Nutella Banana Bread

My roommate went out of town last week and left me with a bundle of ripe bananas that she didn't want to waste. My initial reaction was to make banana bread. I mean, what else are you going to do with all those bananas? Make a smoothie? Or ice cream?! (I just searched my own blog for "banana" and realized I actually have a number of banana posts... Who knew?!) I hastily looked up a recipe at work and found this Nutella one. I went with it and the rest is history.

Ingredients (1 9-inch loaf)

2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups mashed ripe banana
6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup Nutella

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat together the mashed banana, butter, sugars, and vanilla until creamy and well combined (about 2 minutes). Beat in the eggs until combined (another 2 minutes). Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the flour mixture until just combined.

Divide the batter in half into another bowl. Stir in the Nutella until combined.

Lightly grease a 9" loaf pan. Alternate spoonfuls of the two batters into the loaf pan. Swirl the batter gently. Bake for 1 hour or until well risen and a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out with moist crumbs attached. 

Original recipe from Sugarplum. 

San Diego-Style Fish Tacos

These fish tacos are crazy delicious. Like, oh my gosh why am I just now discovering these delicious. The sauce is seriously where it's at. It's so good you'll be going back for more. It's got a nice smokiness with a little kick. So so good. The tilapia is also killer. You really can't go wrong with any of it.

I have to give my friend Sharon a shout-out for passing along this recipe. Thanks, man! I messaged him earlier this week for a recipe idea because I was actually in the mood to cook (gasp) and let's face it, I needed to post something on this blog. So ta-da!

Here's a quick snapshot of what I've been filling my life with instead of cooking: biking, art, birthday fun times, delicious restaurant eats, random trip to Iowa/Minneapolis, more art, warm weather, more biking, and lots of caramel apples. (Roommate introduced me to coconut pecan caramel apples from Mariano's and we're obsessed. We might have a problem... but an apple a day keeps the doctor away, right?)

Spinach & Ricotta Stuffed Shells

March is marching right along. I've been alternating between work events and traveling around the country for the past two weeks. It's been tiring but super fun because I got to spend time with my parents and my bff Bevin in Boston. I also made a brief appearance in St. Louis, just in time for a record breaking snow storm (12.4 inches in one day!). 

This is me shoveling the driveway in St. Louis for the first time ever. Hopefully the last because that is no picnic.

Shells shells shells. Stuffed shells are awesome. This is a pretty classic recipe. I added garlic salt to give the ricotta more flavor (and because I love garlic). You should also check out the Mexican Stuffed Shells for more deliciousness. 

Ingredients (serves about 3)

15 jumbo pasta shells

12-oz marinara sauce

1 15-oz container ricotta

1 cup baby spinach, chopped

1/4 cup grated parmesan

salt & ground black pepper

fresh ground garlic salt

1/4 cup grated romano

Instructions

Set an oven rack to the highest position and preheat oven to 400F. Cook the pasta shells according to the package directions (~10 minutes). Drain and let cool. 

Spread the marinara sauce on the bottom of an 8x8 glass baking dish.

In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, chopped spinach, grated parmesan, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper, and a few shakes of garlic salt. Spoon the mixture into the shells and place them on top of the marinara sauce.

Sprinkle the shells with the grated romano cheese. Bake until heated through, 10-12 minutes. 

Recipe adapted from Real Simple.

Honey Banana Smoothie

I'm so ready to spring forward. Winter has failed me as there hasn't been enough snow/the opportunity for me to go sledding. I'm over it. I want it to warm up so I can run along the lake and get back to my bike rides. Who's with me??

This drink is for sunnier times. The orange juice adds a nice fruity kick to the drink. It almost makes you forget there's banana in your glass. Point is, this is delicious and refreshing.

Ingredients

1/2 cup low fat milk

1 banana

1/2 cup orange juice

1 tsp honey

1 tbsp ground flax seed
dash of cinnamon

Instructions

Mix all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. Serve cold.

Recipe adapted from Shutterbean.

Garlicky Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Major struggles over here. Shortly after my last post I got sick again with strep and then got a sinus infection the day after I got off my meds. For just about all of January and February I gchatted my friend Miriam with my daily symptoms, concerns, and paranoia. She's finishing up a physicians assistant program so I like to think I'm helping her practice/prepare for life after school. I'm healthy now, maybe, sort of.

I haven't been cooking too much, or at all, lately because I've been eating so much delicious food around town. My Sunday dinner plans got cancelled so yesterday I tried a garlic brown sugar chicken recipe. Let's just say that died in the oven. So instead I bring you these garlicky roasted brussel sprouts! They're super delicious and super easy to make. 

Ingredients (serves 2-3)

15-20 brussel sprouts
1 garlic clove, minced
a couple tbsp olive oil
garlic sea salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

Rinse the sprouts well. Cut off the bottom of the sprouts and peel off the outer leavers. Slice the sprouts in half through the stem. In a medium bowl, toss the sprouts with olive oil and minced garlic. Season with garlic sea salt and ground black pepper. Place the sprouts cut side down in a lightly greased 8x8 baking dish. Broil for 5-7 minutes. 

Challah French Toast

I'm a little behind but happy new year! I had a pretty stellar holiday. Can't complain about three weeks of vacation, warm weather (hello, Florida!) and best friends.

Chicago apparently didn't get the memo about keeping the good times rolling because a few days after I got back I caught strep throat. It. was. the. pits. The moment I started feeling better, I ordered a pizza and breadsticks and stuffed my face. Eating never felt so good. I'm back to 100% and figured it was time to stock the refrigerator and start cooking.

I saw a french toast recipe in Food & Wine magazine's latest issue made with brioche that got me in the mood. TJ's didn't have any brioche (or berries!) so I settled for some challah. I googled a recipe and settled on this one. You can taste a little of the banana in this recipe. I adjusted the ingredient amounts a bit so the flavors may have been a little off, but still good! I topped my toast with blueberry preserves (not pictured) and recommend you do the same. Below is the original recipe.

Ingredients (serves 12)
12 slices challah, sliced 1 inch thick & in half for large slices
1 cup milk
3 eggs
1/4 cup flour
1 banana
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp Kahlua
1/4 cup unsalted butter

Instructions

In a blender, combine the milk, eggs, flour, banana, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and Kahlua. Blend for a few seconds until well mixed.

Pour the liquid into an 8x8 baking dish. Soak the slices of challah in the liquid for a few minutes, turning over once to soak both sides.

Heat your skillet over medium-low heat and grease it with 2 tbsp of butter. Cook each side of bread for 3-5 minutes. Re-grease the skillet after each batch.

Top with powdered sugar, maple syrup, preserves, fresh fruit, etc.

Original recipe from The Shiksa.

Christmas in Miami

We ate our way through Miami this Christmas...

Operation Food Truck Part 7: StopNGo & The Roost

I drafted this post back in October and thought I'd hit up another truck or two shortly after, but that never happened. I started tweeting a lot for work, which led to me avoiding Twitter when I wasn't tweeting for work, then I got busy, it got cold, and now it's the day after Christmas. 

I'm a sucker for pulled pork sandwiches. I love them and can't get enough of them. I feel bad ordering them all the time because I feel like I shouldn't, but I'm getting over that. I hit up StopNGo and asked for a recommendation. He said to try the pulled pork. Cha-ching. I killed it. 

Ice Cubed was hanging out next to StopNGo and I'm a sucker for dessert so you better believe I tapped that. I got the cap'n crunch ice cream squares and loved every bite. 

A couple weeks later I hit up The Roost (@TheRoostTruck). They do Southern comfort food. I got the biscuit with brisket gravy. It was coma-inducing good.