Banana Muffins

     I love bananas.  In fact, I eat one every day for a snack.  Being the frugal cook that I am, I also love the fact that bananas are a cheap fruit.  Once a week, I pick up a bunch of organic bananas at Publix for $0.99 a pound.  This entire bunch costs me around $2.50 but normally a little less.  I always buy seven bananas because this gives me one for everyday of the week and this makes for a cheap snack at $0.37 per banana.  On occasion bananas brown and become very ripe before I have a chance to eat them.  When this happens, I peel the banana and freeze it.  Once I have two overripe bananas in my freezer, I make these banana muffins.  I mainly make these muffins for myself.  J.T. absolutely loves Pumpkin muffins and Sweet Potato muffins so I keep our freezer stocked with those for him to eat.  In my opinion, mini muffins are easier to eat while working at a desk, so that’s why I like the smaller size.  These banana muffins are fairly low in sugar, because I do not care for overly sweet muffins which taste more like a cupcake than a muffin.  Since bananas are naturally sweet, it doesn’t take much honey to sweeten the batter.  I store these in the freezer and every morning I put two in a container to take to work.  By mid morning the muffin has defrosted but you can microwave it for 20 seconds to rewarm it instantly.   

Ingredients

·         1 ½ cups gluten-free whole grain flour blend*

·         1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

·         ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

·         1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

·         1 teaspoon baking soda

·         ¼ teaspoon baking powder

·         ½ teaspoon salt

·         ½ cup coconut oil

·         ¼  cup honey

·         ¼ cup almond milk

·         ½ teaspoon vanilla

·         2 eggs

·         1 cup over ripened mashed bananas (about 2)

Directions

1.      Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease (or use cupcake liners) a 24-cup mini muffin tin or a 12-cup muffin tin. 

2.      In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  In a small glass measuring cup, whisk together the coconut oil, honey, vanilla, and eggs.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.  Fold in the mashed bananas.  Divide the batter equally among the muffin tin.  Bake mini muffins for 8 to 10 minutes.  Remove from the oven and leave in muffin tin for 2 minutes (you may skip this step if using cupcake liners).  Move the muffins to a wire rack to cool.  Yields 24 to 28 muffins. 

You can also make these muffins using a regular size muffin tin.  Divide the batter equally among a 12-cup muffin tin and bake for 16 minutes.  Yields 12 large muffins.   

* I made my own gluten-free whole grain flour, but you can also substitute whole wheat flour.   The recipe behind my whole grain flour blend came from here.  I used the following ratios:

·         350 grams buckwheat flour

·         350 grams oat flour

·         300 grams arrowroot flour

This flour recipe makes more than what is required for this recipe.  Store any extra in the refrigerator.  

Publix – February 21, 2013

     This Monday I start my new full-time job at the University of Alabama.  For the past 1 ½ years I have been studying for my CPA and doing part time work at three different places.  I am looking forward to the consistency of working the same hours at one place, five days a week.  With my other jobs, I never knew when I would be working, so I could squeeze in a load of laundry or baking a batch of muffins if I had part of the day off.  I will not really have the opportunity to do that anymore.  My wonderful husband has offered to take over doing laundry, so that leaves all the meal preparation up to me.  J.T. and I like to eat dinner between 6:00 and 6:30, because this gives us more time after supper to watch tv and relax.  On rare occasions when we eat after 7, it feels like by the time we eat dinner and clean up, it is time for bed.  If we want to continue to eat at our usual time, I will have to get dinner on the table fairly quickly after I arrive home from work.  Each week I always have a menu plan, but I have decided to get as much prep work done over the weekend as possible.  For example, if I know we are having soup one night, I will make the cornbread muffins and freeze them over the weekend.  This leaves only the soup for me to cook that night for dinner.  I have been doing this for the past few weeks and it has worked successfully.  Yesterday, I took the day off work for myself.  I spent all day in the kitchen and our freezer is busting at the seams!  Today, my body aches and I am very sore all over from standing on my feet all day.  However, I know it will be worth it next week when much of supper has already been prepared.

