Kitchen Story: BAKED Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Donuts

I was searching my pinterest board for some recipes for baked donuts and found this delicious and semi-healthy looking recipe. It looked super simple and I decided to give it a try and make my team at work my guinea pigs ;-) Lo and behold, I did not poison them and they did not spit/vomit it out and claim to have dysphagia, so I think these are a winner!

Fun fact: Little did I know that it also happened to be National Donut Day when I shared these! My instincts just knew.

I changed up the recipe a bit to what I thought would taste better and used ingredients that most people will find in their kitchens or at least are ingredients everyone would know how to find at a grocery store or at a neighbor's kitchen (do people still borrow ingredients from neighbors?). 

If you don't have a donut pan, I highly suggest the Wilton pans. You can find them at Bed Bath & Beyond (and use those coupons shamelessly) or Amazon for super cheap! Your local Marshalls/TJMaxx/Homegoods may also have these.

Ingredients

Makes 16 donuts

2 mashed ripe bananas (about 1 cup)

1/3 cup white sugar

1/2 cup fat free vanilla greek yogurt

1/4 cup melted Country Crock Spread (or unsalted butter) -- microwave for 10-15 seconds

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups AP flour

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup peanut butter chips

1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

Topping:

2 Tablespoons cinnamon

1/8 cups brown sugar

1/8 cups white sugar

Now let's get started:

Preheat your oven to 325F. Prepare you donut pan by spraying it lightly with EVOO spray.

In a medium/large mixing bowl, mix together the mashed bananas, sugar and yogurt with an electric mixer.

Add the melted butter, eggs and vanilla extract and mix well.

Add the flour, ground nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Do NOT overmix. Only mix until everything is incorporated. 

Use a spatula to fold in the peanut butter chips and chocolate chips.

Use the spatula to transfer the mixture from the bowl into a large freezer ziploc bag. Squeeze out extra air and seal the bag. Use clean scissors to snip 1.5 cm off one of the bottom corners of the bag.

Slowly pipe the mixture into your prepared donut pan, only filling it 3/4 of the way up. 

Pop the pan into the oven for 15 minutes. Mine took exactly 15 minutes to bake.

While the donuts are in the oven, mix together cinnamon, brown and white sugars together in a bowl wide enough to fit a donut.

Remove the donuts from the oven when they are ready. On a cooling rack or a large piece of foil. Flip the pan over to remove the donuts. Wait 5 minutes and then dip the donuts in the cinnamon mixture. Set the donuts aside to finish cooling or enjoy them warm!

Since I had to carry these to work, I used a gift box for clothes, lined it with wax paper/parchment paper, and placed the donuts inside like they do at donut shops :) Makes for a great presentation!

Aren't these simple? I hope you try this recipe! I promise they will be snatched up in no time if you bring them to any get-together :)

Kitchen Story: Two Ingredient Banana Oatmeal Cookies

YES! You read that right. TWO ingredients for these simply delicious treats. Plus, they're healthy! No butter, oil, or sugar. Love handles, no love for you! Sorry, I'm not sorry.

When I came across this recipe on The Burlap Bag, I scooted right into the kitchen to make them. Literally. That never happens! I'm always pinning recipes to my dessert Pinterest board to make later...as in, there's a 99.999% chance it won't happen. But this miracle recipe was worth it & I've made it three times in one week! I hope you go do the same and make these right now. You'll thank me 20 minutes later!! (Plus, it's another great way to get rid of those overripe bananas instead of making banana bread!)

I came up with delicious mix-ins you MUST try.

Ready...BREAK! GO MAKE THESE!!!

Ingredients:
     

2 large ripe bananas

1 cup oatmeal

+any mix-ins (or none!)

My favorite mix-in combos: 

• 1/4 cup of Speculoos (Biscoff/Cookie Butter) + chocolate chips + cinnamon --> Amaze-balls.
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar + cinnamon (aka. a bowl of oatmeal in cookie form!) --> Mmm.
• 1/4 cup Nutella + chopped hazelnuts --> Hazelnut-y heaven.
• 1/4 cup PB + chopped peanuts --> Peanut-y perfection.
• 1/4 cup PB + chocolate chips --> YUM.
• 1/4 cup PB + Nutella --> Who wouldn't love this combo?

Preheat your oven to 350F. Line your baking sheet with foil and generously grease the foil (I used spray cooking oil) since these babies like to stick! Trust me. 

Mash the bananas with a fork and add the oatmeal. Mix everything together with the fork. Once it's all mixed well, drop dollops of your cookie mix onto the oiled baking sheet. My dollops were a little over a Tablespoon in size. You don't need to leave much space between the cookies since they won't spread.

Pop them in the oven for 15 minutes or until the oats have turned a golden brown. 

Remove and let them cool a bit.

TADA! There you have it, another foolproof recipe :)

What are you favorite combos? Did you try something different?

