Common Cuisine |

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I need to grab breakfast on the run. And the easy solution too often ends up being a pop-tart or coffee-shop pastry, which only serves to set me up for blood sugar crash an hour later. These muffins are a great alternative, and include a little spice to wake you up as well as a dose of protein to feed your brain.

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp pepper
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/3 c buttermilk
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 Tbsp melted buttermilk
• 1 bunch thinly sliced green onions
• 1 cup diced ham or smoked sausage (6 ounces)
• 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• ½ cup finely diced red pepper

Preheat oven to 400. Coat 12 cup muffin pan with cooking spray, or line with muffin cups and spray those.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, pepper, salt and cayenne.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, buttermilk, oil and butter. Stir in green onions.

Add wet ingredients to dry and mix with a rubber spatula just until moistened. Scoop batter into the prepared pan, filling muffin cups very full.

Bake until tops of muffins are browned, about 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool in pan for 15 minutes, then loosen edges with a knife and transfer to a cooling rack. Serve warm.

To store, wrap muffins individually in plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze for up to a month. To reheat, remove plastic wrap, cover the muffin with a paper towel and microwave for 30 to 60 seconds.

Makes 12 muffins.

• 1 can chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans)
• 1/3 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
• 3 cloves roasted garlic
• Juice of 2 limes
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp salt

Pop all ingredients in a food processor. Pulse until smooth, scraping sides occasionally. Serve with pita chips and fresh cut-up veggies. Makes about 2 cups dip.

Diana Dyer is a Registered Dietitian and cancer survivor. She pursues a cancer-fighting diet that is chock-full of veggies and other healthy foods, including flaxseed. This is one of her recipes.

• 1 box chocolate cake mix
• 1 can (15 oz) pureed pumpkin
• 1 cup freshly ground flaxseed

Preheat oven to 350. Coat 3 mini-muffin pans with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix and pumpkin into a smooth, slightly stiff batter. Drop 2 Tbsp bater into each muffin cup and sprinkle generously with flaxseed. Bake 10 to 15 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean.

Makes 36 mini-muffins

This is one of those fun recipes that could serve as a breakfast or dessert. It’s also a great dish for kids to help with. Have them roll the apples in the dough for you, and they will feel as if they created the dish themselves.

• 2 medium Granny Smith apples
• 1 package (6 large or jumbo) refrigerated crescent roll dough
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• 4 Tbsp butter
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup orange juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ cup very finely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 8” square baking dish. Peel and core apples. Cut each apple in 6 pieces.

Unroll crescent roll dough. Separate triangles, then cut each in half from the point to the wide end. Starting at wide end, wrap each apple section in a dough triangle and place in pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Combine butter, sugar and orange juice in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour over dumplings. Sprinkle pecans over top.

Bake 30 minutes until golden and bubbly. Serve warm, spooning some of the syrup from the baking dish over dumplings. Serve with ice cream, if desired.

Serves 12.

Sometimes you’re just in too much of a hurry to dig your measuring cups out from the bottom of the pile of dirty dishes in your sink, and wash and dry them before measuring. Here are a couple of quick and easy estimates that can help.

Dry ingredients:

• 1 Tablespoon is the size of a chestnut
• 2 Tablespoons are the size of a pingpong ball
• 4 Tablespoons (¼ cup) are about the size of an egg
• 8 Tablespoons (½ cup) are the size of a tennis ball
• 12 Tablespoons (¾ cup) are the size of a baseball

Liquids:

• 1 Tablespoon is the size of an ice cube
• 1 Lemon makes 1 ½ tsp zest and 1 to 3 Tablespoons juice

Other:

• 1 tsp grated zest (orange, lemon, etc) is the size of a quarter
• 1 medium tomato makes about ½ cup chopped
• 1 handful of greens or hergs is about 1 cup
• 2 medium garlic cloves make 1 tsp mince

This is a good afternoon snack to get the kids used to consuming less sugar, without trading flavor. Place it on a plate with some carrot sticks in the late afternoon, and it just might disappear!

3/4 cup plain yogurt
2 Tbsp chopped fresh mint
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
2 small cucumbers, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
4 to 6 pieces of butter lettuce, for serving

Combine yogurt, mint, lemon juice and salt. Mix well. Add tomatoes and cucumbers. Toss. Chill 30 minutes for best flavor.

Spoon mixture into lettuce cups. Serves 4 to 6.

Are your kids picky eaters? Young children are notoriously finicky when it comes to eating stuff that’s good for them, but parents and caretakers are still in a position to influence the eating habits of the next generation. I read the other day that the primary vegetable consumed by the under-5 crowd is french fries. Don’t know about you, but that gives me a bit of a shudder as I think about the future.

Here are some ideas for how you can work together with your young ones to develop healthy eating habits that will last a lifetime.

1. Plant a garden. Even something as simple as a few potted herbs in your windowsill can be a source of fascination as kids experience the thrill of planting a seed, watering it, watching it grow, and then using bits of it in meal preparation.

2. Expose children to veggies frequently. A plate of cut up strips of bell pepper on the counter before dinner may be met with upturned noses; but if no other options are given, it just may disappear into young tummies wandering through the kitchen in search of snacks.

3. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Continue to expose your children to veggies and healthy choices over and over, and what was once a strange new food will eventually become familiar. Kids are not fans of new and strange, but may more readily attempt something they have seen on their plate several times before.

4. Set a good example. For some reason, my kids will scarf food off of my plate, when they have already rejected the exact same food on their own plate. When kids see you eating lots of veggies, whole grains, and plain yogurt, they are more likely to develop a taste for it themselves.

5. Build your meals around vegetables, instead of making them an afterthought. An appropriately built meal consists of half a plate of veggies, with the other half divided between protein and grain foods. Get out your spice box, and utilize that herb garden to vary the flavor and smell of your veggies.

With patience and persistence, your kids will expand their tastes and develop healthy eating habits that will benefit them throughout their lives.