Recipe: Banana Scones

Scones and I have a passionate love affair. Ripe bananas turned into a tasty scone? Even better!

Ingredients

• 3 ripe bananas, slightly mashed
• 2 large eggs
• 1 stick of cold unsalted butter, diced (1/2 C)
• 1/4 C brown sugar, packed
• 1 TSP ground cinnamon
• 1 TBSP baking powder
• 2 C all purpose unbleached flour
• 3/4 C whole wheat flour
• 1 TSP pure vanilla extract
• pinch of kosher salt

When it comes to making the dough, I use my stand mixer but you can do this by hand too.

Directions

1. In a large bowl, add all of your dry ingredients. Flour, whole wheat flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Mix for about 10 seconds to combine.

2. Add in your cold diced butter. Use a pastry cutter, a large fork, or the paddle attachment on your mixer to blend the butter into the dry ingredients until it looks like super chunky flour. You still want to see large pieces of butter.

3. Mix in the eggs, vanilla extract, and banana.

4. Stir just until combined, it’s a bit sticky.

5. Form into a large circle about 1 — 2 inches high on a parchment lined baking sheet. I lightly wet my hands with cold water so my hands won’t stick to the dough.

6. Cut into 8 even wedges and separate the wedges so they are about 2 inches or so apart. If the dough is too sticky to move them after cutting, that’s fine, leave it be.

7. Place into the freezer for 40 minutes, this ensures a really awesome rise. While the dough is in the freezer, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

8. After the dough has been in the freezer for 40 minutes, bake in the 425 degree oven for 33 minutes (anywhere from 30 – 35 if you have a weird oven).

9. Let cool for about 10 minutes before enjoying!

Seriously. Love scones. You could replace the banana with another moist fruit mash like a berry for example. As long as it’s moist.

Totally laughing right now because I said “moist”. I have issues.

Let me know what you think!

Recipe: Banana Oat Muffins

When I noticed the bananas I bought turning a lovely shade of black, I knew it was muffin time! The batch is already gone and it hasn’t even been 24 hours yet. They have a really nice banana flavor, nice texture from the oats, and not super sweet but sweet enough (I find most muffin recipes use WAY too much sugar).

Ingredients

• 3 very ripe bananas, peeled
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 C milk
• 1/3 C canola oil
• 1 C unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/2 C whole wheat flour
• 1 C old fashioned oats
• 1/4 C brown sugar, packed
• 1 TSP ground cinnamon
• 2 TSP baking powder
• 1 TSP baking soda
• pinch of kosher salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. In your stand mixer or just a large mixing bowl, add in all of your dry ingredients (flours, oats, sugar, cinnamon, salt, baking powder and baking soda). Stir to combine.

3. Into the bowl, add all of your wet ingredients, (milk, oil, vanilla, bananas, and egg). Mix until combined and everything is moistened.

4. Evenly distribute batter into a 12-tin muffin pan that’s been sprayed with cooking spray.

5. Bake for 19 minutes.

6. Let cool for about 10 minutes and then enjoy with butter!

As always with most of my muffins, I enjoy these split with a bit of butter! They also freeze very well (if you ever have any left over!). Let me know what you think of them!

Recipe: Pumpkin Vanilla Bean Scones

I love scones. I love pumpkin. I love pumpkin scones.

Now when one thinks of a pumpkin scone, usually the first thing that comes to mind is the super sweet glazed dessert treat from Starbucks. I like my scones at home to be less sweet, a bit more moist, and enjoyed with some butter and a cup of pumpkin spice coffee (love my Keurig yo!)

Ingredients

• 1 C canned plain pumpkin
• 2 large eggs
• 1 sticks of cold unsalted butter, diced
• 1/4 C brown sugar, packed
• 1 TSP ground cinnamon
• 1/2 TSP fresh ground nutmeg (or 1/4 tsp for the pre-grated)
• 1/4 TSP ground ginger
• 1/4 TSP ground allspice
• 1 TBSP baking powder
• 2 3/4 C all purpose unbleached flour
• 1 vanilla bean, the seeds scraped
• pinch of kosher salt

When it comes to making the dough, I use my stand mixer but you can do this by hand too, I just like to use my stand mixer because I LOVE IT and IT LOVES ME!

