The Hollow Glow: Drain You

The Hollow Glow performs a cover of Nirvana's "Drain You" on 09.24.2011 (the 20th Anniversary of the Nevermind album).

Bananas Foster French Toast

Amaretto Bananas Foster French Toast

Recipe (1-2 Servings)

Night Ingredients:

• 2 cups of Bread, cut into 1/2 inch to 1 inch squares*
• 2 Eggs
• 1/4 cup Cream
• 1 teaspoon of Pure Vanilla Extract
• 1 tablespoon of Pure Maple Syrup

1. Grease or spray a small baking pan (6x6) and place the bread chunks in it.
2. Whisk the eggs, cream, vanilla, & maple syrup together.
3. Pour mixture over the bread, trying to moisten as much of the bread as possible.
4. Cover and refrigerate overnight (or about 8 hours).

 Morning Ingredients:

•  1/3 to 1/2 cup of maple syrup
  
• 1 to 2 ounces of Disaronno Amaretto**
• 1 to 2 Bananas, sliced thin
• 1/4 cup of chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Uncover dish and bake for 20 minutes, until slightly toasty & dry on top.  Allow to cool/settle for 5 minutes.
3. Heat desired amount of syrup and amaretto in the microwave or on stove-top, mix well.
4. Cover French toast with bananas & pecans, drizzle amaretto maple syrup on top.

*I used Pepperidge Farm Brown Sugar Cinnamon Swirl bread this time.  It's cut thick and doesn't have raisins.  I dislike raisins.  I would recommend getting a great sweet/cinnamon bread from a bakery which is what I normally use for french toast.
**Typically Bananas Foster would use rum or in this case a rum extract, but I tend to make Bananas Foster with Amaretto because I like it and usually have it around. 

Lemon Artichoke Chicken & Pasta

Lemon Artichoke Chicken over Angel Hair Pasta

If you read my blog from last night you'll know that I made some Chicken Piccata for dinner.  The problem with "cooking for one" is that I have a ton of leftovers (I know, I know, could probably plan for that better, but I get too excited about cooking).  It's OK though; I found a creative way to turn this buttery, garlicky, lemon sauced dish into a similar dish:  Lemon Artichoke Chicken.

I had tossed the pasta from last night in the piccata sauce before putting it away & stored the cooked pieces of chicken separately.  All I had to do tonight was put a pat of butter in a small pan, a couple of tablespoons of cream, a tablespoon of white wine, and a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice, and let it simmer over low heat for about 3-5 minutes.

I put a few pieces of chicken and half a can of artichoke heats into a pie dish, covered them with the sauce, and applied a generous sprinkle of Parmesan cheese over the chicken and artichokes.  I baked it for about 20 minutes at 325 degrees (until the sauce and cheese was slightly brown/bubbly).  That was served (to me) over some reheated pasta. Yum!

I still have a ton of leftovers so I need to figure out what to do with them :)

Chicken Piccata w/ Angel Hair Pasta

Chicken Piccata over Angel Hair Pasta

I had a major craving for chicken today :)  That resulted in making some Chicken Piccata based on this recipe that I found at MyRecipes.com "Chicken Piccata with Capers".

What I used in my recipe:

• 1.5lbs of chicken breasts, butterflied & halved.
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon light tasting extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup cooking white wine (w/ salt)
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (w/ teaspoon of lemon zest)
• 2 tablespoons capers (rinsed)
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
• freshly ground black pepper
• fresh parsley for garnish & sprinkling on top 
• 1/2 box of Barilla Plus Angel Hair pasta  

1. Use a meat mallet to pound the chicken pieces out to about 1/2 inch thick (get them even)
2. Put the flour, cayenne, & some ground black pepper into a plastic bag and shake up.
3. Put the chicken pieces in the bag and shake it up to coat the chicken.
4. Heat butter and oil in a large skillet pan and cook chicken on each side for 3 minutes.  Break into two batches if necessary.
5. Remove the chicken from the pan and add the wine, lemon juice, capers, & garlic to the skillet.  Stir it up (scrape the bottom of the pan) and simmer for 2-4 minutes.
6. Put some cooked angel hair on a plate, cover with chicken pieces, ladle some sauce over it, and garnish with parsley.
7. Enjoy!

