Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Muffins

It's a snowy morning here in Minnesota. I'm talking suh-noooo-eee! I can barely see the tops of the tires of the car parked out on the street.

And it's still SNOWING out there!!

Nothing better than baking on a snowy morning. :)

I found a recipe for some Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins in my Taste of Home cookbook. I had to make a few modifications because I kept running out of ingredients, so I had to make some substitutions.

These muffins turned out so delicious...and picture perfect. Seriously, I'm having difficulty choosing the best pictures to post of the final product!

Of course my kitchen was a bit too messy for in-process pictures. Sorry!

Click here for Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup oat bran
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• scant 1/4 cup canned, evaporated milk
• 2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
• scant 1/3 cup plain yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients.

In another bowl, combine the eggs and evaporated milk (adding enough water to bring the milk up to 1/4c); stir in the bananas, yogurt, and vanilla.

Make a well in the dry ingredients. Pour the liquid mixture into the well and whisk just until moistened. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans.

Coat muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray or use paper liners; fill three-fourths full with batter. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack.

Enjoy with yummy hot chocolate. I did!

Eggless Pancakes

This is a really simple post without a recipe per se, but the other morning, I wanted some pancakes. The pancake mix I had on hand (I know, what a bum, not even making pancakes from scratch) called for eggs. I had no eggs in my fridge! Based on the success of my Eggless Sugar Cookies, I decided to replace the eggs with yogurt. Again, I replaced each egg with 1/4 cup plain yogurt. I also added a bit of vanilla to add some flavor, (and so the pancakes wouldn't take too yogurt-y).

These were probably some of the tastiest pancakes!

Some of the rhubarb jam I made over the summer didn't quite set up as much as it should, but the runny jam worked divinely as a topping for my pancakes.

So, so good!

Eggless Sugar Cookie Cutouts

I promised my dad some sugar cookies for Sunday dinner. When I went to start making them, I realized that I didn't have any eggs! I did a little research online and decided to try using plain yogurt as a replacement (which actually was great for me, because happened to have plain yogurt in my fridge that really needed to be used). For each egg, I used 1/4 cup of yogurt. Eggs are also used as leavening, but since there was already baking powder and soda in the recipe, I didn't make any further changes.

I was really pleased with how tasty these cookies turned out! They tasted so good. No one would have even known they were eggless. :) Of course I told everyone. Bragging rights, you know. They weren't quite as fluffy as usual, so next time I might increase the baking powder a bit.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions:
Beat shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Add yogurt and vanilla.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add to creamed mixture; mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours or until easy to handle.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4" thickness. Cut with cookie cutters. Place on ungreased cookie sheets, 1" apart.

Bake at 325°F for 9-11 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Frost as desired.

Individual Shepherd's Pies

For dinner the other night, I thawed out some ground beef but wasn't sure how to prepare it. I thought a shepherd's pie sounded good, but it seemed like too much for just the two of us. After scouring the Internet a bit, I came up with the idea of making mini-shepherd's pies. Here is the recipe I concocted. I was so pleased with how delicious these turned out! Jeff even liked them so much that he warmed up leftovers the next day! :)

Click here for Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 cup dried, minced onions
• 1 tsp dried, minced garlic
• 1 can cream of celery soup
• 1 cup frozen mixed vegetables
• 2 cups instant mashed potatoes, prepared
• Parmesan cheese, to taste
• Paprika, to taste

Directions:

Brown ground beef, onions, and garlic. Drain fat.
Defrost frozen veggies slightly by running under cold water.
Add soup and veggies to beef mixture.

Spoon mixture into a muffin tin.

Top with prepared mashed potatoes.

Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and paprika.

Place muffin tin on a cookie sheet (in case of overspill). Bake at 350°F for 20 min or until hot.

Enjoy!

This was incredibly tasty; however if I make it again, I would stretch the beef mixture to make 24 mini-pies and increase the amount of potatoes. This would hopefully prevent the spilling over in the oven.

That would be a LOT for the two of us, so I might just make 1/2 the amount of beef mixture to accomplish the same task.

Cider-Glazed Chicken with Browned Butter-Pecan Rice

I was a little hesistant to try this recipe from MyRecipes because I thought it might be too sweet for Jeff. He doesn't usually like meats with any type of sweet glaze.

