Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

I've been making this bread for years now and it turns out perfect every time. If you have bananas sitting on your counter that are about to make their way to the trash can - STOP! Grab these other ingredients (that you will likely have on hand) and make this. Then eat it for breakfast, a snack, slice it and take it to your small group on Sunday morning or keep a loaf for yourself and give the other to a neighbor. But whatever you do, don't throw away those bananas! :)

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

3 1/2 Cups Flour
3 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Baking Soda
2 Cups Mashed Ripe Bananas (around 4 bananas)
2 TBSP Lemon Juice
3/4 Cup Oil
1 1/2 Cup Sugar
3 Eggs
3/4 Cup Milk
6 oz. Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (I use mini chips)

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside.

With mixer, blend bananas and lemon juice until pureed. Then mix in the sugar, oil, eggs and beat until light and fluffy. Add milk until just mixed in. Add dry ingredients in a few batches, blending well each time before adding more. Stir in chocolate chips.

Grease 2 loaf pans and bake at 350 for 50 min-1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes and then remove from pan. If not eating these immediately, cool completely before storing. I usually wrap well in plastic wrap and then cover in foil.

Copycat Chipotle Grill Burrito Bowls

Since moving to Indiana, I've discovered a yummy spot to eat called Chipotle Grill. If you've never been to one, think Tex-mex version of Subway. Just with MUCH fresher and better ingredients. So, their burrito bowls are just amazing. They are a bowl full of burrito ingredients like cilantro lime rice, black beans, seasoned chicken (or steak), cheese, lettuce, guacamole, etc. - just without the tortilla shell. And let me just say - the cilantro lime rice is divine. Totally makes the dish. I just love them and I told Mike that I was pretty sure that I could recreate that same meal at home. And tonight, I did just that. I wish I had a picture to share with you - but we all ate it so fast, that I didn't think about a picture until I was cleaning up the kitchen. Oh well - you'll get the idea. It's a bowl full of the following things - and before you dismiss the recipe because it seems like a lot of different steps, just trust me, they are all easy to do and it comes together quickly!

Cilantro Lime Rice

1 Cup Basmati Rice
2 Cups Water
1 tsp. Salt
1 Lime, zest included
3 tsp. Vegetable Oil, divided
3 TBSP Fresh, Chopped Cilantro

Add rice, water, salt and 1 tsp. oil to pan. Bring to boil, stir and then cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Once liquid is absorbed, fluff rice with a fork, add remaining 2 tsp. oil, lime juice and zest and cilantro and stir well.


Seasoned Black Beans

1 TBSP Olive Oil
1 Small Onion, chopped
1 Clove Garlic, minced
2 Cans Black Beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 Cup Water
1/2 tsp. Chili Powder
Dash Cayenne Pepper
Salt to taste
Juice of 1/2 a lime

In a pan, add oil, onion and garlic. Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes or until onion has become translucent. Add water, black beans and seasonings to pan, bring to a boil and then simmer for 10 minutes or until liquid is almost gone. Stir in lime juice.


For my chicken, I took 3 chicken breasts and put them on a cookie sheet. Pour a small amount of olive oil on both sides of each breast (enough to lightly coat) and sprinkle with the following spice mix: 1 tsp. cumin, 1/2 tsp. garlic powder, 1 tsp. chili powder and 1/2 tsp. salt. Bake breasts at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Shred meat and set aside to assemble burrito bowls.

To assemble bowls, add rice to bottom. Next add seasoned black beans, chicken and then top with any (or all) of the following items:

Guacamole
Cheese
Sour Cream
Pico
Shredded Lettuce
Salsa

ENJOY!!!!

Baked Green Beans

Somehow I just noticed that my recipe blog hasn't been updated for 8 months. I rock.

My mom made these green beans while we were on vacation and I may never make green beans another way ever again. These things are awesome - a must try!

Baked Green Beans

Fresh Green Beans - washed and ends trimmed (I'm not sure how many I used - probably 2 large handfuls)
1 envelope Dry Ranch Dressing
Olive Oil to coat

Preheat oven to 350.

Put beans in bowl and coat with olive oil. Sprinkle ranch dressing packet in bowl and toss to coat evenly. Spread on cookie sheet and bake 20-30 minutes.

Apple and Rosemary Pork Roulade

Don't let the word 'roulade' scare you off of this recipe. Basically, that's a fancy way to say "a bunch of stuff rolled up in a big hunk of pork". But, roulade sounds so much nicer, right?

I found this recipe in a magazine and went to the store that day to buy the things I needed to make it. Gotta say, it ranked right up there as one of the best dinners I've made in a long time. All of us inhaled it. And inhaled it so quickly that I didn't even think to snap a picture of it until it was completely gone. Sorry, next time I'll be more proactive.

This dish screams fall to me. Pork, Apples, onion, garlic and served along side a big scoop of stuffing - oh man, I want to make it again tonight.

Here's what you do. (Note the things that I did differently in parenthesis out to the side of the recipe).

