Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Lately I've been all about trying to eat healthier albeit yummy food. With regard to my eating habits, I was NOTHING like I am today when I was growing up. I didn't eat vegetables (literally - nothing green. I would order entrees "without the green things"), and ate very few fruits (think: apples, watermelon, cantaloupe. That was all the fruit I would eat).

What I DID eat was dessert, and lots of it. While I don't have much of a sweet tooth anymore, every now and then that dessert-only girl comes out and she demands wonderful treats to satisfy her cravings.

One of my guilty pleasures is banana bread. One day I saw a pin that would change my life, or at least my banana bread life. A girl posted a recipe for Peanut Butter Cup Banana Bread. She actually put mini Reese's in her banana bread! While I applauded her ingenuity, I wanted to find a way to reach a similar taste with real peanut butter and chocolate chips rather than Reese's.

Enter Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. I like to throw my extra over-ripe bananas into the freezer for safe keeping just in case I need (yes, need) to make banana bread. My diligence was awarded one fateful day a couple of weeks ago when I decided to make this idea a reality. My mouth started watering as I mixed everything together. I won't make you wait any longer for the recipe because I am just that nice. If you don't already have some overripe bananas, you should probably go buy some now and make this in a day or two. Just don't be surprised if you can't stop eating it. My husband took it one step further - he warmed the bread up in the microwave and served it a la mode. Nom.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 Tablespoon butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used canola, but just use whatever you have on hand)
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dark chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350.

2. Using a hand mixer, combine the peanut butter, butter, sugar, and brown sugar in a large bowl. Beat until fluffy.

3. Add mashed bananas, oil, and egg. Mix to combine.

4. In a medium bowl, combine the rest of the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt).

5. Slowly mix dry ingredients into the peanut butter mixture, beating to combine in between.

6. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into a greased loaf pan.

7. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until you can poke a toothpick and it comes out clean.

Margherita Spaghetti Squash

I've been on a bit of a spaghetti squash kick. I absolutely LOVE pasta, but have no portion control (or self-control!) when it comes to eating pasta. Here enters spaghetti squash - the flavors and textures of pasta that I crave with a calorie level that enables me to have second or third helpings without spending the rest of the evening clutching my stomach wondering why I kept eating.

I know I'm not the only one. If you're like me and love pasta but maybe need a healthier (but still yummy) option, I recommend trying to substitute with spaghetti squash.

I first found this idea on Hoopfinity (via Pinterest, of course). I altered the recipe a bit to meet our cravings and needs. To be quite honest, I think we used the biggest spaghetti squash imaginable. That was unnecessary. Lesson learned.

Margherita Spaghetti Squash
1 large spaghetti squash
4 roma tomatoes
1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella (plus more for topping)
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh basil
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Cut spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out seeds. In a baking dish, fill about 1/4 inch with water. Place spaghetti squash cut-side down in water. Cook in oven for 45 minutes to an hour. The spaghetti squash is done when you can easily scrape out the flesh and it looks like stringy spaghetti.

3. While the squash is cooking, dice your tomatoes, chop the basil, and shred the mozzarella if it isn't already shredded.

4. Scrape out the flesh from the spaghetti squash and place in a big mixing bowl. Add the diced tomatoes, basil, salt, pepper, and 1 1/2 cup mozzarella. Stir until well-mixed.

5. Scoop mixture back into the spaghetti squash skins. Top with more mozzarella. We really like cheese, so we added another half cup on top.

6. Broil for 2-3 minutes, until cheese starts to brown.

7. Serve immediately either from the squash skin or in a bowl.

How many people this will serve really depends on how big of a spaghetti squash you use and how many other sides you have. We used ours as a main dish and were able to feed 8 people.

Garlic Roasted Veggies

I'll be honest. When I was growing up, I absolutely HATED vegetables. I'm not joking. I literally wouldn't eat a vegetable unless is was fried or (sometimes) cooked into a spaghetti sauce.

I'm not sure when exactly I took such a complete turn in this. It was some time in college. Actually it may have been when I studied abroad in Vienna. My roommates and I had reached the point of not being able to consume any more butter, fried food, or red meat. Seriously - there's so much of that in German/Austrian cuisine. Anyways, a few of my roommates and I took turns cooking. Not wanting to be that one person who was super picky, especially since we were in another country and already having to figure out how to cook there, I ate pretty much anything my roommates made me. One of my roommates, Whitney, was a wonderful cook (she still is) and love love LOVED vegetables. I found myself consuming - and LIKING - more and more vegetables!

