Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had some old bananas and I didn't quite feel like making banana bread again and so I opted for banana cookies. This is what I found. They turned out pretty good.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 cup white sugar
2/3 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup mashed bananas, ripened
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together, and set aside.
2. Cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Mix in the mashed bananas. Add the flour mixture, and stir until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop by spoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes.Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Banana-Chocolate-Chip-Cookies/Detail.aspx

Ground Beef Nachos

We made taco salad again and we had some leftover meat and beans so I decided to make some yummy nachos instead. The ingredients included: ground beef mixed with jalapeno refried beans, cilantro, red onions, green onions, tomatoes, jalapenos, colby jack mix, and jalapeno cheddar. Yummmy. Enjoy!

Mac 'N' Cheese

I was craving mac 'n' cheese during our entire cruise and so voila I made it the day after we got back. Warning: I like mine with a little bit of a kick.

Ingredients:

Servings: 6
5 cups uncooked pasta (our preference is to use rotini pasta)
2 tbsp butter
3 cups milk
3 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp hot water
3 cups cheese (2 cups jalapeno cheddar, 1 cup cheddar)
1 small can of diced jalapenos (optional)
2 tsps each of garlic powder, chili powder, and onion powder

1 tbsp red pepper flakes
garlic salt and pepper to taste

topping:

2 cups bread crumbs
1 tsp melted butter
1 tsp garlic salt

1 tbsp red pepper flakes

Directions:

1. Cook pasta , drain and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
3. In a dutch oven, heat the milk and butter together until almost bubbling.
4. In a separate bowl, mix the cornstarch and water together until not lumpy, then pour into milk mixture. Stir constantly with a whisk until thickened.
5. Add cheese and jalapeno and stir to melt. Add all spices. Combine together well.
6. Stir pasta into cheese sauce mixture until fully coated.
7. In a separate bowl, mix the bread crumbs, butter, and spices together. Sprinkle on top of cheese covered pasta.
8. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes until warm and bubbly. Enjoy!

Happy 92nd Birthday Babbi

Babbi's 92nd Birthday was today. Her one request was that I make her a checkerboard cake and so there it is. I had a tough time with it, but as you can see it still looks like a checkerboard when you cut it. Babbi was very happy with it and she enjoyed her birthday with the family.

Our Alaskan Cruise

Hello everyone,

We are back from our cruise. We had a great time, it was very relaxing and Alaska was quite gorgeous. We are happy to be home and in our own bed again but we will miss the beautiful views and although I did miss cooking, it was great to be served and cleaned after everyday. Instead of telling you what we did, I have included some pictures to show you what we did instead :)

Seattle



The view from our hotel (notice our cruise ship at the dock)


Our ship and the beautiful sunset seen from our balcony


Ketchikan, Stop #1

Totem Poles


Creek Street, Ketchikan
(this is a big salmon filled creek during the correct season)


Juneau, Stop #2 (absolutely gorgeous)


Our hike to Mt. Roberts Peak, 6 miles (3 miles up, 3 miles down)


Cruising The Inside Passage


bald eagles and seals just hanging out on some icebergs

The Tracy Arm Fjords


Sawyer Glacier


Skagway, Stop #3 (so beautiful)


We took a rain forest bike ride through the ghost town Dyea


Prince Rupert, Canada - Stop #4
We went kayaking across the bay and went ashore a small island to eat some hot dogs, fresh crab, and to roast some marshmallows. It was a perfect excursion.


Our beached kayak's

Alaska

Alright, so Nick and I are finally going on our 7 day cruise to Alaska. We have been waiting patiently for over 4 months for this trip to come and it is finally here. Tomorrow we are headed to Seattle, where we get to spend an evening with our old pal Cindy. Then on Saturday we will depart from Seattle on our 7 day cruise. We are so excited and even more so because this week we upgraded to a room with a balcony rather than a inside stateroom, so now we will have a constant view of wherever we go and possibly get to see some glaciers in the privacy of our own room. Awesome.

