Healthy banana pancakes

One of my pledge sisters, Sara, has a great food blog and she posts recipes to instagram every day. Good thing I was on it this morning (sorry Jaren, I will try to go on more often) because I found a recipe I needed to replicate right away. I adjusted a tiny bit and made a larger batch. They are so good. So so so good!

These are super healthy and packed with protein from the cottage cheese, egg whites, and greek yogurt. Plus the oatmeal instead of flour is great because it's a super food!

Ingredients:
1 ripe banana

3/4 cup egg whites

1 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup nonfat cottage

1/2 cup nonfat Greek yogurt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

2 Splenda 

Directions

1. Blend everything! Love me my vitamix. Of course I didn't think to take picture of the ingredients or of the batter until it was almost finished. But here is what it looked like:

2. I used a small skillet and did one pancake at a time. That recipe made about 6 pancakes. I used a little canola oil and then pam spray, poured batter into medium high skillet (I didn't measure, just so that it covered), and flipped when it bubbled.

I also added some cinnamon, because more cinnamon is almost always good. 

These were so good that Charlie was literally eating them off the plate I kept by the stove while I was still cooking the rest. No even stack - since some had these bites taken out of them!


I asked him to keep me some so he just took a full one off and ate the rest. Didn't feel like smiling, maybe next time he will when he sees I posted these pics of him on the blog :-)

He said they taste more like crepes than pancakes. I grew up eating blintzes (crepes) and not pancakes. In fact, I don't really love pancakes because I feel like you need so much syrup to make them taste good. These were super moist and needed no syrup at all.

Do you all like Charlie's hair? He shaved it the other day and I love it. Story on that coming in a few weeks.

And just because, here is a shirt that I should no longer be wearing but did anyway. Look how the white one does not even come close to covering my belly. I guess at 9 months pregnant I shouldn't attempt non maternity clothes, whoops!

Enjoy the pancakes/crepes, guilt free, and without even needing syrup on top :-)

Challah Recipe

Remember forever ago when I told you I'd share an amazing challah recipe? Well here it is!

I originally got this recipe for a brioche dough from my pastry chef friend Stacy. I adjusted it several times until it eventually came to this.

Ingredients:

4 cups bread flour
1 cup 2 tbs milk (I have used vanilla almond milk and it's worked, but regular milk is preferred)
6 tbs butter
1.5 tsp dry active yeast
3 tbs sugar
2 tbs honey
1 egg
3/4 tbs salt (or you can just do two teaspoons if you are lazy)
egg wash (1 egg with about a tbs milk)

Directions.
1. If you have a bread machine like I do, dump everything except the egg wash in a bread machine, and let it run through the "dough" cycle. If you do not have a bread machine, dump everything in a stand mixer (or a big bowl and a hand mixer, although that is really not preferred). Most people have all sorts of rules when it comes to yeast and the order you put things in, but honestly, I have made this so many times, and it works if you just dump it all in!

If using a mixer, let it run with the dough hook for 20 minutes, then let it rise for about 45 minutes, and knead it again with the dough hook for 20 minutes.

2. After your dough has been kneaded and risen etc, shape it into three equal parts, and roll out into "logs". 

If you want to be creative and add things (like raisins - gross, or white chocolate chips - yum!), you can roll it out with a rolling pin, sprinkle your fun secret ingredient, and roll back up into a log. Shape the logs into a braid, making sure to pinch the two ends so they don't separate.

3. Let the braided dough rise for about an hour (you can cover with a moist paper towel). While it's rising, preheat the oven to 375.

Not sure if you can tell how much it rose in the picture. But about an hour is good. 

4. Cover with egg wash using a pastry brush, making sure to get in between the braided parts.

5. Bake for 35 minutes. Let cool for as long as your patience will let you before digging into it. 

And it's a fact, ripping challah bread makes it taste a LOT better than slicing it.


Enjoy!

"Leftovers" Healthy Fried Rice

Having a few leftovers on hand and a broken microwave leads to creative cooking. We had a bunch of brown rice left over, some crock pot chicken thighs, and peas and corn. So I decided to make leftover fried rice out of it.

This is going to be a very rough "recipe" since I just tossed things together.

I labeled this healthy because I used brown rice, and much less oil than normal fried rice! I would normally use breast but we had the leftover thighs that I needed to use.

Ingredients:
leftovers!
We had:
-brown rice (could be white but then this would be less of a healthy fried rice). Probably had about 3 cups of cooked brown rice
-veggies - we had corn and peas, but you can add whatever! toss in onion, broccoli, carrot, etc.
-cooked chicken  - we had about 2.5 thighs left over, and I shredded it up with a fork
-1/4 cup of egg white
-olive oil, pam spray, and soy sauce or teriyaki sauce

1. Heat up some olive oil (about 2 tbs) in a sauce pan, and add in all the ingredients except the sauce and egg. Stir around until it is warmed through and a little crispy, about 3-5 minutes on medium high.
2. Push the rice etc to the sides of the pan, and spray some pam or non stick spray in the middle. Add in the egg white and let it cook for about 3 minutes. Break it up with a wooden spoon and stir it all in.
3. Add whatever sauce you want - you can even add some sriracha. I wanted to use up some soy sauce so I added some honey to sweeten and thicken it up (basically teriyaki is soy sauce and sugar).

