Forgive Me, Friends

Forgive me for this blogging travesty. I just realized I have not shared this gem with you.

What's that, you ask? 

Reese's bars, that's what.

Basically one giant Reese's cup in bar form. Basically what heaven's streets will be lined with. Basically the best tool to win friends and influence people with. Aaaaand basically what's going to give me diabetes unless I gain some self-control ASAP and stop eating all the left over ones from Miles' birthday party.

Here's the recipe. You're welcome, in advance. 

Recipe Review: Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Squares

I found this recipe on (surprise!) Pinterest and gave it a try this morning. My friend Sarah came over for breakfast. We talked about Jesus and babies, so it was pretty much perfect. 

These oatmeal squares were really delicious & healthy too! I tweaked the recipe, per yoush. It's against my religion to follow a recipe to a T. I used two bananas instead of one, added more cinnamon than it called for, and substituted applesauce for the brown sugar. I also added about 1.5 tablespoons of sugar just to make sure it was sweet enough. 

Try them out! Here's the recipe from Gingerbread Bagels.

Recipe Review: Homemade Coffee Creamer

I've loved coffee since I was six years old. Maybe that explains why I'm 5'1". I'd probably be in the WNBA if it weren't for my young-aged coffee addiction. You win some, you lose some.

I digress...

My hatred for flavored creamers is almost as strong as my love for the deliciously caffeinated drink. I mean flavored creamer lasts for an ungodly amount of time. There's no telling the amount of preservatives in any given bottle. I recently tried out a flavored cream that was natural (no preservatives or weird, unpronounceable ingredients) - Coffee Mate Natural Bliss in Sweet Cream. It is delicious - so delicious it doesn't take me long to go through a bottle. So, thanks to Pinterest, I can now make my own creamer in less than 10 minutes and use as much as I want! Or as much as I feel like I can without my hips doubling sizes.

I modified this recipe from Deliciously Organic:

• 1 cup skim milk
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 4 tsp. maple syrup
• Some cinnamon, for kicks & giggles

Heat this mixture (sans vanilla) in a saucepan over medium heat until it steams. Remove from heat & stir in vanilla. Allow the liquid to cool for about 30 minutes. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a pourable bottle (I just used the empty container from my store bought creamer).

The website says it lasts up to 10 days in the refrigerator, which is way less scary than 10 months!

Verdict: not bad. It didn't quite match my preferred ratio of cream to sugar, so I'd definitely add more maple syrup next time (maybe 5-6 teaspoons).

You could make lots of flavored creamers with this recipe, so don't be afraid to get creative!

Recipe Review: Spinach & Garlic Spaghetti

This weekend I had virtually no groceries except for frozen chicken, spinach, spaghetti, a can of rotel, instant mac-and-cheese and fish fillets. Fortunately though, I had enough ingredients to scrape together this dish, which was surprisingly good! I was skeptical about how "healthy" it would taste, but it got the man-stamp-of-approval so suffice it to say that it's really delicious and not too much like cardboard.

It was super easy to whip up, too!

Saute lots and lots and lots of spinach in a little bit of olive oil. I used around 3/4 of a pound of spinach and was just making two portions, so don't be afraid to use a lot!

Throw some of this (or any other Italian-type seasoning) on the spinach. The recipe called for a few garlic cloves but I opted for this (easier) way instead. On a side note, this seasoning is the bomb! I got it at Costco and have been using it all year. It's especially good for bread.

Once the spinach is sauteed, put some half and half in the pan and cook it for a few minutes, until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Throw this mixture into a blender or food processor and blend until its got a pesto-like consistency. I used a blender and ended up having to add a little water - go with a food processor if you can!

Next, cook some spaghetti (or other pasta - I think penne would have been lovely) according to the directions on the box.

And cook your chicken. Since I was only cooking for two people, I just used one chicken breast.

Then use the old throw-some-chicken-in-your-KitchenAid-to-shred-it trick.

 Mix the pasta with the spinach sauce and...

Add the chicken.

Add lots of Parmesan cheese and call it a meal! I will definitely be making this again soon. It was healthy and super delish.

I adapted this recipe from Jess Thompson's Hogwash blog.

Recipe Review: Brown Butter Banana Bread

I barely had time to snap a picture - this stuff went fast.

Of late, I've had a lot of theologically based posts so I figured it was time to get some sugar up in here. So here you, ladies & gentlemen: the mother of all banana breads. 

