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Mocha Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Mocha Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

No matter how hard we try to eat them, we often end up with overripe bananas on our counter.  I usually stick them in the freezer until I can do something with them.  Well, we recently had a couple of summer days where it was surprisingly pleasant and I didn’t mind turning on the oven.  So, I made these muffins.  I’m not much of a baker, but I often make muffins.  With some yogurt and fruit they make a really quick breakfast for the kids!  These  muffins remind me of these Chocolate Chip Coffee Muffins that I’ve posted but with less of a coffee flavor and more of a banana flavor.  We all enjoyed these muffins and I was even able to freeze some for another day!

Mocha Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
Recipe slightly adapted from allrecipes.com courtesy of Shelley Ross

Yield:  15-18 muffins
Prep Time:  10 minutes
Cook Time:  25 minutes

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
3/4 cups white sugar
1 egg
2
ripe bananas
1 tablespoon instant decaffeinated coffee granules, dissolved in 1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Mix butter, sugar, egg, banana, dissolved coffee, and vanilla for approximately two minutes until combined. Add flour, salt, baking powder, and soda, and combine just until flour is mixed in. Add chocolate chips and mix in with wooden spoon. Spoon mixture into 15 to 18 paper-lined muffin cups.

3. Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean. Cool on wire racks.

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Friday Favorites #23

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!  I hope you all had a great week!  This was the kids’ first week of summer camp.  They enjoyed a week that included tie dyeing t-shirts, Color Wars, swimming in the pool every day and more!  Here are some favorites from this past week:

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1.  Our son turned 7!   I can’t believe my “baby” turned 7.  While he loves getting older it doesn’t make me y happy to know that I’m getting older as well!  Between his summer birthday celebration in school back in May, a family celebration over the 4th of July weekend, a celebratory dinner with one set of grandparents and his birthday party with his friends last weekend and then his actual birthday Tuesday which we celebrated with his other set of grandparents, I feel like we’ve been celebrating this boy’s birthday forever!  This is what we sing to him with on the day of his actual birthday AFTER he’s already had ice cream brownie sundaes, ice cream cake, cupcakes and rice krispy treats over the past week or so!

2.  Favorite bookmarked recipe: Although not a recent recipe, this Smoked Salmon Breakfast Pizza from 84th &3rd is new to me.  I think it will taste okay even without the salmon caviar!

3.  Winner winner!  Our local radio station held a kid’s summer joke contest.  Each week they pick one joke as the winner.  The child tells their joke on the radio and wins a family four-pack of tickets to Hershey Park.  Well, this past week, our daughter was chosen as the winner!  Ready for her winning joke?!!  “You go into the bathroom American.  You leave the bathroom American.  What are you in the bathroom? ….. You’re a-peein!”

4.  Scandal – So I finished watching the newest episodes of Scandal on Netflix.  I tried holding off on those last two episodes as long as I could because I knew I’d be in Scandal withdrawal!  While I’ve been watching House of Cards, although it’s about politics and the White House, it definitely does not have the same suspense and drama as Scandal.  I have started watching The Killing, and have been sucked in, but not sure how they got so many episodes since so far season 1 revolves around one murder.  If anyone has any Netflix recommendations for suspense/drama shows I’m all ears!  I’ve already watched The Blacklist and enjoyed that a lot as well!

         

5. Gap Shopping – Since I’m not working over the summer, I shouldn’t be shopping.  But luckily, I still have a GAP gift card from Christmas (?!!).  I went to the mall on Tuesday to try to find my daughter a bathing suit at Children’s Place (no luck – they have back-to-school stuff out!)  and ended up stopping at the GAP.  I can’t NOT go in when they’re having a super take 50% off the lowest clearance price sale!  I got the Weekender shorts pictured above in “true indigo”  (navy blue) for $9.99!  Online they’re currently selling for $31.99.  It’s nice having small feet and being able to fit into a girls size 4 shoe.  I got these Scalloped sandals for about $7 and they match the shorts I bought!   Online they’re currently priced at $9.99 which is still a pretty good deal!  Not sure if the in-store sale is nation-wide or if the take an additional 50% off sale is still going on, but it’s worth checking your local GAP to see!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!   We are off tonight for a quick weekend trip back to Rhode Island.  It will hopefully be a little quieter with just our family this time!  Linking up with Amanda from Meet @ The Barre, Andrea @ Momfessionals, and Tif @ Bright on a Budget.

