Make It Monday: Recipes

Due to the busy weekend my priority was not in getting my menu plan done by Saturday night. Instead I will be making my menu plan this afternoon. You'll have to excuse me for being out of the loop this week. Instead I thought I would share a few of my favorite recipes.

The first is a spinach salad. It is great with crackers and vegetables for a lunch or as an appetizer. Alas, I am in the only one in my home who will eat it. Solution? I will halve the recipe so there isn't so much of it and enjoyed it by my lonesome.:-)

Spinach Salad
2 boxes frozen spinach
4 hard boiled eggs, diced
½ cup diced onion
1 cup shredded cheese, cheddar
1 tsp. garlic salt
¼ tsp. Tabasco
1 Tbsp. vinegar
½ cup mayo

Thaw frozen spinach and squeeze dry (excess water). Mix all ingredients adding the eggs last. Refrigerate and serve. This taste best on the second day.
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Putter Fingers:
This recipe was a mainstay for my Mom as we were growing up. Not only are they quite yummy but the Putter Fingers are a great source of protein. Perfect to be made up for pregnant moms!

Putter Fingers
½ cup melted butter
3 cups quick oats
1 cup honey
3 Tb. Carob powder (or cocoa)
¾ cup powdered milk
½ tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
½ cup peanut butter
½ cup raisins
½ cup sunflower seeds
(optional: can omit the raisins and sunflowers seeds and add 1 cup of carob chips or chocolate ships.)

Combine melted butter and oats in a large bowl. Mix well. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Shape with moist hands or buttered hands into balls. Chill until firm. Store in closed container in the refrigerator.
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Looking for a healthy simple drink? Look no further. I have wanted to find something my husband would enjoy as a smoothie but would get some green veggies in for him. This green smoothie has been perfect! My husband likes it and is more than happy to get his spinach down this way since he can’t taste it. I buy a large bag of frozen strawberries at Costco and my organic spinach.

Green Smoothie
1cup Frozen banana slices
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 cup fresh spinach
1 cup orange juice

Blend together and drink. Makes 1 serving
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For the bananas I realized I could freeze my own much cheaper than buying them in the store.
I found a bunch of ripe bananas on sale.

I cut them up in slices putting them on a wax paper covered cookie sheet.

I had so many bananas and not enough cookie sheets or room in the freezer. After the first layer of bananas was on the cookie sheet I put another piece of wax paper on the cookie sheet on top of the bananas. I filled this layer up with bananas as well. I was able to do this second layer on both cookie sheets then put them in the freezer for several hours. When you take the cookie sheets out of the freezer you need to let the bananas thaw out a bit, say 5 minutes or so. Otherwise you will be tearing bananas off the wax paper instead of pulling them off and create a royal mess. Take all the bananas off the cookie sheets and put them in Ziploc freezer bags. Now you have frozen bananas ready to go for your smoothies with little time involved and it cost you much less!

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After finding this recipe on Money Saving Mom I have made it both in the Banana muffins and the Blueberry muffins. This is now my husbands favorite muffin recipe.

Banana or Blueberry Crumb Muffins

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (whole wheat pastry/soft spring wheat is the best!)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 bananas, mashed

3/4 cup rapadura or sucanat (natural sweeteners) or sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup butter or coconut oil, melted – or replace with half applesauce, as desired

Topping, optional:

2 Tbsp whole wheat flour

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon butter

1/4 cup sugar, optional

In a small bowl, mix together 1/4 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 12 muffin cups.
In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling 3/4 full (Definitely fill all 12, otherwise they will overflow). Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Blueberry Variation: Replace bananas with 1 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries and 3/4 cup applesauce. Yum!Enjoy!

From Jennifer Allen