Banana Pudding Squares

And so ends my epic battle of conquering banana pudding! OK so maybe it wasn't epic, but it was a few years in the making. Let's just say I started with banana soup in '07, and have since found what I believe will become Bobby and I's preferred banana pudding recipe going forward. Of course, I did actually mess this one up too--but it tasted amazing anyway :) Kraftfoods.com emailed this to me a little while ago and I bookmarked it. I had planned to may keylime pie for Memorial Day, but Kroger apparently has discontinued the sale of keylime juice?? Add that to the growing list of things I'll have to get from Whole Foods. So I went with banana pudding squares as a backup, and it worked out fabulously!











Banana Pudding Squares

1 box Reduced Fat NILLA Wafers
1/4 cup or a half stick of margarine, melted
8 oz reduced fat cream cheese
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tub of fat free or sugar free Cool Whip
3 bananas, sliced
2 packages of instant sugar-free vanilla pudding
3 cups cold skim milk
1 square of Baker's semi-sweet chocolate, grated/"zested"

OK this is a modified version because I added an additional layer of NILLA wafers. Start out by separating out 40-45 NILLA wafers and crushing them very finely. In a mixing bowl, add the melted butter to the crumbs and mix well. Press the mixture firmly into the bottom of a 9x13 pan, and refrigerate. The Kraft recipe doesn't specify how long, but I'd give it at least 30 minutes. This is where I got impatient and went "wrong". In another mixing bowl, blend the cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth and creamy. Add 1 and a half cups of the Cool Whip and whisk until blended. Spread this mixture evenly over the NILLA crumb bottom. This is where mine went in a different direction. My crumb-crust didn't set and I gave up and mixed the crumbs with the cream cheese mix. Then I firmly re-pressed the mixture into the bottom of the pan. So if you can get it into two distinct layers, great. If not...mix it, repress, and move on! Then add one layer of banana slices. In the mixing bowl used for the cream cheese mix, add the two packages of instant pudding and 3 cups of milk. Whisk quickly for 2 minutes and pour over bananas. Top with additional layer of NILLA wafers (my addition) and refrigerate until ready to serve. Right before serving, spread remaining Cool Whip over the wafers evenly. Use a lemon zester or other fine grating tool and grate the chocolate square into shavings over the top of the Cool Whip. Serve in squares.

Mine doesn't look quite as pretty as the picture on Kraftfoods.com, but it was absolutely delicious. This topped the Memorial Day meal of burgers, my first (failed) attempt at homemade baked beans, broccoli casserole, and watermelon. Needless to say we are stuffed and will be rolling ourselves back to work in the morning.

We did have a wonderful and relaxing long weekend that was absolutely perfect. On Friday we walked to Mexican food...then on Saturday we started the day by going to yoga, then followed it with a trip to Whole Foods for sushi, then to the pool with a pitcher of banana coladas for a few hours, before I surprised Bobby with massage appointments in Westport Village, and then we walked to Napa River Grill. It was perfect. Then on Sunday, Bobby played 18 holes with some of the med school guys while I went for a run...and today we hit the gym early and then spent the afternoon at the pool again with banana coladas before dinner. We don't get a lot of vacation with Bobby's schedule, so to have a full 3 day weekend together was great...even if it was a "staycation" :) So tomorrow begins June, and Bobby will wrap up Peds and his 3rd year in the next few weeks, and I'll be diving into Intern-a-palooza 2010. But definitely looking forward to another long weekend next weekend in Seattle!

Linguine w/ Sun Dried Tomatoes

I'm a huge pasta lover. My blog probably doesn't even convey how much I love pasta and all of it's carbo-loaded goodness. And that's because since I love it so much, I have to be sparing about the frequency with which I consume it! But it occurred to me earlier this year that I was trying so hard to avoid pasta in our weekly menus, that it rarely, if ever, made an appearance. I'd make spaghetti in the Winter now and then, or smoked-salmon fettuccine for special occasions, but for the most part I left it out of my weekly plans. Which, I'm sure, any nutritionist would praise! But like all things yummy and gluttonous, pasta is fine in moderation. So with moderation in mind, I'm re-integrating an occasional pasta into our dinner repertoire. Not every week...but every other week or so. In my rediscovery of pasta dinners, I'm amazed at how quickly they're prepared! This one is 15 minutes or so, and very fresh tasting--perfect for a quick summer weeknight! Courtesy of Southern Living.

