Dark Chocolate Chip Banana Oat Muffins

Yes, muffins again! I had a few bananas that were steadily and rapidly browning and I just had to do something with them. I turned to my 18 month old and asked "Banana bread?" and he replied,  "No" without hesitation, but when I asked "Would you like muffins?", he cheered and clapped furiously, so, needless to say, muffins were made.
I never made banana muffins before. I could've just used a recipe for banana bread but where's the fun in that? I headed over to my pantry, pulled out a few staples, and winged it. The results? Toddler approved! I'll call that a success... mmm, tasty success.

Dark Chocolate Chip Banana Oat Muffins
Makes 12 Muffins

Ingredients:

• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
• 3/4 cup milk I used unflavored coconut, but any milk should be able to be substituted as well as replaced with plain yogurt or even sour cream
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tbs vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup quick oats 
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2/3 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• In medium bowl, mix mashed bananas, oil, egg, milk, and vanilla. 
• In large bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, and cinnamon. Stir in banana mixture.
• Fold in chocolate chips.
• Fill lined muffin pan about 2/3 full
• Bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy!

*Alternative idea* These would also be delicious if you omit the chocolate chips and top with brown sugar oat crumble

Sweet Potato Apple Oat Muffins with Brown Sugar Oat Crumble

One late night, I was thinking up the next evening's dinner, when I saw a lonely sweet potato just calling out to be cooked. But one potato? What on earth could I do with that? Muffins! Yes, that will do nicely. "To the internet!" I said, but I just did not find a recipe that I wanted to tinker with.  After a browse through my pantry, I decided to give it a shot at making my own... and so, the sweet potato apple oat muffin was born.

These are nice for breakfast or even a snack. My 1.5 year old son would eat two of them if I let him (notice his little hand creeping towards the muffin in the picture, haha!), so this is a simple treat that both adults and children will enjoy!

Sweet Potato Apple Oat Muffins
Makes 11-12 muffins
Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup of milk, and an additional 1 tablespoon of milk
• 3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
• 1 apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
• 2.5 tablespoons of maple syrup Sweetener of choice (karo syrup, brown sugar, agave nectar, etc) may be substituted.
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup quick oats
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 3 tsps baking powder
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp all spice
• 1 tbs vanilla

Directions:

• Cook sweet potato. I prefer to steam my potato, but you can also bake or boil it. If boiled, drain well.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Mash sweet potato with 1 tablespoon of milk, 2.5 tablespoons of maple syrup, and 3 tablespoons of butter.
• In medium bowl, beat egg, 3/4 cup milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Beat in 1/2 cup sweet potato mixture.
• Stir in flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, all spice, and apple until moistened. 
• Line muffin pan with muffin liners and fill about 3/4 of the way with batter. Top with brown sugar oat crumble (optional) and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Brown Sugar Oat Crumble*
Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup firm butter, cut up
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• Pinch of all spice or cinnamon
• 1/2 cup quick oats

Directions:

• Mix all ingredients together in a bowl with a fork until crumbly.

*This makes a LOT of crumble, enough for two batches (24) of average sized-muffins, but I like to err on the side of caution and have too much than too little.

Green Olive Pesto

To be honest, this is not the prettiest looking or the most appetizingly named recipe, but, yum, it sure is tasty. When I came across this, I was intrigued. I don't know why I felt compelled to give it a try. The directions were terrible and I can not stand olives, yet I found myself in the kitchen making it anyway. Weird, I know, but I am glad that I gave it a shot. After some tweaking here and there, it turned out to be a flavorful pesto, that even my toddler gobbles up.

Green Olive Pesto
Ingredients:

• 1lb of spaghetti*
• 5 peeled and sliced garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup pitted green olives
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley
• 1/2 cup fresh basil
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• Up to 1 cup of black olives, pitted and coarsely chopped I usually buy the ones sliced in a can and chop them up to save on time and typically only use about 1/4 cup.
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

*If using a different type of noodle, you should double the recipe to ensure that they will be well coated. I learned this the hard way :-P

Directions:

• Cook spaghetti al dente according to package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of cooking water and then drain and keep to the side.
• Meanwhile, in a food processor (I use a magic bullet, don't judge me) combine garlic, green olives, parsley, and basil, while adding the olive oil, little by little, until it is well-combined. Poof! There you have it, green olive pesto. Simple, no?
• In the pot used to boil the spaghetti, simmer the pesto for about a minute. 
• To the pesto, add spaghetti, reserved 1/2 cup of water, black olives, and salt, stir.
• Continue stirring until water is cooked off.
• Serve and enjoy! Bruschetta or garlic bread accompanies this nicely.

Bruschetta, simple and delicious!

Sometimes, I come across a recipe that I just know I will use over and over again. Thanks to "noahw" at http://www.instructables.com, I found this classic appetizer and with very minor alterations, I now have a bruschetta recipe that never fails to please.

