Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

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These might be the best cookies I've made in a long time. They're extremely easy to make and pretty low calorie also!

I was surprised at first by their texture - they turn out sort of lighter than regular chocolate chip cookies but I love them. Also I doubled the batch. It makes about 16 cookies (if you make them large) and I wanted to bring them to a party so doubling ended up being perfect.


Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1/3 cup butter (softened)
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup mashed banana (each banana is about a half cup)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Steps:
1. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar.
2. Add in egg, banana, and vanilla. Beat them in one ingredient at a time.
3. In a separate medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda.
4. Add in the flour mixture to the creamed mixture one third at a time.
5. Mix in the chocolate chips (by hand not with electric mixer)
6. Put them on a cookie sheet about two teaspoons per cookie (one on top of the other) and make sure they are spread out.
7. Bake on 350 degrees for 9 to 11 minutes (until edges turn a little brown)

and...

discovered this recipe here!

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Balsamic Glazed Peaches with Gorgonzola

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This took only a few minutes to make and it was an amazing meal. It would go great on salad or in a tart!!

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of sugar
1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoons of ground pepper
2 peaches
3/4 slices of Gorgonzola (or blue cheese)

Steps:
1. Peal and slice the peaches
2. On the stove, put the sugar, vinegar, and pepper in a saucepan over medium heat. Let them simmer until liquid becomes slightly thicker
3. Add peaches and stir. Cook, and continue stirring until peaches are soft and covered in balsamic glaze.
4. Assemble peaches on plate and crumble gorgonzola over them.

and EAT!!

(got the idea for this recipe here)

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Baked Onion Rings (Healthy!!)

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I love onion rings. HUGE weakness... but the thought of frying them up with all that grease makes me wonder why I bother working out at all. So I found a recipe for baked ones..

It takes a day ahead of time to prep but its absolutely worth it.

Baked Onion Rings
2 large vidalia onions 2 medium sized yellow onions
1 quart of buttermilk (+ 1 half cup 2% milk if buttermilk does not fully cover onions)
4 eggs whites
1 cup medium ground cornmeal 1 cup Italian Seasoned bread crumbs
1 cup Panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon smoked paprika

Phase 1 (At least 12 hours prior to cooking):
1. Slice onion into 1/2-inch thick rings.
2. Season the onions with salt and pepper
3. Place side by side in dish, then pour buttermilk over them (and 2% milk if necessary).
4. Cover with plastic wrap and let them sit for at least 12 hours.

Phase 2:
1. Heat oven to 450 degrees.
2. In one bowl, whisk the eggs. In another bowl, mix together cornmeal, flour, panko, salt, pepper, and paprika.
3. Place aluminum foil on a baking sheet, and oil/butter the foil.
4. Take each onion out of the buttermilk, dip in egg mixture, then breadcrumb mixture, and place on baking sheet.
5. Bake for 15 minutes, flip, and bake for another 10 minutes.

Then eat your onion rings!




I adapted my recipe from here.

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Quinoa Porridge

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I am not the biggest fan of oatmeal for breakfast, so finding this lighter alternative was a great discovery!

Quinoa Porridge with Blueberry Sauce
(makes two servings)

Ingredients:
2 cups of blueberries
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
1/2 cup quinoa (any color will do, I used a mix!)
1 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
A dash of cinnamon
1/4 cup of nuts (I skipped this step but any nuts would be a great addition)

1. Cook the quinoa as instructed here but for the liquid to cook it in, mix the milk, vanilla, and cinnamon together.
2. While the quinoa is cooking, make the blueberry sauce. On the stove at low/medium temperature, slowly heat the blueberries and sugar. Mix every couple of minutes to make sure it doesn't burn! It is done when it becomes a syrup-like substance.
3. When quinoa is done, add more milk and nuts if desired and pour blueberries over top. It is now ready to eat!

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If you have overripe bananas...

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I'm sitting in my kitchen hoping fruit flies don't attack the lone, overripe banana that we've secured as tight as humanly possible in a plastic bag. I couldn't leave it there one more day; something needed to be done! So I made a chocolate shake, which has turned out to be the best shake I've ever had and no Ice Cream was even involved.

Banana Chocolate Shake
(makes two servings)

1 Cup of 2% Milk (almond milk or coconut milk could also be substituted!)
1 Frozen Banana (if not frozen, just add about 6 ice cubes and it turns out the same)
1 Tablespoon of Peanut Butter
1 Tablespoon of Cocoa
1 teaspoon of Honey

1. Either freeze your banana ahead of time, or add 6 ice cubes to this mixture.
2. Blend all of the ingredients in a blender! (until ice is blended down or consistency is that of a milk shake)

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Cooking The Perfect Quinoa

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My biggest feat so far in cooking has been cooking the perfect quinoa. In the last couple of months (since I discovered its existence) there have been quite a few failed attempts resulting in sort of crunchy, not really cooked concoctions. But now I've figured it out!!

This works with any kind of quinoa!

The Perfectly Cooked Quinoa
1. Soak the quinoa. Unless it is previously rinsed, soak it for at least 15 minutes! Then strain it (with a fine strainer or cheesecloth), or just pour the water out without letting all of the quinoa fall down the sink.

2. For every one cup of quinoa, you need one and one fourth cups of liquid. The liquid should be determined by the recipe you are using. (Sometimes a little more or less is needed depending on the thickness of your recipe)

3. In a medium pot (you will need a lid to fit this!) bring liquid + quinoa to a simmer.

4. Once it has reached a simmer, turn down burner to low heat and cover. Let it cook for about 35 minutes (this can vary by 5 minutes depending, check it around 30 minutes and if all liquid is gone and the little pieces are sprouting it is done!).

5. Remove from heat, let it cool, and fluff/mix it around with a fork... Perfect Quinoa!

(Quinoa with onions, apples, and cabbage)

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