New Born Banana Bread

A few weeks back while I was in Toronto for the birth of my nephew (a.k.a.: The cutest little munchkin on the planet!)  there were some bananas on the counter that clearly no one was going to get to in time so I decided to make a Banana Bread.  I didn't have my regular recipe handy so I made it a little different and actually thought it was so much better!  It's a super simple recipe so I wanted to share with you!  My sister and fam are chocoholics so I did put chocolate chips in theirs but when I make it for Jon and I, I'll skip the chocolate chips and either make it plain or with frozen blueberries.  So yummy for breakfast with the blue berries in it!

Ingredients:

1) 3 ripe or over ripe bananas, smashed
2) 1/3 cup melted butter
3) 1 cup sugar (use 3/4 cup only if using chocolate chips too)
4) 1 egg, beaten
5) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6) 1 teaspoon baking soda
7) Pinch of salt
8) 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
9) Optional : Blueberries or chocolate chips - 1 cup of either.


Directions:
It's your choice on if to use a mixer or not.  At home I do throw it in my Kitchenaid but in TO I did it by hand and they turn out pretty much the same.  Preheat the oven to 350°F.   Mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.  Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix.  Fold in blueberries or chocolate chips gently.  Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Yummo!  Enjoy!

Food Blog Search

I don't normally make two posts in one night, but this one couldn't wait...  And it's been a while that I've posted due to a fantastic visit from out of town guests staying with us (which I'll blog about shortly...)

Anyways, I just discovered this food search engine powered by Google.  Well, actually it's a Food Blog Search Engine.  It's AMAZING!!  You type in any recipe or ingredient off the top of your head and it comes up with a million bloggers who blogged about it and have recipes.  I was looking for a recipe for bread pudding and found a fantastic one on there from this blog for a Pumpkin Bread Pudding!!  OMG!  Delish!  Ours was soaked in bourbon but skip that for a non-alcoholic kiddie friendly version and I think it would still be just as yummy.

Here's the recipe!  I'll warn you, I bake with the philosophy that as long as they are as natural and hormone free as possible, fat and cream are love... the thicker it is, the more you love the people you're baking for.  Simple as that.  How I'm still this side of 100lbs I have no idea, but feel free to sub out for more waist line friendly ingredients at the sacrifice of love.

Ingredients:
1 cup heavy cream plus 1/2 cup whole milk (OR 1 1/2 cups whole milk)
3/4 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs plus 1 yolk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
Pinch of ground cloves
1 cup bourbon (optional, but who are we kidding...)
5 cups cubed (1-inch) day or two old baguette or crusty bread
3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted* (can skip this step if using the second set of instructions)

Directions:   **Note** There were two set of instructions - "Gourmet" and "Alternate, Common Be Lazy With Me" version...  I actually followed the Gourmet because that sounded easier to me.  Both are easy as pie bread pudding.  
 

Gourmet’s Instructions: Whisk together pumpkin, cream, milk, sugar, eggs, yolk, salt, spices and 2 tsp bourbon (if using) in a bowl.
Toss bread cubes with butter in another bowl, then add pumpkin mixture and toss to coat. Transfer to an ungreased 8-inch square baking dish and bake until custard is set, 25 to 30 minutes.  Slice and Serve.  Top with remaining bourbon to taste.

Alternate, Come On, Be Lazy With Me, instructions: While preheating oven to 350°F with rack in middle, melt butter in bottom of a 8-inch square baking dish. Once it is melted, take it out of the oven and toss bread cubes with butter, coating thoroughly. In a separate bowl, whisk together all the remaining ingredients except Bourbon. Pour mixture over buttered bread cubes in baking dish, stirring to make sure all pieces are evenly coated. Bake until custard is set, 25 to 30 minutes.  Slice and Serve.  Top with bourbon to taste.  

Enjoy!

Move Over Potatoe Chips... Kale Chips Please!!

Okay... I'm not sure how it's happened, but now we're two for two for me finding new recipes for veggies I did not originally care for!  SUCH an awesome feeling!!  This time it hasn't been such a long hatred... but last week we got Kale in our weekly food box.  I've read SOO many  great things about Kale.  My naturopath and acupuncturist have both told me to eat as much of it as possible... it's loaded with folic acid, and is a great super food for women.  But last week Jon cooked the Kale the same way that we had eaten the swiss chard, and while I loved the chard... the Kale was just so leafy for me.  It felt really... bushy.  I don't know, I'm big on texture.  Anyways, we got it again in the box so I scoured the internet for recipes and found a DELICIOUS side dish or even afternoon snack.

Kale Chips!!  Here's the recipe and some pics.  :)  Enjoy!

Ingredients 
Kale - as much as you want
few drops of lemon juice 
drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of sea salt  (Highly recommend the sea salt, don't sub table salt... the sea salt crusts in the most wonderful way and tastes like the ocean... Wow, I really am a maritimer... hehe)

Directions 
Break stems off of Kale - place in large bowl
Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. - Kale should still look dry. 
Toss a bit.
Rub each Kale leaf individually to spread oil and lemon juice and lay on a baking sheet.
Sprinkle with a few granules of sea salt on each leaf
Bake at 250 F, for 30 min.
Flip (Carefully, they'll be crispy and flaky) 
Bake for additional 10 minutes.  

I just had a full plate and my mouth is watering typing this out.  Perfect healthy option to a salty craving!!  YUM!

 Just before going into the oven. 

Dinner... and the reason my plate has so much less kale is that I already had 4 pieces while I was cooking the chicken.  Haha!  :)  Enjoy!

