I love this recipe because it doesn’t require a bunch of tools, bowls, spoons, mixers, space stations, etc. to make, and can be done in about ten minutes.  One bowl, one spatula, a couple commercial breaks and boom, banana muffins.  What’s even better is this recipe is very flexible.  You can add things like chocolate chips, walnuts (or any nut for that matter), coconut, dried fruit, whatever you want, and it’ll still be done in no time at all and be delicious.

Banana (whatever you want to add) muffins – Makes 15

1/3 cups butter or margarine

5 ripe bananas (as in the skin is mostly brown)

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

¼ teaspoon cloves

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

I tablespoon bourbon or whiskey (optional, but recommended)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 ½ cups AP flour

Preheat oven to 350F (177C). In a large microwave safe bowl, melt the butter.  Add the bananas and mash with a fork, or the backside of your spatula.  Add the brown sugar and mix until smooth.  Add the egg, vanilla, bourbon and spices and mix until combined.  Sprinkle the salt and baking soda over the mixture and stir until combined.  Add the flour in half cup increments, mixing until just combined each time.  Spray the muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray and line with paper or tin liners.  Using an ice cream scoop, scoop the batter into the liners until just over ¾ full.  Bake for 22 minutes, let cool in the pan, remove and cool completely and frost.

Orange Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8oz) package of cream cheese, room temperature

4 Tablespoons butter or margarine, room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 cups icing sugar (confectioners’ sugar/powdered sugar)

Zest of ½ an orange

½ cup shaved sweetened coconut

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together until whipped.  Add the vanilla and beat until combined.  Add the icing sugar in ½ cup increments until complete, and whip the mixture until fluffy.  Fold in orange zest and coconut shavings. Top cupcakes in whatever method you like, and enjoy!

I had a craving for something tuna-y for dinner, and called my Mom to ask her how she makes tuna salad.  She started listing off ingredients, and I kept cringing.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my Mom’s cooking, but hard-boiled eggs and globs of mayonnaise just aren’t something I can get behind.

So I took things into my own hands, and started grabbing things from my cabinets and my crisper and went to town.

Spicy Tuna Salad

I find this to be a much lighter and less stodgy way to do tuna salad.  The heat from the peppers and hot sauce also cover up the inherent fishiness one gets from canned tuna.

2 cans tuna (in water), drained

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced

1 tomato, seeded and diced

1/2 bunch cilantro (although I thought it was a bit much, but I don’t like a lot of cilantro), minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 celery stalk, diced

1 small red onion, diced

2 tablespoons adobo sauce (get chilis in adobo and use the sauce they’re in)

4-6 tablespoons light mayo (more or less depending on the how much lime juice you get)

Juice of one lime

1 tablespoon hot sauce

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Mix everything in a bowl and spoon into lettuce cups, or on toast, or on bread, top with cheese and make a tuna melt.

If you’re feeling adventurous, add an egg, ½ – ¾ cup seasoned bread crumbs, and portion out into 8 discs.  Shallow fry them in 4-5 tablespoons olive oil about 4 minutes per side and serve on their own, over a salad, or in a lettuce wrap.

Since we’re in college I know it’s unrealistic to have a home cooked dinner every night – with classes, work, studying, rehearsals, social time, etc. – so let’s talk going out to eat.
BARS:
Obviously, when you go to a bar, if you get there early enough you can get some food.  Most bars offer some sort of special that generally changes every day. These are the meals to plan ahead for; for instance, if you want a bacon cheeseburger, and you know that on Wednesday your favorite bar has it on special for $5 with fries, then obviously you go then instead of going any other day and spending $8.99 for the same meal.  This isn’t rocket science.
FAST FOOD:
I shouldn’t even be giving this a section because fast food, while occasionally delicious, is terrible to be eating regularly – still there are things that need to be said.  Dollar menus are where to order from.  Generally they have very close, if not the same food as the full menu, just sold a la carte.  Honestly, most fast food places make a “variety” of food, but I find it all tastes the same. 

