Whole Wheat Banana Nut Muffins

If you have bananas sitting on your counter about to go the way of the dodo I suggest giving these muffins a shot. Pretty much every week I find myself in this predicament, I have bananas that are about to go bad and I need to figure out what to do with them stat. Usually I peel them and stick them in the freezer for smoothies which by the way is an excellent solution, but since my freezer is becoming overrun by frozen bananas I figured I'd better do something else with these ones. If you don't have whole wheat pastry flour on hand don't sweat it just use all-purpose flour instead, and if you have more than two sorry bananas on your hands this recipe can easily be doubled.

Whole Wheat Banana Nut Muffins 
1 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
3/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 teaspoon Salt
2 Very Ripe Bananas
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
6 tablespoons Unsalted Butter, melted and cooled
1 Egg
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
1/4 cup Pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a standard 12 cup muffin tin with baking cups. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt, set aside until needed. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat together 1 of the bananas and the sugar on medium-high for at least 3 minutes. Beat in the butter, egg, and vanilla , scraping the sides as needed, until well mixed. Remove bowl from mixer and stir in the dry ingredients until just mixed. Mash the remaining banana a bit so some texture remains then fold the mashed banana and nuts into the batter. Distribute the batter evenly among the cups, about half way and bake for 18-20 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

Makes 12 Muffins

Recipe adapted from Tyler Florence at the Food Network

Sweet Potato Hummus

This sweet potato hummus has become my new favorite. It is healthy, delicious, and easy to make. I use this hummus as a dip for vegetables and a spread for crackers, wraps, and sandwiches. Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Hummus 
1 pound Sweet Potatoes (about 2), peeled and chopped into 1-inch pieces
1 (15 oz can) Chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup Fresh Lemon Juice (1-2 lemons)
1/4 cup Sesame Tahini
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
2 teaspoons Ground Cumin
1 Garlic Clove, minced
Salt and Pepper to taste
Sweet Paprika for garnish
2-3 tablespoon Water to thin

Steam sweet potatoes until tender, 12-22 minutes. Add sweet potatoes, chickpeas, lemon juice, tahini, oil, cumin, and garlic to the food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Pulse until smooth. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with paprika. Serve with chips, vegetables or use as a spread for wraps and sandwiches. Hummus will last up to 1 week refrigerated in an airtight container.

Recipe from Power Foods

Smoothie

I love getting a big carton of blueberries every time I go to Costco. I always have this idea that I am going to make muffins and add them to salads and find many other great uses my big carton of blueberries. The only problem is that with just D and me it is really hard to go through an entire package of blueberries no matter how hard I try they inevitably go bad before I have had a chance to use them all, until now... This time when I could see my blueberries were getting close to their expiration I washed them, let them air dry and then I put them in a freezer bag and placed them in the freezer. I added a few hand fulls of frozen blueberries to my smoothie this morning and it was delicious, blueberry problem solved. 

Blueberry Smoothie

2 cups Almond Milk

4 cups Spinach

1 Frozen Banana

2 cups Frozen Blueberries 

2 tablespoons Flaxseed Meal 

First pour the almond milk into the blender then add the spinach and blend until smooth, next add the banana and blend, then add the frozen blueberries and flaxseed meal and blend until smooth. You could probably add all the ingredients at once especially if you have a really powerful blender, but I like to add the ingredients in stages because I find it helps keep my blender from getting all jammed up. 

Makes 2 Smoothies 

Granola

With so many people this time of year, myself included, watching what they eat, I wanted to share with you some of the healthy recipes I enjoy. First up, granola. This recipe was adapted from one of my favorite new cookbooks, Super Natural Everyday by Heidi Swanson. I think what really makes this granola stand out is the orange zest so be sure not to skip it when making this recipe. This granola is delicious with milk, yogurt or just on its own.

Granola
4 cups old fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups walnut pieces
1 cup unsweetened shredded large-flake coconut
1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
2/3 cup golden raisins
2 tablespoons flaxseed meal
zest of 2 oranges
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup pure maple syrup

Arrange racks so that one rack is in the top third and the other rack is in the bottom third of the oven. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with foil, set aside till needed. In a large bowl mix together the oats, walnuts, coconut, sea salt, golden raisins, flaxseed meal, and orange zest. Then in a small sauce pan over low heat melt the butter then add the the maple syrup and whisk until combined. Pour mixture over the dry ingredients and mix until coated. Divide and spread out mixture among baking sheet. Bake for 40-50 minutes, stirring occasionally. Allow granola to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Two Bean Soup

This soup makes a great weeknight dinner. It only takes 30 minutes to come together, it's healthy and delicious and it easily lasts for two nights when serving two people. I like to serve this soup with cheddar soda bread only this time I left out the cheddar to cut down some of the fat. I made the bread into muffins rather than a round, which shortened the baking time. To make the muffins prepare the bread as directed. Line a standard muffin tin with baking liners and fill each cup 3/4 of the way full. Bake in a 375 degree F oven for 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden on top. 

Two Bean Soup 

3 tablespoons Olive Oil

1 medium Onion, Chopped

2 medium Carrots, Chopped

1 Celery Stock, Chopped 

Pinch of Kosher Salt 

2 Garlic Cloves, Minced 

4 cups Vegetable Broth, Divided 

1 bunch Kale

2 cans Cannellini Beans, Drained and Divided

1 can Black Beans, Drained

1 tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar

1 teaspoon Fresh Rosemary, Chopped

Pepper to taste 

Heat oil in a dutch oven over medium-high heat and add a generous pinch of salt. Stir in the onion, carrots and celery, cook for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and cook for just a minute then stir in 3 cups of the vegetable broth and the kale. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cover for 3 minutes. In the meantime pour the remaining cup of broth and 1 can of cannellini beans into the blender and blend until smooth. Pour the broth mixture and the remaining beans into the soup. Cook for 5 minutes or until beans are heated through. Pour in the red wine vinegar and stir in the rosemary. Add more salt if you like and pepper to taste. 

Serves 4-6

Recipe slightly adapted from Cooking Light

Homemade Power Bars

This week I will be experimenting with a few new recipes and ingredients, (well new to me that is). I am going to try my hand at a vegan recipe or two and make a few healthy(ish) baked good recipes as well.  First up, homemade power bars, new ingredient: brown rice syrup. Brown rice syrup is made from brown rice and purified water. It is used as an alternative sweetener.
These bars are quite tasty and really simple to make. They would be a great snack to take along on nice afternoon hike (just make sure you have a little water to rinse your hands with because they can be a bit sticky).

Homemade Power Bars
Unsalted Butter for Pan
1 cup Toasted Walnuts *
1 1/4 cup Old Fashioned Oats
1/2 cup Oat Bran
1 1/2 cup Puffed Cereal (such as Barbara's Peanut Butter Puffins) **
1 cup Dried Cranberries
1 cup Shredded Coconut
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Brown Rice Syrup
1 teaspoon Vanilla

Butter a 9x9 inch pan and set aside. In a medium sized bowl stir together all of the dry ingredients. Pour the vanilla and brown rice syrup into a sauce pan and heat over medium until mixture is warm and syrup has thinned. Pour syrup over dry mixture and stir until fully combined. Press mixture into prepared pan and freeze for 45 minutes. Then cut into squares. Store bars in the refrigerator.

Makes 9 Large Squares

* Toast walnut in a 350 degree F oven for 8-10 minutes
** Place puffed cereal in a large plastic bag then using a rolling pin, crush into course pieces

Recipe adapted from The Kitchn where it was adapted from Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson