Flourless, Banana Breakfast Cookies

I found this recipe on pinterest. It was fast enough that I could throw them together Sabbath morning before church! Even my "I don't like bananas" kid liked them! Here's the recipe, with my notes for next time.

2-3 overripe bananas, mashed (I used 2 large bananas)
1 1/2 c rolled oats
1 c unsweetened applesauce
a large handful of dried cranberries (my girls said we need more next time)
cinnamon to taste, I added quite abit (I thought), and it needs more . . .
it also needs salt

drop in spoonfuls onto baking stone (or baking sheets, but you'd probably want to grease them, or use parchment paper, these almost stuck to my baking stones). Bake 35 min at 350 degrees.

Crockpot Taco Soup

This is a quick, easy lunch that we enjoy. It's roughly based on the recipe on this site, but we don't have a "large family" so we've adapted it.

1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can corn
1 can black beans
1 can some other kind of beans
1 can tomato sauce or diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp oregano

Mix in crockpot, cook on high, 2-3 hours.

Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, fresh cilanto & tortilla chips

Pasta and White Beans

Someone on a message board awhile back mentioned this as a quick, cheap meal, so we tried it tonight. Yummy, healthy, and cheap, what more can one ask for?!?!

Cook 6-8 oz whole wheat pasta of your choice (we used the corkscrews)
Meanwhile, saute some chopped onion and chopped celery (I used one small onion and 3 stalks (is a stalk the whole thing or one "spear"? 3 spears is what I used . . .) of celery) in some butter or olive oil. Add 2 cans great northern beans, drained (make it cheaper, and healthier, by cooking dry beans), and heat through. While it's all heating, go through your spice cabinet and add whatever herbs & spices sound good. I used some adobe seasoning, another seasoning blend that someone gave me, not sure what all is in it, some sage, and some sea salt. When the pasta's done, stir it into the bean mixture and serve, topped with parmesan if you like.

Kids are chowing down on it, so I call it a success :)

Jam Surprise Muffins

I adapted this recipe from this site.

(Makes 12 muffins)

1 egg
3/4 c milk
1/2 c butter or coconut oil, melted
2 c ww flour
1/3 c sucanat
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
Juice sweetened preserves for filling

Preheat oven to 400F and grease muffin pans. Combine flour, sucanat, baking powder and salt.
In a separate bowl beat egg slightly and add milk and melted butter/oil.  Add to dry ingredients. Stir until just moist (do NOT overmix).

Spoon batter into muffin pan, filling each cup about 1/2 full. Add a spoonful of preserves to each muffin, then top with additional muffin mix.

Bake until golden, about 15-20 min.

Garam Masala Lentil Soup

Adapted from this site:

1 lg onion, chopped

2 Tbsp coconut oil

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 c lentils, rinsed

1 c brown rice

8 c water

1 can of coconut milk (14oz)

Salt to taste

In lg pot cook onions an turmeric in oil for about 5 min. Add garlic. Cook about 5 min more. Add water, lentils and rice and bring to a simmer.Turn heat to low and cook until lentils and rice are soft, about 45 min.

Use immersion blender to blend to desired consistency.

Make Tadka:

1/4 c coconut oil

3/4 tsp cardamom

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cloves

1/8 tsp nutmeg

Melt coconut oil in small saucepan. Add spices and stir until you can smell the spices. Don't burn! 

Whisk Tadka into the soup. Add coconut milk, bring back to a simmer, add salt to taste, and serve.

Quick Black Bean Soup

Tonight I needed a soup recipe that I could make in, oh . . . 10 minutes! A google for "quick soup recipes" brought lots of recipes from people who have a very different definition of "quick" (80 minutes is NOT quick in my book, thankyouverymuch, much less crockpot recipes! but I digress . . .). One thing that jumped out at me was black bean soup recipes. With canned beans (which I had) they could be quick. But all the recipes I read (2 or 3) had ingredients that someone in my family wouldn't eat. So I used those recipes as a rough guide for proportions and "winged it". . . here's what I came up with:
2-3 Tbsp butter (or olive oil)
1 onion
2 cloves garlic (should have done 3-4, I ended up adding some garlic powder since there wasn't enough garlic, but real garlic is better)
2 c water or chicken stock
3 Tbsp McKay's Chicken Seasoning (eliminate if using chicken stock)
3 cans black beans, drained & rinsed
a "shake" of cumin
a tiny pinch of red pepper
salt to taste
a couple large spoonfuls your favorite salsa

Saute onion and garlic in butter. Add water, chicken seasoning, 2 cans black beans, and seasonings.  Heat through. Use immersion blender to mostly blend the soup. Add last can of beans & salsa, adjust seasonings as needed, heat through. Serve. I would guess sour cream would make a nice garnish on this (I'm not a fan of sour cream on soup, and didn't think to suggest it to dh until he was done).

Sassy & MiniMe both declared it DELICIOUS! If time isn't a factor, cooking dry beans would make it cheaper. Hubby's review was "I can eat it" but he tends to not be a big soup person OR bean person, so that's about all I can ask for from him LOL.

Sauteed Chard

My whole family likes spinach, which is great, but greens tend to be high in pesticides, and organic spinach can be expensive, and I've been a complete failure at growing spinach.  I've heard that Chard is easier to grow, so I decided to see what we think of chard.  I combined 2 or 3 recipes, and came up with a winner! But in typical LaRee fashion, it's not a real exact recipe . . . 

2-4 Tbsp butter

1 onion, chopped

1 bunch chard

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

juice from 1/2 lemon

salt to taste

Melt 2-4 Tbsp butter in large cast iron skillet.  Add onion, and cook till soft. While onion cooks, cut the stems out of the chard, and chop. Add to skillet. Saute until soft. Meanwhile, chop chard leaves. Once stems & onions are cooked, add chard and cook till wilted (if needed add a little water). Remove from heat, add garlic, lemon juice, and salt.