Cinnamon Banana Muffins

I’m back! I realized my hiatus has been like…. 2 years? In a nutshell we bought a house, had a baby and have been navigating this whole parenthood thing. Instead of trying new meals I was stickin with easy ones I could make in my sleep deprived state that is motherhood 🙂

Now that my son is a little older and can eat solid foods I’m getting back to trying new healthy recipes!

Last night I was on Pinterest while waiting for my kiddo to fall back asleep and I saw something for cinnamon banana muffins. I’ve been looking forward to Fall this year and craving the scents and flavora of fall. So I decides to try and make some muffins this morning! They were a huge hit with everyone and will definitely be a staple now with how easy they are!

Find the original recipe on one of my favorite sites: http://www.cookieandkatie.com

Cinnamon Banana Muffins

Ingredients

• 3 bananas, mashed
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup melted coconut oil (or olive oil)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup oats
• Sugar for top

Directions

1. Preheat oven 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Mix mashed banana, oil, syrup in a bowl (I like to use my food processor because I HATE chunks of banana)
3. Add in baking soda, vanilla extract, salt, cinnamon.
4. In a separate bowl, add flour and oats.
5. Gradually mix in the wet ingredients to the bowl with flour mixture.
6. Pour in muffin tin 3/4 way full. I used both mini muffins and regular muffin tins.
7. Add a sprinkle of sugar to tops of muffins. I also added a little dusting of cinnamon. You could also add some oats or even nuts to the top. Endless possibilities!
8. Bake for 23-28 minutes. 23 was perfect for the regular size muffins. It only took 20 minutes for the minis.
9. Enjoy!

Cajun Chicken Pasta

Who says healthy eating can’t be delicious? If you’re one of those people, I challenge you to make this and tell me it doesn’t taste good!
I’m now officially obsessed with this recipe. It was pretty fast to make and didn’t require a ton of dishes either! Use gluten free pasta and arrow root powder instead of flour and you have a gluten free meal!

Cajun Chicken Pasta

Ingredients
-8 oz fettuccine noodles of choice
-1 lb chicken breast, cut in strips
-1-2 TBS Cajun seasoning
-1/2 onion, sliced
-1 red pepper, sliced
-1 green pepper, sliced
-1 zucchini, diced
-2 tomatoes, diced
-1/3 cup milk of choice
-1 cup chicken broth
-1 TBS flour
-3 TBS cream cheese
-1 bunch green onion, diced

Directions
-Cook pasta according to directions.
-Coat chicken strips with Cajun seasoning. Place in a large skillet over medium high heat and cook thoroughly. Set aside on a plate.
-In same skillet, add peppers and onions. Cook for 3-4 minutes.
-In a small blender, mix together the milk, flour and cream cheese until smooth.
-Add in Zucchini and tomatoes, cook another 3-4 minutes. Add in a little garlic powder if you’d like (I just eyeballed it), and 1/4 tsp salt.
-Pour in the chicken broth and milk mixture. Let simmer on medium heat for 3 minutes.
-Add in chicken and cook for 1 minute.
-Add in noodles. Mix together for 2-3 minutes until some of the sauce is soaked up.
-Taste sauce and add more salt or Cajun seasoning if necessary. Add in green onion and mix one last time.

Serve and enjoy!

Thank you www
Skinnytaste.com for the recipe!

Gluten Free Banana Oat Pancakes

I’ve finally gotten back on the super healthy train. Not that I ever really left it, but I’m glad to be back on board 100%
We have been experimenting with gluten free recipes in our home as we think my husband may have a gluten intolerance.
I decided to try this super yummy pancake recipe for breakfast this morning since I had eggs for dinner last night
These pancakes are amazing and will be my go-to from now on! What’s even better is that they freeze very well! Great idea to make a ton on Sunday for a quick breakfast before work!

Gluten Free Banana Oat Pancakes
Ingredients
-1 cup oat flour (just put quick oats in to your food processor!)
-3 bananas, mashed
-2 eggs
-2 TBSP coconut oil, melted
-1 tsp lemon juice
-1 tsp honey
-1/2 tsp baking soda
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/2 tsp cinnamon
-1/4 tsp nutmeg

Directions
-Mash bananas (I put mine in the food prices because I don’t like banana chunks). Combine banana, coconut oil, honey and lemon juice. Once combined, add in eggs.
-In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda and spices.
-Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the banana mixture. Combine thoroughly, but try not to over mix. Let sit for 10 minutes
-Heat up your skillet until a drop of water immediately sizzles. Pour in 1/4 cup of the batter.
-It’s hard to tell when to flip these pancakes, so use this timing: after pouring batter in to pan, cook for 3 minutes. Flip, then cook for 90 seconds.

