2015's Recipe Quest: Update 2

I'm sad to say that there's been a death in the LaBarge household. A true companion for the last two years, this hard worker finally broke.

It's my favorite cutting board and I couldn't bear to throw it away. I'm going to use my crafting skills to bring it back to a new life. Sort of like a phoenix, minus the burning.

While I mourn the lose of the best little cutting board that can't anymore, here's a list of what we dished up:

1. Sandwich Bread

I literally want to kiss the woman who posted this recipe. After two and a half years of trying, I made a fluffy white loaf of bread. To be fair, I gave up after the first year and have been too scared to try again. After reading the recipe was no knead, the part where I think my other breads broke down, I was on this like white on rice and thought about it for days. And heavens to Betsy it freaking worked. I'm making more this weekend. I'm going to experiment with adding some butter or sugar because it's a little "eh." Here's to not screwing it up!

2. Chicken Pesto Sandwich

Inspired by the picture accompanying this recipe, I made my own version of a chicken parm sandwich. One which involved the bread I freaking made, pesto, thick slices of tomato, and a mix of mozzarella and cheddar cheese surrounding a freshly cooked chicken cutlet. It tasted like heaven but would be an even better grilled on a panini press. I'm going to try that next time.

3. Spicy Coleslaw

I'm going to call this recipe a bust. I wasn't brave enough to try it and Ryan said it was pretty terrible by itself. He suggested adding it on top of a pulled pork sandwich but I'm not so sure. I still have tons of cabbage. What the eff am I going to do with it.

I was going to try one more recipe this week but a lack of parchment paper set me back. Total new recipes for 2015 is up to seven. Here's how the new ones shape up:

Keepers

- Nada - 

Keeping but Tweaking

Sandwich Bread
Chicken Pesto Sandwich

Weepers 

Spicy Coleslaw

2015's Recipe Quest: Update 1

If you read my new year post, you'll know that one of my resolutions from this year is to try fifty-two new recipes. That equates to one a week. 

In my magical list of made up rules, I'm defining new recipes as ones we haven't made before, not necessarily something we haven't eaten before. I'm sure there will be weeks when it's something simple and other weeks when it's more elaborate. 

So here's what we dished up:

1. Cabbage Noodles

Roughly adapted from this recipe, we had a four pound head of cabbage that we needed something to do with. We made this huge batch of it and had it as a side dish for days. Now, we still have two pounds left of cabbage.

2. Carrot Bread

Um...I freaking came up with this by myself. I was feeling carrot cake, but wanted more of a bread. I adapted the recipe for zucchini bread, adding here and taking away there. It came out pretty fantastic and was great for breakfast. Especially sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon.

3. Meatballs

Personally I loved the recipe. We mixed things up a bit and did a half pork, half beef combo but Ryan thought it needed something more. I think he was rooting around for onions mixed in. I really hate to say it, but I think we'll keep looking for that great recipe. (But seriously I love this woman's blog - you should totally check it out)

4. Strawberry Swirl Smoothie

I based it off of this Nestle recipe but substituted a banana for the yogurt, since it's not a staple in our house. My bananas weren't exactly ripe ,which I think took away some flavor but, overall I enjoyed the texture and taste. 

Two weeks in and we already have four new recipe tallies. Here's how I'm calling 'em:

Keepers
Carrot Bread

Keeping but Tweaking
Cabbage Noodles
Strawberry Swirl Smoothie

Weepers
Meatballs

Banana Goodness

I love bananas. The flavor, the texture, the smell, all of it. I prefer green bananas but brown ones are perfect for recipes. I only wish Ryan loved bananas as much as I do. So when I stumbled upon a recipe for a peanut butter banana smoothie I thought it was the perfect opportunity to get fruit into his meat and potato diet.

The recipe is four ingredients (FOUR!). Bananas, oats, peanut butter, and milk. To make the smoothie you'll need:

     - 2 bananas frozen and sliced
     - 3/4 cup of milk
     - 1/4 cup of oats
     - 1/4 cup of peanut butter

One word to the wise, slice your bananas first BEFORE throwing them in the freezer. I froze them first - mulling over whether or not I actually wanted to do smoothies - and then sliced them. Needless to say, my fingers were cold! And it's more difficult to cut them frozen solid. Another helpful hint: rinse your measuring cup with water before scooping out peanut butter - it doesn't stick (as much) and you don't have to spend minutes getting every last bit of peanut butter.

I used Quaker Oats, regular Skippy peanut butter, 1% milk, and two 6-8 inch bananas, which is what the calorie count at the bottom will reflect.

The original recipe called for the use of a blender. Well, I don't have one, so I used my food processor. First throw in your oats and turn on the processor until they're fine and small.

Once that's set, you dump everything else in and turn it on until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

 

It's thick and really cold from the frozen bananas. Delicious! You get a big banana taste with an after taste of peanut butter. So my husband, who I thought might like this because of the peanut butter, didn't like it. Boo! But that meant more for me. Yay! This simple recipe took all of five minutes to make. Since Ryan didn't want his, I threw the smoothie in the refrigerator to have for breakfast this morning. It was like a banana sorbet and heaven in my mouth. Even better!

Try out this recipe and let me know how it comes out for you. Do you have any fruit smoothie recipes that are delicious?

Recipe Makes: 2 Servings
Calories per serving: 394
Calories by ingredient:
     Bananas: ~250
    1% Milk: 82.5
     Quaker Oats: 75
     Skippy PB: 380
If you want more peanut butter flavor, I would suggest adding an additional 1/4 cup of peanut butter and up the milk from 3/4 cup to 1 full cup to ensure the smoothie isn't too thick. The calories based on the adjusted recipe is 598. Let me know if you tried the recipe with extra PB and milk.