***Edited April 5, 2013–this recipe can now be found on my site here 🙂
Do you like dark chocolate?
If so [and who doesn’t??!?]… go check out my post on Today’s Housewife for this awesomely ooey gooey recipe. I know you’ll love it! Happy Thursday!
Banana Crumb Muffins
Mmmm, muffins. One of my favorite treats. And I say treats because, of course, the best muffins aren’t those healthified kinds, but those decadent, unfrosted, glorified cupcakes. I mean, I absolutely adore healthy muffins. Looking through all the other muffin recipes I’ve blogged about before, I’m pretty impressed with myself and my healthy muffin ways. Carrots, zucchini, rhubarb, whole wheat flour, low sugar.
Don’t fret, I haven’t lost my way. Truth is, I like healthy muffins. I like them for a quick before-dinner snack or as an addition to my lunch. But I also like rich, ooey gooey sweet muffins. Muffins with chocolate. Muffins that taste bakery-fresh. Muffins with a little pizazz. Muffins like these.
When I go home for the weekend, inevitably my mom, sister, and I end up baking something or other. Sometimes multiple things. My mom has these giant folders filled with recipes she’s torn out of magazines and printed off the internet, just waiting to be made. Some are from the 80s and have funny names, while others we just laugh at as we’re leafing through. “That sounded good once?!?” Other times, there are gems in those folders. Banana Crumb Muffins are one of those gems.
These banana muffins are sweet, pillowy soft, and like most muffin recipes, whipped up in a matter of minutes. They’re a great way to use up those lingering bananas going brown on your countertop–the monkeys on the muffin liners wholeheartedly agree, but they did wonder how humans let so many bananas go bad. I told them I didn’t know, but I suspected it had to do with making delicious creations like these!
I loved the way the pure banana flavor came through, though I’m sure the addition of vanilla, nuts, or chocolate chips wouldn’t be problematic. What makes these muffins extraordianry is the crumb topping. Our topping melted into the muffin a little bit, but if you wait to add the topping until the muffins are almost done, I think it would hold its own a little more. Either way, they are sure to be very yummy!
Banana Crumb Muffins
from allrecipes.com
Ingredients:
for muffins
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 large ripe bananas, mashed
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
for topping
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease standard sized muffin tins with cooking spray or line with paper liners.
In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. In a large bowl, mix together bananas, sugar, egg, and butter. Slowly fold in dry ingredients until incorporated.
Spoon batter into prepared pans, about 3/4 of the way full.
In a small bowl, combine sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Pour in butter and mix with a fork until crumbly. Sprinkle over muffins, then place pans in oven and bake for 18-20 minutes. When muffins are done, they should be golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.
Cool in pans for 10 minutes before cooling on a rack.
Share this:
Orange-Glazed Chicken Stir-Fry
So I enjoy Chinese takeout about as much as anyone else… but not as much as Ben. If he had it his way, he’d be chowing down on pseudo-Asian food every other night, with a healthy dose of meat and potatoes on the other night. Why doesn’t this happen in our house? Well, let’s see… salt, salt, MSG, salt, salt, lack of veggies, salt, salt… I think you get the picture. Oh, and I like to cook, not just get takeout. So what’s my compromise? Making takeout at home! [I bet you never saw that one coming. Ha!]
My latest attempt is a play off the ‘ole [un]authentic orange chicken. Instead of a gloopy, fake-colored sauce coating a few sad vegetables and the classic “little chicken/lots of breading,” sauted chicken, broccoli, mushrooms, and water chestnuts are tossed with a sweet-spicy orange glaze. The orange glaze is made with orange juice and [gasp!] a whole real orange. It’s amped up with fresh ginger and garlic, honey, sesame oil, soy sauce, and two kinds of pepper. Can it get any better than this?
I’m sorry, but this sweet-spicy citrus glaze has flavors that the corner Chinese place just cannot achieve! I know those places aren’t authentic, and in no way do I think my version is either. But I do know it’s good. So good in fact, that we both wanted the leftovers… a rareity in this house! Now, if only I could make brown rice as soft and pillowy as that Chinese place can…
Orange-Glazed Chicken Stir-Fry [adapted from Pretty Delicious by Candice Kumai]
click to print
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sesame oil, divided
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger root
- 1 3/4 cup orange juice, divided
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon red chile pepper flakes
- zest of 1 orange + 1 orange, peel removed and fruit chopped into bite size pieces
- 3/4 pound chicken breasts, thinly sliced into bite size pieces
- 3 cups broccoli florets
- 1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
- 8 ounce can sliced water chestnuts, drained
- hot cooked brown rice, for serving
Directions:
In a small saucepan, heat 1/2 tablespoon sesame oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and ginger and saute, stirring continually, for 60 seconds. Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in 1 1/2 cups orange juice, honey, soy sauce, cayenne, red chile pepper flakes, and orange zest. Zest Simmer gently until sauce is thick and syrupy, approximately 20 minutes.
Next, heat 1 tablespoon sesame oil in an electric wok at 350 degrees. Add chicken and toss to stir-fry, cooking until all sides are golden, approximately 3-4 minutes total. Then add broccoli, mushrooms, water chestnuts, and orange chunks. Pour remaining 1/2 cup orange juice over everything, then cover and cook for 2-3 minutes until hot. [Alternatively, you could cook everything in a large skillet on the stovetop over medium-high heat.
