Banana Bread Breakfast

You:  Banana bread for breakfast?
Me:   Why not!
You:  Because it's not healthy.
Me:   This bowl of goodness is :)

Eating healthy doesn't have to be hard, nor does it have to be bland. This was simple and I got two servings out of it at approximately 250 calories per serving with nuts and around 200 calories without nuts.

1 frozen banana (doesn't have to be frozen)
1 cup flake cereal (I found a gluten free one but Corn Flakes are just as yummy)
1 cup milk (I used a light soy milk, but any type will work)
2 TBS walnuts (optional and almonds would make a good choice too)
2 scoops of vanilla whey protein (1 tsp of vanilla extract would do the trick too)

Blended it all together in a food processor. I let mine sit for a little while to get the flakes soft but if you want a little crunch eat immediately.

Note on food processor - I recently bought a Ninja because it was cheep (around $20) and looked like it would do the trick. It was a good call, I use it for all kinds of recipes, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants something small and affordable.

Kitchen Sink Chicken Soup

For those who don't already know - I don't feel the need to measure most things while cooking... Baking on the other hand, I measure slightly more often. For this chicken soup recipe I don't have how much of anything, I firmly believe that's up to you. Be a Rebel. Do it your way.

Ingredients 
1 whole chicken, rinsed with skin and all. (You could use any combination of parts of the chicken)
1 medium onion (I like to cook with red onions, but feel free to use the onion of your choice)
carrots (I don't measure, as many as you like)
Celery

Seasonings (use any combination of the following seasoning to your preference and fresh or dried shouldn't make much difference for this recipe.)

Salt
Pepper
Fresh grated (ginger past would work good too)
Rosemary
Parsley (I personally never use parsley because I don't think it has any flavor)
Thyme
Bay leaf (I normally find I have to remove the bay leaf after cooking if I am using the whole leaf)

Other optional ingredience 
Jalapenos
Mushrooms
Any other veggie you like
Noodles or Rice (Don't forget the extra water if cooking with the chicken. The lazy way is to cook, then add to soup, which I'm known to do, but you don't get the flavors cooked into the rice or noodles)


Throw everything into a pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for an hour. (The more water the more broth you can make. The extra can be frozen for later use if there is too much)

After it's done cooking I take out the chicken, remove the skin and bones, and pull/cut up meat. Breast meat could be saved for salads while putting the rest of the meat back into the soup. You can also chill the broth and skim off the fat if you are looking to reduce calories.

Other option would be to put it into a crock pot - haven't tried that yet because it would take longer to cook.

Easy Peasy!

Why I Bake

I bake when I’m stressed. I bake because it makes people happy. I bake because I love it. I will bake to prove I am better at it. Baking gives me a sense of pride; it’s something I’m good at.

I showed up to a new semester of class and somehow my baking skills got brought up. Everyone was talking about my strawberry pie; I will be making that again soon. About the food I use to bring into class.

Showing up to class, to work, or to someone’s house with homemade cookies or a pie makes people feel good. It’s the same with sending cards. I send cards for many occasions because people like to get mail; people like mail that isn’t bills even better. With email and the Internet though, people don’t send cards as much. I’m one of the only people I know who sends card. Christmas cards, birthday cards, valentine’s cards, thank you cards, I’ve even been known to send thank you cards to people who come over and eat a dinner I cook.

The main reason I cook and bake is to make people happy. Chocolate chip cookies are ready for class as I write this.

Sugar, Sugar or The Best Gift Ever (Sugar Cookies)

Star Wars and sugar cookies, what could these have in common? My Brother. To be more accurate his birthday/Christmas gift. My brother, like most brothers is hard to shop for. He either has it or doesn’t need it or he wouldn’t find it as entertaining as I do. But this year I found the perfect gift. Star Wars cookie cutters. He does love his Star Wars.

But wait, he’s also got two small kids at home and I can’t imagine him or his wife rolling out sugar cookies. This leaves the loving sister, me, to make the cookie dough, roll it out, cut the shapes, package them up, and then ship them half way across the country. I hope he knows how much love I have to do all of those things. Braving the post office alone to get the package shipped is a nightmare. This is also the first time I’ve made rolled sugar cookies. I cut them as a kid with my grandmother but this was a new experience for me to make the dough.

