Healthy Banana Muffins

If you've paid any attention to my blog at all, you've probably figured out that healthy really isn't my thing.  Delicious is my thing.  Unfortunately, the two often don't go hand-in-hand.  However, that doesn't stop my from trying healthy recipes that look or sound good.  The majority of the time, they're a flop and they never make it here.  But, every once in a while, I stumble upon a special recipe that is both healthy and delicious.  This, my friends, is one of those.  

These banana muffins contain no flour and no oil or butter.  I even reduced the amount of sugar from the original recipe and substituted honey instead.  These muffins are really dense, so it doesn't take a lot to fill you up.  They're also really moist.  And, I think you could really change the recipe up a lot by adding in different fruits as they are in season.  

Adapted from: Chase and Em

What you need:
2 1/2 Cups Quick Cooking Oats
1 Cup Plain Low Fat Greek Yogurt
2 Eggs
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup Honey
1 1/5 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
2 Ripe Bananas
2 Tsp Cinnamon 

What you do:
1.  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. 

2.  Line your muffin tins with muffin liners. 

3.  Place the quick cooking oats into your blender or food processor.  Blend until the oats are pulverized. 

4.  Place the rest of the ingredients into the blender with the oats and blend until fully mixed. (I may have a super weak blender, but this took quite a while.  I'd have to blend and then stir up and blend and stir up.  It wasn't difficult, but it wasn't accomplished all at once either). 

5.  Fill each cupcake liner until it's about 2/3 full and bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. 

Enjoy!

Lasagna Soup

I really like making lasagna from scratch, but it's so time consuming I rarely actually get to do it.  It finally got cold around here and it looks like it's going to stay that way, so I decided some soup was in order.  I've had this recipe pinned on Pinterest for quite a while now, so I decided to give it a go.  I was suspect though -- I thought that there was no way a soup could actually taste like lasagna.   I was wrong.  It really does taste like lasagna.  Don't believe me?  Give it a try.  You'll be surprise.  Bonus --  it is about a million times easier and faster to make than making a lasagna from scratch. 

Slightly adapted from: Mel's Kitchen Cafe

What you need to make the soup:
1 1/2 Pounds Sausage 
1 Medium Yellow Onion, chopped
2 Tbsp Garlic Powder
2 Tsp Dried Oregano
1/2 Tsp Crushed Red Pepper
6 Oz Tomato Paste
28 Oz Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes (undrained)
6 Cups Chicken Broth
2 Tbsp Dried Basil
1/2 Pound Rigatoni Noodles
2 Cups Mozzarella Cheese (for garnishing)

What you do to make the soup:
1.  In a large pot, cook the sausage for about 5 minutes on medium heat, breaking it up as you cook. 

2.  Add the onions to the sausage and continue cooking (stirring occasionally)  for about 5 minutes, or until the sausage is completely cooked.  Drain excess grease if necessary. 

3.  Add the garlic powder, oregano, red pepper, and tomato paste.  Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

4.  Add the fire roasted diced tomatoes (with the juices), chicken broth, and basil. 

5.  Bring soup to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

6.  While the soup is boiling/simmering, cook the rigatoni noodles according to direction and make the ricotta cheese mixture (below).  Drain and fully rinse the noodles.


What you need to make the ricotta cheese mixture:
1. 1 Cup Ricotta Cheese
2. 1/4 Cup shredded Asiago Cheese
3. 1/4 Cup shredded Romano Cheese
4. 1/4 Tsp Salt
5. 1/8 Tsp Black Pepper
6. 1 1/2 Tsp Dried Basil

What you do to make the ricotta cheese mixture:
1. Mix everything together. (Really. That's it.)


To Serve:

Place a couple of spoonfuls of rigatoni noodles in the bottom of a bowl. Top the noodles with a couple of ladlefuls of lasagna soup. Garnish with shredded mozzarella. Add a dollop of the ricotta cheese mixture on the very top. Serve immediately.

This is goes great with a crunchy piece of garlic bread.




Enjoy!