Banana Coconut Chia Muffins

I'm sorry to report that it's been a bit of a sad and stressful week in the Vittles family.  My grandmother (mom's mom) went in for heart surgery on Monday, and on the same day my grandfather (stepmom's dad) passed away.

Luckily Grammy seems to be doing ok, but my grandpa, who we knew as Pop Pop, will be sorely missed.

I have happy memories of listening to him play guitar, and he would always keep us laughing - about anything from how he wooed my grandma, to his fondness for his "cream puff" of a car, that faithfully transported him from Florida to New Jersey at least once a year.

As the years go by, I know I will be forced to say goodbye to more and more people that I love.  But now I also watch our Mini grow with each passing day - I guess this is what they refer to as the 'circle of life?'

Well today our little munchkin floored me, and I think that was just what I needed to lift my spirits this week.

Our good friend Pauline came over with her beautiful, almost 5-month old daughter Genevieve, and Mini was going to meet the baby for the first time.  They arrived while Mini was napping, and we put G in her old bouncy seat.  G was having a blast, but I couldn't help but wonder what Mini's reaction would be - she is not exactly known for sharing.

But after waking up and getting past a brief bout of shyness, she was not only fine with G using her seat, she was excited.  G was excited to see her too, smiling and kicking.  Then my heart melted when Mini, without any prompting, bent over and gave G a kiss.

Unfortunately Pauline and I were completely unprepared for this moment of cuteness, but we were still able to capture a reenactment a few minutes later:

I said that when they get older, we'll have to tell them they had an instant connection!

Speaking of which, I had an instant connection with these muffins I made to accompany our coffee this morning.

You may know by now that I love me some coconut, but I found out today that Pauline does too!  And with both shredded coconut and coconut oil, these muffins have a double dose of the good stuff.

Banana Coconut Muffins

• 2 C. flour
• 1 t. baking soda
• 3/4 t. salt
• 1/4 t. nutmeg
• 2 T. chia seeds*
• 1/2 C. unsweetened, shredded coconut (you can also use sweetened, flaked if you prefer)
• 1 C. brown sugar
• 1/2 C. coconut oil
• 4 mashed bananas
• 2 eggs
• 1 t. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease 12 muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray, or line with muffin cups.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, chia seeds, and shredded coconut. Set aside.

Cream the coconut oil and brown sugar until well combined. Add the egg, and beat well. Add the mashed banana and vanilla, and mix until blended.

Stir the dry ingredients into wet ingredients, and mix only until just combined (be sure not to over-mix here!). Scoop batter into prepared muffin tins, about 3/4 of the way full.

Bake for 23-25 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Yield 12 muffins.  *If you do not wish to use the chia seeds, you can either substitute poppy seeds or leave them out completely.

Recipe Adapted from Jenna Weber, as found on PBS online

Pina Colada Smoothie

Well... you know you're a parent when you catch an illness you haven't had since the 4th grade.

In fact, my supervisor put it all in perspective when he texted me Friday morning "You worked 31.75 hours in the past 2 weeks - when you come back, I may need to reintroduce you to the group."

Yup.  Between a snow day, the Mini getting pink eye, and then ME getting a random virus followed by my own case of pink eye... I did not even work the amount of hours in two weeks that I would usually work in one.

<Sigh>

My father-in-law did warn us that a young child is like a Petri dish, and boy was he right.  Although the Mini has been fairly healthy (almost shockingly so), I feel like I  have not been able to go longer than a month without catching something since she was born.

The addition of the Petri Dish to our household has also spelled trouble for Mr. Vittles.  Once known for a powerful immune system my friend Joe nicknamed "Super Blood," he too has fallen victim to a surprising number of "bugs" in the past 17 months.

While he was able to avoid the pink eye this week, he was not so lucky with the virus that left us both with the worst sore throat in the history of sore throats, and a cough that still won't quit.

At its peak, the only things that gave us any relief were frozen treats.  Not only is the cold temperature soothing, but apparently the sugar is as well.  The two days that I managed to drag myself to work last week, I had a smoothie for lunch.

At home, it was more smoothies and ice cream.  Not great for the girlish figure... but desperate times call for desperate measures.  And after this brutal winter (with snow storms aplenty) I figured a little tropical treat would be good for the soul as well as the throat!

Pina Colada Smoothie

• 1 C. full-fat coconut milk
• 1 C. canned crushed pineapple, with juice
• 1 ripe banana
• 1 T. sugar (optional)
• ice

Add coconut milk, pineapple, banana, and sugar (if using) to blender with about 2 handfuls of ice cubes.  Blend until smooth.  Makes 2 smoothies, approx. 12 oz. each.

Original Recipe

Raspberry Lemonade

Ok guys, I'm finally back, to make my (somewhat sheepish) return to the world of blogging.

Which is also a return to the world of internet, sadly.

Our internet provider, who shall remain nameless... but begins with a V and ends in an N... has royally screwed this loyal customer of 6 years and seems not to care.

We moved into our new house in early May, and despite numerous promises, breakings of self-imposed deadlines, and half-hearted apologies, we are still awaiting our phone and internet to be in complete working order.

Trust me, that is the very short and very diplomatic version of my sad tale.  However, since this is the most the internet has worked in over 3 weeks, I will take advantage!