“QUICK” FOOD:
By “quick” food, I mean places where the food is a little higher quality than McDonald’s or Wendy’s, but not as high class as Wolfgang Puck’s restaurants; somewhere like Noodles & Co. or Chipotle.  If they offer different sizes, try to go for the smaller portions.  Not only will they be cheaper, but they won’t overfill you.  Portion sizes in American food chains have gotten to be monstrous, some even topping 2000 calories for a meal; for most people, that’s more calories than they should be eating in an entire day.  Also, try to get veggies incorporated when possible.  Living completely on meat and starches isn’t healthy for your digestion no matter how delicious they are.
SIT DOWN RESTAURANTS:
Say if you and a bunch of friend want to go somewhere a little fancier (maybe somewhere with tablecloths??)  - look for places that offer group meals, or family style entrees. If you can order one less entrée than people in your party, you can all save a little bit of money, and try multiple dishes instead of just one.  We’ve all had that moment when we go out with some friends, everyone orders something different, and you want to try what your friends have.  Obviously, you can’t just fork yourself some of their meal; you’ll get stabbed by them.  Getting a family style dinner ensures that everyone will get to try everything, and there won’t be (as much) drama over who had what.  Here’s an example, my friends and I just went to Chicago’s Greektown. We got a family style dinner that included three appetizers, a salad, four entrees, and three desserts.  Individually, that would have cost us over $30 a person, plus tax and tip.  With this deal, we all spent $22 plus tax and tip.  Saving that $8 I know doesn’t seem like much, but if you keep at it when you go out, it adds up to a significant savings.
TIPS:
-        Be sure to check the restaurant’s website (if they don’t have one, I’m surprised they’re still doing business) to look at the menu.  Sometimes they even have recommendations on there as to what to order if you’re unsure.

-        Occasionally restaurants offer coupons and deals on their websites.  Check for these, some even have half off deals on your whole order.

-        Always try and do pick up if it’s a viable option.  Obviously, if the place is far and you don’t have any mode of transportation delivery is your best bet, but shaving off that $1-4 delivery charge adds up to a decent amount of savings in the long run.

There are clearly many more things to be said about going out and spending smartly, but hopefully this little start can keep you in the black.

So I’ve been thinking – this blog has become kind of a dead zone for me and I’ve been trying to figure out why.  When I started it, I had this grand idea to show you all recipes that were budget conscious, healthy, and easy enough to make that someone with no cooking background can make them, i.e. a college student.  Obviously, I lost that goal somewhere along the way.  So its time for a revamp.

From now on, this will be a place where I’ll post tips and quick ideas to help those of you who are always on the go.  Classes, meetings, rehearsals, and of course a social life all demand a quick way to keep healthy both with your food and your spending habits.  Some days there will be recipes, other days, just a few quick tips. 

To start things off, I’m going to (regrettably) take a page from Rachael Ray’s book.  (Nothing against Rachael Ray, I’m just not her biggest fan.) Her new show on Cooking Channel, Week in a Day, has got me thinking about making the week’s meals in advance.  Originally, I thought this idea was nasty, because who would want to eat something on Friday that was made on Sunday? Gross.  However, after thinking about it, whatever you make doesn’t have to be fully cooked and reheated as the week goes on, but merely assembled and then cooked when you want it.  You are still able to get a freshly cooked meal every night without having to deal with the hassle of having to come over after a long day, stand chopping vegetables for 20 minutes, only to get a mediocre meal that you half-assed your way through.  When I get home and have to actually make something, I’m more apt to just pick up the phone (or more realistically go on Campusfood.com) and order something not healthy and expensive.  It’s not a good situation.  Hopefully this ends up being a good solution that both helps me with my bad habits, and can give you some good advice for saving money, time, and most importantly help you eat healthier than the average college student.

A while back when I was going through my blogroll, I noticed a cake on a site frequent regularly.  Not only did it have blueberries in it (my absolute favorite fruit) but it was simple, fast and versatile.  I bookmarked it and went about my life always knowing that it was there, but never really having a reason to make it.  So last week, I was sitting in my kitchen with Jen, my roommate, and we started talking about what we should do for dinner (are you seeing a trend yet??).

[Sidenote: I try to spend time, or get all of my roommates to spend time together, because we rarely see each other for more than 10 minute intervals during the day.  While I know we’re only in college and we’ll all be moving apart in a year (whoa, sad) I want it to feel as family-like as it possibly can.  That or so we at least know what’s going on in each other’s lives.]

So that night, Jen and I made the most amazing pizza ever, and this wondrous cake.  Not wanting to let my habits from summertime and the Weight Watchers crew back home die away, I set to work taking out some unnecessary fats and sugars, and adding some heart healthy whole grains.  What I ended up with was a moist, but dense cake, which was sweet (and I do have to say, from sugar to “natural” sugar substitute, you can taste the difference.  Unless you’re planning to eat the whole thing yourself, go ahead and use real sugar, or half sugar and half substitute) and had little blueberry shaped pockets throughout.

The combination of lemon and blueberry, while classic (and some even say boring) is one of my favorites.  Of course, this can be changed to any fruit and citrus combination, or hell, the base can even be changed to something completely sweet, like chocolate and caramel chunks – that one I got from a friend who brought caramel brownies to rehearsal today. Now that I’m typing this, I think that might be on the agenda for tomorrow.

