Strawberry Coconut Chia Seed Banana Bread

I had last night off from work, so I went running, washed my scrubs & got out the KitchenAid for some baking fun. I had some ripe bananas and a bunch of strawberries, so I decided to make some yummy bread inspired by the Ambitious Kitchen. I replaced some of the all purpose flour in the original recipe with whole wheat and eliminated the processed sugar. It turned out delicious! Great for breakfast or a snack. Of course, I think it's even better with some peanut or almond butter…mmm...

Strawberry Coconut Chia Seed Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1 cup AP flour

3/4 cup WW flour

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3 ripe bananas, mashed

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt

1 TBSP coconut oil, melted and cooled

1 TBSP sorghum 

2 TBSP unsweetened almond or coconut milk

1 cup strawberries, chopped

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

2 TBSP chia seeds

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350*F and prepare a 9-inch bread pan.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, baking powder & salt.
• In a large bowl, mix together the bananas, egg, vanilla, yogurt, oil, sorghum & milk.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix until just combined. 
• Gently fold the strawberries, coconut & chia seeds into the batter.
• Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Top with some extra coconut flakes & sliced strawberries.
• Bake for about 50 minutes or until done.
• Let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Enjoy! 

Blueberry Avocado Muffins

I'm over halfway through my spring stay-cation. And while, I'm disappointed it wasn't safe to go to Aquiles and sad I didn't get to see my kids in La Union, it's been nice. (Although I now have a really big tent for no reason, and I refuse to take it back…because that would involve going inside WalMart… So, anyone up for a camping trip?)

I've gotten to sleep at night. Like go to bed by 10 or 11 and sleep until 7ish. Actually get things done during the day. I have missed that life. I've gotten to hangout with lots of different friends. I got caught up on TV & Netflix…and started into some new shows… I'm going to FINALLY finish a project that I started forever ago. I've made dinner a couple times (nothing epic…last night was literally, "there is all this stuff I need to use, let's make something out of it" night). 

But I needed to share my muffins from this morning. Totally delicious. Like seriously. And pretty healthy as far as muffins go. The original recipe is from Gimme Some Oven via Pinterest. But I changed it up a bit. I took out 1 cup of AP flour & replaced it with WW (you could replace the flour totally with a GF mix…more power to you). I took out all the processed sugar (3/4 cup) & replaced it with 2 TBSP raw honey. I added a little extra cinnamon. Between using WW flour & the extra cinnamon, my muffins turned out not looking so green, which I think is kind of nice. They look more normal.

Blueberry Avocado Muffins

For the muffins:

1 cup WW flour

1 cup AP flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 ripe avocado, seeded & peeled

2 TBSP raw honey

1 tsp vanilla 

1 egg

1 cup plain Greek yogurt

1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

Streusel topping:

2 TBSP melted butter, slightly cooled

2 TBSP AP flour

1/4 cup raw sugar 

• Preheat the oven to 375*F and prepare a 12-cup muffin pan.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt & cinnamon.
• In your KitchenAid stand mixer bowl, add the avocado and beat until relatively smooth. Add the egg & beat until completely combined. Add the honey, vanilla & yogurt, beating until just combined. Add half of the flour mixture, beating until just combined. Then repeat with the other half. Gently fold in the blueberries by hand. The batter will be very thick & sticky. No worries. 
• Spoon the batter (or I prefer to use a cookie scoop) into the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle with streusel topping (optional). Bake for 25-ish minutes or until done. Just keep an eye on them!

Enjoy!

Pumpkin, Sausage & Spinach Calzones

I came across a recipe for pumpkin, sausage and spinach calzones in some magazine. Since I couldn't pin it, I lost track of the actual recipe. But what I ended up making was pretty stinking good. Totally delicious. Decently healthy. Yummy goodness.  

I decided on using the spicy/hot Italian chicken sausage from Sprouts. I like a little kick, but if that's not your thing, sweet Italian sausage would work too. Of course, you can go with turkey, pork, or whatever meat you like. You can also use your cheese of choice. I went with a white extra sharp cheddar. Again, I like things that have a little extra bite or whatever. For time's sake, I rounded up a recipe for no-yeast WW pizza crust from Kristin in Her Kitchen. I also saved some time by using frozen chopped spinach. 