It turned out well. The true test is if he gives me an A+ but he’s always complaining that my cooking is to health. Okay, I’ll admit to using whole-wheat pastry flour but only because my roommates flour has bugs in it. Such grosso-bunnies. I was already half done with the cookie dough so I just used my flour. Yo bro, real sugar and butter! Here’s the recipe.

3 cups flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup white sugar

½ cup powdered sugar

1 cup butter

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 Tablespoons coffee creamer, or half-and-half. I used all natural sweet-cream flavored coffee creamer

1. Preheat oven to 375°

2. Cream together butter and sugars

3. Add egg, vanilla, and creamer

4. Start mixing in flour ½ a cup at a time. After 1 cup flour add salt and baking powder, then finish adding flour. At some point you will have to put the mixer up and start using your own arm power with a spoon.

5. The dough should be thick in consistency. Now through it into the refrigerator for an hour, or overnight.

6. Flour surface, grab a chunk of dough, and knead it in your hands to get it warmed up a little so it doesn’t crack when you roll it out. Use a rolling pin to roll it out and cookie cutters.

7. Place on ungreased pan and back 7-9 minutes.

8. Now you have sugar cookies.

Strawberry Heaven

As strawberry season rolls through California lets give it up to this amazing fruit.  It is high in fiber, second only to the blueberry in antioxidants, a great source of vitamin C, and that sweet juicy flavor is an unforgettable staple of fresh goodness.

Lets talk strawberry pie.  There are a lot of variations out there so this is a recipe you can go buck wild with.  I’m sticking with a low fat, low sugar but substituting back to the real deal is easy breezy.

Basic must haves include strawberries, cornstarch, sugar and pie shell.

Pie shells include gram cracker, a regular flour and butter piecrust, or my new find crescent roll crust. For both the regular and the crescent roll crust precook it.  I used a crescent roll crust.  Unroll, press it into the pan, bake according to the directions on the package, and let cool.  The crescent roll crust is a wonderful flaky light crust that works well with fruit pies and the reduced fat kind can be used.

For the filling throw strawberries, cornstarch, sugar, and water into a pan and boil until thick.  This doesn’t take a lot of heat or very long. 

Start with a bunch (1-2 cups) of strawberries fresh, frozen, puréed or solid

1-4 tbsp cornstarch

¼- ¾ cup sugar

1 cup water

For the sugar I used 1 ½ tbsp Sun Crystals that is a sugar/stevia blend. I also mixed in 1 tbsp sugar free strawberry jello and some recipes call for vanilla cook and serve pudding.

My extra was a cream cheese base.  So before you pour the mixture into the pie curst mix up cream cheese, sugar, and a little milk. Spread on bottom of crust and put some fresh strawberries down for a little extra fresh kick.  To lower the fat in recipes don’t use the fat free cream cheese, it just doesn’t work out, but the 1/3 reduced fat is amazing for cooking and baking.

Cream Cheese mixture-

4 oz cream cheese

1-2 tbsp sugar

1-2 tbsp milk

Blend together and you’ve got a cream cheese base for any fruit pie and it makes for a good fruit dip. 

Choco Cookies

Sugar Subsitute

What ever your reason for low sugar cooking it's a challenge.  From forgetting to check the measurements on the Splenda brown sugar mix, which I've done and it's inedible, to the way foods settle when substituting Splenda for sugar.

The easiest way to lower the sugar is to just put less in.

The Splenda baking blends also work good but are not sugar free.

If using just Splenda keep in mind that you need to lower the amounts by at least a 1/3 other wise fluff baked goods will settle heavy on the bottom leading to a bad consistency.  

I once tried to use Splenda when mixing up a glass of absinthe.  The Splenda turned into a jelly like goo and it never did mix up into the water.  Conclusion here is that if you are drinking absinthe use real sugar.  With other alcoholic beverages don't mix Splenda directly with the liquor.  Mix it with the other ingredients first.