Breakfast Banana Muffins & Strawberry-Kiwi-Banana Smoothies

We had some bananas, strawberries & kiwis leftover from our Bountiful Baskets baskets, and we're out of good fresh farm eggs, so what to make for breakfast?

These delicious Banana Muffins. Of course, I made them before realizing that E3 couldn't eat them, due to bananas. Sigh. So I gave her one of my chocolate muffins/cupcakes from a post or two ago.

I only had 2 Tbsp coconut flour left, I thought I'd had 4 Tbsp, oops. So I added 2 Tbsp Quinoa Flakes & 1/4 cup Sorghum Flour to make up for the lack of coconut flour. They turned out quit well! I even had enough to make a little "cake" in an oven safe bowl. I'm not sure the honey was necessary, the bananas might have sweetened them enough by itself.

The Smoothies were made with strawberries, kiwis, and bananas (none for E3), probiotic powder & hemp seeds for protein and Omegas, as well as many other nutrients that are found in hemp seeds.

Jam

Mostly thawed frozen strawberries

Starting to melt

Almost done!

Finished product! About 13.5 pints!

I had a bag of frozen strawberries from Costco that had kind of frozen into a giant clump. So I decided to make jam. The 6# bag cost me $8.99, an 8 oz jar of Strawberry jam WITH additives like corn fiber, natural flavors, pear & grape juice concentrate, citric acid and pectin costs about $2.50 at the store. $33.75

I heated the strawberries, poking them with my Pam.pered Chef Mix n Chop (one of my best kitchen tools!), added about 1/4-1/2 cup coconut sugar & kept poking them until it all the big chunks were gone. I then dumped 5 packets of gelatin in, which was a rookie mistake, as I've used gelatin before. You're *supposed* to dissolve it in a separate bowl of warm water/something first, THEN add it to your dish. Oops. It got really clumpy and wasn't making the whole pot gelatinous. Immersion blender to the rescue! That was the best $4 I've ever spent at a thrift store! Then I poured it into jars and let cool on the counter for several hours and now they're in the fridge. If I'd been thinking ahead, I would have gotten freezer jars, so I could freeze them withoutu worry of the jar breaking. I might can them, but we'll see. If I can can them with a water bath canner, I probably will. 

This took me about 15 minutes total time and cost about $.81 per 8 oz (it was probably a little less, but I was generous in my estimations). That's a savings of $1.69/8 oz! Definitely worth my time and the gelatin mistake that was corrected easily enough!

Strawmelon Smoothies & Soup

Last night for supper, we had a slow-cooked chicken from the slow cooker, and I simmered the bones with a splash of apple cider vinegar (to draw the minerals out of the bones), water and carrots. Before lunch, I strained the bones from the broth, sauteed some celery, garlic and ginger with olive oil, added the broth & carrots back in. I sprinkled some salt on top, and served it up. The kids asked for straws for theirs (I had already set it out to be cool) and then used their spoons when their broth was gone. E2 (oldest daughter) & I had two bowls!

And the baby, enjoying a carrot

My mother sells Pampered Chef, so she gets all the new products, including the cookbooks. She showed me a Strawberry Watermelon Slushie recipe, so I'm going to make it, but instead of using white refined sugar, I'm going to use Coconut Sugar. YUM!! It turned out quite well :D I think I might do it without the sugar next time, I think the strawberries would be sweet enough.

Strawberry-Watermelon Slush
1 pt. strawberries, hulled & halved
2 c. watermelon, seeded & cubed
1/3 c. coconut sugar
1/3 c. lemon juice
2 c. ice cubes
Combine strawberries, watermelon, sugar &
lemon juice in a bender. Blend until smooth.
Gradually add ice & continue to blend. Serve
immediately. Makes 5-6 servings.