Almond Butter Banana Smoothie

This recipe is any peanut butter lover's dream.  The ingredients compliment each other nicely and the flavors come together to make for a wonderful smoothie. 

Ingredients

• 1 small banana
• 2 tbsp almond butter (or your choice of peanut butter)
• 1/2 cup vanilla frozen yogurt
• 1/4 cup greek (or plain) yogurt
• 4 oz unsweetened almond milk

Directions

Blend ingredients together to make one smoothie. 

Nutritional Info (entire recipe)

Calories - 450    Fat - 26   Carbs - 52    Protein - 11     Iron - 3    Fibre - 5 

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

I absolutely love the flavour of pumpkin, and it doesn't have to be fall for me to use in my baking.  These muffins are wonderful any time of the year, and these disappear very quickly in our house.  The yogurt makes for a very light and fluffy muffin.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup vegetable oil, plus more for pan
• 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups white flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice (1 tbsp cinnamon, 1/2 tbsp ground ginger, 1/4 tbsp ground nutmeg, 1/4 tbsp ground allspice or cloves)
• 2 cups pumpkin puree
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup turbinado (coarse) sugar, plus more for sprinkling
• 1 1/2 cups shelled unsalted pumpkin seeds

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush 24 muffin tins with oil, set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk flours, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and baking soda; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk oil, pumpkin puree, yogurt, eggs, and 1 cup sugar to combine; add 1 cup pumpkin seeds and reserved dry ingredients. Mix just until moistened (be sure to not over mix).

Divide evenly and spoon batter into muffin tins; sprinkle tops with remaining pumpkin seeds and sugar.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool 5 minutes in pan.

Enjoy!

Nutritional Info

Calories - 188   Fat - 10     Carbs -  22    Protein -  4    Iron - 8    Fibre - 1 

Homemade Big Mac with Special Sauce

While not a huge fan of McDonald's, I do like their Big Macs.  I thought I would try to make a homemade version of the popular hamburger and was pleased with the results.  It tasted exactly like the real thing. 

Ingredients

• 1.5 lbs lean hamburger
• 6 sesame seed buns + 6 extra bottoms
• 6 slices cheddar cheese
• 1/4 head of iceberg lettuce
• 1/2 white onion
• 2-3 dill pickles

Special Sauce

• 1/2 cup real mayo
• 1/2 cup Miracle Whip
• 1/3 cup sweet relish
• 1/4 cup french dressing
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp pepper
• 2 tbsp diced onions

Directions

You are going to want to make your sauce first and allow it to rest in the fridge for at least an hour.   Simply combine all of the sauce ingredients together.

Next, prepare your toppings as these hamburgers patty's are so small, they cool very quickly so quick assembly is key.

Dice the onion into very small cubes.

Next, chop your lettuce very fine

Slice your pickles & cheddar cheese and set aside.

As you know, the Big Mac has an extra bun in the middle.  To achieve this at home, thinly slice the bottom layer of a bottom portion of bun.

To achieve the fast food hamburger patty, weigh the meat into 2 oz balls.  Form into a very thin patty.  The patty's will shrink quite a bit, so the thinner, the better (I stack my patty's on a plate using wax paper to seperate them so they don't stick).

Cook the hamburgers in a frying pan over medium heat for 1 minute per side, or until juices bubble to the top like the picture below:

Now doesn't that look just like a fast food patty?  :)

Next, assemble your Big Mac.

 The Assembly of a Big Mac:

- bottom bun

- 1-2 tbsp special sauce

- 1 tbsp onions

- sprinkle of lettuce

- slice of cheddar cheese

- one burger patty

- middle bun

- 1-2 tbsp special sauce

- 1 tbsp onions

- 2-3 slices of pickles

- sprinkle of lettuce

- one burger patty

- top bun

Enjoy! 

Nutritional Info

Big Mac (no sauce)

Calories - 500   Fat - 19    Carbs - 44     Protein - 34     Iron - 29    Fibre - 2

Sauce only (per tbsp)

Calories - 49   Fat - 5    Carbs - 2    Protein - 0     Iron - 0    Fibre - 0

My Aunt Cathy's Alfredo Sauced Chicken

My dad's family lives in British Columbia and some of my favourite childhood memories are from times that we would travel there to visit them.  On one trip, my dad's sister (my Aunt Cathy) made us this dish for dinner.  I absolutely loved it, and being that I was the a very picky child back then, it surely was a huge compliment when I asked for seconds. The combination of peas, wine, and honey make for a unique flavour that really brings the dish together.  You will not be disappointed if you decide to make this.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 6 small boneless chicken breasts

• 1 lb fettuccine
• 4 qts boiling water
• 1 tbsp cooking oil

• 1/2 cup butter or hard margarine
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

• 1 tsp parsley flakes
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Directions

Heat cooking oil in frying pan.  Add chicken.  Saute for about 5 minutes until no pink remains.

Cook fettuccine in boiling water, cooking oil and salt in large uncovered pot for 5 to 7 minutes until tender but firm.  Drain.  Return noodles to pot.

Add next 6 ingredients to chicken.  Heat and stir until it simmers.  Stir into pasta in pot.

Add remaining ingredients to pasta.  Toss to mix well.  Makes generous 12 cups to serve 6.

Calories -    Fat -     Carbs -      Protein -      Iron -     Fibre -

English Scones (or Biscuits)

In honor of the Royal wedding, I decided to make some traditional English scones with clotted cream and jam.  Yum! 

Ingredients

• 2 cups white flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1.5 tbsp brown sugar
• 5 tbsp butter
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup heavy cream (whipping cream)

Directions

Preheat oven to 425ºF.

Sift the dry ingredients together and cut in the butter with a butter knife (or pastry cutter if you have one).

Beat eggs until frothy, then mix them with the whipping cream. Add this liquid mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring as little as possible.  

For scones:

Pat the dough into a pie shaped piece (again handling the dough as little as possible) and put in a greased and floured circular cake pan. Once in place, cut the dough like you would a pie (into 8 separate pieces) so they can be pulled apart when baked.

For biscuits:

Separate the dough into 9-10 pieces and place on a greased baking pan.

Bake for preheated oven for approx. 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

If you want to get fancy, you could also cut the dough with a biscuit cutter (a mason jar works great).

Top with your favorite jam and some clotted cream.  Clotted cream isn't very common here, but I was able to find it in my grocery store in the dairy isle next to the old fashioned whipping cream.



If clotted cream isn't your thing, they are also delicous served with butter and jam.

Enjoy! 

Nutritional Info (1/9 recipe)

Calories - 228    Fat - 15     Carbs -  21    Protein -  5    Iron - 10    Fibre - 1