Ah-Mazing Banana Walnut Muffins

Hello lovelies and happy holidays!  I hope that you are enjoying a calm and peaceful season and that today brings with in minimal stress and worry.  There are only two days until Christmas (or one, depending on when you're reading this!) and I'm ready for some good food and good company.

Boysenberry Buckle Muffins

The days of summer seem years away right now.  This weekend felt very reminiscient of wintertime in Wisconsin.  Over the five years that I spent living in the midwest, I learned to adapt to the blustery winter weather.  Oh, and apparently "blustery" isn't a weather term you hear outside of the northern states.  For those of you living in the milder climates of the United States and the world, blustery means "Stay in your house or don your snowsuit."  Those winters in Wisconsin made me wish I owned one of those onesie snowsuits that you zip little kids into.  They always look so warm...

In Wisconsin, and the rest of the Midwest, you also learn the phrase "too cold to snow."  Now, this might seem a little strange, but there is a certain point where it becomes just too cold for clouds and snowflakes to form.  This is when you see a crystal blue sky outside and you know your eyeballs will freeze if you set foot outside.  I learned to layer everything, pants on top of pants, sweaters under more sweaters, two hats.

This Sunday was one of those "too cold to snow" kind of days in New York City.  Boyfriend and I were in the city meeting his dad for dinner.  We took the afternoon train to Penn station and set out to do some shopping.  Even with wearing a heavy sweater, coat, hat, scarf and gloves, I was cold.  Boyfriend said "It's so cold, my face hurts."  To which I answered "I know!  It's killing me too!"  He didn't appreciate my sixth grade humor and needed the joke explained to him... 

The only thing that my story has to do with this recipe is that I want it to be summer already.  Unfortunately, we are months away from fresh picked fruits and vegetables.  If you go to the grocery store and buy berries, it is very likely that they will be lacking flavor.  Luckily there is a solution, canned berries!

I was completely unaware that you could get almost any berry in canned form, until I was contacted by Oregon Fruits.  After seeing my post fot cherry coconut muffins, Oregon fruit contacted me about using my recipe on their website.  I ventured over there to check out their product and noticed they sell all sorts of berries and fruits!  They wound up sending me a sampling of some of their fruits, including blueberry, raspberry and gooseberry (if you know what to do with a gooseberry, let me know!).  After the hectic holiday season, I finally had the time to break out the berries and give myself a taste of summer.

Coconut-Cherry Muffins

When boyfriend and I returned from Thailand, we slept a whole bunch.  For some reason we were just fine when we got to Thailand, well almost fine.  As we walked home from dinner the first night (after sixteen hours on a plane keep in mind!), my body started falling asleep.  My feet would all of a sudden go to bed, while I was trying to walk.  There are some good looking pictures of me, falling asleep at the restaurant.  I nearly fell over at least five times on our way back to the hotel.  Someone kept making fun of me and taking pictures of me as I fell asleep.


Coconut flowers and a sprouting coconut



Look, a baby coconut!

After getting a good nights sleep, we were much better.  It was much easier to walk down the street when my legs were trying to take a nap.  The jet lag wasn't too bad and I'm assuming it was because we were so excited about being in Thailand.


Cooking down coconut syrup

 

Nearly finished coconut sugar

  Returning home was a totally different story.  Jet lag hit us both, hard.  We arrived home after travelling from Phuket to Hong Kong to Vancouver to New York City, in a mere twenty-four hours.  We went from eight-five degrees and high humidity to a snow-covered, below-freezing New York, it was not a pleasant return.  When we finally got back to our apartment, things went well for an hour or two.  We emptied out the suitcases, put a load of laundry in the washing machine and showered.  Then we sat on the couch and turned on some HGTV.  That's when it went downhill as we fell asleep for about four hours, oops.


Palm sugar, cooling into their traditional shape



The bees like palm sugar too!


The first morning of being back in our house we woke up at the completely unnatural hour of four o'clock am.  The rest of the week we kept falling asleep at 9:00 and waking up at 5:00.  I was so proud of us when we stayed up until the evening news on Friday night.  Yup, we're party animals.


Getting the meat out of the coconut



The finished product, coconut oil!

There was one exciting thing about coming home, other than sleeping in my own bed again, packages in the office!  While we were gone I had a few packages arrive in the apartment office.  One was a book, one was a present for boyfriend and the third was from Kelapo!  I was contacted by Kelapo just before we went on vacation about trying some of their virgin coconut oil.  After travelling to Thailand I was even more excited about getting this package in the mail because we visited a coconut farm! 

The pictures you see throughout this post were from the coconut farm, where they made everything from coconut oil, coconut (or palm) sugar, coconut milk and items made from the coconut shell.  The farm smelled wonderful and was full of bees.  At least the bees weren't interested in stinging us, they just wanted to eat the palm sugar.  When I returned home and opened up the Kelapo virgin coconut oil I was transported back to the coconut farm.  Thank you Kelapo, for bringing me back to vacation.

Pumpkin Raisin Muffins

Okay now, be honest.  Are you still all sugared up from last night?  Did you eat more Halloween candy than you gave out?  Or did you "check" your kids candy and take out all of the delicious treats for yourself?  C'mon, fess up!  Well, even if you might not want to admit it, I'm sure you need a little candy detox.

Growing up, we never had the problem of eating more candy than we gave out.  The reason for this?  In all the years that my parents have lived at their house, not a single trick-or-treater ever came to the door.  Did that stop my dad from buying five bags of candy every year?  No.  When asked why he was putting all those bags of candy in the grocery cart, the answer was always "for the trick-or-treaters."  Big ole liar.  Dad likes candy, plain and simple.  We always ate more candy than we gave out, always.

