Strawberry Banana Bread

This is moist bread. Very moist. It's so moist that when you bite into your sweet, cakey, fruity slice the bread becomes a pudding which you will allow to dissolve on your tongue as you contemplate why anyone would ever eat raw fruit when you can pour sugar on it. Never fear for your thighs, though. This is also very healthy, rather low-calorie bread.


Strawberry Banana Bread
makes two smallish loaves with about 12 slices each

2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup Splenda for baking
2 eggs
3/4 cup mashed Banana, the older the better (about 2 medium bananas)
1/2 cup chopped strawberries
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Beat applesauce with splenda, then add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in banana and strawberries. Sift together dry ingredients and stir into banana mixture. Pour into two greased loaf pans and allow to sit for a bit before baking, like you would with pancake batter. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out mostly clean. Allow to cool completely before removing from pan.

By my rough estimates and rather meager serving sizes, this bread has about 62 calories per slice. That's pretty darn good for a sweet bread that requires no topping whatsoever. To do so would really be overkill. I like this recipe because there are no additional spices, so all you taste are the fresh strawberries and very ripe bananas, a combination perfect for a lovely summer evening spent watching a thunderstorm from the relative safety of one's living room.

Dad's Birthday - Skyline Chili Cake

Today was my dad's birthday and since he is an official Skyline Ambassador, I thought it was only fitting to make him a Skyline Chili Cake. I based this off of recipes I had seen for Spaghetti and Meatball cake, but I tailored it to my dad's cake preferences.

It is so Skyline Time.

I used a really intensely chocolate cake that I found on Smitten Kitchen. I followed her recipe to a tea but I took pictures, so I want to reproduce it here as well.

For two 10 inch layers or, in my case, two 8 inch layers and about 9 cupcakes:
3 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut
1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee
3 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla


1. Start by finely chopping your fancy, overpriced chocolate.


2. Pour in your (very) hot coffee and stir. Breathe deeply. Heaven won't smell this good.


3. Sift together your flour, coco, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in your next to biggest mixing bowl.


4. If you're like me and don't want to bother buying buttermilk, put a tablespoon of lemon juice in your measuring cup and then pour in enough milk to make 1 1/2 cups. Let it stand for 5 minutes.


5. In your biggest mixing bowl, beat your eggs until they start to get foamy and thick. Beat in your oil, vanilla, and "buttermilk." Then slowly add your heavenly chocolate/coffee mixture and beat until well combined.

6. (At this point I got a little less camera happy.) Add your flour mixture to your chocolate mixture and stir until the flour is moistened. Then beat on medium speed, making sure to get everything properly mixed.

7. Pour into 2 greased and wax paper lined 8 inch baking pans and a cupcake pan with paper wrappers. I made the mistake of overfilling my 8 inch pans and they proceeded to spill all over the bottom of the oven. I had only made 6 cupcakes, so I'm estimating that 9 would be more appropriate.

You can kinda see them overflowing in this picture.8. When the cakes are completely cooled, remove them from the pans and drop 'em in a big bowl, sans frosting. Pipe on a stiff and very cold cream cheese frosting to make a spaghetti-like texture.


I popped my cake and frosting in the fridge between bursts of piping to keep everything cold and stiff.
9. When you think it looks enough like spaghetti, top it with a German Chocolate cake frosting. I used my grandmother's recipe, which goes like this:

Boil 1/2 stick Oleo (butter), 1/4 cup Carnation Milk, and 3/4 cup (brown) sugar for 2 minutes. Then add 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1/2 cup coconut, 1/2 cup nuts.

I doubled this recipe, which was so the wrong way to go. I have a ton left over, not to mention a ton of cream cheese frosting. Don't make my mistake. Use half the recipe for your cream cheese frosting and the above recipe for German Chocolate frosting as is.

I recommend using unsweetened coconut. I know just about everyone in my family uses sweetened, but you seriously cannot tell the difference and your saving a few calories this way. Plus, with three different types of frosting, you really don't want the extra sugar.

10. Then top with melted yellow candy. You can buy this stuff at nicer grocery stores. I bought mine at the Country Nut Hut in New Carlisle, which, if you're ever in the area, I recommend checking out. They have homemade baking supplies and really good cheese. I've been going there since I was 3 years old and some of my fondest memories involve eating the scrumptious yogurt covered malt balls they make.

11. It's Skyline Time!
My dad in his official Skyline Ambassador t-shirt with his Skyline Chili cake.

This cake was so much fun to make and I think my dad really enjoyed it. It tasted amazing, if I do say so myself. I would advise eating it with a bit of vanilla ice cream with something to drink in easy reach and cut very small pieces, because it is above and beyond rich. Though somewhat unappetizing to the eye, it's very tasty, sort of like Skyline Chili itself.

