Health Kick

                How come short weeks always feel so long? Even with a four day weekend (thanks to Abe, Ronald, and Obama) these past four days seemed like an eternity. But there is light at the end of the tunnel: March. The groundhog called early spring, so fingers crossed that he predicted right. To get through the rest of February, I’ve been upping my cooking. While advancing my still-beginner cooking skills, I’ve learned that it’s okay to take some liberties and stray from a recipe. So that’s just what I did with what I whipped up this week.

                Because I’ve been on a health kick, I wanted to make some muffins to grab as a healthy snack (and to have something to put in the cupcake holder Kenzie got me for Valentine’s Day). I searched for a recipe to start with and found a Banana Muffin recipe from Sparkrecipes.com. I made some minor tweaks, and they came out delish. And good thing they are low cal because I thought they were pretty addicting.

Love my cupcake stand. Can't wait for an occasion to bake some.

Banana Muffin (with Yogurt)

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (didn’t have it, so I just used the powder)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed ripe banana
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup nonfat plain yogurt (I used vanilla)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

I added a handful of oats for a little extra texture

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together banana, sugar, egg and vanilla. Stir in the yogurt (I've used applesauce when out of plain yogurt as well). Stir banana mixture into flour until just combined. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups.
Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean. Let cool before serving.

 

                The Title of an article in February’s Better Homes and Gardens had me hooked. It’s called “Warming Winter Fare” and featured a recipe called Green Chile Pork Stew. The recipe called for the stew to be cooked in a Dutch oven, which I don’t have. So I baked the pork in the oven first and then put everything in a pot on the stove.

Green Chile Pork Stew

Ingredients:

1 lb. pork tenderloin (salt and black pepper)

1 Tbsp olive oil

3 7oz packages mixed vegetables in garlic herb sauce (I used one big package…I couldn’t find what they were calling for, but I found a bag of “Ranchero Fiesta Blend” which had a few different kinds of beans, carrots, and peppers. It was unseasoned so I sprinkled some extra garlic and cayenne pepper into the stew)

1 4.5 oz can diced green chiles

1 tsp ground cumin (skipped it)

Fresh cilantro

Lime wedges

Directions:

1.       Cut pork into ¾ inch pieces; sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. In Dutch oven head olive oil over medium high heat. Add pork; cook 4-5 minutes or until browned. Stir in two packages of the thawed vegetables, the chiles, and the cumin. (I put in the olive oil and cooked pork into a pot, and added the veggies shortly after.)

2.       In a blender, combine remaining thawed vegetables and 1 cup water. Process until smooth. Add pureed vegetables to Dutch oven. Bring to a simmer. Cook, covered, over medium high heat about 15 minutes or until pork is cooked through, stirring occasionally. Ladle into soup bowls. Top with cilantro and squeeze of lime juice. Makes 4 servings. (I skipped the pureed veggies and just added the water to my mixture. It was still yummy and flavorful.)

Stay warm. Love,

Annie