CEIMB: SW Hash and Eggs

This week's Craving Ellie in my Belly recipe is Southwestern Hash and Eggs, hosted by It's Melissa's Kitchen. We made this recipe a few weeks ago, Josh and I actually had it for dinner one night. I have spared you the photographic evidence, because it was just some sad hash on a paper plate. It would have just made you feel bad.

So, this was good, but not great. It was very tomato-y. What's wrong with good ol' potatos and onions? Sure, throw in some beans if you want to get wacky and make it seem more like a main dish, maybe even pepper, but tomatos? It's just not my bag, baby. We liked it fine, I just wouldn't make it again. Hey, it was worth a shot!

CEimB: Grilled Zucchini yadda yadda yadda

Hiya! So nice to be back into the Ellie groove. The past few weeks have been either too busy or the recipes were not easily vegetarianized, so I'm happy that the next few are more veg-friendly.



This week's Craving Ellie in my Belly recipe is the Grilled Zucchini Roll-Ups with Herbs and Cheese (I feel like I need a nap after saying that). This one was chosen by Liz of My Table Their Table. She has a very lovely blog, go visit her and say Hi.

These were super-simple and very tasty. I don't have a grill, so I put them under the broiler. And then I forgot that they were in the oven, so they got very broiled. I slopped them together while Mimi was screaming for Veggie Booty! and Delma was screaming for Yoghurt! and Ice Pops! and Fraggle Rock! So aesthetics were not a priority and these babies were not very pretty. But they sure were good. These would be great for a summer party. Thanks for a great pick, Liz!

Blog Party

I'm joining the party! The 2010 Ultimate Blog Party. Horribly late, but still, I made it. Is anyone still here? Is any of the good booze still left, or is it all warm cans of Coors?



Hi! I'm Heide, a very unfocused and inconsistent blogger. I like to think that's the key to my charm. Maybe I'll blog every other day for a few weeks. Maybe I'll just post an Ellie Krieger recipe once a month. You just never know! I'm pretty awesomely mysterious like that.

I have 2 super-cute little girlies, 2 cats that I have trouble giving a shit about these days, and a husband who is a rock star and an infamous whiskey blogger. I work fulltime as a business analyst and I often spend entire weekends doing laundry.

I had beer for dinner and I popped a few Benadryl. So, there's that. Thanks for stopping by!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

This past weekend, Sunday was my morning to get up with the Hattonettes while Josh slept in. It was a rough morning. The girlies were up early, they were tired and bored, fighting over gardening gloves, tripping over their own feet and bumping into things, they were both just sort of falling to pieces and making me nuts. So in the middle of it all I noticed our very ripe bananas and decided to make muffins, in some small, sad attempt to cling to sanity. My favorite muffins. I've made them several times, and each time I polish off the dozen in a few days, they are so flippin good.



These are the Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins from Get it Ripe by Jae Steele. She's a vegan superstar. Even if you're not vegan, do yourself a favor and check out her blog for great recipes and information about general health, fasts and cleanses. She's pretty much a dynamo.

This recipe calls for spelt flour, which I never remember to buy, so I always use a combo of all-purpose and whole wheat flour. I also never remember to buy coconut oil (though I'm curious about it, so I really should put it on my shopping list) so I use whatever oil I have in the house that's good for baking. Usually I use fruit-sweetened dairy-free chocolate chips (I like to keep them in the house for a relatively not un-healthy addition to baked goods) like the recipe calls for, but I also have just used Nestle when that's all I have. You cannot skimp on the syrup, though, you need to use the real stuff -- but that should go without saying, why would you ever use the nasty fake stuff? And I always add tons of finely chopped pecans -- I add them to pretty much everything I bake.

Go make these STAT.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 3/4 cups spelt flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas
2/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup softened non-hydrogenated coconut oil, or sunflower or olive oil (plus extra if using to coat pan)
2/3 cup non-dairy chocolate chips
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 375degF. Prepare a 12-cup muffin tray with paper liners or a light coating of oil.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and soda, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Add the banana, syrup and oil. Stir just until all flour is absorbed. Fold in the chocolate chips and nuts.

Portion the batter into muffin cups and bake for about 25 minutes, until the tops are domed and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Stores in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or in fridge for up to a week.

Makes 12 muffins.