Sweet Potato Muffins: Oh My, I've Fallen In Love All Over Again!

These babies have got to be my all time favorite muffin.... EVER! Usually I make them with pumpkin but my grocer hasn't had can pumpkin for some time now due to "too much rain" a few years back and now we're paying for it. Here's what Libby's has to say about it....


Due to poor weather conditions last fall, our pumpkin harvest was smaller than we expected. This is why you may be having difficulty finding Libby’s Pumpkin. Unfortunately, we will continue to be in short supply until our next harvest in the fall.
Early in the harvest last year, it looked like we would have plenty of pumpkin, but Mother Nature had other plans for us. The heavy rains throughout the harvest have made it nearly impossible to pick our pumpkins. That's because tractors and other equipment were not able to move through the saturated fields. We hope she's better to us this season, giving us a little less rain and a lot more sunshine because we are already planning to plant even more acres of pumpkins. This way everyone can enjoy as many delicious pumpkin dishes as they want!

So I substituted sweet potato casserole found in the can food isles...look for Glory brand.... and I think I've fallen in love all over again!

This is what you'll be needing...

2cups pumpkin pancake mix (if you don't have this then you can use low fat Bisquick or all purpose flour with about 2tsps of pumpkin pie spice...Also if you're lucky enough to have a Trader Joe's they have a mix as well, but you may have to recalculate calories cause theirs is just a tad higher then what I use)
1 snack size apple sauce
13oz can sweet potato casserole, mashed up with a fork a little(or use a 1 large sweet potato cooked, mashed...just won't be as sweet)
4oz fat free cream cheese, softened
2 egg whites (equivalent to 1 egg)
3tlbs splenda sugar blend for baking (or 1/4cup of sugar)
3/4cup of fat free soy milk (milk or water can be used as well)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Weigh out 13oz of sweet potato in to a large bowl and mash a little with the back of a fork...will be chunky and will make the batter lumpy, but trust me IT"S ALL GOOD! Now add apple sauce, cream cheese, egg whites, splenda and soy milk. Blend together with the fork, then add pancake mix and continue to blend. Now, with paper cupcake liners, line your cup cake pans and spray with a spot of PAM to keep muffins from sticking...divide batter into the 24 liners...pop in the oven and bake for 15-18 minutes. Once baked remove muffins from the pan and cool on a wire cooling rack...and now you have some really yummy goodness....ENJOY!

Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 24
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 80.3
• Total Fat: 0.1 g
• Cholesterol: 0.8 mg
• Sodium: 188.3 mg
• Total Carbs: 17.1 g
• Dietary Fiber: 0.8 g
• Protein: 2.3 g

It's the "USE IT UP" game......Everything but the Kitchen Sink Chilli

This past Sunday I'm sitting in Church listening like a good girl should when my tummy started to rumble and I started stray a little from the listening and started planning what I could through in the crock pot when I got home for dinner that night. So when I got home I played the "Use it up" game...I got this idea from listening to the Martha Stewart radio channel on Sirius radio....my favorite station that my kids love to hate, lol!SIRIUS Stratus 5 Satellite Radio Receiver and Car Kit
I guess you're wondering what I came up with, right? Well, I went with something kind of safe and that was chilli. Now you don't have to be boring like me and make just chilli you can spice things up and make say Shepard pie if you have left over meat loaf...just be creative and have fun playing the what you have hanging around....but make sure you write it down cause you may create a new family favorite!

This is what you'll need if you want to do like me or improvise and make it your own...just go to http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp?recipe=1242471 to calculate your calories

2 cans of navy beans, drained and rinsed
1 can of corn drained
1 can of rotel tomatoes, pick your heat...mild, medium or hot
2cups of water
2cups of tomato sauce (I used classico's tomato and basil)
1/2 cup of winter squash, frozen (I used this for something but can't remember for the life of me...you'll add extra vitamins and never know it's in there!)
1cup of extra lean ground beef (I use the 97% stuff to make sloppy Joe's a few weeks back and had frozen the left overs to use to make bean burritos. That never happen so I'm using it up!)
1 envelope of taco seasoning (or what ever spices you have in the pantry)
1tsp of cumin (...cause again, I LOVE THE STUFF!)
1tlbs of Tastefully Simple- simple salsa mix...(gives it a kick. If you don't have it then use a half a cup of salsa)
2tlbs corn starch, dissolve in 1/4c of cold water and add to chili at the very end to thicken