Apple and Rosemary Pork Roulade

1 tsp. Olive Oil (I used probably 1/2 TBSP)
1 Medium Onion, Chopped
1 Fuji Apple, peeled and chopped
2 tsp. minced fresh garlic
1 TBSP Cider Vinegar
1 tsp. Fresh chopped rosemary (I used dry and probably used 1/2 tsp)
1 (1-1.5 lb.) pork tenderloin, trimmed
Salt and pepper
Cooking Spray

For Sauce:
1/3 Cup chicken broth
3 TBSP Apple Cider (not vinegar)
1 tsp. Dijon Mustard

Preheat oven to 425

Slice pork lengthwise, cutting to, but not through the other side. Open and lay flat and then place on saran wrap and pound out until it is all the same thickness. Salt and pepper meat and set aside.

Heat large oven proof skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil, swirl to coat. Add onion, apple and garlic to pan and saute 5 minutes or until tender. Add vinegar and rosemary; cook 1 minute.

Spread apple mixture evenly over meat and roll up from the long end. Securing with twine or toothpicks. Wipe pan clean and spray with cooking spray, heat back to medium high heat and brown meat well on all sides for about 4-5 minutes total. Place pan in oven and cook 15 minutes or until no longer pink (15 min was perfect for mine). Remove from pan, place on plate or cutting board and cover with foil. Let stand while making sauce.

Return pan to med-high heat and add, apple cider, chicken stock and mustard and a dash of salt. Bring to a boil and whisk pan drippings with sauce for 2 minutes. Serve over pork.

Photo Found Here


**I served it with chicken flavored Stove Top Stuffing and cooked green beans and sliced potatoes together as our veggie. Also, I made the sauce, but the pork was SO tender and flavorful that you could totally skip that step. If you love a light sauce, by all means, make it, but if you would prefer to not mess with it, you won't be missing much.

My Mexican Concoction

A couple nights ago I was talking to Mike and the girls about a dish at a local Mexican restaurant that seems to be a fan favorite. If I remember right it's called the Steven Special. It's rice, chicken and cheese sauce. Mike said he gets this same thing at another spot and it's called the Emily Special. I told him that I was sure I could make my own version and tonight I was on a mission to make the Chrissy Special.

I'm not a huge fan of the Spanish Rice that you make out of the box, but I thought it needed to be a little more seasoned than just regular old white or brown rice. So I whipped up my own rice, bought a rotisserie chicken and made some queso and I gotta say, the whole family loved it. Here's what I did:

For the rice:

2 Cups Brown (or white) Instant Rice - cooked according to box
Then stir in the following:

Juice of 1 lime
1 Tbsp. Chili Powder
1-2 tsp. Ground Cumin
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Garlic Powder

I then took the skin off a rotisserie chicken and used the white meat, chopped/shredded it up and placed it on top of the rice bowls.

For the queso, I bought the new White Velveeta cheese and used 16 oz. and 1 can of Rotel, heated them through and topped the rice bowls with a couple spoonfuls of the cheese sauce.

My husband heated up some soft taco shells and filled them with the mixture, I ate mine just as a rice bowl and had chips and queso on the side and my girls used tortilla chips to scoop up their mixture. All great options and I think this will be something we put in a regular rotation! So good and much healthier than what you get at the restaurants!

Summer Spinach Salad

If you are like me, salads and summertime just go together. They are light, cool and refreshing on those hot nights that you just don't feel like turning on the oven. This recipe is from a sweet lady that I workout with - she brought it to a potluck and it was a huge hit. It would be great alone for a simple lunch or dinner or as a side with a big meal.

Summer Spinach Salad

1 bag or tub of fresh baby spinach
Fresh Mushrooms, chopped (how ever much you prefer)
6 slices of bacon, crumbled (I used the fully cooked kind that you just have to heat through for a minute or two in the microwave)
Red Onion, finely diced

Dressing:

1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
3 Tbsp. Apple Cider Vinegar
1/3 Cup Sugar
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Dry Mustard
Dash pepper

Mix dressing, shake well and chill for several hours. When ready to serve, combine salad ingredients, pour dressing over and toss well.

Baked Crab Rangoon

Is anyone out there still even following my blog?! :) I am back from a 2 month blogging drought - well, mainly I've just been too busy to try new recipes the past couple of months. I've been making a lot of meals that are either quick and easy or meals that I have made so many times that I don't have to even think about it while I'm cooking. But, this week, I finally feel like life has slowed down enough to search out and try some new recipes and I made these baked crab rangoon tonight with my Sweet and Sour Chicken and boy, were they GOOD!!! You are saving calories by not deep frying these yummy little appetizers and could even save more by using light cream cheese. But, what person in their right mind would want to do that?!

These would be great as a side with homemade Chinese or even as an appetizer for a party or get-together with friends. We dipped ours in the extra sweet and sour sauce from the main course. Absolutely delish.

Baked Crab Rangoon

2 tablespoons sour cream
8 oz cream cheese, softened (reduced fat is fine)
1 scallion, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup crab meat, drained
wonton wrappers

Preheat oven to 400. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, mix the sour cream, cream cheese, scallion, garlic, ginger, soy sauce and sugar together until well combined. Fold in the crab meat.

Lay a wonton wrapper on your work surface. Place about 2 teaspoons of the filling mixture in the center of the wrapper, then brush sides with an egg wash (egg beaten with a small amount of water) and fold over on the diagonal. Press around the filling to remove air pockets, then press the sides to seal the wrapper tightly. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling.

Spray the tops of the wonton wrappers lightly with nonstick cooking spray. Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and crisp.

Makes 20-24