Banana oatmeal muffins

So many recipes out there for banana muffins! This one caught my eye because of the laziness factor; you can just toss everything into the food processor and blend. I had to mix in some chocolate chips leftover from my pumpkin bars since banana bread just doesn't seem right without them. I also added pecans to half of the muffins out of curiosity, plus I love nuts.
The recipe made 12 muffins, and I baked them for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Trevor will be excited about these when he wakes up from his nap if his dad and I don't eat them all by then;) They are kind of perfect, but next time I might add a dash of salt. recipe

 

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Pistachio pesto

I just love how my health and fitness journey has been connecting me with old and new friends. People see that I am interested in finding clean and healthy recipes and love sharing them with me. This one comes from a log time friend from Spain, and it's a good one!
 http://mountainspigsandfood.tumblr.com/post/102296937044/9-5-gig-put-this-on-top-of-everything

Southwest meatball skillet

I was surprised how tender and juicy these quick and easy meatballs were! I will serve them with quinoa or brown rice, and save some to bring in for lunch this week. They would also be good with a little avocado or some grated cheddar cheese as a garnish. Yum!
http://www.cleaneatingmag.com/recipes/20-minutes-or-less/southwest-meatball-skillet/

Fettuccine Alfredo

This sounds like such an indulgent dish. How could it be clean? Make it with the versatile and always amazing cauliflower! The sauce is super easy, yummy and totally guilt free. I used a chia spinach fettuccine from Whole Foods, so that was clean too. I added a few curls of parmesan cheese as a garnish, but it would be just as good without them. This went nicely with chicken apple sausage:)
http://ohsheglows.com/2014/01/20/cauli-power-fettuccine-alfredo-vegan/

Blueberry French toast casserole

This is one of my go-to recipes when I am having company or if I have to bring something to a breakfast meeting. It's nice because you can vary your level of "clean and healthy" depending on your audience or consumers. For example when I made it this time I used part cream instead of all almond milk and also wiped the pan with butter instead of cooking spray because my mom was here, and I knew she would appreciate the extra creaminess and flavor. But I have also made it straight like the recipe, and it's still good:)
http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/clean-eating-blueberry-french-toast-casserole/

Oooey gooey chocolate chip pumpkin bars

It's a good thing I made these for my family who is coming to dinner tonight, because I could seriously eat the whole dish! Yum! I'm not always a huge fan of pumpkin, but this one's a keeper, probably because of the chocolate chips, but the whole bar is delicious. Idid folow the recipe, but left in in the oven for an extra 10 minutes and am happy with my decision. It just wasn't done after the suggested 30 minutes.

:)

http://paleomg.com/ooey-gooey-chocolate-chip-pumpkin-bars/

Humus baked chicken

One of the easiest and yummiest I've made in a while, this one is a keeper. I made it with white wine vinegar because I didn't have red, and used regular humus but added some parmesan cheese to it. Also cooked it for more like 40 minutes instead of the suggested 30. Everyone liked it, including my mom even said that she would make this one at home. That's kind of a big deal, because she's not the cook in the family. So far all of the recipes that I have tried from this site have been keepers:) http://www.slenderseven.com/meat

Butternut squash souffle with leeks and gruyere

This recipe has been calling to me for a while, and today I finally had the chance to give it a try. It's a little more complicated than my usual. I've never made a souffle, but it sounded so good! Don't let it intimidate you; it was actually rather easy. The extra effort was worth it. This was the perfect side dish for my sweet and slow pork with apples and onions.
The only trouble is that I had planned on having leftovers later in the week, and there are none! Guess I'll have to find some other yummy vegetable recipes;)
Since it was new to me, I followed the recipe pretty closely. I only had two small ramekins, so I used a larger dish for the rest and cooked it for an extra 20 minutes. The small ramekin was the perfect size for Trevor's dinner.
http://www.cleaneatingmag.com/recipes/butternut-squash-souffle-with-leeks-gruyere/

Pumpkin spice pancakes (or waffles)

In keeping with the Halloween spirit but trying to get Trevor to eat something before he started in on his candy... a morning cooking project was necessary this morning. Although it's a recipe for pancakes, we decided to give them a try as waffles as well. That was a big success. I didn't have the oat flour, so I used whole wheat flour instead. Otherwise we followed the recipe. When it came time to eat, Trevor had the genius idea to put yogurt on his waffle, so we blended some honey into the plain Greek yogurt, and both enjoyed dipping into that. Yum!
http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/2014/10/pumpkin-spice-pancakes/