Here is our itinerary in case you are interested:

Sat- Seattle - 4:00 PM

Sun- Cruise Inside Passage - -

Mon- Ketchikan 7:00 AM 3:00 PM

Tue- Juneau 7:00 AM 1:30 PM and At Sea

Wed- Skagway 7:00 AM 5:00 PM (We have Biking planned)

Thu- Prince Rupert 4:00 PM 10:00 PM (We have Kayaking planed)

Fri- At Sea - -

Sat- Seattle 8:00 AM -

If you are interested in our whereabouts, you can go to this page and see what our scenery is at any moment by the live webcam on our boat, the Norwegian Star: Go to this link http://www2.ncl.com/ship/star/overview and then click on "view the live webcam" on the right hand side in the blue Explore box. Voila! there is a current picture of our boat :)

Alright see you when we get back.

Cake Balls

If you are in the mood for some delicious cake but you want something creative rather than the normal boxed cake. Well here you go, cake balls are so sweet and delicious. You only need two cake balls to be satisfied, although once you have one you will keep coming back for more.

This time around I made Funfetti Cake with Vanilla Frosting and Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Frosting. There are endless combinations of Cake and Frosting, use what sounds good to you.

Ingredients:

1 (18.25 ounce) package cake mix (flavor of your choice)
1/2 container of prepared frosting, about 8 oz. (flavor of our choice)
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips (melted with 1 Tbsp of coconut oil)

Directions:
1. Prepare the cake mix according to package directions using any of the recommended pan sizes.
2. When cake is done, crumble while warm into a large bowl, and stir in half of the frosting until well blended.
3. Use a melon baller or your hands to form balls of the cake mixture. Place balls in a covered pan and refrigerate overnight or stick in the freezer for 2-3 hours.

4. Once balls are ready and cold, melt chocolate chips and coconut oil in a glass bowl in the microwave, or in double boiler, stirring often until smooth.
5. Remove the balls from the cold and dip the balls in the melted chocolate using a toothpick or fork to hold them. Place them on waxed paper and then place them in the refrigerator until the chocolate hardens. Remove from fridge right before serving. Enjoy!

Peruvian Aji Sauce

This was my attempt at recreating my favorite meal from a nearby Peruvian restaurant: Inka Mama's

My main tackle for completing this meal was the Peruvian Aji Sauce, a green sauce that is used on rice or as a dip for bread.

Ingredients:

• 1 head of lettuce, torn into pieces (iceberg is fine, romaine is better)
• 3 jalapeno chiles, seeds and veins removed
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 2 green onions
• 1 fresh bunch of cilantro leaves (try to avoid the stems)
• 3 cloves of garlic, skin removed
  
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
  
• 1 tsp onion powder
  

Directions:

Blend all ingredients in a Blender, when beginning you might want to add a tsp of water to help get the lettuce to start blending.

For the rest of the meal I sauteed red onions and broccoli in butter and sprinkled them with a no-salt seasoning I bought from Costco. I did the same with chicken and once it was cooked, I added the two together. Very tasty and low on sodium.


Enjoy!



Peruvian Aji Sauce adapted from http://www.grouprecipes.com/3546/peruvian-aji-sauce.html

Monkey Bread

I have been wanting to make monkey bread ever since I ate at Cici's in Vegas last Winter. I don't remember ever eating this while growing up but apparently it is a childhood favorite for most of my friends and so I decided to go ahead and give it a try. I wanted to find a recipe that used all natural ingredients and that did not call for refrigerated biscuit dough and this is what I found, it was absolutely delicious and very simple to make.


Monkey Bread from scratch edited for my liking:

1/4 cup water, warm
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 cup all purpose wheat flour
2-2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp sugar
1 large egg
2 tbsp butter, melted
3/4 cup milk, warm

2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, melted

Lightly grease a standard 10-in bundt pan. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer (all mixing can be done by hand, as well), combine warm water and yeast. Let stand for 2 minutes, until yeast is slightly foamy.
Stir in 1 cup of wheat flour, along with the salt, sugar, vanilla, egg, 2 tbsp melted butter and warm milk. Mix well, until dough is fairly smooth. Put the dough hook attachment onto your mixer and gradually add in the remaining flour, mixing at medium speed until dough comes easily away from the sides of the bowl. Knead for 3-4 minutes on medium speed. Remove dough hook and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest for 30 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar and spices. Place melted butter in a nearby bowl and get a fork out, as well.
Turn dough out onto a very lightly floured surface and gently deflate so that dough is relatively flat (maybe 1/2-3/4 inch thick) Using a knife or a bench scraper, cut off small pieces of dough to form 1/2 to 1-inch balls (I prefer slightly smaller ones, personally). As you cut each piece of dough, roll it into a ball in the palms of your hands. Dunk each ball in butter, use the fork to remove it and transfer it to the sugar mixture to be thoroughly coated. Place all coated dough balls into prepared bundt pan.