Lemon Blueberry Yogurt Cake

Adapted from Smittenkitchen.com

Serves 12-16 depending on size of slices

[Conversions were made, so I’ll put the original measurements and ingredients in italics so the conversions are obvious – plus then you can make your own concoction.]

1 5/16 cups whole wheat flour –or- 1 ½ cups All-Purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

25 packets Truvia –or- 1 cup + 1 Tbsp sugar

¾ cup egg substitute –or- 3 large eggs

2 teaspoons lemon zest

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup vegetable oil

1 ½ cup fresh blueberries

1/3 cup lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350F.  Spray a 9”x 5” loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt.  Whisk together until combined.  In another large bowl, whisk the sugar, eggs, lemon zest, vanilla and oil together.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet in batches, until just combined.  Toss the blueberries in about a tablespoon of flour – this helps them not to sink in the batter when it bakes.  Fold in the flour and blueberries until just combined.  Pour the batter into the loaf pan, and bake on the center rack for 50-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let completely cool on a rack, then remove from the pan and eat the whole damn thing.

Last summer when I started this ship, I made a form of Thai pizza with my roommate at the time, Jen.  It was a humble creation, made on flatbread with our pizza pizzazz and bore no real resemblance to a pizza.  It still tasted fine, and for the time it was sufficient.  Ever since that day, anytime Jen and I got together we always reminisced about that wonderful creation.  This year I’m living with Jen again.  I’ll give you three guesses what we had for dinner the other night.

Yep.  We made it again.  But better. Before it had precooked refrigerated “chicken” strips and no real dough (it was flatbread with flaxseed in it.  I’m all for health conscious cooking, but let’s get real).  Taking a step higher than unleavened flax bread, we used a packaged pizza dough mix – again, we could’ve made our own dough from scratch, but we wanted to eat before it was time for bed – and five minutes later we had dough.  I grilled up a couple chicken thighs (which I have lately discovered are much better than chicken breasts, and now I know where they are in the store, my freezer is lined in them) and chopped some green onions.

There’s something unctious about peanut sauce too. It’s…it’s like crack.  There are no other words.  Don’t knock it ‘til you try it, but I’m hooked, and the addiction is spreading around my apartment.  Hopefully by the end of my now third year of living with my friend Marc, the Italian if you’ve been following, I’ll get him to like Asian food.  I just don’t understand how people can’t.

Give this one a whirl – it’s easy as hell and will be done faster than any pizza from a take-out place…well any legit take-out place.

Chicken “Satay” Pizza

Traditionally, Satay is grilled chicken on skewers in peanut sauce.  I say, just skip the skewers, douse the meat in peanut sauce, and stick a fork in it.

Serves 2-3

1 package Betty Crocker pizza mix

½ cup peanut sauce (more or less depending on how thin/thick you make the crust

1 bunch of scallions, chopped (just the white and light green parts

2 chicken thighs, seasoned with salt and pepper

8 slices Provolone cheese

Pinch of red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 450F.

Grill or sauté the chicken over medium-high heat, about 4 minutes a side.  Chop the chicken into bite size pieces and set aside.

Make dough according to package instructions.  Flatten into a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray.  Spread peanut sauce on the dough.  Add the chopped chicken, scallions and cover with the cheese.  Spray the edges of the crust so they brown well in the oven.  Bake the pizza 12-17 minutes or until the cheese and crust are browned.  Remove from the oven, slice and try to save some for the next day.

I dare you.

So there was this one time, when my nieces turned six, six, and four.  Yes, there are twins, but I feel like I’ve mentioned that before, so there’s no need to beat around that old bush.  On top of the graduation from Kindergarten (which was hilarious, and fantastic – there was multilingual singing!!) Alex and Abby, the twins, were inexplicably excited to start 1^st grade.  Abby, while playing with me one day over the summer, said to me, “I can’t wait to be 6! I get to go to school all day and even eat lunch there!!”

Enjoy the enthusiasm while it lasts – you’ll be in school for at least the next 12 years.

More exciting news – Mom and Dad have been doing Weight Watchers, both intentionally and otherwise since last October, and Mom is down nearly 40 pounds!!  In trying to keep said weight off, any chance she gets to throw a recipe at me and say, “make it healthy” she takes.  This time was no different.

