Tag: Cooking Light

Morning Glory Muffins

It was so nice to have a 3-day weekend. I got caught up on my cleaning, exercising, and of course, cooking! Tomorrow is my first day of my last 6-week pharmacy school rotation, so before the chaos starts I prepared some snacks for work this week. I can’t believe I am 6 weeks away from having my Doctor of Pharmacy degree…When I started pharmacy school 4 years ago, it seemed like it would take forever, and here I am!

This morning I made these morning glory muffins for breakfast/snacks this week from a recipe I found by Cooking Light. These are the perfect wholesome muffins to start off your day. I love bran muffins because they are so much healthier for you than other types of muffins. They have the most fiber, and the least amount of fat and sugar. The most fun part is deciding what to put in them – I like chopped dried apricots, walnuts, and chopped fresh granny smith apple. You can add things like raisins, carrots, zucchini, pecans, etc. Get creative!

Have a great week!

5.0 from 1 reviews
Morning Glory Muffins
 
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Prep time
15 mins
Cook time
16 mins
Total
31 mins
 
Type: Breakfast
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 1½ cups bran cereal
  • 2 tbsp butter, melted
  • ½ cup milk
  • ¼ cup plain yogurt
  • 1 egg
  • ¼ cup oats
  • ⅓ cup brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • ¾ cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ ripe banana, mashed
  • ¼ cup chopped dried apricots
  • ½ granny smith apple, peeled and chopped
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Add bran cereal, butter, milk, yogurt and egg to a blender or food processor and pulse a few times.
  3. Add the oats and flour and pulse a few more times.
  4. Use a spoon to finish blending in the flour and to stir in the rest of the ingredients by hand until just blended.
  5. Spoon into a paper cup-lined muffin pan.
  6. Bake for 16 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and tops are firm.
  7. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.
Makes 12 muffins
    3.2.2265

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light, Morning Glory Muffins, 2007

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Moroccan Chickpeas

I think my crazy lifestyle these past few weeks have finally started catching up with me. I have been juggling pharmacy rotations aka my day job, which is already draining enough, with freelance recipe/photography work for clients, graduation & trip planning, working out, and the daily chores that are barely getting done…oh, and me time (does that even exist these days?!). It hasn’t helped that I haven’t been getting a lot of sleep the past few days because my husband has been watching “The Walking Dead” lately, and it gives me horrible nightmares…don’t make fun. I finally made myself stop watching it with him, so we will see if I can get my sleep back now!

These days it is more important than ever that I cook meals that can last two or three days, since unfortunately I don’t have the energy to cook a lot due to my crazy schedule. When I started getting tired of soups, I looked around for new recipes to try. I found this vegetarian recipe for Spicy Moroccan Chickpeas on Cooking Light, and lovvved it. The apricots go so well in this dish, giving it the perfect amount of sweetness. The couscous is also a perfect pair to the spiced chickpeas. The recipe made a lot to last the two of us a few days, and you can serve it as a main dish or as a chickpea salad side.

I couldn’t find the escarole that the recipe calls for, so I used the endive I could find at my grocery store. Apparently, escarole is less bitter, but I didn’t taste the endive I used at all and found it gave a nice texture. If you are short on time, find a good tikka masala sauce and add it in place of the spices and tomatoes!

Moroccan Chickpeas
 
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Prep time
15 mins
Cook time
25 mins
Total
40 mins
 
Type: Main
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3 large garlic cloves, peeled
  • 1 cup thinly sliced red onion
  • ½ cup dried apricots, sliced
  • 1 tbsp ras el hanout (Moroccan spice blend) or garam masala
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • ¾ tsp black pepper
  • ¼ tsp crushed red pepper
  • 1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick
  • ½ cup water
  • 1½ tsp grated lemon rind
  • 1½ tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
  • 1 (28-ounce) can no-salt-added whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped
  • 6 cups escarole, torn into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 cup cilantro leaves
  • ¼ cup mint leaves
  • ½ cup roasted whole almonds, coarsely chopped
  • 4 cups hot cooked couscous
Instructions
  1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.
  2. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat.
  3. Add garlic; cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
  4. Remove garlic from pan using a slotted spoon; discard or reserve for another use.
  5. Add onion and next 6 ingredients (through cinnamon stick) to pan; sauté for 7 minutes or until the onion is lightly browned, stirring occasionally.
  6. Add ½ cup water, rind, juice, chickpeas, and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  7. Stir in escarole; simmer for 1 minute or until escarole wilts. Remove from heat.
  8. Sprinkle with cilantro and mint; top with almonds.
  9. Serve over couscous.
3.2.2265

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light, 2010.

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Thai Salad with Peanut Dressing

I don’t know about you, but I have definitely had my fair share of sweets and Christmas leftovers for the past few days. It is time to start eating healthy again! This Thai salad is a recipe adapted from Cooking Light magazine. It is a simple, healthy recipe that you can toss together for lunch or dinner. It is made with cucumbers, tomatoes and carrots, and drizzled with a homemade peanut sauce dressing. You can add variation to the salad by adding different vegetables, but I like to keep it simple and traditional. I am not shy when it comes to the peanut dressing, since that is my favorite thing about this salad! I make the peanut dressing with my Magic Bullet, which makes it really easy.

It has been so nice to spend some time back home in southern California this week. This morning my dad took us on a hike, and we enjoyed the sunny, warm weather outdoors. It does not feel like winter around here at all, except maybe at night when it gets a little cold. We were hiking in our T-shirts and enjoying the warm sun rays and fresh morning air. It was so great to get moving outside again after all of the holiday indulging!

Have you been getting back into your routine, or are you waiting for the New Year?

Thai Salad with Peanut Dressing
 
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Prep time
10 mins
Total
10 mins
 
Type: Salad
Serves: 2
Ingredients
Dressing:
  • 3 tbsp water
  • 1 tbsp peanut butter
  • 1 tsp vegetable oil
  • 2 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tbsp peanuts
Salad:
  • 4 cups mixed herb salad, rinsed
  • ½ cup chopped cucumber
  • ⅓ cup chopped carrots
  • 1 tomato, halved and sliced
Instructions
  1. Add all dressing ingredients to a blender or food processor and pulse a few times until blended.
  2. Toss the salad ingredients together, then drizzle the dressing over the top.
3.2.2124

Recipe adapted from: Cooking Light, 2009

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