Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins!

I found this recipe on AllRecipes.com, but I tweaked it a bit- as is usual when I bake or cook. Below is exactly how I made them, however I would like to advise anyone looking to make these to use semi-sweet chocolate chips; milk chocolate ones sink to the bottom of the muffin, which I don't mind, but may contribute to your not liking this recipe, which would be a shame. It's a keeper!

INGREDIENTS

* 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 3/4 cup organic sugar (it's not bleached)
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon baking soda (a heaping teaspoon)
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 egg (I used a medium sized one)
* 1/4 cup vegetable oil
* 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 very ripe bananas, mashed
* 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
* 2 tablespoon flax seeds
* 1/2 cup quick oats




DIRECTIONS

*preheat your oven to 350*

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
2. In another bowl, combine the egg, oil, yogurt and vanilla.
3. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients just until moistened. Don't fret, the mixture will seem very doughy. The banana's help with that.
4. Fold in bananas, flax seeds and chocolate chips.
5. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Sprinkle oats on top of each muffin.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.
7. Enjoy with some hot tea, soy milk or good ol' regular milk.

Stuffed Red Peppers

I had it in my head last week to attempt making stuffed peppers. It's a dish I had never been too fond of- my Mum has always made them in green peppers, and I only recently became a fan of green peppers. I love red peppers even more and thought that the red peppers would be great with this kind of dish. So after a week of thinking about it, and trying to find the time, here it is!

* 3 large red peppers

Stuffing:

* 1 1/2 cup cooked brown basmati rice (I made mine with 1 tablespoon of butter & 1 vegetable boullion cube)
* 1/2 pound ground turkey
* 2 cloves garlic, chopped
* 1 small onion
* 2 tablespoons EVOO
* 1 small zucchini, chopped
* 1 small red pepper, chopped
* 1 12oz. can riced tomatoes
* 2 teaspoons fennel seeds
* 1 teaspoon thyme
* 1 teaspoon oregano
* 1-2 teaspoons raw sugar
* salt & pepper to taste
* 1/4 cup grated parm


Directions

* Preheat your oven to 375.

* Arrange the red peppers, tops off & insides cleaned out, in a loaf pan or oven safe dish. Place in oven and pre-cook for 10-15 minutes or so, until the peppers begin getting tender. Put aside.

*Have cooked rice in a mixing bowl where it can later be mixed with all the other yumminess!

Stuffing:
1. In a large skillet or high-sided pan, bring 1/2 the EVOO to temp on medium-high heat.
2. Begin sauteing one clove of garlic, then add the chopped onion. Season with salt & pepper. Remove from heat & pan once the onion is beginning to caramelize.
3. In that same pan, add the rest of the EVOO & garlic. Once the garlic begins sauteing, add the ground turkey, 1 tsp fennel, thyme and salt & pepper to taste. Brown.
4. Once turkey is browned, remove from pan & add the zucchini, red pepper and the Onions from before. Saute for 4-5 minutes.
5. Add the tomatoes, bring to a boil or high simmer. Add oregano, more salt & pepper to taste, as well as sugar. Let simmer for 4-5 minutes.
6. Empty pan into mixing bowl with rice, adding the turkey. Mix all ingredients together. Add parm to the mix.
7. Spoon mixture into peppers adding any excess stuffing around the sides of the peppers in the dish. Bake for 10-15 minutes until the tops brown.

*Serve hot out of the oven- works great with mashed potatoes as a side!

YUM!

A Lemony Evening!

Tonight for dinner, I made a variation of 2 recipes I found this summer.

Lemon Brown Basmati Rice
* 1 cup brown basmati rice
* 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
* 1 tablespoon lemon juice
* 2 teaspoons finely grated fresh lemon rind
* 1 bay leaf
* 1 tablespoon dried marjoram
* 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

1. Rinse rice well. Bring to a boil 2 cups of water,salt, lemon juice & rind, bay
leaf and marjoram.
2. Add rice. Return to a boil, then lower heat and cover.
3. Simmer for 40 minutes or until all water has been absorbed.
4. Turn heat off and let the rice sit , covered and undisturbed for 5 minutes.
5. Add butter or oil and mix gently with a fork.(take bay leaf out).

Roasted Lemon-Garlic Broccoli

* 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
* 2 tablespoons EVOO
* 1/2 teaspoon pepper
* 1 head of broccoli
* juice of one lemon

Directions

1. preheat oven to 375
2. cut broccoli down to florets, rinse and dry with paper towel
3. toss the florets in a large bowl with EVOO, salt, pepper and lemon juice
4. arrange florets in oven safe casserole dish & place in heated oven
5. roast for 15 minutes or so, flipping the florets once in the midst of cooking
6. serve hot & enjoy!

Double Chocolate Oatmeal Banana Cookies

(We called these Cow-Pie Cookies, and they are amazing. Snagged from vegweb and made 3 times in the last 3 weeks. Try these!)

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

1 cup flour
1 1/14 cups oats
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cups brown sugar
2/3 cups white sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1 banana
3/4 cups vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

In a big bowl, mix all the dry ingredients (except the chocolate chips).

In a small bowl, mash the banana and mix in the vanilla.

Add the banana bowl and the oil to the dry ingredients.

Mix until it is doughy, then fold in the chocolate chips, (add more to your taste).

Form 1 inch balls and place them on the cookie tray (they flatten out pretty big, so leave plenty of room).

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes, let cool.

Eat!

Serves: 20 cookies

Preparation time: 20 minutes

first attempt at meatloaf...

BBQ Turkey Loaf
(tweaked from allergygrocer.com)

1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
1/3 cup italian bread crumbs
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup finely chopped carrots
1/3 cup BBQ sauce (I used thick brown sugar- mixed in with other ingredients)
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
2 eggs, lightly beaten
dash of poultry seasoning

1/3 cup of BBQ sauce (for topping)

Combine all ingredients, form loaf in a pan or place in loaf pan. Pour remaining BBQ sauce on top to glaze the top. Cook for 50-55 minutes in preheated 350 degree oven.

**I had too much of the meat mixture for one baking dish, so I improvised by putting the remainder in cupcake tins. This would have worked if I had taken them out a bit sooner- the edges burned. But! Still great...I also would in the future use a different, leaner ground turkey. Lots of excess fat, but really moist! And great tasting for my first attempt at meatloaf.

:]