Nominally Nom - Healthy Chunky Monkey Ice Cream!

Yes, you heard me right... And the name says it all. Which is why it is nominally nom. It is also officially delicious. And I am so full of om-nom-ness right now.

Tonight's dessert was...
Healthy(er) Chunky Monkey Ice Cream

*Clicking on advertisements will add pennies (not yours) to my college loans fund. Thanks!* /plea for help


*Recipes and/or sites that we used will be at the end of the meal's post.*

And this recipe can be dairy-free if you use dairy-free chocolate!

Okay, so I added in some "extra stuff" which may or may not have put back all the calories I just worked off at Zumba, but the main recipe itself is actually not so bad.

I could snack on walnuts all day...

I bet you can't guess what the secret ingredient is in this ice cream. No, seriously. And it's not the Reese's.

I'm actually pretty proud of my somewhat
artistic photos this time. I used props!

The secret ingredient is... [drumroll please]...

BANANAS!

Aw, look! They're spooning.

Five bananas. Sliced and frozen. Of course, I put 'em in the freezer in a container, so they came out one giant frozen chunk o' bah-nahn. I would recommend laying the slices out on a cookie sheet, or else you'll be chopping the big mass of banana (massive banana?) by hand before your food processor can handle it.

It really does come out like soft serve ice cream though. Except it's banana cream.

Mmm... Creameh.

I put in a little more than a tablespoon of peanut butter, and then i mixed in some quartered Reese's peanut butter cups and walnuts. Then I put an extra spoonful of peanut butter on top. And that's why I just canceled out all the healthy eating I've been doing this week.

At least it's banana and not real ice cream. :)

So if you want to be healthy(er), lay off of these things:

Pieces of Reese's.

Also, although the recipe I used calls for 5 bananas to make 2 servings, pretty much one banana's worth of cream was PLENTY. I didn't even finish my bowl. It was too rich and full of goodness. However, I did whip up the rest of it so I wouldn't have to dirty the food processor again. I'll use the little processor to add some peanut butter to a single serving when I decide enough time has passed that I can handle this treat again. I will put more than 1 tablespoon in this time, so I don't have to add extra on top.

That's about it. Hope you enjoy it! And yes, I'm really proud of my photography skills in this post. :)

May you be nominally nom this week! And may everything you make be as well, so you are not an OMNOMALY! But that would be quite the phenomenom... Okay okay, I'm done now.

Happy Tuesday,
Sarah

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Recipes and Sites
Thank you to FoodGawker for helping us find recipes!

Healthified Supreme Chunky Monkey Ice Cream

Site:
http://www.healthfulpursuit.com/2011/07/healthified-supreme-chunky-monkey-ice-cream/

*Notes:
Five bananas, for me, is WAY more than two servings. Also, I replaced the chocolate chips with quartered Reese's peanut butter cups. I skipped the coconut, 'cause I don't like it.

CHICKEN!

Rebecca had work tonight, so Sarah was on her own for dinner. As such, she decided to make a chicken dinner (since Rebecca does not eat chicken, and it is not usually part of our culinary repertoire). GOOD CHOICE. She also invited her lovely friend Chaz to be treated to a home-cooked meal.

Tonight's meal consisted of:
Jamaican chicken curry
Cookie dough ice cream
Blue raspberry mixed drink

*Recipes and/or sites that we used will be at the end of the meal's post.*

Earlier today, Sarah donated a musical performance to Healing Hooves, the fund-raiser Chaz helped organized to benefit local therapeutic riding organizations. She knew Chaz had been working hard all day, and thought it would be nice to offer to cook dinner for her. So Chaz came shopping for ingredients, ended up having fun assisting with the cooking, and along with Sarah, very much enjoyed the eating part.

Okay, first of all, the onion we got had super powers. Sarah started chopping it first, but when her eyes started smarting, Chaz offered to take over. She said she usually doesn't tear up with onions. But she did. And then Sarah tried again. She ended up putting on SUNGLASSES to try to block the oniony fumes from getting to her, but it was too much. We are not sure how we managed to chop it up enough.

You probz can't see it, but she's cryin' like crazy.

Also, while Sarah prepared the rice, Chaz chopped carrots. We swear, those carrots knew they were going to be eaten, because they kept flying off the cutting board. With practice, perhaps Chaz can perfect the art of chopping carrots so that they jump right into the pot!

Anyway, we made a boo-boo. The recipe called for skinless and boneless chicken thighs. We guess Sarah was so excited to see "thighs" on the package that she failed to notice that it was a skin-on, bone-in package amongst the skinless and boneless. When we got back to school and opened it, Sarah wailed, "Oh no, it's not boneless!!!" Oh well. We were reassured by the fact that chefs everywhere (all over the interwebz) swear by the better flavor in bone-in chicken.

They look like blob monsters!

We prepared the chicken and then got the curry sauce going.

Soup of Great, in Chaz's words.

While it was all coming to a boil and then simmering, Sarah opened up the package of frozen peas...

Dear Sarah's Mom and Dad, we know you're reading this. Yes, Sarah began eating frozen peas by the bunch. Chaz had to stop her, reminding her we needed to save some for the food. Sarah pointed out it was a 12-oz bag and we only needed 10 oz... She even caught a handful as Chaz was pouring them into the pot. What a goofball.

HAHAHAHAHA ohhh Sarah...