Pour in orange sauce and toss to coat. Serve over hot cooked brown rice.
Time: 30 minutes.
Yield: 4-5 servings.
Share this:
Menu Plan
Week of June 11
Monday: healthy fried rice [postponed from tonight]
Tuesday: pork chops
Wednesday: baked flounder
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: chicken enchiladas
Saturday: dinner with friends – not sure what yet though!
Sunday: leftovers? breakfast for dinner? time will tell…
Share this:
Book Review: The Messenger
Instead of “Book Review: The Messenger,” this post should perhaps be titled “Confessions of my [Semi-Embarrassing] Reading Habits.” This is not my usual sort of post, I realize, but I recently signed up to review books for Bethany House Publishers, a well-respected publisher of Christian fiction and other Christian titles, through their blogger review program. When I signed up, I got to choose the categories of books that I was interested in, and every so often I receive emails from the company when they have titles available for review. Then, if I want, I can request a book and they send a complementary copy to me, in exchange for a review. Since I love reading [I did go to library school, after all–though reading is not in the job description of any position I’m applying for… too bad!], I thought it would be fun. Recently I received and read my first book: The Messenger by Siri Mitchell.
Here is the description of the book from the publisher:
Hannah Sunderland has never questioned her unwavering Quaker beliefs…until the Friends forbid her to visit her twin brother in jail. But when Jeremiah Jones, a Colonial spy, seeks her out to help rescue her brother and other Colonial soldiers, she’s forced to confront her beliefs—and her unexpected feelings for Jeremiah—head on. As lives hang in the balance, must Hannah choose between forsaking those she loves and abandoning the bedrock of her faith?
So, what did I think of the book? Rather than writing paragraph after paragraph of review, I want to do this bullet-point style. I think reviews are more effective that way and I hope Bethany House doesn’t mind! I tend not to read loooong reviews so I want to make this to the point.
These are my top five reasons why I loved this book, and hope you will too!
- I love Siri Mitchell’s writing. I’ve read several of her other books and really enjoy her style. I feel like she does a great job developing her characters, and I like how the perspective of the story changes chapter by chapter. Siri Mitchell is thorough, detail oriented, yet so elegant in regard to style and tone.
- Obviously this book is historical fiction. Revolutionary War era, to be exact. I don’t think I’ve read anything from this time period since reading Felicity’s stories in my American Girl doll youth. [Side note: I had Kirsten, and she is now retired. I am so sad! Did anyone else have a beloved American Girl doll?]. My favorite war period to read about is World War II [my favorite war? How nerdy does that sound?]. Since this is fiction, obviously the storylines are not precisely accurate with what really went on. However, Siri Mitchell’s attention to detail and references in the book really made me feel as if she had done a good job researching to make the book as historically accurate as possible. I feel like historical fiction has such potential to make history come alive, and this book is a fabulous example of that.
- I love how applicable the struggles faced by Hannah and Jeremiah as they work for the patriot cause–together and separately, with different motives that somehow mesh together so perfectly. I don’t want to say much else on that, for fear of giving away too many spoilers, but these struggles raise so many questions. This book has caused me to wonder how this applies to today–why we believe what we believe in this politically-charged era, not so much unlike colonial America? How do we let causes and positions impact the bedrock of our faith? This is a decision we all must make, both collectively and individually.
- My only complaint about the book [except for the fact that it ended… sigh…] was that I felt the first couple chapters were a little slow and a bit confusing, simply because there are so many characters and I wasn’t familiar with Quaker vocabulary.
- That being said… my favorite thing about the book was the romance. [Cue the cheesiness… and the semi-embarrassing confession.] When I read fiction for fun, I don’t want to have to think too hard and I want happy endings. End of story. This usually draws me to cheesy Christian romance novels, heart-wrenching World War II romances, or chicklit. Anyone else with me? The romance between Jeremiah and Hannah [no, this is not a spoiler–you couldn’t possibly expect that the romance wouldn’t be a focal point of the story, now could you?] is subtle, sweet, and at times–infuriatingly slow. However, that is real life. Subtle romance allows for the highly narrative, action-packed plot to shine.
I hope you love this book as much as I did. I thought Siri Mitchell’s The Messenger was simply captivating.
Okay, okay… the semi-embarrassing confession goes beyond not thinking hard and wanting happy endings. One of my college friends and I [who I had the pleasure of seeing over the weekend at another friend’s wedding] have this running joke of texting each other lines from our latest cheesy Christian romance novel. For real.
One of the best was regarding a man with a prosthetic arm stroking the face of his lady friend. For the record, I have nothing against prosthetic arms [I know several people who have them, actually.] The tone of that story though was just classic cheese, that’s what got me. 🙂
But back to my friend [who shall remain nameless so I don’t go blabbing her embarrassing secrets all across the internet]. We have big plans of one day writing a book of cheesy Christian short stories, holiday themed… as in, Arbor Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, etc. It’ll be a best seller, I tell ya… and maybe one day you’ll be writing a review of it on your blog! That’s the goal! 🙂
What are you reading lately?
Thanks to Bethany House for the chance to read this great book for free!
The Pajama Chef 