Grilled Banana "S'mores"

'Tis the season for s'mores. Summertime. Campfires. Late evenings spent outside. I am the first to admit that I love the traditional "s'mores," but I'm also one to try a new twist on an old favorite. So when I saw this idea for grilled banana s'mores on Pinterest, I figured it was definitely worth a shot!

The original "recipe" I followed can be found here, at a great cooking site called Quick Dish. The recipe calls for crushed Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal (which would be awesome), but since I didn't have any on hand I just used some crushed graham crackers. So, the "recipe" I followed is this one below. 

Now keep in mind that this is designed to be done on a gas or charcoal grill outside. However, if you don't have a grill, you could easily make it in the oven, or better yet, by the campfire! I made these grilled banana s'mores for a Fourth of July bbq we attended, so I used a grill. If you'd like to try the oven or campfire method, be sure to read the original recipe for those instructions.

Ingredients:

-1 banana

-mini marshmallows

-mini or regular chocolate chips

-cinnamon baking chips

-coarsely crushed graham crackers

Instructions:

Preheat grill to medium high heat. Place peeled banana on large piece of foil (I'd say about 1 square foot or so). Slice banana lengthwise so that it's slightly open. Sprinkle desired amount of marshmallows and chocolate chips on top. Loosely wrap the banana in the foil, and grill for 5 to 6 minutes. Unwrap the banana and top with desired amount of crushed graham crackers.

Serve in a bowl with a spoon for the smallest mess. ;) Or, enjoy however else you please! Just be careful; these banana s'mores are hot right off the grill!

Mike took most of these pictures for me while I was acting as "chef." It was a super hot day, so I was a tad warm by the grill! But these fun treats were worth it. And I really can't complain. I wasn't by the grill nearly as long as our friend Jake who did all the cooking of the burgers and dogs!

I actually didn't use the traditional mini marshmallows. Instead, I used these "jet puffed mallow bits" I had found. They worked great! It was easy to just sprinkle them on.

I actually accidentally put the graham crackers on before the whole thing went on the grill. They remained fairly crunchy though!

I think I probably should have crushed up the graham crackers a bit more finely. Oops.

Next time! They did add a nice crunch though to contrast the ooey, gooey melty-ness of the rest of the dessert.

This is how I enjoyed my portion - all mixed up in a bowl with a spoon! It was quite easy to eat that way. I loved the added flavor with the cinnamon chips!

I think these banana s'mores would be great with other flavored chips too. I'm especially thinking butterscotch...

These are such a fun summertime treat! You should give 'em a try the next time you're out by the grill or the campfire. :)

Cabbage Kohlrabi Slaw with Honey Soy Dressing (and Fish Tacos)

Happy mid-week! We are enjoying a gorgeous week of great summer-like weather here in Boston. And it's not nearly as hot as it has been, which is really nice. :) Hope the weather where you are is great too!

As I've mentioned on the blog before, Mike and I have a CSA share that we split with some friends. It's our second year doing it, although this year we have the CSA with a different farm than last year. So far so good with the new farm! We went with Buckle Farm this year, and we've been very pleased for the past 5 or 6 weeks that we've been receiving their deeelicious organic veggies (and some fruits too!). If you also have a CSA, you may know that even if you are a huge vegetable lover, sometimes it's hard to eat all the veggies you get in a share. But Mike and I do our best to eat everything and we don't let anything go to waste. ;) I try to come up with yummy, different recipes whenever possible, but to be honest, a lot of times we do end up cooking certain veggies the "same old way" (and that's usually sauteeing or roasting!). This week, however, I got creative with a few items, and we loved the end result of this cabbage kohlrabi slaw. This recipe is a keeper, for sure! I hope we get more cabbage and kohlrabi this week. :)

I somewhat made this recipe up as I went along, so we'll call this a Barbershop original. The approximate ingredients are below. This recipe is definitely not something that needs to be too precise, so no need to worry!

Ingredients:

-1/2 head of purple cabbage, shredded in food processor

-2 kohlrabi bulbs, shredded

-1 scallion (bulb and stem), thinly sliced

-2 garlic cloves, minced

-1/8 cup honey

-1/8 cup olive oil

-approx. 3 tsp. soy sauce

-ground pepper, to taste

Instructions:

Using a food processor, shred the cabbage and kohlrabi to the size/thickness of your liking. Add these two ingredients to a large bowl, along with the sliced scallion. In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine the minced garlic, honey, olive oil, soy sauce, and pepper. Pour over the vegetables, and toss to coat. 

I recommend letting this dish sit in the fridge for at least 30 to 60 minutes before eating to let the flavors meld together. It tastes even better the next day too!

Serve cold or at room temperature, and enjoy!! This makes about 6 to 8 generous servings, I'd estimate.

(I didn't use the shredder attachment with the kohlrabi, but next time I would.)

