Ordinarily, when I have bananas going to the other side I have the tendency to make banana bread, but what do you do when you only have 1 banana??? Not nearly enough to make the delicious banana bread, but never fear I gave a twist to an all time favorite cookie putting that banana to good use…Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies!! And the super plus, I like to tell myself they are more healthy because you use less egg by putting in the banana (we’ll ignore the fact there is still 2 sticks of butter in there ) So without further ado, kick aside whatever task you’ve been busting your butt working on and take a little break by baking up a batch of these. Enjoy!

Teagasaur’s Ba-Na-Na Chocolate Chip Cookies

MAKES ABOUT 5 dozen cookies

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/4 flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

2 sticks butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1 banana

1 12oz bag mini chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, set aside.
3. In mixing bowl, mix butter, sugars, and vanilla. Mix until smooth.
4. Add egg and banana, mix until combined.
5. Slowly add flour mixture until fully incorporated
6. Stir in mini chocolate chips and nuts.
7. Place 1 inch scoops of dough about 2in apart on cookie sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes. Cool on sheet for 2 minutes, move to wire rack.

Because One Just Isn’t Enough Cup

Makes about 15 cups

INGREDIENTS:

1 box of brownie mix (oil, water, eggs)

15 oreo cookies or mini-chocolate chip cookies

miniature candy of choice (peanut butter cup and peppermint patty, rollo, heath, snickers, milky way…i think you get the idea)

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2) Grease regular sized cupcake pan (if you get the mini cookies you might be able to fit them into the bite size brownie pan, if you want something a little smaller, meaning more little brownies to eat)

3) Make the brownie batter according to box directions. Place spoon full of brownie mix on bottom of cupcake pan, place cookie and then candy on top in.  Then pour brownie mix over cookie/candy. You don’t need to completely cover the candy fill to about 2/3 up the side of the candy.

4) Bake for 28-32 minutes. They are going to be really gooey if you try to prick them with toothpick so look for them pulling away from the sides of the pan, that’s a pretty good indicator they are done.

5) Have the patience to let them cool before you sink your teeth in. (This is the hardest part for me)

So enjoy the last vestiges of the weekend and kick back with a little something sweet.

PUT THE LIME IN THE COCONUT

INGREDIENTS:

1 shot coconut rum

1/2 shot Rose’s Lime Juice

1/2 shot Triple Sec

1 cup cranberry juice

lime slices

Directions:

If you want to be fancy you can put all the ingredients in a shaker with ice and give it a good mixing, Strain out into a glass. Garnish with lime.

Lazy person way. Pour all into a glass give a stir, toss in an ice cube or two and garnish with lime.

VOLIA! Tropically sweet. Enjoy!

The idea for this recipe came from Starbucks. They have this really delicious dark cherry parfait, but you buy the parfait, you buy a beverage, and you are forking over 7 bucks for breakfast which is fine every once and awhile, but really not reasonable everyday. Especially if you are a miserly person like me who likes to find cheaper ways to eat her favorite foods

Sticking with my Do It Yourself theme I decided that this would be a good opportunity to make granola at home. It is super easy to do, and if you made the trail mix recipe I posted previously you pretty much have the ingredients on hand. I like having multiple uses for ingredients

So obviously my recipe is for cherry, but I find all fruits are delicious so have fun throw in peaches and raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, or chocolate covered raisins.

Fatty Bear’s Cherry Parfait

My camera battery died for the photo shoot....

INGREDIENTS:

1/3 cup sweet cheeries, chopped (I buy the frozen ones that way you have them any time of the year. Let them defrost for about 15 minutes and chop away)

1/3 cup yogurt, (greek yogurt is wonderfully delicious)

1/3 cup granola (The link goes to the original recipe I used but I cut it in half, my dried fruits of choice were pineapple and cherry.)

