A few recipes

Double Cranberry Muffins

1 3/4 cup flour

4 tsp baking powder

2 cups Post selects cranberry almond cereal, divided

3/4 cup fat free milk

1 egg

1 tsp grated orange peel

1/3 cup orange juice

2 tbsp plus 1 tsp divided oil (canola)

1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 375. Combine flour, 1 cup sugar and baking powder in large bowl. Mix 1 cup cereal and milk in medium bowl and let stand 3 min. Add egg, orange peel, orange juice and 2 Tbsp oil- mix well. Add to flour mixture and stir just until moistened. Gently stir in cranberries. Crush remaining cereal and mix with 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp oil. Spoon batter into lined muffin tin (or spray first with Pam) and top with cereal mixture, Bake 22 min or until top is lightly golden. Cool in pan 5 min and then move to wire rack to cool completely.

I have made this recipe according to above directions from Food and Family magazine but today I did not have the Post cereal. I actually had Post banana nut crunch and only 1 cup so I used what I had and I added 1 cup of oatmeal. I sipped the topping and used a little more than a cup of milk and let the oatmeal and the cereal soak. I also did not have orange juice but after zesting my orange I squeezed fresh juice from 2 oranges. They are so yummy and healthy.

1 muffin

cal 160, fat 3 g (0 saturated) sodium 15- mg, carb 31 g, fiber 1 g, sugars 16 g, protein 3 g, vit A 2%dv, vit C 2%dv, calcium 8%dv, iron 6% dv.

Black Beans and Rice

(from Robert Irvine curtesy of Food Network)

1 Tbsp salt

1 lb dried black beans

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 onion, diced

3 cups rice

1 (8oz) bag frozen okra defrosted

5 fresh tomatoes, cut in wedges

Bring 2 quarts of water to boil in large pan (stockpot), add salt and beans. Allow beans to rehydrate by boiling for 15 mins, then allow to sit covered for 1 hour. (Mine were not as tender as I wanted them so I brought mine to a boil again and let them set for another 15). Heat oil in a separate pot and saute onion until translucent, add 6 cups of water to this pot then add rice, allow to simmer (stir occasionally) until all water is absorbed and rice is soft (about 20 mins). Stir okra into pot of rice to warm and gently mix with beans and tomatoes. Serve

I left out the okra and instead of fresh tomatoes I added a can of fire roasted tomatoes. The recipe says it makes 8 servings- well they are huge servings. Half of my large stockpot was full. You could definately freeze this for later. We are having rice and beans as a side twice this week. We have plenty!