Cakes?

After making my cinnamon raisin bread I still had a lot of golden raisins left over. I like baking with them rather than eating golden raisins, they are just too sweet to eat. So I made a little cake like thing with them. I had a few bananas that were about to turn, on the fly I whipped up these things and they ended up being pretty yummy. Who would have known haha.

Spiced Golden Raisin Cakes

2 bananas, mashed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnaraw honey or regular honey or agave nectar
1/4 teaspoon cloves and nutmeg and salt
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup water

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and spray baking pans or muffin tins with nonstick spray (coconut oil spray).

Add the vanilla and honey to the mashed banana.

Mix in the spices.

Add in the flour and baking powder.

When just about mixed add in the raisins. It will be a tad lumpy so add in the water.

Divide into the baking pans and bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. (I did this in the toaster oven so they got really brown.) Make sure to spin pans half way through baking.

How cute I found the star pans at Five Below. Love them!!

I topped some of the cakes with cinnamon apple butter or you can just use plain apple butter, we all know of my love for cinnamon, if you don't you may be catching on. And some I topped with cinnamon cashew butter, see now you really know.

Cinnamon Apple Butter

Cinnamon Cashew Butter

They reminded me of something, the way they tasted, I just couldn't really say what exactly it was. I liked both topping so that was a hard choice to say which was better. The apple butter definitely added more moisture to the party but I just love cinnamon cashew butter. So you try and decided.

<3

Pizza Hummus!

Yes hummus that tastes like pizza.

Crazy I know but it really did remind me of pizza.

My cousin was around visiting and we wanted to hang out and he wanted to try some of my cooking. This gave me the chance to try out my take on the recipe for pizza hummus I had seen a while ago and pinned it to my pinterest. I have also been in a bread making mood so I made some herb flat bread to eat it on. I also have to give credit to my bf for the idea because ha has been wanting to make pizza hummus (like a real pizza but with hummus on it) for a while now, so soon babe we will make it together. The original recipe for the hummus can be found here: Once Upon a Cutting Board.

Pizza Hummus

1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
3 tablespoons tahini
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast

Place the beans and spices (not basil and oregano but the rest) into the food processor, processes to chop a little.

Add in the tahini, tomatoes, and nutritional yeast. Processes until smooth. Add in the herbs and if any more tomatoes need to  be added do so. (I did because I had only added 3 tablespoons of the tomatoes at first, then needed to add more and more garlic.)

I found that it had a strong garlic taste after I added some more in, but it was still really good for normal taste buds, for me it was strong. So you may want to add only 1/2 teaspoon each at first of the spices, then more after you taste it.

Herb Flat Bread

1 package of active dry yeast
1/2 cup water, warm
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon each onion and garlic powders, oregano and basil, salt and pepper

First mix the yeast and water together in a measuring cup.

In a bowl mix 1 cup of the flour and all the herbs and spices together.

Combine the yeast and flour mixtures together.

You may need to add in more flour, knead until a smooth dough forms.

Place in a bowl, coat with oil, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 30 minutes.

Punch down,

on a floured board,

divide dough into 4 parts,

roll out, and place on parchment lined baking sheets.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake the flat bread for 20 to 30 minutes or until they start to bubble and are soft but not too soft when touched.

I also sauteed some kale and served carrots along with the spread for our lunch. I didn't get a picture of the finally table or way things came out because I am still a tad shy when it comes to taking pictures of my food when people are around, even if they are family it is still weird. It turned out to be a really great, fun, yummy time.

<3

Christmas Eats

Merry Christmas!!

Happy New Year!!

Hope you all had a great, relaxing, loving holiday season this year. I sure did. Spent time with family that I have missed and continued some traditions. Got some cookie baking done (peanut butter blossoms, chocolate m&m cookies, and 7 layer cookies) and hoping to make sesame and pignoli cookies for padre at some point. But you can't just eat cookies, well you could but that might not be all that great on the waist (cough cough older brother cough cough, but some how he does not gain an ounce) so how about some real food too.

For a family get together I made a pasta salad. I was inspired by my Nana's pasta salad she would always make that I really loved. Hers had black olives, broccoli and the tri- color pasta, I think I'm missing some other veggies that were in it, but I was young. It was really good though. I made mine with roasted eggplant, spinach, and artichokes, and tri-color pasta.