I was astonished. So was my family. They still can't believe how much I now love vegetables. My love for these lovely colorful vegetables has simply intensified with each year. Most recently, I have found that I like asparagus. I think I had judged asparagus a little prematurely because it always surprised me in my sushi. I'm not really big on bacon, so the asparagus-bacon combo didn't d anything to entice me. My love of vegetables has grown so much in the past few years, that I decided to actively pursue other vegetables. I decided I would try fresh asparagus and green beans this summer. I went to a friend's house a couple weeks ago and lo and behold - she had made asparagus! Never wanting to be the ungrateful guest, I put a little on my plate (but not too much!) just to try. The first bite, and I was HOOKED. I couldn't wait to add asparagus to my veggie repertoire!

All that to say that I, too, now love love LOVE vegetables. Today's recipe is Garlic Roasted Vegetables. I made these tonight ahead of the rest of our meal. AJ and I literally had to walk into another room to keep from consuming the entire pan before dinner! Of course, you can change this recipe to include/exclude the vegetables you like/don't like, but it is just so yummy!

Garlic Roasted Veggies
1/2 yellow onion, roughly chopped (the bigger, the better!)
10 asparagus stalks, cut into 1 1/2" to 2" pieces
3 carrots, cut into 1 1/2" - 2" pieces
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoons red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
8 oz mushrooms, quartered

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. In a greased cookie sheet, combine all vegetables but tomatoes and mushrooms. Evenly spread olive oil, sea salt, red pepper, and lemon juice on top.

3. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes.

4. Add the tomatoes and mushrooms, bake for an additional 10 minutes.

5. If you like your veggies more on the crisp side (like me), increase heat to broil for two minutes.

Serve immediately. Delicious by itself, or serve on the side of chicken or fish. Pictured at the top of this entry with Captain Hook Coconut Cod (recipe coming soon).

Spicy Sweet Potatoes

To me, summer eating means more veggies, lighter and simpler meals. Last week I was all set for a simple easy favorite of mine - sliced Roma tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, and sweet potato fries. But then the whole way home all I could do was think about other yummy ways I could fix the sweet potatoes. I wanted spice, but couldn't shake the idea of some cinnamon to offset that spicy. As I drove, I created the recipe and I knew exactly what I wanted to make when I got home.

These turned out a little spicier than I had anticipated, but they have so much flavor. If you need to cut back some of the cayenne pepper, just make sure to cut back the same amount of cinnamon so they don't get too cinnamon-y or sweet!

Spicy Sweet Potatoes
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, sliced
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Mix ingredients until well-combined. Place in greased dish.

3. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

Easy Vegan Rosemary Bread

I don't know if there are many things better than bread fresh out of the oven. When AJ and I got married, I made pretty much all of our bread, and it was just so satisfying to bite into that first slice while it was still warm and fragrant. Mmm.

A few years ago, I was looking for a bread recipe. I hadn't ever made bread before and I had no idea where to start. My friend Hannah had recently been cooking and baking a lot because she was a vegan living in New Orleans. She was probably the only person who baked their own bread, so I asked for her recipe. You may think....wait...vegan bread? But don't knock it until you try it. The recipe Hannah gave me is so easy and so versatile.

I know people get intimidated by the thought of making their own bread, but seriously the hardest part is the WAITING. Seriously. I've made some recipes that call for kneading and letting the bread rise THREE TIMES. It's out of control.

Anyways, this bread recipe is NOT like those really long, laborious, intense ones.

I've made this bread countless times, with variations of the seasonings and flour types. I've shared one of my favorite rosemary variations below.


Vegan Rosemary Bread
3 cups All-Purpose flour
3 cups Whole Wheat flour
3 cups water
2 Tablespoons yeast
1 - 1 1/2 Tablespoons salt (I like my bread less salty, but you can add more)
2 Tablespoons dried Rosemary
1 Tablespoon fresh Rosemary

1. In a big bowl, mix everything together (don't knead). It should look like dough. Essentially, you're just incorporating everything and making sure all the dry ingredients get moistened.

2. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise for 1-2 hours.

3. Pull out some and put in a greased loaf pan. It should reach about halfway up the side of the pan. Alternatively if you don't have a loaf pan or want a different shape, grab about a grapefruit size and place on a greased baking sheet. Put another layering of dried rosemary on top for extra rosemary flavor.

4. Cover and let rise for another hour. While it's rising, heat your oven to 450.

5. Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes. An inserted toothpick should come out clean.