Pumpkin, Sausage & Spinach Calzones

Ingredients for the crust:

1 1/2 cups WW flour

1/2 cup AP flour

1 tsp garlic salt

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup EVOO

Ingredients for the filling:

EVOO

8 oz Italian sausage

2 cups frozen chopped spinach

Salt & pepper

4 heaping TBSP pureed pumpkin

3-4 oz cheese, shredded 

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 450*F and grab a non-stick cookie sheet.
• In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients for the crust; whisk together. Add the water and EVOO. Mix well. Set aside.
• In a saute pan, add some EVOO and heat it up on high. Add the sausage. Cook thoroughly. Remove the sausage from the pan. Turn the heat down to low.
• Add a tad bit more EVOO to the pan (may not be necessary if you're using a sausage with more fat). Add the spinach, salt & pepper. Saute for a couple minutes, or until the spinach is warmed up. Remove from heat.
• Divide your dough for the crust into 4 equal parts. Roll out into like 7-8" circles. Place 1 heaping TBSP of pumpkin and spread it around (leave about 1/4" around the edges). Divide up the spinach, sausage, and cheese between the circles. Fold each circle over. Use a fork and go around the edges to seal them. 
• Place the calzones on your cookie sheet. You can spread a little EVOO on top. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until slightly golden. 

Enjoy!

Greek Yogurt Waffles

Food! Yay! I still have a couple more travel posts to get up, but I wanted to post this before I forgot what I changed. It's been a fairly lazy Saturday. I almost slept-in until 9, which is pretty late for me...which is sad. I was starving when I woke up. Like I wake up and I am so hungry that I'm nauseated. Everyday. Does anyone else have this problem? I have to have food (and coffee) pronto. Anyways, my late morning is still early for everyone else...so I grabbed a Larabar and coffee, and then got my P90X-2 on for the day. At which point it was about 1130, and the others were beginning to surface. So I made waffles. I'm all about eating breakfast as many times as possible. 

I feel like it's been a really long time since I've had waffles. I guess we just generally do pancakes. But waffles are great because they have like built-in syrup holders. You can also get in more peanut butter this way. Totally brilliant. I slightly modified this recipe from Lauren Conrad's website. These waffles are definitely better for you than the normal ones. Greek yogurt, honey, whole wheat flour, coconut oil... and still super tasty! Even the brother ate them up.

Greek Yogurt Waffles

Ingredients:

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 large eggs

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

1 cup plain Greek yogurt

1 1/4 cups milk

1 TBSP-ish honey

1/2 tsp vanilla 

Directions:

• Plug in your waffle iron so it can heat up.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients together and mix.
• In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients and mix them together.
• Pour the wet mixture over the dry mixture and whisk the two together.
• Spray your waffle iron with some non-stick cooking spray. (This may need to be repeated between waffles.)
• Scoop about 1/3 cup of batter onto the waffle iron. Cook until it's as done as you like it. Repeat until all the batter has been used. About 10 times. 

Enjoy!

Note: You may be able to see this in the picture, but they were very soft. I couldn't tell you if that's because of the "healthy" stuff or because I tend to (intentionally) undercook things like waffles. I mean, they're more done than any of my pancakes ever get (I like those to still run batter when you cut in). So mine are floppy, but tasty. I guess you could try to cook them more thoroughly. 

Roasted Tomato & Kale {Tofu} Quiche

Meatless Monday success...on so many levels. Tonight, we enjoyed quiche...tofu quiche. No one had any idea. The brother is still in the dark, bless him. He ate it right up. Said the crust wasn't his favorite, but the rest of it was really good. The mother and I thought the whole thing was pretty delish. I adapted the recipe from Edible Perspective. It's definitely a keeper. I have never used tofu before. I was kind of weirded out by it. I knew that it would have to be unidentifiable for the brother. This definitely worked. So good. Creamy and flavorful. Trust me. 


