Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Bowl 1
2 1/4 cups flour (cake flour or all purpose, or half white and half whole wheat pastry)
1/2 t baking powder
3/4 t baking soda
1/2 t salt

Bowl 2
1/2 cup butter creamed
add 1 1/4 cup sugar
add 2 eggs

Bowl 3
1 cup very ripe mashed banana (a cuisinart works well)
1 t vanilla
1/4 cup yogurt

Combine bowls 3 and 1 to 2 alternately

Put in muffin tins and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Top with Cream Cheese Frosting

1 pkg cream cheese
1/4 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 t vanilla

You could add 1/2 c cocoa if you want chocolate frosting

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Cut 4 peppers in half. Broil on high until slightly charred and starting to soften.

Cook 3/4 cup quinoa with 1 cup veggie broth and 1 can of diced tomatoes. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Stir in 10 oz of fresh baby spinach. Spoon into peppers

Make your pesto: 1 clove garlic, 4 cups loosely packed basil, parmesan cheese and olive oil.

Pour onto stuffed peppers and garnish with lots of pistachios!

Provencal Tofu Salad

You need about 1 1/2 cup cooked brown or black rice (leftover rice is perfect)

Steam 1/2 pound thin green beans (cut into 2 inch pieces).

Meanwhile cut some tofu into cubes (if you can get your hands on really awesome pesto tofu at the OFD in Norfolk, do!!). Dip the cubed tofu into a beaten egg. And then saute until all sides are golden.

Make a dressing of 2 T lemon juice, 1 T water, 1 T+ mustard, 1-2 T capers chopped up, 1 shallot minced, good salt, and 1/4 cup olive oil

Toss together the rice, beans, tofu, and dressing

Serve over mixed greens garnished with cherry tomatoes

Chicken Lime Quesadilla with Cilantro Pesto

Cut 1-1 1/2 lbs chicken breasts into strips and marinate in lots of lime juice, salt, and pepper.

Meanwhile, make your pesto. Wash, dry, and destem (you don't need to separate the leaves, just get rid of the really stemmy parts) a bunch of cilantro. Cuisinart with some pine nuts, parmesan, 1 clove of garlic. As it blends, pour in olive oil until you have a thick paste.

On a baking sheet, prepare your quesadillas: spread the pesto on half of the tortilla, lay your chicken on the other half and grate a generous amount of monterrey jack cheese. Fold over. Repeat for each tortilla (this recipe makes 4-6.

This is great served with a black bean salad.

TVP Pasta Sauce

Soak your TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein)or TSP (Textured Soy Protein). I used 3/4 cup for this sauce)

Saute some garlic and finely chopped onion. Add about a dozen diced roma tomatoes. Like this cook down a bit. You can add a can of diced too if the tomatoes don't seem very juicy. Add the TVP and a can of tomato sauce (plain tomato sauce/puree). Also shake in a generous amount of green herbs. Cook until it looks nice and thick and not at all watery.

Serve over pasta with parmesan on top.

Note: You can substitute ground turkey or even beef for the TVP