Low Fat Whole Wheat Banana Bread with Walnuts and Chocolate Chips

So, I have been trying to eat more fruit lately. With my job, I am often on the run, so bananas are a good fruit for my life. Unfortunately, I don’t really like bananas all that much. I am trying to train myself to like them, but there is something about the texture and the flavor that I just don’t really like. Bananas, like oranges, ruin the integrity of any fruit salad and get all squishy and gross. But alas, I am trying to get on the banana boat (see what I did there?).

I recently went to visit my mom in New Orleans, and I had a few bananas left. Needless to say, when I got back to Chicago, the bananas were super ripe. Thus I decided to make my first ever banana bread (I think I am coming around to this whole banana thing).

Like all my recipes, I did my research. I started with America’s Test Kitchen, Good to the Grain cookbook, and Epicurious. I merged a couple of recipes and came up with the following. The buttermilk replaces the oil. I used low fat buttermilk, and it gives it a lovely flavor.

Ingredients

2 large eggs (free-range, always go free-range)

 3/4 cup sugar

3 medium ripe bananas, smashed, about 1 cup

1/3 cup low-fat buttermilk

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup dark chocolate chips (I used mini)

¾ cup walnuts, plus ¼ to top roasted and chopped

Red Velvet Cake Balls

I am not a huge fan of Valentine’s Day, not because it is a hallmark holiday or anything, but because lately, I am not really a huge fan of holidays in general. However, Valentine’s Day gave me an excuse to try making Red Velvet Cake Balls.  My mom directed me to Bakerella where I read a post about these cake balls. To say the least, I was intrigued. Turns out, they are a brilliant idea, fairly easy to make, and quite tasty. One of my coworkers described them as “sexy;” I am not sure what that means, but I think that it is a good thing. 

To make the cake balls you need the following things:

1 box red velvet cake mix

1 can frosting (the recipe called for cream cheese frosting, but I used whipped vanilla)

1 package chocolate candy melts

1 package white chocolate candy melts*

*the original recipe calls for 1 package chocolate bark (regular or white chocolate) but I couldn’t find it anywhere. I settled on the candy melts that you can get at an arts and crafts store for making candy. I got both dark and white chocolate for added contrast on the actual cake balls.

Chicken Ginger Scallion Meatballs and Brown Rice Edamame Risotto

Chicken Ginger Scallion Meatballs and Brown Rice Edamame Risotto

I have made these meatballs a few times and love them. I first saw this recipe in the 2008 December issue of Real Simple. Real Simple always makes me think...remember when life was fake and complicated instead of real and simple? Anyway, these meatballs are really simple to make, with just a few ingredients, but they have some really complex flavors. I usually make them with some brown rice and edamame, but I decided to kick it up a notch and make the rice into a risotto. I thought a simple Parmesan based risotto with edamame mixed in would be a really delightful match for the meatballs. Since I had never made this dish in this way, it took a bit of figuring out to time manage it all. You may have noticed I often have process it all. So, I decided to assemble the meatball first, refrigerate them while I made the risotto. Risotto usually takes about 25 minutes to make, but since I made it with brown rice instead of Arborio rice (which is what is normally used) my cook time was doubled at minimum. Also, risotto usually cooks with out a cover so the liquid can evaporate, but with the brown rice, I needed to cover it for most of the time to allow the rice to absorb the liquid to cook. 

Chicken Ginger Scallion meatballs

Ingredients

• 1 package/1 lb ground chicken
• 2 green onions or scallions, chopped
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger (frozen)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Sauce

• 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

Edamame risotto

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large white onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 cups brown rice (arborio rice)
• 1 cup  white wine (I actually had some left over muscatto in the fridge, it added a nice sweetness)
• 4 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable/chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups shelled edamame, thawed
• 1 cup grated Parmesan
• kosher salt and pepper

As always, before you start, prep everything. Chop the green onions, the white onion, garlic, and grate the ginger. Again, I freeze the ginger, peeled in small sections. It makes it MUCH easier to grate and it will thaw when you mix it in with other stuff. Also, it doesn’t loose as much “ginger juice.” 

