Broccoli Cheese Soup

1/2 c. onion, chopped
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. flour
3 c. water (for thicker use only 2 cups)
10 oz. pkg frozen broccoli thawed or steamed. For fresh broccoli 3 cups. Cook until tender.
4 ckn. bouillon cubes (I use Better than Bouillon)
1 pint of half and half (can substitute milk it will just make the soup a little thinner)
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
3 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Saute onion until transparent. Add flour until smooth. Gradually add water and stir as you add. Add bouillon and Worcestershire sauce and broccoli, simmer for 10 min. Turn heat off and add cream. Gradually mix cheese until melted.

Recipe courtesy of Sarah Lund

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Yield: about 12 muffins
Ingredients:
For the muffins:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. poppy seeds
1¼ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup yogurt (plain or vanilla)

For the glaze (optional):
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
1-2 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Combine the flour, poppy seeds, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Stir briefly to combine. In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition. Mix in the lemon zest and the vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients in two additions alternating with the yogurt, beating each addition just until incorporated.

Divide the batter between the prepared liners, filling each about two-thirds full. Bake 18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

While the muffins are still warm, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl to make the glaze. Drizzle a small amount of the glaze over each muffin. Let the glaze set before serving.

Source: adapted from Joy of Baking and Annie's Eats

Pineapple Rice

1 cup long-grain white rice
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 (8 oz.) can pineapple tidbits, drained
1 tsp. grated fresh ginger

Lime wedges, for serving (optional)

Cook rice according to package directions. Once cooked, mix in the scallions, pineapple tidbits, and ginger. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Fluff with a fork. Serve the kebabs with rice and lime wedges.

Source: adapted from Martha Stewart Living

Baked Cod

This is such a simple low fat meal to prepare. If you can't get cod, most other mild-tasting white fish, such as orange roughy or tilapia. I actually used true cod, or Pacific cod. How long you broil or grill the fish depends on its thickness. As a rule, allow 10 minutes per inch. If it's still not spicy enough for you, try a pinch of cayenne pepper in the mix.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 6 minutes

Total Time: 11 minutes

Ingredients:

• 4 cod fillets (or any mild-tasting white fish)
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• Half a lemon

Preparation:

Preheat broiler. Spray broiler pan or cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

Combine spices in a small bowl. Sprinkle then rub spice mixture over both sides of fish fillets. Place fish on broiler pan or cookie sheet. Broil for 5-6 minutes until fish flakes easily with a fork, turning once.

Squeeze lemon over cooked fish and serve with couscous or rice, and a selection of vegetables.

Per Serving: Calories 148, Calories from Fat 13, Total Fat 1.4g (sat 0.1g), Cholesterol 63mg, Sodium 122mg, Carbohydrate 2.8g, Fiber 0.7g, Protein 30.5g

Banana Crumb Muffins

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These muffins are amazing. I only did one thing different. I doubled the recipe and yet only used 4 large bananas instead of 6 smaller ones. Turned out great.

Banana Crumb Muffins
Ingredients:
For the muffins:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, melted

For the topping:
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°. Made 28 muffins.

In a large bowl, mix together 1 ½ cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg, cinnamon and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.

Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Source: Allrecipes

Veggies and Noodles with Thai Coconut Curry Sauce (Our Best Bites)

Aside from the sweet chili sauce, you should be able to find everything else at your average grocery store:

Linguine (be sure to buy the 16-oz. package and not the 12-oz. package), green onions, fresh ginger, fresh garlic, mushrooms, frozen (gasp!) veggies, red bell peppers, curry paste, and coconut milk. I sometimes get a little bewildered at the grocery store when recipes call for curry paste–what kind of curry? Indian? Thai? Green? Red? Powder? Paste? Sauce? Yeah, you get the picture. In this recipe, I used Thai Kitchen red curry paste, although you could totally use their green curry paste, too. It’s inexpensive and super easy to find. Problem solved, right?

