Grandma’s Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Mar 27, 2014

I don’t like banana bread.

There—I said it.

Cue the shock and hand-wringing and exclamations of my lack of humanity. I’ve heard it all. But I still don’t like banana bread.

THIS banana bread, however, is pretty freaking awesome.

I got the chance to fly out to eastern Washington in late January with my dad to visit my Grandma and some other family on his side. I see most of them maaayyybe every decade, often longer, so it was a great chance to catch up and reconnect. My grandma had baked some banana bread that I ended up snacking on all weekend. It was dense and moist, like a flat little cake, and studded with chocolate chips. I loved it.

She gave me her recipe and I played with it a little, including using all whole wheat flour, leaving out the coconut (partly because I forgot), and using dark chocolate chips. I also baked it in two shallow dishes instead of making a regular-size loaf, which I think actually was the best thing I could have done for even cooking and keeping everything moist.

Best Buttermilk Pancakes Ever!

Dec 7, 2013

Paaaaaaancakes!

When they’re good (and not that terrible IHOP pre-fab stuff), they are one of my favorite foods. Hot and fluffy, a little gooey center, nutty whole grain taste, and slathered in peanut butter and syrup. It pretty much doesn’t get any better than that.

They’re also one of the easiest things in the world to whip up, and endlessly versatile. I realized a while back that—while I had posted whole grain pancakes, healthy apple cinnamon pancakes, ricotta pancakes, gingerbread pancakes, cinnamon polenta pancakes, and bourbon banana pancakes—I had never posted the recipe that started it all, my awesome basic buttermilk pancakes.

In all my focus on trying and posting new recipes, I’ve neglected some of my tried and true favorite recipes—my mom’s lasagna, simple coffee cake, chocolate chip cookies, and our family pancake recipe. It’s not an exaggeration to say we made these the majority of my sabbath mornings growing up. Occasionally we’d throw in some waffles, french toast, or biscuits, but mostly we made delicious, fluffy pancakes!

Does anyone else put peanut butter on their pancakes and waffles? We always did it, and I assumed everyone else did. But going to summer camp growing up, I found out that this was considered somewhat weird. It’s so good, you have to try it! It’s my goal to convert the entire Southeast to the gospel of peanut butter on pancakes.

No-Bake Cookies…a.k.a. Haystacks

Jun 27, 2013

Sometimes I forget how much I love these cookies. When I mentally flip through desserts I want to make, somehow I never think of these. Maybe it’s because the first couple times I made them, they never set up. I had this delicious, totally liquid, gooey mess, but no actual cookies. I finally figured out that I wasn’t boiling the mixture for long enough, which meant it would never set up.

ANYHOO…gooey cookie mess is all in the past, and these cookies are glorious and delicious and chocolatey and peanut buttery and awesome.

I made them last weekend because some friends had just bought a house and were moving, so I wanted to contribute to the “moving day lunch” but couldn’t actually help them move due to my bum hip. It was gross and humid this weekend, so turning the oven on didn’t sound fun, and a few of the people were gluten-intolerant, so I needed something gluten-free. After thumbing through and discarding a bunch of recipes, I all of the sudden thought of these. They were perfect for the occasion, and a great blast from the past as well.

Healthy Cardamom-Almond Peach Crisp

Jun 23, 2013

When I realized last weekend that the lovely farm stand peaches I’d bought needed to be used up sooner rather than later, I started thinking through my options and what I had on-hand. As I’ve mentioned before, my peach crisp is one of my go-to recipes, a lightly sweet, super summery dessert that checks all my major boxes. Healthy? Check. Perfect mix of spices? Check. Fiber & fruit? Check.

But I wanted to do something a little special, tweak my same-old recipe and try something different. And that’s when I landed on cardamom. The more I use it, the more I think that cardamom is a criminally underutilized spice in our cuisine. It’s most often found in Indian recipes (which I haven’t tried yet) and chai tea, but it’s also great combined with certain sweeter flavors—particularly pears, peaches, and chocolate. It’s fairly expensive (similar to saffron and vanilla), but a little goes a long way and so you can buy it once and have it on-hand for a long time.

So I added some cardamom to the crisp to give it a kick, as well as some almond extract which pairs wonderfully with both peaches and cardamom. Result? Delish!

I can’t wait to experiment with cardamom more, particularly with chocolate, as it’s so unusual—kind of like a mix between pumpkin pie spices and pepper.

Salsa!

Jun 8, 2013

My family LOVES salsa. Well…I should say that my dad and sisters LOVE salsa. My mom and I? Meh. Largely because we’re babies and find it too spicy.

The thing is, I really WANT to love salsa. It looks so good! It has tomatoes! You eat it with chips! All of these things indicate I should love it, but somehow I dip the corner of my chip in it, shake it off, and call it good. However, the crowds go wild for this salsa.

Seriously, it’s crazy. I was back in Kansas visiting my family last month for various graduations, and my mom made a big batch to take to my cousin Janelle’s party. We got there, set it out on the counter next to another big Tupperware container of salsa, started going through the line. And in LITERALLY FIVE MINUTES it had been totally devoured. I’ve never seen anything like it.

