Banana Bread

I can't believe I hadn't put this up yet!  Banana bread is one of my staples.

I'm kind of weird in that I only really like to eat bananas when they still have a bit of green at the ends, which makes for a pretty short window of time to actually eat them once I buy them.  Frequently they become too ripe for me to want to eat them before I get a chance.  It's not a big deal though! The best banana bread is made with bananas that are so black and gross that basically no one would eat them.  That's what makes it so moist and sweet and flavorful.

Okay, so here's the deal.

Ingredients:

• 3 bananas, extremely ripe
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup sugar
• 1.5 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 pinch salt

Steps: 

• Preheat oven to 350F
• Mash the bananas in a mixing bowl
• Add the egg and vanilla to bananas, mix
• When the butter is melted but not hot, add it to the other wet ingredients (you don't want to cook the eggs) and mix
• Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl
• Combine wet and dry
• Pour mixture into one greased bread pan
• Bake at 350F for 55-65 minutes

That's it! Warm with butter is obviously the superior way to eat this. 

Vegetarian Chili

This recipe originated on the Whole Foods website, but my mom and I have modified it a bit through a few iterations so I think it's fair to chronicle here!

Growing up I was an extremely picky eater, something that was always a fairly large source of stress for me. I never, ever would have eaten anything so full of mysterious and dreaded vegetables as this.  Luckily my culinary tastes have grown up quite a bit in the last few years, and I'm happy to say that this is delicious and not difficult to make at all.

Ingredients: 

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 medium-sized sweet onion, chopped
• 1 generous handful of baby carrots - about the size of one large carrot - chopped
• 1 stalk celery - chopped
• 1 medium red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped
• 1 medium yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 1 summer squash, chopped
• about 1 cup of frozen corn
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped chipotles in adobo
• 1.5 tablespoons cumin
• 1.5 tablespoons chili powder
• 1.5 teaspoons salt
• 1 (28 ounces) can ground tomatoes (I've also used diced but ran them through the blender quickly before adding them - it's a personal preference)
• 1 (15 ounces) can red kidney beans, drained
• 1 (15 ounces) can black beans, drained

Steps:

• Clean and chop all the vegetables - set aside the zucchini and summer squash but everything else can go into a large pot with the oil
• Over medium heat, cook for 10-12 minutes, until vegetables are softened by not browned.
• Add chipotles, cumin, chili powder, and salt.  Stir to blend.
• Add tomatoes and 4 cups water.  Gently simmer over low heat, uncovered, for 45 minutes (this is the part where I added the corn in - it's already cooked, just frozen, so I figured it didn't need to be in the first part).
• Add beans and squash and simmer an additional 30 minutes.  

Then you're done!  That's it!  So easy.  I like to serve it over quinoa (or brown rice is nice) with mozzarella cheese and a little bit of green tabasco on top.