037 Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

One of my biggest vices is buying too much food. They say to never go grocery shopping when you're hungry, because you tend to buy more than you need. Which is true. And I know this because I am always hungry. Pair that with my attempt to "eat fresh" and "live longer" as we are often told to do, I often find my pantry/kitchen counter/fridge filled to the brim with perishable food items.

Like bananas.

I discovered the other day that I had a few bananas that were way past the point of eating fresh, so I decided to look for a recipe that would allow me to not let them go to waste. Banana bread is one of the easier baking projects one can attempt, so I decided to whip up a quick batch. Naturally, I also proceeded to take a somewhat healthy snack and make it worse for you by adding chocolate chips. NO SHAME. I really didn't add that many calories, so read on. :)

These are the ingredients needed - I had everything at home, which is usually a requirement for me to actually try recipes...haha lazy.

Yum yum bananas.

Step one is to mix the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Then, add the chocolate chips in and stir to combine. 

Aww yeah.

In a separate, smaller bowl, mix together the bananas, butter, milk, eggs, and vanilla extract.

The beginnings of something beautiful. 

Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and use an electric mixer to beat until just blended and all the ingredients are moist.

Moist.

Spoon the batter into a prepared cupcake/muffin tin. Pro-tip: Fill up cupcake/muffin liners till about 2/3 of the way. This will usually give you a good-sized cupcake/muffin without the dreaded MUFFIN TOP! 

None of that.

Bake for 18-21 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. 

Second pro-tip: If you're having problems with the cake sticking to the liner, that is usually a sign of over-baking. Shorten the bake time by a few minutes, and keep testing with a toothpick until it comes out clean. My mom always said under-baking is better than over-baking - you can always pop things back in the oven for a few minutes longer, but you can't undo things have already been burned. 

Mini disclaimer: There are definitely a few items that you shouldn't use this baking time testing method on (opening and shutting the oven door multiple times) like souffles, but it works great for amateur-hour snacks. Like most of what I make, lol. 

And there you have it - it really is that simple.

I had fun taking pseudo-professional food pictures.

Here is the recipe for your convenience, slightly adapted from Money Pit Love's Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.

Yield: 16 muffins

Nutrition: 187 calories/muffin 

Ingredients:

    2 cups all purpose flour

    1/4 cups sugar 

    2 tsp baking powder

    1 tsp baking soda

    1 tsp ground cinnamon

    1/4 tsp salt

    1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

    2 cups smashed bananas (about 3 bananas)

    1/2 cup light butter

    1/4 cup almond milk

    2 eggs

    1 tsp vanilla extract 

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Whisk dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt) together in large mixing bowl. 
3. Add chocolate chips and stir to combine.
4. Mix wet ingredients (bananas, butter, milk, eggs, and vanilla extract) together in a separate, smaller bowl.
5. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix together with electric mixer until just blended and all the ingredients are moist. 
6. Spoon batter into prepared cupcake/muffin tin until liners are about 2/3 full. 
7. Bake in preheated oven for 18-21 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. 
8. Allow to cool completely, and enjoy! :)

Nutrition Information from MyFitnessPal:

036 Valentine's Day Nutella Linzer Cookies

I had every intention of posting my attempt at Valentine's Day cookies before Valentine's Day, because I had every intention of making them prior to Valentine's Day eve. But I am was lazy.

Essentially my life. 

I finally managed to get off my well-used bottom to bake last Thursday night. Clint said that me making Valentine's Day cookies for the office was very American, which I thought was evident enough by the fact that I also bought over $20 worth of candy at Walmart to celebrate this made-up holiday. Kidding - I love America, and candy, and Nutella Linzer Cookies. Smooth transition, I know.

I found this recipe on Pinterest and am pretty happy with the way it turned out, so enjoy and good luck if you try it!

The first step is to gather the ingredients. I had everything except for slivered almonds, which you can pick up at Walmart in the baking aisle.