·         Dairy

o   ½ gallon Publix Greenwise Organic milk @ $3.99

o   Publix Greenwise Eggs @ $4.29

o   ½ gallon almond breeze almond milk @ $2.50 (not pictured)

·         Grocery

o   (1) Publix Greenwise Organic Toasted Oats Cereal @ $3.79

o   (2) Publix Greenwise Organic Oats @ $3.98

o   2 lbs. Gourmet House organic brown rice @ $2.70

·         Meat

o   Publix Greenwise Chicken thighs @ $3.48

o   Publix Greenwise Chicken drumsticks @ 3.48

·         Frozen

o   (2) Green Giant valley fresh steamers (sugar snap peas) @ $2.59

o   1 lb. Publix whole okra @ $1.69

o   (2) Cascadian Farm broccoli & Spinach @ $5.18

§  (2) $1.00/1 manufacturer coupons & (1)$2.00/2 Publix coupon - $1.18

o   (2) Cascadian Farm peas @ $4.98

§  $1.75/2 manufacturer coupon & $2.00/2 Publix coupon - $1.23

·         Produce

o   Organic Bananas @ $0.99/lb. - $3.08

o   1 organic green bell pepper @ $2.99

o   Publix Whole mushrooms @ $1.99

o   3 lb. bag yellow onions @ $3.29

o   2 lbs. Publix Greenwise Organic carrots @ $2.58

o   5 lb. bag grapefruit @ $2.50

o   1 garlic bulb @ $0.39

Total before coupons              $64.83

Less: coupons used                   (7.75)

Total with Tax                        $57.08

Brown Sugar & Cinnamon Instant Oatmeal

     A while ago, I got on my soapbox about milk and cereal being very pricy.  A gallon of Publix Greenwise organic milk retails for $5.99 and a 14 ounce box of Publix Greenwise organic toasted oats cereal costs $3.79.  J.T. likes big bowls of cereal and there is nothing tiny about the amount of milk he drowns his cereal in either.  Two boxes of cereal and a gallon of milk were costing $13.57 a week! This doesn’t include the ½ gallon of almond milk and container of oats I buy for my breakfast each week.  I talked to J.T. about possibly trying instant oatmeal.  As a kid, he wasn’t fond of oatmeal.  I am not sure any kid really is unless it is loaded with sugar and a bunch of other chemicals and additives, which are junk.  Once again, my Homemade Pantry cookbook came to the rescue!  I can attest that this oatmeal is delicious.  I sometimes eat a small bowl for a bedtime snack.  J.T. will actually eat this oatmeal and he enjoys it!  I was so relieved.  J.T. has cut his milk and cereal consumption in half.  This saves a little money that can be put toward other items which we really need at the store.  After being a cold cereal breakfast consumer for years, J.T. now rotates between cereal and this instant oatmeal recipe. I am thankful for a husband that is always willing to try new things J   

Recipe adapted from The Homemade Pantry

Ingredients

·         6 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

·         ½ cup packed brown sugar

·         1 tablespoon cinnamon

·         1 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

1.      Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.  Spread the oats out in an even layer on the prepared baking sheet.  Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.  Set aside to cool slightly.

2.      In a food processor, fitted with a steel blade, pulse together the brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and 4 cups of the baked oats.  Pulse the mixture until it is a powdery consistency.  Mix together the pulsed oats and the remaining baked oats.  Store in a large airtight container for up to a month.  To make the instant oatmeal, combine ½ cup of oats with 1 to 1 ½ cups of water (for thicker oatmeal add less water and for thinner oatmeal add more water).  Microwave on high for 2 to 2 ½ minutes (mine takes exactly 2 minutes and 15 secondsJ).   Add a splash of milk and serve hot.  Yields 12 to 15 servings.  

Publix – February 14, 2013

     I am a few days late posting my grocery blog for the week.  Over the weekend, J.T. and I, along with my parents, my brother, and his fiancée, traveled to South Carolina.  We helped my grandfather, Granddaddy Ed, celebrate his 96^th birthday.  It was a short trip and J.T. and I were exhausted after returning home last night, but it was worth the lack of sleep to be able to see Granddaddy and other family members.  Of course, Otis was in tow for our road trip.  That dog loves riding in the car and going places.  I think he was happy to be coming home yesterday since he is very routine oriented, just like his Mama.  We returned home around 5:00 and this gave me enough time to unpack, wash a load of laundry, bake a batch of brownies, and line a few other things up for the week.  I was pleasantly surprised to find the new items I ordered from UKonserve waiting at my doorstep.  I ordered a lunch box, 2 sweat proof icepacks, and a stainless steel water container.  One of the ice packs is for J.T.’s lunch box, but everything else is for me.  I needed something to pack my lunch in for my new full-time job, which I begin next Monday!  I am looking forward to having a job with daily, consistent hours and am excited to begin something new J

