5 Minute Chocolate Peanut Butter "Ice Cream"

Did I mention that it's healthy too?

Let's face it.  Sometimes there are mornings when all I want to do is eat ice cream for breakfast.  This recipe makes that desire acceptable.

One of the perks of being "grown-up" is that you really can eat whatever you want for breakfast, and mom or dad or whoever isn't there to raise an eyebrow and wag a finger at you as you sit shamefully at the kitchen table.

Still, I like to think that my mom raised me well, and so that's why I eat ice cream made of bananas for breakfast instead.  The bananas add all of the sweetness and creaminess needed to make it taste just like ice cream.

5 Minute Chocolate Peanut Butter "Ice Cream"
Inspired by The World's Healthiest Ice Cream


Yields: 1 serving

Ingredients:


1 frozen banana, sliced
1 TB peanut butter
1/2 tsp to 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions:


Slice banana into small chunks and freeze over night.

Add banana slices, peanut butter, and cocoa powder to a food processor.  Blend until creamy.  You may have to scrape the sides of the food processor once or twice.

Serve and eat as is like soft serve, or chill in freezer until "ice cream" reaches desired texture.

Court's Clicks: 2/24/12

Sometimes life propels us forward just too quickly.  

There I was, rushing to chop my vegetables so that I could eat my dinner salad really fast, and then get back to the homework I needed to finish and then--

And then I looked out my kitchen window, and I saw that.  The sun was in a hurry too.  In a matter of minutes it descended beyond the rooftop, leaving a beautiful orange pink glow touching the soft clouds.  

I stood there and watched the light descend, until the sky turned dark blue.  Taking a deep breath, I realized something.  It's good to slow down, and sometimes God places before us sights like this that stop us in our tracks.

This week I invite you to slow down for a few minutes too, and find the beautiful in the everyday.  I've been doing this more and more lately, and so I only bring you two links (thank me later for wasting less of your time).

1) Candy, crunch, chocolate and peanut butter.  Yes, please: Butterfinger Rice Krispie Treats.

2) A piece of "good news" for once.  Click here for a heartwarming story about twins separated at birth who miraculously found each other as adults.

Happy Friday.

Everyday

It may come as somewhat of a surprise to you that I, a girl with a blog about cooking and baking, eats the same  thing for breakfast and lunch nearly everyday.

But, it's true.

Everyday (not nearly, but truly EVERYDAY) I eat a Granny Smith apple.  I am relatively healthy, too, so maybe they do keep the doctor away?  Anyway, according to my mom, she ate a lot of Granny Smith apples when she was pregnant with me.  So, maybe that it why I am addicted to their crisp, tart, and slightly sweet deliciousness.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

For breakfast, I keep it simple.

Cheerios.  Banana.  Milk.  It's like an equation.  Although, sometimes I do allow myself a little creativity, and add some cinnamon and brown sugar to the mix.  It's tasty and satisfying and gets my day going right.

Lunch.  My favorite meal of the day, and I eat that meal--the same food for lunch--nearly everyday.

Cheese.  Crackers.  An apple (Granny Smith, of course).  Honey mustard.  

I like to dip my apple in honey mustard.  I know you are probably grimacing at the thought of that, but trust me, it tastes good!  

This plate appeals to me for several reasons: it is aesthetically pleasing, it is compartmentalized, it is balanced and it is refreshing.

So, there you go.  A behind the scenes look at Culinarily Courtney.  Sorry to disappoint you, but I really don't eat extravagant desserts and meals popping with flavor everyday.  I am a "Plain Jane," and proud of it.

What are your "everyday" kind of meals?

Court's Clicks: 2/17/12

Look at that guy jumping in the corner!

This past week I went to my first collegiate volleyball and basketball games.

I have never been much of a sports fan, but I really enjoyed learning the rules of the games, and watching the fans of all ages release their inner warrior in chanting for our team.

In the end, we lost the volleyball game on Friday, but we made up for it by winning the basket ball game on Saturday.

While I enjoyed the games, I was quite distracted.  The whole of the basket ball game, my friends and I were sitting in the bleachers directly over the concessions stand.  Buttery, sugary, and meaty smells wafted up to us, enticing our senses.

So, for this week I bring you links centered around the theme of reinterpreted concession food.

Popcorn is definitely a sporting event favorite (the evidence is in the trampled bits of popcorn strewn around the bleachers after any game).  How about classing it up a bit with this Lemon-Herb Seasoned Popcorn?

Fried food can usually be found at any sporting event.  While I'm not sure if one typically finds donuts there, they are still a fried food, and I am going to use that weak transition to plug this naughty, but I'm sure very delicious recipe for Glazed Donut Hole Brownies.  Sorry.

To me, the most tempting smell of all floating up from that concession stand was that of the soft-serve ice cream.  While probably not the most figure-friendly treat one could buy there, this week, I found a recipe claiming to be The World's Healthiest Ice Cream.  Made with only one ingredient, frozen bananas, it seems like a quick and easy, healthy, sweet fix. 

So, from a budding sports fan: have a wonderful weekend, and go team!

Chocolate Raspberry Tartelettes

Do you love yourself?

Certainly, Valentine's Day is all about sharing your love with others, telling them why you value them, and perhaps expressing this with a bright bouquet of flowers, a box of chocolates, or a colorful card.

This year, how about expressing some of that love to yourself?  

We can only love so much.  As we give out more and more of our time, energy, and care, there comes a point when we need to refuel.