If you're looking for a healthy banana bread, you should probably look elsewhere. But if you're looking for a delicious, moist, dessert-like banana bread, look no further. 

Here's what you'll need:

For the bread:

• 1 stick Unsalted Butter
• 1-½ cup Flour
• 1 pinch Salt
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• ½ teaspoons Cinnamon
• 1 whole Egg
• 1 cup Sugar
• 2 whole Bananas, Mashed
• 2 Tablespoons Milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

For the crumb topping:

• ¼ cups Flour
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
• ¼ teaspoons Cinnamon
• 2 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, Cold

Directions: (Makes 1 large loaf)

• Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a loaf pan, and set aside.
• In a small saucepan, over medium-high heat, cook the butter, stirring occasionally, until it darkens. (Do not burn it, cook it until it smells nutty.) Once the butter has browned, remove from the heat, and cool slightly. Meanwhile...
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon, and set aside.
• In the bowl of your mixer, combine the egg and sugar, and mix at medium speed until light and fluffy.
• Mix in the cooled brown butter slowly.
• Add the mashed bananas, the milk and the vanilla extract, and mix on medium speed until combined.
• Mix in the flour mixture until combined.
• Combine the ingredients for the crumb topping in a medium bowl (use your hands or a pastry cuter to mix the 2 Tablespoons of cold) butter into the dry topping ingredients until crumbly, pea-sized crumbs form). Set aside.
• Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the top of the batter.
• Bake for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool before enjoying!

You know how much I love batter, and this batter was particularly phenomenal. I seriously could've drank it with a straw. The only tricky part about this recipe was browning the butter, which was something I'd never done. I think I might've burned it slightly, but it was still amazing. I also added 3 bananas instead of 2 to enhance the flavor, which is something I always do when baking banana bread.

Go work out, then convince yourself that this bread is healthy because it has fruit, then make it! Chances are you'll probably make some friends with this one.

Spinach (?) Smoothies

If you're on Pinterest, you've probably seen at least one recipe for some sort of smoothie with spinach. An avid hater of most vegetables, seeing those recipes used to make my stomach turn. Key words: used to. Over Christmas break, my mom was making some detox smoothies with spinach and they were delish. I know, it sounds disgusting, but trust me on this one - they're awesome. In fact, I made a smoothie without spinach a few days ago and it just wasn't the same without the little green leaves. You can't really taste the spinach - it's more of a texture thing and I'm a big texture person. If you're apprehensive, give it a try! You won't be disappointed. 

I used a non-fat 8 oz. Archer Farms vanilla yogurt, about 1.5/2 cups of spinach, a really ripe banana, and about 1 cup of blueberries. I added some ice* and a little water (but if you're wanting some a little more creamy, go for milk).  

So pretty! You could definitely add other berries of sorts. My mom really likes mangoes in them. You could also substitute Greek yogurt for a little more protein.

Looks healthy, but tastes delicious!

*I read if you drink ice cold beverages, something that burns on average 10 calories a day, you'll end up loosing a pound over the course of a year! Cool!

Recipe Review: Cinnamon Rolls

If you want to make friends, influence people, or snag a significant other, you might wanna take notes, break out an apron, and get to bakin', because these cinnamon rolls are fantastic. Some people have even told me that they're better than Krispy Kreme doughnuts, although that cannot be confirmed nor denied. 

The recipe looks kind of intimidating at first, but once you make them a few times, you'll get the hang of it.

Some tips:

• Instead of setting the dough in a warm place to rise (which can sometimes be finicky), I turn the oven on 200 degrees, prop the door open, and set the bowl full of dough on the edge of the oven, covered with a tea towel. The constant, but not direct, heat source helps the dough to rise without fail every time.
• After lathering the dough with butter, cinnamon, and sugar, I suggest slowly rolling the dough towards you, periodically pressing firmly to make sure the glorious, caloric contents stay within the rolls.
• Don't skimp on the cinnamon. If you don't think you put too much, you probably didn't put enough.
• Pick up disposable circular aluminum foil pans and hand them out as Christmas presents or take them to neighbors and friends for a special holiday treat. This has been a huge hit for me in the past! 
• This recipe makes a lot of cinnamon rolls, which, trust me, is not a bad thing. I usually end up giving some away, baking some immediately, and freezing some (especially for Christmas morning!). 

Here's the recipe for Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls.  Enjoy!

Recipe Review: Pumpkin Muffins

Fall might be my favorite season. I love cold weather, scarves, boots, crunchy leaves, watching football on Sunday afternoons, hot coffee, not sweating profusely on the way back from class, and the fact that Thanksgiving means Christmas is almost here! Hands down my favorite fall food is these bad boys. They're fantastic.

