Chocolate Banana Waffles

I woke up this morning and my 4 year old was begging for a "special" breakfast. I don't usually have a lot of time in the morning so sometimes I'll make a breakfast the night before and serve it in the morning. But today, I hadn't prepared anything. We actually weren't having a crazed morning so I agreed when she said she wanted waffles.

I found this recipe but it needed some modifications. This was my first time making it and I followed the ingredients and the instructions (although I did use canola oil instead of coconut oil because my coconut oil wasn't behaving and I used all-purpose flour because I don't buy specialty flours).

Next time, I will combine all the wet ingredients, so I don't have to mash the bananas in a separate bowl and then add the dry to them. I will also add chocolate chips because we could hardly taste the cocoa powder. It came out a little thick too so I might even use less flour, although waffle batter should be a little thicker.

So I would make them again, they weren't bad the original way. They just weren't what we were looking for this morning.

I also HIGHLY recommend doubling the original recipe because I did and I still only got 6 waffles out of it. It all fits in a large mixing bowl just fine (sometimes I double recipes and then find out I have a hard time mixing it all because there's not enough room left in the bowl).

French Toast Casserole

Last night for dinner, I had planned we were going to have French toast to help us use up the remaining hot dog buns and bread crusts. Usually, I ask David to do dinner when it's something breakfast because it's one of the few things he can cook well. But he ended up having to work late so I had to make dinner. I debated switching to something else and leave the French toast for him to do a different night but then I had the idea of doing a French toast casserole (much less tedious than doing French toast on a griddle).

Ingredients:
6 T butter
2/3 cup brown sugar plus extra for sprinkling
stale bread (I used 3 hot dog buns and 5 slices of regular white bread), ripped or cut up
5 eggs
2 cups milk
splash of vanilla
cinnamon

Melt butter (either on stove top or in microwave in 30 second intervals). Stir in the brown sugar until smooth. Pour in the bottom of an 8x11 pan. Add bread. In a bowl, mix together eggs, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon. Pour over bread, being sure to saturate the bread. Sprinkle extra brown sugar and cinnamon on top. Bake at 425 for 25 minutes.

This turned out so good. I thought it might've been just a little too egg-y and needed more milk but David and the kids thought it was perfect. The butter and brown sugar on the bottom is amazing too!

Enchilada Pie

The other day I had decided we were going to have enchiladas for dinner. I spent longer than I'd like to admit looking for just the perfect recipe. Dinner time rolls around and I start cooking up the filling. I open the fridge to discover I only have 4 tortilla shells. This is not going to cut it. I know you can make your own shells but I was not in the mood to do that. I just wanted to get dinner on the table. So I did what I do best: I improvised.

Ingredients
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can rotel (I didn't drain this but I should've)
dash of cumin, garlic powder, and onion powder
half a can of corn
onion
bell pepper
enchilada sauce
tortilla shells
cheese

First, cook up your onion and bell pepper in a large skillet. Add in black beans and rotel. Cook until heated through and add seasonings and corn.

In a greased 8x8 pan, spoon out a little enchilada sauce (just enough to cover the bottom). Add a tortilla shell (flat). Add a third of the bean mixture and top with a drizzle of enchilada sauce and a sprinkling of cheese. Add the next tortilla shell and repeat the process. End with a tortilla shell with lots of enchilada sauce and cheese. (You will probably have extra enchilada sauce left). Bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes.

This turned out really good. It was a tad bit spicy for my family (the combination of the rotel and the enchilada sauce proved to be too much for my kids) but we all agreed that the top layer of tortilla shell with all the extra cheese was the best. I would definitely make it again and the kids will just have to put up with it.

Avocado Brownies with a Mix

Okay I'm obviously all about brownies and avocados lately! But I just LOVE that you get the health benefits of an avocado, without having to actually taste one :)

This recipe is super simple because it uses a boxed brownie mix. I've heard that it works for all sizes of mixes (Betty Crocker usually has less ounces in each box than say, Ghirardelli). It kind of works that way but I did make mine with Ghirardelli and I should've added a little extra water.

What you need:
box of brownie mix, your choice of brand and type
1/3 water (or slightly more, if you use a bigger box. I would recommend adding a tablespoon at a time until you get what you want)
1 large avocado, ripe and well mashed

Put the brownie mix in a bowl and DON'T add the ingredients the box tells you to. You just want the dry mix. Then add your mashed avocado and desired water until you get a good consistency. Pour in your brownie pan and bake according to the boxes instructions. Voila! Done! Does it get any better than that??

These turned out great and I would DEFINITELY make again. I used the triple chocolate Ghirardelli mix so there was plenty of chocolate to hide the avocado taste (but as you probably noticed with these recipes, you don't need a lot to hide it. And if you actually like avocado, I don't  think it would be bad).

