"Even Better Than The Real Kind" Banana Bread

This Banana Bread didn't come out like any others I've made.

I didn't add any of the refined sugar. Instead, added one more banana and a little maple syrup abt 1/8c.

It was very moist and a little bit soggy in the middle.

Probably because there is yogurt in there too.

After my kids got home from school I asked if they wanted some and of course they did, but I told them it's not like other b bread I've made, it might taste different, and it's soggy in the middle.

After the first bite, the reply I got was, "Ummm, this is the best banana bread, it's even better than the read kind you make!"

Lol. Oh, the things kids say!

Coming out of the oven it looked and smelled good though.

Recipe from: So Good Blog

Delicious Healthy Banana Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

4 Eggs
1/2 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup of 2% yogurt
4 ripe bananas (mashed)
1 cup of Wheat flour
1 cup of chopped walnuts
1/2 Cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp of baking powder

*I omitted the olive oil and used coconut oil, white & brown sugar, added 1/8c maple syrup.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Beat eggs in medium size bowl.
Mash 4 ripe bananas and set aside.
Add oil, yogurt and bananas to beaten eggs.
Combine wheat flour, sugar, walnuts, baking powder and baking soda and mix well.
Add banana mixture to the dry ingredients and make sure everything is thoroughly combined.
Pour mixture into two greased loaf pans.  Make sure they both have equal amounts.
Bake for 35-45 minutes.  Or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the bread.

Take a slice and enjoy this better than the real kind B. Bread!

 

Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner Recipies...

And of course dessert too!

L to R, top to bottom...Bibimbap, Perfect French Toast, Irresistible Potstickers, Almond Flour Zuchini Bread, Flavorful Fajitas, Maple Glazed Pumpkin Muffins, Teriyaki Chicken, Pumpkin Carmel Poke Cake, Spaghetti w/ a Chance of Meatballs.

Just scroll down to see more :)

Irresistible Potstickers..

 Who doesn't love jiaozi, shuǐjiǎo, guōtiē, dumplings, aka Potstickers!

My kids sure do, but have you ever made them from scratch?
It's quite the process, but very authentic and so good.

When we lived in China my oldest went to a nursery school and I was welcomed to stay too, which I did some days with my 1yr old, one day we made Jaozi all from scratch. The kids loved it. No one talked at the lunch table and they were gone before we knew it!

These however are far from homemade, they are the all famous Ling Ling Potstickers.
A easy and fast go to frozen food in our house.

I either boil them, which is super super fast and easy, or pan fry them, which isn't that much harder, but the Fish Fam certainly prefers it this way.

To do it up a bit more I chop up fresh mushrooms and green onions, then fry them in butter with some garlic and white pepper.

 Then plate it with steamed calrose rice, green beans, and dipping sauce.

Simply irresistible!

好吃得不得了 Hao chi de bu de liao!!

Translated as: Incredibly Delicious

Perfect Peach French Toast

We picked up some yummy Organic Peaches at Costco, don't you just love when peaches are in season?!

Sunday morning I made the Fish Fam some delicious French Toast!

I made the my own peach syrup and then topped w/ sliced peaches. Yum.

For the Syrup....

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 T cornstarch
1 tsp cinnamon

(cinnamon if desired)

Stir constantly and bring to a boil.

Sugar should be dissolved.

Turn low & stir constantly so it thickens.

Don't burn it.

Cut up 3 peaches.

Then blend them w/ the syrup.

Let it sit for about 30min.

Can use immediately if needed.

 Drizzle it all over and enjoy...

PERFECT!

The One-Bowl Wonder!

Bibimbop (be-bim-bop), is a Korean dish and it's my absolutely favorite.

It translates as "mixed rice." Pretty much it's a one-bowl wonder of steamed rice, sauteed veggies, marinade beef, and a fried egg. Throw on some gochujang (hot paste) and/or Kimchi. Then just stir and mix it all up together in the bowl. It's great way of using up day-old rice and veggies that are less fresh.

I can't even say how much I love eating this!

I marinade the meat in a Korean Beef Bulgogi sauce with some onions.

I'd recommend making your own sauce, something I need to do still.

Chop up any veggies. 

This time I did...carrots, mushrooms, and spinach.

Using my julienne(r) saves so much time.

You can also put...

bean sprouts

zuchinni

seaweed

cucumbers

daikon

etc.

Any veggie that pleases you.

Saute them separately. Sesame oil give a great flavor. 

Then top it with a fried egg.

 Once you have the bowl in front of you add some gochujang (hot paste) found in the Asian cooking isle or search for a homemade recipe, then stir the bowl mixing everything together.

And eat it with some Kimchi too. Umm, yum!

This dish is best served in stone bowls, which I hope to invest in one day.

I love it when they bring out the HOT stone bowl with the egg not cooked thoroughly, so you stir it all together in the bowl and let it keep cooking making the rice nice and crispy too.

So good.

I've always said whenever I can hire a Korean cook to teach me how to make Korean food I'd love that!

Healthy Maple Glazed Pumpkin Muffins

I was looking for a pumpkin muffin recipe that looked good...

These Healthy Maple Glazed Pumpkin Muffins via Pinch of Yum looked great!

I like how she puts it...

"This recipe is basically five simple things: mix the wet, mix the dry, mix them both together, bake, and glaze. I love recipes that can be explained in one sentence."

And Healthy because...

This “healthy” version follows a basic rule of halves.

