Cherry Almond Muffins

What do you do with a few leftover cherries that are about to go bad? You make muffins obviously, at least if you are me. I just had one of these for breakfast and they didn't disappoint. I like that you are getting some fruit, whole grains and protein all in one muffin.

Enjoy!

Knead to Cook

Cherry Almond Muffins slightly adapted from Knead to Cook

Ingredients:

3/4 cup of Greek yogurt
1/3 cup of maple syrup
1/4 cup of sugar
3 room temperature eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1.5 cups of whole wheat flour 
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce 
1 3/4 cup of pitted, chopped (roughly) fresh cherries
1/4 cup of toasted slivered or sliced almonds.

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Spray your muffin pan with baking spray.  Set aside.

In your stand mixer, paddle attached, blend the yogurt, syrup, sugar. eggs and vanilla.  In a separate bowl, sift flour, powder, cinnamon and salt.  Then add to your wet mixture and blend.  Add the applesauce and blend again.  By hand, mix in most of the cherries and almonds. Bake for 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Asparagus Side Dish

Does this not look delicious? It did to me and grabbed my attention immediately! I made it the other night to go along with our pistachio pesto chicken and it was really good. I did roast my asparagus instead of grill it for easiness and that worked out just as well. Next time I'll ease up on the red pepper flakes a bit though. This would be a great side dish to entertain with as it has that little something extra that makes it special. Enjoy!

Rue Daily

Roasted Asparagus with Red Pepper Flakes and Truffle Oil 

slightly adapted from Rue Daily

For 2-3

1 bunch asparagus (thicker stalks work best)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon truffle oil
1/4 cup finely grated parmesan
salt and pepper

Chop the woody tough part of the asparagus off (the bottom inch or two), and dress with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast at 425 degrees for about 20 to 30 minutes, remove from oven and immediately drizzle with truffle oil and sprinkle on the red pepper flakes and parm. Toss together and serve.

Pistachio Pesto Chicken

Don't you love when your dish doesn't look nearly as pretty as the picture from the recipe? This is totally what happened last night. My pistachio pesto wasn't nearly as vibrant as what is pictured below, but luckily it was still very tasty.

I served our chicken with whole wheat couscous (instead of spaghetti like the original recipe called for) and an excellent new asparagus side dish that I'll be sharing later this week. It was a delicious and healthy meal that we both enjoyed! I doubled the pesto as well to use in this recipe later this week. My pesto was on the chunky side, but that was fine by me.

How Sweet It Is

Pistachio Pesto Chicken adapted from How Sweet It Is

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil 

1 cup shelled pistachios
10 large basil leaves, torn
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, torn
1 garlic clove
1/3 cup finely grated pecorino romano cheese
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Season chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. Heat a large grill pan on medium heat and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Once hot, add chicken and cook until golden brown on both sides and cooked through.

While the chicken is cooking, add pistachios, basil, parsley, garlic and cheese to a food processor. Pulse and blend until the nuts are coarsely chopped, then with the processor on, stream in 1/3 cup of olive oil. Add a little more if necessary, depending on how "spreadable" you want your pesto to be. Finish by adding in salt and blending once more. Spread a layer of pesto on top of each chicken breast and serve alongside couscous.

Lately Loving...

Hiii! Did everyone have a great three day weekend? We had a great one and I'm sad it's over, but another week is starting which is always a good feeling. Today is busy day so I'm posting some outfits that have grabbed my attention lately and are giving me inspiration when putting together my own looks.

Happy Tuesday!

Love using a denim/chambray shirt as more of a jacket...

Glitter Guide

I don't have a pair of camo skinnies, but thinking I need a pair...

Pink Peonies

Love the idea of a white maxi, I'm having trouble finding a good one though...HELP!

Glitter Guide

Banana Chocolate Chip "Muffin"

Yep I know what you all are thinking, seriously another muffin recipe? But this is really not a muffin. This is more in the category of deep dish cookie, yes it's that good and even healthy, pretty amazing if you ask me.

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffin - Edible Perspective

These have been the perfect sweet treat the past two nights. I warm mine up in the microwave and the chocolate chips melt and become all gooey, it's like a mini chocolate chip oatmeal pile of goodness. You will not be disappointed by these.

The original recipe has the measurements for one serving just FYI. Once cooled I covered my ramekins in foil and they are good to go in the refrigerator for a few days.

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffin slightly adapted from Edible Perspective

• 1 well-mashed banana, very ripe 
• 6 teaspoons maple syrup
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• tiny pinch of salt
• 15 tablespoons rolled oats
• 3 tablespoon almond meal
• 5 tablespoons chocolate chips

1. Preheat your oven to 350* F and grease 3 oven-safe ramekin.
2. In a small bowl, mash the banana until very wet and egg-like.
3. Mix in the maple syrup, vanilla extract, baking powder, and salt.
4. Add the rolled oats and almond meal and mix until well combined.  Mixture will be thick.
5. Fold in chocolate chips and divide the batter into the ramekins.
6. Bake for 17-21 minutes until the top is set when touched.  Let cool 5 minutes then remove from the ramekin and eat.

Memorial Day Sales

Happy Memorial Day weekend loves! Do you all have a fun one planned? Ours is going to be the perfect mix of fun and relax. Some highlights will be seeing Hangover III (I know these movies are ridic, but so funny, right?), a tennis tourney and a hair appointment today.

What's also amazing about Memorial Day weekend is all the sales going on right now? HOLY WOW, they are everywhere. There are far too many to round up so I'm showcasing a few of my favorites.

This scarf from Pomegranate, 30% off with code MDSALE30. I know, I know I DON'T need another scarf, but ekkks I really love this one.

Bridgette Shawl - Pomegranate

Madewell is having 20% off tees, tanks and shorts, SO lucky me because this top that I featured earlier this week is now on SALE, isn't that a sign? Right?

Collar Tee in Nautical Stripe - Madewell

And this is HUGE because they rarely have site wide sales, but Furbish Studio is having 15% site wide with code LONGWEEKEND. I'm dying over these napkins, I have some rattan place mats that they would look perfect with.

Yellow Dinner Napkins - Furbish Studio

Also, ASOS is having 20% off EVERYTHING with code TAKE20, I wouldn't mind picking up this, or this and oh this too.

Happy shopping friends!

Almond Coconut Bars

So along with my delicious stir-fry last night, I wanted to also bake a sweet treat. I had seen these almond coconut bars just a few days ago and realized I had all the ingredients on hand to make them. These were SO easy to throw together and were really good. I think they can definitely count as a sweet treat because of the chocolate chips, but they also are a great snack option or even something for breakfast.

The only difficult thing about these bars is that you really should lift them out of your pan using the sides of the wax paper, place on a plate and let them "set up" in the fridge. If you try to eat them right out of the oven they are somewhat of a gooey mess, although a delicious mess. I baked these in my loaf bread pan and that was the perfect size.

Oh AND these are gluten-free...enjoy!

Almond Coconut Bars - Love & Lemons

Almond Coconut Bars from Love & Lemons

Ingredients

• 1 cup chopped almonds
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut 
• 1/4 cup almond butter
• 1/4 cup honey 
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips 

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400. Prepare a 6x6 inch pan (like a bread loaf pan), with wax paper.
2. In a medium bowl, combine all of the ingredients together.
3. Using another piece of wax paper or a spatula, flatten the mixture to evenly distribute.
4. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool and then place bars on a plate and set in fridge for a few hours before slicing into bars.