Now here's the hard part! Put it in a 4-5qt crock pot and cook on low for 8hrs or high for 4hrs...Makes 6 servings. 1 1/2cups equals 1 serving

Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 6
• Amount Per Serving 
•  
• Calories: 321.7
• Total Fat: 3.1 g
• Cholesterol: 10.8 mg
• Sodium: 539.1 mg
• Total Carbs: 57.8 g
• Dietary Fiber: 17.6 g
• Protein: 18.6 g

It's that simple! This stuff was really good. I froze 2 containers servings of it and we're having it for dinner tonight and then tomorrow night I will use my blender stick to blend it to death to turn it in to a pasta sauce to serve with some fish and pasta. Enjoy:)))Cuisinart CSB-76BC SmartStick 200-Watt Immersion Hand Blender, Brushed Chrome

Black and White bean stew

This is becoming a favorite of mine and Dave's...It started off as just a recipe with Lima beans and ham and turned into something totally different because, well....as usual I didn't have exactly what the recipe called for. So don't be afraid to replace something and make it your own...The worst that could happen is you'll be calling the delivery guy for supper that night!

Did you know....One of the ingredients in our dinner, Dry Mustard, is thought to help speed up your metabolism??? Also it has four powerful qualities: it is antibacterial, anti-fungal, antiseptic and has anti-inflammatory properties. It will never go bad, and doesn't really need refrigeration but will lose its pungency if not stored in the fridge....Turns out that tiny little mustard seed can pack a punch in nutrition as well, being a very good source of omega-3 fatty acids as well as calcium, dietary fiber, iron, manganese, magnesium, niacin, phosphorus, protein, selenium and zinc. Selenium is a nutrient that has been shown to help reduce asthma, arthritis and certain cancers. Magnesium also reduces asthma and lowers blood pressure. The effects of mustard are currently being studied for menopausal women and on migraine attack. The Secret Benefits of Spices and Condiments (Secret Guides)

So with that, lets get cooking....this is what you'll be needing:

2 15oz cans of butter beans
1 15oz can of black beans (remember the black bean snack bread...this is where my left over beans came from)
1/2-3/4c of water (just depends on how soupy you want this)
2 cups of diced lean ham or turkey (I used ham)
1 28oz can of diced tomatoes, un-drained
1med onion chopped (I love that I don't have to cry any longer over cutting up onion and buy them frozen)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2- 1tsp of kosher salt (to your taste)
1tlbs dry mustard
1tsp of cumin (optional....I added it only because I felt like it was missing something and I LOVE cumin and I use it almost everything!)


Use a 4-5qt slow cooker. Through everything in the pot, set on low and cook for 6-8 hours...running low on time do like I do and cook it on high for 3-4 hours...

 

Nutritional Info

Servings Per Recipe: 8

• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 207.1
• Total Fat: 2.8 g
• Cholesterol: 15.9 mg
• Sodium: 876.7 mg
• Total Carbs: 29.4 g
• Dietary Fiber: 9.6 g
• Protein: 16.1 g

Dave gave this a 2 thumbs up!! I knew he really liked this one when he said so 3 times during the meal. John protested before that he didn't like Lima beans but as a Mom I called the 3 taste rule and he was hooked.....Also this is even better the 2nd day!

It's a Tuttie Frutti Kinda Day

Sadly Summer is winding down, the kids are back in school and soon all that fabulous fruits and veggies that you can buy on the road side will be gone....Just another reason for me to hate winter, I guess...
One of my most favorite things that I did this summer was stopping at these little road side stands and little country markets that were hidden out of the way...It's such fun and you never know what you're gonna find in them. Luckily for me living up here in PA we have a large community of Mennonites and there are a slew of  local co-ops/ grocery stores....They are every where up here, in fact I'll have to make a trip to BB's Bent & Dent. It's run by an Amish family and it's fun to pull into the parking lot and see horses and buggy's all lined up and then there at the end is a shovel to remove any presents that are left behind...I'll try to take some pics but I'm sure I won't be able to take any of the family members as they don't like having their pictures taken...I'll have to make a day of it and just go around to all of the ones around here and take pictures of all the wonderful things that can be found. I know I grip and complain about living up here away from my Southern home but these little country markets would be one of the things I'd miss the most if I was to move...well that and my wonderful neighbors that have become my sergeant family....So Lets have a look at some of the Places and goodies that I found on my stops around town....

1st stop was at Martins in Hagerstown, MD,  just on the way home from the Y.

Nice veggies but not as much as Country Breeze in PA

wide selection of candied and dried fruits, nuts & berries...

