Fruit Salad with honey lime chia seed dressing

You can really use any fruit that you like but here's what I did.
about 4 cups diced fruit - 1 small granny smith apple, strawberries, pineapple, purple grapes
1/2 of a large lime juiced
1 big scoop honey (about 1-1/2 Tbsp i'd say)
1 Tbsp chia seeds

Dice up your fruit into nice little chunks and put in a bowl. In another bowl stir up the lime juice, honey and chia seeds, pour over fruit and toss together. You have no idea what you are missing, this is the BEST fruit salad dressing and so healthy!

Chia seeds are loaded with Omega-3 as well as a fair amount of omega-6 and since it's a seed obviously it has tons of fiber. (FYI: 1oz of chia seeds is about 2 Tbsp) I love to put chia seeds in my smoothies and I have a fantastic recipe for raspberry "jam" that takes 5 minutes to make and has no added pectin. Check it out here

Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese

adapted from  http://www.closetcooking.com/2011/08/buffalo-chicken-grilled-cheese-sandwich.html

This shit is awesome! Seriously, talk about amping up a grilled cheese sandwich!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup cooked shredded chicken, warm
• 1 tablespoon hot sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon mayo 
• 1 tablespoon carrot, grated
• 1 tablespoon green or red or white onion, diced
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, room temperature, grated
• 2 slices bread
• 1 tablespoon butter, room temperature

Directions

1. Mix the chicken, hot sauce, mayo, carrot, and onion in a small bowl.
2. Butter the outside of each slice of bread, sprinkle half of the cheeses on the inside of one slice of bread, top with the buffalo chicken salad, the remaining cheese and finally the other slice of bread.
3. Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat.
4. Add the sandwich and grill until golden brown and the cheese has melted, about 2-4 minutes per side.

Banana muffins

Yay muffins! My girl likes to call the chocolate ones happy birthday cakes :) I love that muffins are already portioned and take half as long to cook as a loaf of banana bread. So here are the two versions that I made recently.

Chocolate, Banana  Muffins:

 

• 1/2 cup of butter, softened
• 3/4 cup of brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed up
• 2 cups of flour
• 1/4+ cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt   
• cream butter and sugar then add eggs, vanilla, and bananas, mix well. Then mix in the remaining ingredients. Optional you can stir in some chocolate chips (regular or white) for some extra umph. 
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees then coat a muffin pan with cooking spray. bake 18-20 minutes. makes 1 dozen

Banana nut muffins 

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 to 3 medium)
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees then coat a muffin pan with cooking spray. bake 18-20 minutes. 

Makes 1 dozen

Lunchlady peanut butter bars

I've been really into treats that dont require baking lately for a few reasons. First after I mix everything together I dont have to wait for it to cook, second takes less time and attention, if the potrions aren exact I dont have to worry about flat cookies. AND as an added bonus I wont have to turn the oven on when I make them this summer. If you dont already know I've never been a big peanut fan. I ate jam sandwiches Not pb&j. But I do like snickers and reeses and I did enjoy the pb bars back in elementary school, I guess I just need some chocolate with my nuts.

 Peanut butter bars Cruch up 1pk of graham crackers into crumbs
Stir in 1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick),
 1 cup natural peanut butter
 1 cup powdered sugar
 When its all combined press into a foil lined 8" square pan
 Melt 1-1/2 cups chocolate chips (or shave off an equal amount of a dark chocolate brick) Add 1 tsp oil (i used coconut oil) to make the chocolate a bit smoother.
 Then spread ontop of your bars. Let the cool in the fridge then cut into pieces.

Chocolate Sugar Plums

I always like to try classic recipes and traditional food from all over the world, its always interesting to see how different societies eat. whether its a classic Italian dish or a forgotten American treat, this is the latter.
Did you know a "plum" used to mean any dried fruit? And that sugar plums don't even have sugar in them. I didn't either until I decided to make some. (Wiki it I promise it's true) So really they are made with chopped up dried fruit and nuts, add a little honey for added sweetness. when I first tried one I was like "ehh theyre okay" but after 10 minutes I was like "i need another". They are kinda rich like truffles, you only eat a couple at a time. I didnt think I liked thhem much at first but now I know im going to be making them again, and I probably wont wait til the holidays come around again. I may play with it a little by rolling them in powdered sugar or cocoa powder but I really liked the coconut.

 3.3 oz dried dates (about 15)
3.3 oz prunes
1 cup whole roasted almomds
1 T honey
 1/2 cup cocoa powder
3T orange juice or water (give or take)
1/2 t cinnamon,
1/4t all spice,
1t orange zest (optional)

 Pulse almonds in blender a few times to chop them up. Dice your dried fruit as small as you can (or have patience for) add everything together and mix/puree till everything comes together in a sticky mass. Side note if you have a food procrssor use that it will work the best, my blender started smoking cuz it was working so hard so I scooped mine out and stirred it together more. Then wet your hands and roll into small tablespoon size balls, roll in coconut and place on a cookie sheet. Youll want to wet your hands after ever two or three balls or so. Let them firm up in the fridge for an hour and store in an airtight container.
Makes about 30 balls.