Here's the recipe:

1 tsp. baking soda

1/3 c. water

1 c. cooked pumpkin

½ c. oil or applesauce (fat free)

2 eggs, beaten or 2/3 c. egg substitute

1 ½ c. sugar

1 2/3 c. flour

½ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

3 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. nutmeg

Dissolve baking soda in water.

Combine all other ingredients, sifting dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly.

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes (for regular sized muffins) or about 9 minutes for mini-muffins.

 

Yield: about 60 mini-muffins 

Recipe Review: Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

Growing up, I hated soup. To this day I'm still kinda finicky about it. But this soup is by far my all-time favorite. 

It's pretty simple. Just celery, carrots, onions, mushroom, rice, shredded chicken, cream of mushroom soup & broth. And butter :)

And if you have a KitchenAid mixer, you can stick in a couple of cooked and slightly cooled chicken breasts and it will literally shred them for you. I didn't believe it for myself, but I tried it and it worked beautifully. 

This was the first time I had chicken and wild rice soup that wasn't made by my sweet mama and it turned out great!

Here's the recipe:

2 quarts chicken broth

1/2 lb. mushrooms, chopped (I didn't add quite this many)

1 c. finely chopped celery

1 c. shredded carrots

1/2 c. finely chopped onions

1 tsp. chicken bouillon (I left this out)

1 tsp. parsley

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. thyme

1/2 stick butter (or if you're like me, add a whole stick by accident and don't take any out)

1/4 c. flour

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/2 c. additional broth or milk

2 c. shredded, cooked chicken

1 box long grain and wild rice, prepared according to directions on box

Combine 1 qt. broth, mushrooms, celery, carrots, onions, bouillon, parsley, garlic powder, thyme in pot. Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

In a large pot, melt 1/2 stick butter, stir in flour, whisk in broth. Bring to boil, cook & stir until the mixture thickens (about the consistency of gravy). Mix in can of soup, milk, chicken and rice. Pour vegetable mixture into large pot and heat through. 

Serve with homemade bread!

Recipe Review: Mama Lew's Lasagna

My sweet friend Rebecca made her grandmother's lasagna for our small group a few weeks ago. Holy cow. It was phenomenal. In the past when I've had homemade lasagna I honestly would've just preferred Stouffer's, but not this time. This homemade lasagna will never ever compare to anything frozen. 

The list of ingredients is pretty simple. Not scary at all! Love it.

The best part is it's super easy to make.

Here's the gem:

"Mama Lew's Lasagna"

1/2 lb ground beef

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 lg can (10.75 oz) tomato puree

1 lg can (15 oz) tomato sauce and about 1/2 can or so of water

10-12 lasagna noodles

12oz mozzarella cheese

24 oz cottage cheese 

2 gloves garlic chopped

1 1/2 tsp dried oregano (I used Italian seasoning instead of oregano & salt)

1 1/2 tsp salt

Grated Parmesan

Brown beef and onions; drain excess oil if necessary. Add tomato sauce, water, puree, garlic and seasonings. Cook about 20 minutes. (Do not need to pre-cook noodles!)

Barely cover bottom of casserole w/ sauce.

Layer:

Overlap 1/2 of noodles

Layer 1/2 cottage cheese

Then 1/2 mozzarella cheese

Then 1/2 of sauce

Repeat.

Finish w/ generous sprinkling of Parmesan all over top.

Bake, tightly covered w. tin foil, @ 350 degrees for approximately 40-45 minutes. *Test noodles w/ knife to see if soft...depends on how "liquidy" sauce is... if you have too much water, turn the oven off and leave the dish in for another 15ish minutes to let the water evaporate.

Recipe Review: Pull-Apart Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Bread

This past weekend I went home. It was wonderful, just not long enough (per ush). One of my favorite parts of going home is being able to bake ridiculous things due to a fully-stocked pantry and ample counter space. I wanted to make something fallish so I went with this pull-apart cinnamon sugar pumpkin bread. Good Lord. It was delicious. 

The icing was to die for. In fact, I'm changing my cinnamon roll icing to be more like the icing in this recipe. I think next time I make it I'll add more pumpkin and/or pumpkin pie spice to the dough to really make the pumpkin flavor stand out. And I'll for sure double the recipe because one loaf didn't last longer than 24 hours. 

You can find the recipe here.