Banana Caramel Cream Pie

I'm still trying to use up all the bananas that my mom had given me when I made Banana Spice Cupcakes a few days ago. This past NBA All-Star weekend, hubby was watching all things basketball on TV. But I managed to sneak-in a few episodes on the Food Network and the Cooking Channel and caught an episode of Kelsey's Essentials where she made this recipe for Banana Caramel Cream Pie. It looked so good on TV and I know hubby would really like it, so I had to try to make this. And plus, I couldn't possibly pass up anything that has caramel in it.

I realize that this may look like a long recipe. But I actually cut the recipe by using ready-made pie crust. The original recipe called for making the crust from scratch. But using a ready-made pie crust worked just as well. The caramel sauce was a little tricky for me. My first attempt to make the caramel sauce was a failure as I had burned the sugar mixture. The second attempt resulted in the sugar clumping up when I added the heavy cream. But I returned the mixture back on the stove to heat up and melt the sugar and it came out fine. Overall, this pie was yummy. My daughter loved licking the paddle for the whip cream. Both hubby and daughter couldn't wait to dive into this pie.

1 (9") ready made pie crust

Pie filling

3-4 bananas, sliced

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. cornstarch

1 Tbsp. all purpose flour

2 1/2 cups milk

2 egg yolks

1 Tbsp. unsalted butter

1 vanilla bean, split in half and seeds scraped

Salted Caramel Sauce

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

3/4 cup heavy cream

3 1/2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

salt

Whipped topping

1 cup fresh whipped cream

1 Tbsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1) Bake pie crust according to directions. Cool completely.

2) First make the caramel sauce: In a saucepan, combine sugar and water over low-medium heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil without stirring. Use a wet pastry brush to brush off the sugar crystals that form on the sides of the pan. Boil until syrup is a deep amber color, about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and carefully whisk heavy cream (mixture will bubble). Stir in butter and salt to taste. Transfer caramel on a dish and cool completely.

3) For the filling: In a medium saucepan, mix together sugar, salt, cornstarch and flour. Over medium-low heat, slowly whisk in milk.

4) In a separate small bowl, beat egg yolks. Once milk mixture begins to boil, transfer 1/2 cup of the mixture into the egg yolks and whisk to temper. Return egg yolk mixture into saucepan and whisk constantly to prevent burning the bottom. Continue whisking until custard coats the back of the spoon and is smooth and thick. Strain mixture through a sieve.

5) Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Stir in 1 cup sliced bananas. Allow mixture to cool completely.

6) For the topping: Whip cream until soft peaks form. Add sugar and vanilla and whip until stiff peaks form.

7) Cover the bottom of the crust with sliced bananas. Drizzle 1/4 cup of salted caramel sauce over the bananas. Top with more bananas. Spread banana custard over bananas. Top with whipped topping. Chill pie until filling sets, about 2 hours.

Spaghetti all'Amatriciana

This is another recipe that I had bookmarked from one of my Costco cookbooks. I love my Costco cookbooks. It has so many easy and yummy recipes in them. And the cookbooks were FREE! Costco usually gives these cookbooks out every year after Thanksgiving (aka "Black Friday"). So whenever I can't find a way to get to my local Costco on Black Fridays, I usually ask people to pick one up for me whenever they make a visit. This recipe was developed by Mario Batali of the Food Network fame, and it came from last year's edition, which my boss was kind enough to pick up for me. Thanks chief!

This dish was really easy to make and quite delicious. Its almost restaurant quality. Hubby and daughter really liked this. I'm definitely making this regularly.

1 lb. spaghetti or linguine pasta (be sure to reserve 1/2 cup pasta water)

1/4 cup olive oil

4 ounces bacon, cut into 1/2 inch wide strips

1 medium red onion, sliced

1/4 cup tomato paste

1-2 tsp. red pepper flakes (more if you like it spicy)

1/4 cup marinara sauce (I used Trader Joe's Tomato & Basil Marinara)

1 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

salt to taste

1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

1) Cook pasta al dente according to package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water. Drain pasta and set aside.

2) While pasta is cooking, heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add bacon and onion. Stir frequently and cook until bacon is lightly browned and onion has softened, about 7 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in marinara sauce and season with salt to taste.

3) Add pasta and 1/4 cup of reserved pasta water to the bacon mixture and toss over medium heat until pasta is well coated. Continue adding pasta water if necessary to loosen the sauce. Stir in the Parmesan cheese and parsley. Serve immediately and top with more parsley and Parmesan cheese.

Greek Turkey Burgers with Spiced Yogurt Sauce

This is a recipe I found from one of my Costco cookbooks. It was the NBA All-Star weekend yesterday and I was planning on grilling these. But it was a rainy weekend and, as much as I used to love cooking on my grill pan, I didn't want to do the cleaning for the grill pan. So I opted to make soup yesterday instead.

Well, I finally made these today and decided to fry them in a pan. Even though it was a beautiful day to barbecue. However you decided to cook these (whether you grill or fry them) these burgers will be delicious. It has so much flavor in it and its quite healthy. I'm definitely making these again.

