Coffee Break Muffins

Mmmmm.....Can you see the espresso flakes? These muffins are just the right amount of sweet balanced with that coffee flavor. There is a whole cup of coffee in these babies, as well as some ground espresso and brown sugar!

I'm not posting the recipe, but if you want it, pick up a copy of Baking, by Dorie Greenspan!

Heading (Further) Down South

Well it has been a long time coming, but now that I have put in my two weeks notice at work, it is a definite!

M and I will be moving to Charleston, SC at the end of July and we couldn't be more excited. I have been adding some Charleston food blogs to my blog roll just so that I can get acclimated to the foodie culture in the lowcountry, and I must say that I am excited about the opportunities that lie ahead.

First of all, there is definitely no shortage of seafood restaurants down there, which makes me giddy! There are not so many in this area, so I'm pretty stoked about that. Plus, the Charleston Culinary Institute is down there and from what I hear has a pretty good program. I might enroll in some night classes so I can actually learn a few things!

Our apartment is great, and while smaller than what we are used to now, its a bit cheaper and our balcony overlooks the harbor and the Charleston Yacht Club! One drawback though is that the kitchen (gasp!) is a bit smaller than the one here and doesn't have a dishwasher...

So yeah, going to have to get used to that. But I can make it work! Once we get down there I will post pics of everything!

In the meantime, later today I'm going to post pictures of Dorie's Coffee Break Muffins that I made yesterday morning...so good!

Hope everyone is having a great Monday! :)

Banana Honey Muffins

I adapted this recipe from one on AllRecipes.com, and changed it quite a bit. I made these once before and used the original recipe and they were just not as tasty. I will post some pictures later on, but wanted to type out the recipe before I forgot. These muffins are high in fiber and really packed with nutrition. I prefer to use 4 bananas, but you can always use 3. I also make these extra large by only making 6, but you can make them smaller by making 10-12 muffins.

Here is the original recipe if you would like to compare.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 4 bananas, mashed
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened or melted
  
• 1 tsp milled flax seed
• 2 tsp water
• 2-3 tablespoons of wildflower honey (eyeball it)
  

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 6 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and baking powder. In another bowl, beat together bananas, and melted butter. In another small bowl, mix together the milled flax seed and the water. Stir the flax mixture into the banana mixture, this replaces one egg and adds nutritional value to the recipe as well as some grainy goodness. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Stir in the honey and mix together. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until a fork pressed into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
   

Nutritional Information:
1 muffin
Calories, 223; Fat, 3.4 g; Saturated fat, 1.2 g; Carbs, 46.2 g; Fiber, 5.6g; Sugars, 14.8g; Protein, 4.9 g; Cholesterol, 5g, Sodium, 292; Calcium 56; Iron 0.9; Vitamin A, 114; Vitamin C, 7.4.

Tar Heel Born, Tar Heel Bred...

This past weekend was great! Rachael came into town from DC...for the UNC v. Duke game on Saturday, and obviously we Tar Heels kicked some major Blue Devil booty. We watched the game at Ham's in Chapel Hill, and as far as yummy goes, there was definitely not a shortage.

In the course of about six hours, the four of us managed to consume....

• One order or Thumbs and Toes (boneless buffalo chicken wings)
• One order of Ultimate Nachos
• One order of homemade potato chips with ranch dressing
  
• One order of french fries
• One order of Spinach Dip with Pita Chips
• And we helped Matt with his bacon cheeseburger and fries

I can haz cheeseburger?
So, needless to say I did not do much cooking this weekend.

Sunday night I did make a big pot of what was supposed to be a Mexican chicken soup. It turned out to be more like, spicy chicken vegetable soup, and it wasn't bad. But I think I am going to wait to post a recipe about this one until I try it again.

Tonight is supposed to be the second installment of our Tuesday Night Supper Club, but I think poor Lisa is a tad bit sick today, so we may have to postpone. :( Which wouldn't be such a bad thing because I need to get my self into the gym tonight...I think my lifting is starting to pay off! Getting excited to get into tip top b-suit shape for our Dominican Republic trip over Memorial Day weekend.

In other yummy-related news, I think I am going to try these Banana Crumb Muffins tomorrow morning....
Banana Crumb Muffins
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

***Although, I will subsitute white sugar for Splenda, and probably only use about 1/2 cup, and use wheat flour instead of all-purpose.***

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

I will let you know how these work out tomorrow!
<3