A Week with a Stay-At-Home Husband

I just want to start by gloating about the weather that I've gotten to enjoy this week. And after the winter I've endured, I have every right to gloat. It's been in the sixties and sunny for the past 4-5 days, and this week's forecast isn't predicting anything but warmer and sunnier skies. That, my friends, makes me one happy girl.

Now onto the main topic.

A couple weeks ago, Patrick was off for a shut down week. It was a long overdue break for him, but it didn't slow him down one bit. He wanted to cook supper the first two days, which is a HUGE deal. He's always been interested in the whole cooking process and even watches a couple cooking shows with me, but he's never attempted to make even a side dish. So when he agreed to make dinner, I did not oppose.

After working all day on Monday, I came home to a fresh fruit salad and chicken thawing for dinner. I was totally impressed. Hubs had gone to the store, bought all the fruit and ingredients for dinner, and prepared the salad before I even got home. Plus, he took a picture of the ingredients for my blog (Sorry, we didn't get an after shot.). I could really get used to this.


This fruit salad was unlike any other I've had before because it had the nuttiness and chocolate crunch of the trail mix. I ate it for every meal until it was no more. So, for the first time in married-life history, I'm sharing a recipe created by my husband.

This is the perfect dish for the hot, humid summer days ahead. Light, refreshing, and a touch of chocolate. Yes, please.

Diana

Moist Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

I'm an addict of two things: bargains and chocolate. When you mix those things together, this is what you get...

The most moist, chocolaty, banana-y? banana bread ever. 

Before I reveal the recipe, I want to give you a tip. I love buying in bulk and freezing foods. It just makes sense if it's a food you eat regularly. And let me tell you, the hubs and I go through some bananas. Recently, I've found myself going to the store at least once a week for bananas, so when I saw a three pound bunch of bananas for around $1.60 at Sam's, I knew I had to stock up. Without thinking much about it, I threw one of the bunches in the freezer. I peeked in the freezer a couple hours later and this is what I found.

Black bananas. 

After my endless research on the art of banana freezing, I found out that it's totally okay to freeze whole bananas. It's normal for them to turn black/brown pretty quickly, and the inside is fine to eat once you thaw them out. But before you go freezing your bananas, just know the texture is not so appetizing. 

Don't you wanna just dig your spoon into that mush? 

Okay, sorry about the indecent photo. Though a normal person wouldn't eat the remains of a frozen banana, they're great for baking. So, that's just what I did. 

If you're more a visual person, as I am, here's a quick run through of what the process should look like. 

Sifted dry ingredients

Mixed wet ingredients.

Ready to rise.

Easy enough, right? 

Don't let the red chips fool you. The Valentine's chocolate chips were on clearance at Target. They're just plain ol' semi-sweet chocolate chips.

This recipe was adapted from Foodie Crush.

2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon table salt

3 bananas, very ripe and mashed well (about 1 1/2 cups)

1/4 cup plain greek  yogurt

2 large eggs, beaten lightly

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled (I used salted and it turned out just fine)

1 1/2  teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour all sides and bottom 9''x13'' loaf pan.
2. Mash bananas in a bowl; set aside.
3. Sift all dry ingredients together. (Flour, sugar, baking soda, salt)
4. In a medium bowl, mix mashed bananas, yogurt, eggs, butter, vanilla, and chocolate chips together. 
5. Gently fold wet ingredients and dry ingredients. Don't over mix because it will result in a dry, tough bread.
6. Scrape mixture into loaf pan and sprinkle sugar on top. This gives the bread a sweet crunch. 
7. Bake for 50-60 minutes. It's done when an inserted knife or tooth pick comes out clean. 

It tastes best warm, so we just heated a piece in the microwave for a few seconds and enjoyed with a cup of coffee or milk. I hope you enjoy it as well.

"The Green Monster" Smoothie Test

I've been in smoothie mode lately. 

Hubs and I got a Magic Bullet for a wedding, and it's done nothing but take up a magnitude of space in our pantry. It seriously comes with ten parts. Instead of putting my frustration in the fact that it takes up so much vital space, I figured I might as well use it. I've tried a few typical smoothie combinations: strawberry/banana, blueberry, regular strawberry. They've all been quite tropical and sweet. Just the way I like it. 

Since I've had the time to go to the gym 4-5 days out of the week here lately, I figured I put my work to good use by trying to eat semi-okay. That's when I pinned "THE GREEN MONSTER."

http://iowagirleats.com/2012/01/04/my-top-secret-diet-weapon/

Here's Iowa Girl Eats recipe:

1 frozen sliced banana
1 Tablespoon peanut butter
1/2 cup 0% Vanilla Chobani Greek yogurt
1 cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze (or other kind of milk)
4 cups baby spinach (or more, or less)

It's packed with super foods, and she claimed that you couldn't taste the spinach. PA-LEASE! I needed to test it out for myself. 

So I threw the ingredients in my Magic Bullet this morning. I changed up the recipe a little bit just because I didn't have soy milk or vanilla Greek yogurt.

So my recipe looked a little like this:

1 frozen sliced banana

1 TBS peanut butter

1/3 cup Plain Greek Yogurt

1/2 cup Skim Milk

A couple handfuls of spinach

Half a packet of Stevia (A new favorite!)

She is definitely right when she says that you can't taste the spinach. I'll just be honest, the first few sips were hard to swallow. It wasn't my typical tropically sweet smoothie, but it wasn't awful. It tasted more like a peanut butter banana smoothie. Will I make it again? Ohhh....maybe...maybe not. But I do feel good about the nutritional facts:

350 calories, 10g fiber, 21g protein 

(Copied from http://iowagirleats.com/2012/01/04/my-top-secret-diet-weapon/)

Okay, now don't go thinking I'm a health nut, or that I eat like this everyday. I popped a handful of M&Ms right after I washed out my smoothie cup. 

I have REALLY good intentions. That's gotta count for something, right?