Roasted Tomato & Kale {Tofu} Quiche

Ingredients for the quiche:
1 pint of cherry tomatoes, halved 
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 heaping tsp minced garlic
2 packed cups chopped kale
1 package (14 oz) of firm or extra firm tofu, drained
1 TBSP organic milk
1 TBSP white wine
1 tsp sea salt + some
1 tsp ground pepper + some 
1 tsp basil
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp oregano
EVOO

Ingredients for the crust:
1 cup old fashioned oats
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 TBSP herbs (I used a combination of basil, rosemary, oregano and thyme)
3-4 TBSP coconut oil
3-4 TBSP cold water 

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 400*F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the tomatoes on the baking sheet; drizzle with EVOO and sprinkle on some salt and pepper. Roast for about 30 minutes (until shriveled and starting to brown), stirring halfway through. Remove from oven and let cool. Reduce heat to 375*F.
• Meanwhile, drizzle a small sauté or fry pan with EVOO. Heat it up and add your green onions. Sauté the onions for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to cook for another minute. Remove from heat and let cool.
• Lightly grease a 9" pie plate. Place the oats for the crust in your food processor and pulse 10-20 times. Until it looks good. Combine oats, flour, and herbs in a large bowl; mix well. Add coconut oil and water. Mix with your hands until the mixture starts to hold together when squeezed or pressed. Place the dough in your prepared pie plate and pat it down in the bottom, then up the sides. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool. 
• Place the tofu, 1 1/2 TBSP EVOO, the white wine, milk and herbs, salt and pepper in your food processor and process until smooth. Scrape down the sides and give it another 10 seconds. Add in the kale and pulse until the kale is evenly distributed and more finely chopped.
• In a large bowl combine the tofu/kale mixture, roasted tomatoes, and onion/garlic mixture. Stir. Pour into crust and smooth it out. Bake for about 30-35 minutes. 
• You should let it sit for 10 minutes before cutting with a really sharp knife. But I was hungry. So my edges aren't smooth. Still tasty!

Enjoy!

Butternut Squash & Spinach Quesadillas

Another successful Meatless Monday! I adapted these delicious quesadillas from the Pioneer Woman, making them a little healthier and much simpler to make. I don't know about you, but I don't like waiting around for butternut squash to roast in the oven. I've become a huge fan of the frozen kind that I found at Sprouts. I also ended up using spinach that chopped and frozen, so it took no time at all to steam both the butternut squash and spinach together in my Pampered Chef steamer thing. I did take the time to make my own whole wheat tortillas, but that is totally optional. 

The mother and I thought they were quite delicious. The brother, surprisingly, didn't complain too much. He just said they tasted "insanely healthy." The recipe I have made 3 generously filled quesadillas, so adjust it to your needs. Enjoy!


Butternut Squash & Spinach Quesadillas

Ingredients:
2 cups cubed butternut squash
3 cups chopped spinach
4 oz Monterey Jack cheese, shredded/grated
Salt, pepper & chili powder to taste 
6 whole wheat tortillas (click here for recipe) 
Cilantro, for serving

Directions:

• Preheat a griddle to about 400 degrees. Prepare with cooking spray.
• Steam butternut squash, spinach, salt, pepper, and chili powder until the squash is soft.
• Assemble quesadillas, one at a time. Begin by spreading about 3/4 cup of the squash/spinach mixture on a tortilla, sprinkle with cheese, and top with another tortilla.
• Place the quesadillas on the hot griddle and cook for about a minute on each side.