Eat pancakes immediately, or put in oven to keep warm. Recipe yields 8 pancakes.

Top with fresh fruit, syrup, or I like to spread a little peanut butter in between the pancakes and top with a little syrup. yummy!!

Thank you to http://www.cookieandkate.com for the wonderful recipe!!!

Broccoli and Chicken Sausage Pasta

The number of foods that DON’T give me heartburn nowadays is pretty small. Because of that, I’ve been very carefully planning our meals at dinner to avoid many of the foods that trigger my pregnancy heartburn issues. I decided to go back to an old website I used to love for healthy recipes and see what I could find.
Enter Skinnytaste. If you haven’t tried any of the recipes on here, I highly encourage you to. I don’t think I’ve ever made a recipe that turned out bad!
For tonight’s dinner I decides to try this Pasta recipe that has chicken sausage and broccoli in it. I chose it for a few reasons. I love chicken sausage, broccoli adds a yummy veggie, and I could easily use gluten free noodles for the husband!
I will definitely be making this recipe again. It took maybe 30 minutes total and came out delicious! And no heartburn… Yet…

Broccoli and Chicken Sausage Pasta
Ingredients (8 servings)
-14 oz chicken sausage
-12 oz pasta of choice
-3 cups broccoli florets
-5 cloves garlic, minced
-2 TBSP olive oil
-1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions
-Boil a pot of water with salt in it. When boiling, add the broccoli and pasta. Cook for length of time designated for the pasta.
-While pasta is cooking, brown chicken sausage and garlic.
-Drain pasta and broccoli – reserve 1/2 cup of the liquid.
-Add pasta to skillet with garlic and sausage. Combine.
-Add in the reserved liquid and parmesan cheese. Mix thoroughly and serve!

Spicy Vegan Black Bean Soup

We’ve hit a “cold spell” down south. A cold spell down here means it’s 50-60 degrees in November instead of 70-80 haha. Although it feels wonderful to me, it’s nothing compared to the snow everyone got back in IL.
With the cooler weather comes SOUP! I’ve been eating a lot of soup lately. Mainly because it’s so easy to make healthy soups and I’m trying to stay healthy for our baby BOY due in April 🙂 Vegetables have unfortunately been something I have trouble eating in my pregnancy. Luckily you can hide a TON of veggies in soup!
I had a bunch if dry black beans that I wanted to use, so I decided to try this black bean soup recipe. It was super yummy – even though I had to substitute in chili powder because I had ran out of cumin. Still turned out great! This is definitely a keeper because it doesn’t take long to make. I also cooked my dry beans in the slow cooker so it would be easy to do with either dry or canned beans!

Spicy Vegan Black Bean Soup
Ingredients
-2 yellow onions, diced
-3 celery stalks, dices
-1 large carrot, peeled and cur in to thin rounds
-6 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
-4 1\2 tsp cumin
-4, 15 oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed
-4 cups vegetable broth
-cilantro (optional for topping)

Directions
-On medium high heat, heat some olive oil and add the onion, carrot and celery. Cook for 10-12 minutes- until vegetables are soft.
-Add the cumin and garlic, cook for 30 seconds until aromatic.
-Add the black beans and vegetable broth. Bring to a boil then simmer for about 30 minutes.
-Pour half the soup in a blender and puree. Add back to pan and mix.
-Serve with sone cilantro on top if you’d like! You could also add rice, avocado or any other toppings!

Enjoy!

Spaghetti Squash Quiche

Well hello there! Sorry I have been MIA lately. I’m actually pregnant so making new food hasn’t been something appealing for the last 18 weeks! I’m finally getting my energy back so I
Decided to try something new.
I’ve been trying to make healthy dishes so in my search I went to a friend’s blog http://www.healthyalamode.com to see if there was anything to try. I saw this awesome recipe for a quiche made with spaghetti squash. I love quiche so I decides to give it a try.
This recipe is super simple and absolutely delicious. Just make sure the squash isn’t too watery when you mix it together.

Spaghetti Squash Quiche
Ingredients
-2 heaping cups cooked spaghetti squash (I poke holes in mine and cook it in the crock pot on low for 8 hours)
-8 oz Canadian bacon
-1 onion, chopped
-1/2 cup cottage cheese
-4 eggs
-1/4 cup shredded mozzarella (this is optional for the top)
-pepper, to taste

Directions
After you have cooked your spaghetti squash, shred out the inside part and place in a mixing bowl. You might need to drain out the excess water.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray an 8×8 baking pan.
In a skillet, saute onion for about 5 minutes. Add the chopped Canadian bacon and brown. Add to mixing bowl.
Next, add the eggs, cottage cheese and pepper to the bowl with the squash, bacon and onion. Mix together and add to your pan. Add the mozzarella to the top if you’d like.
Bake for 35-40 minutes. After you take it out of the oven, let sit for 5 minutes.