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Kimchi Ramen Egg Foo Young

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I love Korean food, as I should since I am Korean.  However, I was adopted from South Korea when I was nine months old, so I don’t speak Korean.  As much as I love Korean food, I rarely cook it at home.  I hope to change that in these upcoming months and look forward to cooking more Korean food at home.  I enjoy Mika’s Pantry because Mika adopted a daughter from South Korea and cooks a lot of simple but tasty Korean food.  While I’m not sure she’s actively updating her blog, there are several years of tasty recipes available.  This is a dish that I’ve made a couple of times for the Weekend Chef and I.  Kimchi is still a bit spicy for the kids!  I usually buy kimchi at our “local” H-Mart (if you call local 45 minutes away – but it’s a huge Asian food market!).  However, I have seen kimchi recipes around the internet and hope to try my hand at making some soon!  For those unfamiliar, kimchi is a Korean fermented spicy cabbage dish.  It’s allegedly one of the world’s healthiest foods and Koreans eat on average forty pounds of the stuff per person each a year!  The original recipe called for scallions, which I didn’t have, but think would add some great flavor to this dish and will add the next time I make this.  You may want to add even less than the recommended seasoning packet, as those seasoning packets are very salty.  This is a super easy and super cheap dish to make if you like kimchi!

Kimchi Ramen Egg Foo Young
Recipe adapted from Mika’s Pantry

Ingredients:
1 (3 oz) pkg. ramen noodles w/seasoning packet (Oriental flavor)
2 tablespoons butter
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons kimchi, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Directions:
1. Cook ramen noodles in boiling water for 3 minutes then rinse, drain and set aside.

2. Whisk eggs,  1/2 of ramen seasoning packet, sesame oil, soy sauce, and baking powder in a small bowl; set aside.

3. Melt butter in nonstick skillet on med-high heat and add drained noodles. Let brown for a couple of minutes (without stirring) before adding the egg mixture. Cook until egg is set enough to flip, about 2 minutes.  Flip the patty over and cook until egg is set, about a minute more. 

***It is suggested that you serve this with Cantonese Brown Sauce and additional Kimchi.  I found this tasty enough without the brown sauce.

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Italian Tuna Casserole

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It’s been quiet around here for the past week or so, as we have been vacationing in Rhode Island.  We are on our way home today after a week of fun and relaxation with the extended family!

I recently decided to dust off some of my cookbooks, which were feeling neglected and find some new recipes to make.  I have a bunch of Rachael Ray cookbooks.  Her recipes are quick and easy to make, although many take a lot longer for us to make than her “3o minutes.”  The recipes are also usually pretty tasty.  I often adapt the recipes adding or omitting ingredients based on our taste preferences, but there are very few of her recipes that we don’t enjoy.  And I have made A LOT of her recipes.  I was perusing Express Lane Meals and found this tuna casserole recipe.  When I made this a couple of weeks ago, the weather was surprisingly cool for summer.  I had most of the ingredients on hand and was in the mood for a comforting classic.  When shopping for the frozen spinach that the original recipe called for, I saw that Shoprite now sells boxed frozen chopped kale.  I had to try it and think it was a great substitution in this recipe.  There are few foods that my daughter dislikes, but tuna is one of them.  When she found out what I was making for dinner I had to listen to her complain that I knew she didn’t like tuna and why couldn’t I make something else.  She also might have  mentioned that she wasn’t going to eat dinner.  I tried to tell her that this wasn’t like the tuna sandwiches that she often sees the rest of the family eating.  There’s no mayo and she likes pasta and cheese.  Wouldn’t you know that she ate this with no problem!  She said she wanted dessert and that’s why she ate it.  My son, the tuna eater, was the one who gave me a hard time!  I believe there was too much “green” for his liking but he did end up EVENTUALLY eating all of his dinner.  This was a tasty take on the classic tuna casserole.

Italian Tuna Casserole
Recipe adapted from cookbook Rachael Ray Express Lane Meals

Ingredients:
1 10-ounce box frozen chopped kale, defrosted and squeezed to drain excess water
Salt
1 pound short-cut pasta
1 tablespoon EVOO (extra-virgin olive oil), once around the pan
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup chicken stock
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Black pepper
2 6-ounce cans white tuna in water, drained
1 cup shredded mozzarella

Directions:
1. Spray a 2 quart or 9×13′ casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil cook pasta as directed on the package. Drain and set aside.