Kitchen Story: Mom's Pistachio Crusted Salmon

Whenever I visit home, I know I will put on some pounds with my mom's home cooking, but the extra weight is well worth it. My mom always calls me ahead of time and asks what I want to eat so she can prep (I love her!!) and I always ask for her salmon. This recipe makes her Top 5 recipes, easily. It's melt-in-your-mouth good...MmMmm. Whenever she makes it for dinner parties, everyone knows they better get it fast because it will be gone in no time! Another great thing about this recipe is that it's salmon, the most nutritious fish since it has the highest omega-3 content & keeps your heart healthy.

My mom cooks like most Asian parents...she doesn't measure anything. All measurements are eyeballed, so I won't give exact measurements of these ingredients. Basically for the marinade, you want just enough to cover the salmon and a little excess (you don't want it to be too salty). Also, sesame oil has a stronger flavor, so don't be too generous with it.

Mom's Pistachio Crusted Salmon

Ingredients:
Salmon Fillet (remove the skin)
Crushed Pistachios

Marinade:
Soy Sauce
Sesame Oil
Garlic
Ginger

Mix all marinade ingredients together and pour over salmon fillet. Let it marinade for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degF. Place the salmon on a prepared baking sheet (no need to grease the sheet, I just put it right on aluminum foil) and be sure to cover it with any excess marinade. Then, generously place the crushed pistachios on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove and let it sit for 5 minutes to finish cooking...

...Then, dig in! Trust me, it'll be devoured before you know it!

Kitchen Story: "Chocolate Covered Strawberries" Bread

I came across a Strawberry Bread recipe to which I would typically say, "Hmm...next." But Costco had beautiful strawberries in stock this past week so I picked up a big thing of them, but a house of two simply cannot finish that many strawberries before they mold. So, this time I didn't shrug off the recipe and thought, "Hmm...why not?" So here is my very first attempt at strawberry bread! As always, I have to be the risk-taker and tweak a few things to my liking so there was a good chance this could be a major fail, but I loved the way it turned out! Not only is it healthy (No butter/oil!) but it tasted like chocolate covered strawberries...hence the name!

"Chocolate Covered Strawberries" Bread

1 cup fresh strawberries
1-1/2 cups AP flour
1/2 cup white sugar (plus a few extra tablespoons)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup fat free vanilla yogurt
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips



Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Spray loaf pan with non-stick spray.

Dice the strawberries. The smaller the better so they won't sink to the bottom of the batter. Place them in a small bowl and sprinkle the few extra tablespoons of white sugar on top and set it aside.

In a large mixing bowl, mix the flour, sugars, salt, baking soda and cinnamon. Mix well. Add the yogurt and eggs and most of the strawberries (leave some to sprinkle on top in case the strawberries sink). Mix with a mixer until everything is incorporated. Add the chocolate chips and fold them into the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, sprinkle the remaining strawberries on top and swirl them into the batter a little. It should look like this:

Bake for 50-55 minutes. (This means: set your timer for 45 minutes and keep checking the baking progress by sticking a toothpick in the center until it comes out clean.)

Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then turn the pan to remove the bread and let it cool completely...or enjoy while warm...my favorite!

Kitchen Story: Simple Oven Roasted Asparagus

What is this? I just posted yesterday and here I am again! A rare occurrence...it probably won't ever happen again. However, I just had to share this recipe I tried tonight.

As most of you know, I love Pinterest. And I love it all the more now since it introduced me to THE BEST and simplest asparagus recipe I have ever tasted. My sister and I devoured a whole pound of asparagus in minutes. Thankfully, Jewel is having an amazing asparagus sale so I'm going back for more so we can eat more. Knowing how much we love our veggies, I may have to buy the store's entire stock. Asparagus is really good for you too! It contains plenty of nutrients, detoxifies, works as an antioxidant and apparently fights aging!!! You can read up on it here.

Since I didn't change anything to the recipe, you can get the recipe here. But I want to share a quick pointer for cooking asparagus my mom taught me:

Sometimes asparagus is picked when they're "old" and not as tender. This results in asparagus with a tough exterior which is never fun to eat. (Trust me, it has resulted in embarrassing moments at restaurants when I'm gnawing at the stalk to bite off a piece.) The trick is to take a paring knife and start below the flower part of the stalk. Strip off a thin layer of the exterior until you reach the base. Then continue to work your way around the stalk. If you have any other suggestions be sure to comment below!

Hope this helps! And enjoy the recipe! It's a MUST try and SUPER simple :)

Kitchen Story: Easy 2 ingredient Italian Chicken

Hello!!

Hope you all had a happy and blessed Easter! I sure did :) So sorry for being MIA. Definitely meant to update over spring break, but I needed a lot more rest than I realized AND I made the "mistake" of picking up The Hunger Games...and couldn't stop reading until I finished all three! And then I went to watch it and thought it was pretty good! What did you guys think?