Enjoy your very quick leftover lunch that didn't need a microwave!

Sausage corn dip

In honor of super bowl (which I didn't really watch and barely saw commercials for....total disappointment), I decided to make a super unhealthy corn dip. I got this recipe back when I lived in the south (because let's face it I would have never cooked something like this before).

It's one of my favorites, and goes great with corn chips, or just with a spoon like the glutton I am.

I decided to "healthy" it up a bit with 1/3 lower fat cream cheese (ummmm even though I added an entire stick of butter later)

Add two cans of rotel, undrained (or store brand like I used)

And a "lot" of cumin. I have no idea how much. Start with a teaspoon? Go up to a tablespoon or two? Just base it on your preference.

Ahhh, the stick of butter I mentioned. Toss it in there.

I bought two small bags of corn - one yellow and one white. I could have probably sipped the white because really, you can't taste the difference, and I prefer white corn when you appreciate the corn. I microwaved the frozen corn and tossed it in.

And then sautéed up three of these "lower fat" sausages. Because, ya know, I needed to counteract that stick of butter.

Crumble it up and toss it in . I had already put half the crumbled sausage in when I realized I forgot to snap. Not food blogging or months has gotten me out of the habit!

Yes it looks kinda meh, but I promise, it's amazing.

Leave it in your crock pot for about an hour on high and then on warm for the rest of the night.

Enjoy with corn chips!

Ingredients:
-2 8-ounce packages of low fat cream cheese, at room temp
-1 stick of room temp butter (I'm sure you could use less or more)
-2 cans of undrained rotel
-cumin (lets go with 2 teaspoons, but use at will)
-1 pound of frozen corn, microwaved, (or you'll have to increase your crockpot time to let things heat through)
-3 (or more) links of sausage - I bought the sweet kind but you can use the hot kind as well.

Directions:
1. Put everything except sausage in a crockpot on hot and stir it up.
2. Cook sausage per package directions (I like it to get really browned). Crumble it up. Toss in crockpot.
3. Mix it all up and let it heat all the way through. Enjoy with corn chips!

Shrimp Risotto with Strawberries

When Charlie was in Italy they went to a restaurant (before I came) and he had the "risotto du jour". He LOVED it and wrote it down (with the restaurant name) and somehow my brilliant husband didn't realize that it meant "of the day". Oh Charlie. Well, I had him describe it and had never heard of anything like it, so I tried to copy it anyway!

His description was risotto with tiny shrimp (I used regular sized) and strawberries. Sounded weird, but my husband who would never have eaten fish while growing up or taste anything "weird" LOVED this dish - must be a winner.

I decided to go for it. I love making risotto. It's not hard and you get such a creamy yummy dish with no cream. The key is to get short grain arborio rice and stir, stir, stir. The starches of the rice rubbing against each other get released (according to Alton Brown) and it creates the creamy texture.





I don't know why there are raspberries in that pictures - I didn't put them in the risotto. Maybe it was a snack during cooking?

Have one saucepan with chicken broth simmering, and one for your risotto:





Ingredients:
-1 cup of arborio rice
-1 quart of chicken stock
-2 tbs butter
-1 tbs olive oil
-1 small chopped onion
-1/2 cup dry white wine
-1 pound of baby shrimp, raw
-2 cups of chopped strawberries


Directions:
1. Melt your butter and oil until they are hot, and then add the onion. Cook the onion for about 5 minutes on medium heat. Add in your arborio rice and stir, so that the rice "browns" a bit.
2. While your onion was cooking, heat a saucepan with your chicken broth. When it is simmering, reduce the heat to keep the simmer.
3. Add your wine to the rice, and stir until it dissolves, and then begin adding simmering broth, one ladle at a time. After each ladle, stir stir stir, until the stock dissolves.
4. Keep the heat on medium or medium-low, and keep stirring, adding in more broth as it gets absorbed, until you've added almost all of it in.
5. When you have about 1/2-1 cup left of broth left, add in your strawberries and shrimp. Serve immediately.

You can top it with parmesan cheese if you want!

Okay so here was my mistake, in retrospect, but I gave you the corrected recipe up there. I broiled my shrimp, because I wanted them to have that charred taste. But, I should have known - shrimp cook REALLY fast so then they almost overcooked when I added them into the risotto (I did this at the VERY end), but still. Next time, I'm going to go buy those teeny shrimp, and add them in with 5 minutes left of cooking time. Or, use regular size shrimp, but chop them up, and add them into the risotto raw with 5 minutes left of cooking.

