Dehydrated Bananas

Over the weekend I was encouraged to get back into a health kick. Jake and I talked about how much money we are wasting on junk food and eating out as well as how unhealthy it is.....

Last year I bought a dehydrator after reading about the differences in commercial dehydration (which sometimes also adds ingredients) and home dehydration.  Obviously the bananas are less good for me than say... a real banana. But more good for me than cookies!

I dehydrated 4 bananas overnight with cinnamon, clove and nutmeg. We each took a half banana as snack.  (The trick is to not eat too much!)

The verdict for a portioned snack that's cheap, sweet, and slightly more healthy than cookies? A+

Recreating Applebees for dinner!

I recently purchased this "Top Secret Restaurant Recipes" book (see it on amazon) to help encourage me to cook at home when I was really wanting to go out.  Unfortunately, it's a lot of soups.  But, it also has some of my very favorite foods (like the bread from Outback! I'm totally trying that one next!)

Last night I tried to make Applebees Fiesta Lime Chicken.  It was delicious!  And, since I was making it myself, I added a little less sauce to mine, and a little less cheese and ate it with beans instead of rice - making it... somewhat reasonably calories too!

Here's the recipe:


Marinade
1 c water
1/3 c teriyaki sauce
2tbsp lime juice
2tsp minced garlic
1tsp liquid smoke (mesquite or hickory)
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp tequila

Sauce
1/4 c mayo
1/4 c sour cream
1 tbsp milk
2 tsp minced tomato
1 1/2 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp minced jalepenos (canned/jar)
1 tsp minced onion
1/4 tsp dries parsley
1/4 tsp tobasco
1/8 tsp dill
1/8 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp chili powder
Dash garlic powder
Dash black powder

Other

1 c shredded cheddar/ monterey jack
2 c crumbled tortilla chips
4 chicken breasts

Steps:

1. Marinade the chicken for several hours
2. Make the sauce (put it in the fridge for a few minutes)
3. Broil chicken 3-5 minutes
4. Take the chicken out of the oven and spread some sauce on each piece of chicken (you'll have lots of leftover sauce so you can make this again!) and then top with some cheese. Recipe says 1/4 a cup per 4 oz of chicken, but I used a lot less.
5. Broil an additional 2-3 minutes
6. Top with fresh salsa or pico de gallo. Serve over tortilla crumbs, with rice or black beans

I still hate microwaves

As I've previously mentioned on this blog, I hate microwaved food.  Hate it.  So imagine my delight (read: shock and horror) to find the following book: Adventures in Microwave Cooking.

There's a used bookstore in town that has 25 cent books outside.  Some friends of ours started playing a game to see who could come up with the best book, and Jake and I have started playing the last few times we were there.  And that's what I came up with.

I cannot imagine an entire cookbook teaching you to use the microwave, but maybe this is what I need.  The few occasions where I do use a microwave (aka queso, popcorn, melting butter, and heating water) I never know how long to use it for. ("Honey, how long should I heat this bowl of queso? 4 minutes?")

I also looked up microwave cooking on HowStuffWorks.com and it was pretty interesting.  Stuff about exciting molecules instead of heating them, and why pastries come with little cardboard sleeves (to make crust.)

I didn't buy the book.  I couldn't bring myself to even pay 25 cents to learn how to heat things up in the microwave.  Food, my friends, should be prepared. And never ever "nuked."