Banana Pudding

Ingredients:
4 bananas, sliced
1 tbsp. lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 tbsp. flour
1/8 tsp. salt
3 eggs, separated
1 3/4 cup milk
2 1/2 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 box vanilla wafers
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1/4 cup sugar

Directions:
Sprinkle bananas with lemon juice to keep from browning. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Separate eggs into two bowls. Beat egg yolks and add milk; stir to combine. In a large pot over low heat, combine 3/4 cup sugar, flour and salt. Gradually stir in egg mixture until smooth. Cook over low heat stirring constantly until mixture boils. Boil for one minute or until pudding thickens to desired consistency. Remove from heat. Add butter and vanilla and stir until butter is melted.

Cover the bottom of a 1 quart casserole dish with thin layer of pudding. Cover with 1/3 of the vanilla wafers and then 1/3 of bananas and cover with 1/3 remaining pudding. Repeat with two more layers, ending with the pudding.

Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form and gradually add 1/4 cup sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form. Cover layered pudding with meringue, making sure to seal the edges. Bake for 3-5 minutes or until top is lightly brown. Cool to room temperature or chill before serving. Yields 12 servings.

Thoughts:
This is my family's classic banana pudding recipe for pig pickins. For a large gather, we quadruple this recipe.

Blueberry Muffins: The Sequel!

Worked on a tweak to my Blueberry Muffin Recipe this morning. Wanted to make something with a little more moisture and a brighter flavor. (They are still South Beach Diet friendly!)

Ingredients:
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. rolled oats
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp. lemon zest
1 cup fresh blueberries
2 eggs
3/4 cup splenda
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon flavoring


Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Coat a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick spray. In a small bowl, mix 1 cup of the oatmeal with buttermilk and let it sit for 30 minutes. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and blueberries. Stir to coat blueberries in the flour. In a large bowl, combine eggs, oil, Splenda, lemon zest, lemon flavoring and vanilla and blend well. Add oatmeal mixture and flour mixture. Stir until just combined but do not overmix. Divide batter into muffin cups, filling them 2/3 full. Sprinkle each muffin with 1/2 tsp of oatmeal. Bake 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on rack. Yields 12 muffins.


Thoughts:
The recipe could still use more sweetness. I think the brown sugar Splenda would be better than the white. The moisture level was much better this time and the flavor was much brighter.

South Beach Friendly Blueberry Muffins

Matthew and I have been on the South Beach Diet since late March or early April this year. I've lost about 16 pounds (even though I've been bad the last few weeks) and have lost a full dress size. The diet is very easy for me to follow and I've noticed a big increase in my energy level since we've started eating this way.

In the book The South Beach Diet Supercharged: Faster Weight Loss and Better Health for Life, there is a recipe for Oatmeal Muffins that I had been meaning to try for a while. Since we went to the NC Blueberry Festival in Burgaw, NC yesterday, I wanted to adapt the recipe to use some of the yummy fresh blueberries we bought. This is what I came up with:

Ingredients:

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons rolled oats
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
2 eggs
3/4 cup splenda
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Coat a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick spray. In a small bowl, mix 1 3/4 cup of the oatmeal with buttermilk and let it sit for 30 minutes. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and blueberries. Stir to coat blueberries in the flour. In a large bowl, combine eggs, oil, Splenda and vanilla and blend well. Add oatmeal mixture and flour mixture. Stir until just combined but do not overmix. Divide batter into muffin cups, filling them 2/3 full. Sprinkle each muffin with 1/2 tsp of oatmeal. Bake 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on rack. Yields 12 muffins.

Here is the nutrition data for 1 muffin.

Thoughts:
Overall, I like the flavor. The muffin could be a little sweeter (I could probably go to a full cup of Splenda) and could use a little more liquid (maybe a half cup of milk or so) because the whole wheat flour makes for a dry texture. I would also like to try this with some lemon zest added to the batter to make the flavor a little brighter.

Empire Avenue

Received an invite to Empire Avenue from Mezamashii. It looks kind of interesting and I do have 3 invites (I think) if anyone is interested :)

Farm Pics

Not too much going on around here.

Matthew got a permanent job at the company he was temping with. We are excited about that.

Around the house, we are mostly just working on getting the garden ready. All the fence posts are in and now we need to put wire around it.

The strawberries are coming along well.


Also, this past weekend, a quail has taken up with one of our chicken pens. We are not sure what he is after. I gave him some food and he just took a few bites of it and went back to watching the roosters.