Easy Like Sunday Morning Banana Bread

Cereal and oatmeal are the everyday breakfast choice for us, Sundays are the only exception. It's the day where I will spend time to make a real, homemade breakfast. This bread is the perfect thing to wake up and bake for the perfect breakfast on a Sunday morning.

I'm always guilty for buying a bunch of bananas thinking that we will eat all of them, and never do. I cut them up in cereal, for toast, eat them plain, in yogurt and smoothies, I try to find every way I can to use bananas, but there always seem to be leftovers for some reason?! They always sit in the corner until it's time to throw them away, thinking that we will use them for something. Well, this is the someting that you can use them for! No, you don't use rotted bananas, but the mooshier (yea, that's a word) the better! 

Blackened Tilapia Tacos- Cajun Style

These are some of my favorite things to make these days, we constantly have them on repeat at our home. I usually try to do a 3-4 week meal turnover but these are a weekly event over here and we haven't gotten sick of them yet. Fiesta for your tastebuds right here, and not even kidding.

These are super easy, and oh so healthy for you. In the past, I have had the hardest time getting myself to eat fish. I love seafood when I am near the ocean, it's so fresh and one of my favorite things to eat. But, living in a rural area in the middle of the dessert, you don't get that fresh seafood very often. Fish has tons of Omega-3 and it is so needed for your health. It's something that you can't get as well from supplements, but I know that I can't go without the benefits from Omega-3's! So, I know that I have to eat fish to receive those benefits. Frozen seafood tastes very different than fresh, but I have finally found this recipe from The Chunky Chef and it has changed the tilapia world for me! Another great thing about this recipe is you can choose for yourself how spicy it will be!

Tilapia Tips 

Keep your tilapia frozen. When thawing out, don't defrost in microwave like other meats. It thaws out super fast! Tilapia is pre-packaged individually, keep them in the plastic when thawing out. Fill a medium-sized bowl with lukewarm water and place tilapia filets into the bowl until thaw, refreshing the water every 5 minutes (only have to replace once for a a few fish-for more, you'll have to replace more). You can also place packaged filets inside of a colander and run slightly warmed water over them until thawed. 

Take the fish out of the packaging and rinse off. This gets the not-so-good, slimy, fishy taste off of them a little more and leaves the good taste. Another way you can do this, is soak them in a brine mixture in the fridge for about 10 minutes (1 cup of water to 1 tsp. salt). This makes them taste way better!

Valentine's Cupcakes: Chocolate Peanut Butter

One of my favorite homemade desserts right here! I’m not too much of a cupcake fan, but making these for special occasions such as Valentine’s Day, gets my cupcake fix in for the year. They are chocolate (my favorite) with a peanut butter accent. They’re rich and have the perfect texture that’s not too crumbly. These are the cupcakes that children and adults will both enjoy! 

They are really great for any occasion, just by adding Valentine’s themed cupcake tins and hearts at the top, they are perfect for this holiday of love. You could simply color the frosting or add sprinkles to make them even more festive. This is definitely not a recipe for only two people since it makes 18 cupcakes. We saved some for ourselves and shared with friends and family! 

The original recipe from Baker By Nature calls for a peanut butter frosting-they're definately the Ultimate Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes! That’s a little too much for me, so I opted for a plain chocolate frosting and added peanut butter cups on top! Num’s the Word had a great Rolo Cupcake recipe, and I loved their frosting, so I decided to try that with these and it was perfect!

Quinoa Chicken Nuggets

You know those days when you're just wanting to eat out but you know that it won't be good for you? I have those days, and found the perfect recipe to feed that craving! It's a mix of healthy and fun, and it's super easy too. 

I usually love Wendy's Chicken Nuggets, is that terrible of me?! But I know how unhealthy they are and I know that home cooked meals make me feel so much better.

This is your typical breaded chicken recipe, but even better since it's covered in quinoa (sidenote: did you know that quinoa has all of the essential amino acids? That's why everyone is telling you how good it is and recommending you to eat it-so, so good for you). Recipe was retreived from Creme De La Crumb. 

It's so easy to make this!
Start with cooking your quinoa, I like to do this a little ahead of time because it's super hot afterwards and I like to let it cool down before covering the chicken with it.

Chicken Pot Pie

I could probably live off of the Marie Calendar's personal meat pies. I thought that I'd try making one of my own, and opted for a full-size pie becuase it means more (which is always better in this situation). I found the best recipe from our local cookbook! 

It took me a little bit of personal talking into, because I was so worried that I was going to do it incorrectly and dinner would be a disaster. Fortunately, that was not the case and it turned out great! My only problem was that it tasted a little bit bland, it definately needed more than just a little bit of salt and pepper. After a few trials, I was able to discover the right taste!

How To
The recipe is super simple, something that surpised me the first time that I made it. 
I start out with cooking the chicken in the oven while I am boiling the vegetables (potatoes and carrots only) until they're finished cooking. Before cooking the vegetables, I cube the potatoes and slice the carrots into small rounds (I usually use petite carrots). I boil some water and throw them in there with the salt. I cook them until the potatoes are about to fall apart, almost the doneness of mashed potatoes, because they turn out to be super creamy in the finished pie and it's the best! When they're almost finished, I start on the gravy. If I cook the gravy too far ahead, it thickens up too much before pouring it into the pie shells. Preheat the oven to 425° when the chicken is finished cooking. 

Finishing Up
When everything is done cooking, start preparing the pie shells. With the first shell, keep in the tin and place on a cookie sheet. Pour the cooked vegetables and then layer frozen peas and then chicken, finishing with gravy. Place second pie shell, still in tin, on top. Slowly remove the tin and pinch edges together. Gravy might pour out, but that's what the pie tin is for! The pie is done when the top is a golden brown.