When it was finally ready (and we were thoroughly hungry), we put a layer of rice on our plates and then spooned the curry chicken on top of it. It was soooo delicious. Okay, first, a picture of how beautiful it looked on the plate:

So yummy.

And now, please, take a look at that tender, juicy, moist inside:

Look at that!

Mmmm.... Holy guacamole! Seriously, this was wicked good.

And we accompanied dinner with a yummy mixed drink of sprite and blue raspberry vodka. Chaz's treat. Sarah was a big fan of the name of the bottle: Blue Bombsicle.

You da bombsicle!

It looked so pretty!

We have no "pics to prove it," but we polished off dinner with (too much) yummy cookie dough ice cream. Om nom nom...

And that's all for this week. Sarah is so proud of herself for cooking for a friend! Even though Chaz was very helpful. It was all very exciting.

Time to get our beauty rest - tomorrow is Goucher's Gala (like prom for college). Sarah is so happy to be going to a formal for the first time! And she's lucky to be borrowing a dress from Chaz too. We can't wait!

Tootles,
Sarah and Chaz

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Recipes and sites
Thank you to FoodGawker for helping us find recipes!

Jamaican Chicken Curry

Site:
http://onehungrymama.com/2011/04/recipe-jamaican-chicken-curry/

*Notes:
As said, we accidentally used skin-on and bone-in chicken thighs. Still turned out delicious.
Our curry powder was regular, as opposed to Jamaican. The recipe said any curry would work, and this is what Sarah had (thanks, Sarah's mom!).
We used oregano instead of thyme.
Chaz is allergic to coconut, so we substituted skim milk for the coconut milk.
Even with these changes, the meal was fantastic.

Volcanic Lasagna

Happy Ides of March!

Tonight our meal consisted of:
Lasagna Primavera
Chocolate-chip cookie ice cream sandwiches

*Recipes and/or sites that we used will be at the end of the meal's post.*

This was our last Saturday before Spring Break, so we won't be cooking the next two weekends. Sadface. Therefore, we couldn't make anything that required lots of little ingredients that would have to sit in our dorms over break and possibly go bad.

Lasagna was a delicious answer to that problem! And since Rebecca had invited three people to join us, the recipe to feed 6-7 people was perfect! Unfortunately, one of our guests was not able to make it; however, at the last minute, Sarah's friend Raya joined us. But we still only managed to eat half of it, so we've got lots of yummy leftovers for mid-terms week. Rebecca is super excited that she has three days' worth of food!

Can we just say... this lasagna is HUGE. The sauce was ready to spill over the sides of the pan. (Like a volcano... Get it??? Teehee...) The recipe warned us that it would be tall, but HOLAY GUACAMOLE!

"I can't eat all that!"

The recipe assured us that it would settle into the pan while it cooked, but ours did not. In fact, Rebecca thinks it grew a bit... The veggies were piled high in this dish. And except for the frozen spinach, they were all fresh - bought and chopped by yours trulies this very day!

And when it came out...

Mmm... Delicious volcanic lazagnuh.

Oh my, did you ever see such a beautiful creation. And our tastebuds were in full agreement with our eyes. SO TASTY. Sarah said she thought it could have cooked a little longer - the veggies were still pretty crunchy - but confirmed its goodness nonetheless.

After chowing down on our dinner - it was Sarah's first time making lasagna! - it was time to prepare dessert. Homemade ice cream sandwiches? Yes please.

We decided to go with Nestle's cookie dough. Last semester we tried a different brand that came in a square package, and it wasn't good. We really wanted to make it from scratch, but we knew the lasagna would take a while. So we gave Nestle a shot.

It's pretty good raw too. :)

The cookies, of course, came out looking scrumptious. But we refrained from eating them until the very end.

Scrum-diddly-umptious.

And since we weren't making the cookies, but we wanted the "homemade" feel, we got some vanilla ice cream and made our own ice cream sandwiches. SUCH A GOOD IDEA.

Warm on the outside, cold on the inside.

We had way more sandwiches than people, so we wrapped them up individually to store in the freezer. We can give them to our friends and friendly passers-by! (Suggested donation of 75 cents.)

Our stash... Come and get some.

It is now rather late, and we realized we should have started prepping around 3:00 instead of 4:30. Why does cooking take such a long time?? Sarah admitted, "I always learn the hard way." But we do learn, and now we know for next time.

Have a great two weeks! We'll see you the week after break.
R+S

Miranda and Lindsay enjoying the lasagna.

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Recipes and Sites
Thank you to FoodGawker for helping us find recipes!

Lasagna Primavera

Site:
http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2010/09/lasagna-primavera.html

Notes:
When we got to the supermarket, we found that there were only three zucchini left, and they were scrawny and icky looking. But unlike our first week, the eggplant looked fantastic. Switcheroo! We also swapped out the squash for a yummy red bell pepper. Additionally, the ricotta cheese came in little tubs that measured a bit more than called for, but we used it all up anyway. And due to our shared love of mushrooms, we chose sauce with mushrooms in it. (We are very glad we did that.) Aaaaand we saved some of the two shredded cheeses to sprinkle on the very top.

Chocolate-chip Cookies
(from the Nestle cookie dough package)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Spoon heaping teaspoons of dough about 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet.
Bake for 11 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.
-Can bake frozen dough in preheated oven: Add 1-2 minutes of bake time.

*To turn into sandwiches, simply scoop a generous spoonful of vanilla (or flavor of your choice) ice cream onto an upside-down cookie. Press a second cookie on top of the ice cream. Eat before the ice cream melts!