Running Mama Cooks

For my bridal shower, I received a beautiful cookbook with recipes submitted by my friends and family. This one is from my Aunt Lenora. Since we had exactly 3 bananas that would have gone bad and a gloomy fall day, Cecily and I made banana bread. I loved that this recipe is really healthy, have to get back on the wagon after stuffing myself full of Halloween candy!!

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup wheat germ
3 med very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup skim milk
1/4 cup applesauce
4 egg whites

Directions:

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix in wheat germ. Add all remaining ingredients and beat until well blended. Place in pam sprayed 8x4 loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

For dinner tonight I had planned on making sausage and spinach penne skillet, but realized that I didn't have a few of the key ingredients. My spinach wasn't good anymore and I didn't have any sundried tomatoes. I still used the same process, but changed it up a bit to suit what I had on hand. Turned out really good!

Sausage & Broccoli Penne Skillet

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound Italian-style turkey sausage, casings removed
3 medium garlic cloves, minced finely
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 ounces (about 3 1/2 cups) penne pasta
2 broccoli crowns, florets removed and steamed (I used microwave)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

Heat the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot and add in the sausage. Cook until lightly browned and no longer pink about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Stir in the diced tomatoes, broth, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, then add in the pasta. Increase the heat to medium-high and cook at a strong simmer, stirring often, until the pasta is tender and the liquid has thickened, about 15-18 minutes (if you find the liquid is absorbing too quickly and the pasta is still undercooked, add a bit more water in small amounts until the pasta is cooked thoroughly).

Stir in the broccoli. Take off the heat, stir in the cheese and pine nuts. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.

ZACH'S RATING - ****

Almost every year Zach and I host a small Halloween party for our friends. I love this holiday, its so much fun to dress up and decorate the house. This year we dressed up as our kids, Cecily and Finn. I love how our costumes turned out!

Here is a look at my decorations. I've collected quite a few halloween things throughout the years.

I had no idea what we were having for dinner tonight until about 5:00, when I remembered that I bookmarked Mac & Cheese Muffins on my google reader. I ran to the kitchen...pasta, check! Cheddar, check! Milk, check!! We were in business. I used a combo of recipes (a popular Nestie recipe as my guide), put the mac & cheese into large muffin tins and baked. Money!

Mac & Cheese Muffins

Ingredients:

2 tbsp flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 1/2 cups milk
2 tbsp butter
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp nutmeg
8 oz. small macaroni, cooked al dente
Plain bread crumbs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Spray large muffin cups with cooking spray.

In medium saucepan melt butter over medium heat. Add flour, salt and pepper and whisk until combined. Add milk slowly, stirring constantly over medium-high heat until sauce thickens. Remove from heat.

Stir in 2 1/2 cups cheese until melted. Season with paprika and nutmeg. Add macaroni. Pour into muffin tins and sprinkle with remaining cheese and breadcrumbs.

Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly.

ZACH'S RATING - *****

I think I have a new favorite source for recipes. Our Best Bites is a great blog with some awesome recipes. This is the second soup I've made of theirs and both have been winners.

This soup tasted SO rich, but it is really low in fat! The only change I made to the original recipes is that I used turkey bacon. If you love big bowls of comforting soup, you must try this!

Baked Potato Soup
Recipe by Our Best Bites

2 Tbs butter
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 C flour
4 1/2 C low-fat or skim milk
1 14oz can chicken broth
4 medium baking potatoes (about 2 1/2 pounds) baked*
2 C grated cheddar (or sharp cheddar) cheese, divided
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 1/2 C light sour cream, divided
1/2 C chopped green onions, divided
8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled, divided

*don't have time to bake potatoes in the oven? Just pierce them with a fork a few times and then pop them in the microwave. Cook in 5 minute intervals until a knife easily pierces through them. It usually takes 5-10 minutes. To bake in the oven, pierce each potato with a fork and place directly on oven rack. Bake at 375 for 45-60 minutes.

Melt butter in a stock pot over medium heat. Add garlic and saute for 30-60 seconds until fragrant. Add flour to pan. Slowly add milk a little at a time while whisking constantly to eliminate lumps. Whisk until smooth and then add chicken broth. Bring soup just to a simmer and heat until thickened, stirring often, about 5 minutes.

Once soup is thickened, turn heat down to medium-low. Cut potatoes in half length-wise and use a spoon to scoop out potato flesh into the pot. Use a wooden spoon to smash potatoes, breaking up large clumps. Add 1 1/2 C grated cheese and salt and pepper and stir until cheese is melted. Remove pan from heat and stir in 3/4 C sour cream, 1/4 C green onions, and 4 strips of the crumbled bacon. Add additional salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls and top with each serving with the remaining sour cream, onions, cheese, and bacon.

ZACH'S RATING - ****

I love roasted chicken. Our dinner plans fell through so I grabbed a whole chicken while we were food shopping. I don't have a go to recipe for roasting a whole chicken so I went online to look at a bunch. Below is the result! It came out juicy and delicious. Zach isn't too much of a rosemary fan, but sometimes I have to sneak it in :D Guess that's why my rating suffered!!

Garlic Herb Roasted Chicken

Ingredients:

1 4-5 lb Whole chicken
1 whole head of garlic, plus 6 cloves peeled and smashed
1 lemon
1 bunch of fresh rosemary
1 bunch of fresh thyme
1 tbs butter, melted
olive oil
paprika
garlic and herb Mrs Dash
salt and pepper
2 cups baby carrots
6-8 butter potatoes
1/2 cup chicken stock

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pinfeathers and pat the outside dry. Place the chicken in a large roasting pan. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with whole head of garlic, half of the lemon and half of each bunch of herbs.

Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Sprinkle generously with paprika and Mrs Dash. Chop remaining herbs and sprinkle half over the chicken. Drizzle with olive oil.

Cut potatoes into quarters. in a large bowl, combine potatoes and carrots with salt, pepper, smashed garlic cloves, the remaining chopped herbs and olive oil. Place around chicken in the roasting pan and cover with the chicken broth.

Roast the chicken for 1 hour and a half or until the juices run clear.

ZACH'S RATING - *** 1/2

Pumpkin french toast? Why not!! I have leftover pumpkin in the fridge so I thought Id put it to good use this morning. Came out great!

I didn't really measure anything, so this won't be a real "recipe." Just mix one egg, a splash of milk, a scoop of pumpkin, dash of vanilla and a generous amount of pumpkin pie spice together. Dip bread into the mixture coating it and cook in a pan with a little bit of melted butter.