Old Bananas

I had a whole bunch of old bananas that were browning today and decided I was going to make some banana bread.  I've never actually made banana bread before, so I was looking for an easy, yummy recipe online.  This is the one I found.  I printed it out and planned to use it... but... then I logged onto facebook and there was a picture of this Raspberry Dark Chocolate Banana Bread. 

Which one do you think I made?

Now, the recipe said to use a loaf pan... but that's what happened when I did.  I probably should have gone with my better judgment and used a larger pan when I saw how full the loaf pan was after pouring in the batter.  Oh well.  :-) 

YUM!  I highly recommend this.  Just use a bigger pan.  I did put a cookie sheet underneath to catch any drips.  Hehe, that was a big one!

Grilling Veggies

Check it out, two posts in two days!  Go me!  :-)

Tonight I made this:

Angel Hair Pasta with Eggplant-Tomato Sauce

It's all part of my more veggies plan... the picture is a little deceiving, though.  You grill up all the veggies and then make the sauce and toss it into the noodles.  I took the picture prior to tossing.  However, I think eating just the veggies would have been amazing... and spicy!

 Grilling eggplant...

 Grilling zucchini... (the recipe says to use strips of red pepper, but I hate pepper and I had some zucchini lying around) ...I should really make some zucchini bread or something!

 Chop up grilled veggies...

 ...and non-grilled veggies like these tomatoes. 

 Heat up some garlic...

 Toss it all together in the pan...

Season it up... mmm... I love this part!  It always smells so good!

Put it on some pasta... or don't.  Like I said, it probably would have been good by itself. 

Next time I may even be so bold as to add other veggies.  I think it would be good with squash and mushrooms, too.  Maybe a little more tomato.  Maybe even topped with some chicken or tofu.  Who knows?  Go crazy!  ;-) 

By the way, if you can't have an actual grill, I highly recommend a grill pan.  Mine was a cheap-o one from Walmart, but I love it!  You could easily spend $100 on a really nice one, though.  Just a thought!    

Mish Mash!

Hi there!  It's been a while, I know.  I've been revamping my eating/cooking again... but this particular post might be a mish mash of things I've cooked recently.  To start us off, here's a picture of some cauliflower my lovely hubby bought at the store:

While it does seem to be very fun, it kind of scares me.  Is cauliflower ever supposed to be purple, yellow, or green?!  It just doesn't seem right.  Which brings me to my current ponderance.  I've been making baby food for the past few months and thinking about what I would want Olivia to eat vs. what Jim and I sometimes put in our own bodies.  I've been trying to educate myself on what to buy organicly... here's a list if you're interested.  There are other lists out there and it seems like there are different variations, too. 

The down side to buying organic food is the price... but I guess you have to think about what kinds of chemicals you're willing to put in your body. 

Anyway, enough about that for now.  Here are a few things I've made that you might enjoy!  :-)

Avocado Grilled Cheese

I actually found this idea on Pinterest.  I heart Pinterest!  It's just grilled cheese (grilled on my fabulous grill pan) with some avocado slices.  Amazing!  If you like avocado, that is.  That link under the picture will take you to not a ton of grilled cheese ideas.  Check 'em out. 

Shrimp Creole

Straight from the Bayou to your table.  Just kidding!  I actually found a box (yes, I know, this goes against everything I was just saying about being careful about what to put in your body) of creole rice mix that you could add chicken or shrimp to... so I did.  It was in my pantry from I don't know how long ago.  Someday I'm going to try to make one of these versions of Shrimp Creole... they just seem like they would be better than a boxed version (thought it was mighty tasty and lasted me all week long!). 

Crescent Roll Pizza

Ugh.  Okay, I shouldn't start off that way.  Jimmy really liked this!  A complete Alissa original recipe.  :-)  Haha.  I thought it was kind of a flop. 

I sprayed a cookie sheet with olive oil and then put down some crescent roll dough.  Next, I added some sauce, chopped cilantro, shallots, chunks of mozzarella, bits of taco meat (because I always seem to have leftover taco meat in the fridge), and mushrooms (only to my side).  I baked it in a 350 degree oven for eh, about 8 minutes because my oven cooks everything at the speed of light. 

Don't get me wrong, this probably would have been amazing as an actual pizza.  You know, on pizza dough.  It was weird on crescent roll dough.  Jimmy scarfed it down, though.  Hehe.  So, I guess it wasn't a total flop. 

That's all for now!  I've been making lots of different salads recently... all of them good!  I'm going through a little corn-on-the-cob phase.  Does anyone make it a special way that's yummy?  I'd love to have some new ideas!  :-)