Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Fail-Proof Banana Walnut Muffins

I have to admit, I'm feeling a little hypocritical with this post.  It was only a year ago that I was eating vegan and blabbing about how important miso is to your immune system.  The thing is, I have always loved sweets.  Make me choose between the most incredible creamy artichoke dip and a chocolate chip cookie and I will always choose the cookie.  But I also believe that food heals.  No, I'm not talking about how that chocolate chip cookie will fill an emotional void that will then make me feel complete.  I'm talking about the healthy stuff!  The miso, the dark leafy greens, the brown rice.  Eat that stuff!  It's good for you.



Banana Walnut Muffins:
Makes 12 medium-size muffins

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter (one stick), softened
1 egg
1 cup plain or flavored yogurt
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups ripened banana, mashed
1/2 cup crushed walnuts

Heat oven to 350F degrees.  Fill a muffin tin with paper liners.  In a large mixing bowl, cream together sugars, butter, egg, yogurt and vanilla.  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.  Fold flour mixture into butter mixture.  Stir in banana and walnuts until just incorporated.  I use an ice cream scoop to fill the muffin tin.  Fill to top of paper liner.  Bake 35 minutes.  Let cool 5 minutes, then move to wire rack.  Eat for dessert.  And breakfast.  And between meals throughout the day.

My mom gave me this recipe right after I got married.  It's fail-proof.  You can use the basic recipe with any fruit you like.  It's great with apples and cinnamon, sprinkled with raw sugar on top.  You can also make this in a 9x13" pan.  I usual prefer that because I hate washing the muffin tin.  Plus, it's much more difficult to calculate how much you've eaten.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Getting Healthy

Not me.  My husband. The poor guy.  Ever since I got pregnant he's pretty much been on my diet, which has consisted of whatever is in the pastry display at the cafe around the corner.  And then there's Pinterest.  Is that another Pumpkin Spiced Carmel Crumb Cobbler Strudel with a Cream Cheese Cinnamon Maple Frosting recipe?  REPIN?  Don't mind if I do.  Did you say Nutella?  PINNED.  (They're also obsessed with Mason jars and Tortilla Soup...?)  So I'm trying to be supportive of my man and prepare some healthy snacks for him to grab as he runs out the door.  Go me!

First, I found this in Health magazine:

click the picture for a larger view

Sorry, this got crumpled in my back pocket when I went to pick everything up at the store.  Basically, it's snack ideas: apple slices + peanut butter, berries + cottage cheese, crackers + black bean dip, bell peppers + hummus, broccoli + cheese (?).  When I got home with all my goodies, I cut up the fruit and veggies and put the dips in mini tupperware so it would be easy to grab and go.  Having everything precut helps me too since I don't have a lot of time to prep healthy meals while I'm taking care of the baby.  Plus, I can alternate between healthy snacks and pie and not feel as guilty as I would if I'd just eaten pie all day.  Which almost happened yesterday.

I also put these together:


Baby greens, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, sunflower seeds and dressing.  You can buy these mini ziplock bags in the beading department of Michael's.  Because the dressing and seeds are in ziplocks, you can make a few for the week and store in the fridge.

I find it's much easier to eat pie while blogging about salad.  Man, my husband's going to be super healthy!

Monday, October 22, 2012

I Don't Eat Average Food

My brother-in-law says I won't eat just anything.  My food has to be scrumptious.  He used that word.  Scrumptious.  It totally made me laugh.  He's right though!  Last week I made Creamy Butternut Squash Soup for dinner but didn't have any bread for dipping or making grilled cheese.  The only carb-ish thing I had was tortillas.  With squash soup?  Eh, maybe.  But remember, my food has to be scrumptious!  So I used the tortillas to make a Mexican Tuna Melt.  It was faaaabulouuus (annoying sing-song-y voice)!


Mexican Tuna Melt:
Serves 2

2 flour tortillas
1 can tuna
1-2 Tbsp mayonnaise
2 Tbsp chopped fresh dill
10 cherry tomatoes
freshly ground black pepper
2 slices swiss cheese
2 tsp feta cheese
2 tsp shredded parmesan cheese
sliced avocado (optional) 

Mix tuna with mayonnaise, dill, tomatoes, and pepper.  Put pan over medium-low heat.  Lay tortilla on pan.  On one half of the tortilla place 1 slice swiss, half the tuna mixture, 1 tsp feta, 1 tsp parmesan and avocado slices, if using.  Fold tortilla in half and cook until browned and crisp.  Repeat with remaining tortilla. 

You can use any cheese combo, but try this one sometime because it was money.  I added the avocado as optional because I made it again the next day with the avocado and it was, dare I say it, scrumptious.

Monday, October 1, 2012

You're Probably Wondering What I've Been Up To

I blog for fun.  Oh yes, there was a day, a long time ago, when I'd dreamt of my little blog becoming something grand.  But being the pessimist (realist!) that I am, I accepted the fact that it would only be something browsed over by my good friends.  All 12 of them.  Well, as it turns out, those good friends are actually great friends.  They've been kind enough to read my silly blog, find other things to distract themselves with during my extended absences, and then encourage me to sit my booty back down at the computer and start blogging again after - what has it been?  A year and a half now?  Shoooot.

But I have a good excuse!

Meet B, my precious little boy:


photo courtesy of Tawny de Rue
My diet has gone to pot ever since being pregnant, and while I may go vegan/macro again someday in the future, for now I'm enjoying how fast nursing can burn calories.  So my future posts will include vegan, vegetarian and, uh, normal (?) recipes to keep everyone (me) happy.  The only bad news is that, since I'm nursing, I have to avoid certain foods that make B's tiny tummy hurt.  Like chocolate.  I KNOW. :( But, dude, this little man's cheeks are like mochi, which kind of makes up for the lack of chocolate in my diet right now.

So that's the latest with me anyway.  I now shop at Baby Gap.  It's very sad.  But I'm a mom now.  Quite possibly the happiest mom alive.

I just got spit up on.