Banana, Peanut Butter and Honey Muffins

Image Credit

These were a wonderful departure from the usual breakfast suspects in our house this morning. I saw this on the Tasty Kitchen Blog last night and knew immediately that it was what I was going to make for breakfast this morning.

1-¼ cup Flour
½ cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
¼ teaspoons Salt
½ teaspoons Cinnamon
1 whole Ripe Banana, Mashed
⅔ cups Plain Fat Free Yogurt
1 whole Large Egg, Lightly Beaten
¼ cups Water
⅓ cups Creamy Peanut Butter
⅓ cups Honey
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 teaspoons Sugar
¼ teaspoons Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375°F and line a 12-cup standard muffin pan with baking cups then coat baking cups with cooking spray. Set aside.

Whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the mixture.

Combine banana, yogurt, egg, water, peanut butter, honey and vanilla in a medium-sized bowl. Whisk to combine. Add this wet mixture into the well that you made in the center of the flour mixture and stir just until combined. The batter will be thick.

Fill each baking cup 3/4 full of batter. In a small bowl, mix together the sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. Sprinkle evenly over the top of the muffins.

Bake for 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let muffins cool in pan set on a wire rack for 2 minutes before removing them from the pan to serve warm or cool completely. Store muffins in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days.

Hummus (Lebanese- the ONLY kind...)

I have discovered that after living in Lebanon,  I will never look at hummus the same again.  Those of you living in the good ole' US of A who think you have had yummy hummus, if it did not come from a Lebanese restaurant or from the home of someone who learned to make it in Lebanon, sorry but it could not have been that great!  Yep, I'm a little biased!

I've started making our hummus because I have yet to find it in Jordan that is quite like I like it.  I have a Lebanese cookbook and follow that basic recipe and then tweak it until I get the right flavor and appearance.  So, these measurements are not exact.  You have to figure it out for yourself!

Hummus, Lebanon style

4 cups chick peas, soaked overnight

tahini (sesame paste)

lemon juice

salt

garlic cloves (several, crushed)

olive oil

Cook the chick peas in salted water for several hours until very soft adding water as necessary.  Now, the first time I made hummus, I became very overwhelmed at the amount of chick peas produced and how difficult it was to process them.  A friend told me that one of her Lebanese neighbors separates the chick peas after cooking them into serving size freezer bags and only uses a little at a time.  It worked so much better this way!  Again, I don't know the exact measurements but I divided the cooked chick peas into 4 equal portions, froze 3 of them and prepared the last portion.  Place chick peas (with a little water and a good bit of lemon juice in large bowl).  Process until smooth.  Add crushed garlic (2-3 cloves), salt and tahini to taste and until you get the consistency you desire.  Top with olive oil, serve with pita chips and fresh veggies- YUMMY!

KJ's Chicken Salad

KJ might not even know that she has a chicken salad, but in our house, this is KJ's chicken salad.  She made it for supper when I visited them back in the fall and I LOVED it so much and now make it a good bit.  So yummy and quick and easy!  (and pretty...)

KJ's Chicken Salad

1 rotisserie chicken (or chicken cooked in crock pot- white and dark meat)- torn into pieces

chopped celery

chopped walnuts

craisins

celery salt (amount depends on if you also used celery too)

mayonaise (enough to where it sticks together but not so much that it gets gloopey- is that a word?)

Combine all and serve on a bed of lettuce.

(I had mine with hummus and red peppers- also super yummy!)