French Toast Banana Fosters!

The other morning my boyfriend and I decided to try something new, we usually do a big Saturday morning breakfast and decided on french toast, but I wanted to get more creative then that! So what we ended up with was something similar to Banana Foster topping, minus the rum flavoring. 


French Toast:

• Wheat bread (avg 2 slices per person)
• eggs (I had 5 eggs for every 8 slices)
• splash of milk
• cinnamon

Crack the eggs in a bowl, splash some milk in there, and with a fork pop the yolks and blend it (Kinda of like you would scrambled eggs). Next sprinkle a hefty amount of cinnamon into the eggs mixture. Heat up a pan with a little butter on there, then dip a slice of toast into the egg mix, make sure you get both sides covered and be generous with the cinnamon (each time I soak a slice I sprinkle more cinnamon in)! Throw the slices on the pan and lets the eggs on the outside cook up, then flip! Now on to the good stuff :)

Banana Foster Topping:

• 6 bananas (not quite fully ripe)
• 1 cup butter flavored pancake syrup
• 1/2 cup corn syrup (I used light, I don't know if it matters)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• Sliced almonds (I think traditional is pecans but I like almonds)

Pour the syrup, corn syrup, and brown sugar into a saucepan and stir over high heat until a boil starts. Stir after the boil, then turn down to medium heat and let it sit for a little bit. Slice up the bananas then stir them into the syrupy mix! And throw in those almonds too. Mix it all up, then spoon it over your french toast and there you have it! :)

(LOL Excuse the paper plate, I had enough dishes to do!!)

Quick n Easy Italian Meatballs

So its been a few days since I have posted- Busy week of classes before break kicks off! I also haven't been cooking all that much. However, the other night I decided to make some meatballs which I haven't done in a long time! I based this recipe off of one of the one's my dad taught me way back when!


Easy Italian Meatballs:

• 1.25 lbs ground beef
• 1 slice of bread (I used the end piece)
• 1 egg
• 1-2 Tbs. Zesty Italian Dressing
• 1 Tbs. Ketchup
• Small sweet onion (minced)
• Italian Seasoning
• Salt and Pepper
• Marinara Sauce
• Onion diced

Throw it all in the bowl (Except the Marinara Sauce and diced onion). Hard to mess these up! Once all the ingredients are dumped into a large bowl, take your hands and dig in-start mushing it together, blending it, and stirring it all up with your hands (be sure no jewelry is on! You don't want raw ground beef or egg on it!) Once it is blended enough, it will seem a bit damp which is good because they stick together better I find! Roll them out into about and inch and a half or so balls and throw them on a sauce pan. (Makes about 24 at this size.)

Once they are all rolled up and ready to go, turn the pan on to high to let it get hot, then once you start to hear that awesome sizzle, go ahead and crank the heat down to medium or medium high and cover. Now I let them cook a little too much on the first side, so just let them brown up then turn them with some tongs. They take about ten minutes to cook all the way through. Maybe twelve minutes- I didn't time. Whoops! Once they are cooked, I took them out of the pan to drain the excess fat because I can't stand the grease! 

Now go ahead and throw them back into the pan with some marinara sauce or whatever sauce you like! I added extra diced up onion because we are onion freaks at my house! And I season to taste. Boil up some linguine, spaghetti, or pasta and enjoy! :)

Stuffed Burgers and Baked Sweet Potato Fries

It was finally a beautiful day, feeling like spring, so I was set on grilling. Of course, as soon as I go to start up the grill... down pour! Just my luck, but because I was determined to have a grilled burger I pulled out the umbrella and grilled some stuffed burgers. I took a combination of a recipe my dad used to use and just flipped the burger literally inside out. Both the burger and fries are really easy to make. More preparation than anything else!

Stuffed Burgers:
Makes 4 large (5-6 in) burgers

• 1.75 lbs ground beef
• 1 egg
• 1 small onion (minced)
• Ketchup 
• A1 sauce 
• Worchestire sauce
• garlic, salt, pepper, oregano
• Muenster Cheese (or any that you like on a burger)

Get a big bowl, dump the meat in there and break it up. Everything goes in the bowl except the cheese. So go ahead and throw in the egg, the minced onion, the garlic, salt, pepper, and oregano. With the ketchup, A1 sauce, and Worchestire sauce I never measure, but if I had to guess maybe 1-2 Tbs of each. Lets start out with one tablespoon, mix everything up and check the consistency. If it seems a little dry, add another tablespoon of each, and so on until the meat mix is moist and easy to manipulate, but not runny or too soft to where the patties don't hold their shape. After the mix is combined well, make eight thin patties. (I ball them up then press them down and shape the edges.) Now, layer the cheese onto four of the patties. Be generous with the cheese because I wasn't and the cheese looked non existent when we bit into them! But I swear it was in there (haha). So be generous. I used sliced muenster and only put one in each, I would go with two. After you get the cheese on four of the patties take the remaining four and pair them up (one with cheese and one without). MAke sure the cheese is in the middle, form the two patties together and shape them up. Now go to the grill and throw them on! I won't tell you a time to do them because it depends if you like them charred (like my mom!) or medium or even rare. So play this one by ear. Then your inside out stuffed burger is complete!

