Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

For my wedding shower last year my bridesmaids requested everyone fill out a recipe card and give me one of their favorite recipes. Appropriate, right? I loved it, it fed my recipe addiction. My maid of honor, Amanda, gave me this recipe for chocolate chip banana bread and it's so tasty and moist, I've made it several times since my shower.

I always seem to have really ripe bananas laying around that usually end up going towards smoothies, banana pancakes, or banana bread. This weekend I had some realllllllly ripe bananas that were way beyond any use in smoothies, which makes them perfect for banana bread. Keep reading for the recipe.

Hurricane Irene

As you probably know, by the end of last week there was a lot of hype about Hurricane Irene coming up the East Coast and gearing up to hit the NYC area hard. I don't live in NYC, but across the river from downtown Manhattan on the Jersey side. The main concern for the area was flooding and power outages. We live on the 25th floor so clearly flooding wasn't a concern, but a power outage definitely was. So while my husband was making sure we did all of the hurricane 'preparedness' needed, I had some concerns of my own.

Not related to food, I wanted to make sure we had plenty of entertainment for us and our friends in the building if the power went out. I made sure our board games were easy access and downloaded a hurricane playlist for our battery operated ipod speakers. You cannot imagine how many songs are out there relating to hurricanes, storms, wind, rain, etc. They ended up in a pretty good mix in my opinion. Then I of course wanted to make sure we had plenty of cold beer in the cooler. Below was our selection.

It included Anchor Steam, Ithaca Beer Co. Cascazilla, Dogfish Head IPA, Keegan Ales Hurricane Kitty, Stone IPA, and the light choice was Miller Light. Most of these are favorites around our apartment, but the Hurricane Kitty was one we hadn't tried and obviously had to get for the occasion. It was an IPA and surprisingly good considering we only got it because it had Hurricane in the name. We also had plenty of red wine on hand, and we didn't even need to worry about keeping it cold.

Now onto the food, I wanted to bake some snacks up to go along with the other non-perishable food we loaded up on. So I made these peanut butter granola balls from Martha Stewart.

Chicken, Black Bean & Corn Burritos

We had a lot of leftover chicken from our Peruvian Roast Chicken and I had a handful of ideas of what to make with the leftovers; pizza, burritos, over polenta, tortilla soup, lasagna rolls, tostadas, the list could go on. As you already know by the name of this post and the photo I went with the burrito option and made some chicken, black bean, and corn burritos and they were oh so good! According to my husband, they were even better leftover in his lunch today.

I made some guacamole with the heirloom tomatoes I picked up at the farmers market to go with the burritos. Have I mentioned before how awful I am at making guacamole look appetizing? I'm not ashamed, I'll still show you the picture, because  no matter how it looks it always tastes good!

Peruvian Roasted Chicken

My husband has been wanting to roast a whole chicken for awhile, he's mentioned multiple times he wants to be the master of roasting chickens in our house.  After a couple of okay previous attempts, he ended up with a success story on Tuesday night.  He used a Peruvian Roast Chicken recipe from A Bird in the Oven and Then Some. We had the chicken with a salad that I added some Peruvian aji sauce (recipe below) and chipotle creamed corn.

Parmesan & Sage Roasted Potatoes

Well tonight I was planning on roasting a chicken, so I stopped at the store on my way home from work to pick up all the ingredients, got home and re-read through the recipe and noticed I skipped the marinate in the refrigerator for 5-8 hours section. Oops, the chicken will have to wait for tomorrow night. Instead we made visit to the crepe truck that sits outside of our building, which is always a good option. I'm a sucker for savory crepes.

Since the chicken has been delayed I figured I could share this easy and tasty side dish with you that I made last week (or the week before).  Below is the recipe, you can reduce the cooking time if you don't like yours as crispy as I do.

Balsamic Four Onion and Portobello Mushroom Turkey Burgers

A couple of weekends ago, we were driving home from a friends wedding in Ithaca and we stopped at Caravia in Clarks Summit, PA. In addition to having once of the best chicken cutlet sandwiches I've ever had in my life, we picked up some delicious spreads, sauces, & jams. One thing I picked up was a jar of this Balsamic Four Onion spread and I decided to use it to make turkey burgers. When I told my husband I was making turkey burgers, you should have seen the skepticism on his face. What, burgers without beef? Let's just say he was pleasantly surprised and requested they become a part of our regular rotation. I have proof below, this is him devouring his second burger.

Chocolate Birthday Cake

As a follow up to yesterday's post about Pat's Birthday, I thought the cake tasted pretty darn good and I would use this recipe again. Next time I might try this with cupcakes instead though. We dug into it too quickly to get a good photo, so this is all I could come up with.

Happy Birthday Pat!

Meet Pat (he's on the left).

Pat married one of my best friends and luckily my husband and I like him a lot too. He's our good friend, neighbor, and we spend a lot of time with him and his wife. Some people may even say too much time, but they have no clue what they're talking about. Pat's mentioned a couple of times that he's surprised he hasn't been mentioned on this blog, but he has as the new neighbors or friends we brought to the shore, just not by name, and he's definitely eaten some of this food. Now that it's his birthday he can have his time in the kissmywhisk spotlight. Happy Birthday Pat!

Because it's Pat's birthday today, I decided to attempt to bake him this chocolate cake last night.

Soy Glazed Cod Baked in Parchment Paper

As usual, I picked up some more fresh seafood when I was at the shore this weekend. This time it was cod and I decided to bake it in parchment paper.  This is a great method you can use with most types of fish and there are several reasons why I recommend going this route. It's healthy, it's flexible (you can throw in a variety of vegetables or seasonings), it's foolproof, very easy clean up - just crumple up the paper and toss it out when you're done, and because it steams in it's own juices (along with the other ingredients you throw in) it leaves you with a moist and flavorful fish. It works for a an easy weeknight meal or it's impressive enough for company. Just cut open the parchment at the table and serve. See below for the recipe.

