"Cookie" Pancakes

Oh, hey. As you can tell, school is keeping me busy - too busy to update the blog. It's time-consuming and tough but I'm loving it. Anyway, I had this post in draft-form for ages and because one of my new friends from school asked for the recipe, I figured I might as well post 'er up!

Oatmeal chocolate chip banana pancakes. We make these nearly every Saturday and Sunday morning because we love them so much. They're delicious and moist and the melty chocolate chips in them make them taste like cookies. They also fill you up for a good long time! We got the recipe here. We use coconut oil instead of canola and sunflower seed butter (or any other nut butter) instead of almond butter but otherwise we make them exactly as written. They take a while to cook because they're so dense. I really can't explain how heavenly they are. It's saying something about how good they are that Jason eats them even with chocolate chips (he usually doesn't like chocolate chips in anything)! You really ought to try them - I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed!

In the Kitchen

More healthy culinary expeditions since the last post:

• Whole wheat buttermilk blueberry banana muffins
• Pasta with chicken sausage, white beans, spinach, and cheese
• Beet and orange arugula salad with apple cider vinegar, olive oil, and dijon dressing 

• Grilled blackened salmon served over a black bean, red onion, and grilled corn medley (for my dad's birthday)
• Potatoes au gratin (for Dad's birthday)
• A triple berry trifle (for Dad's birthday)

who needs a trifle dish when you have clear tupperware? classy.

• Black bean veggie burgers (these were delicious but need some serious alterations with the filler - they were more like mush than burgers but were really tasty as part of a spinach salad with mango and tomato)
• Chicken enchiladas
• Zucchini and cheese enchiladas

one of us doesn't like scallions & cilantro. he shall remain nameless...

• Chocolate chip banana muffins - I've made these a bunch of different times with some alterations each time. Jason loves these to take for breakfast to eat on his walk to the bus each morning which is why I keep making them (his without the chocolate chips, of course). Yesterday I feel like I perfected the recipe - I'll share it soon!

• Tilapia tacos
• Mexican chicken crock pot dish
• Barbacoa in the crock pot served with brown rice (with corn, black beans, onions) and topped with cilantro, tomatoes, scallions, and avocado.

who needs chipotle?

• Chewy chocolate chip granola bars
• BBQ pineapple chicken
• Zucchini fritters (they fell apart a little - I need to learn the proper ratio of flour/egg here!). I didn't make marinara sauce but I thought next time I'll make some to dip them in. Yum.

• Chicken salad
• Zucchini chocolate chip muffins 
• Pumpkin spice chocolate chip cookies

We loved the grilled blackened salmon and made it again when we were at Jason's parents' house since they have a grill. Someday we'll do it again at home but we don't have a dang grill. I keep searching on Craigslist for a mini charcoal grill - I would kill for a grill! We've also made the enchiladas twice. We have plans to do coconut chicken salad again tonight (from the last post). We're clearly finding favorites!

Whenever we're together for dinners (which is rare - usually only once a week), Jason helps me in the kitchen which makes things so much easier, faster, and more enjoyable. He's a great sous chef. On the days I'm alone, I just prep his dinner for him before I go to work so it's ready for him when he gets home! It makes me happy to cook for him because he has been super busy lately with school and work (I'm so proud of him). He has also been taking his turn in the kitchen by making breakfasts on the weekends before I have to go to work and not waking me until it's nearly done which I LOVE. I could get used to that! He's made a lot of whole wheat banana chocolate chip waffles and pumpkin pancakes. They are so delicious.

Our dishwasher bit the dust a couple of days ago... so there is a lot of hand-washing going on around these parts lately with all this cooking and baking (boo...)! The plumber came out yesterday but he couldn't do anything... sigh. Next stop - appliance dudes! Wish us luck that it's fixed soon... Of course I'll continue cooking anyway!

Food, Glorious Food

I have found a new hobby. 

In the past week and a half I have cooked: 

• Zucchini turkey burgers with caramelized onions, tomato, and spinach;
• Brussels sprouts with turkey bacon and garlic; 
• Arugula salad with watermelon and feta (pictured); 
• Mini quiches with caramelized onions, zucchini, tomatoes, cheese, and turkey bacon;
• Mini quiches with spinach, cheese, and turkey bacon; 
• Brown fried rice with onions, scallions, carrots, edamame, and egg;
• Spicy mayo shrimp;
• Garlic lime shrimp;
• Roasted summer veggies: yellow squash, zucchini, tomatoes, onion, and garlic;
• Stuffed mushrooms with turkey bacon, spinach, and cheese (pictured); and
• Coconut chicken salad.

And I have baked:

• An oatmeal bake with bananas and blueberries;
• Oatmeal cookies - chocolate chip, cranberry, and blueberry varieties (pictured);
• Blueberry scones (some with chocolate chips);
• Banana muffins (some with chocolate chips) - these are dangerously delicious... I might have eaten three in one day...; and
• Chocolate banana souffles.

Jason made banana chocolate chip waffles for me one morning this past weekend too. I had plans for other meals but two people can only eat so much. I started cooking to make healthier meals for us both and despite the fact that a lot of it doesn't sound all that healthy, it all is - at least when you give yourself the right serving size. I think the most fun part was finding ways to make every one of these things healthy (turkey alternatives to beef, wheat flour instead of white, less butter and more alternatives, etc). A lot of these were recipes that I found online, but I made my own twist on most of them.

If you had told me two months ago that I would love to cook and bake if I had free time, I would have laughed at you. But now that my schedule has changed and I have free time during the day, I'm loving it! Now if only I had space to entertain (and someone to clean the rest of the apartment I've neglected) so I could feed more people!

P.S. How do people cook with online recipes? This is the first time I can understand the usefulness of an iPad because my MacBook takes up half of our counter space (I wish I was exaggerating). But I still won't buy an iPad if that is the only use I get out of it. Maybe I could try my Kindle's awful "experimental" browser? Anyone have any other ideas?

P.P.S. I have another post lined up for Friday, so come back now, ya hear? I hope to be updating a bit more soon... and doing a bit of catching up!