GRANOLA

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup almonds

1/4 sunflower seeds

1/4 pumpkin seeds

1 teaspoon wheat germ

1 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch salt

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

1/2 cup dried fruit of choice

DIRECTIONS:

Heat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line pan with parchment paper. Mix oatmeal, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, wheat germ, cinnamon, and salt. In a measuring cup stir the syrup and oil together and pour over dried mixture. Bake in the oven for 30-45 minutes stirring occasionally so things don’t overbrown on one side. Let it cool completely. Toss in dried fruit. Store in air tight container/bag. Makes about 2 1/2 cups.

PARFAIT DIRECTIONS:

Layer in a glass or bowl, fruit, granola, yogurt, until you reach the top. Simple, but beautiful.

This makes a really pretty dessert, too. Or you can set it out at a brunch Enjoy!

I know that I typically reserve Sunday for something sweet, but this since I haven’t been to the grocery store I had no items to make this week’s sweet until this afternoon and it’s a breakfast treat again this week.  So check back later this week for the sweet

Now if I had to pick a favorite ethnic cuisine I would have to say Indian food, especially the vegetarian recipes, especially anything with potatoes. Indian food has the best spices and it just fills the air with a nice warm aroma. It’s 31 degrees F outside it felt like a balmy 80 in my apartment, which is perfect to keep me warm since my Valentine is not around to keep me warm tonight.

So I’ll stop blabbing now and give the recipe. It’s a modification of Emeril Lagasse’s recipe, I didn’t really like how he make it all mush so I kept my potatoes in chunks and crisped them up. I’ll give you another variation I’ve done on this as well in case you don’t like the thick texture of the spinach portion.

SAAG ALOO or ALOO PALAK ( I just call it Yummy)

Escape to India

1 large potato

1 medium onion, chopped

2 tsp garlic, minced

1 tsp ginger, grated

1 jalapeno, stem and seeds removed, chopped

1/2 lb spinach, chopped

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 turmeric

1/2 tsp garam masala

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 cup heavy cream

vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS:

1) Parboil potatoes for 10 minutes in water with salt and turmeric added. Drain potatoes and dice into 1/2 inch cubes

2) In 1 1/2 tablespoons oil cook onion, garlic, ginger and jalapeno pepper; cook until onions are soft. Add spinach in batches and wilt down. Once all spinach is wilted. Put in a food processor and puree* OR add potato chunks to spinach now. Add garam masala, cumin, and cayenne pepper. Cook until crisp. Stir in heavy cream and serve.

*3) Saute potatoes in skillet where spinach mixture was cooked. Add all the seasonings (garam masala, cumin, and cayenne pepper) now. Add a bit of oil to help the potatoes crisp up. When potatoes are crisp add puree spinach mixture and heavy cream. Give it a good stir.

If you go to the link to the Emeril recipe there is a tasty spicy chickpea recipe. I didn’t make any changes to it so just eat it as is! Also, get some naan to get with this. It tastes great wrapped up in a warm piece of garlic naan. You can find pre-made naan at the grocery store I always get mine from Whole Foods.

So when I see a recipe that calls for garlic I automatically decide I must make it immediately and well usually think the amount of garlic called for is never enough so I double it. The sauce for both the recipes below comes from the back of a San Giorgio pasta box. I find that some of my favorite recipes come from the back of a box.

Anyways the recipes below are definitely not good for say date meals because it does not help for setting the mood later… even if you try to argue you both ate garlic so it shouldn’t matter. But that aside garlic is amazing. So get over the fact that these dishes will give you bad breath (perhaps one day a toothpaste will be invented to help with this problem) and just dig in and enjoy the sweet garlicky heavenliness of these dishes.

Pasta Florentine

INGREDIENTS:

1 box pasta

1 box frozen chopped spinach

1 tomato, chopped

garlic sauce, recipe at the end

The instructions for this are pretty lame…

Cook pasta according to box. Cook spinach according to box. When cooking is complete. Toss pasta, spinach, chopped tomato and sauce together. Or if you are going to plate individually you can do as I did in the photo. Toss pasta and sauce, serve on plate, layer with spinach and sprinkle with chopped tomato. The recipe as written will serve 6-8 people.