Some people have birthday cakes that are traditional white or yellow cakes, with regular vanilla frosting – others have intensely chocolate cakes with fruit thrown in for some dimension and color – and other yet (this includes me) ask for a mixture of pudding and cookie crumbs playfully displayed in a large flower pot with gummy worms poking out the top.  I love Dirt Cake.  I wanted to take the traditional birthday cake, and make it healthier than the pounds of butter and sugar that tend to go into those fantastic once a year (yeah, right) little bundles of joy.  I also had to make sure to avoid nuts at all costs, the young’uns are allergic.

Here’s a glimpse of my stream of consciousness:

I’m on a banana kick…let’s add some bananas in…how ‘bout banana bread?…yeah that’s good, no nuts though…oooh and caramel would be fantastic…and carrot cake is good, but carrots and bananas would be gross together…let’s just use the frosting….mmm…cream cheese…oh and there has to be chocolate in there…yum…ooh and I have a Martha Stewart book that has a banana bread cupcake recipe…and there are instructions for making monkey faces…ooh….monkeys for the monkeys…let’s do it.

If you’ve been keeping track:

Banana bread + chocolate + caramel + cream cheese = the exact opposite of Weight Watchers.

I set to work, converting, and testing and making sure that everything was up to par.  (It really wasn’t that hard, just a little math).  What I ended up with was a jumbo banana cupcake, dipped in chocolate ganache, and topped with a dollop of caramel cream cheese.  If traditional ingredients were used, these mothers would have packed a whopping 750 calories a pop.  After converting to whole wheat flour (heart healthy!) and egg substitute (I don’t know my stance on brown sugar substitute yet) I brought these guys down to about 400 calories a piece.  I didn’t change anything with the cream cheese frosting or ganache, because there honestly isn’t enough on each cupcake for it to make a useful difference.

A little fiddling with Martha’s technique (I hate fondant, screw that) I also managed to scrawl out a few monkeys, for my little monkeys.

Banana Cupcakes, revamped – yield 11 jumbo cupcakes, or 30 regular cupcakes

Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes

2 5/8 cup whole wheat flour

1 ½ teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups bananas, mashed (about 4 ripe bananas)

¾ cup buttermilk

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

9/16 cups canola oil

1 ½ cups light brown sugar

¾ cups egg substitute

Preheat oven to 350F.  Spray jumbo muffin tins with cooking spray and set aside.  Whisk together the flour, basking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl and set aside.  In another large bowl, mix the mashed bananas, buttermilk and vanilla.  Beat together the oil and sugar until it forms a fine paste. Add the egg substitute and scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Add the flour mixture and banana mixture, alternating between flour and banana until everything is just incorporated.

Divide batter evenly between muffin tins, filling each about three-quarters full.  Bake for 25 minutes, rotating halfway.  Transfer tins to a wire rack to let cool completely before removing the cupcakes.  Once cool, dip the tops in the chocolate ganache (recipe below) and refrigerate forat least 4 hours, but preferably overnight.  Top with the caramel cream cheese (recipe below) and make monkey faces if you have monkeys in your life. :]

Chocolate Ganache

16 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

2 cups heavy whipping cream

Pour the chopped chocolate into a large bowl.  Gently heat the whippnig cream over medium low heat until bubbles just form around the edge of the saucepan.  Pour the heated cream over the chocolate and stir until all the chocolate is melted.

Caramel cream cheese frosting

16 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1 cups granulated white sugar

½ cup heavy cream

¼ cup water

Combine the water and sugar in a sacepan, and heat over medium heat.  Watch this mixture carefully.  DO NOT STIR.  Let bubble until just amber, then remove from heat.  Slowly add the heavy cream. **The Mixture will froth and bubble up, so wear proper protection and be careful not to burn yourself**  Return to the heat on low, and whisk to get out any lumps.  Once smooth, whisk into the cream cheese until smooth.

[also, what do you all think of the new music addition to the sidebar?? Let me know in the comments ]

We went. We saw. We cried. If you are 19-22 and haven’t seen Toy Story 3 yet, do it. It was so incredibly good, there aren’t even words. I don’t think younger kids would appreciate it as much as us older kids, but I think they’d still like it. This post isn’t about a movie though, but rather a delicious cake. I just had to put in my two cents about that fantastic film.

Every year for Father’s Day, either my sister or I make an orange poppy seed cake for my Dad because it’s his favorite. These past 8 months however, both of my parents have been doing Weight Watchers, and have had crazy success at it, as both have lost 30 pounds already!! So a couple days ago, my Mom handed me the recipe for the cake and said, “make this healthy”. I’ve never really revamped anything baked before, so I was a bit wary about how it would turn out. Baking is a commitment; if you screw up in the mixing, then you’ve wasted a solid 1-2 hours on something that might not even turn out. Scary stuff.

