Shabu Zen Date Night

After walking by this place a number of times I finally got to try it out a couple weekends ago - and now I'm on an "interactive cooking" kick! Think Japanese Hibachi where they cook right in front of you - but with Shabu Shabu cooking you actually do it yourselves! I'm sure there are some people that go out to dinner so that they don't have to cook, but this is different - it's like an activity and dinner all rolled into one. Plus - since I like to cook, it only makes sense that I really enjoyed myself at this place!

Shabu-Zen
2 locations - 80 Brighton Ave in Allston and on Tyler St. in Chinatown


When you walk in you'll see that every table has a stove top right at the table - then you'll have to set to work navigating the menu. Our waitress was very helpful and explained all the decisions we had to make. Essentially you choose the broth flavor and the types of things you want to cook in the broth - so many options ranging from 5 different beefs to seafood or a tofu variety plate. Lots and lots of options!

We started off by choosing the House Special Broth (the pots they bring are divided into two sections in case you want to choose two different types of broth or two different spice levels) and agreed on the Boneless Short Rib Beef as our main protein. The dishes are listed individually, but it was plenty of beef to share and I think would've been a lot for just one person. Every main entree is served with an assorted vegetable platter (on the right there) and your choice of Udon, Vermicelli or Jasmine Rice.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Banana Muffins

As I've said before - I hate wasting possible 'ingredients' so whenever I have ripe bananas I can't stand the thought of throwing them away even if I don't have anything specifically to bake for. With 2 ripe bananas sitting in my fruit basket, calling my name, I decide on making muffins - knowing how much I like the peanut butter and banana combo I thought it might be interesting to make banana muffins with peanut butter chips instead of chocolate chips. The oatmeal and wheat flour make me feel like I'm at least getting some fiber into these muffins, but they are by no means healthy given the entire stick of butter the recipe calls for.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Banana Muffins
1 cup wheat flour          1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup oats                     1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon              3/4 cup brown sugar
2 medium, ripe bananas (about 1 cup worth)
1/2 cup butter, softened in microwave
1 egg                             2/3 cup milk
3/4 cup peanut butter chips

375 degrees, 22 mins
Makes 18 regular size muffins

Quick Spinach Dip in Boule Bread!

This spinach dip is an easy go-to for a party appetizer - everyone always seems to love it and there aren't 5 million ingredients that you need to worry about.

Spinach Dip in Boule Bread
1 package frozen chopped spinach (defrosted and squeeze out all the extra water)*
1/3 cup finely chopped yellow pepper
1 package Lipton Vegetable soup mix
1 1/3 cups light sour cream
2 TB mayonnaise

Mix everything together and refrigerate for a good hour before serving. Cut out and scoop out the center of a boule bread - use the bread you scooped out to dip into the dip, and spoon the dip into the bowl of the boule. You can also put out some baby carrots, celery or other vegetables to dip in!

*Don't be tempted to skip the step where you squeeze out the water from the spinach - there really is a ton of it in the box since it's frozen. After squeezing mine out I had a whole cup of green spinach water which is NOT an ingredient in this dip!

Almost Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 stick butter                   1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar        1 egg plus 1 egg white
1/2 tsp vanilla                 1 cup chocolate chips

Combine dry ingredients:
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups ground oatmeal
Dash of salt
Dash of cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder

I was looking to just make plain old, traditional chocolate chip cookies and found this Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe - it called for ground oatmeal (so I put the oatmeal in a food processor until finely ground). It gave the cookies an oatmeal-y taste though - and was definitely a noticeable ingredient, but they still came out good.

Peanut Butter Brown Sugar Cookies

I came home to bake cookies tonight and realized I only had about 1/3 cup of white sugar left - and it was way too cold to go back outside to the grocery store. So I set out to find a recipe that would work with just brown sugar. Surprisingly I found quite a few and set to work. One of my favorites food blogs is Simply Recipes (link at the bottom left of my own blog) - and I really feel like her recipes are reliable and tasty. That's where I got the base for these, but as usual - I changed it up a little. Don't even try the batter - it might just be better than the cookies themselves.