I've made it quite clear how much I love Chef John and I just tried this soup recipe of his recently that is insanely good and crazy easy to make. You can find the full recipe over here. (I omitted the flower garnish because, well, we don't care for garnish in our household. Also, I feel like you have to make a certain amount of money to be classified as a person who garnishes.)
Peanut Butter, Strawberry & Banana Quesadillas
I can't tell you how CRAZY GOOD THESE ARE.
I'm still not sure if this is an acceptable dish to be served at breakfast, but that's what I've been doing so you should, too. (Also, if you want to turn this into a dessert, then I suggest replacing the peanut butter with Nutella. Your mind will implode.)
Photo Credit: Ambitious Kitchen
Ingredients
Cooking spray
Natural creamy peanut butter
2 wholewheat tortillas
1 large ripe banana, sliced
3-4 strawberries, sliced
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Heat a medium skillet over medium high heat and spray the pan with cooking spray.
- Spread a thin layer of peanut butter on one side of each tortilla.
- Arrange both the banana and strawberry slices over one tortilla, sprinkle with a pinch of cinnamon, and top with the remaining tortilla, peanut butter side down. Press gently to help them stick together.
- When the skillet is hot, add the quesadilla, flipping once or twice, until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Cut each quesadilla into quarters with a pizza slicer. Serves 1-2.
I adapted the recipe slightly, but you can find the original one here.
Three Ingredient Peanut Butter Cups
Remember that time I made really shitty ("good for you") peanut butter cups? Well, those were shit and these ones are CRAZY BETTER. Though, one thought? Make them in a mini-cupcake tin and not a regular cupcake tin. I know I declared that I'm anti-mini-servings, but these are so rich that even the mini version is ridiculous sweet (/amazing).
Photo Credit: Leeves & Berries
Ingredients
- Bag of semi sweet chocolate chips
- Creamy natural peanut butter
- Sea salt
- Mini parchment cupcake liners
Instructions
- Working with a double boiler, melt your chocolate until smooth.
- Line your mini cupcake tin with the cupcake liners and using a spoon put a layer of chocolate in the bottom of each cup.
- Then take a spoon and drop in a small spoonful of peanut butter in the middle of each cup (try to cover the chocolate so you don't see it).
- Finally, spoon a layer of chocolate on top of the peanut butter doing your best to cover all the peanut butter with a layer of chocolate.
- Sprinkle with a bit of sea salt.
- Allow the peanut butter cups to set in the freezer for 15-30 minutes before serving. Keep chilled.
Warning: these get melty as hell if you don't eat them right out of the freezer. And man, they're good. Decadent, but good.
The recipe above is slightly adapted from the original one I found on Leeves & Berries.
Mini Rum-Raisin Bread Puddings
Almost all of the words in this recipe title sound bad... no wait, they actually all sound terrible (who the hell wants a mini-anything - give me the full size, please). The reason that I wanted to make this recipe, however, was because of two factors.
- I don't own an oven in my home, so when I'm visiting my parents I like to bake as much as I can so I can get it out of my system for awhile.
- My dad loves rum-raisin anything.
As it turns out, I ate three of these BECAUSE THEY WERE DELICIOUS. I don't know if it's because I've become a less picky eater or if it's just because I'm constantly hungry, but lately there's nothing I wouldn't try, food-wise.
Does my version look gross? Maybe in comparison to the sexy one beside her, but I swear to God it tasted amazing. If you have anyone in your life who likes rum-raisin, they'll love this to pieces. I swear. I'm not even a fan of bread pudding and I'm still standing by this dish because it was delicious. (I really wish bread pudding had a better name. It's really the worst name for a dessert in the history of food.)
You can find the recipe here. I implore you to try it out.
Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry
Apparently even bad cooks know how to make stir fry - or at least that's what I've been told. I started making them for the first time this summer and I think I get why people say that now. They're RIDICULOUSLY EASY TO MAKE and almost impossible to screw up. Did everyone already know that fact but me?
Here's an adapted recipe that I can't stop making.
Photo Credit: what2cook.net
Ingredients
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely grated or chopped ginger (it's easier to keep ginger in the freezer (thank you, Marla!) and then you can grate it frozen whenever a recipe calls for it)
1 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
2 cups broccoli flowerets - or a whole bunch, I never measure out broccoli because I'm not a serial killer
2 teaspoons cornstarch
Instructions
Spray a 12-inch nonstick skillet (ie. a deep-ass pan) with cooking spray. Heat over medium-high heat. Add chicken, garlic and ginger. Fry until chicken is brown.