This recipe will yield 2-3 loaves. If you don't want to bake it all at once, you can over the bowl of dough and keep in fridge for up to a week.

White Wine Spaghetti Squash

This weekend I decided I wanted to make a completely original dish. No Pinterest inspiration, no cookbooks, just me. Some people may be intimidated, but I actually really like the challenge. Of course you bring whatever experience you have to the table, but you still have the chance to make something AMAZING and completely yours! What more inspiration is needed?

All I knew going into this was that I wanted to use this extra spaghetti squash that we had.

As I looked through our fridge, an idea started to form. I saw the extra mushrooms and bell pepper from the week's salads, the wild green onion that grows in our yard, the Bota Box that only had a glass or two left of Chardonnay. I don't know about you, but I really like adding alcohols to my dishes. It just seems to add an extra level. So much flavor and so many options! We served this on the side with some Tilapia seasoned similarly, but this would be delicious as a main dish too.


White Wine Spaghetti Squash
1 small spaghetti squash
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
4 oz. mushrooms (about half a package), sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon basil
1 Tablespoon Morton's Natures Seasons
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 cup dry white wine (I used Chardonnay)
3 green onions, chopped

1. Poke spaghetti squash several times. Put in a greased shallow pan and bake at 375 for 1 hour. Make sure to set it aside for at least 10 minutes before touching it again. It will be really hot!

2. Meanwhile, put wine in a small pot over med-high heat and cook until reduced by half its volume.

3. In a separate pot, heat oil over med-high heat. Add onion and pepper, and cook until starting to soften. You don't want these soft yet because they will still be cooking for a while.

4. Add mushrooms to pot with onion and pepper, and stir.

5. Slice spaghetti squash in half. Scoop out seeds. Take a fork and scrape out the insides. It should look like spaghetti. Add to the pot of veggies.

6. Add in basil, Nature's Seasons, garlic, and green onion. Mix to combine.

7. Pour in the reduced wine, increase heat to high and cook until almost all excess moisture has evaporated.

8. Serve and enjoy!

Serves 2-3.

This Pork is the Schnitzel

I thought I'd have an entry to welcome you to the blog and explain what I hoped to accomplish, but instead I will just start. Please have patience while I find my voice.

AJ and I recently came up with a goal - to make food from the cuisine of each country in the world. This is quite the undertaking, but we aren't giving ourselves a time limit, so it's more of an on-going bucket list item.

I don't know if you've ever seen The Amazing Race, but we love it. These teams of friends, siblings, or couples travel all over the world and perform tasks that in some way relate to their current location. We weren't sure how to decide which country's cuisine we wanted to make, so we decided - why not follow The Amazing Race and make food from the country they would be in that week? And a wonderful tradition was born.

This past week, the participants in The Amazing Race travelled to Dresden, Germany. It just so happens that about four years ago, I spent a semester studying in Austria. In case you didn't know, Austria and Germany share a lot of similarities in their cuisine. One of the first things I think of when it comes to German food is Wienerschnitzel. This actually just translates as Viennese schnitzel, which is traditionally a cut of veal pounded until it's really thin, then battered and fried. I don't personally try to eat much veal, so we opted for a safer pork option, called Schweineschnitzel. Because you can't seem to get enough fried food in German cuisine, we also had a side of potato pancakes, or "kartoffelpuffer."

Which brings us to the important part, and the whole reason for this blog - the food. Your arteries couldn't be more excited.

Schweineschnitzel (pork schnitzel in the Viennese style)

Pork tenderloins (I made 8, but we had company and wanted leftovers)

Flour

2 eggs

Bread crumbs

Salt, pepper

Oil and butter for frying

1. Pound your pork tenderloins with a meat tenderizer. If you have some other hammer-like object, you can use that instead. Really take your anger out on the meat. You want the meat to get as thin as possible. It's surprising how much bigger the tenderloins will get.

2. Set up your assembly line. I used plates rather than bowls because the meat got so big! Fill one plate with flour. In a bowl, beat the two eggs. In the last plate, cover with bread crumbs. Add a little salt and pepper for additional taste.

3. In a skillet over medium heat, heat up vegetable oil and butter. You want about a 50/50 mix and to cover your pan with enough excess that the meat can "float" rather than sit on the bottom of your pan.

4. Once the oil is heated, take one pork piece and dip it in the flour. Remove any clumps. Dip in egg to cover, then immediately in the bread crumbs. Put in your skillet and cook until done - about 5-7 minutes on each side. Repeat for each of your meat pieces.

You can also use this recipe for pretty much any meat (or non-meat).