Veggie Pasta Salad with Tahini Lemon Dressing

1 package of your favorite brand tri-color pasta (I used a brown rice pasta)
1 can artichoke hearts, rinsed
1/2 bag of baby spinach
1 large eggplant, roasted
1/2 pint grape tomatoes, halved

Dressing:
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon each onion powder, coriander and pepper

Roast the eggplant, I did this with my usual seasonings onion powder, oregano, salt and pepper and coriander.

Cook the pasta according to the directions.

Rinse and chop the artichokes.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain and toss with spinach so that it starts to wilt.

Mix the dressing, while the pasta is cooking, just mix all of the spices, tahini, and lemon juice together until it comes together.

Toss everything together.

It came out way better than a version I had made over the summer. I think its because I made the dressing this time.

For Christmas dinner I finally fulfilled the request of making Mac and Cheese. But this is a healthier version so I has all the essence of mac and cheese just if you haven't eaten it in years it taste amazing (to me) to others it might be dry, to fix that make a creamier cheese sauce. I happen to like that crispy crunch on my mac and cheese so I really enjoyed this.

Whole Wheat Mac and Cheese

1 package whole wheat pasta
1/2 bag each reduced fat 4 cheese Italian blend and 4 cheese Mexican blend (or 1 bag or either)
1 teaspoon oil
1 teaspoon flour
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, salt, onion powder, and pepper

Boil water for the pasta, and cook according to directions.

Heat the oil in a pan, add the flour to make a roux.

Slowly add in the water and boil until it thickens.

Add in the milk and spices. Let it thicken.

Mix in cheeses leaving some to top the mac and cheese with and let them melt.

Drain pasta and mix with the cheese sauce.

Place in an oven proof pan and top with remaining cheese.

Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.

The inside was so cheesy and gooey and good. Oh how I have missed melted cheese.

Look at the difference of plates between me and my bf.

Funny.

This does not mean I am going to be eaten cheese on a regular basis now but I will allow myself to eat it if my body is craving it. I have never been a big cheese fan but it I want to make pizza I will or ravioli I will or more mac and cheese.

Here is a really funny Christmas treat that is fun and easy to make...Coal haha. It's only 3 ingredients! My bf found the recipe so we made it. Oreos, marshmallows, and butter. One package of Oreos (use your favorite one, we used mint which ended up being a great choice even after I made a fuss about them <3 ya babe), one bag of mini marshmallows, and four tablespoons butter. Crush the Oreos, melt the butter with the marshmallows. Then mix in the Oreos and place in a parchment lined baking dish. Allow them to cool then cut up and yo have coal!

Hope you all have a wonderful New Year!! I'm hoping 2013 will allow me some more time to get back to being creative with cooking and baking, I really hope so, I miss it!
Here was the dish I made for a New Years Eve Dinner Party:

quinoa with roasted red, yellow, and orange peppers, roasted corn, tomatoes, topped with guacamole. I wanted to mix the avocados in the salad but they were too mushy so I had to make the guac.

<3

Cold Outside

Well warm up with some stew/soup!

I revisited a recipe that I made at the beginning of the year: More Soup!! Only this time I made a lot of it and used parsnips instead of carrots. I didn't really care for the carrots in the stew last time around. The only other thing I did different was add allspice to the mix.

I found the parsnips really made the stew great. I remade this recipe because I had a ton of sweet potatoes from Thanksgiving. I was going to make a sweet potato apple bake thing (I think I did mention it in the last post, if not, I am now) that my great aunt made last year. I never had the time to do it, so the potatoes were just sitting there. I didn't want to waste them, so I decided to remake this stew. I still had the red lentils in the freezer and didn't want to waste them either. Ok so it may not be the best looking color of food, but its good. Especially if you like curry spiced things, the spices are all found in a curry spice blend.

I ate the stew on top of kale.

Sweet Tato, Parsnip, Apple and Red Lentil Stew

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 medium sweet potato, cubed (I left the skin on this time)
1 apple, cored and cubed (I left the skin on this time too, and used granny smith)
1 cup parsnips, peeled and cubed
1 cup red lentils, rinsed and picked through
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
2 cups vegetable broth

Saute the onion in the oil in a big soup pot.

Add in the parsips and sweet potatoes.

Add in the apples and spices.

Add in the lentils.

Now add the broth and let it simmer for 1 hour.

I had to change pots a couple of times while making this recipe because I under estimated how much I was actually making. It was funny. But it all worked out in the end.

I have a lot of it, anyone want some?