Mash Muffins aka Puffins

I know you are going to ask what the heck? Puffin? Isn't that a penguin? Well yes, it is a specie of penguin but no I am not cooking it! What this is, is the result of an experiment gone awry yet still coming out surprisingly good and tasty, at least that's what Mesha told me. So boo hoo for you Meesh if you lied, but I doubt that since she would not have eaten as much as she did. :)

By the way, I really need to keep these experiments to the weekend and save myself the 'overly inflated light bill' I suspect JPS won't hesitate to put on me come the end of the month, even though 3.5 weeks out of the month I barely boiled water let alone cook. But I'll wait and see.

Now where was I... ah yes the experiment. I have been craving bananas, which never happens, and wanted to make muffins, putting my own spin on it of course. Whether or not its healthier (because of the fat content) is debatable, but just in case, I did do two versions of it. So I took a basic banana flaxseed recipe,which admittedly I did make as instructed - ingredients and all ,before, and made a few substitutions, even adding a few extra ingredients, hence the 'mash'. Admittedly, the 1st try came out a little wetter than expected because I skipped the oats, and my surprise guest sampled it, even going for 2nds, and said it had a pudding like (again confirming the 'mash') texture but was really good. Given the ingredients I wasn't surprised and said why not keep it like that; call it a Puffin! So here is the revised version of it, but note that this is not yet perfected so results may differ and you can make adjustments where you feel  they are needed.

Almond Curried Chicken

See what happens when you stay home all day without sleeping? You think about food! Unfortunately (or fortunately depending how you look at it), I don't have snacks so I couldn't past the time munching and watching tv. So I think about ways to create food said food. But again, my refrigerator looks like it went on strike...its empty or rather has the bare minimum to get me through the week (water, lettuce, green beans, those onions I spoke about earlier and eggs), so there went that plan.

BUT....I did get to thinking about dinner and somehow became fixated on curried chicken. Of course I've never made curried chicken and it come out cool or tasty so I decided to do a little research to see if I could find one SIMPLE enough for me. I did see a few but for what I had in my fridge, would not cut it. So once again, I winged it! And let me tell you, it came out better than I expected and totally deeeeee-lish!!! The curry sauce/liquid is so tasty you absolutely need something on your plate to soak it up. If you don't have any such thing, you can do like me and lick the plate! lolol! *licking the plate in front of guests is not suggested, they will certainly think you uncouth and without etiquette!

Loaded Sweet Potato Pie for Breakfast

Whew, its been a hot minute since I've been in here. But I have good reason so don't be mad. A week after my last post, I got hit with the nasty dengue fever. Even now, just typing the term gives me chills. But to make a long story short, it is by far THE worst sickness I have ever gone through. Between the 10 day migraine, 3 day 105 degree fever, psoriasis like itching and redness and the joint pain, I can't decide what made me feel the sickest. I just was thankful for it to pass, but let me tell ya, in its wake was the 10 hour sleeping days and night time restlessness, ZERO appetite (not even through measles and chicken pox did my need to feed go), extreme fatigue and yes that God forsaken itching...arghh! My skin is stil recovering from it, so long pants/tights have been the order for work wear since.

But yes, I am back to my old self, energy has returned, I suspect strength will take some time, and oh how the appetite has charged in like a damn FREIGHT TRAIN!! Dear God! Admittedly for the past week I have been really lazy and not really been eating my usual way and now my body has decided it has had enough! But after my 1st 'official' cooking class since high school yesterday, I got that fire back so here we are. And stay tuned because this space is going to be jumping the next few weeks as my experiments take on a whole new meaning!

I felt for something super delish but had no clue what I was going to make for breakfast today. Felt kinda lazy to be honest, so I dug around in my refrigerator, not that there's much, and found sweet potato and red onions. Even then I was still not sure what to do with them, so I just grabbed the potato, wrapped it in foil and popped it into the oven for about 40 mins. And after an hour, potato has been cooled by then, I still hadn't come up with something, so what do you think I did. I went by instinct. And this is what came out! Of course I ate the whole thing but for you less craven people you can split this in 2 or share it. 

Ingredients:

2-3 tbsp diced red onions

1/2 tbsp evoo (extra virgin olive oil)

1/4 cup cooked chicken (I used left overs)

2 whole eggs + 2 egg whites (beaten)

salt & pepper to taste,

1/2 tsp dried herbs/seasonings of your choice (I used a mix of mrs dash & mccormick perfect pinch garlic)

3/4 cup sweet potato (baked)

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F and grease glass pie dish using non-stick cooking spray. If you bake the potato just before simple leave it on while you prep.

2. Heat your skillet over medium heat, then sauté red onions in evoo, constantly stirring/flipping onions so they don't burn, until slightly tender (I like mine caramelized-ish). 

3. Next stir in chicken until chicken becomes warmed through.

4. Then pour eggs into the pan, adding salt & pepper & herbs, with the chicken & onions and stir with a spatula just until eggs start firming up (they should still be very runny).

5. Remove skillet from heat and mix in sweet potato until combined. 

6. Pour into greased pie dish and bake for 6-7 minutes or until egg is set. 

Enjoy!

Eggs added to mixture

Loaded Sweet Potato Pie fresh from the oven!

Loaded Sweet Potato Pie