It's all probably for the best that I took a little break, anyway, as Mr. Vittles and I have been busy little beavers.  The first weekend of May was spent moving, then the next unpacking & also celebrating mother's day.  The next was spent in upstate New York and Canada congratulating my brother-in-law Nick on his graduation from St. Lawrence University.  And the last was spent in the Virginia/DC area celebrating our friends T.J. and Adrienne's wedding.

Thankfully our two long weekends out of town were spent doing fun things.  But that much time away from the homefront didn't help our unpacking/settling momentum.... and certainly not my cooking/baking motivation, which in turn impacts the blogging.

You get the idea.

But... here we are.  And hopefully I'm back in action.

I have to ask one thing, though- how could it possibly be the first weekend of June already?

Despite what the calendar tells me, here at the Jersey Shore we know that the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day is the actual season of 'summer.'  So I thought it was time to make a nice summer refreshment - raspberry lemonade!

Mr V. took a sip of the finished product after warily eyeing the leftover raspberry & lemon pulp in the sink,  and looked genuinely surprised.

"Wow," he said.  "That's really good."

He took a second sip.  "Now I know what lemonade tastes like with real raspberries in it."

And it's true - this is soooo much better than the artificial raspberry taste you get with most lemonades on the market.  Nothing beats the fresh stuff!

Anyway - hope y'all are doing well, and I'm looking forward to getting into some more seasonal recipes with you soon!

I MISSED YOU!!

:-)

Raspberry Lemonade

• 7-8 whole lemons
• 3 1/2 C. cold water
• One 6-oz. package fresh raspberries
• 3/4 C. sugar
• Ice (for serving)

Slice one of the lemons thinly, discarding the ends.  Set slices aside.

Juice the remaining whole lemons until you reach 1 C. of lemon juice. (By the way, hopefully you have a tool like this to help you get all the juice out of each lemon - trust me, simply squeezing a lemon half does not get that much juice out, and your hand will hurt to boot!)

Combine lemon juice with cold water in a pitcher or large bowl with a spout, and set aside.

In a smaller bowl, combine half of the lemon slices with the raspberries and sugar.  Using a potato masher (or a heavy, flat-bottomed item such as a wine bottle) muddle the fruits with the sugar until juices are released and sugar starts to dissolve.  Add muddled mixture to lemon/water mixture, and stir until sugar is completely dissolved.

Pour entire mixture through a sieve into a separate bowl or pitcher - discard the seeds, pulp, and lemon rinds.  (Keep in mind that the finer-mesh sieve you use for straining, the less chance there is of small seed and pup bits getting into your lemonade).

Serve lemonade chilled or over ice*, and garnish with remaining lemon slices.  Serves 3-4 people.

*Tip:  If you have additional raspberries, you can freeze them to use as ice so the lemonade doesn't get watered down.  Or you can use the already-frozen kind.

Recipe Adapted from Cook's Country

Blueberry Milk

Remember drinking strawberry milk as a kid?

Me too!

Well I searched for a recipe the other day to make your own at home, and was starting to get really disappointed.  A lot of the ones I saw basically just blended milk with strawberries.

If I'm not mistaken, isn't that called a smoothie?

Hmm no thanks. 

But eventually I stumbled upon this recipe at The Kitchn and was mucho excited.

Totally brought me back to my childhood.

I decided to get a little crazy with it, though, and try some different flavors than just strawberry.

I bet you didn't know that blueberries are actually the state fruit of New Jersey?

Apparently, one of the early cultivators of the blueberry was from Jerz.  And blueberries are still grown here, mainly in the Pine Barrens. 

(Along with the Jersey Devil.  Just sayin'.)

FYI - New Jersey is also known as the Garden State due to our agriculture - corn & tomatoes being two of the more popular crops.

Jersey is not just refineries and the Sopranos, people!

Anyway, now that you've learned something and I've properly 'repped' my home state, I'm pretty sure you can use half a cup of whatever berry you want - the traditional strawberry, or raspberries, blackberries, etc.

I actually made strawberry milk too, but mixed it with coconut milk for something different.

Use your imagination! :)

The bonus is that your kids will probably think it's super fun, and they'll never miss the artificial flavoring and boatloads of sugar.

Not to mention the blueberry one is purple and umm... that's just cool.

Blueberry Milk

• 1/2 C. fresh blueberries (or berries of your choice)
• 3-4 T. sugar, depending on how sweet you like (I actually used 2 T. Xylitol)
• 1/2 C. water
• 1 C. milk

(If you plan on drinking the milk immediately, I would recommend freezing 3 small glasses for a bit first, because the syrup will be warm and warm milk is ... well, yucky).

In a small saucepan, bring water, sugar, and blueberries to a boil over medium heat.  Boil continuously for 5 minutes, then remove from heat.

Strain mixture into a bowl or measuring cup through a fine-mesh sieve, pushing the berries to release all liquid.  (Reserve berries for baking recipes, or mixing into plain yogurt, smoothies, etc!)

Refrigerate syrup until cold (or cool slightly, then remove glasses from freezer).  Set out 3 small glasses on counter, and place 2 T syrup in the bottom of each glass.  Add 1/2 C. cold milk to each, stir, and enjoy!


Recipe adapted from The Kitchn