3. While the pasta cooks, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the EVOO, then melt the butter into the oil. When the butter melts, add the onions and garlic and cook until tender approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle the
flour around the pan and cook for a minute.  Whisk in the wine and then the stock.  Then whisk in the milk and bring mixture to a bubble. Reduce the heat to low. Season the sauce with the hot sauce and mustard, then season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes to thicken, then add the kale, separating it as you add it to the sauce.  Add the tuna, flaking as you go, then stir to combine.  Heat the kale and tuna through for a minute.  Add the cooked pasta and mix with the sauce.  Pour the tuna and pasta mixture into the prepared casserole dish.  Sprinkle with the shredded mozzarella cheese.

4. Preheat the broiler.

5. Place the casserole under the broiler for 2 minutes to brown the edges and the cheese.

 

Cinnamon Apple Baked French Toast Casserole

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Our kids LOVE breakfast for dinner.  When I asked them last week what type of breakfast food they wanted me to add to the weekly meal plan they unanimously said French toast  It’s been awhile since we had it, so I was glad to comply.  Luckily, last week’s weather was amazing!  Even though it’s now officially summer, it wasn’t too hot or too cold, so I didn’t mind putting the oven on for an hour.  What’s great about most French toast casseroles, including this one, is that they can be made the night before.  Although they take some time to bake in the oven, all or most of the prep work is already done.  I’ve made many French toast casseroles but this is definitely one of the best!  With the milk, heavy cream, eggs and butter, this isn’t something that I want to be making every week. However, it is REALLY good and I know that I’ll be making it again. While Ree from The Pioneer Woman recommends topping this casserole with butter and maple syrup I have to tell you that this is sweet enough and moist enough that we did not need the extras.  If you are looking for a French toast casserole, I highly recommend this one!

Cinnamon Apple Baked French Toast Casserole
Recipe slightly adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:

FOR THE FRENCH TOAST:
1 loaf French Bread
8  Eggs
2 cups Milk
1/2 cup Heavy Cream
3/4 cups Sugar
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract

FOR THE TOPPING
2 apples peeled and diced
1/2 cup All-purpose Flour
1/2 cup Firmly Packed Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 stick Cold Butter, Cut Into Pieces

Directions:
Spray a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with non-stick spray. Cube the bread and put into the baking dish.

In a medium sized bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla. Pour evenly over the bread. Cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Remove casserole from the fridge and sprinkle the peeled, diced apple pieces onto the casserole.

In a small bowl, mix the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add the butter pieces and cut them into the dry mixture forming small crumbs.  Sprinkle this mixture over the top of the bread and apple mixture.  Bake in the preheated oven for one hour.  Let cool for ten minutes then serve and enjoy!

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2015 Family Summer Bucket List

2015 Summer Family Bucket List

Yesterday was the official first day of summer.  As the kids finish up their last week of school we have made our summer bucket list.  Making a summer bucket list is a fun way for us all to choose something that we want to do together.  Our family time is limited so it’s nice to have a plan of what we want to accomplish.  Plus, having our list in writing makes us more accountable to actually accomplishing it!

Strawberry Picking – This was something we had been meaning to do for awhile and we finally went strawberry picking a few weeks ago.  It’s kind of cheating to put it on our “summer” bucket list, since we technically didn’t go during summer.  However, there’s a limited window of opportunity for strawberry picking in our area (around the first week or two in June) and it just seems like a summer-time activity!

Drive-In Movie Theater – I discovered that there’s a drive-in movie theater about an hour a way from our house.  I think it will be fun to be able to watch a together in the car.  We can possibly bring dinner and some treats and have a different family movie night experience.

Classic Car Night – The Weekend Chef would like us to go to a Classic Car Night show.  It may end up being the local show held out in the McDonald’s parking lot, unless we can find a bigger one not too far away.

Camping – My daughter wants to go camping this summer and we already have our weekend in July blocked out.  Now, it’s just a matter of choosing the where!

Go On a Hike –   My son’s first response to what he wanted to do this summer was go on a hike.  While I first said maybe we can put this on our fall bucket list I decided to add it.  Maybe we can go on a night hike or hike on a not-so-hot day.  Since this was his first choice, we are going to do it.