Mimicking One of My Favorite Restaurants - Grilled Portobello Sandwiches

I love the Coldwater Cafe in Tipp City, Ohio for two reasons. The first is that I annually have lunch with my dance teacher/mentor there, the second is their Grilled Portobello Sandwich. It's big and flavorful and juicy and I look like a pig when I'm eating it because I always end up with juice running down my arms. It's so good though, I'm willing to suffer the embarrassment of looking like a cavewoman just to savor the deliciousness. I love it so much that when I snagged some sliced Portobellos on manager's special, I knew exactly what I wanted to make with them. I hadn't had the sandwich since my last lunch, which was last year, so I could only vaguely remember what was on it. Therefore I decided to go my own way with it and just experiment based on what I already had in the fridge and what I thought my parents would eat. For being a bit slap-dash, it's mighty tasty and definitely work replicating. I'm particularly pleased with my simple cheese sauce, which complimented the meaty mushrooms nicely.

Grilled Portobello Sandwiches
makes 3
3 Portobello Mushroom caps
1/2 sliced Red or Yellow Pepper
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
3 Whole Wheat Buns
3/4 cup chopped Romaine Leaves
1 Sliced Tomato

For the Sauce:

1/4 cup Feta
1 Tbsp Sour Cream
2 Tbsp Chopped Onion
2 Cloves of Garlic
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 tsp Basil
Salt & Pepper

1. Grill mushrooms with a bit of the olive oil brushed on. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste.
2. While they cook, saute the onion and garlic in olive oil very briefly. The garlic should not brown and the onion should just become a little soft.
3. Combine the sauteed onion and garlic with the feta, sour cream, and basil. Season with some salt and pepper.
4. By this time you should probably flip the mushrooms and brush them with more oil. Put the sliced peppers on the grill and cook everything until heated completely through and the mushrooms are very limp.
5. When the mushrooms and peppers are cooked through, remove from heat and briefly toast the buns. Smear 1/3 of the cheese spread on each of the tops and divide the mushrooms, peppers, romaine, and tomatoes between the bottoms. Assemble those suckers and serve immediately (soggy burgers=yuck).

According to my dodgy calculations, they're about 290 calories each, which I think is pretty good for such a filling sandwich. If you really need to skimp, you could always use Pam or something similar for the grilling rather than olive oil, I just think it has a nice flavor. I think time I'll try marinating the mushrooms just to see if I can make them flavorful. The sandwich I have at Coldwater has really tasty mushrooms, whereas mine took a backseat to the cheese spread. I'm not sure if it's because they were a bit old or if they just needed more added to them than oil and salt and pepper.

Starting Close to Home: Apple-Rhubarb-Mint Chutney

As in at home. When I decided to start a cooking blog, my original intention was to post creative recipes I made while away at college. Unfortunately, my fiscal and time limitations didn't allow for that to really come to fruition. So I'm starting my cooking blog now that I'm back home and have access to a nice kitchen and plenty of food. I'm a very happy wannabe chef.

My first post is going to be a bit of a disappointment I think because I didn't take any pictures while I was making it. This is because I made it spur of the movement and the thought of continuing this blog hadn't even occurred to me yet. I'm going to post it anyway, however, because it's really good and sort of healthy. It doesn't look very good, so I'm not going to post any pictures of the left-overs, because it would deter people from making it. Looks can be very deceiving, as this is very good Chutney.

Apple-Rhubarb-Mint Chutney
for about 1 1/2 cups of Chutney for I think 12 servings, if a serving is 2 Tablespoons

6 small/medium stalks of Rhubarb
1 sweet Apple
2 Tbsp Red Wine
1 tsp Lime Juice
2 Tbsp water
6 leaves of fresh Mint
2 tsp Honey
1 tsp Chives
1 tsp Almond Extract
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Thyme
1/2 tsp Ginger
2 Tbsp Splenda
1/2 tsp Cornstarch
1/4 cup Pecans

1. Start by chopping up the Rhubarb and Apple and then get them in a saucepan with the wine, lime juice, and water so they can start to heat up over a low heat.
2. Add in all the spices and feel free to adjust to taste. I just threw in whatever I thought might taste good as things occurred to me.
3. Once it starts to simmer, stir in the splenda (or sugar) and the cornstarch. Let simmer until the rhubarb has cooked down into a mush and the apples are very tender.
4. Add in the pecans and allow to cook for a few minutes, stirring very frequently over low heat.
5. Enjoy on toast, english muffins, ice cream, whatever floats your boat.

It's got a really nice sweetly-tart flavor that lends itself to a lot of possibilities. Just don't allow yourself to eat a spoonful of it. I know from experience that that does not end well.

On the up-swing, however, it's only 37 calories for about 2 Tablespoons according to my estimations, which may or may not be totally accurate but should be close. I'm also not entirely sure of my proportions for the liquids, since I didn't measure anything when I made it. Not very good for something I want to post about, but maybe you could just put in half the amount of wine and water and add more if it's too dry. Or just have runny chutney. It wouldn't be the end of the world.