• Half the sugar of the original, subbing real maple syrup for some but not all because DANG girl that stuff is expensive.
• Half of the flour swapped out for whole wheat. Fiber. Healthy. Simple as dat.
• Half of the total oil, using olive oil. Guess what? NO TASTE. I served it at a brunch with friends and they were all surprised when I mentioned the olive oil. And ironically my other friend who had brought pumpkin bread also made hers with olive oil. This is one where you can get away with that sort of healthy debauchery.
• Half of the glaze. NOT! Hello? The maple glaze is the bedazzling crown of this puffy little muffin.

Author: Pinch of Yum

Serves: 16

 

Ingredients

For the Muffins

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1½ cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon each cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups pumpkin puree
• ½ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup real maple syrup
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 3 eggs

For the Glaze

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1¼ cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 tbs. maple syrup
• 1-2 tablespoons water

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Mix the dry ingredients (flours, baking soda, baking powder, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and sugar). In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients (pumpkin, oil, maple syrup, milk, and eggs).
2. Combine the dry and wet ingredients in a large mixing bowl, stirring until just combined. Fill each muffin tin almost to the top with a scoop of batter - I like to use an old fashioned ice cream scoop with the little thumb press to get a nice rounded top.
3. Bake for 20 minutes or until tops are puffy and spring back when you press them. Remove from the muffin pan and let cool before glazing.
4. For the glaze, melt butter in saucepan. Add powdered sugar and vanilla - it will be thick and sticky. Stir in maple syrup. Add water until desired consistency is reached.

 *Her trick to getting perfect domed muffin tops is using a disher aka ice cream scooper with the thumb button.

*I also used coconut oil instead of olive oil.

 

 

 

Almond Flour Zucchini Bread

Against All Grain has some amazing Paleo recipes!

This Almond Flour Zucchini Bread is something that I can enjoy, yay!

I have found baking with almond flour can be difficult because the inside is usually moist and soggy. Danielle from Against All Grains suggests that the type of Almond Flour you use matters greatly..."You may not think the type of almond flour you use matters, but you will notice a huge difference once you try it. You breads will rise better and you will no longer have slightly soggy muffins. The consistency is the closest to white flour grain-free can get!" She recommends using Honeyville Blanched Almond Flour. From my experiences now I agree. Thankfully, our Costco carries this brand. It was $17 for a 3lb bag but, now it's $19. 

This bread is also SCD, Specific Carbohydrate Diet. Definition from, www.scdlifestyle.com..."The Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) is a group of foods which are grain-free, sugar-free, starch-free, and unprocessed.  While removing many foods that are toxic and digestively harmful the diet remains natural, extremely nourishing and representative of what our ancestors ate." A diet which I'll be following more shortly in the future to improve the health of my digestive system.

AUTHOR: Danielle Walker - AgainstAllGrain.com
SERVES: 2 mini loaves

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cup blanched almond flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• 3 eggs, beaten
• ¼ cup honey
• 1 ripe banana
• 1 cup shredded, unpeeled zucchini

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.
2. Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl.
3. Place the wet ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer, then beat on medium for 1-2 minutes until frothy and fully combined. Add the zucchini and beat again just enough to incorporate.
4. Slowly add the dry ingredients with the mixer running, until all of the flour mixture has been incorporated.
5. Spoon the batter into 2 mini loaf pans. You can also use this batter to make muffins.
6. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the middle is set and a toothpick comes out clean.

*I can't have honey, so I use maple syrup or just a little more banana.

Yum!

Hawaiian Teriyaki Chicken

This is probably The Fish Fams most favorite dish, I always hear how AH-MAZ-ING it is!

Ingredients

3   lbs. chicken thighs and/or drumsticks
1   cup  soy sauce Aloha Shoyu is best!
1   cup  water
1   cup  brown sugar
3   big   cloves of minced garlic or garlic press is best!
1-1.5in. ginger root, microplaned/zested is best!
1/3-1/2 cup green onions, chopped

*Chicken thighs are the best because the fat in the meat will add much more flavor. Also, skinless thighs or drumsticks is best. If you get them with the skin on pull it off or pull the skin back to the marinade touch the meat.

Directions

-In a gallon size ziplock bag combine the water and soy sauce. Add brown sugar and dissolve it in the liquid. Add the ginger, garlic, and green onions (you can always do more or less to your liking.) Lastly add the chicken, which I like to poke with a fork so more of the marinade gets into the meat. 

*These Baggy Rack holders make it so easy to pour all the ingredients into the gallon bags with no spills...

-Marinade the meat for at least 24hrs. or up to 3 days. Place the ziplock bag in the pan you will be baking in. 

-After marinating the meat, you are ready to cook it! I pour all of the chicken and marinade into the pan and bake it in the oven at 375deg. for 45mins to 1hr. The meat must reach an internal heat of 165deg. So, it just depends on how your oven cooks. You can also grill it if you have a grill, keep pouring the sauce over to keep it more moist.

-Strain the sauce and use it to pour over the rice. (My family can't go without the sauce over their rice)

*If you have the Aloha Shoyu soy sauce then definitely use that! Kikoman tends to be really salty, so use the reduced sodium or less of the regular Kikoman and a little more water. But, that depends on what you like!

*You can also serve this with coconut rice, which makes it even better!...

-I love using Jasmine rice.

-First wash, rub, and clean the rice. Until the water runs more clear than cloudy.

-Drain all the water out and put it in the rice cooker.

-Get a can of coconut milk and then add water, to equal the 1/2cup more liquid need to cook rice. 

  Ex) 2 cups rice you'll need 2 1/2 cups coconut milk and water combined. 

Then enjoy the divine smell of coconut rice!!!

*I always make a pot of plain rice and a pot of coconut rice, so people can choose what they want.

Enjoy!