Anyway, here's a quick post of my a chicken recipe my friend introduced to me a few years ago. It's my favorite since it's super quick and simple. You only need 2 ingredients that most people find in their kitchens: Chicken & Italian dressing. Also, chicken is easy to buy when on sale, freeze, defrost when needed and cook. This recipe literally takes 5 minutes of prep time and results in a moist and tasty dish. However, it does take some planning ahead as you'll see.

Simple Italian Chicken

1.5 lbs Chicken (I used chicken breasts, but you can use any cut you'd like)

6 oz. of your favorite Italian dressing (I just use whatever I find on sale)

1 gallon-size Ziploc bag

Remove chicken from packaging, rinse, skim away any fat and place chicken in the Ziploc bag. Dump the Italian dressing into the Ziploc bag. Close the bag and ensure all of the chicken is covered with the dressing. If you find that it's not enough dressing, feel free to add more. I usually eye-ball it every time. Leave the chicken in the fridge to allow it to marinate well.

I'd suggest doing the prep work at least 12 hours ahead of time for the most tasty results. But if for some reason you can't prep that far ahead of time, start at least 3 hours prior to when you need the chicken cooked.

When you are ready to cook, preheat your oven to 350 deg F. Place the prepared chicken into a baking dish. Pour most of the dressing in with it as well. Bake for one hour or until the chicken is cooked thoroughly. I usually check at around 50 minutes and use a knife to cut in the middles to check for any red/pink-ness. When there is no red/pink-ness, remove the chicken and serve!

I like to serve this with a simple pasta with red sauce or noodles with garlic and EVOO.

Also, you can shred the chicken and use it in a cool pasta salad. I'll try to post my pasta salad recipe sometime soon!

Enjoy! :)

Kitchen Story: Baked Sweet Potato Fries

I remember how in awe I was when I first tasted the magic of sweet potato fries...it was love at first...sight, smell, taste. Ever since, I've made several attempts at making the perfect sweet potato fry that you get in some restaurants, but since I cannot bring myself to fry anything (yuck!) I've been rummaging through Google to find a baked sweet potato fry recipe. Sadly, every recipe I tried was a disaster. I had about given up on the recipes that required baking and almost resorted to...FRYing them! I know...just typing those words makes me cringe. But thank goodness I came upon one more recipe with reviews that made me give this one more chance. This recipe takes planning and time, but trust me, it is well worth all the the effort! Although I am a fan of various sweet potato fries dips, these fries are so yummy by themselves that you may not even want dips to 'mar' their taste. But the spicy dip I made was a hit as well.

Ingredients:

Fries:

Sweet Potatoes

Corn Starch (or Flour)

Olive Oil

Dip:

1/2 cup Mayo

1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

1 teaspoon Sriracha Sauce

You want to start out 4 hours to half a day before you plan on serving these fries. Peel the sweet potatoes (as many as your heart desires) and rinse them thoroughly. Grab a large bowl or pot and set it aside. Using a large knife, cut your sweet potatoes into fries. This is the hardest part since the potatoes are raw and difficult to slice, so be careful! Also, figuring out how to cut a potato so that each piece comes out looking like a fry may take practice, but if presentation isn't a worry for you, then you're good. Make sure the fries are no thicker than 1/2 inch slices since you want them to cook well, but also make sure they're not too thin.

Place your sweet potato slices into the large bowl/pot and fill it with room temperature water. Let them soak in the water for at least 2 hours.

When you are ready to bake them, preheat the oven to 475°F. Try to drain most of the water from the bowl/pot holding your sweet potato slices. Get a large ziploc bag and fill it with about 4 Tablespoons of corn starch. If you don't have corn starch on hand, flour works too! Place a handful of sweet potatoes into the ziploc bag and shake it well. You want a light covering of corn starch on you potatoes, so if there is excess corn starch in the bag or your potatoes are completely white, add more potatoes until you get a good dusting of corn starch. Take a cookie sheet and cover it with foil (Side note: parchment paper works really well to prevent the fries from sticking, but my parchment paper can only withstand up to 425°F and burnt a little...oops! I think I'll continue using parchment paper, but just change it after each batch of fries or I may try lightly spraying the cookie sheet with PAM). Lay out the prepared fries onto the cookie sheet ensuring that they have ample space and are not touching. If it gets too crowded, the fries will NOT get crispy! Then take a few tablespoons of EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) and sprinkle it over the fries. Then pop the fries into the oven for 20 minutes. Depending on your oven, it may take a little more or less time to bake them.

While they're baking you can prepare the next batch and also make the dipping sauce by mixing together all the ingredients and adjusting the amount of cayenne pepper and Sriracha sauce depending on your taste. You can also leave out the Sriracha sauce so people can make the sauce to their own tolerance. I like it spicy, so I added more cayenne pepper and Sriracha to my own serving of dip.

When the fries are done, remove them from the oven and serve the sweet potatoe-y goodness fresh out of the oven! (You may need a frying spatula to help scrape the fries off the foil.) Be sure to snatch a few for yourself before they run out like mine did! I didn't even get to take a picture of how they turned out! But that just tells you how amazing these are!

Bon Appétit!

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