean Salad
Toss a few cups of cooked quinoa with a can of rinsed/drained black beans, a cup of corn niblets, a diced bell pepper, a cup of diced grapes and a couple tablespoons of olive oil and some seasonings like a teaspoon of cumin and salt and pepper to taste. A splash of red wine vinegar and some lime juice also brighten this up, but I am usually too lazy to add those things and it tastes good just the same. This is a great one to make ahead the previous night and store in the fridge for a party.

Quinoa for Anders
Take some cooked quinoa and mix in some pesto. Recipe complete. Also handy in depleting 20 ounce jar of pesto purchased at Costco, another whittling mission.

Quinoa Muffins
2 c of cooked and cooled quinoa
1 c whole wheat flour
1 c all purpose flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 c mix ins (I usually chop up some dark chocolate chunks, but you could probably use craisins or other typical mix ins) 
1/4 c canola or vegetable oil
3/4c buttermilk (I just use regular milk and let it sit with 1-2 tbsp of vinegar for a few minutes)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla 

Mix the dry stuff (including quinoa) in a large bowl. Mix the wet stuff in a smaller bowl. Combine wet into the larger bowl with the dry stuff. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes in a lined muffin pan. Makes 12 muffins.


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We are lucky that one of the grocery stores in town as rows and rows of powerhouse grains in bulk bins. I think I may try some Amaranth next with similar recipes and see how it goes. Wish me luck!

Recipe Try Out: Homemade Thin Mints

The spouses club hosted a lunch for the guys at the squadron this week, so I thought I would try out a recipe for homemade thin mints (of Girl Scouts cookie fame, of course). I find it best to bake cookies for situations like this, when you can get 4 dozen of them out the door right away and leave just a few (or more) for yourself.  

Cookie crisps, ready for a warm hug of chocolate coating.

They finally get a globby chocolate hug eight hours later after baby goes to bed.

The verdict: Eh, pretty close. I think it could use a few more drops of mint extract, but overall not bad. [I was getting tired of dipping and coating them by the end, so the lazy side of me would put this recipe on the backburner for a while.] They would not win a taste test versus the real thing and the coating gets soft when not refrigerated, but they serve their purpose. Plus they are a smidgen healthier than the real thing and have no preservatives or packaging. I found this recipe via a Pinterest link for the Baking Bites blog.

Cookie:

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/3 cup milk (any kind)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp peppermint extract

- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder and salt.

- In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. With the mixer on low speed, add in the milk and the extracts. Mixture will look curdled. Gradually add in the flour mixture until fully incorporated.
- Shape dough into two logs, about 1.5 inches in diameter, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for at least 1-2 hours, until dough is very firm. [Rolling out the dough incited a few small giggles from myself as the logs took on a scatological appearance. Try to be more mature than me.]
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Slice dough into rounds not more than 1/4 inch thick – if they are too thick, they will not be as crisp – and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Cookies will not spread very much, so you can put them quite close together.
- Bake for 13-15 minutes, until cookies are firm at the edges. Cool cookies completely on a wire rack before dipping in chocolate.

Chocolate Coating:

Microwave 10 ounces of dark or semisweet chocolate with 1/2 cup room temperature butter on 40 second intervals, stirring to create a smooth runny fudge consistency. 

Chicken-o-Matic

I do like the rotisserie chickens you can buy in the deli section of the grocery store - they are yummy and convenient. But my frugal conscience sits on one shoulder, nagging "You know you can get twice the bird for the same price if you just took care of business yourself." So I'm trying to be better about roasting (read: slow cooking) my own chicken at home. Does it get the delicious crispy skin? Nope. But that's okay, since that's a health hazard anyway. I prefer to save my fat consumption for Snickers, as readers should well know by now.

I was able to buy a cage-free ("roam, little buddy, roam!") 4.5 pound chicken on sale for about $6. I got tons of meat from it:

Plate o' shredded goodness, plate o' discarded yuckies and a crockpot that needs a good external cleaning one o' these days.

This is enough to carry us through a full batch of enchiladas, a chicken salad for moi, a couple chicken quesadillas and tidbits for Landon to nosh on at dinner time. Between the initial rinse of the bird, the intermediary Lysol scrub down and the final shredding activities, it was only about 25 minutes effort.

Crockpot Chicken:

- Rinse chicken under cold water and pat dry (I also get rid of any of the weird stuff in the bird...*shudder*).

- Throw a few foil balls in bottom of crockpot; rest chicken on top

- Season with salt, pepper, paprika, etc. Whatever you want, really. I'm not sure if it makes much of a difference, because the skin is going to fall off anyways. Which brings me to my next point...

- I cooked the 4.5 pound bird for about 7 hours on low and the darn thing fell apart when I tried to pull it out. Like, seriously fell apart into 20 pieces. This was fine since I was looking to just use it for shredded meat, anyways.

The wishbone fell right out!

You don't know about the wishbone? Pssh, you are missing out, my friend. My mom used to give my brother and I the wishbone out of the Sunday chicken roast for us to break using our pinkies. Whoever got the largest piece out of the break had their wish come true. Well, that was the legend, at least. Now that I recall, I don't think I did ever get to meet Richard Marx for my 12th birthday. Hmm...

