I have two new recipes to share.

Strawberry Banana Muffins

I started with a basic muffin recipe and added left over strawberry sauce and bananas. Then I tweaked the recipe so there is less sugar and milk and a tiny bit more flour. At the last minute I decided to throw in some almond extract. You could probably use vanilla or skip it all together if you don’t like almond flavoring.

Ingredients
2 cups flour
¼ cup sugar
2 tspn baking powder
¼ tspn salt
½ cup strawberry sauce
2 bananas
¼ cup milk
1 egg, beaten
1 tspn almond/vanilla (or skip)
½ cup milk


Directions
In a medium bowl mix together dry ingredients. In a small bowl mash the bananas, add egg, strawberry sauce, milk, oil, flavoring, and mix together. Add to dry ingredients. Pour into muffin pan and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 400 for 18-20 minutes for regular size muffins and 20-25 minutes for jumbo muffins or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Remove from muffin pan and cool on a wire rack. Makes 12 muffins or 6 jumbo muffins.


Ribolitta

A few days back I was watching the Rachael Ray Show. She made something called Ribollita which is basically a tomato based soup thickened with pieces of bread. It looked really healthy, full of veggies including kale. I of course changed some things – added chicken, left out the fennel, celery, white wine, and the parmigiano-reggiano cheese rind. The reasons I left these things out are either I didn’t have them or in the case of the celery we don’t like it. The nutmeg really brings out the flavor of the Swiss chard.

Ingredients
Extra Virgin Olive Oil 2-3 tbsn
2 boneless skinless, chicken breast cut into small bite size pieces
2 carrots finely chopped
1/2 large yellow onion or 1 small one finely chopped
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
Salt and pepper
3-4 sprigs rosemary, finely chopped
7-8 leaves of sage, thinly sliced
2 tspn Mrs Dash
¼ cup tomato paste
1 15-ounce can of beans, recipe calls for cannelloni, I used white kidney beans. Just pick whatever you like best. Rinse and drain
1 bunch Tuscan kale or Swiss chard very thinly sliced
¼ tspn nutmeg
1 quart chicken or vegetable stock
A piece of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese rind – I skipped this too
5-6 slices of peasant bread or any kind of good crusty bread, torn into pieces
Grated parmesan for the top


Heat a large pan and add olive oil. Over medium heat add the chicken, salt, pepper, sage, rosemary, and Mrs. Dash. Cook for about 3 minutes then add onion, carrots, and garlic. Cook until soft – about 7-10 minutes. Add tomato paste and stir. Add kale/chard, beans, and nutmeg and allow to wilt down. Add stock and cheese rind and bring to a boil. Allow to simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Add bread and garnish with cheese.



In other news….
Ashton has moved on from rice cereal to avocados. He loves them. He ate a lot last night I actually had to cut him off. He is still rolling every where and getting mad when he ends up on his tummy. He actually only got up once last night. It was amazing since he was up every 1 to 2 hours for the last few weeks. Sleep is wonderful!