The best recipes are handwritten…

So rest assured, this is not just me saying it’s the best salsa, it’s a whole bunch of salsa-crazed outsiders.

Healthy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Apr 3, 2013

First, while we’re on the subject of “healthy”, don’t forget that the healthy living challenge and sweet slow cooker giveaway is available through next Monday (April 8th), so go here to enter to win—super easy, no personal info or signing up for anything required.

So, cookies. Cookies are the perfect fast, easy dessert, something you can just whip up if company comes over unexpectedly. And my mom’s chocolate chip cookie recipe is endlessly adaptable. You can add any kind of chips, make the cookies regular or peanut butter or chocolate, add oatmeal or nuts, or pretty much tailor them to your exact specifications. We’ve also made a lot of small tweaks over the years to make it as healthy as possible.

I am all for dessert, but if I have the opportunity to make it healthier, I’ll totally take that bet. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, we have a fair amount of diabetes and such in my family, so we started making a lot of healthy swaps when I was a kid, like honey instead of sugar, whole wheat flour instead of regular, that kind of thing. But interestingly, our cookie recipe stayed mostly the same until only five or so years back, when we started playing around with substituting oil for the butter-flavored Crisco it called for. It’s taken some experimentation, but it’s a lot better for us and I think we’ve got it down!

Bookmark this baby, because this recipe will be your new best friend.

Unleavened Treats: Cottage Cheese Rolls

Mar 31, 2013

Since I was such a tease with the leavened cake the other day, here’s a real unleavened treat. Though we’re close to the end of the Days of Unleavened Bread, there are still a couple days left to make this DOUB classic. I know some people already use this recipe (because I’ve seen them talk about it on Facebook), but if you haven’t then you must immediately!

This was my mom’s go-to recipe during this season. I never could understand why people would want to eat matzo, because it’s like eating cardboard. These, on the other hand, are moist and buttery and chewy and flavorful and FULL OF AWESOME.

This recipe is really versatile. You can make it as-is, substitute whole wheat flour for part, add savory or sweet flavors, make rolls or roll out flat. I mixed it up a lot this week, using some rosemary, some cinnamon-sugar, and some whole wheat flour.

Giovanna’s Family Secret Tiramisu Recipe

Feb 18, 2013

Tiramisu is possibly the best food in the world. Sweet, cold, creamy, with the bite of coffee and liquor. But I rarely have it, and almost never make it. I’ve found that restaurants in the U.S. get something wrong (not sure what it is—too bready? flavor’s off?) and while actually making tiramisu isn’t difficult, finding the right ingredients IS.

My host mom from when I studied abroad, Giovanna, was the best cook, and gave me her family’s recipes for her pasta con pesto and tiramisu. And all of the sudden last Saturday night, I got it in my head that I HAD to make it for dinner the next evening. However, none of the stores had lady fingers (I called around), so I made my own. See separate post, the recipe I used is here. It was surprisingly easy. Or you could substitute madeleines or pound cake or angel food cake (the first would be better than the other two).

I even made myself my own little personal-size serving in a cute little ramekin that I could eat that night! 

Healthy Pear-Cranberry Crisp

Jan 6, 2013

I’ve never been a “New Year’s resolution” kind of girl. I figure if I see a change that needs made in my life (eating healthy, weight loss, being nicer), I should do it right away—whether it’s January or August. But I know that lots of people have taken the opportunity of a new calendar year to re-evaluate their lives and make healthier and smarter decisions.

So this one’s especially for you people. Because I’m all about eating healthy and making smart choices, but I’m also all about the fact that sometimes you Just. Need. Dessert. And I’m here to show you that dessert doesn’t need to be a diet-breaker.

I love sweets, but I tend to love things that are lightly sweet, not super rich. My two favorite desserts to make for myself are my healthy peach crisp and a healthy pear-banana pie with streusel topping (with whole wheat crust). These rely on the sweetness of the fruit, whole wheat flour, oats, oil, and the flavor of all the spices.

I used an adjusted version of my peach crisp, and changed up the flavors a little. I had a few pears sitting around and was looking for something to do with them. Pears are my absolute favorite fruit (when they’re actually ripe) and there are so many interesting flavors that partner well with them. This recipe is very forgiving, you can change up amounts and flavors to suit your needs or the size of your pan (it could even make a delicious pie with my aunt’s whole wheat and oil pie crust).

Aunt Kristy’s No-Fail Whole Wheat Pie Crust

Dec 27, 2012

When I meet people who don’t love pie, I’m not quite sure how to relate to them. I mean, what’s not to love? Flaky pie crust? Check. Completely versatile filling that can change to your heart’s desire? Check.

But here’s my secret. I actually love healthy pie crust the best. You can take your butter and lard crusts, your white, flaky layers. Because my Aunt Kristy’s whole wheat and oil pie crust is the bomb.

The pictures below have very simple directions with them, but if you scroll down to the bottom I’ve provided VERY detailed instructions, including for different sizes of pie pan (or 9×13 if you’re making a pot pie) and topless or covered pies. I’ve also included a link to download a Word document you can easily print as well.