This recipe is fantastically easy, but looks elegant and taste delicious!

Garlic Shrimp Pasta

INGREDIENTS:

1 box of pasta

1 lb medium shrimp, deveined and peeled

garlic sauce

Make sure you have your shrimp ready first you can leave the tails on or take them off. In the water you are preparing to boil for the pasta once it has reached a boil cook the shrimp first. Shrimp are done when they turn pretty pink and their tails curl so they are “C” shaped.  Take them out of the water with a slotted spoon and set aside. You can also cook them in a skillet with some oil and garlic as well. I was going for simplicity. Once the shrimp are prepared cook the pasta.

Toss cooked pasta in garlic sauce, reserve some of the sauce to pour over the shrimp you will place on top of the dish. Or you can just toss it all together especially if you took the tails off already.

To add a bit of green to this dish I served it with a side of roasted asparagus and almonds. Toss the asparagus with a bit of olive oil. Bake in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes. Toss a handful of almonds on top. Bake for 5 minutes more. Delicious!

The glue that brings these recipes together

GARLIC SAUCE!!

INGREDIENTS:

2 tablespoon butter

4 tablespoons garlic

2 table spoon

3/4 cup milk

3/4 cup broth of choice ( I usually use vegetable, the original recipe calls for chicken, i have done just regular water and seasoned up a bit more with oregano, basil, parsley, and crushed red pepper)

1/4 cup fresh parsley

1/3 cup parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste.

On medium high heat melt the butter. Add the garlic and cook about 30 seconds until fragrant. Then stir in the flour, it should be smooth except for the garlic chunks. Add the milk and broth, bring to a boil. Stir occasionally. It will become a bit thicker in texture. Add the parmesan cheese to really thicken it up. Lastly stir in the parsley. Now I know I said I add the seasonings when I do the water instead of broth, but really, I do it no matter what. I like flavor and to skip on adding extra salt I just add other herbs.

Enjoy!

The recipe for these pancakes came to me in my sleep. Some people solve math problems in their sleep, I solve problems of wanting more delicious food to eat.  And I’m not alone in this whole solving problems in my sleep, no matter how bizarre it sounds, check out this article. I also find the shower to be a good place of inspiration, but I may be alone on this one Anyways, prior to going to sleep my foody consultant and muse Sir Awesome, also an amazing cook/baker, mentioned his triple chocolate orange cookies to me and furthermore there was discussion of pancakes. So it is no wonder that when I woke up this morning I instantly had a recipe in my head for Triple Chocolate Orange Pecan Pancakes. I figure if you can’t have the cookie instantly why not make it a pancake! So without further ado I give to you…

TRIPLE CHOCOLATE ORANGE PECAN PANCAKES!!!

Nothing says "I love you" like a pancake

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup pancake mix

1/2 cup vanilla soymilk or regular milk

1 egg

2 teaspoons orange zest

1 teaspoon orange extract

1/4 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup milk chocolate chips

1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup white chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

Whisk together pancake mix, egg, milk, orange extract, and orange zest. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans.

Butter your griddle. I’m not going to tell you how large to make your pancakes, but if you make them about 1/3 cup size you will get 6 from this mix. To cook your pancakes cook it until the edges look firm and there are little bubbles starting to form in the center. Flip and finish cooking the other side.

To serve, I recommend butter and powdered sugar OR you can look back at the ricotta pancakes recipe and make that delicious honey syrup. To enhance the orangeiness add some orange zest to that as well. Don’t let that orange you use go to waste; peel it and use it as a side of fruit with your pancakes Enjoy!

So having ground chicken left over from the stuffed peppers I had to do some quick thinking of how to use it up so it didn’t go to waste. Cooking for a small crowd, meaning 1 or 2, is difficult when it seems like everything you buy comes in bulk portions. So you find yourself a) using it all at once and ending up with bazillion of leftovers or b) you end up finding that meat,produce, fruit item you meant to put to good use in another recipe transforming into a UFO in your fridge.

