Peanut Butter and Banana STUFFED French Toast ... Elvis Style!

So, I've been wanting to make my own french toast for a VERY long time. I've heard of "Elvis Pancakes" where you put bananas in the pancakes along with some peanut butter, so I figured, you can do it with french toast I bet! It was a success. This breakfast is TO DIE FOR. Believe me. For all of you healthy eaters, this isn't a splurge! Its all healthy ingredients. Check it out!

6 slices of whole wheat bread

2 bananas, sliced in half, and then sliced in half again (see photo later on)

Creamy Peanut Butter for spreading

3-4 fresh eggs

1/2 cup milk or half and half, whatever you have on hand

1/4 cup orange juice (can be fresh squeezed)

3 t vanilla

Pinch of salt

1 tsp cinnamon

Get ready to drool......

Whisk together eggs, milk, orange juice, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt to make batter for dipping. Set aside.

Lay out your slices of bread and cover each slice with a layer of peanut butter

Note: Don't go nuts-o on the peanut butter. It will melt down and turn into more than you realize. Yes, I put too much on mine. Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate it, but less would have been more!

Now place your bananas on 3 of the slices. You should have half of a banana leftover. Slice up and save for serving!

Dip these guys into the batter you made and place them in a skillet over medium heat. (Spray your skillet with cooking spray)

I cooked 2, and then 1. Work with whatever size skillet you have!

Cook about 2 minutes and then flip them on over!

Remove and top with fresh sliced bananas.

And then some syrup.....

And just try to stop yourself from licking the plate:

ENJOY :) We L-O-V-E-D them!

Chickpea and Tomato Pasta

I pulled this recipe off of the Rachael Ray Show website. I saw her make it one day. Chickpeas? Love them! Tomatoes? Love those too! Pasta- I think we all know how I feel about whole wheat pasta! I couldn't pass this up. It's got a little kick to it too which makes it more fun that just spaghetti! i used the curly guys, but you could use penne, or shells, or any kind of pasta you like!

Skinny Shopping List:

1 pound of whole wheat pasta

3 T EVOO

1 medium onion, finely chopped

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or grated

1 fresh sprig of rosemary, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (2 healthy pinches)

Black pepper to taste

1 can 14-18 oz chickpeas, rinsed and drained

2 T tomato paste

1 cup chicken stock

1 28 oz can Italian crushed tomatoes (or regular, and add your own italian spices)

Grated parmesan cheese for serving

Fresh or dried parsley for garnish

Quick Fix:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for pasta. Cook to al dente.

Meanwhile, heat EVOO in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, rosemary, red pepper, salt and black pepper. Cook 7-8 minutes until very tender.

Pulse the chickpeas in a blender or food processor to fine chop them. DON'T puree them, you aren't going for hummus. You just want the chick peas to be distributed throughout the sauce! Once ready, add them to the skillet.

Now add tomato paste and stir. Add chicken broth as well as 28oz can of tomatoes. Salt and pepper if needed

You've got a healthy sauce cooking up right there. Proteins coming from a 99 cent can of beans instead of a 5 dollar package of chicken!

Once pasta is ready, drain, and then toss with sauce and serve. Top with parsley and grated parmesan cheese. Serve and ENJOY :) I had the leftovers the next day for lunch, and my were they tasty. Even better than on day 1!

Stuffed Turkey Burgers with Parmesan Zucchini

Possible one of the best dinners I've made to date. No lie! Nick loved it. It was HARD for us to save some for leftovers, but we did it! Well, leftovers for ONE. The zucchini has no special trick to it, but somehow, yields this special taste as if you've been slaving over the dish. The burgers also have barely anything to them, and come out JUICY and tasty. TRY THIS ONE. You won't regret it!

For your Burgers:

1 to 1.25 pounds of lean ground turkey

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 cup chopped roasted red peppers

1/2 cup shredded skim mozzarella cheese

Mix the turkey, paprika, garlic and onion powder, salt and pepper. Make sure seasoning gets distributed throughout meat. Add more if you think it doesn't look like enough. Then divide your turkey into 4 balls. 

