Healthier Chocolate Shake

Healthier Chocolate Shake

Ingredients
1 Frozen chopped banana
2 TB peanut butter
1 c milk skim or almond
1 TB Chocolate syrup
optional 1 scoop protein powder

Directions
Chop up 1 ripe banana and put in the freezer until frozen solid. I usually do it overnight.


Combine all ingredients in the blender and pulse until you have a thick milkshake that is so delicious. If you want to make it into ice cream just add 1 cup ice and pulse in the blender until it is thicker.

Nigerian Pepper Sauce and Yams

1 Nigerian Yam
2 large onions
1 can tomato paste
6 habanero peppers
1/4 tsp curry
2 TB vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves
Nigerian Red pepper to taste
salt to taste

Peel and chop the yams into 1-1 1/2 inch slices.

Rinse them and put in a pot with enough water to cover them add a little bit of salt to the water.

Boil them for 20-30 minutes until they are soft enough to poke through with a fork. Should be similar to a baked potato consistency.

While they are boiling. Chop the onions in half and then into thin slices. Heat 2 TB oil in a pan and add the onions. Add the curry, red pepper, and salt to taste to the onions. 

Put the habaneros, garlic cloves, and the tomato paste in a food processor/blender until the peppers are a sauce.

Continue to stir the onions and let them sweat or begin to soften. It should take about 5 minutes.

When they are soft add the habanero sauce to it and continue to stir it.

Stir it for 5-10 minutes until the sauce and onions are mixed together and the flavors have a chance to come together.

Serve the onion sauce over the yam slices and I hope you like spicy food because this makes me sweat/cry it's so hot!
Tips- you can always add other veggies to the onion mixture to switch it up

Strawberry Vinaigrette

Strawberry Vinaigrette

1 c frozen sliced strawberries

3 TB olive oil

2 TB maple syrup

pinch of salt
1 tsp Dijon Mustard

1 TB lemon juice

2 TB balsamic vinegar

Pour all ingredients into the blender and blend until it is a liquid dressing. Store it in the fridge. I wouldn't keep it for more than a few days but it is delicious. Sorry no pictures this time my digital camera has decided to stop working... I probably got food on it lol! Next time i am leaving the maple syrup out.

Zuppa Toscana

I love the all you can eat soup salad and bread sticks at Olive Garden and I always get their Zuppa Toscana soup! I have been playing and tweaking this recipe and I love it even more than the original.

Zuppa Toscana

Ingredients

1lb Hot Ground Italian Sausage 

4 cloves Garlic

6 Idaho potatoes

1 med white onion

1 bushel Kale or 1 frozen bag spinach

6 c chicken stock

1 c skim milk

Brown the sausage in your large sauce pan. 

When it's still half pink but almost all browned add the chopped onion and minced garlic cloves and saute them as the meat browns. 

Make sure your stir and separate the sausage because you don't want any large chunks of it in your soup. Continue stirring the mixture until all the meat is brown and the onions are soft. 

Chop up all the potatoes big or small doesn't matter just make sure the size is consistent. 

Add the potatoes to the pot.  Add 6 cups of chicken stock and begin to let it boil for 20 minutes.

While it boils rip the kale from the stems. No stems in the soup! That will ruin it!

Add the skim milk and continue to stir frequently and let it boil. 

 Add the kale and let it cook for 5-10 minutes until the kale is evenly distributed in the soup mixture and cooked.

The final product is a perfect soup to eat on any chilly day!

Tips- If you want to make it healthier use less potatoes and meat or use turkey sausage.

French Bread

I came home the other day and my amazing neighbor had left this recipe in card with a packet or yeast :) on the door for me. So Thank you Jessica Hardesty for this amazing recipe!

French Bread

1 pkg yeast or 2/14 tsp

1 1/4 c warm water (110 degrees)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp butter softened

3 1/2 c flour

1 egg white

 Mix yeast and the water. Let rest for 10 minutes.

Add 1 cup of flour and stir at mixer level 2 if you have a kitchen aid mixer. Add remaining ingredients and flour 1 cup at time.

Continue to mix at level 2 until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and makes a nice ball. 

Cover the bowl and put in a warm place. It rises really nice if you place it on the oven while it preheats to 450 degrees. Let rest until it has doubled in size. this can be anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.

Once the dough has doubled in size punch it down. Take a rolling pin and roll it out until it's about 1/2 inch thick to get rid of any air bubbles. Now roll the dough up from one end and begin to shape it into a loaf. Make sure you put the seam side down on the baking sheet so it doesn't look deformed.

Cut 3 slits in the top of the loaf. Cover the bread again, place in a warm spot, and let rest until it has doubled in size. Approximately 30-60 minutes.

Bake the bread at 450 degrees for 25 minutes.

 If you want a crispier crust, place a dish of hot water on the bottom rack while baking. I didn't use the crispier method this time.

Remove the bread and brush with an egg wash. Place back in oven for an additional 5 minutes.

Remove bread from oven and let it cool before you try to slice it.

I made this recipe last week and divided it into 2 loaves to use for sub sandwiches it was great!

 Before the egg wash and extra bake time.

Fish Sandwich

Simple Fish Sandwich

 

4 Fish Fillets (cod)
French Bread
Toppings optional

Tarter Sauce Ingredients
1/2 C Mayo
1 TB lemon juice
2 TB Sweet Relish
1 tsp red pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper

Cook fish and slice the bread. If your really feeling ambitious try Brown Eyed Baker's Beer Battered Cod. For this sandwich I am using frozen fish and a fresh french bread that I just made will post the recipe in a bit. Brush one side of each slice of bread with butter. Warm up the grill or pan.

Take the mayo (I used miracle whip), lemon juice, sweet relish, red pepper, and cayenne pepper and stir together in a separate bowl.

Spread on slice of bread with the tarter sauce put one piece of fish and top sandwich with another slice of bread. Put it on the hot grill until the bread is golden.

You can always add lettuce, tomatoes, onions, or cheese just depends on what you like on your fish. It's really good with hot pepper jalapeno cheese!