The flavors of the honey and soy sauce worked really well together with this dish. And the scallion and garlic added a great punch of flavor too!!

The night that I made this, I was planning on heating up some turkey kielbasa to serve along side the slaw for Mike and me and make a super easy weeknight meal. However, I also discovered that we had one frozen tilapia filet in the freezer, and upon seeing that, a little lightbulb went off in my head. I wonder if this cabbage slaw would work in fish tacos?! I had some whole wheat wraps in the fridge already, so I decided to cook the tilapia and give it a whirl. The tilapia and cabbage slaw worked so well together! It was an awesome dinner. I enjoyed one taco (we really only had enough tilapia to split for two tacos overall), and then I enjoyed another serving of just the slaw on its own.

Yum yum yum!!! When Mike took his first bite of the fish taco, he said "Wow, this is reeeeally good." Mike often compliments my cooking and baking, but when he does so immediately (and without any prompting of "how is it?" :)), you know it's good!

I am crossing my fingers that we get more cabbage and kohlrabi in our CSA share this week... Can't wait to make this dish again!! :)

Oatmeal Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again. I love cookies. They're one of my all-time favorite baked goodies to make. There are SO many options when it comes to cookies, and I mean really, who doesn't love a cookie?! Cookies always seem to put a smile on people's faces, and I love that. :)

This recipe is adapted from a recipe for Brown Butter Oatmeal Chunk Cookies from the blog How Sweet It Is. I didn't have chocolate chunks on hand though, so I decided to change the recipe up a bit and add toffee bits and mini chocolate chips instead. I also doubled the recipe, as the original recipe says it makes 15 to 18 cookies. With the proportions listed below (which is the doubled recipe), I made about 40 cookies.

Ingredients:

-1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

-1 cup granulated sugar

-1 cup loosely packed light brown sugar

-2 eggs

-4 tsp. vanilla extract

-2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

-1 and 1/2 cups regular oats

-1/2 tsp. salt

-1 tsp. baking powder

-3 tsp. cinnamon

-3/4 milk chocolate toffee bits (I used Heath)

-1 and 1/4 cups semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

Instructions:

Heat a saucepan over medium-low heat, and add the butter. Whisking constantly, cook butter about 5 - 6 minutes, until small brown bits appear on the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat immediately when this happens, and whisk for about 30 seconds more. Set aside and let cool completely. This cooling completely part is very important!

While the butter is cooling, combine the flour, oats, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer (or you can actually do this by hand!), mix the completely cooled butter with both sugars until smooth. Add in the eggs and vanilla, mixing again until smooth. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients until well-incorporated. Finally, stir in the toffee bits and chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Drop dough by the tablespoonful onto sheets, placing about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until cookies are lightly golden brown in color. Let sit for a couple minutes on the cookie sheets, and then place on cooling racks to cool completely.

Mmmm, toffee bits and chocolate chips!

As I was making these cookies, I realized that they are very similar to the last recipe I posted on the blog - the chocolate and cinnamon chip oatmeal pecan bars. The ingredients are very much alike (well, aside from the cinnamon chip and pecans, that is, and the fact that the other recipe is for bars ;)). Apparently I'm on a brown butter kick!

The texture of these cookies was great - nice n' chewy.

However, I will say, that if you make these, they're best eaten within the first three days of making them, as they start to dry out a bit after that. But the cookies were all gone by the fourth day so we didn't really have to worry about that problem for very long.

I made these cookies to bring on a camping weekend for a friend's 30th birthday. They were a hit with the crowd!

And since we were camping, we actually tried "stuffing" a couple cookies with a toasted marshmallow too. Delish!

The pic below is of the toasted marshmallow cookie sandwich. It's not at all a great picture though since I took it with my phone in the dark by a campfire. However, the flavor was great!

And yes, that's a burnt marshmallow. Mike prefers to toast his marshmallows to the point of burntness... 

If you're looking for an easy, crowd-pleasing cookie, this is it!

Hope everyone had a great weekend and that your week starts off well today! Be back again later this week... :)

Chocolate & Cinnamon Chip Oatmeal Pecan Bars (and the Plentils Giveaway Winner!)

Happy 4th of July, friends!!

Hope you all have a safe and happy holiday. :)

Although it's probably too late for you to make these bars for the 4th, I would highly recommend that you make them soon... Perhaps for the next summer bbq you attend or the next group gathering you head to? I assure you that these will be a hit!!!

The recipe is adapted from Bakeaholic Mama's recipe for Brown Butter Oatmeal Pecan and Chocolate Chip Bars. A wonderful recipe! I followed the recipe pretty closely for the most part. I just decided to add some cinnamon chips in place of some of the chocolate chips. And I also omitted the ginger that's in the original recipe. Other than that, the recipe below is pretty much the same!