Enjoy!

Make sure you check out http://www.healthyalamode.com for more awesome recipes!

Homemade Strawberry Pie

It’s summer and that means strawberries! I have made this pie a few times already and I think it’s my favorite pie I have ever had. Its light and so fruity! I used the pie crust from my other blog post for the Delicious Pie Crust (check it out). But you could always use any other pie crust you want!

Homemade Strawberry Pie
Ingredients
-5 cups strawberries, quartered
-1/3-3/4 cup sugar (depending on how sweet you strawberries are)
-1/4 cup corn starch
-1 TBS lemon juice
-1/8 tsp salt
-1 tsp vanilla
-9 inch pie crust

Directions
In a sauce pan, mash 2 cups of strawberries on medium heat until it is in small chunks.
Add in corn starch, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla and salt. Combine until everything is melted in and mixed together. Let cool completely.
Once cooled, add in the remaining 3 cups strawberries and mix together.
Pour in to pie crust and let chill in fridge for at least 2 hours.

Enjoy!

Delicious Pie Crust

A friend of mine has her own healthy living blog and I have made a point to try some of her recipes. My absolute favorite recipe this far has been her homemade pie crust! I love it because it’s so easy and tastes wonder with every filling I have paired it with!

Check out her website http://www.healthyalamode.com

Pie Crust
Ingredients
-1 cup nuts (I have been using walnuts, but you could also use pecans)
-1 cup oats divided (1/3 and 2/3)
-1 tsp vanilla
-2 TBS agave nectar
-2 TBS almond milk
-1/4 tsp sea salt
-1 tsp cinnamon

Directions
In food processor, blend 2/3 cup oats until it reaches a flour-like consistency. Add nuts and blend. Be careful to not blend too much, you don’t want it to become like a nut butter.
Add in the milk, vanilla, agave, salt, cinnamon and vanilla. Blend.
Add in the 1/3 cup oats remaining and mix in.
In a greased pie pan, flatten out crust mixture and press along sides of pan until you have an even crust. Poke with a fork in bottom of crust.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes.
Let crust cool completely before filling.

I have used this crust for a chocolate avocado pie and a strawberry pie. It’s very versatile!

Ham and Cheese Quinoa Bites

A couple years ago I went on a kick of making quinoa bites. I was obsessed with the pizza ones for a while, and then moved on to the yummy apple cinnamon bites. Recently, while I was scrolling through my blog posts I had an itch to make them again but wanted to try something new. Enter these amazing bites of heaven. These are SO GOOD I can’t wait to eat them for lunch!

Ham and Cheese Quinoa Bites
Ingredients
-2 cups cooked quinoa
-2 eggs
-2 egg whites
-1/2 cup diced ham
-1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
-1 cup shredded zucchini
-2 TBS parmesan cheese
-salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a bowl, mix together all of the ingredients.
Spray a mini muffin pan. Fill tins all the way full. You should be able to fill all 24 tins.
Put in oven and bake for 20-25 min, or until edges are golden brown. Let sit for 5 minutes before removing from pan.

These are great for snacks or lunches. You can even let them cool all the way and then pack them in freezer safe bags and put them in the freezer for a few months. Great for last minute snacks!

Sausage and Potato Skillet

My husband and I are in the middle of house hunting in Austin. Like many people in the process f buying their first home… we are living VERY frugally! This meal is awesome when you don’t want to spend a ton of money. It’s hearty, filling, simple and doesn’t take long to make at all! I got the base from this recipe from my new favorite website Paleo Newbie. I wasn’t able to find any white sweet potatoes when I was at the store so I just got red potatoes instead. If you want the meal to be paleo, make sure you use some sort of sweet potato.

This was a super delicious meal and I can’t wait to have the leftovers for tomorrow at work!

Sausage and Potato Skillet

Ingredients- seasoning

• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Ingredients- other

• 1 lb chicken sausage (I used spinach feta, or use something with italian seasonin)
• 2 white sweet potatoes, sliced
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 zucchini, sliced in circles
• coconut oil
• salt to taste

Directions

Combine spices in a small bowl and set aside. 

In a skillet, pour some coconut oil and add sausage. Brown, and then set aside in a bowl or plate. Next, add a little more coconut oil and brown the potatoes. This might take a little while, you want to make sure they are cooked all the way through.

Add in the peppers, onion, zucchini and spices. Combine and cook until all veggies are cooked through. Add the sausage back in to the skillet and combine. I added a little bit of salt to help bring out the flavor of some of the veggies – use your discretion on what you want to add.

Serve and enjoy!