(Sorry for the lack of pictures, but with raw meat on your hands its hard to snap photos!)

Baked Sweet Potato Fries:

• 5 large sweet potatoes (this fed four with some extra so judge it by how many you're feeding)
• Olive oil
• Salt, pepper
• Cinnamon

Preheat to 425! (I always forget this step so I try hard to remember and throw it in first in the directions!) The only long and hard part of this is seriously the chopping, the rest is a walk in the park! Depending on the type of fries you like, cut them based on that, but I enjoy the little shoe string fries not the big ole steak fries so that's how I made them. Cut all five potatoes into thin strips, throw in a large bowl, pour enough olive oil to coat them, but do not drench them or have them swimming in oil! Be generous with the salt and pepper, stir it up. At this stage it should look like this:

Lay them flat across baking sheets, I had to use two because mine are fairly small, but they should lay flat and maybe overlap some just no layers of fries! Once on the baking sheet, I sprinkled a generous amount of cinnamon, then they went into the oven to bake. I had them in for thirty minutes because I wanted them crispy, flip them half way through so you get even cooking. And that is that! You are finished with these too! 

(Again, sorry for lack of 'end product' pictures, but I was feeding hungry and impatient people! HA!)

Caprese Balsamic Shells

Another recipe from this weekend was a dinner I made for my sister, boyfriend, and I. My sister and I could not decide what we wanted but knew we were craving fresh basil, tomatoes, and mozzarella. I knew my boyfriend wouldn't eat just that so I threw in some balsamic baked chicken! Here it goes:


Caprese Balsamic Shells:

• 1 box whole grain medium shells
• 1 lbs. chicken breast (give or take)
• 1 16oz pack of fresh mozzarella
• 1 bunch of fresh basil
• 5 vine tomatoes (you could do grape tomatoes too)
• garlic, salt, pepper to taste
• Balsamic vinegar
• Creamy Balsamic dressing

This is another easy recipe, the hard part is the fact that the chopping is a little tedious! But really, very very easy and quick.

Heat the oven up to 375 to start. Put a pot of water on the stove to get the boil going. The pack of chicken I had consisted of three breasts, which I butterflied so that they would cook in half the time. I laid them on a baking sheet, covered them in the balsamic dressing and some of the vinegar, sprinkled garlic, salt, and pepper on them, then let them bake. I would say baking time was 15-20 minutes, but definitely check it for yourselves! Once the water is boiling, throw the shells in and allow them to cook. In the meantime, chop up the basil into small pieces, slice the tomatoes into thin slices (if using grape I would cut them in half, but some like them whole!), and dice the mozzarella cheese into bite size squares. Let them sit aside while the chicken and shells finish cooking. You have a minute to breathe! :) Drain the shells when they are done, take the chicken from the oven and let sit for a few minutes (but don't let them get cold. Maybe 3 minutes). Dice the chicken, put the chicken, tomatoes, basil, and shells all back into the pot you boiled the shells in. I then poured a mix of the balsamic dressing and vinegar into the pot (I don't do straight vinegar because it is too strong, I like how the dressing still is flavorful but tones down the tang in the vinegar). Mix it all up, season to taste, then throw the cheese in and serve. Easy as that! 

(Sorry that the pic looks a little sloppy, but it's hard to show all the colors of the dish in a red bowl...)

"Fake Me Out" Monkey Bread

It's been a busy few days! I haven't had time to sit down and write or anything lately! But I have been cooking up a few different things, so be prepared for a couple new recipes :)

My first one is what I like to call Fake-Me-Out Monkey Bread... It's really easy and much less time consuming then if you had to make your own dough and what not. So here we go!

       Fake-Me-Out Monkey Bread:

• 2 packs of Pillsbury crescent roll dough
• 2/3 cup of butter
• 2/3-1 cup brown sugar
• Cinnamon

Not too many ingredients for this delicious guilty pleasure!

So to start, go ahead and preheat that oven to 375. Melt your butter completely then pour it into the bottom of a 8 (I think mine was actually a 9) inch pan. Take your brown sugar, break it up and sprinkle it all over the bottom into the butter. The sugar should soak up most of the butter, there shouldn't be a layer of butter after this step, it should be a runny sugar mixture (kind of). That's why I said 2/3-1 cup, it could even be more. I just played around with it. Then be very generous with your cinnamon and sprinkle that all over the sugar butter bottom! Next take the dough our of the wrapping, unroll it, and take scissors, a knife, or just your hands and cut each crescent triangle into three pieces (shape doesn't matter). As you cut the pieces roll them, fold them, or whatever you want and layer them into the pan. Like so...