Family Game Night – This was my son’s alternate response.  He suggested that maybe we can play soccer or volleyball together.  Or play games inside.  We enjoy family game nights so I am adding it to the list.

Play Miniature Golf – This is an activity that we don’t get to do very often but the kids love.  Hopefully we can get a round or two in this summer!

Finally, the bottom of our list are activities that are already planned.  Going to the beach, eating seafood, fishing, and eating dinner outside are all activities that we usually end up doing during our annual Rhode Island 4th of July vacation.  We are driving to Disney this summer which takes care of the road trip and I’m sure we’ll be seeing a fireworks show or two down there!

What are some activities on your summer bucket list?

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Friday Favorites #20

Friday Favorites

Another crazy week has come to an end!  Welcome weekend!  Tonight we have my daughter’s end-of-year girl scout potluck picnic.  Tomorrow my son has his last soccer game and trophy celebration as well as a cub scout hike.  Not sure yet how we’ll be celebrating Father’s Day on Sunday, but the kids have lots of home-made goodies from school for their daddy.  Here are some of my favorites from the past week:

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1.  Last Saturday I spent the day at a local waterpark with my daughter and her girl scout troop.  As soon as we got there, my daughter went on this slide with one of her friends.  I was so nervous for her!  She’s a brave one!  The weather was beautiful and we had a great day.

Scandal (2012) Poster

2.  New episodes of Scandal are on Netflix!  Since we cut cable, I was planning on watching this show online.  But I ended up trying to watch the first episode a little too late and by the time I went to watch, the first episode of season 4 was no longer available.  I ended up waiting until now, since I didn’t want to start with episode 2, and now I get to binge watch the whole season!

Orange is the New Black”: Examining the Life of a Female Inmate

3.  And of course I can’t forget about the new episodes of Orange Is The New Black.  I think I’ll be spending some quality time this weekend watching some Netflix!

4.  Favorite bookmarked recipe of the week:  This Grilled Apricot, Corn and Arugula Salad with Pistachios from blog How Sweet It Is.   This looks like a really tasty, summer salad!

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5.  Currently reading The Art of Baking Blind by Sarah Vaughan.  I’m a little over half-way through and it’s looking like this is going to be a 3 out of 5 star book.  I love fiction books that have a food or cooking related theme.  This is Vaughan’s first novel and is about five contestants in a baking competition.  Hoping to finish this one over the weekend.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!  Linking up with Tif @ Bright on a Budget, Andrea @ Momfessionals, Amanda at Meet @ The Barre and Jennie @ The Diary of a Real Housewife.

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Curried Red Potatoes

Curried Red Potatoes

Weekend Chef here. As a compliment to yesterday’s post, Indian-Style Eggplant, I created a partner dish using red potatoes. To my knowledge, this is not a traditional Indian potato. I like using red potatoes when I don’t want the end result getting too mashed and holding its shape. Overall, this was similar to the eggplant dish as I used the same curry powder but didn’t use any tomato sauce and tried to keep the potatoes from breaking down too much.  This was a flavorful side dish that the whole family enjoyed.

Curried Red Potatoes
Recipe from The Weekend Chef at NY Foodie Family

Makes 4 Servings

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb red potatoes , skins left on, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
3 T vegetable oil
2 T butter
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp Penzeys maharajah curry powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp pepper

cooked jasmine rice (to serve with)

Directions:
Heat the oil and butter over medium heat in a small round-bottom pan. Add the potatoes to the pan, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes.  Once the potatoes start turning a light brown color, after approximately five minutes,  add the remaining ingredients. Turn the heat down to low. Cook the potatoes for another 5 minutes or until cooked through and soft in the middle. Check spice level and add more if desired. Serve with jasmine rice.

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Indian-Style Eggplant

Indian-Style Eggplant

Weekend Chef here. As mentioned in previous posts, I thoroughly enjoy cooking on inspiration, no recipe required. Without a net, if you will. I also enjoy buying new ingredients and then figuring out what to do with it. Our family recently made a trip to a local branch of a Korean supermarket, an international chain called Hmart. We may post some of the other cool stuff we did/ saw there in the future, but today I’m going to focus on our first purchase of Indian eggplant. Apparently there are several varieties of eggplant in different shapes and sizes and Hmart had a bunch of them. We’re all likely familiar with the big purple kind, but these were much smaller (approximately chicken egg sized, but still purple).  The flavors seem similar, but the texture was smoother after the eggplant cooked down. Sometimes large eggplants are fibrous and stringy. We will have to keep trying different eggplants and report back.