To help resolve my issue of eating leftovers for eternity and UFOs I have come up with a means to spread it out over time by making foods that can be frozen. Frozen meals are genius. (Tips for freezing food: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/FactSheets/Focus_On_Freezing/index.asp, http://busycooks.about.com/od/freezingfood/Freezing_and_Refrigerating_Food.htm). It allows you to have the homecook yumminess without the hardwork, which is really nice after a long day at work. Back to the food now…

I had leftover ground chicken. I also had a taco flavor craving, but I didn’t actually want tacos, if that makes any sense…. So to satisfy this craving I decided to make an inside-out taco chicken burger. And to make it extra special I decided to make my own taco seasoning. So brace yourself for taco chicken burger awesomeness and bask in the happiness of knowing you can make bazillions of these burgers, freeze them, and enjoy them in less than 10 minutes whenever another craving strikes. Enjoy!

Inside-Out Taco Chicken Burger

I'm a taco...sorta

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb Ground chicken, depending on burger size should make about 3-4

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1-2 tablespoons DIY taco seasoning, recipe follows.

wrap or bun

fixings of your choice:

lettuce

salsa

avacado

sour cream

tomatoes

DIRECTIONS:

TACO SEASONING: I kind of just chucked all these ingredients in in proportions I thought was right based on how spicy, garlicky, oniony I wanted it, but for people who need a bit more structure here is a good guide from All Recipes Site. This is another great thing to make in bulk and save for whenever you want that taco flavor…

Chili pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, black pepper, white pepper, cilantro, cayenne pepper, and pepper flakes. ( I like pepper in lots of forms )

Put ground chicken meat in a bowl. Mix with taco seasoning. Divide the ground meat into portions of 3 or 4 depending on desired burger size. Measure out your cheese now so you don’t contaminate it with chicken hands by reaching into the bag.

To make burger divide each of your portions in half. Pat one half into a flat disk, it doesn’t have to be too thick because remember this is only half of the burger. Pat the other half into a round disk about the same size as the first. Sprinkle one half with about 1/8 cup cheese. Cover with other disk half and seal. Another method I have seen is taking your whole portion patting it flat, fill with fillings, roll into ball, and pat into disk shape again. Do whatever makes your cooking heart happy. *You might be able to put your salsa in there as well. I haven’t tried this yet. I imagine it will freeze alright…

Burgers are ready to be cooked or frozen! If you freeze them I recommend plastic wrap first and then foil. When you go to cook them later no need to defrost just cook straight from frozen. Just make sure not matter when you eat them the temperature gets to at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit internally.

His latest inspiration for pancakes came from Giada De Laurentiis’ Blueberry Ricotta Pancakes with a HONEY SYRUP! You have not had syrup of yumminess until you’ve had this stuff. I kept asking for more and more to be spooned on my pancakes.

The one thing about Sir Awesome’s pancakes is that he is always tweaking them with secret ingredients. That being said when I wrote up this recipe I tried thinking WWSAD; the one thing I know for certain he would tell you all is do not limit yourself to blueberries any berry/chocolate will taste delicious in your pancake, GO WILD!

BLUEBERRY RICOTTA PANCAKES

You won't go back to regular pancakes...

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups water
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 tsp orange extract (my addition)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups pancake and waffle mix (recommended: Krusteaz)
• 1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon (my addition)
• 2/3 cup frozen blueberries

DIRECTIONS

Stir 1/3 cup of water and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Stir in the honey and orange extract. Set aside and keep the honey syrup warm.

Using a rubber spatula, stir the remaining 1 2/3 cups* of water and vanilla in a large bowl. Add the pancake mix and cinnamon and stir just until moistened but still lumpy. Stir in the ricotta into the pancake mixture, then stir gently to incorporate the ricotta but maintain a lumpy batter. Fold in the blueberries.