Clambake at the Shore

My in-laws were nice enough to let us takeover their shore house this past weekend. So we invited some friends down, enjoyed a perfect beach day on Saturday, and topped it off with a delicious dinner with good friends. Can't beat that.

While the boys enjoyed some beers and this view.

Us girls got busy in the kitchen.

Grilled Balsamic Chicken Salad with Blue Cheese

It was HOT here a couple of weeks ago, and I felt that was a good excuse not to go to the grocery store for awhile. So this salad is what I threw together with some chicken I had in the freezer, the cheese I had on hand (I always have cheese on hand) and the veggies I picked up at the farmer's market outside of my building. Some heirloom cherry tomatoes and sweet jersey corn were the highlights at the farmers market. I was excited because I recently learned that you don't even have to cook the corn, you can just cut it off the cob and throw it in the salad raw. I made a balsamic dijon for the salad dressing and the end result was a refreshing dinner on a hot summer night.  Before I share the recipe, I'd like to tell you that I can never spell balsamic right on my first try. Keep reading for the recipe.

Chipotle Creamed Corn

Remember that Trader Joe's Trip-Tip Asada I told you I bought  in my last post?  Well you can see below how juicy and delicious it was. It's so easy since you just pop it in the oven and let it roast that it doesn't get it's own post, so I wanted to share a side that was perfect with this meat.

The side is chipotle creamed corn. Let me start by getting a little off topic and sharing that I love the sides at Thanksgiving. My mom's stuffing is my absolute favorite, but I also love the simple creamed corn we would have. Nothing fancy about it at all; heat up some corn, throw in some cream cheese, stir, and devour! My chipotle creamed corn was pretty much that with chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. Since corn off the cob is rampant at the farmers market I used some corn cut off the cob, rather than the frozen my mom usually used. Now the picture below of this corn does not do it justice, but trust me, I couldn't stop stuffing my face with this side dish.

Keep reading for this simple recipe.

Baked Plantain Chips

My family bounced around a lot growing up, and we lived in Puerto Rico for a couple years. This is when I learned about plantains and all of the different ways you could cook them.  I was a picky eater as a kid so there were several ways that plantains were cooked that I didn't like, but I really liked plantain chips and mofongo.  Mofongo is mashed plantains with garlic, herb, and meat or vegetables. The other day I picked up some plantains at the store and decided to try and make baked plantain chips. I was a little nervous they wouldn't turn out well or be that crisp, but they definitely beat my expectations. They were supposed to go with the Tri Tip Asada I bought at Trader Joe's, but we scarfed them all down before the meat came out of the oven. I'll be making them again for a healthy snack or side dish. See below for the recipe and adjust seasonings to fit your taste.

Lake Norman Vacation Wrap Up

Okay one last post to wrap up the fun and food from our Lake Norman vacation, and then I promise to move on. You just have to promise not to judge me because of the lack of flow in this post. This will be mostly about the fun since I already covered a lot of the food, and since it's Friday I'll top it off with a cocktail.

As I mentioned in the first Lake Norman post we spent a lot of time on the water, this included my husband getting up on water skis for the first time.

I managed to get up wakeboarding.

but didn't get this sweet sunset shot like my sister-in-law did.

or catch air like my brother did.

I'm Addicted to this Spicy Pasta Salad!

I was going to include this as part of my vacation wrap up post, but this is too darn good, it deserves it's own post. As soon as I saw this Spicy Pasta Salad with Smoked Gouda, Tomatoes, & Basil posted on The Pioneer Woman's website I knew I had to make it, and I finally found the time at the lake. It was so good I made it twice within a week. After we got home from the lake we went to Monmouth Park Race Track (horses for those of you who aren't from Jersey) with some friends so I made it again. I enjoyed sneaking in bites of gouda while I was making it, sneaking in bites of the finished product before serving it, and both groups really enjoyed the pasta salad. The only downside was I had to share it with other people.

The only changes I made were that the first time I used Spinach leaves because at the last minute I realized I didn't have basil leaves, it was a good substitute but the version with basil was definitely the perfect combination.  The second time I added extra chipotle, because I love chipotle and can't get enough of it in my life. I was happy I added the extra, but it's excellent both ways.

Please go to the store and get the ingredients you need and make this now. Words can't describe how much I enjoyed it, I'll be making it again soon, I'm addicted.

Bret's BBQ Baby Back Ribs

Whenever we visit my brother and his wife in Virginia, two things are guaranteed, good meat and moonshine. So when we had a wings & ribs night on vacation, I knew my brother's ribs would not disappoint. The ribs were falling off the bone and you could taste the love he put into them; they were marinated overnight, braised in beer, and then smoked over wood chips. Below is a picture of them, post marination and pre-braising.

Say hi to Bret.

Say hi to the ribs.

Grilled Steak & Shrimp Fajitas

I'm still posting about our vacation meals, trying to pretend I'm still there, and not back in the office. Eventually I'll catch up to reality, but for now I'm going to hold off. We had a fajita night while at the lake, where I made some shrimp and steak fajitas.

My mom made a massive amount of guacamole that was devoured pretty quickly. Those aren't my man hands, those are my husbands.

And I used some fresh corn off the cob to make this corn and tomato scramble recipe that I love.

The recipe for the fajitas is below and the guacamole recipe is the one I made in this post but was multiplied  by three.