Needs more Nutella.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder together, and set aside.

In a food processor, blend slivered almonds and brown sugar until finely ground and delicious. 

Delicious before.

Delicious after.

Using an electric mixer, whip the butter and powdered sugar together on medium-high speed until creamy and fluffy, which will take about a minute.

Then, add in the egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined.

Okay - so, at this point in the recipe I was supposed to add the almond-brown sugar mix before the flour mix, but apparently I don't read very well, so I added the flour first. :( 

Oops.

I don't think it affected the taste at all, but it did make mixing very difficult when I added the almond-brown sugar mixture after, because the dough got too thick. So, I had to revert to the traditional mixing method aka using my hands.

After successfully combining all the ingredients (however you get there), form the dough into a ball and flatten on a piece of plastic wrap. Cover and let chill in the fridge for about 2 hours. 

Hanging out with Dory while waiting.

After you've finished watching two episodes of something on Netflix, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously dust working space with flour, cut the dough in half, and roll out each portion to about 1/8- to 1/6-inch in thickness.

The dough was pretty "wet" when I pulled it out from the fridge, so I kept adding just enough flour to keep it from sticking to the table and the rolling pin. Pro-tip: Keep the dough that you're not using in the fridge - chilled dough is easier to work with and keeps its shape better.

Start cutting out your cookies. You will need an equal number of bases (big hearts), and tops (big hearts with little hearts cut out). Recycle the dough and keep making cookies until you run out.

Carefully transfer the cookie dough to a prepared cookie sheet (I used aluminum foil over mine), and bake the cookies in the oven for about 10-12 minutes until the edges or bottoms are lightly golden. Allow to cool completely.

Fun fun fun!

And now for the best part - use whatever spread you enjoy to cover the bases. The original recipe calls for strawberry jam for the red in the Valentine's Day heart. But I love me some Nutella, so that is what I used. #noshame

Dust the tops with powdered sugar. I don't have a sieve, so it looked a little ghetto...but I'm okay with that, because it was a delicious kind of ghetto.

Assemble the cookies for an awesome finished product!

Omnomnom.

I enjoyed these cookies because they weren't too sweet. Easy to eat...which also means I ate entirely too many. The office enjoyed them, though, so I can't complain. :) The recipe is below, slightly adapted from Cooking Classy's Linzer Cookies.

Yield: 24 cookies

Nutrition: 130 calories/cookie

Ingredients:

    2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

    1 tsp ground cinnamon

    1/2 tsp salt

    1/2 tsp baking powder

    3/4 cup slivered almonds

    1/4 cup light brown sugar

    1 cup unsalted butter, softened

    1/2 cup powdered sugar, plus more for dusting

    1 large egg

    1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

    4 oz strawberry jam, Nutella, or any spread of your choice

Instructions: 

1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder, and set aside.
2. In a food processor, blend or pulse slivered almonds and light brown sugar until finely ground, and set aside.
3. Using an electric mixer, whip butter and powdered sugar together on medium-high until fluffy, about a minute.Then, add in egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined.
4. Mix in the almond mixture, and then slowly add the flour mixture and mix on low. If the dough becomes too thick, knead with your hands.
5. Form dough into a ball and flatten on a piece of plastic wrap. Cover and let chill in the fridge for about 2 hours.
6. Watch something on Netflix for 2 hours.
7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
8. Generously dust work space with flour. Cut chilled dough in half, and roll out each portion to about 1/8- to 1/6-inch in thickness. Add flour where necessary to prevent sticking.
9. Cut out hearts with cookie cutters. You will need an equal number of bases (big hearts) and tops (big hearts with little hearts cut out). Recycle the dough where possible, and keep making cookies until you run out.
10. Carefully transfer the cut cookies to a lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges or bottoms are lightly golden. 
11. Allow to cool completely. Spread the spread of your choice onto the bases, and dust the tops with powdered sugar. 
12. Assemble and enjoy! :) 