Then you just cook the pasta, stir-fry the veggies, whisk together the sauce, and toss it all together! Super quick and easy–30 minutes, tops. If you want to add chicken or shrimp, just pop some on the grill, seasoned however you like them, and then slice the chicken before serving and add it to the noodles. Garnish with a sprinkling of black (or white, if you can’t find black) sesame seeds and a few limes for squeezing over the noodles before eating.

Heaven. In a bowl.

I will say that this recipe makes a ton and I would totally cut it in half except for the fact that I have very few uses for 1/2 of a can of coconut milk. Leftoverville, here we come. However, our reader Debs had a fabulous suggestion to freeze half of the coconut milk, which means you’d use a little more than 3/4 c. of coconut milk.

Veggies and Noodles with Thai Coconut Curry Sauce {aka Kate’s Noodles & Company Bangkok Curry Semi-Knockoff}

Recipe heavily adapted from The Colorado Connection

1 lb. linguine or rice noodles (if using rice noodles, soak in hot water for about 1/2 hour and then drain and rinse)

1 12-oz. package of frozen stir fry vegetables or 6 oz. frozen broccoli and 6 oz. frozen julienned carrots

1/2 c. green onions

1 medium red, orange, or yellow pepper, thinly sliced

1 c. sliced mushrooms

1 Tbsp. fresh, minced ginger

1 Tbsp. fresh, minced garlic

2-3 Tbsp. curry paste

Juice of 1 lime, plus more limes for garnish

2-3 Tbsp. olive oil

1 can of lite coconut milk

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

4-6 Tbsp. sweet chili sauce (available at Asian markets)

Black sesame seeds for garnish

Cook pasta according to the package directions. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the coconut milk, soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, curry paste, and lime juice. While the pasta is cooking, microwave the frozen vegetables according to the package directions, but only cook them for 1/2 the time–you still want them to be quite crunchy. If you’re using fresh veggies, blanch them in boiling water for 1-2 minutes or until they’re tender-crisp.

In a large non-stick skillet or wok, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the green onions, mushrooms, ginger, and garlic and cook until the mushrooms are tender and the garlic is fragrant. Be sure to continue stirring constantly to prevent the garlic from burning.

Add the sliced red peppers and the half-cooked (formerly frozen) vegetables. Stir fry for about 1 minute and then add the coconut milk mixture and cook until it begins to boil. Remove from heat and add the cooked noodles. Toss to combine and then allow the mixture to stand for 5 minutes. Toss again and serve with a sprinkling of black sesame seeds and 2 lime wedges per person (squeeze the lime juice over the noodles before eating). Serves 8 very generously, so if you can find an extra use for the other half of that can of coconut milk, I say go for it…:)

Orange-cranberry Glazed Mini Bundt Cakes (grouprecipes.com)

Ingredients

* Nonstick cooking spray with flour
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons finely grated orange peel
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup (6 oz.) Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini Morsels
1 cup fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped or 1 cup sweetened dried cranberries.
GLAZE Ingredients:
2 cups white chocolate morsels
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tsp. grated orange peel

Directions

Preheat oven to 350째 F.
Spray two 6-cake mini-Bundt cake pans with nonstick cooking spray with flour.
Combine flour, baking powder and salt in large bowl.
Beat sugar and butter in large mixer bowl until creamy.
Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Beat in orange peel and vanilla extract.
Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with buttermilk in 2 additions.
Stir in morsels.
Fold in cranberries.
Spoon into prepared pans, filling 3/4 full.
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in cake comes out clean and cakes are golden.
Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Invert pans onto wire racks to release cakes. Cool completely.
Drizzle with Glaze.

FOR GLAZE:
Microwave 2 cups (12-ounce package) White Morsels in large, uncovered, microwave-safe bowl on MEDIUM-HIGH (70%) power for 1 minute;
Stir.
The morsels may retain some of their original shape.
Microwave at additional 10- to 15-second intervals, stirring just until morsels are melted.
Whisk in 1/4 cup orange juice and 1 teaspoon grated orange peel. (Mixture will initially get firm, but as you keep stirring, it will get smooth. Add more orange juice if needed.)