Banana Bread Muffins

Ingredients:
6 Medium Bananas, very ripe
2 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract
2 Cups Brown Sugar, firmly packed
1 1/2 Cups Apple Sauce
1 Cup Sour Cream
4 Large Eggs
3 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
2 Teaspoons Baking Soda
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Cups Mini Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 Cup Pecans, finely chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.  Put cupcake liners in muffin tins.

In a small bowl, mash bananas together with vanilla.

In the bowl of a mixer combine brown sugar, apple sauce, sour cream, and eggs.  Stir until combined.

In a medium bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Gradually add the flour to the sugar mixture, mixing just until combined.  Stir in bananas, chocolate morsels, and pecans (if using).

Pour into muffin tins.  Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Yield:  42 muffins

Zucchini Tots

Ingredients

3 cups grated zucchini

3 eggs lightly beaten

1 red onion, diced

3/4 - 1 cup cheddar cheese (or parmesan for a lighter taste)

3/4 cup bread crumbs 

Red pepper flakes to taste

1.  Heat oven to 400 and spray a mini-muffin tin non-stick spray

2.  When you grate the zucchini, spread it out on a paper towel and lightly sprinkle with salt.  LET IT SIT for about 20 minutes.  This removes all the excess moisture and keeps the tots from being soggy.  Bleh.

3.  Mix together the eggs, onion, cheese, bread crumbs, and pepper flakes.

4.  Add zucchini

5.  Spoon into muffin tin.  Bake for 15-20 minutes (until they are brown)

VARIATION

Use 3 cups of squash in place of zucchini.  Use yellow onion in place of red.  Add 1 teaspoon (or more- to taste) of ground sage.  Be sure to use cheddar cheese with this one.  They'll taste like mini casseroles!

Spicy Black Beans

Ingredients

2 16 ounce Cans of Black Beans
2 Small Cans of Diced Green Chiles
1/2 to 1 Cup of Salsa (your taste)
Lime juice - just a dash or so

Heat the beans on the stove until warm.  Add the green chiles and salsa and heat to desired temperature.  Add a dash of lime and put those babies on the table!

Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients

2 cloves garlic
1 large onion, chopped
8 ounces mushrooms, chopped
2 cans Rotel
Black pepper (to taste)
Red pepper flakes (to taste)
4 chicken breasts, cooked and diced (I marinate ours in Allegro marinade)
2 cups shredded 2% cheddar cheese
8 Tortillas (I use Carb-Balance flour tortillas with 12 grams of fiber, but you can use what you prefer)

Saute the onion and garlic using Pam spray. Add mushrooms.  Add the cans of rotel and both peppers, let simmer until liquid reduces. Take half of tomato mixture and stir in with chicken. In each tortilla, sprinkle some cheese, then spoon 1/8 of chicken mixture into tortilla. Roll up, and place in a 13x9 baking dish. Repeat until you have made 8 enchiladas. On top of the enchiladas, spread the remaining tomato mixture and top with cheddar cheese (cheese is optional). 

Bake at 350 until cooked through.

Our kids have been known to pour all sorts of things on them at one time or another.  We've used taco sauce, salsa, salsa verde, or just nothing.  They are fabulous any way you do them.

Guacamole

Ingredients

2-3 Fresh Avocados - remove the seed and scoop out meat
2 Tomatoes- chopped
1-2 Jalapeños- chopped
1 Red Onion - chopped
1 Handful of Cilantro- chopped
1 Lime - juiced (or use the bottled stuff- it works too)
1 Teaspoon Cumin
Salt & Pepper to taste

In one bowl place the avocado meat and mash.  In another bowl add tomatoes, jalapeños, onion, and cilantro- toss together.  Add to the avocado.  Then season with lime juice, cumin, and salt & pepper.

Salsa

Ingredients

1-2 Jalapeños (depending on how much heat you like)
1 Onion (red is pretty, Vidalia is fabulous if they are in season, but any old onion will do)
Handful of Cilantro -  again just use according to taste
28 oz. can Whole Tomatoes, drained  (I use a quart of tomatoes I canned from our garden)
2 cans Rotel Tomatoes - drain one can, use the liquid from the other
1 pinch of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of cumin
1 teaspoon of pepper
Juice of 1 lime - I use a squirt of bottle key lime juice ALL the time

Add all ingredients to a food processor and process.

DONE!

Green Beans Tossed with Garlic

Ingredients

1 Pound Fresh Green Beans
1 Small Onion, minced
3-5 Cloves Garlic, minced
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
3 Tablespoons Chicken Broth
Salt and Pepper to Taste

In a saute pan, heat olive oil.  Add onions, garlic, and green beans.  Toss to coat.  Cover and let cook for 5 minutes.  Deglaze pan with the chicken broth.  Put top on beans and let them simmer until desired doneness.

Wild Rice Salad

Ingredients

1 Cup Long-grain brown rice
1 Cup Wild Rice
1 Shallot, minced (You can use a red onion as well)
1/4 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard
1 Teaspoon Salt
Black Pepper to Taste
1/2 Cup Olive Oil
1 Cup Dried fruit (I used apricots and cherries this time.  You can use cranberries, blueberries, or whatever you want!)
1/4 Italian Parsley, chopped

In separate pots prepare both the brown rice and the wild rice.  Follow directions on the amounts of water.  Generally, you will use twice as much liquid as rice.  Water will NOT absorb into wild rice.  You will have to drain it.

