Banana Cookies

Say What?

Yeah, I made cookies with bananas, oats, and mini chocolate chips. They're da bomb.

I followed this recipe at skinnytaste.com. I didn't have walnuts on hand so I substituted them for chocolate chips. After I'd gotten started mixing everything I realized my oats were not 'quick oats', but mine turned out just fine!

If you haven't tried this yet please go make some!

Tuesday Nights

So for several months now, my friend Lindsey and I have been taking turns (with Grandmom Burton also) cooking yummy dinners together on Tuesday nights. Usually before and/or after eating, Lindsey and I have also been addictively watching Dexter. Haven't heard of it? Well.. you're missing out! Check it out here on the Showtime website. One thing I think is really cool is that the actor who plays Dexter claims Raleigh as his hometown.


Anyway, I'm blogging about this now to share our meal tonight with you! Get ready for great recipes!!!


Lindsey got me a great cookbook by The Pioneer Woman for Christmas, so I put it to use tonight and made her meatloaf. I chose this so I could have something to go with my grandma's noodles that mom gave to my sister and I this Christmas (Thanks Mom!!). For dessert I made what we fondly referred to as "Yummy Explosion" in college. I got this recipe from a genius friend. 

I totally failed at taking pictures (again) while I was making the meatloaf, so check out PW's if you want step-by-step pics. Because I'm being lazy today, I copy and pasted her ingredients/directions verbatim below.

PW's Favorite Meatloaf

Ingredients

Meatloaf:

• 1 cup Whole Milk
• 6 slices White Bread
• 2 pounds Ground Beef
• 1 cup (heaping) Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon Seasoned Salt
• 3/4 teaspoons Salt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 1/3 cup Minced Flat-leaf Parsley
• 4 whole Eggs Beaten
• 10 slices Thin/regular Bacon

Sauce:

• 1-1/2 cup Ketchup
• 1/3 cup Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Dry Mustard
• Tabasco To Taste

 

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour milk over the bread slices. Allow it to soak in for several minutes.

Place the ground beef, milk-soaked bread, Parmesan, seasoned salt, salt, black pepper, and parsley in a large mixing bowl. Pour in beaten eggs.

With clean hands, mix the ingredients until well combined. Form the mixture into a loaf shape on a broiler pan, which will allow the fat to drain. (Line the bottom of the pan with foil to avoid a big mess!)

Lay bacon slices over the top, tucking them underneath the meatloaf.

Make the sauce: add ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, and hot sauce in a mixing bowl. Stir together. Pour 1/3 of the mixture over the top of the bacon. Spread with a spoon.

Bake for 45 minutes, then pour another 1/3 of the sauce over the top. Bake for another 15 minutes. Slice and serve with remaining sauce.

Brad doing the honors...
(isn't he gorgeous?!)

De-lish!

Here is a set up of our dinner tonight...
minus the homemade sourdough bread!

Now as for my grandma's noodles... I'm not ready to share that one. Is it bad I want to keep it secret? ha! I haven't made them myself yet, but when I do I shall share. To prepare them you rinse the noodles, then bring them to a boil in chicken broth. Done.

THE Noodles. Essence of my childhood.

For Dessert:

Yummy Explosion



 Ingredients:

• 2 cans crescent rolls
• 1 lb cream cheese
• 1 1/2 c sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp butter
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Orange marmalade to taste (trustme on this one... think creamsicle!)

Directions:

• Lay 1 can crescents flat in a 9x13 pan.
• Mix in cream cheese, 1 c sugar, vanilla annnd marmalade!
• Spread over crescents and lay 2nd can of crescents on top.
• Melt butter and mix with 1/2 c sugar and cinnamon.
• Pour over crescents.
• Bake at 325 degrees for 10-20 minutes, until golden.

Hope you enjoy these!!!

Pumpkin Eater

One thing I love about Fall is the excuse to eat pumpkin 24/7 in all kinds of fabulous forms and fashions. This is a new recipe I am trying today and I cannot begin to describe how wonderful the kitchen smells at this very moment (They're obviously in the oven as I blog!).

The recipe online can be found here: Swirled Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, at room temperature

Directions

1. In a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until smooth. Beat in 2 eggs, pumpkin, and 1/3 cup water until well blended, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
2. In another bowl, mix flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and nutmeg; stir or beat into butter mixture until well blended. Spread batter evenly in a buttered and floured 10- by 15-inch baking pan.
3. In a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese, remaining egg, and remaining 1/4 cup sugar until smooth. (I added a dash of vanilla extract here! yummm!)
4. Drop cream cheese mixture in 24 evenly spaced 1-tablespoon portions over batter. Pull a knife tip through filling to swirl slightly into batter.
5. Bake in a 350° oven until center of pumpkin batter (not cream cheese mixture) springs back when touched, about 30 minutes.
6. Let cool completely in pan, then cut into 24 bars.

This recipe even included the nutritional information! (Though, is it really necessary to be aware of caloric intake with desserts? I'd rather be blissfully ignorant! :) haha)

Amount per serving

• Calories: 164
• Calories from fat: 38%
• Protein: 2.6g
• Fat: 7g
• Saturated fat: 4.2g
• Carbohydrate: 23g
• Fiber: 0.4g
• Sodium: 130mg
• Cholesterol: 45mg

Poached Peaches

While Brad and I were in Ohio, my Aunt raved about this dessert she loves to make. Being a wine connoisseur herself, I was confident this recipe would be a hit. It's a Rachael Ray creation and was super easy to follow!

Ingredients
3 cups red wine
1 cup sugar
1 cinnamon stick
2 whole cloves
2-3 whole peppercorns
1-2 strips lemon rind
2 large peaches, halved and pitted
1 pint vanilla bean ice cream
1 container whipped cream
Freshly grated nutmeg to garnish

Directions
Combine wine, sugar, cinnamon stick, cloves, peppercorns, and lemon rind in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, stir to dissolve the sugar and reduce heat to a bubble.

Bring the poaching liquid to a boil and cook on high heat until reduced to a syrupy texture. Add the peaches and poach the fruit, spooning the syrup over them occasionally, until you can pierce the peach easily with a knife. (About 5 minutes)

Put peach halves in 2 dessert bowls. Top with ice cream, whipped cream, and drizzle with the poaching syrup. Grate a little nutmeg over the top.

We had four peaches instead of two, and used a whole bottle of wine because after 3 cups theres just a tad bit left in the bottle. Since we had the extra peaches and wine, we added a little bit more sugar and an extra clove.
For finishing touches we didn't add the whipped cream and we had peach ice cream instead of vanilla bean.

This recipe is delicious! Thanks Aunt Paula for the recommendation!

-D

Chocolate Mousse

Nothing new to update, so here is one of my favorite dessert recipes. This comes from a chef friend!

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup water, divided
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream, whipped

Directions:

1. In a microwave or double boiler, heat chocolate, 1/4 cup water and butter until chocolate and butter are melted.
2. Cool for 10 minutes.
3. In a small saucepan, whisk egg yolks, sugar and remaining water.
4. Cook and stir over low heat until mixture reaches 160 degrees F, about 1-2 minutes.
5. Remove from heat; whisk in chocolate mixture.
6. Set saucepan in ice and stir until cooled, about 5-10 minutes.
7. Fold in whipped cream.
8. Spoon into dessert dishes.
9. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
10. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream!*

*10 is an option, but one I wouldn't leave out!

Enjoy!
-D