Directions

1. In a large bowl, add all of your dry ingredients. Flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, salt, and vanilla bean seeds. Mix for about 10 seconds to combine.

2. Add in your cold diced butter. Use a pastry cutter, a large fork, or the paddle attachment on your mixer to blend the butter into the dry ingredients until it looks like super chunky sand. Except it’s not sand but BUTTER and FLOUR goodness!

3. Mix in the eggs and pumpkin.

4. Stir just until combined, it’s a bit sticky.

5. Form into a large circle about 1 — 2 inches high on a parchment lined baking sheet. I lightly wet my hands with cold water so my hands won’t stick to the dough.

6. Cut into 8 even wedges and separate the wedges so they are about 2 inches or so apart.

7. Place into the freezer for 30 minutes, this ensures a really awesome rise. While the dough is in the freezer, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

8. After the dough has been in the freezer for 30 minutes, bake in the 425 degree oven for 30 minutes.

9. Let cool for about 20 minutes before enjoying!

I love seeing the tiny flecks of vanilla! I love these split in half with a bit of butter and still warm from the oven. My boys LOVED these, I don’t think there will be any left for my husband!

Try out this recipe and let me know what you think!

Recipe: Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

I seriously can NOT WAIT for Autumn. Which bodes well for my family because I’ve been baking up a storm lately.

Today I had to bake another batch of these awesome Pumpkin Snickerdoodles because the batch I made on Saturday are all gone!

This is one seriously quick and easy cookie to bake so I won’t waste your time with meaningless things like words when there is pumpkin goodness to be had!

Ingredients

The Cookie
• 1 C canned plain pumpkin
• 1 large egg
• 2 sticks of room temperature unsalted butter (1 cup)
• 1/2 C brown sugar, packed
• 1 TSP ground cinnamon
• 1/2 TSP fresh ground nutmeg (or 1/4 tsp for the pre-grated)
• 1 1/2 TSP baking powder
• 3 3/4 C all purpose unbleached flour
• 3 TSP pure vanilla extract
• pinch of kosher salt

The Sugar Mixture for Rolling

• 1/3 C granulated white sugar
• 1/2 TSP ground cinnamon
• 1/4 TSP fresh ground nutmeg (or 1/8 tsp pre-grated)

When it comes to making the dough, I use my stand mixer but you can do this by hand too, the end result is still pure pumpkin awesomeness!

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until well combined and a bit fluffy.

3. Add in the egg, salt, pumpkin, and vanilla, scraping down sides of the bowl to make sure everything is well blended.

4. Mix in the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking powder.

5. Now a LOT of recipes will recommend chilling the dough. I say to heck with that! Who has time to wait an hour before baking off the nummy goodness?!

6. I use a 1 1/2 TBSP ice scream scoop because it’s super fun to use, otherwise just use a heaping tablespoon measure to scoop out a ball of dough. Roll the dough in your palms to make it more ball like.

7. Drop the ball of dough into the sugar mixture and roll around until all sides are coated in the mixture.

8. Place about two inches apart on a lightly greased baking sheet, I just spray with cooking spray or canola oil spray.

9. Now if you want a flatter cookie, smoosh the dough balls down with the flat end of a glass. Or don’t. It’s all good!

10. Bake for 14 minutes. When your timer goes off, transfer the cookies to a cooling rack for at least 15 minutes so you don’t bite into molten cookie lava.

You will totally feel hardcore accomplished because you BAKED SOMETHING TODAY! This recipe makes around 20 – 22 cookies. I wouldn’t know how long they would last because my family goes through them in around 48 hours or so.

Let me know what you think!

Testimonial from Nicolio83 on twitter: so good! I had to freeze some immediately so I wouldn’t eat them all. Definitely making these over and over.

Recipe: Apple Pear Crisp

With it being MERE DAYS away from September (more like two weeks but WHATEVER), I’m craving anything and everything that reminds me of Autumn and what better way to do it than with tasty apples and pears!

I bought my fruit from the farmer’s market but really, any mix of pears and apples will work well here. I made this fairly late at night so forgive the lighting.

Ingredients

Fruit Mixture
• 1LB pears, small dice
• 1LB apples, small dice
• 3 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3 TBSP brown sugar, packed
• juice from one lemon
• punch of kosher salt

Crisp Mixture

• 3/4 C unbleached all purpose flour
• 3/4 C old-fashioned oats
• 1/4 C brown sugar, packed
• 5 TBSP butter (I use “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Light”, calorie counting and all!)
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• pinch of kosher salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Toss all the apple ingredients in a bowl, stir well and let sit while you create the crisp topping.