After that I stopped by a place not far from my house....

The couple that run this stand are in their 90's now and don't come outside, so it is Self Serve....very trusting folks, cause the money is left sitting out for you to make change with....

I picked up the peaches and white egg plant at the road side stand and the raspberry yogurt covered pretzels, pretzel grahams, Pappy's concentrated tea and pumpkin spice pancake mix at Martins

This is some fruit I picked up at Glennwood farms grocery in Greencastle the day before...

These are Nicole's favorite melon, the Crenshaw. I got these at Glennwood's as well for .99cent each....at the Supermarket they wanted .68c a lb...equaled out to be almost $7 for just one!!! Crazy...Buy local folks...it's cheaper!!!! Below I cut up the melon and the blueberries and freeze them for later....which the kids love to eat frozen fruit as a snack...much better then those freeze pops made of pure sugar!

Stopping to have a snack before freezing some fruit...

Aren't these the cutest things you've ever seen??? Baby bananas...actually they are called something else, I just don't know the name....I picked these up at Wal-Mart the other day when I ran in for school supplies...I put them next to the regular bananas so you could get a better idea of how small they are....They taste the same as the larger ones but they are sweeter and perfect to pack for school lunches since the kids can never eat a whole one....

Don't Judge Before You Try...Chocolate Black Bean Snack Cake

Okay, Okay....I know what you're thinking!!! But don't judge it yet...keep an open mind about this yummy chocolate snack cake, but don't tell anyone whats in it until after they have tasted it...
We as Mom's have a hard time getting anything good into our kids that isn't in a wrapper or has a shelf life longer then what our time on this big, green earth is! So who says we have to tell them what we put in their food? I dare you all to go ahead and sneak something good into those cakes and muffins...I'm pretty sure they will never even know the difference...
 Did you know that research done on chocolate has shown that the carbohydrates in chocolate raise serotonin levels in the brain, resulting in a sense of well-being. This could be the reason for my strange addiction to the stuff! Also the other ingredient in our healthy snack today, the black bean, is a wonderful source of dietary fiber which has been shown to naturally help lower cholesterol. In addition to the high fiber content, black beans help keep blood sugar levels from rising too rapidly after a meal making them a wise choice for people with diabetes.
So with that...Lets get started!

This is what you'll be needing...

1/2 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup of black coffee (if you want it to be a little more like a brownie add 1/2cup)
1/2 cup apple sauce
4oz of bitter sweet chocolate baking bars
3/4 cup of All Whites (equal to 4 large eggs or 8 egg whites)
1/2 cup + 2tlbs Splenda baking blend (or 1 1/4c of sugar)
1tsp vanilla extract
1/8tsp salt
1 cup of all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, coat a 9x13 pan with Pam. 
In a food processor, blender or with a blending stick blend beans with coffee til smooth. 
Cuisinart CSB-77 Smart Stick Hand Blender with Whisk and Chopper Attachments

Set aside and melt chocolate in the microwave 30 seconds at 50% power at a time, stirring each time until melted completely, then add to black bean mixture set aside...
In a large bowl add sugar and egg whites. Beat with a mixer on low until light and fluffy....
Escali P115C Primo Digital Multifunctional Food Scale, Chrome

Look at all that Chocolate!!!

I'd say that's a whole lot of Happiness in one bowl!!!

Action shot of me blending the egg whites and sugar

  With the mixer still on low add the chocolate/black bean puree, apple sauce, vanilla, salt to the egg mixture, continue to mix until blended then add flour...combine thoroughly on low.

pour batter into the 13x9 greased pan and bake for 25-30minutes or until a tooth pick stuck in the center comes out clean...Cool on a cooling rack for about 10 min and cut into 24 pieces...Enjoy!

All nice and pretty!

Nutritional Info 

Servings Per Recipe: 24

• Amount Per Serving 
•  
• Calories: 76.6
• Total Fat: 0.8 g
• Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
• Sodium: 18.7 mg
• Total Carbs: 14.0 g
• Dietary Fiber: 0.7 g
• Protein: 2.7 g

These next pics are of the reactions after a bite had been taken....and then told what was in them. Sneaky I know....but a Mom's gotta do what a Mom's gotta do!

Dave can tell something is up cause I'm taking his pic!

This is Josh...Dave's assistant...he gives it a thumbs up...

John says this is a keeper...

Nicole's verdict is a thumbs up!

Chloe says, "You put what in my chocolate cake!? I don't even taste any black beans!"