While the rice is cooking make the dressing.  Mince the shallot (or onion) and add the balsamic vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper.  Whisk together.  Then whisk in oil gradually.

Add the hot rice to dressing and toss.  Add dried fruit and parsley and combine.

The beauty of this is that you can serve it hot OR room temperature.  So, if you're making a big meal, make this first.

Prosciutto & Fontina Chicken with Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients: 

For the Lemon Mushroom Sauce:

Olive oil (about 2-3 Tablespoons)
1 small onion, finely diced
10 ounces mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced
3 cloves garlic, grated
3 tablespoons salted butter
1 lemon, juiced
1/3 cup chicken broth
Dash of teaspoon salt
Black pepper to taste
10 basil leaves, chopped

For the Chicken:
1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts (I use thin sliced 3 oz. breasts)
Dried oregano
Cracked black pepper

Salt
Slices of Prosciutto (1 per chicken breast)

Fontina cheese (1 ounce per chicken breast)

1.  Make the chicken and grill

2.  While chicken is grilling/baking prepare the mushroom sauce.

For the Chicken:
Season each breast lightly with salt, pepper, and oregano (I only salt one side- VERY LIGHTLY). Grill over medium high heat until cooking through.

Place cooked chicken breasts on a cookie sheet and add one slice of prosciutto to each chicken breast, then top with 1 ounce of fontina cheese. Broil until cheese in melted. Place chicken breasts on serving splatter and spoon the mushroom sauce evenly over top of them. 

For the Mushroom Sauce:
In a large non-stick skillet, heat  olive oil over medium high heat. Add the onions and saute for 2-3 minutes until they  soften.  Add the mushrooms and continue to cook until mushrooms have softened and begin to golden.  Add the garlic and saute for another minute.

Add butter and lemon juice and stir well. Lastly, add chicken broth salt and pepper and basil. Allow sauce to simmer and thicken a bit (5-10 minutes). Keep warm until ready to use. 

It's Time to Get Dirty!

I didn't think spring would ever come, and I'm not altogether sure that it's here to stay,  but it was sunny and beautiful today.  That means I spent some time getting the garden going.

This year I'm doing an organic garden of only heirloom vegetables.  Well, except for the jalapeno pepper plants- they aren't heirlooms.

We've been trying to eat organic, locally grown food for health purposes, but sometimes California is as  "local" as we can get.

We are still about ten days away from our "frost date" in Tennessee, but I've been growing my seeds under a grow light in the living room.

Follow along with me as I plant, tend, harvest, and cook/preserve 1600 square feet of vegetables.

It's a very scientific process.  There are charts and lights and watering schedules.

I have a thing for tomato plants.  Two years ago I planted 45 tomato plants.  It was a tomato jungle.  And the weird thing?  I don't like tomatoes.  I like tomato sauce and salsa and ketchup, but not the actual tomato.  It's a texture thing.

So why do I grow them?

"I'm a Southern woman and we're supposed to wear funny looking hats and ugly clothes and grow vegetables in the dirt.  Don't ask me those questions.  I don't know WHY.  I don't make the rules."  Thank you Ouizer Boudreaux.

I really don't know why.  I guess it's partly because my grandparents grew vegetables and my great-grandparents, and Coach's grandparents did too.  It's a place where we can travel back in time, and it's right out back.

Oh, and everyone else likes tomatoes.

My favorite surprise of 2012 was the "temporary" herb garden.  We had pulled some bushes up by the house and were planning on filling it with Hydrangeas.  The Hydrangeas were small, so I filled in with herbs.  Then I fell in love with having an herb garden by my back door.  So, I moved the Hydrangeas and expanded the herb garden.  Watch out Ina Garten, I'm coming for you!

 
The herb garden has mostly survived since last winter.  The parsley is thriving as is the rosemary.  The oregano and the thyme are hanging on too.  I'm going to get that squared away and mulched this weekend.

But the crops I wait for most are the cucumbers, peppers, and okra.  I do magical things with those three vegetables.  I'll tell you more later.  For now just take a look at the infant plants.

The okra are really just embryos- they haven't even sprouted yet.  But they will.  And it will be glorious.

And this year we are growing our own salad greens, kale, and spinach.  I couldn't begin to tell you how that's going to go, but so far so good.

I'll keep recording the transformation and photographing the actual garden as it progresses.  I'll also share gardening tips I receive along the way.  I have a neighbor that I like to call Mr. Greenjeans.  He has been gardening and preserving food for decades.  He reminds me a lot of my grandaddy, and so far he's been very helpful.

Well, except when he comes over to tell me I should move my Crepe Myrtle before it gets too big.  We don't see eye to eye on that detail.  We'll see who wins.

See y'all!

Coming Real Soon, Y'all!

Hang tight for a few days.  I'm moving all the recipes and such over here!  And there will be a search button.  Woo too!!!