1 lb. ground turkey

1/2 cup feta cheese (I used shredded cheese because its all I had)

2 tsp. dry oregano leaves

1/2 tsp. dry thyme leaves

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper, plus more to taste

2 tsp. olive oil

1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt

ground cumin

salt & pepper to taste

1 Tbsp. olive oil

4 hamburger rolls, toasted

lettuce

tomato slices

cucumber slices

1) In a large bowl, mix ground turkey, cheese, oregano, thyme, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp. black pepper. Shape into 4 patties.

2) Heat oil in a frying pan (or heat grill). Cook patties for 4-5 minutes on each side or until burgers are cooked through and has an internal temperature of 165 deg F.

3) To prepare sauce, season yogurt to taste with cumin, salt and pepper.

4) Serve burgers on toasted rolls. Top each burger with 1 Tbsp. of the yogurt mixture. Garnish with lettuce, tomato, and cucumber slices.

Jenny's Banana Spice Cupcake

I came into work one day and found 2 sheets of paper stapled together with a recipe for Banana Spice Cake and I wondered who had left it on my desk. Then I found another sheet of the same recipe on a co-worker's desk and asked her whose it was. She said that another co-worker, Jenny, had printed out the recipe for us. Jenny had been raving about this Banana Spice cake that her mom would make, but she would never bring us any. So I asked her if this was a hint that she wanted us to make this and bring some to work. Uh-huh.

My mom just gave me a whole bunch of bananas that a co-worker had given her. This was the perfect recipe to make as it calls for a lot of bananas. And hubby loooooves anything that's banana. So I was excited to be making this. Making the cake was quite easy. I was a little worried, though, that the cakes would come out dry because the recipe didn't call for much liquid other than the eggs and the bananas themselves. But they came out pretty soft and moist. I wasn't too happy about how my frosting turned out runny, though. I may have to tweak it some more. The original recipe was made into bundt cakes or layer cakes. I decided to make them into cupcakes because its easier to give out leftovers to my folks and co-workers. Because everyone knows that I always give out cupcakes whenever I make them. So yes, Jenny, these are going to you. Thanks for the recipe! These were yummy with a strong banana flavor. If you love bananas, you'll definitely love these.

Cupcakes

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1/4 ground cloves

1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

3/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

2/3 cup shortening

1 1/3 cup sugar

2 eggs, well beaten

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups mashed bananas, mixed with a splash of fresh lemon juice

1) Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Line muffin pans with paper liners.

2) Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and all the spices. Sift dry mixture 2 additional times. Set aside.

3) Cream together shortening and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and and beat until well incorporated. Add vanilla and then the bananas. Add flour mixture into banana mixture in small amounts, beating well after each addition.

4) Evenly distribute batter into prepared muffin pans using an ice cream scoop. Bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick test comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Banana Frosting

1/2 cup mashed banana, mixed with 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup butter, at room temperature

4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature

3 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

1) Cream together butter, cream cheese and confectioner's sugar, one cup at a time. Slowly add banana mixture until you reach the desired spreading consistency.

Italian Wedding Soup

Its a cold and rainy day today in SoCal. I was planning on grilling some burgers for dinner today in honor of the NBA All-Star weekend. But that's out of the question. So I thought to make something that will warm us up.

I remember finding this recipe for Italian Wedding Soup from What's Cookin' Chicago? one day. I figured now was a good time to give this a try. This soup called for tiny pasta to go with the tiny meatballs. So I used a Pastina pasta. It also called for different types of ground meat. Whenever a recipe calls for some type of ground meat, I almost always use ground turkey because I always have ground turkey.

This soup really hit the spot for me. It had a little kick from the red pepper flakes, but the heat didn't overpower the soup too much that it was even safe enough to feed my 2 1/2 year old daughter. She actually really liked this dish, especially because I used a tiny pasta, shaped into stars. She even ate the spinach in the soup.

Meatballs

2 slices sliced bread (I used wheat bread), torn to pieces

1/2 cup milk

1 egg yolk

2 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese

3 Tbsp. finely chopped parsley

3 medium garlic cloves, minced

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1 lb. ground turkey

1) Place milk and bread in a large bowl and mash together with a fork until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients, except ground turkey, and mash to combine. Add ground turkey and knead by hand until it's well combined.

2) Using a melon baller, scoop mixture and roll into uniform sized balls with damp hands. Place meatballs in a single layer on a baking sheet and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or overnight.

Soup

1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

2 medium garlic cloves, minced

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

3 quarts chicken broth

1 cup pastina pasta (or any other tiny pasta like orzo)

1 large bunch fresh spinach leaves, cleaned and roughly chopped

3 Tbsp. chopped parsley

salt & pepper to taste

1) Heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and red pepper flakes, cooking until it's fragrant (about 30 seconds). Add chicken broth and meatballs. Simmer until meatballs are almost halfway done. Add pasta and continue simmering until pasta and meatballs are cooked through. Stir in spinach and parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot in a bowl. Drizzle olive oil over soup and top with grated Parmesan cheese before serving.

