Groovy Recipe: Strawberry-Banana Muffins

These are full-on hippie muffins: two fruits, full of fiber and protein, and CHIA!  Despite all that, they're delicious.  I promise.

So pretty, so delicious

Strawberry-Banana Muffins

* 18 regular-sized muffins

Ingredients

3 large, very ripe bananas, mashed

1 1/2 cups diced fresh strawberries

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp coconut oil

2 eggs, slightly beaten

2/3 cup almond or coconut milk

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup unbleached flour

1 tbsp chia seed

2 tbsp uncooked quinoa

2 tbsp ground flax seed

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

Method

Pre-heat oven to 350.  Spray a muffin tin with coconut oil or olive oil.

Stir the chia and quinoa into the mashed banana and let sit for 10 minutes.  Sift together the remaining dry ingredients in a bowl.  Beat together sugar and coconut oil; stir in the eggs until well blended.  Add in the almond milk, vinegar, and vanilla, then stir in the strawberries.  Mix in the bananas until well combined.  Stir in the flour mixture just until moistened.

Spoon equal amounts of the batter into the muffin tin(s).  Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes (begin checking them after 20 minutes).  Cool in pan for five minutes, then remove the muffins.  Grub right away (no butter needed) or store in an airtight container up to three days.  

Tip: after you've sprayed your muffin tin (or loaf pan, casserole dish, cookie sheet, etc.) use a paper towel to wipe off the excess spray, before baking.  It keeps your pans from getting that gross, sticky, gunky residue that never, ever comes off (no matter what Jillee claims).

Groovy Recipe: Baked Butternut Squash Pasta

This year, I made the decision to become a full-on vegetarian.  Babydoll absolutely refuses to eat meat or poultry, and since I'm cooking for just the two of us most days, why bother buying it?  It's been 21 days, and except for the occasional cheeseburger craving, I'm not missing the meat.  I came up with this dish after seeing something similar on Pinterest.  It was one of those dishes that sounded great in theory, but after I read the recipe, I knew it wouldn't work.  Thus, I experimented with my own.  Voila.

Why do people do that, by the way?  Post recipes that don't work?  I made a dish off Pinterest last week, and it sucked.  The proportions were way off.  I'm a fairly competent home cook, so I know it isn't (always) my fault that a dish doesn't turn out.  I always test my recipes before I post them.  I don't want an angry mama screaming at me that my quinoa quiche was a big piece of crap.  Food bloggers, beware.  I'll call you out if your recipe wastes my time and resources.

Anyhoo.

Pre-baked beauty

Baked Butternut Squash Pasta

* 8 servings

Ingredients

1 bag whole wheat bowtie pasta (farfalle)

2 cups vegetable stock

1 cup butternut squash puree

1 cup butternut squash, petite dice

1 medium onion, petite dice

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups fresh spinach, chopped

1 cup low-fat ricotta

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 cup shredded mozzarella

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp olive oil

Salt and pepper

Method

Preheat oven to 375.

Mix ricotta with salt, pepper, and crushed garlic.  Set aside.

Cook pasta to al dente according to package direction.  While pasta is cooking, melt butter and olive oil in a large pot over high heat.  Add in onions; season with salt and pepper.  Cook onions until they are almost caramelized (about 10 minutes), then add in minced garlic.  Reduce heat to medium and pour in the stock.  Bring to a simmer, then stir in the diced squash.  Let simmer until the squash is very tender and the liquid reduces by about a third.  Smash down the squash slightly, using the back of your spoon or a potato masher.  Stir in the squash puree.  Bring back to a simmer.  Stir in the spinach and let simmer for a few minutes.  Remove from heat.

Mix the sauce with the pasta.  Spread half of the pasta in the bottom of a good-sized casserole dish.  Layer the ricotta over the top (it's pretty hard to spread the ricotta, so I just drop it in spoonfuls on top, then smash it down with the back of the spoon).  Pour the rest of the pasta on top, then sprinkle the mozzarella over it all.  Bake at 375 for 25 minutes.

Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes or so.  Grub.

The kid ate all of hers and almost half of mine.  That tells me it's a winner.

Groovy Recipe: Kinda Greek Quinoa Salad

My friend Peanee recently embarked on a vegan journey; she and my other vegan friend, LMB,have inspired me to follow a more vegetarian lifestyle.  Don't get me wrong.  Babydoll's Daddy and I still eat meat.  I braised some kick-ass short ribs the other night.  But between BD's IBS, Peanee, LMB, and my herbivore baby, I've really started exploring meat-free cuisine.  Another friend, Victoria (aka Canadian Mama), posted on Facebook recently that she whipped up a quinoa Greek thing with sauteed veggies that triggered the idea for this Groovy Recipe.

Kinda Greek Quinoa Salad

* serves a bunch (like 6-8)

Ingredients

3 cups cooked quinoa, cooled

4 radishes, quartered and thinly sliced

1 English cucumber, quartered and thinly sliced

2 medium zucchini, quartered and thinly sliced

Handful of grated carrot

1 cup of cherry tomatoes, halved

1 red pepper, petite dice ("cut into small, equal pieces")

Fresh oregano leaves (like a small mound in your hand's worth)

1 cup crumbled feta

1/4 cup chopped Kalamata olives

Juice of one fat lemon

1/3 cup olive oil

1/2 teaspoon rosemary

Romaine hearts (3 per serving)

Salt

Pepper

Juice the lemon into a glass bowl and whisk in the olive oil; season with rosemary, salt and pepper, and set aside.

Make sure the quinoa is cooled - you don't want to cook all the veggies you just spent half an hour chopping.  In a large non-metal bowl (make sure it's good and big, there's a lot of stuff going into it), toss all the veggies, olives and feta with the dressing.  When everything is well-coated, fold in the quinoa.  Stir it up until everything is well-mixed.

Lay the Romaine hearts side by side on each plate, slightly overlapping.  Mound the quinoa salad on each heart.  Serve.  Grub.

I had planned on serving this with hummus and pita, but Babydoll and her daddy ate it while I was plating the food.  Ah well.  I love the flavor of fresh herbs in a salad.  My parents grow oregano, basil, and thyme in abundance, so I always grab a fistful when we go over to their house.

Groovy Tip: when buying bell peppers, flip it over and look at the bumps on the bottom.  Four bumps are better for cooking (sauteeing, grilling, or stuffing).  Three bumps are better for eating raw, as in this salad.

Why no metal bowls?  Because we're using an acidic ingredient (the lemon) and acid reacts to the metal.


I just noticed that my last three posts have all been recipes.  I haven't been too inspired by much else than feeding my family lately.  Work sucks.