Tag Archives: banana

Happy National Pecan Day!

Posted on April 14, 2012 | 2 Comments

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but today I made amazing muffins.

I had 5 neglected, and therefore overly-ripe, bananas sitting in my kitchen begging me to turn them into something delicious. I could have gone with my standby banana protein muffins, but decided instead to throw caution to the wind and whip up a batch with quinoa, chia seeds and pecans instead.

And when posting about my new concoction on twitter I discovered it is National Pecan Day, how serendipitous! So although the day is almost over, I won’t judge if you extend the celebration into tomorrow so you can whip up a batch for yourself.

Banana Pecan Quinoa Muffins

Serves 12

Wet ingredients

2 overly-ripe bananas, mashed

1 egg

4 TBS butter

1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste (can sub vanilla extract)

1/2 cup cooked quinoa

Dry ingredients

1 cup white whole wheat flour (I like Bob’s Red Mill, but regular whole wheat or unbleached white would work too)

1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

3 TBS chia seeds

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In medium bowl, cream brown sugar and butter. Add remaining wet ingredients and mix until combined.

In a large bowl combine all dry ingredients. Add wet to the dry and mix well. Scoop into 12 lined & sprayed with non-stick cooking spray muffin tins, or silicone muffin cups, and bake 35-40 minutes.

Try to allow to cool before eating.

What is your favorite way to eat pecans?

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Posted in regular

Tagged banana, chia seeds, easy recipe, muffin, pecans, quinoa, recipe

butter-not squash

Posted on April 17, 2011 | 3 Comments

Last Monday I posted my meal plan. Said meal plan called for the hubs to make 13 bean mix soup tonight.

Meal plans were meant to be broken.

After consuming a glorious bowl of honey Greek yogurt, nanner and chia seeds,

running to REI to pick up some hydration goodies, (thanks for all the suggestions on yesterday’s post!),

(amphipod 20oz water bottle w/hand strap for medium/long runs)

(Nathan hydropack for extra long runs & bike rides)

and eating leftover black bean polenta casserole, (and perhaps a cookie or two),

the hubs decided to spend the rare sunny weekend afternoon in the backyard, working on the garden, and I decided this bad boy was calling my name.

Thursday evening we didn’t eat the planned butternut squash black bean burritos, so today I decided to whip up a batch of enchiladas with some of the unused ingredients.

Unfortunately, the recipe isn’t quite blogworthy yet. But I did capture some pretty pictures.

wrinkly butterbutts!

The enchiladas were flavorful, but lacked texture. Unless, of course, you consider baby food to be a winning texture.

My salad provided a much needed crunch factor on the side.

I’m off to bed, hopefully getting a good nights rest in prep for my early a.m. dreadmill date.

What is your favorite squash?

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Posted in regular

Tagged banana, butternut squash, greek yogurt, running

Whole wheat banana protein muffins

Posted on March 20, 2011 | 1 Comment

Today was one of those days when I really hated being a grownup. Last night our furnace stopped working. The hubs called the company we purchased said furnace from, a mere 4 months ago, and made a noontime appointment. He ran off to Lowe’s to pick up chicken coop building supplies before the appointment. While attempting to leave Lowe’s, he discovered the Volvo’s battery was dead. Insert father-in-law, Rob, to the rescue. Rob graciously drove into town to move all supplies from our Volvo to his truck in order to reach the dead battery. Yes, our battery is where one would normally find a spare tire. Why? Volvo thinks they are different/fancy/cool?

I hate you Volvo.

After finishing* the laundry, finishing up with the furnace repair man, and getting chicken coop materials home, I decided a little baking might improve my mood.

*a job that is never actually finished

I had these muffin liners sitting in my muffin sheet for two weeks. I hadn’t felt the inspiration to either bake muffins, or to put away the liners.

Yes, those would be Halloween liners my friends.

I took one look at my fruit bowl and decided something needed to be done with these sad looking nanners.

Inspiration finally struck, and I started combing the internet for a recipe that only required me to shop in my pantry.

I found one, but it didn’t look too fantastic. Halfway through the process of pulling items out of my pantry I remembered I only had whole wheat flour. Since my oven was already in the process of pre-heating, and I wasn’t in the mood to run to the store, I decided to give it a go.

I didn’t have high hopes, as I prefer to blend my whole wheat and white flour together. But I’m glad I did, because these muffins are so light and fluffy you would never guess they were whole wheat! I added so many additional ingredients to the recipe I found, it is almost comical to say I adapted the recipe. But, here is the original recipe in case you don’t feel like all the add-ins.

Whole wheat banana protein muffins

Makes 18 muffins

Nutritionals: Cal: 145, Carb: 28g, Fat: 2g, Pro: 6 g

Ingredients