This tasted fantastic!

It definitely won his approval, and I definitely plan on making it again!

The glaze had a perfectly delectable taste, and the rice was magnificent. I don't think I'd ever had a flavored rice before, let alone one with toasted pecans in it! I loved the added crunch from the pecans. :-)

Serve with green beans for one delicious meal!

Total: 20 minutes

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 cutlet and about 1/2 cup rice)

Ingredients

• 1 (3.5-ounce) bag boil-in-bag brown rice (such as Uncle Ben's) I just used regular white rice - prepared in my rice cooker. Nothing fancy, like boil-in-a-bag. Just what I had on-hand at home.
• 2 tablespoons butter, divided
• 1 pound chicken breast cutlets (about 4 cutlets)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup refrigerated apple cider
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley This is just a garnish, so I left it out.

Directions

Cook rice according to package directions in a small saucepan, omitting salt and fat; drain.

While rice cooks, melt 1 teaspoon butter in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper. Add chicken to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until done.

Remove from pan.

Add cider and mustard to pan, scraping pan to loosen browned bits; cook 2 to 3 minutes or until syrupy.

Add chicken to pan, turning to coat. Remove from heat; set aside.

Melt remaining 5 teaspoons butter in saucepan over medium-high heat; cook for 2 minutes or until browned and fragrant. Lower heat to medium; add pecans, and cook for 1 minute or until toasted, stirring frequently.

Add rice and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt; toss well to coat.

Serve rice with chicken. Sprinkle with parsley.

Spiderweb Dip

Jeff and I went to a Halloween party last night. We were asked to bring an appetizer to share. I found this cute recipe on the Taste of Home website for Spiderweb Dip with Bat Tortilla Chips. It looked yummy and super easy!

Of course when it came time to make it, I realized I didn't have any bat cookie cutters, so I just made the spiderweb dip

and served it with regular, store bought tortilla chips.

Ingredients:

• 8-oz pkg cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 c salsa
• 1/2 c prepared guacamole
• 1-2 T sour cream

Directions:

Mix the cream cheese and the salsa together. Spread into a pie plate. Carefully spoon the guacamole into the center of the cream cheese mixture leaving about a one-inch border.

Put sour cream into a zippered bag. Snip corner of bag. Pipe sour cream in concentric circles.

Beginning with the center circle, gently pull a knife through circles toward center edge. Wipe knife clean. Repeat to complete spiderweb pattern.

I knew Jeff would love the cream cheese and salsa (two of his favorite things) part, but he usually says how much he dislikes guacamole,

so I wasn't sure how well this dip would go over with him.

He LOVED it!

He couldn't stop eating it or raving about it (even the guacamole part).

It was awesome. :-)

Happy Halloween, everyone!!

This post was written as an entry for a contest to win a Canon Rebel T2i camera. Hop on over to SITS for great blogging tips and more awesome Halloween crafts.

Spaghetti Pie

The other day, I wanted spaghetti pie for dinner. Naturally, I checked my blog for the recipe. It wasn't there! I couldn't believe I hadn't done a post on it yet. It's one of my all time faves! It's relatively easy and oh, so yummy!!

Click here for Printable Recipe.

Ingredients

• 6 oz spaghetti, cooked, drained, rinsed with cold water
• 1 large egg, separated
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 lb ground beef
• 1 1/4 cups spaghetti sauce
• 3/4 cup cottage cheese
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch pie plate with cooking spray. Combine spaghetti, egg white, and Parmesan in a medium bowl. Press mixture into pie plate to form a pie shell.

Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat; add beef. Cook, stirring frequently, until beef is brown and crumbly; about 5 minutes. Stir in spaghetti sauce; simmer for 5 minutes. Set aside.

Combine cottage cheese, egg yolk, parsley and 1/2 cup mozzarella in a medium bowl. Spread mixture into spaghetti pie shell.

Spread meat sauce over cheese mixture.

Top with remaining mozzarella.

Cover pie with foil. Bake for 35 minutes, removing foil during the last 10 minutes of cooking. Let stand before serving.

Of course, I couldn't wait to eat this when it came out, so I forgot to take a picture of the final product before cutting and serving this delicious meal. You'll just have to imagine the above picture with the cheese all nice and melted. :-)