Nutritional Information from MyFitnessPal:

035 Copycat Olive Garden Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

According to our local weatherman, today will be the coldest day of the week, followed by weather in the 50s and 60s all through Sunday. I'm pretty excited for having non-arctic-like temperatures for the next few days, but (Heaven forbid) I think I'm also going to miss the cold. I like wearing leggings and sweaters and eating potatoes and having a completely legitimately excuse to not go out to exercise - ha. Knowing Northwest Arkansas, we'll probably be back to snow storms next week. But just in case, I wanted to squeeze in a soup recipe before we lose winter.

I'm a big shameless fan of Olive Garden. I know, I know - it's not "real" Italian food. It's probably like calling OK China real Chinese food, but I love Americanized versions of all things because I am a patriot. I had a craving for their chicken and gnocchi soup the other evening, but didn't want to leave the comfort of my apartment so I decided to try and recreate it at home. I found a version on Pinterest, so enjoy my attempt below!

As always, the first thing you need is ingredients.

All fresh errrthing. Or most things.

Oops. Forgot to picture these guys. Only missed the most
important ingredient - gnocchi - in the first picture. I'm smart!

Saute the chicken breasts in a large pot over medium heat. I used pre-grilled sliced chicken strips, so I just heated them up in the pan. If cooking from fresh, you'll want to cook until mostly done (very little pink showing). Season with a little salt and pepper.

The chicken should be diced! I may or may not have cut up
the chicken in the pot after already starting to cook it... #ghetto

In the meantime, prep the other fresh ingredients (onion, celery, and carrots) slicing and dicing where necessary.

Add the butter to the pot, and then add the onion, celery, carrots, and garlic. 

So good!

The recipe I found was very vegetable-heavy, which I like, but you can reduce the amount of vegetables by about a third if you prefer a "soupier" soup.

Add the flour to absorb the butter and form a roux. Then add the half & half and the chicken broth.

Starts smelling really yummy at this point.

Allow the soup to come to a boil, and let it simmer while you prepare your gnocchi. To do this, you boil a pot of water and slowly add the pasta. You should only have to cook it for about 3 minutes - the gnocchi will float when it is done (if only all pasta were like that, right?).

The gnocchi I bought was made of potatoes, which seriously perplexed Clint. "POTATO PASTA WHAT IS THIS SORCERY?!"

Drain the gnocchi when done, and set aside. Then, chiffonade the spinach. I learned that word while making this recipe. It means to "shred or finely cut leaf vegetables, often used as a garnish for soup". Behold, my chiffonade-ded spinach!

Fancy.

When ready to eat, add the spinach, thyme, and cooked gnocchi to the soup. Taste, and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Stir, and serve immediately.

Pretty close, methinks.

Here is the recipe for your convenience, slightly adapted from Dessert Now, Dinner Later's Copycat Olive Garden Chicken and Gnocchi Soup.

Yield: 4 servings

Nutrition: 256 calories/serving

Ingredients:

    3 oz boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into cubes

    1 tbsp olive oil

    2 tbsp light butter

    1/2 medium onion, diced

    1/2 cup celery, diced

    1/2 cup carrots, diced

    1/2 tsp minced garlic

    1 1/2 tbsp flour

    1/2 quart (2 cups) fat-free half & half

    1 cup low sodium chicken broth

    1/2 cup fresh spinach

    1 tsp dried thyme

    salt to taste

    pepper to taste

    1 cup gnocchi

Instructions:

