Archives

Sep012012

HEALTHY Whole-Wheat Banana Bread

We usually have a bunch of bananas in the house. For fruit salads and more so primarily, for protein shakes (rahh!). However, sometimes we forget about them, or don’t do heavy workouts, so we feel like we don’t deserve one of Chris’ amazing protein shakes (that post is coming up!). So they sit in the lazy Susan cupboard, lonely for attention.

And so later in the week, I stumble upon them in their browning blackish glory. Aha! I know exactly what to do with you! So, the spotted way-too-ripe bananas get pulled from the cupboard and onto our maniacal counter-top. It’s easy, folks. IF you have over-ripe bananas, MAKE BANANA BREAD. I don’t want to hear any excuses. And if you throw them out…you’re in trouble. Let’s get started. I pulled this recipe from here, but altered it slightly (no nuts, nutmeg, etc.).

  • Prep Time: 15 minutes (I was slow, watching Empire Strikes Back/Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives)
  • Cook Time: 50 minutes (on the dot!)
  • Set Oven To: 350 degrees

Ingredients:

  • 1 stick unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1-3 bananas (I suggest more than one, but that’s all I had to work with tonight)
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour

Remember to get out a bread pan and butter it or oil it up. Sticking is your enemy. Now first, beat the butter, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla in a bowl.

Yes, that is a whisk! I’m moving up in the world!

For this next step, make sure the bananas are mashed as much as possible. Then, mix those bananas, eggs, and honey in. I want it smooooth.

You’re almost there!! The final step is to slowly add in the whole-wheat flour. Put a little in, stir it, put some more in, stir it, and so forth. It should come out looking like this:

Then pour it into your already-greased pan. I lost a good amount of the batter to a tragic accident…my appetite.

Now put it in the oven! Remember it should be at 350 degrees. For me, it took exactly 50 minutes to bake. I took it out, tested it with a fork to see if any batter stuck and it was ready! I usually have to stick it in for another ten minutes or so. It came out really well!

Remember that this only has half a cup of sugar in it. That’s barely ANYTHING when it comes to baking. So don’t feel guilty as you shovel this down, it’s got good ingredients. We always love to put butter on ours, gives it a great added flavor, especially when it’s nice and hot.

Unfortunately, it didn’t last long before I could get the picture, so that’s a sliver of a piece. Hope you enjoy!

Oh, and…meow!

spacer
Aug222012

Salad, Pesto, and a Kitten

Weird combo? Maybe. I guess that’s just how we do things here in our kitty-filled yummy home now. Worked for us as we came out with a full-belly of nutritional ingredients and a couple of curious kittens.

Anyhow, this one’s a simple recipe for those craving fresh ingredients and tastes.

Salad:

  • Tomatoes
  • Cucumbers
  • Carrots
  • Spinach
  • Salt n Pepper
  • Lemon juice

Pretty standard, right? Before I jump into prep, let me tell you the story of how we got this big fat cucumber. So, Chris is doing some dog-walking up in the hills of Boulder and a kid around six years old wearing cowboy boots waves him over. Chris replies, “Sorry, I got no cash.”  The kid says, “You don’t need cash! Take this cucumber, it’s the last one!” So Chris takes it and the boy finishes up the conversation with, “Next time, bring some money and head over to that red roof over there. That’s my garden!”

Scary how six-year-olds now have business sense of offering a free sample of their product in order to gain more business for the next time around. Anyways, back to the food already!!

So you have those wonderful ingredients chopped up (except I didn’t chop the spinach). I started with the cucumber and tomatoes, kind of sliced n diced ’em.

I always remember how good tomatoes were with salt were when I was a kid so I was following that craving. I grind some black pepper over them as well as some salt. These get put in a bowl along with some lemon juice and tossed around to get the flavor soaked in. As I finished chopping the veggies, I look to my left to see a tiny black blob on the floor. Oh yeah, that’s Nymeria.

She can watch all she wants, she ain’t getting any of this. Sometimes, I think she thinks she’s a dog…which I LOVE. As I finish up the salad and Chris is stirring the penne al dente in the pot, I toss some olive oil and balsamic nectar my cousin invented (check it out). Things are looking goooood.

Meanwhile, Chris is cooking some penne al dente. I’m surprised there’s any left to cook due to his love for raw pasta.

As he’s straining the pasta, there’s a scatter in the corner. Hmmm…suspicious.

CAUGHT RED-HANDED! 

Nymeria continues to find places to view us, though I hope her curiosity doesn’t get the better of her one day. She’s quite the rambunctious one. Oops, back to the food.

So we strain the pasta, add in some pesto (we don’t have a blender yet so it’s sadly store bought–but still good) and Chris adds in some protein. Tuna from the can. Sound unappetizing? Sure does. But it really adds a good meaty texture and flavor to the dish. And satisfied my hungry belly pretty darn quickly.