I added salt, pepper, and basil to the shrimp, sprayed with pam, and broiled them:




Joanna and oscar had a snack of the broiled shrimp until it was ready:




Three plates with it and some corn, and hot dogs for Aubrey, who I was watching for Victor and Katy that night. Kinda funny how its a similar color to the risotto!

Charlie liked it!


Aubrey was more interested in Maya:


And taking care of the baby:


Okay - that's the sweetest thing ever. She is a little mama already.




Wait actually maybe that is the sweetest thing ever.
Whoops I digressed from shrimp. Enjoy the risotto!

So you found a 2.5 pound bag of spinach in your fridge that's about to expire....don't fret!

Whoopsies! I meant to post this yesterday through the blogger app but it just saved as a draft.

Have you ever bought a bunch of produce, and a week later realized you have exactly 1.4 days left of use out of it? If you haven't, stop being my friend. Just stop, you are too perfect. 

I REALLLLLLLY try to make an effort to eat what I have and buy what I need, but every once in a while, I get super excited at the 13 pounds of snap peas and mushrooms at costco and what can I say? I go a little overboard. 

I have a green smoothie for lunch just about every day.

This was the first thing I did when I got back from Italy. Charlie promptly responded with "sweetie if you want I can just cut the grass and you can have it for free". Whatever, I love them, and I think they taste fruity and delicious.

Anyway, this week, I may or may not have found 2.5 pound bag of spinach in my fridge. Unopened. Expiring relatively soon. Two Point Five Pounds. Is this real?

Well, I can't have enough green smoothies to finish that off, so I decided to make "sag aloo" - an Indian dish for spinach and potatoes. Except I didn't use potatoes. So I made sag. I think. Or aloo. Whichever one means spinach.

Our players:

I sauteed a small/medium onion in some olive oil and salt, added the ginger, a teaspoon of each spice, and then about a pound of the spinach in batches. I didn't measure, but it was about half the bag, or less than half the bag. A lot of spinach - use your judgement, and if you don't want to, use a pound. As I added in the spinach I stirred it to get it "wet" with the oil, and then used my immersion blender to chop it up.

Add in more spinach, and do it again.

My pound of spinach significantly shrunk down to a size I could fathom a family of 4 eating.

Funny side story about my ginger:


I buy a hand of ginger, and I chop it up like shown above, and keep it in the freezer. I mostly use it in my smoothies but sometimes add it to whatever. Well, a couple of weekends ago I was sewing a valance for upstairs at my parents' house and my mom decided to make a smoothie. Unfrotunately, she thought my ginger was bananas, and had a not-so-great experience with ginger. Was pretty funny though.

My version of "sag aloo' minus the "aloo" is great alone, with rice, topped over salmon, or even used as a "relish" for burgers.






Ingredients:
-1 chopped onion, sauteed in olive oil
-1/2 inch of minced fresh ginger
-1 pound of spinach
-1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
-1/2 teaspoon turmeric
-1 teaspoon cumin
-1 teaspoon garam masala
-1/2 teaspoon coriander

You can also add a can of chopped tomatoes to this, or some red kidney beans, or lentils. Yummmmm. You can also toss some chicken in it if you wanna please your man (well my man, who thinks no meal is complete without chicken).

Anyway, I am off to get an easy night. Charlie is finally off midnight shift and I get to watch tv in bed with him. A perfect Friday night!

Shabbat Shalom Y'all!

PS - the challah was so good tonight! Recipe soon.

Flourless fudge cookies (gluten free)

One of our good friends, Hila, has Celiac's, so I am always looking for gf recipes for her. (the "our" in this is actually me and my mom - she works with my mom but is closer to my age and has two little ones). Okay moving on. It was her birthday and my mom asked if I could make her something. I told her that I can't really imitate any regular recipe to make it gf - it just wouldn't work right (like a bread or my cookies). I could either buy a mix or find something flour-less. Flour-less does not necessarily mean gluten free, but generally other ingredients are safe. I think that there may be like, certain vanilla extracts with gluten, but I don't think the organic one I buy has it.

The cookie were super yummy! I ended up making another batch for my friend Sara's birthday, even though she's not gf at all!

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar

1 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs whites

Preheat oven to 350.
1. Stir until combined - order doesn't matter. 
2. Use a tbs scoop and space them on greased sheets. They'll spread so make sure there's enough space between them.
3. Bake for 8 min (I always rotate halfway).

They'll get kinda glossy and crack a little.

I didn't take pictures during the process, but my friend Ali who also has celiac's decided to make them, so I asked her to take a pic for the blog.

Unfortunately, they spread kinda funky due to the use of spoon. I HIGHLY recommend using this scoop - I have it in 3 sizes and it's amazing. It's my go to gift for a baking-savvy friend.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0001MSEXW

The one I use most frequently is the yellow one. I use it alllll the time. I would actually grease it before serving because this batter is so sticky. 

The final product. 

Enjoy!