Blueberry Banana Muffins

I found another banana bread recipe, this one uses whole wheat flour, no butter or oil, and honey instead of sugar. They were pretty darn tasty!

Ok, I'm not going to lie, I replaced the blueberries with chocolate chips...

I think I've said this before, but King Arthur brand flour sells white whole wheat flour and it's fantastic, I use it all the time. I find it at Walmart. Also, the recipe says this makes 12 muffins. It made 12 large muffins and then another 6 regular-sized when I made it.



Blueberry Banana Muffins
from A Hint of Honey

INGREDIENTS
2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 eggs, whisked
1 1/2 cups ripe banana, mashed
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2/3 cup milk (I used 1%)
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Lightly grease or line a 12-cup muffin tin.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk to combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

3. In a large bowl, whisk to combine eggs, banana, honey, applesauce, vanilla, and milk. Add dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Gently fold in the blueberries.

4. Divide the batter between the 12 muffin cups, filling to the tops. Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven to cool on a wire rack.

Makes 12 large muffins.

Sweet Potato Cookies

I changed the recipe a bit because I don't like raises in my cookies...so I substituted chocolate chips, of course. I also added more oats because that's how I like it.

3/4 C. unsalted butter, softened
1/2 C. sugar
3/4 C. packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 C. peeled, cooked, and mashed sweet potato
1 1/2 C. all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
1/4 t. cinnamon
3/4 C. rolled oats
1 C. raisins

1. Preheat the oven to 350.

2. Using a hand-held mixer, mix the butter, sugar, and brown sugar until well blended. Add the egg and sweet potato and stir well by hand. Add all the other ingredients and stir.

3. Place parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Drop teaspoon-size drops of cookie dough onto the parchment paper.

4. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the cookie sheet.

SO YUMMY!!

Bean and Tomato Salad

I promised JaNette I'd post this recipe when she was here. It tastes best the day you make it.

Bean and Tomato Salad
2 cans (16oz) cannellini or white kidney beans
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 C onion, minced
6 stalks celery, chopped
1-2 T lemon juice
2 T olive oil
1 T chopped fresh basil
4-5 tomatoes, chopped (and seeded if you have the time/patience/skillz, otherwise the salad gets soggy at the bottom)
salt and pepper to taste

Drain and rinse beans in a colander. Leave the beans in the colander to drain while you chop everything else up. Mix everything except the beans together. Then gently stir in the beans so that they don't break apart. Serve at room temperature.

Apple-date sandwiches

This one has been a long time favorite of mine. When I make this for a packed lunch, I pack an unsliced apple on the side and just alternate bites of apple and sandwich. It is also good with extra bread and hummus on the side.

Apple-date sandwiches
1 pita bread or 2 slices of regular bread
cream cheese
dates, halved or I buy the pre-chopped kind
1 small apple or 1/2 of a large apple, chopped or cut into very thin slices
alfalfa sprouts or spinach

Spread cream cheese on both sides of bread. Put as many dates as will fit in a single layer on one slice of bread. Pile the apples on. Add the greens, then stack the other slice of bread on top.

More Ice Cream

Okay, so still on the subject of ice cream - when the family was here we made ice cream from this recipe that came from Grandpa Palmer. Shalane asked that I post it, so here it is. Dad's favorite is the Lemon Ice Cream. This is a nice recipe because you don't have to cook it, but it has the custard consistency. I have used everything from whole milk to skim milk in the recipe.

Lemon Ice Cream (and a variation) makes about 2 quarts

1 cup sugar

1 cup whipping cream

1 Tbs. plus 1 tsp lemon extract

1/2 Tbs. vanilla extract

egg substitute for 2 eggs

1/2 box instant lemon pudding mix (small box)

2 cups milk

Mix sugar and whipping cream in bowl until well blended. Add remaining ingredients and blend. Pour into cylinder of an ice cream freezer and freeze according to manufacturers directions.

Variation:

Omit the lemon extract and replace the lemon pudding with vanilla pudding. Add any fruit or nuts about 5 minutes before the ice cream is ready. We made mint chocolate chip with peppermint oil (about 4 drops) and mini chocolate chips. When adding fruit, I put in about 1 cup of chopped or pureed fruit.