Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

As I continue to do my best to feed my family good food that isn't filled with preservatives, treats have been difficult. We love sweet things. This cookie recipe has become a favorite. It's a soft cookie, almost cake-like in its consistency. And delicious! My family can't get enough. At only 66 calories each I don't feel bad having two myself.

This is a great "cooking with kids" recipe. Mine enjoy mashing the bananas and carefully adding the dry ingredients.

While my girls really like the cookies plain it is a real treat when we make them into "banana split ice cream sandwiches" by sandwiching a bit of ice cream in between two cookies.

The recipe is from Taste of Home.

Ingredients

* 1/3 cup butter, softened
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1 egg
* 1/2 cup mashed ripe banana
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

* In a small bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, banana and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips.
* Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 9-11 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool. Yield: 3 dozen.

This recipe can also be found in the Taste of Home Comfort Food Diet Cookbook (affiliate link):

Eggo Fruit Pizzas- A Quick Breakfast for Busy Mornings

Mornings are about to get crazy around here. School begins in 3 weeks with classes starting at 7:55am. That's sure to take our busy mornings to hectic. Because I am a big believer in a good breakfast I've been testing options the past few weeks. Requirement: a healthy breakfast in a short amount of time.

Right as I was beginning my testing a package arrived at my house from Foodbuzz: the new Eggo Real Fruit Pizzas.


My girls had only recently discovered the goodness from the toaster that is Eggo Waffles, so they were pretty excited to see the "swirly red lettering" on the boxes.

The fruit pizzas come packaged like any other microwave pizza; wrapped in plastic with a cardboard insert to cook them on. Another similarity: not enough toppings, in this case fruit, though the yogurt base and the granola are plentiful.

The Eggo Real Fruit Pizzas are quick to prepare, needing only one and a half minutes which is great for crazed mornings.

The real test in my house is always

Will the Girls Eat It?

The quick answer is yes.

Knowing my girls have small appetites they split the strawberry pizza. Though I thought it could have used more fruit the girls said it had enough. They loved the granola on top and the cinnamon/maple crust. Pronouncing it "yummy" and super-duper" I moved on the the mixed berry pizza.

Knowing my husband would be disappointed by the lack of blueberries on the mixed fruit pizza I added some fresh. He was pleased with the pizza, commenting on the crust being flavorful and "not like cardboard".

The Rundown:

The Eggo Real Fruit Pizzas were a hit in my house and will probably find their way onto my freezer shelves for those crazy mornings when I oversleep and don't have time to fix breakfast. I do recommend fresh fruit or spreadable fruit to supplement the toppings if an adult plans to nosh on one of these.

You can find the new Eggo Real Fruit Pizzas in the freezer section of your grocery store. Suggested retail price is $2.79.

Disclosure: I was sent the new Eggo Real Fruit Pizza to try. Thoughts and photos are my own.

Raspberry Lemonade Pie

Summer festivities (or just a backyard BBQ) call for a cold, refreshing lemonade. This recipe takes the summertime favorite and gives it a twist!

The recipe begins with a basic crushed wafer crust and adds mint leaves for a refreshing kick. My local store didn't have any fresh leaves so I left them out.

The pie is flavored with lemonade concentrate and has a tartness that the raspberry sweetness really compliments. The pie got rave reviews from adults and kids on the steamy 4th of July day I served it.

The recipe, from Cuisine magazine, is easy and can be mixed up with other citrus and fruit combinations.

Raspberry Lemonade Pie

For the Crust:
9 oz. vanilla wafers
1/4 c. packed mint leaves (I didn't include the mint)
6 tbsp. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375. Coat 9" springform pan with non-stick spray.

Place vanilla wafers and mint in a food processor and pulse until fine. Drizzle melted butter into running processor and process until mixture begins to stick together. Remove from processor and press into spring form pan, about 3/4 way up the sides. I used a small silicone spatula to press the crumbs. Cook for about 8 - 10 minutes or until just starting to turn golden. Allow to cool completely.


For the raspberry sauce:
12 oz. fresh raspberries (I used frozen as they were cheaper)
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. water
2. tsp. corn starch


For the filling:

2 c. heavy cream
3 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
12 oz can of frozen citrus concentrate (decrease amount used to decrease tartness)

Puree raspberries in a food processor with sugar. Strain out seeds with a fine mesh sieve. Put mixture in a pan over medium/high heat until boiling. Combine corn starch and water to make a slurry. Add slurry to raspberry mixture and allow to boil for 1 minute. Transfer to dish and chill.

Beat cream, sugar, and vanilla on medium speed until stiff peaks form. In a separate bowl, mix sweetened condensed milk with lemonade concentrated until just combined- do not over-mix.. Fold in whipped cream mixture. Pour into cooled crust. Drizzle about 1/4 cup of the cooled raspberry mixture over the top of the pie. With a skewer, gently swirl the sauce to marble. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze at least 8 hours..

When you are ready to serve, thaw pie in refrigerator for 15-20 minutes. Unmold and serve!

Note: this pie does melt quickly! Thaw only as much as necessary to cut it.

Dimplex PowerChef Electric Grills

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Dimplex North America Limited. All opinions are 100% mine.

One of my favorite things about nice weather is the fact that we can grill. And we grill practically everything: meat, fish, vegetables, pizza… Even some fruits.

Doug is the master griller in our house. He is also a die-hard charcoal grill fanatic. Which is fine as he does the majority of all of the grilling. Because I can’t grill on charcoal. I can’t light it right, I can’t get the heat right, and my charcoal grilled food is inedible.

If you’re like me or you can’t have a gas or charcoal grill where you live the Dimplex PowerChef Electric Grills may be right for you. They have small counter top varieties, large free-standing grills and even some that can be wall mounted.

I am especially impressed with the “cheater” technology that produces perfectly cooked food every time. Apparently you can program the grill to the type of food, thickness and level of doneness you desire and the grill will tell you when to flip and when it is done. There is even a “favorite recipe” setting. Nice. Watch this video to learn more.

After searching the website North American distribution seems widespread and there are many online distributors as well. Grill prices begin around $400.

Butoni Riserva Meal for Two

You've probably noticed that I haven't put up a new recipe in a couple of weeks. You could say I've been busy. Between family, travel, holidays and planning a blog conference my days are over-full. Cooking, which really is a stress reliever for me, just hasn't been happening as much as I would like. And when it does I fall back on tried and true favorites, slow cooker meals and making Doug grill.

Last night was the end of one of those days when I was exhausted, I hadn't planned dinner and it was raining. Luckily I had a Butoni Riserva meal in the freezer. A few weeks ago Foodbuzz sent me a coupon to try a new Buitoni frozen meal for two. Ahhh... rescued!

I had chosen the Braised Beef and Sausage Ravioli because it just sounded really good.

The instructions were easy to follow and dinner was ready in under 20 minutes (yes, my stove top takes forever to boil water). Though the package says it is a complete meal for two it easily fed my family of four when paired with a salad and slice of garlic bread.

The ravioli are very large and stuffed with meat and cheese. As we were eating I said to Doug,"This pasta is better than I've had at some Italian restaurants." He agreed.

Just look at the inside of the pasta. Yum! The sauce was a wonderfully tasty mix between a basic red sauce and a cream base. It was smooth and rich.





I was impressed with this quick meal from the freezer. If you serve it with a nice red wine- and without children- it would be a nice meal for a romantic evening for two.











Disclosure: I was sent a coupon to sample this Butoni meal. I paid for the salad and the bread. I was not compensated for this post; all thoughts are my own.