Linguine with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

1 16oz package of linguine
1 7oz jar of sun-dried tomatoes in oil
1/4 cup pine nuts
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup EVOO
4 oz crumbled feta cheese
2 Tbs thin fresh basil strips

Drain the tomatoes and reserve 2 Tbs of the oil in the jar. Cut the tomatoes into thin strips. I discovered Bobby doesn't like the texture of sun-dried tomatoes, and if that's the case for you, I recommend dicing them instead so there's less surface area to feel the texture. Prepare the pasta according to directions, and while it's boiling... Heat the pine nuts in a large nonstick skillet over med-low heat and stir often about 5 minutes or until fragrant. No oil or butter needed. Remove them from the skillet, and increase the heat to medium and saute the garlic in the reserved oil from the tomatoes and the EVOO--just about a minute until you can smell the garlic (sorry Dad) Stir in the tomato strips and remove from heat. In a large pasta bowl, toss the pasta, the tomato/oil mixture, feta, and basil. Top each serving with pine nuts and freshly ground pepper.

As you can see from my picture, there's broccoli in my version and that's just because I had some leftover that I didn't want to waste. So with that in mind, you could up your veggie intake by adding broccoli or asparagus to your boiling pasta just as it's about to finish. And of course, you could always add grilled chicken (but despite Bobby's stringent "No Meat, No Meal" rule, he ate every bite and didn't even comment on the vegetarian nature of dinner!) I fixed this the evening before Bobby went on-call, expecting to have leftovers...but I didn't have any!

In other unrelated news, we had a wonderful weekend with Bobby's parents, who came to Louisville to see Wicked for Jan's birthday. Although Bobby and I had seen it during it's first Louisville tour, the performance was breathtaking, and even better a second time! We are so fortunate to have seen so many wonderful Broadway national tours while in Louisville (Phantom, Mamma Mia, Cirque Dreams, Wicked x 2, and next year Les Mis 25th Anniversary!!! I'm doing a little happy dance).

Mexican Skillet

So the thing about Mexican food, is that nothing else can look so unattractive and yet taste SO good! But it's not exactly a pretty cuisine. Especially when you're basically doing nothing but throwing your favorite ingredients into one skillet and mixing them together. Delicious and quick, but not exactly up for an Anne Gibbons "Photo Finish" of sorts. But this was too easy and too reliable not to share, even without a picture! Thank you Southern Living.

Mexican Skillet

1lb ground beef (get 4% if you can)
1 15oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 package of Uncle Ben's instant Spanish Style rice
1-2 cups salsa
1/2 onion, chopped
2 Tbs lime juice
2 Tbs cilantro
add cheese, guacamole, or sour cream to top (you know we topped with cheese...)

In a large skillet combine the onion and ground beef, and cook over med-high until meat is fully browned. Add 1-2 cups of salsa depending on your preference for spice, the black beans, lime juice, and cilantro--mix well over medium heat while preparing rice. I used the 90 second microwavable rice, because it was Monday and the fewer dirty dishes the better! Add rice, stir well, and remove from heat. Top with cheese or other desired topping and serve immediately!

And plenty of leftovers for those on-call nights! Can't eat brie and a baguette all the time... :)

Stuffed Shells

Count on me to make heavy Italian dishes in 80 degree weather :) I can't help it! I love cheese, I love pasta...I won't live without either! The first time you make stuffed shells, it goes pretty slowly because you want to be careful and not break the shells and you're trying to stuff the right amount, etc. But the more times I make this dish, the quicker it goes by. So once upon a time I only made them on weekends, but now I can do this pretty quickly on a weeknight, as long as I remember to thaw the spinach. This is a vegetarian recipe, but I've seen some variations where you can add sausage. Also important to note that this makes more than can fit in one 9x13 pan! So have your 9x9 ready to go as a back-up pan for leftovers (can freeze or eat later in the week). And even then, you might still have extras!



