Author: Northerly Nosh

I’m a married mother of 3. Who loves living in Minnesota, prep ahead cooking, and couldn’t live without them now. No more worries about the age old question “What’s for Dinner?”. I am also transitioning my family into the slow food and clean eating movement. I believe it’s best if we can eat food in it’s most natural state. I love to share the information I have been gaining through this whole experience. I’m also a trained personal chef. Cooking is a passion and hobby of mine. Hope your are enjoying the content of my blog.
Posted in Tips and Tricks

Tips and Tricks Tuesdays: Make Your Own Sweet Iced Tea Concentrate

Posted on by Northerly Nosh

ICED SWEET TEA CONCENTRATE

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3/4 gallon of water
5 one gallon tea bags or 24 family size tea bags
5 to 8 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Boil the water. Remove from heat and add tea bags. Cover for 30 minutes. Remove tea bags and stir in 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda. (This helps preserve the tea, and does not affect the taste). Add sugar while still warm and stir until it dissolves. Pour in enough additional water to make 1 gallon of tea concentrate.

This concentrate keeps 4 weeks in the refrigerator and freezes very well. I store it in clean, washed milk jugs. It is really so handy to have and lasts a long time.

Note: **If you don’t like your tea sweet, you can leave out the sugar entirely. We like it slightly sweet and use 1.5 cups sugar.

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TO MAKE TEA:
For 1 gallon of tea: Measure 3 cups of iced tea concentrate into a pitcher. Add enough additional water to make 1 gallon of tea and stir.
For 2 quarts of tea: Measure 1 and 1/2 cups iced tea concentrate into a pitcher. Add additional water to make 2 quarts of tea and stir.
For a 16 ounce glass of tea: Put 2-3 tablespoons concentrate into a 16 ounce glass. Fill the glass with water and ice; stir.

Keep unused portions of tea refrigerated. If the tea is too weak or too strong for you add more or less iced tea concentrate to the water.

Posted in Breakfast

Sunday Brunch: Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Banana Muffins

Posted on by Northerly Nosh

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Banana Muffins

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Makes 16

2 ripe bananas, mashed
½ cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 egg white
¾ cup greek yogurt, vanilla or plain
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup white whole wheat flour
½ cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ cup dark or bittersweet chocolate chips
½ cup creamy peanut butter, melted
⅓ cup peanut butter chips

Prep Day: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line 16 muffin cups with papers.
In a small bowl, whisk together whole wheat flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mash the bananas. Whisk in the brown sugar, egg, egg white, greek yogurt, and vanilla extract. Mixture will be slightly lumpy.

Using a rubber spatula, gently stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Fill the muffin cups ⅔ of the way full with batter. Spoon ½ tablespoon of the melted butter on top of the batter. Using a knife or a toothpick, swirl the peanut butter into the batter. Sprinkle with peanut butter chips.

Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool for 3 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room-temperature for up to 3 days or wrap individually to freeze. Then put in freezer gallon bag.

Serve Day: Thaw. Warm in the microwave if need be.