Take those 4 balls, and divide in half again. Take 4 halves and press them into patties onto a greased baking sheet

 

Now, divide your peppers into 4 equal parts and top each patty with them.

Do the same thing with the cheese!

 

With your four remaining meat-balls, form into patties, place on top of each dressed up patty and press edges together to form one STUFFED burger patty

After i had done that with each burger, I topped each patty with pepper and paprika.

At this point, refrigerate, covered, until ready to cook.

You could grill these, about 5 minutes per side. We don't have a working grill, so I broiled mine for about 7 minutes per side. If you have a meat thermometer, you want it to read 165.

 

Serve with ketchup, mustard, spicy mayonnaise, whatever you like on your burgers. Honestly, I didn't need any extra condiments. Nick used some mustard though!

Here's that cheesy pepper stuffing:

They were wonderful. We will be making them on a regular basis from now on! You could stuff these with feta cheese as well and I think you'd get a mighty tasty result! 

For the Parmesan Zucchini

4 medium zuchinni

1 large onion

1 T Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Slice your onion in half, and then make 1/2 inch slices.

Cook on medium-low heat for 10 minutes until soft.

Cut your zucchini into 1/2 inch slices on a diagonal and add to pan with onions.

 

Add salt and pepper and toss frequently for about 15 minutes. I kept mine covered except when I was tossing, so that the zucchini would soften a little quicker for me!

Once cooked through, add Parmesan cheese, stir, and allow to cook about 30 seconds. Remove immediately and serve

You know by now I like close ups

I served all this up with a baked sweet potato that we always top with butter and cinnamon, but you could add any "starch" you want. Rice, couscous, orzo, baked potatoes, you name it! You can't go wrong with the meat and vegetable part, GUARANTEED

 

ENJOY :)

Secret Ingredient Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip/Raisin Cookies

Warning: These may vanish before your eyes. They also may appear on your hips. Either way, TOTALLY worth it!

1 and 1/4 cup flour (whole wheat or regular)

1 tsp baking soda

Mix the flour with the baking soda and set aside

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 sticks of butter or margarine, softened (use butter- trans fat is a NO NO!)

2 eggs

1/2 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy, but I used smooth)

3.5 oz package of instant vanilla pudding and pie mix *Secret Ingredient*

Cream the above ingredients (Except the eggs) together. Then beat in the eggs. And lastly, slowly add the flour mixture from earlier.

Add in 3.5 cups of quick cooking oats to make a basic, stiff cookie dough

At this point, I divided the dough in half and added 1/2 cup of raisins to one half

And i added 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips to the remaining dough

Drop by teaspoons onto a baking sheet. Bake them at 375 for 10-12 minutes.

Let them cool on a cooling rack about 10 minutes.

In my case, cover immediately and save them to share at Bible Study and Small Group this week!

Enjoy these :) And play around with the basic recipe. You could add only chocolate chips, only raisins. You could add peanut butter chips

You could add butterscotch chips

You could add mini MnMs

You could add peanuts or walnuts or pecans

You could add dried cranberries

Just make them and eat them however you choose to accessorize them!

Enjoy :)

Poor Man's Greek Couscous Salad

Oh, this is a keeper. And I don't say that lightly. If I had enough of everything, I would have doubled the recipe and used it ALL week for lunches. Its easy, its fast, and its delicious! Nothing expensive to this dish. You'll see!

All you'll need

1 cup uncooked couscous (Whole wheat if possible!)

1 large tomato (seeded and finely chopped)

1 cup cucumber (finely chopped or not, if you like big chunks)

4 oz reduced fat Feta Cheese (or not reduced fat if you aren't health conscious)

1/2 cup zesty italian dressing, reduced fat (Kraft makes it, but use any italian you like)

1 tsp dried dill weed OR 1 T fresh dill (I used fresh)

All you'll do

Bring one cup of water to a boil. Remove from heat. Add your couscous, stir, then cover and let sit for 5 minutes. Remove lid, fluff with a fork, and allow to cool about 10 more minutes. In a medium sized bowl, add the remaining ingredients, toss well, and then refrigerate at least one hour prior to serving. The longer it sits in there, the better!