Cheers. 

spacer
Aug152012

Mushroom Egg Tacos

So, sometimes you wake up on the wrong side of the bed. Especially when you have half the furniture you need in your new apartment, and it’s spread out all over the tiny “living room.” It’s okay though, because there’s still that nice kitchen, with a big breakfast bar, plenty of cabinets, and a ton of bench space (perhaps a Kiwi term for “counter top” in the U.S.). Perhaps not the best stove (they kind of lean backwards), but at least it works, right?

Even though I wasn’t in the best mood, I had an idea for breakfast. I only buy produce that’s on sale and in season. So we have…mushrooms…eggs (okay, not a seasonal thing really, but always good to have)…and tortillas (sorry I’m from SoCal). Also had some mild salsa to put in as well, and can’t forget sharp (UN-DYED!) cheddar cheese!

First, gotta get those mushrooms cooking. There’s some olive oil in there, garlic (whenever I cook something, you will see garlic), and small bits of rosemary. I grew up having a huge rosemary bush outside our house, so not having fresh was a bit of a downer.

So as my mood immediately skyrocketed (who’s wouldn’t with an aroma of garlic, olive oil, and rosemary everywhere? HEAVEN), I let the mushrooms bathe in oil and garlic and cook to perfection. I moved on to prepare other things that would go along with this concoction. I heated up some MorningStar “Chik’n” and sliced em up. Even for you meat-lovers, these are really good. I suggest also the Buffalo ones for a kick. You can also see I grated just a little cheese on the side. If something needs to be cooked for a little bit, always take the time to prepare your other ingredients so you can have it timed perfectly (like when Chris gets out of the shower)!

Moving on to prepare the yellow corn tortillas. They’re pretty small, but I always prefer corn tortillas over flour, just love the texture and homemade-like flavor. I shove the mushrooms to the side of the pan and let the tortillas heat up and cook for just a minute or so on each side so it’s nice and hot with a firmer structure. Then, lay em out and put salsa over it. After that, I lay the slices of “chik’n” on the base as well.

The mushrooms are cooked to perfection, juicing with garlic and rosemary flavor. Now time to get the eggs in. I use 3 eggs, pop em in the pan, scramble them in there and toss the mushrooms into the eggs while they’re still cooking to make it feel more combined than separate ingredients.

It takes less than three minutes. Good thing I have the tortillas ready. I sprinkle cheese into the egg and mushrooms and it melts almost immediately. The tortillas are ready, with salsa and “chik’n” at the base so I designate the mixture into each of the tacos. It fills up the soft tacos easily, spilling out on the sides. But that’s okay–I have forks too! Easy recipe and very very cheap. After cooking and eating, I was in a great mood. Cooking will always cheer you up! Enjoy.

spacer
Aug142012

Welcome to Boulder!

So we’ve finally arrived to Boulder, Colorado–our new home after graduating college. We took a road trip from New York all the way to here then to California then back to here again. It was many long hot hours in a cramped car, but we got to see a lot of America which was really enjoyable.

We got an apartment (450 sq ft) and set to decorating and finding some furniture. After dumpster diving, we ended up with a comfortable futon bed, a bookshelf, and a bedside table. Although we may not have all the furniture yet, we certainly got the food down after several trips to various grocery stores.

Our first cooked meal was a breakfast. Stir-fried eggs with spinach and soy sauce to top. Pretty simple, pretty fast, all with fresh ingredients:

Happy with our first meal, we got back to work: rearranging the limited furniture we had, cleaning the floors and walls, and going out to buy goods we needed like tongs, a trash can, and more hangers. We found that the Boulder Public Library was very close, had great hours, beautiful architecture, and–most importantly–FREE WIFI! We both had lots to do online. It really throws you off after having Internet close to your finger tips at all times to going to no internet anywhere in the house (or in our case, the apartment). So we began to spend hours and hours in there, getting stuff done, job applications, and relaxing. 

With our business and craze of getting the apartment together, we ate lunch almost every day at a great Tibetan family-owned place called Tibet Kitchen. Amazing lunch deals ($4.95 for a lunch plate with 1 entree and a huge bed of rice) and a great atmosphere, we had to keep coming back (plus it’s only a 5 minute walk from our apartment).

After eating to our heart’s content out, we knew we had to keep dinners in the apartment to save some pennies. We went to the grocery store (so far we’ve visited King Sooper’s, Safeway, and Whole Foods) and did our casual browsing. We came across some wild-caught shrimp for a reduced price. Chris loves to cook seafood so we scored right away.

That night, he made garlic shrimp. Very simple, throw a bunch of fresh shrimp (dead, of course) into a frying pan, pour some oil and garlic in and let it cook! One of the more simpler things to cook. We had a great messy meal, getting oil and garlic all over our hands as we de-shelled the shrimp and popped ’em in our mouths. Pretty delicious and a very low budget meal. We had plenty of leftovers the next day to make curried shrimp and mushrooms over rice the next day.

And here we are, in Boulder, slowly settling in and our apartment is looking like it’s becoming a home. We love it here. And we’ll love it even more after we get out on the rocks tonight to practice climbing with family.

Enhanced by Zemanta
spacer