YUM!

Cheesy Baked Tomatoes

One of my favorite quick things to make with dinner as it contains a bunch of my favorite ingredients and it is super easy!

Parmesan & Mozzarella Baked Tomatoes

• Tomatoes, sliced in half.
• Sprinkle of black pepper
• Sprinkle of sea salt
• Drizzle of olive oil
• Generous sprinkle of cayenne pepper
• Generous sprinkle of dried oregano
• Teaspoon or two of Parmesan cheese per tomato half
• 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of Mozzarella cheese per tomato half
• Bake at 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes
• Top with fresh oregano after baking

You can obviously customize the toppings to include your favorite tomato seasonings which makes this a great recipe to throw together with the ingredients you have on hand.  I normally don't use the mozzarella cheese when I make these, but I had some leftover from the White Pizza that I made the night before, so I indulged :-)

Claire Robinson's Easy White Pizza

I saw Claire Robinson make her "Easy White Pizza" on her 5 Ingredient Fix show on Food Network sometime this summer and kept reminding myself that I wanted to try making it soon.  I was drawn to it as it contains some of my favorite foods:  carbs, cheese, & garlic.  Considering how lazy I felt today it seemed like the perfect time to make my first "5 Ingredient Fix" recipe.

While I was in the dairy aisle of my local supermarket I decided that I would swap the Ricotta cheese out and replace it with provolone.  I'm not always crazy about Ricotta, but I am crazy and I try to avoid cheeses that contain vinegar in the ingredients.  Yes, I kind of have a fear of vinegar and it all stems from a bad string cheese with vinegar incident as a child.

When I started to stretch out the pizza dough at home it occurred to me that I had never actually worked with a ball of pizza dough before and I wasn't really that good at it.  It is a skill that I will need to work on. I followed Claire's instructions for the pizza dough in her video, but my dough didn't stretch so well.  I think my first mistake was not letting it reach room temperature (I was too excited and hungry to wait).

My pizza came out lovely and was almost burning after 20 minutes in the oven (even though the recipe suggested baking for 25-30 minutes).

A yummy slice :-)

This pizza is so cheesy, simple, & yummy.  The fresh oregano adds an awesome depth of flavor.  I also added cayenne pepper to my slice to spice it up a bit.

Banana Bread Waffles

I was really craving pancakes for breakfast this morning, however, I was also feeling quite lazy and didn't want to make a mess for myself.  I was imagining a delicious stack of pancakes, pecan butter, & maple syrup when I thought of my buckwheat banana bread just chillin' in the refrigerator.

I put a couple of slices of the banana bread into my waffle iron and produced a yummy, hassle free breakfast of "banana bread waffles" topped with a scoop of scrumptious walnut butter and a dash of pure maple syrup.

Just as quick, but much tastier & more satisfying than frozen waffles :)

I think I am onto something here :)

Toasted Banana Bread & Walnut Butter

Move over Wheaties, I have created the new breakfast of real champions ;)  That's what I do as an evil food genius.  It's a nutrient dense slice of moist & delicious buckwheat banana bread, toasted, and covered in walnut butter.  It's a great new take on banana nut bread and despite its deliciousness it is quite nutritious. 

Slice of toasted banana bread topped with walnut butter.

This bread is packed with bananas and contains mostly buckwheat (3:1 ratio of buckwheat flour to regular flour), ground flax-seed, and olive oil.  It doesn't contain eggs or butter so it is a heart healthy vegan treat as well.  If you aren't familiar with buckwheat you can read about its many health benefits here.   The walnut butter is made from organic and raw walnuts (no other additives).  Walnuts are also full of health benefits and are an excellent energy source.

Ready for a close up.

The most important thing about this bread is that is creates one seriously delicious & satisfying piece of "toast" :-)  Making banana bread on a whim can be a little difficult because you need to have slightly overripe bananas on hand which can require some planning.  I've overcome this problem by buying a bunch of bananas, allowing them to slightly over-ripen, peeling them, and then storing them in a bag in the freezer.  Just defrost and mash when you are ready to bake.  This also makes an excellent frozen banana supply for smoothies!  The key to a perfect smoothie is in fact a frozen banana.