Recipe Try Out: Hungry Girl Brownie Muffins

I love the simplicity of this recipe as it requires only two ingredients: A box of devil's food cake mix and a can of pumpkin puree. This comes from the good ol' Hungry Girl site. I want to like more of her recipes, but admittedly the portion sizes are pretty small for my liking. [Yep, I do understand the concept of lower calorie intake, but since when does two english muffin size pizzas constitute a full serving? Puh-lease, child. Mama's got to eat, yo!]

Anyhoodles, this recipe has normal people portion sizes.


Mix the boxed cake mix with the can of the pumpkin puree (no other ingredients) and bake for 20 or so minutes at 400 degrees. Makes 12 regular muffins or 36 mini muffins.

The muffin surprisingly only has 180 calories - or *cough* more like 200 if you sprinkle *cough* mini choco chips on top - but we haven't exactly been eating the whole muffin. The inside of some of the them were a little too squishy/underbaked ... that is why the muffins towards the back of the photo are beheaded. We have primarily been enjoying the tops of the muffins. Who doesn't love a muffin top? Of the edible variety, that is.

I may try these again down the road, but they didn't knock our socks off. I give the recipe props for not tasting low fat, though - they really did taste like brownie muffins! I think I would try making them in mini muffin pans next time.

Recipe Try Out: Easy Meatloaf Muffins

Last night's dinner was so simple and easy; I will definitely be making these again. I actually like meatloaf, although I don't think the word "loaf" goes well with meat vocabulary in general. I find that meatloaf is fairly easy to make already, but the recipe below from Kraft (via stacymakescents.com) appealed to me because of its simple ingredient list and short cooking time.

It was very difficult to not eat a bunch of these! They didn't even need any ketchup for dipping - which is crazy to me since ketchup and meatloaf is like peanut butter and jelly, Sonny and Cher, Snickers and ice cream, diapers and wipes, etc.


Recipe:

1 pound ground beef
1, 6oz box stuffing mix
1 cup water
2 teaspoons chili powder
3/4 cup salsa
3/4 cup shredded cheese

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Mix meat, stuffing mix, water and chili powder until well blended. Press into 12 muffin cups sprayed with cooking spray.

2. Make indentation in center of each with back of spoon; fill evenly with 3/4 cup salsa.

3. Bake 30 min. or until meatloaves are done (160°F). Top with 3/4 cup cheese; bake 5 min. or until melted. Let stand 10 min.

Recipe Try Out: Slow Cooker Turkey Breast

Last week's new recipe adventure wasn't really a recipe at all. In line with my modus operandus of few ingredients and little clean up, the steps were as follows:

(1) Throw (or gently place, if you prefer) a turkey breast in the crockpot. Mine was about 2 or 2.5 pounds and I took the skin off, rinsed the breast and patted down with a couple paper towels.

(2) Toss (or gently spoon, if you prefer) a couple cans of cream of mushroom soup on top. I like using the healthy request, low sodium variety.

(3) Set on low for about 8 hours.

Appetizing as the process sounds (especially when the soup makes a good ol' *shhluuurp* sound coming out of the can), it turned out really great. The solid hunk o' meat was falling apart and the soup had become a yummy-and-not-too-thick gravy consistency. We tossed it over some egg noodles and steamed some asparagus to go along with everything.

I was a little surprised that a 2.5 lb turkey breast cost about 8 or 9 buckaroos, but we definitely got a lot of servings out of the darn thing. Turkey for dinner? Check. Turkey for lunch? Check. Turkey for dinner...again? Check.

I did not take a photo; I thought about it towards the end, but everything looked like dog food on my plate at that point. No, but really, you should try it some time.

Recipe Try Out: Crescent Roll Chicken Enchiladas

Because there is only so much I can write about Landon on a regular basis, I thought I'd try throwing in a few "Recipe Try Outs" once in a while to mix things up.

I will preface this with the fact that I am a "Semi-Homemade" kinda' gal. Unless it's a Sunday or there is a crock pot involved, I don't really like to spend more than 30 minutes throwing something together. I don't mind if something takes a while to bake - I just don't like doing a lot of prep work on most days (since that usually means more clean up, too).

Last night, we tried out Easy Chicken Enchiladas (ole!) which consisted of 4 ingredients:

2c shredded chicken
1 can (10oz) of red enchilada sauce
2 cans of crescent roll dough
About a cup of shredded cheese

Recipe is found in this Pillsbury link. I originally found it by going to www.crescents364.com to research how we could more frequently stuff our arteries with the buttery flakey goodness of crescent roll dough.


The verdict: It was easy to pull together and I think it tasted pretty darn good. It didn't puff up as much as I thought it would, so I will let it bake a little longer next time. With a side of corn and some sour cream and avocado, it was a thumbs up from me! Erik was a bit more hesitant with his verdict, noting that we could easily just put the filling in tortillas next time...and yes, that is true, but where would we get the buttery flakey goodness from?

Yummy in the Tummy Pot Pie

Erik was sweet enough to offer to make Sunday dinner this week and he was eager to try making a pot pie again. The homemade crust turned out great and the recipe has been perfected. Check!




















(Miller Lite is not part of the recipe.)