Once all balls have been coated and places in the pan, cover the pan lightly with plastic wrap and let bread rise for 60 minutes, until almost doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 350F while the bread rises.
Bake for 30-35 minutes. Bread will spring back when lightly pressed.

Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a serving platter. Eat immediately (or reheat leftovers), as the bread is best served warm and gooey.

Serves 10 (or 4-5 people with big sweet tooths!)

Enjoy!

Adapted from: http://bakingbites.com/2009/01/classic-monkey-bread/

Fresh Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce

I had my girls over for dinner the other night and so I made one of my old time favorites that I learned from my mother:

Tomato Basil Pasta

Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups Olive Oil, divided
2 cups basil leaves (measure before chopping), chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
10 roma tomatoes, chopped
1 bag of long noodles, cooked and ready to serve (my preference is Capellini)
I like to add some grated Parmesan as a garnish.
You can also serve the pasta with some Italian sausage or some Italian grilled chicken.

Directions
1. Heat 1/3 cup of oil in a deep skillet type pan, I use my 3-1/2 quart covered saute pan since it is deep and has a lid.
2. Add basil and garlic and saute on low for a good 10 minutes, stirring often.
3. Next, add tomatoes and 1 cup of oil and bring sauce to a boil.
4. Once sauce has boiled, turn heat to low and cover for 30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.
5. After a half hour, the tomatoes should be fairly disintegrated, try and make sure they are mushy and that the sauce is in fact a sauce. You may want to add extra oil or 1/2 cup of water if the liquid has evaporated from the sauce.
6. Once you think the sauce looks complete, add it to the pasta and serve immediately. Feel free to add some grated Parmesan and Enjoy!

Grilled Cheese on the Grill

Here are some Grilled Cheese I made on the Grill with some Grilled Parmesan Basil Fries for a contest I entered. Feel free to vote for me:


http://www.mixingbowl.com/message/recipe/view.castle?g=1883859&m=11826373

These turned out really yummy and they did have a great flame-grilled taste that doesn't occur when they are cooked on my Panini grill. Enjoy!

Moose

My Brothers New Dog: Moose

Can you guess which one he is?

Breakfast Burritos

I decided to get creative with breakfast this weekend:

These burritos contain scrambled eggs with a touch of red salsa, homemade hash browns, bacon, grated jalapeno cheddar cheese, and homemade guacamole on a flour tortilla. So delicious and so filling that we did not eat lunch that day :)


Ingredients:
2 potatoes, cut into small squares
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp of cracked pepper
4 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped
3 eggs, scrambled
1 cup Mexican cheese, grated (I used Jalapeno Cheddar)
4 Flour tortillas
Top with Guacamole or salsa of your choice.

My Guacamole

Directions:

I start by preparing my potatoes, they take the longest to cook and so I cut them into very small squares so that they cook faster. Spray a skillet with pam or add about 1 tsp. of butter, add potatoes and mix around. Add garlic salt and cracked pepper and continually cook for about 15 minutes, until potatoes are tender (stirring often). Then in a separate pan, begin cooking bacon. After bacon is finished, remove from pan and add eggs to bacon grease. Make sure to scramble eggs with a silicone spatula in the pan. Feel free to add cracked pepper and/or some salt to the eggs. Once the bacon, the eggs, and the potatoes are cooked, put the four tortillas on a plate, covered with a wet paper cloth and stick them in the microwave for about 30 seconds until warm. Next begin layering your tortillas, make sure to spread all ingredients evenly among the four tortillas. Make sure to add the potatoes (hash browns), the eggs, the chopped bacon, the shredded cheese, and then on top of it all...some guacamole or some salsa depending on your preference. Enjoy!