Frozen Banana, Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip Milkshake

Frozen Banana, Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip Milkshake

Makes 1 large shake or 2 small shakes

2 medium bananas, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks
2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
1 cup skim or 2% milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Freeze the bananas in a covered container for at least 4 hours, or overnight.

Blend frozen bananas, peanut butter, milk, and vanilla in a blender until smooth. Add the chocolate chips at the end and pulse or blend briefly until they are chopped and incorporated.

 

Seriously good.  You must try this.  Originally found at: http://www.thekitchn.com/lighter-treat-recipe-frozen-banana-peanut-butter-chocolate-milkshake-111540 

Sweet Potato Fries

I've made sweet potato fries before, but I never quite get it right. They'll be soggy, or burnt, or underseasoned. These were delicious. Crispy on the outside, soft in the middle, a little spicy. Yum!

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Peel sweet potato (or, you can mak e them with the skin on). If you need to wash your potato, make sure to dry the potato really well. Slice the potato into fries that are 1/2 - 3/4 of an inch thick.

Put fries into a bowl. Sprinkle with coarse salt (kosher or sea salt) and generously with freshly ground pepper. Drizzle lightly with olive oil. Don't use too much oil or fries will turn out soggy. Add only enough that fries are slightly coated. Toss the fries so they have an even coating of oil, salt, and pepper.

Put fries on a cookie sheet. Spread them out and avoid having them touch each other. You may wish to sprinkle more salt and pepper on them. Put in oven and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and turn them over, then bake for another 15 minutes. Fries should be browned to a golden color. If they don't look cooked enough, bake longer, in 5 minute intervals, turning them over as needed.

Remove from oven and enjoy!

Granola

Ingredients:
16-18 oz. of rolled oats
1 1/2 cups shredded unsweetened coconut
1 1/2 cups cashews (whole or chopped)
1 1/2 cups almonds (whole or sliced)
1 cup walnut pieces or halves
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 cup maple syrup
3/4 olive oil or peanut oil
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350. Put oats, coconut, cashews, almonds, walnuts, cinnamon, and salt in large bowl and stir to combine. Drizzle with maple syrup and oil and stir until they're evenly incorporated. Transfer the mixture to a 13x18 inch rimmed baking sheet and spread into a relatively even layer.

2. Bake, stirring every 15 minutes or so, until the granola has begun to turn crisp and brown, about 45 minutes. (It will continue to crisp up as it cools.) Let cool for at least 15 minutes, then stir in the raisins and cranberries, if you're using them. (Store unused granola in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a month.)

Makes about 12 cups.

Notes:
- I got this recipe from: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/01/25/homemade_granola_that_s_easy_to_do_right.html
- I added sweetened coconut (b/c it's what I had), and a little more than called fore (b/c I love coconut).
- I added about 3 tsp. of cinnamon (I like cinnamon).
- I used honey instead of maple syrup (b/c it's what I had and maple syrup can be expensive, and if you read the article, it says you can use honey). I bet it would be delicious with maple syrup though!
- I didn't have a whole cup of walnuts, so I threw in some pecan pieces and extra cashews and almonds to make compensate.
- I added about 3/4 cupe of raisins and 3/4 of cranberries.
- I slightly overcooked mine, so watch it carefully, and maybe cook even a little less than 45 minutes.

Chocolate-Soy-Banana-Peanut butter-Delicious-Smoothie

Ingredients:
3 cups of soy milk (or almond milk or regular milk)
2-3 frozen bananas, chopped
1 Tbsp unsweetened dark cocoa powder
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
2 Tbsp honey
1/4 cup flax seed meal (optional)
2-3 Tbsp peanut butter

In a blender add the chocolate chips, cocoa powder, peanut butter, and 1 cup of soy milk.  Blend for 30 seconds.  Add remaining ingredients and blend until liquified and combined.

Freeze any leftovers to eat as popsicles (in popsicle molds or dixie cups).

I froze some, but preferred it as a shake, so I  re-blended them with some more soy milk to make a shake again.

Granola Bars

I've tried lots of recipes for this and they all were super average, but this recipe is soooooo good. You can replace the nuts with other nuts, just keep the dry to wet ratio the same. Also you can use all maple syrup or all honey, just depends what you have.

2 1/2 cups oats
 1 cup rice crispies
3/4 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup peanuts, crushed
 1/4 cup walnuts
3/8 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
 1/4 cup maple syrup
 1 tsp cinnamon
4 Tbsp butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
dried fruit/raisins/etc...

1 - Preheat oven to 375. Combine all dry ingredients (oats through walnuts) in a 9x13 pan and place in oven for about 10-15 minutes, stirring every couple minutes to get everything evenly toasted.
2 - In a large pot or skillet combine the rest of the ingredients (brown sugar through vanilla extract). Cook over a medium heat and let simmer while constantly stirring.
3 - Add in the toasted stuff and mix really well so everything is evenly coated. Add in dried fruits as you are mixing.
4 - Put mixture in a 9x13 pan and pat down realy well with a rubber spatula. Let cool for an hour or so, then flip pan over on a cutting board and cut into bars.

Mango Banana Strawberry Pop

Mango Banana Strawberry Pop!

1 large mango

1 banana

frozen strawberries (a handful - 5 or 6?)

fat-free, plain yogurt - about 1/2 to 3/4 cup (or use vanilla if you want the popsicle to be sweeter)

V8 Splash Tropical Colada Smoothie - about 1/2 cup (I wanted to buy mango nectar, but the store didn't have it, so I ended up with this, and it worked out well)

Combine ingredients in blender. Freeze. Enjoy. That simple.