Serve, and of course, ENJOY :)

Options: Throw in some diced chicken to make it into a meal. Throw in some black olives if you have them on hand. Throw in some chopped onion if you'd like. ENDLESS possibilities with this.

Ricotta Pancakes with Warm Blueberry Sauce

These were a tasty treat this morning. Luckily I had everything on hand, or I probably wouldn't have made them!

For the Pancakes:

1/2 cup pastry flour 

1/4 cup all purpose flour + 2T (I used whole wheat flour here)

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 t baking soda

1 t sugar

1/2t nutmeg

1 whole egg

1 egg white

1/2 cup buttermilk (or add a teaspoon of vinegar to 1/2 cup skim milk)

3/4 cup reduced fat ricotta cheese

1 t lemon zest

2 t oil

For the Sauce:

1 cup fresh or frozen, unthawed, blueberries

2 T honey

1 T lemon juice

First start the sauce by combining all ingredients into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cook about 10 minutes before serving.

Whisk your dry ingredients together in a small bowl

Whisk the wet ingredients together in a larger bowl.

Combine wet with dry and stir just until combined

Make your pancakes. Optional: sprinkle fresh or frozen berries on pancakes ONCE IN THE PAN. I didn't do this, but if you omit the sauce, you'll want the blueberries IN your pancakes :)

Serve them up :) Enjoy!

(You can also add some syrup, Nick did!)

Pocket Change: Budget Chicken Fajitas with Black Bean and Rice Pilaf!

Here's a recipe thats easy on the wallet and easy on the taste buds. Wow. That was cheesy. I don't care enough to delete that sentence and start over though! Last night I made these minimal ingredient "Fajitas." For those of you die hard Tex Mex or Mexican fans, these are not the sizzling plate they bring out that lights up the whole restaurant with good smells. Its a cheap way to have a healthy, affordable, and easy Mexican INSPIRED dish. I don't have a grill, or I'd have grilled up the chicken the way you're supposed to! So here it is- Nick loved them. He had 3!

Budget Chicken Fajitas

Less than 1 lb of chicken, cut into strips (I used chicken tenders and sliced them in half)

1/4 cup water

1/8 cup lemon juice (about half of a large lemon)

1 yellow onion, quartered, and the sliced (like fajita onions)

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp garlic powder

Salt and Pepper to taste (about 1/4 t salt, 1/2 t black pepper)

1/8 tsp red chile flakes

14.5 oz can stewed tomatoes (get fire roasted if you can find them), drained

For serving: Whole Wheat Tortillas, Salsa, and Cheddar Cheese

All you do is place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add lemon and water, bring to a simmer, then add chicken and onions to the pan.

Cook until chicken is mostly cooked through, then add tomatoes and remaining ingredients.

Once chicken is completely cooked, and the juice has thickened up enough, you are ready to serve them. This is an extremely fast dish! We topped our tortillas with the chicken, then some cheddar cheese (skim of course!) and then a little salsa) Pretty tasty!

Black Bean and Rice Pilaf

1 cup brown rice, uncooked

2-1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth (I ended up using more like 3 cups by the end of the cooking time)

1 T Olive Oil

1 small onion, diced FINELY

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp dried oregano

1 stalk of celery, diced FINELY

1 large carrot, peeled and diced FINELY

1 t ground cumin

1/2 t dried chili flakes

15.5. oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed

2 t fresh chopped parsley (optional)

Combine chicken broth and rice in a medium pot and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat, cover, and simmer 35 minutes, adding broth as needed.

This starts pretty similar to a soup stock, just minus the broth! Heat your oil in a skillet and add onions, celery, and carrot. Cook until soft (about 7-10 minutes). Add garlic, oregano, cumin and chili flakes.

Now, toss in your black beans and heat about 2 minutes

Once rice is done, remove from heat and fluff with a fork, then add in your bean mixture and serve.

Yum :) Enjoy!