Banana and Oat Pancakes

I have had two breakfasts today. Eggs after my bikram workout and now banana pancakes (and english muffins are rising...it's a breakfast for dinner kind of day). Yum! I love homemade pancakes (restaurants aren't the same!). Since I had an awesome workout this morning, I decided to make it a little more healthy.

1 cup uncooked rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly whisked
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 banana, mashed
1 tablespoon cinnamon

In a food processor, grind the oats until they resemeble a coarse flour. Add the oats, flours, sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt together in a large bowl. while whisking, add the egg, milk, oil, and extract. Lastly, add the mashed banana and cinnamon. Mix well. Heat a medium saute pan and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Cook until lightly golden on each side.

Chickpeas with Tomatoes and Rosemary

I am quite impressed with myself today. I sat down and made a menu plan for the week. AND THEN I went grocery shopping based on that menu plan. Man, I'm good. Actually, last week was kind of insane and ate out way too often.


2 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
3 sprigs of rosemary, leaves minced
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (less or more depending on your taste)
1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 teaspoon parsely
Salt to taste

In a medium saucepan, combine the olive oil and garlic. Cook for about a minute, do not let the garlic get too brown. Then add the rosemary and pepper. Cook for another minute, then add the tomatoes and salt. Simmer for about five minutes. Add the chickpeas and parsely. Cook for about five minutes and add salt to taste. Serve with saffron rice (yummy!).

Cheese Enchiladas

To celebrate being "American" on the 4th of July, I made a dish more commonly known as a Mexican and Aztec dish...cheese enchiladas. We're a melting pot, right?! I love enchiladas...something so decadent about them. This morning, while shopping at Trader Joe's, I was asking for taco seasoning for another dish, and the lovely sales person directed me to enchilada sauce. Did you know Trader Joe's has enchilada sauce???? I didn't, but now I feel I must enlighten the world. It's seriously good stuff. Not just oh, that's enchilada sauce, but wow, now THAT's enchilada sauce.

Corn torillas
Vegetable oil
1 medium 0nion, chopped
1 cup shredded chedder cheese
1 bottle enchilada sauce from Trader Joe's

In a large bowl, add the enchilada sauce. Then in a small pan, add oil until it's about half inch deep and heat under medium heat. Add one corn tortilla and cook only for about 20 seconds. Do not over cook or they will get too crisp! You only want it long enough to warm and become pliable. Then immediately, using tongs, remove them and put the tortilla into the enchilada sauce to coat. Then place on a plate to cool for about a minute. Add the shredded cheese and onion to the center of the tortilla. Fold one side over the other and place seam side down in a large glass baking dish. Repeat for all the tortillas (until you either run out of tortillas or run out of room in the baking dish).

Pour the remainder of the sauce over top the enchiladas. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, until bubbling. Serve while hot. Mmmmm

Blueberry and Banana Bread

Happy Fourth of July! My father came into town this weekend, along with one of my brothers who is in town for work. So, I got to spend the weekend with almost all the men in my family (miss you Uncle Louie!). With my father being retired and being the little charmer that he is, he has made friends with all of his neighborhood ladies. He mentioned to one of them that I love to make bread. She in turn gave him a recipe to give to me to try out. It is amazing! I made it this morning and then brought it over to my (other) brother's house. It didn't last long. True, I was eating quite a bit myself, but it was yummy! The original recipe called for double, which makes to bread loaves. Here is the reduced version.

1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 small bananas, mashed
2 cups of flour + a tablespoons of flour)
1 1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon baking power
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (I used fresh from the farmer's market)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and grease and flour a loaf pan.

Cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.

Fold in the flour. Add the allspice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a separate small bowl, sprinkle the tablespoon flour onto the blueberries and toss to coat. Fold into the batter.

Pour into the prepared loaf pan and bake for about 50 minuets until a toothpick comes out clean.*

*Check in a couple of places. I made the mistake of only checking in one place and thinking it was done, flipped it over out of the pan...got the impression it wasn't quite done yet when some of the batter came out. Had to (very) quickly replace the loaf in the pan and back in the oven. Oops.