I got a little help from the internet (as usual) and a new cookbook we just purchased by Rocco DiSpirito, called Now Eat This! Rocco took 150 classic comfort foods and made them all 350 calories or less per serving, along with cutting the fat basically down to nothing. I made brownies the other day that were 53 calories a piece. That is just insanity. So I looked up conversion charts for whole wheat flour, Stevia extracts, and egg substitutes. I cautiously made this cake, knowing full well what the batter should taste like, and checking myself along the way. In the end, it came out just as we’ve all remembered it, only much leaner on the calorie front. From 744 calories a serving, down to 257 a serving, this cake won’t make you wish you’d eaten celery for a week before Father’s Day.

Poppy Seed Cake with Orange glaze (serves 16)

I changed the cake, slightly, using what we had in the kitchen. Ideally, all of the sugar would have been replaced by Stevia, and the vegetable oil wouldn’t even be in the mix, but rather substituted for something healthier. As I said, baking is a commitment, and I’m all for baby steps.

48 packets Truvia
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 cup veg oil
¾ cup egg beaters
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 5/8 cup white whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup skim milk

Orange Glaze

1 cup confectioner’s sugar
¼ cup orange juice
1 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 12 cup bundt pan with baking spray, or cooking spray and flour.

Combine first five ingredients in a bowl mixing until completely mixed. Mix flour, salt, baking powder, and poppy seeds in a large bowl. Alternately add the flour mixture and milk to the wet ingredients, ending with the milk, mixing until just combined. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool ten minutes in the pan on a wire rack.

After ten minutes, spoon the glaze over the cake, and let cool completely for four hours, but ideally overnight. Slice and enjoy!!

I’ve been neglecting this poor site not out of want, but more because I haven’t really had a chance to get anything made or written about or photographed in the past month or so.  See, there was the last round of exams, then finals, then moving home and unpacking, and then starting a 42.5 hour a week job.  Life has been busy.  As it is, I’m writing this gem while my nieces who I’m currently babysitting, are watching Barbie Thumbelina in thw other room with one of my old roommates (thanks, Amy!!).  It’s an enthralling tale of how a stereotypical doll, came to life, and became thum…bel..ina.  Yeah, I don’t get it either.

Please hang with me though!!  Once I get back into the swing of things, there will be more to come!!  I know a fwe of you just discovered he site, and this is no way to make a first impression.  You can always check back in the archives for more recipes and feel free to e-mail me anything you want to see made!! I know some of you are picky eaters (which I, thankfully, am not) so if you have any suggestions, I am always willing to listen.

) Happy Thuesday!!

Sometimes, I order Chinese food, and sometimes I don’t eat the obligatory box of white rice that comes with said Chinese food, and sometimes I wait so long to eat said white rice, that it turns hard and barely manageable in the refrigerator; it’s moments like these that I’m glad someone made up the concept of fried rice.

I don’t like to be wasteful, especially with takeout food.  I spent the money, generally charged (sorry, Mom) money, and I don’t enjoy having the throw money directly into the garbage.  This saves you from having to throw away your money, even if it is only applicable to rice.  You can put whatever you darn well please into this dish – cooked meats, veggies, more eggs; no leftover discrimination here – it could be the equivalent of your Mom’s what-in-God’s-name-did-you-mix-together casserole.  The upside – it cleans out your fridge in a delicious way; the downside – this is a fairly oily dish, and there is frying involved, so don’t expect to see it on some Weight Watchers menu anytime soon.

Quick Fried Rice

Serves 2, but I tend to eat it all; I’m not going to lie.  Feel free to add whatever you like to this (in the step before adding the rice), just be sure to adjust the cooking time accordingly to make sure everything is properly heated through.
About a cup of cooked rice
About a cup of cooked vegetables
1 egg, beaten
Sesame Oil
1-2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/4 to 1/3 cup Soy Sauce
Salt
Pepper
Red Pepper flakes
Wasabi Paste
Ginger Powder

Heat 2-3 tablespoons of oil in a pan with about half a teaspoon wasabi paste, a teaspoon of ginger powder and a pinch of red pepper flakes. After about 30 seconds, add the garlic, and about a minute after that, add the vegetables. Cook for 2-4 minutes, or until heated through, and add the rice. Cook until warm, and pour the sauce all over the rice, there should be a noticeable sizzle and smoke. After about a minute, form a well in the middle of the pan, and pour in the beaten egg. Wait about a minute and stir the egg into the rest of the rice/veggie mixture. Continue stirring constantly until the egg is completely cooked, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve.