Sunday, July 8, 2012

Banana Peanut Butter Muffins

Banana Peanut Butter Muffins
An excellent way to use up those over-ripe bananas instead of throwing them out.


3 large or 4 medium over ripe Bananas, mashed 
1/4 C Peanut Butter
1/4 C Mayonnaise
1 tsp Vanilla
2 Large Eggs
3/4 C Sugar
2 C Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1Tbsp Cinnamon




DIRECTIONS


Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl mash Bananas then add Peanut Butter, Mayonnaise, Vanilla, Eggs and Sugar. Mix well.
In a second bowl mix together Flour, Baking Soda, Salt and Cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in 3 batches, mix well to combine. Line 12 large or 18 medium muffin tins with papers, scoop batter into lined muffin tins and bake for 22-24 minutes.
Optional: Stir in 1 cup of chocolate chips into the batter just before scooping batter into tins.
Or omit peanut butter and stir in 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts.


This is a very versatile recipe, it can also be baked in a greased 8X8 pan for 35 minutes or until golden brown. Delicious served warm with butter for breakfast or cooled and frosted with cream cheese or chocolate frosting for dessert. I've also made it chocolate by reducing the flour to 1 1/2 cups and adding 1/2 cup of Hershey's Cocoa Powder to the dry ingredients.

Want to make a lower fat version, simply replace the 1/2 cup of mayonnaise with 1/3 cup of applesauce.

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins


Chocolate Zucchini Muffins 


2 C finely grated Zucchini
1/3 C boiling water
1 1/2 C Flour
1/2 C Hershey's Cocoa Powder
1 C Sugar
1 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1 t salt
1/2 C Vegetable oil
1/4 C Mayonnaise
3 Large Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla


Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, pour boiling water over zucchini then stir. Add vegetable oil, mayonnaise, eggs, sugar and vanilla, mix until well combined. In a separate bowl stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt then slowly add to wet ingredients until well combined.  Line muffin tins with paper muffin liners and use a 1/4 cup measure to pour batter into cups. Bake for 24-28 minutes. Yields 18 muffins.
Optional: add 1 cup of chocolate chips to batter before pouring batter into muffin tins. Looking to make these muffins in a lower fat version-replace the mayonnaise with 1/2 cup of apple sauce.

Friday, July 6, 2012

Easy BBQ Pork Sandwiches

Earlier this week I made one of my family's favorite meals- BBQ Pork Sandwiches.
Here is the recipe:

A 4-5 pound Pork Shoulder cut into about 4 thick slices
1 Med Sweet Onion, cut in half and cut into 1/4" slices
1 Cup of Apple Juice (I used a box of Juicy Juice because that's what I had)
2 TBSP of Apple Cider Vinegar (I use Braggs)
One bottle of Your Favorite Brand of BBQ Sauce (I tend to use whatever is on sale-Winco had Kraft for 88 cents)

Take 1/2 of the onion slices and lay them in the bottom of the crockpot/slowcooker.
Place the pork shoulder slices in a single layer on top of the onions.
Top with the remaining onion slices.
Combine the Apple Juice with the Apple Cider Vinegar and pour over the Pork and Onions.



Cover and cook on high for about 6 hours or until tender enough to shred.
Remove the pork from the crockpot then remove the remaining juices and set aside, shred the pork with 2 forks, return to the crockpot and add your BBQ sauce. If needed you can further moisten the pork with the reserved juices.



Serve on buns with your favorite accompaniment, I love to top them with homemade coleslaw.


Pin of the Day

French toast that cooks overnight in your Crock-Pot. I can't wait to try this one, waking up to breakfast on Sunday morning would be just wonderful!

Crock Pot French Toast---Love waking up to breakfast food already made!
Crock-Pot French Toast