3. In the bowl of a food processor (or in a bowl with a fork), toss in all the Crisp Mixture ingredients and pulse until combined.

4. Seriously. SO EASY. Just ponder doing this EVERY NIGHT! Because I do… because it’s SO EASY!

5. Pour the apples into your baking dish and spread the crisp mixture evenly over the top.

6. Bake for 35 minutes until the top is golden brown and awesome.

7. Let cool for 45 minutes otherwise it’s like molten lava. Top with vanilla ice cream and praise your awesomeness.

This makes about 8 servings, each serving is 1/2 C. Only 207 calories too which is fabulous!

I personally enjoy mine with vanilla ice cream. Something about the warm crunchy crispy goodness and the super cold vanilla ice cream…

I’ll probably make this again ASAP because I NEED more!

I bet this recipe is easily veganized AND the crisp topping goes for a wide variety of fruit crisps. I do it with peaches, strawberries, cherries, a mix of everything really!

Recipe: Turkey Caprese Wrap

For lunches during the week I normally make myself a large salad or a tasty wrap! I personally love using Flatout Bread because large tortillas tend to fall apart on me and have more calories.

For this wrap I used their Italian Herb variety because umm that’s what I typically buy!

I wanted to make a wrap using my awesome basil from my garden and instead of using tomato, decided some lovely red bell pepper would take it’s place (it’s red, it works!).

This recipe makes two wraps at 260 calories per wrap. I generally eat both wraps because I never remember breakfast these days and not much of a snacker either.

Ingredients

• 3 oz turkey breast
• 2 oz fresh mozzarella
• 1 C fresh basil leaves
• 1 medium ear of fresh sweet corn, cut off the cob
• 1/4 of a small red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 2 wraps (or tortillas if you prefer)
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Now, it’s fairly self-explanitory but you basically layer in this order:

1. basil

2. fresh mozzarella

3. red bell pepper

4. turkey

5. corn

6. salt and pepper

Seriously, I have to say there is nothing like homegrown sweet corn! One of the perks of living in Illinois! I buy all my corn from Goebbert’s Farm! I tend to just eat it raw because it’s just that sweet.

Anyway, you need to fold in the left and right side of the wrap and EVER so carefully, roll from the bottom to the top, hopefully the corn will stay in the wrap and won’t roll all over your counter!

SO good and filling and PORTABLE if need be! Sometimes if the corn lets me, I’ll place the wrap on my panini press to get warmed through although generally, I always use a ton of corn so I save the panini press for… panini’s.

Recipe: Spaghetti with Tomato Basil Cream Sauce

When the menu plan showed the simple word “Pasta”, I froze. Why wasn’t I more specific when inputting everything into my calender?! Did I have enough in our pantry to make something filling, healthy, AND delicious?

HELL YES!

Honestly, what can go wrong when you know there’s going to be fresh basil and fresh mozzarella all up in your mouth? Absolutely nothing! Since the basil came from my own teeny garden, even better (and rain soaked)!

I called my husband to see what he thought of a basic pasta dish and he said he wanted something a bit creamy and cheesy… so I thought what better to add to the mix than some for real (stamped rind and all) Parmigiano-Reggiano, a large shallot hacked to bits, and garlic minced up! I also decided to use some heavy cream to make it super rich and awesome.

The Ingredients

• 8oz dried whole wheat spaghetti
• 3oz fresh mozzarella, cubed
• 1oz Parmigiano-Reggiano (Parmesan), grated
• 3 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1 large shallot, finely minced
• 2 cups canned crushed tomatoes
• 3 TBSP heavy cream
• 2 cups fresh basil leaves
• kosher salt to taste
• fresh ground black pepper to taste

The Steps to Tasty Goodness

First thing is to get a LARGE pot of water on the stove to get boiling so by the time the pasta is cooked, the sauce is ready at the same time. Once your water is boiling, toss a handful of kosher salt into the water. You might be saying WHAT? A HANDFUL OF SALT?! Yes. People under-season their water when cooking pasta (or even worse, add oil) and that’s why you end up with a bland dish or over-seasoned sauce. Get the pasta into the boiling water, give it a good stir, and set your timer for ten minutes.

