Banana Chocolate Chunk Nutella Filled Cookies!

My friend Lisa recently gifted me a giant jar of Nutella, which I always associated with Europe and my semester abroad, so I don't know a lot of uses for it. I'm not one to take a spoon to the jar and eat it by the spoonful - but I have liked it melted over ice cream. I've been meaning to try out making nutella cookies, which sounded like they would be good - I set to looking for what seemed like a good recipe and everything that was popping up seemed a little boring. Combine that with a way over ripened banana I threw in the freezer earlier that week and some pumpkin pie puree I had leftover from my Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal - and this was the result!

Banana Chocolate Chunk Nutella Filled Cookies (makes 24 good size cookies)
1 stick butter (1/2 cup), at room temp
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 banana, mashed
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup pumpkin pie puree/filling

2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
dash of cinnamon
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks
Nutella!

Potato Leek Soup

After buying an excessive amount of leeks for a latke recipe, I had to find something to do with all of the leftovers. I've been meaning to try out a recipe for potato leek soup, so now seemed as good a time as ever. It's a pretty hearty soup because so much of it is made out of potatoes, but in small amounts it's good. A very wintery dish.

Use only up to the light green part of the leek

Potato Leek Soup
1 leek (discard the thick green part) = about 2 cups sliced
3 cups diced white potato
1 TB lemon juice
1 tsp minced garlic
2 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper
pinch of rosemary and/or thyme
1 TB olive oil
1/2 - 3/4 cup skim milk

Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal

I love steel cut oatmeal but it always seems to take forever to make - much more than I'm willing to put into a work morning breakfast. I came across this blog - Delicious Dishings and I really found a lot of recipes! One of them was for Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal and it's been on my list to try out. I finally found myself with the time this past Sunday morning - but realized at the same time that I didn't have plain old pumpkin puree. I had a can of organic pumpkin pie filling which already has the spices and sugar added to it, so I had to alter the recipe a bit. I liked how it came out, but I also would rather try making the regular version and adding my own spices and sugars. I also liked the additional toppings of a drizzle of maple syrup and some plain nonfat greek yogurt.

Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal (makes at least 6 servings)
2 TB butter
1 1/2 cups steel-cut oats
1 cup pumpkin pie puree filling
2 TB brown sugar
dash of cinnamon
2 cups skim milk
2 1/2 cups warm water
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
greek yogurt and maple syrup as toppings

Tofu and Shrimp Thai Noodles

So this dish was originally supposed to be pad thai, but any time I make it it never quite comes out the same as what you order at a Thai restaurant. On top of that, when I started cooking I realized I didn't have the right kind of noodles, but that's okay - you make the best with what you have! I'd say even though it wasn't pad thai, it still came out good and while it looks like a lot of ingredients - if you do any sort of asian cooking in your home you probably have a lot of these on hand already anyway!

Tofu and Shrimp Noodle Stir Fry
1/2 container of tofu (firm)
9 med size shrimp, shell removed
rice noodles
1 egg, beaten

vegetables of your choice - broccoli, bell pepper, pea pods, carrot
1 TB fresh ginger
garlic
3/4 cup bean sprouts
scallions, chopped
1/2 cup orange juice
sesame oil
Sauce:
1 TB fish sauce
1 TB brown sugar
2 TB soy sauce (reduced sodium)
Juice from 1/2 lime
1 TB rice wine vinegar
1 TB sesame oil
1 frozen cilantro cube