Cook the Book: Fairy Gingerbread Cookies - Hit or Miss?

I love America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country. I subscribe to Cook's Country magazine and really enjoy it, but I rarely make any of the recipes. I love to bake, but it is often super time consuming so I usually only do it on the weekends. Plus, I love taking the results into work, to share and to get them out of my house. So, for the February/March edition, the cover is story is a recipe for Fairy Gingerbread Cookies, an updated and improved version in a 19th century cookbook. I love gingerbread and the recipe pretty doable, and I had everything on hand; a definite plus because I didn't want to leave my house. So, early Sunday morning, I ventured into the kitchen to bake these ginger cookies. My Fairy Gingerbread Cookies didn't come out exactly like the picture, for a few reasons I think, but they were really delicious, light and gingery with a delightful snap that I adore in gingersnaps. 

This image is taken from Cook's Country, where I got the recipe. My version were delicious, but did not look like this!

According to Ericka Bruce in Cook's Country, the recipe was originally found in Jessup Whitehead's 1893 book Cooking for Profit where the Fairy Gingerbread Cookies were described as a popular sweet treat to be served between rounds of Euchre. Since I love Euchre (a game popularized in the 1890's in the midwest and PA that is similar to Spades), I thought these cookies would be just the thing to brighten a cold Chicago winter weekend. Also, I thought it might inspire me to find some Euchre partners...it hasn't yet.

Ingredients
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
9 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
4 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup whole milk, room temperature

Apple Cranberry Compote for Buckwheat Pancakes

Today seemed like a good pancake day, I decided to make buckwheat pancakes. Now, I don't eat pancakes all that often, but when I do, I prefer to eat them with some kind of fruit compote. The pancake is really the catalyst for eating the compote.

Since I had a few apples laying around, I decide to make some apple compote. Again, my measurements are never exact, so you may want to asses as your compote progresses. 

3 apples, cored and cut into squares

1/2 cup dried cranberries (if available)

1/2 cup sugar in the raw

2 tbsp maple syrup

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon, more if necessary

1 tbsp vanilla

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ginger

dash of salt

dash of corn starch

Curry Squash Soup a top Mustard Greens

So I know I have been slow in updating in the last few weeks. The start of the new term has proved to be busier than originally I suspected. So, here is a soup I made weeks ago, that is just thing the for warming your belly amidst all the snow across the country. Apparently, according to NPR this morning, this week, every state except Florida, had snow on the ground. This includes Hawaii! So, to warm you up through the snow, here is a delicious soup.

This is an adaptation of the "Thai-spiced Pumpkin Soup Recipe" from 101cookbooks. Though I love the recipes on that site, I find that they are rather bland for my tastes, so, I kicked it up a notch. I also used butternut squash instead of pumpkin. Again, my measurements are more of an approximate and not exact.

Pantry Chicken Chili

I love chili. I think it is one of the perfect foods. I love the fact that it is a one pot meal and it freezes really well. It can be made relatively cheaply and cheese makes it even better. Cheese makes most things better, but especially chili. I decided that I wanted to make a chili for the new year, but I didn't want to go store; I wanted to make a chili with what I had. I usually have black beans on hand (they may be the perfect food). I had a some tomatoes and a pepper and I definitely had some frozen chicken. Again, I don't have exact measurements on things, but I will give you a list of what I scrounged to throw in the chili.

Ingredients:
3 pieces of Grilled Chicken (with no salt magic seasoning blend of spices) cut into squares
4 cans 16oz black beans, rinsed (I really like black beans)
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (chopped)
additional herbs and spices, including smoked paprika, cracked red pepper, black pepper, salt, cayenne pepper, and cumin; couple of teaspoons of hot sauce

Prep everything above. While the chicken is grilling, I usually prep everything else. I separate each food into piles, and put them in the order they are supposed to go into the pot (I may be a little bit ocd...)

Chicken cut up into little pieces