There are lots of banana bread recipes in the world; they all have similar ingredients yet some are better than others. We make banana bread quite often, we love to keep bananas in the house for an easy and healthy snack, but they brown quickly so instead of throwing them away we use them in breads or muffins.

A few years ago my friend Amy gave me a recipe for the most delicious banana bread. I’m definitely glad that I held on to it for so long because I haven’t found another I like more. This recipe is different than most, it calls for yogurt.  The bread turns out to be full, fluffy, and moist. It’s less dense than a lot of other banana breads I have tried.  For fun, we added cardamom powder and cinnamon sugar on top.

2 cups flour
¾ cup sugar
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cardamom powder

3 ripe bananas mashed
¼ cup yogurt
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 Tablespoon butter- melted and cooled
1 ¼ cup walnuts

cinnamon sugar

•Preheat oven to 350°, butter a 9×5 baking pan
•Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl
•Combine Mashed bananas, yogurt, eggs, vanilla & butter and fold into dry
•Pour into bread pan and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top
•Bake for 55-60 minutes

Huevos Rancheros can be served in many different forms. It seems as though every restaurant has their own way of preparing essentially the same meal.  This is because there are many ways to make this concept delicious! The staple ingredients of Huevos Rancheros include tortilla, eggs, sauce/salsa, avocado and beans. Joe and I make this meal frequently and have about 4 or 5 different “preferred” ways to do it. This particular style is referred to “huevos rancheros, B-style” or “huevos rancher-B’s”  (soon to come- Huevos Rancher-Joe’s and Eggs Arhar Daal).

B- style rancheros require crispy corn tostadas to be stacked vertically. We use 2 fried eggs, shredded cheese (usually cheddar), homemade salsa, avocado, black beans & spinach.   If you didn’t make your own salsa use another delicious salsa and add some diced tomatoes to freshen it up.

Ingredients : Tostadas, black beans, spinach, 2 eggs, salsa, cheese, avocado,

Begin with preparing your black beans. Drain one can of beans and add frozen or fresh spinach, warm up. Spinach is good for you, add as much as you’d like.  We also like to add a bit of cayenne pepper or black pepper, cumin, and a dash of cinnamon for some extra spice.   Other ingredients to consider are mushrooms, corn, artichoke hearts, and edamame.

Next get your plate ready with one tostada and some cheese on it.   Begin frying your eggs (we fry four at once for two dishes), once eggs are flipped put your first layer of beans & spinach on the tostada.  Place one egg on the first layer of beans.   Add another tostada and repeat with another layer of beans, the 2nd egg and another sprinkle of cheese.  Top it off with some salsa and avocado.  Serve with a glass of orange juice and eat with a fork & knife… or if you’re like me you prefer a Spork for almost everything.

Indian inspired foods and flavors are some of our favorites.  Samosas are an absolute treat; whenever I have the chance I order a few and love them!  So, why not make them at home? Experimenting with Indian flavors is definitely something we love to do at our house, whether we are making curries, breads, or snacks.  Samosas can be surprisingly easy especially if you make them as we do (and cheat a little bit). I think the hardest part of making authentic style samosas is rolling out the dough, so we skip that step to make it easier! The recipe varies from batch to batch as we add new and different amounts of flavor each time. I will post modified recipes as new variations are made. For now, try these delicious little snacks. The secret ingredients to our style are edamame and wonton wraps – that’s right, wonton wraps!

:: what you will need ::

4 cups potato cubed
2 cups edamame (just the bean)
1 pack of wonton skins (50-60)

2 tablespoons ghee
1 teaspoon minced ginger
3 fresh green chilies
(or 2-3 teaspoons chili paste)
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
¼ teaspoon asafoetida

1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon fenugreek
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon coriander powder

2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon salt

oil for deep frying

•Take time to prepare the ingredients before you start cooking. Peel and cube potatoes, boil until soft and drain.  Then, thaw and warm edamame and set both aside. Mince the ginger & chili; if you don’t have fresh green chilies you can substitute them with a chili paste (we often use this chili garlic sauce).   Measure out cumin & asafoetida.  In another small bowl measure out the powdered spices :: turmeric, fenugreek, cinnamon, & coriander.  Have the salt and water ready to go.  It’s always best to have all of this taken care of before you begin cooking to avoid feeling too rushed or missing ingredients, especially when you’re cooking with a lot of spices.

• Heat ghee in a large stir fry pan or whatever you have that will fit 6+ cups of ingredients.

•add chili and ginger, allow it to cook for a moment just until they begin to brown, add cumin and asafoetida and heat until the mixture is browned.

• Add powdered spices, then water and salt, stir together until spices are mixed.

• Add potatoes, stir, then add edamame.  Stir for about 3 minutes over medium heat. Cover with a lid over low heat stirring occasionally until all pieces are tender enough to mash.

• Cool slightly and mash until potatoes are broken down. I use a hand masher. Don’t worry about mashing the edamame completely.

• Fill wonton wraps, fold into triangular shape. Have a cup of water and a plate for your work surface. Set one wonton skin on the plate and scoop about a tablespoon of filling on to it closer to one corner. If the samosa has too much filling it will be more difficult to fold. Dip your finger in the water and run it along the edges of the wrap to help seal it. Fold diagonally into a triangle and press edges, crimp with fork for extra seal, fold edges over and crimp again to ensure that the samosa does not open while frying. I have also folded them like mini egg roles, which is a little bit easier to do, but the triangles are nice because the edges get a little crispy and they look more like samosas. I don’t have a pictured step by step right now, but I winged it the first time I tried and it worked out just fine… so, I know you can do it too!  The first couple might look sloppy, but you won’t know the difference once they’re fried!  You’ll have about 60 tries to get the hang of it ;)

• Deep-fry. I use a small pot so I don’t have to waste too much oil, fill it up about an inch and a half, enough to cover what you are frying. Heat the vegetable oil on high heat, test if it’s hot enough by throwing a corner piece of a wonton skin (from the one that accidentally ripped – you’ll probably have a couple of these) into the oil; it should fry up to the top and brown.

• Once it’s hot enough to fry use a slotted spoon or a utensil that will allow oil to drip through; be sure to choose one that will not melt and will not transfer heat to the handle. It will get very hot! Place the raw samosa on the utensil and lower it into the oil. I always leave the spoon in the oil underneath to minimize dripping hot oil as well as being cautious to not start a fire!

• Once the samosa turns brown you can remove it from the oil and place it on a plate or cookie sheet with paper towels to soak up extra grease.

• Because we use such a small pot to deep fry we can only fry about three at a time, by the time we get to the end most of them have cooled down.  This is why we put them on a cookie sheet, warm up in the oven before serving if desired.   Enjoy.