Banana-and-Peanut-Butter Blender Mini-Muffins

I found this recipe via Pinterest -- the original is here.  As per the recipe's original creator's wishes, I have rewritten all the instructions myself so I can post it here.  She also has a chocolate version, which I have not yet tried.

My kids totally love these, and I give these to them as their after-swimming-lessons snack a couple times a month.  With all the good stuff in them from the peanut butter and bananas (and no refined sugars except in the teeny chocolate chips), I feel like they're a great pick-me-up for them after they've use up all that energy.  These freeze really well, so I can store them up and just pull them out of the freezer before we head to lessons.  Also, I happen to think they're super tasty when frozen, so they're a quick treat for me sometimes too :-D

Banana-and-Peanut-Butter Blender Mini-Muffins

1 medium ripe banana -- peeled
1 large egg
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (store-bought peanut butter works best)
3 tablespoons honey (can substitute agave or maple syrup)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt
1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 400F.  Grease 24 mini muffin tins or use paper liners.  Put banana, egg, peanut butter, honey, vanilla, soda, and salt directly into your blender and blend on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute.  Stir in chocolate chips by hand (the blender will turn them into chocolate bits, so don't use it for this).  Use a spoon to fill muffin cups 3/4 full.  Bake for 8 to 9 minutes, or until tops spring back when touched and a toothpick inserted into their center comes out clean.  Because they're small, they burn quickly, so watch them.  Cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before removing.  Store in an airtight container or the freezer.

Flexible Oatmeal Cookies

I call these "flexible" because you can tweak them to suit your tastes.  I got this recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens:  Homemade Cookies recipe book, copyright 2000, but I've changed it around a bit so that I can make it the way I like it.  They suggest using M&Ms or gumdrops as an add-in instead of the ones I've specified here, and I've always wanted to try them with dried cranberries instead, but here I'll just put the two I make and love.

Flexible Oatmeal Cookies

1 1/2 cups butter -- softened
2 cups brown sugar -- firmly packed
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
2 tsp. vanilla
3 3/4 cups flour
2 cups rolled oats

Beat the butter in an extra-large mixing bowl on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.  Add the sugars, baking powder, and baking soda, and beat again until combined.  You'll have to scrape the sides of the bowl once or twice.  Beat in the eggs, milk, and vanilla all at once, just until combined.  Beat in as much of the flour as you can, finishing up with a wooden spoon.  Then stir in the rolled oats.

Divide the dough in half.  Use one of each of the variations below to make your cookies, one in each half, or else double the amounts below and make all of one kind.  Once the additions are mixed in, drop by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto a cookie sheet.  These don't spread a lot, but they do a little, so I recommend parchment paper or non-stick pans, not a greased pan.

Bake at 375 for 9 to 11 minutes or until edges begin to brown but the centers are still soft.  Cool on the baking sheet for the first minute, then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Variations

Best Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Ever

1 1/2 cups raisins
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves

Oatmeal Toffee Cookies

1 1/2 cup chopped Heath candy bars (about 5)
3/4 cup hazelnuts -- chopped

Makes about 3 dozen of each kind, so 6 dozen all together.

Cranberry Cookies

Back when we lived in Wisconsin, I had a coworker who worked at a cranberry bog and would bring in fresh cranberries for anyone who wanted them.  I found this recipe to use the cranberries I got, and it's become a favorite of ours.  In fact, Cowboy can't decide if he loves these or really fat sugar cookies more!  I made these for fellowship time at church this weekend, and half a dozen people asked for the recipe :-)  So I'm sharing it here too.

Cranberry Cookies

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar -- firmly packed
1/4 cup butter -- softened
2 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries -- halved (it's easier to cut them when they're frozen)
1/2 cup chopped almonds

Preheat oven to 375. Grease cookie sheets or line them with parchment paper. In large bowl, combine the sugar, brown sugar and butter, and beat them until they make light and fluffy crumbles.  Add the milk, lemon juice, vanilla, and egg, and mix well.  Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and mix well again. Stir in cranberries and almonds. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto greased cookie sheets. Bake for 9 to 12 minutes or until edges are just beginning to brown.   Immediately remove from cookie sheets and cool on wire racks.  Makes 3 dozen.

Borshch

Cowboy lived in Ukraine when he was a teen, and the first time I ever had borshch was when I visited his family there one Christmas.  I was convinced it had tomatoes in it -- oops!  We made this recipe for the first time the spring before we got married, while visiting his brother for Easter.  So borshch makes me think of holidays :-)  I think we got this recipe from Cowboy's mom's Betty Crocker cookbook, but I don't remember for sure anymore.

Borshch

1 lb. Pork Sausage
2 cans Beets -- julienne and reserve juice
3 cups Cabbage -- shredded
1/2  cup Onion -- minced
1/2  tsp. Pepper
2 tsp. Sugar
2 tsp. Lemon juice
2 1/2  cups Beef bouillon

 GARNISHES: sour cream, chopped green onions

Heat beef broth, beets and liquid, cabbage, onion, pepper, and sugar to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Stir in lemon juice.  Add a dollop of sour cream to each serving and sprinkle with green onions.

Bleu Cheese, Walnut, and Pear Salad

I love the pairing of bleu cheese and pears :-9

Bleu Cheese, Walnut, and Pear Salad

Lettuce
Pears -- chopped
Walnuts -- chopped
Bleu cheese dressing

Top lettuce with remaining ingredients.

BLT Hot Dogs

Sometimes, you just have to make food that is terrible for you, but tastes yummy.

BLT Hot Dogs

8 Hot dogs
8 strips Bacon
1 package Hot dog buns
3 Roma tomatoes - sliced thin
 Lettuce
 Mayo

 Fry bacon and hot dogs. Spread hot dog buns with mayo. Fill buns with a hot dog, a strip of bacon, lettuce, and tomatoes.

Dipping Chocolate

I've been using this recipe for years -- since high school, I think.  It doesn't get truly hard once it hardens, so you don't end up with flakes of it cracking off when you take a bite of whatever you dipped in this.  Last summer, I dipped strawberries and cherries in this for a celebration we had when my nephew was baptized.  I should have made twice as many.  Fabulous!  I've also transformed a humble chocolate-chip cookie into ambrosia by dipping half-way in this.  Dried apricots, pretzels, candy canes -- they all work!

Dipping Chocolate

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 1.55-oz Hershey's bars -- broken into pieces
1 Tbsp shortening

In top of double boiler, stir together chocolate chips, chocolate bar pieces, and shortening. Place over hot, not boiling, water, stirring occasionally, until chips and chocolate are melted. Remove top of double boiler; set aside until chocolate cools to lukewarm.

Dips about 5 dozen cookies half-way.