Consider Valentine's Day your time to do just that.

So--Courtney, because I love you, I made you these adorable chocolate raspberry tartelettes.  When you bite into them they provoke day dreams of Parisian patisseries.  Oh, and you don't even have to share them.  Happy Valentine's Day.  

Love always,

Courtney

Chocolate Raspberry Tartelettes

Ingredients:

1 pastry recipe (same used for mini chicken pot pies: scroll to bottom of link)

Semi-sweet chocolate chips

Raspberry curd or other jam/preserves

Sugar for sprinkling

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 deg. F.  Lightly spray mini muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray,

On a lightly floured surface, roll out chilled pastry dough until about 1/8" thick.  Cut out circles using a 2" circular cookie cutter (mine had fluted edges, hence the decorative creasing of the dough).  

Press pastry rounds into bottom of mini muffin pan and up sides.  Prick each pastry round in the pan once or twice with a fork.  Sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 15 minutes, and remove from oven.  Place about 5 chocolate chips in each tartelette.  Return pan to oven for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, or until chocolate has softened and pastry appears golden.

Allow to cool.  Top with a tablespoon of your favorite jam, and decorate with an additional chocolate chip.

Court's Clicks: 2/10/12

Time to make some cards.

Valentine's Day is right around the corner.  While I'm not typically one to celebrate, I appreciate the day nevertheless.

Any holiday that provides an excuse to indulge in desserts, especially chocolate, is all right with me.

While I will be posting a recipe for a special Valentine's Day sweet treat on Monday, today I bring you my favorite Valentine's Day recipes from the web:

What could be better than an edible Valentine's Day card?  It's "green," tasty, and expresses love all the way to the stomach.  Check out these easy to make Little Love Letter Cookies.

Red roses are nice, but I'd be just as happy if somebody gave me a Flower Pot Cupcake.

Finally, one of the most inventive recipes I've seen for the holiday combines the eye-popping beauty of a red velvet cake, with the ease of a classic snack food: Red Velvet Popcorn.

Now, this year I don't have a Valentine, in the traditional sense--but, that's OK.

Maybe you are like me, and both relish and deplore your single-hood. If that's the case, let me just say, I love you--I really do, and I thank you for reading this blog, my humble little share of the World Wide Web.  :)

Citrus Bread

Citrus bread is like human society.

Hear me out.

It seems to me that human beings show the most variation among any species.  And there are a lot of us, almost 7 billion, in fact.  Yet, according to Wikipedia, we're crammed together on just 510,072,000 square kilometers of Earth.

Alright, so enough with this nerdiness, and back to the simile.  

Citrus fruit comes in a number of varieties, and this bread only highlights three citrus "populations."  Yet, despite their differences in color, flavor, and size, these fruits cohabitate perfectly in two small loaf pans.

Lemon tries to be the Loaf Leader of Loaf-land, but Lime quickly becomes a contender in the race for Loaf Domination.  

Orange silently sits back and watches as Lemon and Lime work to compromise, conferencing in the oven.  But, in the end, Orange doesn't refrain from signing its flavor signature as witness upon their Loaf Treaty.

In the end, Lemon, Lime, and Orange produce two pound cake-like loaves: zesty and sweet, perfect for enjoying with a cup of tea.

Citrus Loaf

Inspired by Kathy Scott's Lemon Bread Recipe

Yields: 2  5.75"x3" mini loaves

Ingredients:

3/4 cup of sugar

1/2 cup softened butter

2 eggs

2 TB lemon juice

1 TB orange juice

1 TB lime juice

1 TB lemon zest

1 tsp orange zest

1 tsp lime zest

1 1/2 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 cup + 1 TB milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 deg. F.  Grease two 5.75"x3" mini loaf pans.  Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl.

Beat in eggs, juice, and zest.

In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and salt. Alternate pouring this mixture and the milk into the liquid mixture.

Bake at 350 deg. F. for 30 minutes.  Allow loaves to cool in their pans for 10-15 minutes.

Court's Clicks: 2/3/2012

This week, the web has been all abuzz about Sunday's Superbowl.  Please don't be angry with me, but I must confess that I don't even know where the Superbowl is, or which teams are playing this year, or even who the half-time performer will be.

Does this make me a bad American? (Maybe).

Rest assured, though. While many Americans will be channeling their inner warrior to root for their team in a return to primal emotions, I will be facing my own Superbowl.

A Superbowl of Homework. The Team of Me versus the Team of the legal memo I have to write, and the French midterm I need to study for, and the Shakespeare tragedy I need to read.

A Superbowl is a Superbowl, when all is said and done, however, and every Superbowl party needs delicious appetizers.  So, this week, I bring you links of some snacks I think would be great for building up your stamina, whether you exhaust yourself by cheering from the couch, or as a student, by joining me in the battle against homework assignments.

First, these Spinach Gruyere Puff Pastry Pinwheels combine the necessary pop-in-your-mouth ease of any appetizer with a little class, not normally found amidst the Superbowl snack table of chips and meat on toothpicks.

"Taste the rainbow" not with artificial, multicolored fruit candy, but with this idea for rainbow fruit kabobs, both colorful and refreshing.

Return to some classic Superbowl fare with this clever and easy idea for Mini Corn Dog Muffins.

End your snack crawl with something sweet! Keeping with the appetizer theme, I suggest this Peanut Butter "Cheese" Ball paired with cookies or graham crackers for dipping.

May your weekend be filled with numerous touch downs and good eats :)