While that’s going, get a large skillet out, coat it with cooking spray or just a touch of olive oil and toss in your minced shallot and garlic. Cook for about two minutes on medium-high heat. Add your crushed tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Let simmer on low-medium heat while the pasta cooks.

When the timer on the pasta has two minutes left, add your basil, heavy cream, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and fresh mozzarella to the sauce. Turn off the heat.

Drain your pasta and add to the sauce, tossing gently until everything is combined.

This makes five 1C servings at 315 calories per serving. You can garnish with extra basil and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano if you want! Also you could add some grilled chicken or shrimp with this dish OR on the side a nice salad and some dinner rolls would work wonderfully too.

Recipe: Banana Strawberry Popsicles

This is SO easy, delicious, and healthy! Everyone loved them (especially my husband)!

This recipe makes four servings of a pretty good sized Popsicle!

Ingredients

• 1 — medium sized ripe banana
• 1/2 C frozen whole strawberries, softened
• 1 tsp agave nectar
• pinch of kosher salt

Combine all ingredients in a food processor (or mash in a bowl) and blend until smooth. Add to your Popsicle molds and freeze until firm.

I use our Zoku to make them, it’s freaking awesome!

Recipe: Four Cheese Macaroni and Cheese

This is a super delicious macaroni and very creamy! If you have leftovers, you can toss in some frozen peas, chopped fresh basil, and a chopped tomato to bulk it up the next day!

Ingredients

• 1 TBSP butter (granted I use a can’t believe it’s not butter)
• 1 TBSP all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 C low-fat milk (I use 2%)
• 2 C onion, finely chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 12 oz dried whole-wheat macaroni
• 3 1/2 oz Wisconsin Buttermilk Blue Cheese
• 2 1/2 oz Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
• 4 oz 2% cheddar, shredded
• 4 oz extra sharp cheddar, shredded
• kosher salt to taste
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat a 9x13 casserole dish with cooking spray. Cook your macaroni in a LOTTTTT of boiling, super salty water for 7 minutes. No more than that or you will end up with mushy macaroni in your final dish.
2. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Slowly add flour, stirring constantly with a whisk, cook for about 3 minutes. That’s our roux which will thicken the sauce. Slowly whisk in milk to thoroughly incorporate flour mixture. Stir in onion, garlic, and bay leaves. Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring frequently; remove from heat.
3. Combine blue cheese with about two-thirds of both types of cheddar cheese in saucepan and season to taste with salt and pepper; stir in macaroni. Pour macaroni mixture into prepared dish and sprinkle with remaining cheddar cheeses and the parmesan.
4. Bake for 25 minutes. Let stand for about 10 minutes before slicing into 8 pieces. Yields 1 piece / cup per serving.

So freaking delicious, filling, and overall it was fairly quick to make. Everyone loved it, even Sir Nummies!

Recipe: Penne with Shrimp, Peas, and Pesto

This is so lovely and tasty! I created this since I wanted the FLAVOR of risotto but didn’t have any arborio rice to MAKE risotto.

Ingredients:

• 5 C whole wheat penne — cooked
• 3 cloves garlic — minced
• 2 medium shallots — minced
• 1/2 C white wine
• 1 TBSP butter
• 1/2 C reserved pasta water
• 1 C frozen peas
• 12oz frozen shrimp — peeled and deveined
• 1/4 C prepared jarred pesto
• 2 1/2oz Parmesan cheese — weighed THEN grated
• Kosher Salt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• cooking spray

Directions:

1. In a large pot that’s been sprayed with cooking spray on medium heat, add your shallots and cook until soft, about 2 – 3 minutes. Stir often as we don’t want BURNED shallots!
2. Add your garlic and the white wine. Reduce the wine for about 4 – 5 minutes.
3. Add in your peas, shrimp, a bit of the cooking water from the pasta, and the pesto.
4. Cook for about 8 minutes, until the peas and shrimp are heated through. Add in your Parmesan cheese, butter, salt, and pepper to taste. Toss with the whole wheat penne.
5. This recipe makes 6 servings. Each serving is 1C.

Everyone, especially my husband LOVED this pasta dish. It’s really so simple to make as long as you have everything on hand.

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