Carrot Cake Waffles

Hubby and I used to love going to Paradise Cove in Malibu to have breakfast. It was a nice cafe right on the beach and I used to love ordering their Carrot Cake waffles. We've gone there a few times, until hubby got a serious bout of food poisoning from there. So we haven't gone back since. But I really miss eating their Carrot Cake waffles and always wondered when I would get another taste of it.

Yesterday, we went on our weekly trip to Costco and I came across a cookbook that had a recipe for carrot pancakes. "Light bulb!" I didn't buy the cookbook, but I decided to search for it online and came across this recipe from Tasty Kitchen. I haven't used my waffle iron in a long time, so I decided to use it for this recipe.

It came out pretty good, but it wasn't the Paradise Cove waffles I came to love. However, my daughter really liked it. What's even better is that she was actually eating carrots without knowing it. She hates carrots or any other vegetables. So this was another great way to sneak-in something healthy for her. I'll probably attempt another version of this recipe, but I'm definitely making carrot cake waffles again.

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp. ground ginger

1/8 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 light brown sugar, lightly packed

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 Tbsp. canola oil

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 cups finely shredded carrots

1/2 cup crushed pineapple

1) Combine flour, salt and all the spices in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. In a medium bowl, combine brown sugar, buttermilk, oil vanilla extract and eggs. Add sugar mixture into flour mixture and stir just until moist. Fold in shredded carrots and crushed pineapple.

2) Heat waffle iron and coat top and bottom of pan with a nonstick spray or brush with melted butter. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop batter onto waffle iron, close lid and cook until done. Serve warm with maple syrup and/or whipped cream.

Chicken Tequila Lime Fettucine

Its Valentine's day and I'm pretty much spending it with just my daughter. Hubby and I sort of celebrated Valentine's day last weekend and gave gifts to each other because we knew that he had to work and go to class this evening. But that doesn't mean I can't make a nice dinner waiting for him when he gets home.

I have come to love California Pizza Kitchen's Chicken Tequila Lime Fettuccine and order it often when we're there. I was craving some one day and decided to look up the recipe and found this one from CDKitchen.com that I wanted to try out for Valentine's Day. This dish was surprisingly easy to make. But I found it to be a bit bland so I modified the recipe a bit and added some salt and it came out delicious. Hope hubby likes it. And I hope everyone has a great Valentine's day.

1 lb. Spinach Fettuccine (or you can probably use plain fettuccine)

1/2 cup fresh cilantro, plus 2 Tbsp. more for garnish

2 Tbsp. minced garlic

1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (more if you like it spicy)

3 Tbsp. unsalted butter

1/2 cup chicken broth

2 Tbsp. tequila

2 Tbsp. fresh-squeezed lime juice

3 Tbsp. soy sauce

1 1/4 lb. chicken breast, diced 3/4 inch

1/4 medium red onion, thinly sliced

1/2 medium red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1/2 medium yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced

1/2 medium green bell pepper, thinly sliced

1 1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 tsp. salt

1) Cook pasta al dente according to package instructions.

2) Cook 1/3 cup cilantro, garlic and red pepper flakes in 2 tablespoon butter over medium heat for 4-5 minutes. Add chicken broth, tequila and lime juice. Bring mixture to a boil and cook until reduced to a paste-like consistency. Set aside.

3) Pour soy sauce over diced chicken. Set aside for 5 minutes.

4) Cook onion and peppers with the remaining 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat, stirring occasionally. When the vegetables have wilted, add soy sauce and chicken mixture and toss.

5) Add reserved tequila lime mixture and cream. Season with salt. Bring to a boil. Continue to boil until chicken has cooked through and sauce has thickened, about 3 minutes. Toss-in drained pasta and remaining cilantro. Serve hot.

**Note: you can substitute the cream with half & half to make the dish lower in fat, but keep in mind that the sauce will be thin.

Happy Valentine's Day to me with my new toy

We had an early Valentine's Day this year because 1) We were out of town this weekend, and 2) Hubby had to work and has class until late tonight. So we decided to give each other's Valentine's Day gift last week. I gave hubby tickets to a LA Clippers game - his favorite basketball team. Then he surprised me with this new kitchen tool.

I've been wanting this stand mixer for so long. Don't get me wrong. I have a hand mixer. It was a gift off of my bridal registry we got 8 years ago. And its gotten me through a lot of mixing. However, I didn't use my mixer much back then as often as I use it now. And there were times when I wished I had four hands, because while mixing, I had to add this ingredient and that ingredient. I would have to be forced to shut off the mixer first in order to add ingredients. When I want to whip cream or egg whites, I have to stand there, mixer in hand, for 10 minutes at a time. Very tiring.

This stand mixer has different attachments, unlike the hand mixer which only has one attachment. So I can use it to make dough, regular cake batter, or even to whip cream and egg whites. It also has more speed than a regular hand mixer. I'm really excited to have this new kitchen tool. You know it'll be put to great use. Thanks boo!