Ingredients:

-1 cup butter

-1 cup sugar

-1 cup dark brown sugar

-2 eggs

-1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

-2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

-1 and 1/2 cups regular oats

-1/2 tsp. salt

-1 tsp. baking powder

-1 Tbsp. cinnamon

-1 tsp. ground nutmeg

-1 and 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

-3/4 cup cinnamon chips

-approx. 3/4 to 1 cup pecan halves

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan over low-medium heat, melt the butter. Brown slightly, until it starts to have a nutty, toffee smell. Remove from heat and let cool while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg; set aside. In a stand mixer or with an electric mixer, cream the eggs, sugar, and dark brown sugar together. Add in the vanilla, and slowly pour in the melted butter. Gradually mix in the mixture of dry ingredients until well-incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips and cinnamon chips.

Grease a 13 x 9 pan. Pour the batter into the pan and spread evenly. Press the pecan halves on the top of the dough. Bake for 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely before cutting into bars. Makes 30 bars.

I reeeeally liked these bars! And they were quite the hit among the friends with whom I shared them. They had a very prominent cinnamon flavor to them. And they're incredibly moist and full of flavor too. There's pretty much nothing not to love about them. ;)

I actually don't often make treats that involve nuts, but the pecans were a great addition to these! I loved the way they were simply pressed into the top of the bars. They added a nice, slightly crunchy texture.

Seriously good.

And now, time to announce the winner of the Enjoy Life Plentils giveaway! Using random.org, the winner is Marcia! To answer the question of which flavor she thought she'd like best, Marcia answered: "I've never heard of Plentils. What an exciting discovery. I was going to go with the Margherita Pizza as my fav but then I got to the bottom of the blog and saw the Dill & Sour Cream and think I have to go with that!"

Congrats, Marcia! I'll contact you so you can choose your two delicious bags of Plentils. Woohoo!! :)

Oh, and friends? Don't forget about these chocolate and cinnamon chip oatmeal pecan bars... You'll want them as a part of your life. I promise.

Oatmeal Banana Pancakes

Hi everyone! Hope you all had an awesome weekend. It was another hot one in New England!!

Just want to remind you one last time...be sure to enter my fun Plentils giveaway on the blog! You're welcome to leave a comment and be eligible to enter the giveaway until 11:59 PM EST tonight, July 2nd. So head on over and leave a comment for your chance to win!

And now let's talk pancakes!! And more specifically, oatmeal banana pancakes. Pancakes aren't necessarily thought of as a super healthy breakfast, but this variation is definitely better for you than the "traditional" pancake. It's a wonderful weekend breakfast idea when you might have a little more time on your hands to put them together!

The recipe is adapted from a Taste of Home cookbook that I have. I'm actually going to list the original ingredients and the ingredients I used when I made these. The changes I made included adding cinnamon, substituting yogurt for buttermilk (simply because I didn't have buttermilk on hand), adding double the amount of vegetable oil, and adding a mashed banana...and that last addition is why I call them oatmeal banana pancakes. ;) The original recipe is for oatmeal pancakes, sans the banana.

Original recipe ingredients:

-1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. quick oats

-1/2 cup whole wheat flour

-1/2 cup all-purpose flour

-1/2 tsp. baking soda

-1/2 tsp. salt

-1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

-1 egg

-2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

-1 cup buttermilk

In a small bowl, combine the oats, flours, baking soda, salt, and sugar. In another small bowl, beat the egg, oil, and buttermilk. Stir into dry ingredients until just moistened. Pour batter by 1/3 cupful onto a greased hot griddle. Turn when bubbles form on top; cook until the second side is golden brown. Makes 10 pancakes.

Barbershop recipe ingredients:

-1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. quick oats

-1/2 cup whole wheat flour

-1/2 cup all-purpose flour

-1/2 tsp. baking soda

-1/2 tsp. salt

-3/4 tsp. cinnamon

-1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

-1 egg

-one 6-oz. container vanilla yogurt (fat free)

-3 - 4 Tbsp. vegetable oil

-1 mashed, ripe banana (medium)

In a small bowl, combine the oats, flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and sugar. In another small bowl, beat the egg, yogurt, oil, and mashed banana. Stir into dry ingredients until just moistened. Pour batter by 1/3 cupful onto a greased hot griddle. Turn when bubbles form on top; cook until the second side is golden brown. Makes 10 pancakes.

'

You've probably noticed that these pancakes aren't exactly light n' fluffy! They're definitely a heartier, thicker pancake. And I looooved 'em! The texture was actually a really nice change from the more traditional fluffy pancake. And they filled you right up too! I ate three pancakes, topped with some sliced strawberries and bananas and a drizzle of maple syrup, and I was super full. A breakfast that's filling, healthy, and delicious? Perfection.

The pancakes look like they might be burnt, but I assure you that they weren't. That color is just a nice, golden brown. ;)

I don't think I mentioned that these pancakes were also very moist. Another one of their great qualities!

So. Good.

Hope everyone's week is off to a great start today!