1. Heat olive oil in large pot over medium heat, and cook chicken breasts. If cooking from fresh, cook until mostly done (very little pink showing). Season with a little salt and pepper.
2. Prep the vegetables. Add butter to the large pot with chicken until melted, then add the onion, celery, carrots, and garlic. Cook until the onion is translucent. 
3. Add flour to the mixture to soak up the additional liquid from the butter. This will form a roux. Stir well.
4. Add the half & half and chicken broth to the pot. Allow to come to a boil, and then lower the heat to let it simmer.
5. Prepare the gnocchi according to instructions. It should take about 2-3 minutes to cook completely. Finished gnocchi will float to the top. Drain and set aside.
6. Chiffonade the spinach. Then, add the the spinach, thyme, and cooked gnocchi to the soup. 
7. Stir and season with salt and pepper as necessary.
8. Serve immediately.
9. Enjoy! :)

Nutritional Information from MyFitnessPal:

034 Happy Chinese New Year | Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Chinese New Year is easily one of my favorite times of the year. It's like the Chinese version of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's rolled into one. We visit with family, get money, play with fireworks, eat shamelessly, AND get to watch lion dances. There are so many fun parts about our culture and tradition, so I thought I'd write a brief post to share some cool practices that my family and I participate in.

It's probably worth mentioning that my family is Malaysian Chinese, meaning some of our beliefs and traditions are a little different than what is practiced in Mainland China. That being said, practices often vary between states and cities and families as well, so what you read here may not apply to every Chinese person you know. There are like, a billion of us, so it's typically pretty hard to make generalizations about my people anyway, hoho.

So, here are some of the beliefs and practices that my family partakes in...

2014 is the Year of the Horse.

The Chinese Zodiac is a 12 year cycle that relates each year to an animal. Each animal has its own distinct attributes and personality traits, and according to Chinese beliefs, individuals tend to display the same characteristics as their zodiac animal. I'm not sure how much of this is true, and how much of it is reliant on Barnum statements, but I've always enjoyed learning about my animal, the dragon.

According to legend, the order of the Zodiac animals was determined by a legendary race. The following chart shows the different animals present in the Chinese Zodiac, and the years associated with each one. You can learn more about your Zodiac animal here, including information on your Zodiac animal's characteristics, your fortune in love and money, and even relationship advice (some Zodiac animals are supposed to pair better with others).

Photo credit to Molly the Wally.

Cleaning the house before the first day of Chinese New Year. 

As with most other cultures, we like to usher in the New Year with a clean house. The goal (key word here is "goal" lol) is to clean as much as possible, meaning we sweep, mop, dust, wipe down, rearrange, clean, and scrub all we can. This is important as you aren't allowed to do any form of cleaning on the first day of Chinese New Year. In fact, all brooms, mops, dusters, etc. are actually supposed to be kept away from sight as the belief is that any cleaning done on the first day will "sweep away" your good fortune for the year. It's intense.

This year, I divided the housecleaning over a few days, learning from last year's mistake (12 straight hours of cleaning in one day). The biggest change I made to my apartment was rearranging my bookcases in the living room - think they turned out pretty sweet. 

Thanks, Pinterest!

Part of the cleaning the house process also includes making sure all of the containers with your food staples are full. This symbolizes that you will not have to worry about having enough to eat throughout the year. For the Chinese, our food staples include items like rice, flour, sugar, and salt. My mom made me go to Walmart to take care of this.

Yep.

Reunion Dinner is held on Chinese New Year's Eve.

This is the one non-negotiable time a year when the family gets together to eat. It is usually held with extended family (a little easier to coordinate in Malaysia where Chinese New Year is a bigger deal and is a national holiday), but because we live in the US and Chinese New Year's Eve fell on a Thursday this year, it was just the immediate family. 

The New Year's Eve dinner is usually a pretty grandiose affair, again to symbolize the abundance of food for the year, and traditionally includes chicken, pork, and fish. And apparently sushi. Idk you'll have to ask my mom.

Delicious dinner courtesy of mom.

Each dish symbolizes something different, but my favorite is with regards to the fish dish. The dish is served for dinner, but intentionally left unfinished, with the remaining stored overnight. This stems from a Chinese pun, 年年有鱼/余 (nián nián yǒu yú/yú). The Chinese words for fish  (鱼, yú) and profit (余, yú) are homophones, making the phrase mean "every year there is fish/profit".

