In the Kitchen: Whole Wheat Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

By bobbi
September 3, 2020
No Comments

I posted on Instagram a photo of some banana oatmeal cookies I baked and a few people asked for the recipe, so here it is. This has been a family favorite for years! Originally, I read a number of various cookie recipes and then adapted them to come up with one that works for us. It has become one of our go-to recipes for fall (or anytime we have an abundance of over ripe bananas.) Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 and 1/2 cup wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 and 3/4 cups quick cooking oats
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup non fat vanilla yogurt
a little less than 1/2 cup cane sugar*
a little less than 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup mashed bananas
a handful or two of chocolate chips (We prefer chocolate to raisins. 😉 )

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.
In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
Add egg, yogurt and banana. Mix well.
Add dry ingredients. Mix well.
Drop using a cookie scoop (or teaspoon) onto ungreased cookie sheet.**
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges turn lightly brown.
Cool on wire rack. This recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies.

* I have also used coconut sugar for a healthier version, but it is less sweet.

** I love these MIU silicone parchment sheets when baking. Cleanup is super easy and the patterns help the boys know exactly where to place the cookie dough.

Here is the final product…and they didn’t last long. (Which was good for me since they kept calling my name every time I walked in the kitchen. 😉

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In the Kitchen: Trader Joe’s Wonton Soup

By bobbi
March 8, 2018
No Comments

The other day a friend and I were discussing all the illnesses in our school and I said, “It’s been a long time since I’ve been sick.” As soon as the words came out of my mouth I saw this in my head…

via GIPHY

Sigh. Too late. Murphy’s Law stopped by and now I am sick. My throat is raw and I’ve got a nasty cough but the doc said it was just a virus (last time I felt like this I had a bronchial infection) so he recommended rest and chicken wonton soup.

My doc’s office is down the street from Trader Joe’s so I picked up my favorite ingredients to make the soup. The only thing TJ’s didn’t have was the water chestnuts (but I already had some in the pantry) and I used ground ginger (which I also already had) instead of fresh.

Many recipes have instructions to make your own wontons but, frankly, mama ain’t got time for that. Instead, I used TJ’s potstickers. Here’s what else I put in the soup…

Ingredients

1 TBS olive oil
1 heaping TSP ginger
4-6 cloves of garlic (I like more.)
1 1/2 cup sliced carrots
1 cup sliced celery
1/3 cup of thinly slices green onions
1/2 cup sliced white mushrooms
1 1/2 cups roughly chopped bok choy
1 small can of sliced water chestnuts
12 cups of chicken broth
1 package of Trader Joe’s chicken pot stickers

Instructions

In a large pot, warm the olive oil and sauté the garlic, green onion and ginger for about two minutes. Add the chicken broth. Bring to a boil.

2. While the stock is cooking, chop the rest or the veggies.

3. Once the stock boils, lower to a simmer and add the carrots and celery and simmer for five minutes.

4. Add the book choy, mushrooms and water chestnuts and simmer for 2-3 minutes.

5. Carefully add the frozen pot stickers. Cook until tender. (It takes a few minutes.)

Serve and enjoy!

Well, that’s what’s cooking in my kitchen tonight. What was your favorite meal this week?

In the Kitchen: Quick and Easy Cheesy Pasta with Spinach and Kale

By bobbi
May 25, 2016
3 Comments

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a recipe and I could use a change of pace so here is one of my favorite quick meals. When my father-in-law was sick I’d often bring dinner over to my mother-in-law so she wouldn’t have to cook after a day with sitting with my FIL.

This recipe was the result of me raiding the fridge and trying to use up food before it spoiled. Surprisingly, my mother-in-law, who is an excellent cook and sometimes hard to please, loved it. The family loved it. And I can get it done in just about a 1/2 hour. Double score!

Ingredients:

I try to use organic whenever I can, but you can sub with whatever you have available. If you don’t have time to make your own sauce (me, 99% of the time) then you can use jar sauce.

1 lb ground turkey
1 package of whole wheat penne pasta
1 -2 jar(s) of marinara sauce (I use the Classico Organics from Costco and 2 jars because I like this meal to be super saucy.)
1- 2 handful(s) of greens (I use kale, spinach or a blend of the two.)
1 handful of light mozzarella shredded cheese
salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste

Directions:

Boil a pot of water. Add pasta when water is boiled.
While water is boiling, cook the ground turkey in a large pan. Drain fat. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
Add the sauce to the meat. Simmer for about ten minutes.
Add a handful or two of the spinach/kale/mix into a chopper. Or chop with a knife if you are old school. (Watching a Star Wars documentary on your iPad while you’re cooking is optional. The Gilmore Girls or a Jane Austen adaptation are also good choices.)

Add the spinach/kale mixture.

Add a handful of the mozzarella cheese. Stir.

Add the pasta to the sauce. Serve and top with fresh Parmesan cheese. Enjoy!

Super easy. Super tasty. Okay, but now I need more easy meals! What is your favorite easy go-to-meal?

PPS – Disclaimer: “Revolution of Love.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.”