*I found the batter turned out really thin. I would recommend less water or more pancake mix. Best to add pancake mix first and gradually add water until batter seems correct consistency.

Heat a griddle over medium heat. Butter the griddle. Working in batches, spoon 1/4 cup of batter onto the griddle for each pancake. Cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side. Serve with the honey syrup.

So originally I picked this recipe out of the February Woman’s Day Magazine because it was a slow cooker recipe. I love my slow cooker and I will spare you for now my lengthy rambling about why I love it and save that for a time when I actually use my slow cooker, because I didn’t use it this time. Say what?! I know, I know who picks a slower cooker recipe for that purpose and then coverts it back? Well, me. A slow cooker recipe requires that you actually have the ingredients the morning/afternoon before the evening you want to eat the meal and the place where grocery shopping fit in that day’s agenda did not allow for it. So I went ahead and did what I usually do and made tweaks, such as DIY Tomato Sauce. If you want the original recipe click the link above.

PS: I’m all about having pictures of the food I make and sadly I somehow missed taking a picture of my peppers. So that is the picture from Woman’s Day Magazine, if only my photography was half what theirs was maybe people would be even more tempted to try my food

Fill Me Up Good Peppers

Clearly the beauty of this shot indicates I did not take it

INGREDIENTS:

3 large bell peppers

2/3 lbs ground chicken

1 small zucchini, diced

1/3 cup quinoa, cooked according to package

1/3 cup onion, finely chopped

1/4 cup raisins

2/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese

about 2  1/2 cups basic tomato sauce (recipe below ), or 1 jar marinara sauce

1 tbsp basalmic vinegar

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line baking pan with foil (this just makes for easy clean up you don’t really need to do this). I recommend you start the quinoa now as well. Slice off the top 1/2 inch of peppers; seed them and reserve tops.

2) In a bowl mix tomato sauce, balsalmic vinegar, cumin and cinnamon.

3) In a skillet add ground chicken, zucchini, and onion. Season with a bit of pepper and salt. Cook chicken through. Add raisins. Mix with prepared tomato sauce, reserve some of the sauce to put on top of the stuffing.

4) Scoop into pepper shells. Cover with the reserved sauce. Cover pan with foil. Bake for 45 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with cheese and bake for 15 minutes more or until cheese is melted.

And that is it! So instead of 5-6 hours it only takes 1 1/2 hours, granted a little bit more effort needs to be made by you the cook. I served this with a salad and egg noodles and it was delicious! Enjoy!

Okay, so this basic tomato sauce makes more than you really need for the recipe, but you can always freeze what you don’t use or save it for a bit for when you are making spaghetti or pizza later in the week I love the taste of homemade sauce because it changes every time you make it and everything just tastes richer and fresh. So if you have the time and inspiration make your own sauce, it’s totally worth it. Enjoy!

BASIC TOMATO SAUCE

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup onion, chopped

1/2 cup carrots, shredded

3 cloves garlic

1 can whole tomatoes, undrained

1 6oz can tomato paste

dried basil

dried oregano

dried parsley

dried thyme

dried rosemary

crushed red pepper

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper
Over medium heat cook onion and carrots in oil until soft. I put a lid on and let it sit for like 15 minutes. Add garlic cook for about 30 seconds.  Add can of tomatoes, do not drain.  Stir in whole can of tomato paste. Shake on seasonings to your desired taste, just toss in the bay leaf (This is where the uniqueness of your sauce comes in so have a blast trying different herbs and seasonings.) Give it a good stir.

Let it simmer for about 20 minutes. break up the whole tomatoes into chunks with fork, potato masher, pastry blender, crushing object of choice. If you want a smoother sauce put in a blender or food processor and give it a few pulses until desired texture. If the sauce is too thick you can add a bit of milk or water to thin it out, but make sure not to add too much or it will take away from the delicious flavors you seasoned with. Another options is putting less tomato paste in. I like a thick, chunky, hearty sauce