Banana Nut Mug Muffin

These muffins are so easy to make and they taste great!  Make them in a mug or ramekin.

I created this recipe because I had some ripe bananas and wanted banana bread for breakfast, not an hour later.

Banana Bread Nut Mug Muffin

1 teaspoon Coconut Oil
1/4 Ripe Banana
1 Tablespoon Apple Sauce (no sugar kind, I buy those little single serving cups)
1 1/2 teaspoons Sugar (or less)
1 teaspoon ground Flax Meal
1/4 Cup Pancake Mix (or use flour, soda, salt)
Splash of Vanilla
Dash of Cinnamon
Walnuts

Soften Coconut Oil in bottom of a good-size mug or Custard Cup.  Use a spoon to spread it up on the sides of the mug.

Add Banana and mash with a fork.
Mix in Apple Sauce, Sugar, Vanilla and Flax Meal.

Mix in 1/4 cup of Pancake Mix.


Put in the microwave for about 70 seconds.  Stick a knife or toothpick into the muffin and if it comes out clean (no wet dough on it), it's done!

Loosen the edges with a knife and turn the mug up-side-down onto a plate.  Let cool before eating.

Make another one for your significant other and eat the rest of the banana and apple sauce. ;)

Enjoy!

Back To The Basics - Eating Real Food

We are getting back to basics and eating more fruits and veggies.  This is how I NEED to eat for my physiology.  High Cholesterol & High Triglycerides run in my family and my father and his brothers all passed away due to heart disease.  We eat about 80-90% Vegan except for when we are traveling, or when I'm feeling stressed out. LOL  In the past year we've had a crappy diet and I also had some thyroid problems, so I packed on some weight and, as a result, my blood test show high cholesterol again (must have been the Green Chile Enchiladas I posted earlier! LOL).  I'm on hormones for the thyroid, but I refuse to go on Statins, so, here we go!  Time to prove to my doctor that I can do it without meds!  I've already lowered it 46 points, but I still have a long way to go (and at least 15 pounds)!!

Below are just a few of the salads we've been eating lately.  I love mixing fruit into fresh lettuce salads.  I also made an apple/pear/pecan salad that had a light blue cheese dressing that turned out awesome.  I'll get pictures of it the next time we make it.

What we eat: 

Breakfast: We almost always have a fruit salad with sprouted buckwheat for breakfast. Sometimes we'll have egg beaters and left-over steamed potatoes.   In the winter I love oatmeal with almond milk, banana and red grapes.

Lunch: Lunch is normally a salad or sandwich.  I'll post pictures later of an awesome tofu cream cheese/pickle/avocado sandwich.  We also have tofu sandwiches with dill pickle and lots of lettuce or spinach.  I normally use sprouted grain bread or a whole grain sandwich thin.

Dinner: Dinner varies greatly.  Sometimes it is steamed veggies (potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, sweat potatoes, etc.) with sauteed tofu or a garden burger.  Other times it's just stir-fry veggies with some kind of nut butter sauce.  I also love to make veggie soup in the crock pot in a curry coconut base.  Serve the soup with couscous and/or brown rice.  In the Summer, we sometimes have a large salad for dinner if we didn't have one for lunch.

This way of eating is so easy!!

Pear-Grape Cashew Salad with Balsamic Vinegar
Chopped Pear, Grapes, Orange Bell Pepper, Pecans,
Dressing: Pear Vinegar, Balsamic Vinegar and Crushed Garlic
Serve over a bed of mixed greens.  

White Bean-Black Bean Burger Salad with Guacamole
Drain beans and rinse. Cook burger and cut up.  Split between two bowls.  Smash Avocado and mix with some Salsa.
Serve over a bed of fresh mixed greens.
We try to limit the "Frankenfood" so we split a Black Bean Burger we had in the freezer. ;)

Mango-Pear Sprouted Buckwheat and Almonds

Close up of Mango-Pear Salad

CLICK HERE TO LEARN HOW TO SPROUT BUCKWHEAT!

Cheesy Green Chile Enchiladas

I'm still working on this cheesy green chile enchilada recipe.  In New Mexico, we say, "chile" instead of "chili".  They grow really hot chile here, but I prefer the milder varieties.

We recently traveled to see friends and family in California.  I used different ingredients each time I made this recipe, but it was still awesome!  I will add pictures after the next time I make it.

Sauce:
Make a basic white sauce and increase the quantity based on how many people you are serving.  This recipes serves 4-6 people with beans and/or rice on the side:
3 Tablespoons Butter
3 Tablespoons Flour
Mix and cook in fry pan until bubbling.
Slowly stir in  4 cups or more of either vegetable stock, chicken stock or milk.  If you use milk, you may want to add a little salt.  Continue stirring and cook on medium heat until the sauce thickens.  If it's too thick, thin it with more milk, stock or water.  You don't want it too thick or you can't spread it over the enchiladas.
Add:
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic or 1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 package of softened cream cheese
1-2 cups chopped green chile (canned or fresh).
Add spices and cream cheese and mix until cheese is melted and everything is blended in.  Add  un-drained green chile.

Putting it all together 'Family Style':
Spread some sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 pan.  Lay corn tortillas on top of the sauce.  Crumble Mexican Queso Fresco cheese on top.  Add another layer of corn tortillas, cheese and more corn tortillas.  Spread the rest of the sauce on top and bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes.  The sauce will be thick and bubbly and the cheese will be melted inside the enchiladas.

If you want, you can roll the queso fresco in the corn tortilla, lay them next to each other in a pan and top with sauce.

You can also save some sauce and use on top of microwave enchiladas or use it as a chip dip!

As you can see, this is a very versatile recipe.  Make it your own!