·         Dairy

o   ½ gallon Organic Valley milk @ $4.29

o   Publix Greenwise Eggs @ $4.29

·         Grocery

o   (1) Publix Greenwise Organic Toasted Oats Cereal @ $3.79

o   (2) Publix Greenwise Organic Oats @ $3.98

o   Publix Greenwise Organic  Coffee @ $5.99

o   (2) 28 oz. cans Muir Glen Whole Tomatoes - $4.00

§  $1.00/2 Publix coupon - $3.00

o   (1) 8 oz. can Muir Glen Tomato Sauce @ $0.89

o    (1) Crisco extra virgin olive oil @ $3.00

·         Meat

o   1 ¾ lbs. ground chuck @ $7.00 (farmer’s market)

o   1 ¾ lbs. ground pork @ $7.00 (farmer’s market)

o   1 ½ lbs. pork chops @ $6.00 (farmer’s market)

·         Produce

o   Organic Bananas @ $0.99/lb. - $2.51

o   Organic Celery @ $1.99

o   2 lbs. Publix Greenwise Organic Carrots @ $2.58

o   1 garlic bulb @ $0.32

Total before coupons              $60.79

Less: coupons used                   (1.00)

Total with Tax                        $59.79

Whole Wheat Crackers

     Wheat crackers, second only to the cheese crackers, are J.T.’s other favorite snack.  This recipe is adapted from my beloved Homemade Pantry cookbook, which I am still ecstatic about!  I realize that many of you are probably thinking “who in the world has time to make crackers?” My answer to this would be that Saturday and Sunday are usually a baking and cooking marathon around our house.  I also love to make double and even triple recipes of staple items.  For example, this is a double recipe of the original version published in The Homemade Pantry.  It yields approximately 140 crackers, which is about a month’s worth of cracker snacks for J.T.  He eats the cheese crackers for a snack in the morning and the wheat crackers for an afternoon treat.  I was making Homemade Wheat Thins, but after I made a batch of these wheat crackers, he was hooked.   I also LOVE this recipe because the baked crackers can be frozen.  One Saturday a month, I gather all my ingredients and get to work.  For the remainder of the month, I pull from the freezer how many crackers I need for the pantry during the upcoming week.  Then, I recrisp the crackers in the oven for 3 minutes and I’m done.  It’s that easy.  

Recipe adapted from The Homemade Pantry

Ingredients

·         4 cups King Arthur whole white wheat flour

·         1 teaspoon baking powder

·         2/3 cup whole millet, uncooked

·         2/3 cup ground flaxseeds

·         1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling

·         5 garlic cloves, minced with a garlic press

·         2 teaspoons dried rosemary, crumbled

·         1 cup plus 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

·         Freshly ground black pepper, from a pepper mill

Directions

1.      In the bowl of a mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the flour, baking powder, millet, flaxseeds, salt, garlic, and rosemary.  With the mixer on low speed, slowly stream in the olive oil.  Then stream in (very slowly once again) 1 ½ cups of water, until the dough comes together.  The dough should be very easy to work with.  Dump the dough onto a floured surface and roll it out with a rolling pin to ¼ inch thickness.  Use a 1 ½ inch biscuit cutter to cut out the crackers.  Repeat this process until all the dough is used. 

2.      Line the cut out cracker dough on ungreased cookie sheets.  Not much space is required between each cracker because they do not spread.  Sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 18 to 20 minutes (20 minutes was perfect for my oven).  Once the crackers have baked, transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely before storing.  These can be stored in an airtight container for up to one week.  As I mentioned earlier, my FAVORITE thing about these crackers is that they can be frozen!  Store them in a Ziploc bag or freezer safe container in the freezer (up to 3 months).  Simply recrisp them for 3 minutes in a 375 degree oven.  Yields about 140 crackers. 