Add 3/4 cup of the broth, the soy sauce and sugar. Cover and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring twice.
Add broccoli. Cover and cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
In a separate bowl, mix cornstarch with remaining 1/4 cup broth, then stir that into chicken and broccoli. Cook, stirring frequently, until sauce is thickened. Serve over rice.
Can't tell you how good this tastes. You can find the original recipe here, but I prefer the adapted one above.
Slow Cooker Jamaican Jerk Pork Chops
I just made this pork and rice dish and it tasted incredible. I'm always looking for other things to do to pork (since pulling it is the popular one) and this recipe is fantastic. I adapted it slightly from A Little Claireification based on my own preferences, so if there's anything in this that you'd alter even more - I have a feeling it'll still taste amazing. Especially over rice.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup hot water
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 pork chops (bone in or out, your choice)
- 1/2 onion, sliced
- 1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
- 1/2 orange bell pepper, sliced
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1 can black beans, drained
Instructions
- Turn on your slow cooker and add the first eight ingredients.
- Stir briefly just for a minute until the brown sugar is dissolved.
- Add the pork chops, turning them once to coat both sides.
- Add the onion, peppers, corn and black beans on top.
- Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 hours or on LOW for 6-8 hours.
- Serve pork over rice or with a side of your choice.
Healthy Banana Pancakes
As you already know, I'm into making pancakes. And this (flourless) recipe is, surprisingly, really good. Definitely try it out. All I ask of you is to please, oh, please get some pure (and likely Canadian) maple syrup to accompany your meal. Ignore the cheap, sugary brands and get the expensive, simple-ingredient-list kind of maple syrup. I know that it's easy to indulge in that corn-syrupy trash (and I am not one to judge), but c'mon. We can't live our lives on Mrs. Butterworth. (And to be fair, I only excessively endorsed that IHOP stuff whilst on vacation, if that helps my case at all. And clearly, my vacation self gives in to food temptation.)
Vanilla-Lemon Berry Parfaits
If someone were to ever plant me a lemon tree outside my home, I'd consider that a proposal. Who the hell wouldn't agree that having a lemon tree in your yard would be the most heavenly accessory to any ordinary existence? Man, I love lemons. And pine.
I just ate this parfait for breakfast - and other than it being ridiculously easy to make, it was just a delight to eat (possibly 'cause it tastes like dessert). And please know that I'm not even into breakfast and I loved this.
Ingredients
1 cup plain low-fat yogurt
2 (3.5-ounce) containers fat-free (or sugar-free) vanilla pudding
2 tablespoons bottled lemon curd (I couldn't find this at my apparently-peasant-like grocery store so I didn't bother with it. Though, since it's just more lemon, I'm sure that if you find it and use it then it'll taste even better.)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons honey
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 cup strawberries (since that was all I had - add blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc. if you have them)
EAT IT!
Recipe adapted slightly from Health.com
The Copycat Wendy's Frosty Recipe on Pinterest
I've seen this recipe too many times to count, so I (finally) tried it this past weekend. If you're on Pinterest, you know which one I'm talking about. This one:
3/4 cup almond milk
15 ice cubes
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1-2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 of a frozen banana
Verdict? GARBAGE! Tastes like dirty ice chunks. Stay away. FAR AWAY.
You can find more terrible Pinterest pins over here.
Homemade Salsa
Salsa, from The Pioneer Woman
Salsa, from The Pioneer Woman
I'm just going to say it: you should be watching your sodium intake levels. Forgive me if that's a tedious way to start this post, but it's important! And one of the reasons why I've been cutting back on eating a lot of the already-jarred salsas/items at the grocery store.
Are you aware of how easy this is to make yourself? It's almost weird. Why the hell haven't we all been doing this for years? Fuck you, Tostitos! We don't need you!
Ingredients
1 can (28 Ounce) of Whole Tomatoes With Juice
2 cans (10 Ounce) of Rotel (Diced Tomatoes And Green Chilies)
1/4 cup Chopped Onion
1 clove Garlic, Minced
1 whole Jalapeno, Quartered And Sliced Thin
1/4 teaspoon Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Ground Cumin
1 Whole Lime, Squeezed
Directions
Put all the ingredients into a blender and pulse it up to the consistency you desire.
I've made this three times already and each batch will last you about a week or two, depending on how much salsa you eat (and if you don't eat that much, you can freeze it, too). Definitely try this recipe - I will never buy store-bought again.
Also, there was cilantro in the original recipe that I left out since it can be pretty overbearing, but maybe that's just me. We all have our differing opinions when it comes to cilantro.