In other words, if you click on my affiliated links and make a purchase, I get a small compensation that goes towards keeping the blog online. Big hugs to those who click and help support the blog! xoxo 🙂

Pinterest Party & Link-up (vol 38): Country Potato Salad

By bobbi
August 4, 2015
5 Comments

I was hoping to switch up my entry into the Pinterest Party by doing something other than a recipe but time is short and no matter how busy I am, I’ve still gotta cook! So it’s another recipe, but at least it’s a tasty one.

The inspiration for this recipe came from Gina at SkinnyTaste.com. I changed the recipe to suit my family’s taste.

In gathering the ingredients, it has been fun to pick herbs and vegetables from our little garden on the deck. This is the first year that we have actually yielded produce, mainly because I put the boys in charge of watering. (I have a knack for forgetting to water and killing everything. LOL.) The boys were excited when they could pick their first tomatoes for a salad.

For this meal, Matthew, who is always ready to “help” me cook, picked fresh flat leaf parsley.

It was a proud feeling that made me understand why people had gardens. I’ve always been a “why bother if you can just buy it at the market” but now I’ve begun to understand why people bother!

Ingredients

6 cups of red potatoes cut in bite size pieces
1 medium red pepper, chopped
1/2 medium onion (or one small red onion), chopped
2 Tbs fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 & 1/2 Tbs olive oil
2 & 1/2 Tbs mayo (or light mayo)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp red wine vinegar
salt and pepper

Instructions

— Place potatoes in pot and cover with water. Boil 10 – 15 minutes until soft. Drain and cool.

— Combine the olive oil, mayo, Dijon, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper in a bowl. Mix well.

— Once the potatoes are cool, add the red pepper, red onion and parsley. Stir.

— Mix in the sauce and let sit briefly.

— Enjoy!

* * * * *

I’m linking up this post with the sweet Jess and Kate over at Sweet Little Ones Blog.com for this week’s Tuesday Talk. 🙂 Go check out their blog. There’s plenty of good stuff to read!

Now it’s your turn.

1. Choose your creation, share about it and snap a photo if you can.

2. In your post, link back the original blogger/idea, rather than your Pinterest pin. That way credit goes to the proper person. 🙂 (But feel free to add your Pinterest profile link so we can follow you!)

3. Add a link back here so others can play along.

4. If you want to use it, here is the html code for the logo:

5. Link up below. Make sure you’re sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address.

The link up will be active for a month. Have fun!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd, Spotify or Instagram. 😉

PPS – This post may contain affiliate links.

An InLinkz Link-up

Pinterest Party & Link-up (vol 37): Homemade Coconut Granola

By bobbi
July 7, 2015
4 Comments

Years ago, the thought of making my own granola sounded way too crunchy mama to me. (Let’s be honest, eating any kind of granola was too crunchy for me.) After Brian was diagnosed with cancer, I had to rethink my attitude. It was time to learn to DIY in the kitchen.

At the time I was also taking Elizabeth Foss‘ wonderful Restore workshop. (I wrote about it here.) In one of the lessons she posted her family’s favorite granola recipe. I apprehensively followed the recipe and was surprised to find that it wasn’t that hard, it tasted delicious and the family loved it. Now making granola has become second nature. I have since played around with Elizabeth’s recipe and a number of others ones I found on Pinterest and narrowed down the ingredients and flavors that worked best for our family. The great things about granola is that you can easily add and subtract to suit your tastes.

Ingredients

(Part 1)

7 cups of rolled oats
1 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
1 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup flax seeds
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 cup unsweetened coconut

(Part 2)

3/4 cups coconut oil, softened
3/4 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tsp cinnamon

(Part 3: Optional)

1 cup of raisins
1/2 a cup of dried cranberries.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients.

In a smaller bowl, combine the coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla and cinnamon. Mix well.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir well. Place in a large roasting pan. Bake 45 minutes, stirring the granola every 15 minutes.

When the granola is done pour it onto two cookie sheets. (I tried following other recipes that cooked the granola on cookie trays but it didn’t work as well for me as the roasting pan.)

Next add the raisins and cranberry if using. (I make one tray with the dried fruit and leave one plain.) Let the granola dry and harden for about 1/2 an hour. Eat and enjoy!

Keep the leftover granola stored in an air tight container for up to a week or so. (If it lasts that long.) 😉

* * * * *

Now it’s your turn.

1. Choose your creation, share about it and snap a photo if you can.

3. Add a link back here so others can play along.

4. If you want to use it, here is the html code for the logo:

5. Link up below. Make sure you’re sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address.

The link up will be active for a month. Have fun!

PPS – This post contains affiliate links.

An InLinkz Link-up

Revolution of Love

Do small things with great love.

Category Archives: food

In the Kitchen: Whole Wheat Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

In the Kitchen: Trader Joe’s Wonton Soup

In the Kitchen: Quick and Easy Cheesy Pasta with Spinach and Kale

Pinterest Party & Link-up (vol 38): Country Potato Salad

Ingredients

Instructions

Pinterest Party & Link-up (vol 37): Homemade Coconut Granola