After you fill the pan completely, I like to sprinkle just a little cinnamon over the bare tops so theres a little flavor there too! Now pop this into the oven and back until it is a nice golden brown on the top.

Then go ahead and take a plate or whatever you plan to serve it on, put it over the top of the pan, and flip it. It's now finished! And you can go enjoy this melt in your mouth cinnamon sugary goodness!

Chicken and Spinach Stuffed Shells

HAHAH The monkey's face really just cracks me up every time I see this picture. I am not really sure why I find this so funny, but I do! My sister and I get a kick out of it every single time we see it! I thought it may bring some others a laugh and thought I would share! How do they capture moments like these?! Priceless!

Now down to business-onto the recipe from last night... I made this for everyone and they all seemed to really enjoy it! I would of liked it to be a little more chunky and taste the pieces of chicken more, so if you want go ahead and increase the amount of chicken! I kind of advise it :) Unless you aren't a fan of meat.

Chicken and Spinach Stuffed Shells:

• 1 box of Jumbo shells
• 1 lb of Chicken breast, shredded
• 2 cups Mozzarella
• 2 cups Italian Cheese
• 4 cups Ricotta cheese (I used fat free)
• 1/2 cup Cream Cheese (I used 1/3 fat)
• 2 Tbs Sour Cream (take it or leave it. Its just for a tangy taste)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup Spinach (I wish I would of added more so maybe do a cup)
• 1 small onion, minced
• salt/pepper (to taste)
• powdered garlic/oregano/basil (to taste)
• 1 jar of marinara sauce

To start, I boiled my chicken in salt and pepper water while I also boiled the box of shells. (Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.) While these were cooking, I combined the cream cheese, ricotta, and sour cream until it was blended well. Then I put in 1 and 3/4 cups of the Mozzarella and 1 and 3/4 cups Italian Cheese (give or take- the extra is for the top so do however much you want). I then incorporated one egg and the whole onion into the mixture. I hand shredded the spinach into just various different sizes, they cook down so a little big is ok, and then threw them in and stirred. I added the salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, and basil- I was heavy handed and put a lot, but I love a lot of flavor too! After that is all combined I sat it aside and checked the chicken, once it is cooked fully, I let it cool for just a minute or two so that I wouldn't burn my fingers when i went to shred it! I took two forks and just started tearing into each piece! After it was shredded completely, I sat it aside for another minute or two; you don't want it too hot or it could heat the egg in the mixture. Drain your shells and run a little cool water over them so you can hold them, again without burning your fingertips! Go ahead and throw the chicken into the cheese mixture and stir it up well. Now it is finally time to assemble!! This is the fun part! With a 13x9 inch pan (I actually had a few extra shells and used a small pan on the side, so play it by ear and use any size you think works best for you!) put a few spoonfuls of marinara on the bottom of the pan to prevent the shells from sticking. Then take a shell and stuff the mixture on into it. I probably had anywhere from 1-2 Tbs of mix in each, it may of even been more. (Remember I am not a measuring type of person ha!) Line them all up in the pan, top it off with the Marinara sauce and sprinkle the remaining shredded cheese over it. Then pop that sucker into the oven for 30 or so minutes, or until the cheese starts to crisp up! Finally, they are ready to eat! Enjoy :)

Banana Somethings

Why is this so true? Hahahah. I mean of course it is great to find your perfect guy, but come on... eating whatever you want and not gaining weight? Awesome! Unfortunately that is not true for us all though... So tonight I decided to make a tasty, and somewhat healthy, dessert for the fam and I. I am not sure what to call them so I am going with Banana Somethings.

Banana Somethings:

Total time: 15 minutes

Serves 6

• Keebler Mini Graham Cracker crusts (6 pack)
• 1 pack of Jello Banana Cream Pudding mix
• 2 cups of milk (I used 1%)
• Light cool whip
• 2 Bananas
• Chocolate syrup (Caramel would taste pretty good too!)

These things are so easy and quick to make, they were also gone fast too! I first made the banana pudding by simply following the instructions on the box (whisk 2 cups cold milk with packet) then I let it sit for about 10 minutes. In the meantime I cut up the banana into slices, unwrapped the mini crusts (I just found them for the first time today and they are the perfect size! I was gonna try pie crust in mini dishes, but these were so much easier!), and started to assemble. I put one layer of banana slices at the bottom of the crusts, then I layered in some pudding, topped it with cool whip (or if you like regular whip cream, go ahead!), stuck a few more banana slices on there, drizzled a little chocolate syrup and bam there ya have it! Easiest dessert to make and it tastes something like a banana cream pie.  My picture didn't turn out as well as I thought, but you get the gist of it :)

P.S. Thanks again to Fitness Pal for providing nutritional facts-- We have a total of 265 calories per serving!