We’ve lost a few good Indian restaurants over the last few years so we may have to cook our own.  I just used some familiar flavors and attempted to get the spices to mellow and not overpower the dish.  The whole family ate this, although our son did so begrudgingly.  I think I was successful.  Please let me know if you agree.

Indian-Style Eggplant
Recipe from The Weekend Chef at NY Foodie Family

Makes 4 Servings

Ingredients:
6 Indian eggplants, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp Penzeys maharajah curry powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1 small can tomato sauce (8oz)

cooked jasmine rice (to serve with)

Directions:
Heat the oil over medium heat in a small round-bottom pan. Add the garlic  to the pan.  Once it starts turning a light brown color add the eggplant and the remaining ingredients. Cook the eggplant for 10-15 minutes or until very soft. Check spice level and add more if desired. Serve over jasmine rice.

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Building a Garden Box

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Weekend Chef here, with a project idea that we wanted to share with you. We have tried for years to grow our own veggies at our house with very little success. Every spring for the past 5 or 6 years, we have bought seeds and grow kits and pots and potting soil and…well that’s about it. Our seeds sprout and we plant them outside on the deck in nice big plastic pots. We are rewarded with a few runt tomatoes, sad peppers, and mini zucchini and then winter comes and we put everything in the shed. Meanwhile, we watch longingly at my dad harvest an abundance of all that he chooses to grow with ease. What does he do that’s so great? Well, it turns out that the homemade garden boxes make all the difference (or so we hope). This spring, the we’re stealing his idea and building some of the boxes for ourselves. Game on!

Credit goes to this YouTube channel GardenFrugal for the step-by-step instructions of building these things. The host, Clint, shares his ideas in a down-home video that is way more informative than entertaining. But education is what we needed. So here’s our pictures and story of building the three identical garden boxes that hopefully will allow us to give away bags of extra vegetables over the course of the next few months.

The materials can be found on the cheap. Per Clint’s specific instructions, we bought Rubbermaid “Roughneck” storage tubs in the 18 gallon size for $7.97 each at our local WallyMart. These were the most expensive parts and the total for each box probably came to $13 plus plants and dirt. Ours are dark blue. You will als0 need perforated drainage pipe and PVC pipe around 1 inch in diameter.

The first step is to cut the lid of the tub at the line where the middle dimple starts. This will create the reinforcing edge of the tub and will allow you to add a protective layer over your dirt with plastic or burlap (clipped in with this edge piece).  Here is what this looks like so far:

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Next, the drainage pipe needs to be cut to act as the support for the bottom of the tub. Each tub will need 6 pieces cut evenly (I cut ours at 12 ribs). The pipe is actually really easy to cut with scissors as the plastic strong but thin. Use a piece of cut pipe as a template for two holes in the lid piece that we cut earlier. Draw the circles with a marker and cut out the holes. Also cut a notch out of the corner for the PVC water fill pipe.Make two slightly longer pipe pieces (15 ribs each) that will go into the lid and get filled with dirt. At this point, I added a layer of newspaper and this will help to keep the dirt from falling into the gaps. One last step here, drill a small (I did 1/4″) hole a few inches below the dirt line on the side of the tub. This will keep your system from getting flooded. Lastly, the PVC pipe needs to get cut at 45 degrees on one end and flat on the other. The angled cut goes on the bottom to keep the pipe from getting stuck to the bottom of the tub.

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Now it’s dirt time! Fill the longer ribbed pipes with dirt and pack it down. These will act as wicks to draw moisture up to the plants. Then fill the top portion of the tub with dirt or potting mix within a few inches of the top and fill the lower section with water until the drain hole starts leaking. Go ahead and plant the fruits and vegetable of your choice. This year, we decided not to start with seeds and bought already-growing plants: yellow peppers, tomatoes, strawberries, and zucchini.

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Everything seems to be working so far. The top photo was taken yesterday, 3 weeks after planting, but we will report back once edible things start growing. To be continued…