Bruschetta
Ingredients:

• 6-7 roma tomatoes*, diced as small as you can without turning them into a mushy mess 
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 4-6 peeled and chopped cloves of fresh garlic
• 1 peeled whole clove of garlic
• 3-4 leaves (or more to taste) of fresh basil  If you are unable to find fresh basil, 2-3 tablespoons of gourmet garden "herbs in a tube"  or something similar will suffice
• 4-6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• kosher salt to taste
• fresh ground pepper to taste
• sliced baguette or italian bread I cheat and buy a pre-sliced baguette from the grocery baker, shhh
• mozzarella cheese (optional) Can be shredded or thin slices of fresh mozzarella

*Any tomato of preference can be used.

Directions:

• Mix tomatoes, onion, chopped garlic, basil, *4 tablespoons* of olive oil, salt, and pepper together in one bowl, cover, and place in fridge. This can be eaten right away, but is best if given about 30 minutes for all the flavors to really infuse together.
• Line sliced baguette/italian bread on a cookie sheet and pop it in the oven, on broil, to toast it. 
• After bread is toasted, brush the tops of it with the remaining olive oil.
• Take a whole clove of garlic and give the bread a good rubbing with it
• Spoon bruschetta onto toasted bread and top with mozarella and place into the oven on broil just until cheese begins to melts.
• Enjoy!

Ooops...

Well, I've been gone for a while. Life gets in the way sometimes :-P but I am back with a couple of recipes soon to follow. Bruschetta and Green Olive Pesto are on the menu and yes, it is as delicious as it sounds.

Sugar Cookie Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Vanilla cakes made from scratch usually leave me unimpressed, but this cake is anything but "vanilla"... It tastes very reminiscent of a sugar cookie. This cake is delicious as is, but also takes very well to add-ins (such as chocolate chips, sprinkles, strawberries, you name it!) It's fluffy and moist and has just the right amount of sweetness. It's so good, I even eat it without the frosting, but ooooooh, the frosting! You'll want to eat it by the spoonful. You've been warned.

The only way this cake could get better is if it was quick and easy to make... oh wait, it is! You probably have most (if not all) of the ingredients already!

Sugar Cookie Cake
Ingredients:

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (softened)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cup milk

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Prepare a 9 x13* pan by greasing lightly and dusting with flour
• In a medium bowl, cream together sugar and butter until blended well.
• Beat in eggs, one at a time. Batter should look fluffy
• Beat in vanilla
• In a small bowl, combine flour and baking powder
• Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and beat until blended well
• Beat in milk until batter is smooth Tip: I like to to stir the milk in by hand first and then beat it. Stirring it first helps prevent splatter.
• Pour into prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.
• Cake is done when it is a golden brown and springs back to the touch.

*This cake can also be made into cupcakes, baking time may need to be decreased. It can also be made into smaller, deeper cakes (such as an 8 or 9 inch cake), baking time would need to be increased by 10 minutes give or take.

Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:

• 8oz cold cream cheese Use it straight out of the fridge!
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter (softened)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups* powdered sugar

*You can use more or less powdered sugar to satisfy your tastes and to create different consistencies.

Directions:

• Cream together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla
• Gradually beat in powdered sugar
• That's it!

Allow cake to cool completely before frosting!

Tip: This cake does get a bit crumbly while frosting. To keep it looking pretty, apply the frosting in a nice thick layer or do a crumb layer. To make a crumb layer, simply spread a thin amount of frosting onto the cake and pop it in the fridge to harden, then add another layer of frosting on top. In the cake pictured, I took a 9 x 13 cake and sliced it in half. I then spread a thin layer of frosting on top of one half, stacked the other on top and frosted it. Yum!

Baked Tilapia with Peppers and Onions

 

Are you drooling yet? I love, love, love tilapia. Fried, baked, grilled, it's wonderful! This recipe is so simple and quick and packs a flavorful punch, you'll be sure to make it again and again!

Baked Tilapia with Peppers and Onion
Serves 4
Ingredients:

• 4 Tilapia fillets Fresh or frozen. If using frozen, it must be thawed first*
• 2-3 Peppers of choice I prefer using small sweet peppers but bell peppers work nicely as well
• 1 medium sized sweet onion
• Garlic to taste You can use fresh, jarred, or even garlic powder, whatever you have on hand!
• Lemon Pepper seasoning
• Dill seasoning
• Cayenne pepper seasoning (optional)
• Olive oil (or butter)
• 4 sheets of aluminum foil large enough to make a foil pouch**
• 1-2 cups of rice White rice is good but brown or wild rice is delicious as well and adds a nutritional boost!

*Recipe also works well with whiting fillets or even salmon.
**Instructions on making a foil pouch

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Slice and cut peppers and onion into bite sized pieces
• Take a sheet of foil and lay it flat, place 1/8 of your peppers and onion on the foil.
• Place 1 tilapia fillet on top of the peppers and onion
• Sprinkle lemon pepper, dill, cayenne pepper, then garlic on top of fillet
• Top the fillet with another 1/8 of peppers and onion
• Drizzle olive oil (or add a pat of butter) over fillet
• Fold foil into pouch and repeat above steps with remaining fish
• Place foil pouches on baking sheet
• Bake for 20 minutes Fish is done when it flakes easily with fork. Take caution when opening pouches, as contents are quite hot and steamy!
• While fish is baking, prepare 1-2 cups of rice according to instructions on its bag/box.
• Lay fish over bed of rice and dig in!! Don't forget to pour all the juice from the pouch over it. Simply delicious!