We’ve been cooking up a storm these couple of weeks, so I wanted to recap a few meal ideas that you guys have been loving from Instagram stories! Each of the items on the “menu” in today’s post are easy enough for beginners to cook, not to mention nutritious and delicious, and some are freezer-friendly for later.
- Breakfast: Quick 1-Banana Muffins
- Lunch: Shaved brussels sprouts + chicken sausage bowl
- Dinner: Easy & tender turkey meatballs w/ pasta (enjoy leftovers in a meatball sub!)
- Dessert: Chewy oatmeal raisin chocolate chunk cookies
Breakfast: Quick 1-Banana Muffins
In the world of baking these are truly SO easy – a small batch portion, no beater/blender needed, no sifting, and can be done in one bowl. I love seeing all the stories y’all have shared with me of your little ones helping with this recipe!
We make these muffins with egg for Nori’s egg allergy challenge, as a way to incorporate baked egg into her diet, but let me know if anyone’s made this successfully with an egg substitute. I’ve been doubling this recipe to make enough breakfast for the week!
Ingredients (makes 4 regular sized muffins)
- 1 large, ripened banana, mashed with a fork until most lumps are gone
- 2 Tablespoons sugar (I do 1 spoon white, 1 brown)
- 1 egg
- 1 Tablespoon oil (I’ve used vegetable, olive or coconut oil)
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- Optional: Sprinkle of cinnamon, chopped nuts, or chocolate chips (recommended ; )
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Stir together the mashed banana, sugar, egg, and oil using a fork or spoon until combined.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and stir well until combined.
- Pour into a greased or lined muffin pan.
- Bake for approximately 18-22 minutes until a toothpick comes out of the center clean. Cool & enjoy!
Lunch: Shaved Brussels Sprouts Bowl
I was inspired by Helena‘s IG stories to make this very easy but nutritious meal. You can enjoy it vegetarian with an egg, but we loved it with sausage! I wanted to use chicken sausage links found in the refrigerated section, but only these frozen breakfast ones were available. It turned out delicious though and I liked the bit of sweetness added from the maple sausage paired with the mustard!
Ingredients (serves 2)
- 1 bag shaved brussels sprouts (I get these at Wholefoods)
- Your favorite mustard(s). We used a combo of dijon and honey!
- Optional but recommended: chicken sausage and/or fried egg, lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
Directions
- Sauté brussels sprouts with a bit of oil over low-medium heat until they’re as soft as you’d like. I like to cover the pan so the sprouts “steam” for a few minutes in there and get soft.
- If adding in chicken sausage, I just push aside some sprouts to make room to sear the sausage in the same pan simultaneously.
- Stir in mustard + a little vinegar if desired, and taste. I start with a teaspoon of each, and go from there.
- When serving, top with optional egg and a squeeze of lemon. Nick topped his bowl with parmesan cheese and hot honey!
Dinner: Mini turkey meatballs
This recipe is an oldie but goodie from Giada De Laurentiis – I have made COUNTLESS batches over the years and the meatballs always come out delicious and tender. Enjoy over zoodles for a very healthy dinner, but I can’t resist my carbs with this. Below is the recipe with my modifications / simplifications, after making these so many times:
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground turkey (preferably dark meat)
- half a large onion, chopped small
- 1 large egg
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 Tablespoons ketchup
- 1/4 cup dried bread crumbs
- 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- generous handful chopped fresh herbs of your choice (I love cilantro in this)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Using a large spoon, stir together all the ingredients until well mixed.
- Roll and shape into approx. 1″ meatballs.
- Place on a foil/parchment lined baking sheet and bake for approx. 20 minutes – cut one open to test doneness.
I’ll simmer these in a pan of marinara sauce for 5 to 10 minutes over low heat before serving. These also freeze well using the same method as the cookie dough balls discussed below.
My modifications from the original recipe:
- A full large onion made the mixture a bit watery so I use half, and it doesn’t necessarily need to be grated.
- To simplify, I use all parmesan cheese rather than a mix and reduced the amount a bit.
- As a personal preference, I can’t stand parsley but love cilantro so sub that in!
- I bake these instead of pan sear, which I think helps them cook evenly and stay tender.
We also enjoy these on toasted bread with a little melted cheese for meatball subs!
Dessert: Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
This recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction is a keeper! Here’s a few modifications I make:
- Reduced the sugar by 25% (and still found the cookies to be plenty sweet)
- Used maple syrup instead of molasses since that’s what I had in the pantry.
- Added chocolate chunks by chopped up a chocolate bar into small pieces. Yum!
Freezing Tip: I like to bake just a few cookies at a time (because I have no self control), and freeze the rest of the uncooked dough in pre-rolled balls. This makes it so easy to pull them out of the freezer and bake up just a couple of fresh, warm cookies at a time when my sweet tooth hits!
To prevent the dough balls from sticking together in one frozen clump, I first lay them out on a plate or baking sheet lined in parchment paper, and pop them in the freezer for at least 30 minutes. Once they’ve begun to freeze over, you can then transfer them into one baggie or container (this is also how I freeze dumplings and meatballs without them clumping together). This cookie dough frozen is good for a few months and simply needs 1 extra minute while baking, no thawing necessary.
For more recipes and ideas, be sure to check out our Extra (Ap)Petite archives!
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