Even now I can say that I've never answered the door of my own home to a trick-or-treater.  Since moving away from my parents home, I've lived in apartments.  Boyfriend, on the other hand, grew up in a classic suburban subdivision.  He has many memories of costume-clad children ringing the doorbell and screaming for candy.  He describes it as "annoying."  I guess when you're trying to get stuff done, going to the door every two minutes might get a bit old. 

So, for now I have continued my trick-or-treaterless existance.  Perhaps boyfriend and I will buy a house, then we'll have ghosts, pirates and pixies ringing our doorbell on October 31st.  Until then, I'll keep buying the candy, just in case.

Banana Coconut Muffins

I'm out.  Yesterday I said goodbye to the hallowed halls of academia, my wonderful labmates, my brilliant undergrad and my faithful hood.  I made the trek to my new home sweet home, New Jersey.  This morning I woke up realizing that I wouldn't ever again be working seven day weeks.  I wouldn't see the sun rise and set while working at my bench.  No more would I lose days and weeks, only to realize that summer had passed me by.  It's time to revel in it, I'm a grown up!

It sounds strange to be excited about being a grown up, but I've been in the ranks of higher education for eleven and a half years.  And this isn't even a long time for someone with my degree.  I graduated undergrad in four years, even with taking a year to be a photography major.  I completed my PhD in exactly five years, defending my thesis on the exact day that I joined UW - Madison, five years later.  I worked as a Postdoc in a fabulous lab and completed a couple of natural projects. 

In the end I obtained the goal I set forth as a graduate student.  Most people make 30 before 30 goals.  I made just one goal and I made it, with a few months to spare.  Get a real job, before hitting the big three-O.  Now I'm making big plans of what to do with my weekends, how to spend my vacations and trying to figure out what real people do with three-day weekends.  At least I'll have help to fill my time. 

For eight years boyfriend and I have been a long distance couple, both of us moving around the country for jobs and school.  I'm very happy to tell you that I'm sitting in OUR apartment, writing this post.  Together at last, I hope I don't annoy him too much.  Better go make him some cookies to soften the transition.

Mango-Lime Muffins

I’ve gone a little mango crazy recently! Last week it was mango curry, today it’s mango muffins! I know the same thing has happened to you. You discover something new and delicious. After a little while you notice that this new ingredient is making its way into all of your recipes. You’re eating your new favorite ingredient morning, noon and night. Mangoes are my new favorite ingredient.

If you have never tried a mango before, now is the perfect time to give them a try. Mexican mangoes are in season now and Florida mangoes are approaching their peak. In season, the mangoes are sweet and full of flavor. You’ll find yourself wanting to eat it straight out of the skin, neglecting to save some for your recipe. Maybe you should buy two, just in case you eat the first one.

Not sure of what to do with a mango? Follow these simple directions and you’ll be able to coax the fruit from the skin, leaving you with perfectly diced mango.


I'm a mango!

I have a flat pit in the middle!  Slice out the center section.

 

Gently cut the fruit into cubes, being sure not to cut through the skin

Flip the fruit inside out!



Slice off the fruit and enjoy!



Pineapple Upsidedown Muffins

I’ve finally returned to Connecticut, which means I’m back in my own kitchen. I missed all my tools and ingredients, the ability to throw together a meal in minutes. It’s so hard making dinner in a kitchen without even the simplest necessities, like salt, or a mixing bowl. My return also means the beginning of our month of healthy eating! After a quick run to the grocery store, for the more unusual items, I was able to whip up dinner, lunch and breakfast.

Since it makes the most sense, breakfast is first on the menu. I’m a big breakfast fan, especially when it tastes like dessert. I originally made these muffins back in Colorado. They are full of energy and will keep you going until lunch. I liked to treat myself to them after I convinced myself to get up early and workout. Sometimes it would be an incentive to get out of bed in the morning and get to that 5:30am class. Although I found that teaching the 5:30am class to be a bigger incentive, since there would be no class if I didn’t show up!

This thought beings me to one of my favorite fitness tips – Make a Gym Buddy! Being an instructor I have seen it time and time again. Those people that make friends, or bring friends, to a class were more likely to come back. My 5:30am Bodystep class included a group of 8 women who came every week. If one of them was missing they would have some explaining to do the next week! I’ve met so many wonderful people at the gym, friendships that I still have today, even though I don’t live close anymore. You and your buddy will have more fun in class together and you’ll have each other to motivate, cheer on and challenge.

Be sure to vote on my poll!  What types of healthy recipes are you looking for most?  This will help influence the recipes that I post in the next three weeks.  I might even get boyfriend to lend a hand in the kitchen, that way you'll know it's an easy recipe to follow!

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

I have to say, sometimes I am disappointed by a recipe. It holds all that promise, sitting there on the glossy pages of a new cookbook. I have all the ingredients in the fridge and pantry. It seems as though everything is coming together perfectly. Then that first taste, disappointment. That is what happened with these muffins. Look at the pictures, they aren’t even that spectacular to look at. Plain, simple, boring, lemon poppy seed muffins.

The lemon flavor was too mild, the poppy seeds gave nothing to enhance the muffins. I was so sad. Although I did eat each and every one of them. It’s amazing what a little butter can do to spruce up a less than successful muffin recipe. So if you are in the mood for kinda boring muffins, here’s a recipe. I might suggest sprinkling the tops with sugar before baking. You know the kind. The HUGE sugar crystals? What are they called? Anyways, that might pump up these muffins from their current BORING status. So sad. Sad sad muffins.