Oil free chocolate banana bread swirl

I had a bunch of frozen bananas (brown, in the skins, and in my freezer cause I won't throw out bananas.  They're just so useable!).  I knew I wanted to make banana bread today, but I wasn't sure what recipe.  My friend Shannon, who keeps a fabulous vegan blog (killer bunnies inc), had posted about a marbled banana bread she made and it looked fabulous, but I hate cooking with oil.  I know it can make foods yummier, bananas, in my opinion, are yummy and wet enough to skip the oil.  So I went on a hunt for an oil free recipe, which I found here.   I doubled it because I had 5 bananas and mashed them all.

So here the pictures, the bread is oven and smells awesome!

1.  Start with 1.5 cups of smashed banana.  I doubled the recipe - so everything you'll see here is twice as much as I'm putting in the directions.

Above:  About 3 cups of mashed bananas.  I took the frozen banans and put them in the microwave for about 1:30, peeled them, and mashed them with a potato masher, and then fork.

2.  Add in 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup milk, 2 tsp vanilla extract.

Above:  'Nanas mixed with milk (I used cow, recipe called for non-diary), brown sugar, and vanilla. 

3.  In a separate bowl mix together 1.5 cups flour (since I was doubling, I did 2 cups white flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour), 3/4 tsp baking soda, 3/4 tsp salt.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and stir until totally mixed.  Original recipe says not to stir too much or the dough will be tough.

4.  In a coffee cup, mix 3 Tbs unsweetened cocoa powder with 3 Tbs boiling water.  Mix with a fork until totally smooth.

5.  Take 1 cup of the batter and transfer it to another bowl.  Add in the cocoa powder mixture.  Stir until incorporated. (see below)

Above: Banana bread mixture with cocoa mixture.

6.  Add 3 Tbs of boiling water to the original batter to smooth it out.  Stir until incorporated (see below).

7.  Spray a bread pan with non-stick spray (or prepare it however, you like to prepare your baking pans).  Use a measuring cup (I had 2/3 cup in the regular batter, and 1/2 cup in the chocolate batter), and alternate layers in the baking pan. (See below)

8.  Take a knife and swirl it (see below). 

Above:  Then I took a knife and went back and forth through the batter like a skier :)

More when the bread is done!

(Not actually) Spicy (actually) Sun-Dried Tomato and Broccoli Pasta

My phone is out in my car - so this lovely picture is courtesy my webcam.  Why yes, my stove is from 1973.  Why do you ask?  You should see the front - it's actually not all white.  It's white AND black.  Classy.  But it's got a double oven instead of a microwave over the stove, and it works great - so it's mine until it dies.  Function over form.

What you're viewing above is the aftermath of dinner.  I didn't think to take a photo until we started eating and I thought "this is good - I should blog about it!"

This recipe is relatively easy and very tasty, but I found it too salty (this is becoming a trend with recipes I find on line).  Found the recipe here.  There are also much better pictures there!

I loved all the flavor combos, but here's how I'd make it, if I were to make it again.

1.  Boil a big pot of water, and add a box of twisty noodles.  I like smart pasta.  It's white but high fiber, so healthy but the husband will eat it too.  The recipe called for salting the water, but I'd skip that step since you're going to be using some of the pasta water in the recipe.  

2.  Set a colander over a bowl that can handle boiled water.  Next to the stove, place another heat resistant small bowl.  When the pasta is al dente - drain it, but save the water.

3.  Soak 1/2 cup of sun dried tomatoes in warm water, and place to the side.  

4.  In a large pan, heat 2 Tbs of Olive Oil (original recipe called for 3 Tbs, but it's just too much) with 1/2 Tsp of crushed cayenne pepper flakes (the original recipe said 1/4 tsp but it wasn't hot enough for me), and 1 Tbs minced garlic.  Heat until the garlic is sizzling, but don't let it get brown.  You're infusing the oil with the flavor of the garlic and pepper.  When finished, empty into the small heat resistant bowl you put next to the stove mentioned in step 2.

5.  Quickly clean out the pan with a little water and a rag or paper towel.  Heat it back up with 2 Tbs olive oil and add 3-4 heads of chopped broccoli (bite sized pieces).  Sprinkle with a little sea salt or kosher salt.  Original recipe called for 1 Tsp.  I think it was a little bit much (if you look further down you're adding parmesan, olives, and goat cheese - which are all salty).  Cook the broccoli until it's shrunk down to a single layer in the pan and is bright green.  Stir it every so often.  Don't short change it because it'll get a really nice toasty flavor if you cook it long enough.   

6.  Drain the half cup of sun dried tomatoes from step 2.  Chop the tomatoes.  Add the chopped sun dried tomatoes to the pan, along with 1/3 cup of pasta water.  The original recipe called for sun dried tomatoes in oil.  I used them, but there is so much oil in this recipe that it's unnecessary). Put a lid on the pan and cook until most of the water has boiled out.  If your pan isn't huge, you may want to dump everything into a large bowl at this point so you can mix in the rest of the ingredients. 

7.  Add the cooked pasta and the infused oil (I kept the garlic and pepper flakes in there), stir.  Add another 1-2 Tbs of pasta water, 2-3 oz of crumbled goat cheese, and 1/3 cup of parmesan.  Stir again until the goat cheese is melted.  Add 15 chopped kalamata olives and juice from 1/2 of a lemon.  If it seems dry add a little more pasta water or a little more olive oil if you dig that much oil.

8.  Possible additions:  spinach, chickpeas, arugula, more pasta (the flavor goes a long way in the original recipe), shredded and sautéed brussel sprouts, chopped chicken, etc.  Endless possibilities.  

Skinny Sloppy Joe's

I haven't blogged in a reallllllly long time.  Going back to teaching is always such a shock to the system.  Ask my poor husband... I've barely cooked.  But now that I'm back in the swing of things (3 months later)... it's time to cook again.  Actually, part of it is that I started using Peapod for grocery delivery, which requires advanced planning - so I know WHAT I'm cooking each night.  Planning ahead... who'd have thunk it.  

Anyway, tonight I made Skinny Sloppy Joes from this recipe.    It was DELICIOUS.   Here's the low down and I how I made it a bit different than the original.

1.  I started by browning 1 pound of lean organic ground beef with 1 Tbs of steak seasoning.  Because my husband is anti-onion I can never use store bought steak seasoning, so I used a rub that I made a while back. It was soooo good that I kept the extra.  (*update* Here's the steak rub recipe - I left out the onion powder for the hubby... yes, he is THAT anti-onion).   

2.  Once the meat was browned all the way through I strained some of the fat off (I always do this), and added a handful of pre-shredded carrots that I chopped up, 1/2 chopped red bell pepper, approximately 4 oz of mushrooms chopped, and 3-4 tablespoons of pre-chopped garlic.  The original recipe calls for onion... obviously, that was out, and for the veggies to be very finely chopped up in a food processor.  I didn't do that and the dish was still awesome.  

3.  Then I added 1 Tbs red wine vinegar and 1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce. 

4.  Last, I added 16 oz of tomato sauce.  The recipe called for two cups of sauce plus 2 Tbs of tomato paste.  I always have sauce and paste in the house... except tonight I didn't.  So I figured if I added extra tomato sauce - put a wire mesh screen over the pan, and boiled it down it would be roughly the same thing.  It worked out great. I served them on whole wheat buns and tada - tasty, messy, sloppy Joes from scratch!