Finally Friends with Eggplant

It's been a long battle growing up...  My mom would often cook an Indian eggplant dish called "baingan ka bharta" which is essentially just a spiced mashed eggplant dish.  Everyone else in the family loves the dish, but I could never get myself to eat it.  I would always just pick around it, and end up getting away with eating leftovers or mom would make something else.  So, when I got an eggplant in my weekly food box from Home Grown Organics I was a little more than bummed.  Although it was a beautiful eggplant, I just did not want to eat it, and didn't know what I was going to do with it. 

Although, not willing to be a waster - and resolved that I could find at least ONE way to eat the veggie that I would enjoy, I scoured the internet for eggplant recipes and stumbled across Eggplant Parmasean!!!  Yummmo!!!

Now, Jon is used to a "meat and potatoes" diet... if it doesn't have meat, it's not dinner.  Hehe...  So, I did add shredded baked chicken to this recipe, but it was delicious!!  I almost always love italian but Jon doesn't normally.  This he LOVED though.  It's a great meal for kids too - cause it's a yummy way to sneak in loads of veggies!!  Enjoy!!  

Ingredients

* 1 large eggplant, thinly sliced
* Handful of mushrooms
* 1 zucchini
* 2 - 3 eggs, beaten
* 4 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
* 6 cups spaghetti sauce
* 2 - 3 Cloves of Garlic  (Okay - We're freaks about our garlic... so I actually used 6 cloves...)
* 1 package Kraft 4 Cheese Italiano (my choice)  - OR
                          * 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
                          * 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese divided
                          * 1/2 cup emental cheese, divided
* 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
* Optional - 2 Cooked Shredded Chicken Breasts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
3. Warm spaghetti sauce in a sauce pan.  Mix in chopped mushrooms, zucchini and minced garlic cloves. (And any other veggies you want to sneak in...hehe) 
2. Dip eggplant slices in egg, then in bread crumbs.  (This was SO fun!!!)  Place in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 5 minutes on each side.
3. In a 9x13 inch glass baking dish spread spaghetti sauce to cover the bottom. Place a layer of eggplant slices in the sauce. Sprinkle with chicken if using, and mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Repeat layers with remaining ingredients, ending with the cheeses on top. Sprinkle basil on top.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 35 minutes, or until golden brown.

Delish!  Enjoy!!!

Good Morning, Sunshine!

One of the main health initiatives that we've been trying to focus on is cutting down on refined sugar, and trying to reduce our sugars overall.  I was shocked to learn that my beloved Nature Valley Granola Bars (and essentially all granola bars in the grocery store) are just glorified candy bars!!  I was literally angry when I was looking at the label the other night!  I really do not understand how they're able to market that junk as healthy!

This in combination with the fact that I'm still not eating much of a breakfast in the morning, I took on making my own granola bars!  I figure this way I will know what's in them, and they're the perfect grab and go breakfast food.  This morning I tossed a granola bar, an apple and an orange in my purse and was off!

Here are the goods!

 

One cup whole wheat flour, 2 cups rolled oats

  

1/2 Cup Powdered Skim Milk

 

This is the money shot... I *heart* honey!

 

My new best friend, the flax seed

 

Variety mix of pumpkin seeds, almonds, and raisins 

 

The earth's candy...  Dried red currents, apricot, pineapple papaya and raisins

Chopped and saved 1/2 for the next batch. 

 

All the yummies mixed up and ready to go!

 

Just ready to go in the over!!  They already smelled SOO good!  

 

The good stuff!!  There are no pictures of me dipping the bars cause I was WAY too wrapped up in how heavenly it was!!  :) 

Voila!!  Easy Peasy!!  This batch made 16 bars, which is perfect to last Jon and I through 1 week... giving us each one bar a day with a little wiggle room!  :)  

And here's the recipe!  The cross outs are what the recipe called for, and I substituted for, or eliminated.


Ingredients
2 Cups rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup dry skim milk powder
6 Tbsp sugar    2tsp honey
1 cup apple juice
1/4 cup flax seed
1/2 cup dates snipped in small pieces
1/2 cup chopped dried pineapple, apricot etc.
1/2 tsp cinnamon  1 Tbsp cinnamon
1/4 cup shelled pumpkin or sunflower seeds
pinch of salt
1/2 cup oil  (I used sunflower seed oil, but evoo would be fine too if that's all you have handy)
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat over to 350 F.  Grease glass baking dish.

Combine all ingredients except chocolate.  Pat into the pan with moist hands.  Bake for 30 minutes until lightly browned around the edges.  Cut while still hot, but let cool completely before taking out of the pan.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave on high for 2 minutes, stopping every 30 seconds to stir the chocolate.


I've wrapped mine individually with cellophane, and put them in a zip lock in the fridge so they're super easy to grab and go!  No fuss!!  No muss!!  Enjoy!  

Just for my honey...

Well, it's that time again... Exam time.  The dreaded exam time.  To make matters worse, Jon has a stats exam this wednesday and it's apparently supposed to be a brutal one.  I was feeling really guilty because I got his hopes up yesterday with the promises of a black forest cake (his FAVORITE) only to realize that we didn't have whipping cream, or cherry filling...  He was pretty bummed out.  To make it up to him, I whipped it up tonite... even after having to work late, and a pretty stressful day at work.  What can I say... my boy is worth it!  :)  Nice little treat to suprise him when he's back from the library tonite.

YUM!

 

The Finished Product

  

Mmm... Chocolate batter....

  

Ready to go in the oven... (You can tell it was a long day because I used disposable pans... Haha!  No chance I was hauling out my regular pans and doing dishes...)  

 

There is nothing more heavenly than fresh homemade real whip cream....  

 

Mmmm... my heart melts with this... Jon won't eat the cake unless it's got the real stuff on it!  :) 

Delish!!