Publix – February 7, 2013

     Today is my brother’s birthday and we will be celebrating tonight with family and friends at my parent’s house.  Guess who was in charge of the menu plan and cooking?  If you guessed me then you would be correct.  Eight people will be at Christopher’s birthday dinner tonight, so I knew I would be planning for many different taste buds.  My parents normally have steaks every Saturday night.  This is a major family tradition on both my mother and father’s side of the family.  I am not sure if it has something to do with the time period in which they were raised, or if it is a coincidence that both of their families had this routine Saturday night meal.  My brother requested that we have a different meal for his birthday than the usual steak supper.  Although he said steaks were fine, he wanted different side dishes and something besides a dry rub on the steaks.  I turned to one of my most reliable sources – Ina Garten.  No, Ina and I have never met, but sometimes I feel like we could hang out together.  I have every single one of her cookbooks and have read all the notes and tips that she suggests throughout her books.  I know her recipes are always successful or “Foolproof,” which is the title of her newest book.  After browsing through several of her books, I came up with this menu:

·         French Bistro Steaks with Provencal Butter

·         Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes

·         Green Salads with homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing and homemade Vinaigrette

·         Strawberry Cheesecake

Of course, I am still very much committed to our real food, organic diet, so everything is being made from scratch – right down to the homemade graham crackers I made for the Cheesecake graham cracker crust.  My parents and I are both providing the food for tonight’s meal and luckily they are taking care of the steaks.  Steaks for eight people would certainly blow my budget!  I will blog about the cheesecake later, because I still have to make the topping this morning.  I am crossing my fingers that this birthday meal turns out great! 

·         Dairy

o   ½ gallon Publix Greenwise Organic milk @ $3.89

o   1 lb. Publix Greenwise Organic Butter @ $5.69

·         Grocery

o   (1) Publix Greenwise Organic Toasted Oats Cereal @ $3.79

o   (2) Publix Greenwise Organic Oats @ $3.98

o   Publix Greenwise Organic  Coffee @ $5.99

o   1 lb. Gourmet House Organic Brown Rice @ $1.35

o   (3) Chicken of the Sea canned salmon @ $3.75

§  (2) $1.00/1 manufacturer coupons - $1.75

o   Lindsay Capers @ $1.69

o   Spice World Coarse Ground Black pepper @ $1.34

·         Meat

o   Springer Mountain Farms boneless, skinless chicken breasts @ $4.99/lb. - $10.28

·         Frozen

o   (6) Green Giant boxed peas @ $5.97

§  (2) $1.00/3 manufacturer coupons - $3.97

o   Cascadian Farm Organic Strawberries @ $3.49

§  $1.00/1 manufacturer coupon - $2.49

o   Publix Greenwise Organic Vanilla ice cream @ $3.50

·         Produce

o   Organic Bananas @ $0.99/lb. - $2.38

o   1 head green cabbage @ $2.07

o   3 lb. bag yellow onions @ $3.29

o   1 lb. Publix Greenwise Organic Carrots @ $1.29/lb.

o   1 bulb garlic @ $0.45

Total before coupons              $69.38

Less: coupons used                 (10.00)

Total with Tax                        $59.38

Granola Cereal

I have been making this granola cereal since J.T. and I made the switch to real food.  J.T. and I always eat a bed time snack, anytime between 8 and 9.  My snack of choice before our food overhaul was rice Chex cereal.  Chex cereal has an extensive line of gluten free cereals and it was nice to actually be able to purchase this cereal relatively cheaply with coupons.  Cheap was great until I realized all the ingredients on the nutrition panel where things I didn’t even recognize.  I started playing around with the idea of a granola cereal.  Most granola is fairly high in calories and a typical recipe contains oats, butter (or oil), nuts, dried fruit, and sometimes chocolate chips.  Since I am not a huge fan of dried fruit and my stomach prefers that I eat nuts in moderation, I wanted to eliminate both of these ingredients from my granola.  I also didn’t see the point in adding more sugar – the chocolate chips – to a snack that was already sugary enough.  This left me with oats and oil.  I tested batch after batch of granola cereal until I settled on something I loved.  This particular recipe has been made with more honey, with less honey, with whole grain puffed brown rice, and with whole grain puffed millet.  I like the texture of corn the best.  It is larger in size than both the rice and the millet.  This makes the oats cling better to the corn, resulting in larger clusters of granola.  I make a batch of this every week and look forward to my little bowl each night.  I eat this in ½ cup servings with a splash of almond milk poured on top.  I don’t miss the Chex cereal one bit! 

Ingredients

·         2 cups rolled oats

·         2 cups whole grain puffed corn, such as Arrowhead Mills

·         1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon

·         3 tablespoons coconut oil

·         3 tablespoons pure clover honey

Directions

1.      Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a large bowl mix together the oats, puffed corn, and cinnamon.  Stir in the coconut oil and honey.  Spread in an even layer on the prepared baking sheet.  Bake at 250 degrees for 75 minutes. Let cool completely.  Break apart into clusters and store in an air tight container.  Yields about 8 (1/2 cup) servings.