More family, more eating! :D

Wearing red for Chinese New Year.

Chinese New Year Day is the biggest deal out of the 15 day celebration (that's right - we party for 15 days). One of the major practices of this day is wearing brand new everything, and incorporating red somewhere in your outfit.

There are a few variations of the story behind why we wear red, but I'll share the one that my parents told me growing up. In ancient times, there used to be a terrible monster, Nian, that would emerge from his cave every New Year's Day and terrorize a nearby village. Nian would destroy everything in sight, eating villagers and livestock. One day an old traveler passed by the village on New Year's Eve and heard about the terror Nian was causing. He told the villagers he would face the monster and vanquish him for them. The next day, the villagers gathered at the edge of the village to watch the old man face Nian. Once Nian emerged from his cave, the old man took off his robe to reveal a bright red shirt and pants. This terrified Nian and he ran away never to return. The villagers cheered for the old man, and from then on began wearing red on New Year's Day. They also hung red lanterns and red banners outside their homes, a tradition that is carried on until today.

You can't really tell, but I promise we're all wearing red! 

Visiting family and friends, getting red packets, and eating entirely too much.

You are supposed to visit with family and friends on the 1st and 2nd day of Chinese New Year. For my family that means traveling to Oklahoma City to visit with my uncles' families. My Aunt Shirley makes the most amazing food ever, and always pulls out all the stops for family gatherings, so we were super excited. We made it to OKC on Saturday evening and basically went straight into eating. Below are some of the dishes from our dinner. Each dish has its own symbolism, which I won't bore you with - but you can learn more about it here!

Fried oysters, fried squid, dumplings, shrimp, rendang, chicken,
and yeesang.

Buddha's Delight. Yep - that's hair. Jk it's algae.

Fish curry like back in Malaysia.

Char siu bao, or BBQ steamed buns - MY FAVORITE.
I stole like, 4 of these.

Fish cakes.

Ang ku kuih, or red tortoise cakes.

More Asian cakes! 

One of my favorite parts of Chinese New Year is tossing yeesang! Yeesang is a Teochew-style raw fish salad, made up of raw fish (commonly salmon), shredded vegetables, and a variety of sauces and condiments. It probably goes without saying that there's some old Chinese pun and a crazy amount of symbolism that goes with this dish too. The Chinese words for raw fish (鱼生, yú shēng) are a homophone for an increase in abundance (余升, yú shēng), so yeesang is commonly seen as a symbol for prosperity and growth through the year.

Pretty.

Typically, the "leaders" of the diners will say some good wishes for the year (in my family's case, my uncles and dad), and then everyone will toss the ingredients with chopsticks. It is believed that the height of the toss reflects the height of the tosser's growth in fortunes. 

Seriously super fun.

After tossing the yeesang, my whole family and some family friends settled into a 6 hour eating session basically snacking and talking all night long. It was awesome. 

Adults!

Me, my sister, my mom.

My dad and uncles hanging out.

Families also typically exchange red packets (红包, hóng bāo) for the kids. These red packets contain money, which are to symbolize wealth throughout the year. You usually get one as long as you're unmarried. Kids will typically wish their elders well, saying things like Happy New Year (新年快乐, xīn nián kuài lè), or Wishing You Happiness and Prosperity (恭喜发财, gōng xǐ fā cái) and receive money in return. It's a pretty sweet gig. 

Envelopes of awesome. Photo credit to Melsong.

And that's all for now. After we had our fill of food and visiting, we returned to Arkansas on Sunday. In a snow storm. 

Took us 7 hours to drive a 3-1/2 hour journey. D:

But we are alive and well! Hope you enjoyed the post, and learned something new about Chinese New Year. Gong Xi Fa Cai! :)