My kids gobbled these up too!

Avocado Brownies

I always love combining avocados with chocolate desserts. I've done pudding and chocolate chip cookies before so brownies just seemed like the next step! They turn out a little lighter in color than traditional brownies but there is no green to be detected! I will mention that my 3 year old made these with me and she saw me add the avocado ("eww! I don't like those. It's green!") but she still ate two entire pieces (and wanted more!). I am myself am not a fan of avocado either but with chocolate, it's fantastic. It adds fiber and healthy fats to the dessert, as if you needed another reason to eat dessert!

This is the recipe I made. I only made a few minor adjustments.

Ingredients:
3 avocados (I debated adding a third one, and next time I might only do 2 but I can't give an exact reason why)
most of a bag of milk chocolate chips
3/4 cup sugar (people had commented saying they brought it down to even a half cup or less and it was still good)
4 eggs
splash of vanilla
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

I followed her instructions (it took my "special" oven about 40 minutes to cook them) but I misunderstood the stand mixer and somehow ended up doing this in my food processor. It actually ended up okay but if you have a stand mixer (which I actually do! Although I dare you to ask me where it is right now...) I would definitely use that instead! My processor got quite full and has so many ridges, it's hard for the flour to get fully incorporated so I did have to do it a little by hand.

But these were a hit! I love them, the kids love them! Only 187 calories per brownie (assuming your 8x8 pan is 16 pieces)! Awesome!

Wonton Pizza Bites

I had tomatoes and wonton wrappers to use up. I scoured Pinterest for an idea (what else do I do, right?) and I found people who did mini pizzas with wonton wrappers. So I did a take on that. You could easily sub the tomatoes I use for real pizza (or pasta) sauce too.

I doubled up on the wrappers per pizza because of the juicy tomatoes and weight of the ingredients. You could try it with just one but don't be surprised if your filling falls through. These would also make great appetizers for a party!

Ingredients:
24 wonton wrappers (homemade or you can find them at Walmart, near the tofu and organic stuff)
4 roma tomatoes (You actually might want more like 5, since two of my pizzas were tomato-less but the kids liked those ones better. My tomato hating husband though surprisingly liked the ones with tomato better. So your choice)
Italian seasoning (oregano, basil, etc)
garlic powder
onion powder
cheese
pepperoni/other pizza toppings

I also think these could be good with added mushrooms or red peppers but I didn't have any on hand.

So then you line a muffin tin with two wrappers each (no need to spray the tin, the wrappers come pre-floured). Chop up your tomatoes and mix with the seasonings. Add tomato mixture to your cups, sprinkle on cheese, add toppings. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes. Your bake time may be a little longer or shorter (they're done when the wonton wrapper is browned and the cheese is melted). I use a toaster oven that claims you don't have to preheat but I usually have to play with the time something takes to bake. In this case, they took me about 15 minutes and since I only had one 6 cup muffin pan, I had to make two separate batches.

But these were really good! Of course, I don't post bad recipes but I would definitely make these again. They remind me of a healthier version of a thin crust pizza. But don't eat too many! Besides having vegetables and seeming smaller and healthier than a slice of pizza, the calories still add up  fast!

Pasta Sauce Cheesy Beef One Pot Wonder

First post of the new year! Yay! I have high hopes of blogging more this year, but let's see how that actually goes. :)

Last night, I made this recipe with just a few modifications. It turned out SO good but I'm not sure the cheeseburger flavor was very strong. I think the can of tomatoes and the pasta sauce kind of took away from it. But that's okay! It was still delicious.

My ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1/3 can of Hunt's Traditional pasta sauce
1 large jar of tomatoes from Grandma's garden
1 medium onion
~1/4 cup ketchup (I eye balled it)
~1 tablespoon yellow mustard
8oz block of cheddar cheese
1lb box large elbow macaroni
1 1/2 cups water plus 1 bouillon cube (I thought the two cups was going to make the end result too liquidy and this worked out just fine)
1 roma tomato for garnishing (I rarely do the garnish for a recipe but I thought this was worth it. If you don't have one, that's okay too)


Then I followed her cooking instructions. Despite the elbow noodles needing less time to cook according to the box, they did still take the full time she had said (13 minutes?).

This makes a big batch (about 10-12 servings) so be sure to use a big enough pot! But I do love one pot wonders, especially with my current kitchen cooking conditions.

I will DEFINITELY make this again. David couldn't stop eating it and the kids even ate some of it! (That's a big deal these days. They aren't picky, they just don't eat dinner for some reason, even if it's something they asked for!)