Banana Cardamom Mini Loafs

Two things I love in life, bananas and cardamom, have come together into an adorable tasty little loaf.  Ever since I spent a summer in Sweden I have fallen in love with this unique spice.  I'll add a dash to my oatmeal here, sprinkle some in my tea or coffee there, and try to blend it into as many baked goods as possible.

Once I saw this recipe from Bob Vivant I knew that I had to try it.  Instead of making a cake though I decided to use my new mini-loaf pan to make precious little loafs.  I have to say it was a success and I didn't even make the frosting.  That is saying something seeing as though I have such a sweet tooth and love a good frosting!

Pumpkin Pecan Streusal Bread

Its fall, and you know what that means ... pumpkin season!!

When I was in Trader Joe's I had to buy some canned pumpkin puree.  I knew it that sometime in the near future I would be using it.  I simply needed to find a good recipe to try. 

After a few minutes of browsing I found the perfect recipe with the perfect add in ... nuts!! 

I have to say it was quite a success!  It tasted delicious, but there was way too much streusel.  Next time I think I'll only make like 1/4c worth of streusel. 

Oh I also used pecans instead of the walnuts that were suggested!

Prune and Pecan Bliss Balls "Healthly Chocolate Truffles"

In my world sweets rule all, which leads to a wonderfully delicious yet very unhealthy diet.  I've been trying to rectify this problem by finding some new sweet alternatives to replace my sugar heavy, cream rich, and fat laden sweets. 

I saw a recipe for a some prune and pecan treats which I have since dubbed my "healthy choco truffles."  They are very sweet and delicious and I'm happy to now have an option for those times (and less face it there are many times) where I binge on sweets.

I halved the recipe that I found on instagram so I wouldn't eat too many at once and it made about 11 1" diameter "truffles."

Veggie Green Chile Enchiladas

Because I'm generally a sweets girl I tend to only be intrigued by blog posts having to do with delicious looking pastries, desserts, and sweet baked goods.  However I've decided to try to turn a new leaf and experiment with some savory options as well.  Here is my version of feed me Phoebe's Green Chile Enchiladas.

They turned out alright even with the adjustments I made:

• 2 instead of 1 shallot (I like the more oniony taste it gives)
• grape tomatoes cut into quarters instead of cherry tomatoes
• sub edamame for spinach (added a good texture to the mix)
• definitely added more cheese, but used Trader Joe's diary free shredded cheese mix instead
• 12 instead of 16 ounces of green chile salsa (the only size TJ's had)
• ~5 ounces Greek yogurt (the only reasonable size TJ's had)
• used a mixture of flour (8") and corn (6") tortillas
• I like the corn better

I ended up cooking them for about 30 minutes to try to get the cheese to melt nicer.  Sadly the cheese didn't melt like I wanted it to but I'm going to chalk that up to the fakeness of the cheese (b/c it was non-dairy).  I also ended up making only 8 enchiladas with extra filling and tortillas, but that will be a nice snack with later. 

Overall, a success!

A new direction -- spiced up granola

Beginnings are always interesting.  They are fresh, new exhilarating, sometimes terrifying, but nonetheless they are part of life.  I am beginning a new chapter in my life and I thought it would be nice to get some consistency back.  Thus I am going to resuscitate this blog from its dying last legs and give it some new life.

In the spirit of beginnings, I'm going to take this blog in a slightly new direction.  I'm going to attempt to start trying some of the many recipes from the many blogs I follow.

Here it goes...

Granola.  There is something so satisfying about pouring some in a bowl with a splash of milk in the morning.  Heck any time of day.  I decided to finally try making some from scratch instead of just buying it from various sources.



It should stay fresh if kept in an airtight container for about 1.5 - 2 weeks.

I was inspired by Cookie + Kate's Gingerbread Granola so I put a little twist on it and it turned out quite wonderfully.

The only changes I made were adding:
- 1/3 cup flax seeds (about a 1/3 cup worth because I had them lying around)
- substituting an equal amount of honey for the molasses
- omitting the ginger (sadly didn't have any around)
- and substituting dried apricots for the dried cranberries
- substituting 1 T of ground cardamom for the ground ginger (I fell in love with cardamom after spending a summer in Sweden)

I've got to say I'm quite impressed by my first shot at this, and hope that this is what all of my future endeavors will be like instead of this being just beginners luck.