Banana Blueberry Swirl Popsicles

Ingredients:

3-4 ripe bananas (1 lb)

1 1/2 cups yogurt

3 Tablespoons sugar

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 cup fresh blueberries

1. In the bowl of a food processor, puree bananas until smooth. Add yogurt, sugar, and lemon juice; pulse to combine. Remove half of the yogurt mixture; set aside.
2. Add blueberries to processor, and pulse until just combined. Layer blueberry and reserved yogurt mixtures into ten 1/3 cup ice-pop molds. Using a wooden skewer, swirl the two flavors together. Insert ice-pop sticks. Transfer to freezer until frozen, about 8 hours
3. Dip molds quickly in hot water to unmold. 

Yogurt and Granola

Alright sisters. I got ambitious. Everything turned out very, very good. And it was all very, very easy.
Yogurt
http://www.nourishingdays.com/2009/02/make-yogurt-in-your-crock-pot/
Follow this recipe with exactness. Maybe a Saturday project because you have to do stuff 2.5 hours after you start, then again 3 hours later, then again 8 hours later. Just buy plain yogurt, I got low fat because it was all the store sold, but I don't think it matters. I used Vitamin D milk - pasteurized and homoginized, do not get ultra pasteurized. It turned out really good - it is plain yogurt so you need to add vanilla and brown sugar to make it taste good.
*By the way, apparently you can make cream cheese by draining the yogurt in cheesecloth in the fridge for 5 hours. Will report later once I have tried this.

Granolahttp://www.slashfood.com/2007/08/31/a-granola-recipe-from-my-moms-hippie-youth/
You can use maple syrup or honey, or both. I did both, and I did a little over a half cup because I thought it needed the moisture. I wouldn't be afraid to add a little more canola oil either. I did not use coconut or sesame seeds, and instead of peanuts or almonds I used walnuts because I have a whole bunch. I also increased the 1/4 of wheat germ to 1/2 cup, which I think was a good choice because it helps form clusters. When you are done mixing in the bowl, and there are not many clusters, add a little water and that will help.

Fruit Leather

Ingredients:

• Fresh fruit (apricots, peaches, plums, berries, apples, pears, grapes)
• Water
• Lemon juice
• Sugar (if needed)
• Spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg (optional)

METHOD

1 Rinse the fruit. If you working with stone fruit, take out the pits, chop the fruit. If working with apples or pears, peel and core them, then chop. If working with grapes, de-stem them.

Taste the fruit before proceeding. Note how sweet the fruit is. If very sweet (ripe Concord grapes for example) you will not need to add any sugar. If still a little tart, you may need to add some sugar in the next step.

2 Place fruit in a large saucepan. Add a half cup of water for every 4 cups of chopped fruit. Bring to a simmer, cover and let cook on a low heat for 10-15 minutes, or until the fruit is cooked through. Uncover and stir. Use a potato masher to mash up the fruit in the pan. Taste the fruit and determine what and how much sugar, lemon juice, or spices to add. Add sugar in small amounts (1 Tbsp at a time if working with 4 cups of fruit), to desired level of sweetness. Add lemon juice one teaspoon at a time to help brighten the flavor of the fruit. Add a pinch or two of cinnamon, nutmeg, or other spices to augment the flavor.

Continue to simmer and stir until any added sugar is completely dissolved and the fruit purée has thickened, another 5 or 10 minutes (or more).

Note if you are working with grapes - strain the juice out of the mashed grapes to make grape juice. Force what is left behind, after straining, through a food mill, to make the purée for the next step.

3 Put the purée through a food mill or chinoise. Alternatively purée it thoroughly in a blender or food processor. Taste again and adjust sugar/lemon/spices if necessary. The purée should be very smooth.

4 Line a rimmed baking sheet with sturdy plastic wrap (the kind that is microwave safe). Pour out the purée into the lined baking sheet to about an 1/8 to 1/4 inch thickness.

5 Place the baking sheet in the oven, try to keep any plastic wrap from touch the sides of the oven or the oven racks. Also try to make sure that the plastic wrap hasn't folded back over on top of the purée. If this happens, the purée won't dry out. Heat the oven to a low 140°F. If you have a convection setting, use it, it will speed up the process and help dry out the purée. Let dry in the oven like this for as long as it takes for the purée to dry out and form fruit leather. We usually keep it in the oven overnight, so about 8-12 hours. The fruit leather is ready when it is no longer sticky, but has a smooth surface.

Alternatives to the oven. If you have a food dehydrator, this would be a great use of it. My mother suggested putting the tray in the weber grill, and leaving covered, in the sun all day. Sounds like a good trick, but I haven't tried it yet. My parents remember the traditional way of making fruit leather was just to tent the tray with some cheesecloth and leave it outside in the sun on a hot day.

6 When the fruit leather is ready, you can easily peel it up from the plastic wrap. To store it, roll it in its plastic wrap, put it in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator or freezer.

4 cups of fruit yield about one baking sheet of fruit leather.

Lily's Note:
i made a strawberry one. it is pretty tasty. it brought me back to the days of fruit rollups. When the weather gets nicer though, there are a whole bunch or apricot trees around, so i plan on making apricot ones. i did a thinner layer, about 1/8 inch, and it turned out pretty thin. i'd do a thicker layer.. 1/4-1/2 inch, maybe about 6-8 cups of fruit?
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_make_fruit_leather/