Healthy Banana Bread

We literally had a bunch of bananas go from green to overripe. There was no yellow. Seriously. It's kind of like how Oklahoma usually goes from winter to summer without any spring. I have several recipes pinned that call for overripe bananas. I REALLY wanted to make these banana bread brownies, but I didn't think I really needed a pan of those sitting around the house. The brother had mentioned he wanted banana bread, so I decided to make that instead. I got my recipe from "8 Weeks to a Better You" via Pinterest. First of all, this was WAY simple and fast to whip together. Just 7 ingredients. Secondly, I think it tastes great (and the mother agrees). It does have the whole wheat "healthy" texture. In the brother's words, "Oh, banana bread....Ah, it's healthy! What have you done?!" I guess the healthy taste doesn't bother me anymore. At this point, I have a harder time with the more processed, not-so-healthy taste. Judge me. If the whole wheat texture really bothers you, you could easily do a half-and-half mixture of whole wheat and all-purpose flour. Bottom line, I definitely recommend this recipe for a healthier, more natural banana bread! It's good plain and with natural peanut butter. 


Healthy Banana Bread

Ingredients:
3 overripe bananas
1/2 cup unsweetened natural applesauce
3/4 cup natural honey
2 eggs
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x5 loaf pan.
• Put bananas in a large bowl and beat/mash (I used a KitchenAid stand mixer). Add applesauce and honey, mix well. Add eggs, beat until combined. Combine dry ingredients in another bowl, whisk together. Pour dry mixture into the wet mixture, mix just until combined. 
• Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for about 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 
• Let cool for 10 minutes in pan before turning it out onto a wire cooling rack. Enjoy!

Leftover Oatmeal Muffins

When we had family in for graduation, I made some slow cooker overnight oatmeal. I got that recipe from The Gracious Pantry, which is probably my new favorite place to find "clean" recipes. The oatmeal wasn't too bad, and it was nice having something ready to eat in the morning. I would recommend not adding the raisins in until the morning though. The definitely soaked up a lot of the liquid, so they looked pretty funky...and the brother couldn't handle it. Anyways, we had a little over 2 cups left, so I went on a quest to find a recipe for leftover oatmeal muffins. I found a recipe that I liked the basic concept of from Full Tummies. As I was reading comments, someone else had made some suggestions...so I took things I liked from both recipes and made my own! The muffins turned out really well. They kind of remind me of a very moist bran muffin. (You could probably add more flour, if you want a dryer texture. I like things pretty moist. Then, I don't need condiments.) They got eaten up pretty quickly, and even the brother liked them! (Little did he know I had used the oatmeal he didn't like to make them.) 


Leftover Oatmeal Muffins

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups cooked oatmeal
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
2 TBSP coconut oil (melted)
2 TBSP unsweetened applesauce
2 TBSP honey
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

(If your leftover oatmeal is plain, you may consider adding cinnamon, vanilla, or whatever you like!)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease your muffin pan (the recipe makes 12 good sized muffins). I pretty much just threw it all in our KitchenAid stand mixer and mixed it up. Then, divide the batter between each muffin cup. Bake for 25-ish minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy! 

Pumpkin Muffin Makeover

Here's one I've been meaning to put up for a long time! I made these yummy muffins towards the end of Christmas break. I took a recipe I found (my mom's mom's) for pumpkin bread. Then, I totally messed it up (eliminated the sugar, all-purpose flour, shortening, and water). I really had no idea how they would turn out. The batter was pretty good, which is always a good sign. They smelled good while they were baking, another good sign. When I finally tried one, I was impressed. I was kind of hoping that the brother would think they tasted too healthy, so then I would have leftovers to take to school...but no. He didn't even noticed. He loved them. The mother loved them too. Definitely a success for replacing processed ingredients with more natural ones!


Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients:
1 cup honey (local) 
4 eggs
1/3 cup all-natural applesauce*
2 cups all-natural canned pumpkin
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon (I probably added a little extra) 

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
Grease or line a 12-cup muffin pan.
Mix honey, eggs and pumpkin
Add in dry ingredients and mix
*Add applesauce until the right moisture is achieved
Divide batter into muffin cups
Bake for...15-20 minutes or until done.

I think that's about right! It's been awhile since I made them... and of course I didn't exactly write everything down.

Zucchini Muffins

We had a few extra zucchini hanging around that needed used up.  I thought it'd be nice to used them in muffins.  I was right.  We had lovely muffins for breakfast, and then I froze the extras for me to bring to school.  Perfect.  I found the recipe for these by Google-ing "healthy zucchini muffins."  The original recipe is from Cooking Light.  I tweaked a couple things.  It only calls for 1/2 cup of sugar, but I'd like to only sweeten with, say, honey in the future.  Maybe even replace the egg with chia.  I'll let you know how that goes, if I ever get around to it...

Zucchini Muffins

Based on "Kathie's Zucchini Muffins" from Cooking Light

Ingredients:

1  c whole wheat flour

2/3  c white flour

1/2  c sugar

1  tsp ground cinnamon

1/4  tsp nutmeg

1 1/4  tsp baking powder

1/2  tsp baking soda

1/4  tsp salt

1 1/3  c shredded zucchini

1/2  c milk of choice (skim, 1%, soy, etc.)

2  Tbsp natural unsweetened appplesauce

2  Tbsp natural (local) honey

1  egg

Cinnamon & Splenda to sprinkle on top (optional) 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Combine whole wheat flour and next seven ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl.  Stir with a whisk.  Combine zucchini, milk, applesauce, honey and egg in a small bowl.  Stir until blended.  Make a little well in the middle of the dry mixture.  Add wet mixture.  Stir just until moist.  Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray.  Sprinkle cinnamon & Splenda mixture over top of muffins.  Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until done.  Remove from pans immediately and cool on wire rack.  Enjoy! 

Homemade Whole Wheat Bread

Homemade bread is really the best.  I'm reminded of this every time I go to Minnesota and have some of my grandpa's bread.  After being there this summer, I have resolved to exclusively make my own bread (or at least give it a go).  Not only does it taste great, it's free of all those preservatives you can't pronounce, sugar, and even dairy, if you so desire.  I made a couple loaves for the family last week, and I made a couple loaves for me to take off to college yesterday.  (I have sliced and frozen these loaves because I do not go through bread by myself that fast.  This way, when I need some bread, I can just get a slice or two out of the freezer and pop it in the toaster on the setting you use on frozen waffles and things.  I think it's brilliant.  We'll see how well it really works.)

Whole Wheat Bread

Ingredients:

2  cakes yeast (or 4 1/2 tsp)

1 1/2  cups lukewarm water

3/4  cup milk (I know that soy milk works too!)

1/2  cup pure honey (I like to use "local" honey)

1  TBSP salt

1/3  cup shortening

3 3/4  cup whole wheat flour

3 1/4  cup white flour (I like unbleached)  

Directions: 

Dissolve yeast in water in your mixing bowl.  Scald milk in small saucepan.  Stir in honey, salt and shortening; let cool and add to yeast mixture.  Add whole wheat flour to the mixing bowl; beat until well mixed.  Gradually add white flour to mixing bowl.  (About 2 cups in, I switch to the dough hook on the KitchenAid stand mixer.  Then I slowly add in a third cup.  I haven't needed the entire 3 1/4 cups yet.)  The dough should become more smooth, but not too dry.  Knead (or let your mixer knead) until the dough is elastic.  Place dough in greased bowl.  (I just spray my mixing bowl with the Crisco spray stuff when I flip the top up to remove the dough hook.)  Spray the top of the dough with what you used to grease the bowl.  Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled.  Punch down and let it rest for 10 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 375.  Shape into 2 loaves and place in greased pans.  Let rise again until almost doubled.  Bake for about 30 to 45 minutes.  Remove from pans and cool on wire rack.  Each loaf will get you about 16 good slices.  Enjoy!  

Pesto & Goat Cheese Pizza

I threw this together the other night, and, oh, it was very, very tasty.  I found a yeast-free whole wheat pizza crust recipe online...just Google it.  Made the crust and threw on some pesto sauce, sauteed mushrooms, sliced tomatoes, red onion, and black olives, and finally sprinkled it with goat cheese...and by "sprinkled" I mean "dropped small clumps."  This was very simple to make...and quite enjoyable to eat.  I definitely would not mind repeating this one in the near future!

In case you didn't know, goat cheese doesn't really melt like, say, mozzarella.  It gets lightly golden on the outside, and it's creamy warm goodness in the middle.  Yum!