Stuffed Shells

1 box jumbo pasta shells
15oz part-skim ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella (one bag of the 2% stuff works)
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan
10oz package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 egg, lightly beaten
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp Italian seasoning (I use a little more)
Pinch of ground nutmeg (I use a little more)
26oz jar of your favorite sauce (I use Paul Newman's Marinara)

Preheat oven to 375. PAM your 9x13 baking dish. Cook pasta shells according to package label directions; drain and set aside to cool. While pasta cooks, in a large bowl, stir together ricotta, 1 cup mozzarella, Parmesan, spinach, egg, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and nutmeg. Spread 3/4 cup spaghetti sauce over bottom of baking dish. Stuff shells with cheese-and-spinach mixture and place in dish. Spoon remaining sauce over shells and sprinkle with remaining 1 cup mozzarella. Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Remove foil and bake about 10 minutes longer, until bubbly and cheese begins to brown.

Enough to eat for a week! In keeping with my love of cheese, Bobby is on call tonight and I plan devour a wedge of brie for dinner :)

Cube Steak with Mushroom-Sherry Sauce

Oh look! a blog-post! Bet you thought they went away :0) I've actually just been repeating a lot of tried and true recipes this spring, and between busy days at work and Bobby's spreadsheets most of the time I just wasn't up to more computer time! Generation Y probably would disown me for that though. If only there was an iPhone app for residencies! But for those interested in more than just recipes, Bobby has officially decided on General Surgery (which I may have posted previously, but just in case!) and is in the process of applying for two away-rotations this Fall. An away rotation, or "visiting student clerkship" is where a 4th yr med student can spend 4 weeks at another hospital to get exposure to different environments. This is also considered a 4 week interview a lot of times. And the great news is that we're FINALLY completing and submitting the applications! So after much (MUCH) researching and spreadsheets and CV edits and personal statement drafts, it's almost complete! If all goes according to plan, Bobby will be gone for 8 weeks this Fall. I will be extremely lonely so consider that an open invitation for anyone who's out there. Kinda funny when your ideal scenario involves an absentee spouse for 8 weeks :o)

But back to beef. This I pulled out of a Healthy Eating magazine the girls at work gave me! It's super quick and has about 275 calories for just the cube steak and sauce. Cube steak is often a "step-child" cut, but for a quick night it was great. You can see from the picture that we added some mashed potatoes (instant because I was lazy) and a basic green salad.

Cube Steak with Mushroom-Sherry Sauce

2-4 4oz cube steaks
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 green onion, diced
1 Tbs flour
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/2 cup dry sherry
1/2 cup low-sodium beef broth
2 Tbs reduced-fat sour cream
a few Tbs of olive oil
salt and pepper

Sprinkle steaks with pinches of salt and pepper. Heat about a Tbs of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add steaks to cook, turning once until browned and cooked through (3-4 minutes on each side). Transfer steaks to a warm plate and cover. Add another Tbs or two to the skillet, and toss in the mushrooms and green onion with sprinkled pepper. Stir until mushrooms brown (3-5 minutes). Sprinkle mushrooms with flour and stir to coat for about 1 minute. Add thyme, sherry, and broth--then bring to a boil. Boil until sauce thickens a little bit (it'll coat the back of a wooden spoon when ready) and usually about 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream. Add steaks back to the skillet and toss to coat.

The sauce was very good over the mashed potatoes as well! Bobby was a huge fan and so was I. We'll definitely be repeating this one again on busy weeknights. I actually didn't cook the steaks long enough at first because the original recipe calls for 2 minutes on either side. I don't believe in "medium" cube steak...so we microwaved them for 3 more minutes til they cooked through! Also, if you're curious--our preferred instant mashed potatoes are Idahoan brand. If you skip back through old blogs I've got a quick recipe for real mashed potatoes for two...but sometimes I just don't have the arm muscle! Also recommend Kraft's Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Italian Vinaigrette for light salads.