Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

I made this smoothie with frozen bananas after googling "what to do with frozen bananas?". It works out really nicely because the cold bananas make the smoothie thick and icy without having to use ice cubes. To freeze the bananas, I cut them up into about 1/2" pieces and then put them in a tupperware in the freezer. It came out really well - YUM!

Slow Cooked Brisket

This is one of my favorite things I've made in a while! I've never made brisket before, but have been having a red meat craving for a month and thought I'd give it a try. It was exactly what I wanted - so so juicy and tender and full of flavor. The recipe I adapted was Emeril's (thanks Dania!), but I made it in a slow cooker instead of the oven and simplified some of the steps and ingredients. Original recipe is here.

Honey-Soy Salmon with Mango and Kiwi

Here's one to add to the short list of dinners P.J. and I both like! This was so quick to make, very healthy, and it really doesn't even need the rice.

Sweet Chili Lime Tofu with Collards and Rice

This flavorful tofu dish was a nice update to my regular tofu-vegetable-rice stir fry. The combination of the sugary glaze with a lot of lime juice and bitterness from the collard greens was really delicious.

The technique of "dry frying" the tofu (pressing out all the water and letting it sizzle away on a frying pan) makes the tofu much firmer. I think I will do this with tofu from now on.

Soy-Ginger Salmon with Bok Choy

The chef at my school makes bok choy with with a soy/ginger sauce that I love so I decided to try it at home with salmon and rice. The meal comes together in about half an hour. P.J. says he would order it in a restaurant every time if someone made it.

Eggs Benedict Caprese (Lightened Up)

I had eggs benedict caprese when I was in Denver last summer with my cousins and it was SO delicious so it's been in my mind as something I'd like to try ever since. I was reminded when I saw this eggs benedict caprese recipe on pinterest, but then I realized how not very healthy eggs benedict (and hollondaise sauce) is.

I woke up this morning and already had the ingredients on hand for this recipe since I made pizza margherita last night, so I decided to see if I could make a lightened up version of eggs benedict caprese. The resulting dish was so delicious! The hollondaise sauce is thinner than the usual, but the flavor was great so it didn't seem to matter.

For tips on how to perfectly poach an egg click here.

Easy Pizza Margherita

Pizza Margherita is so quick and easy. Since there is very little skill or work involved, the pizza is just as good as the ingredients you can find. The freshest and best quality mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, and pizza dough will make a big difference.  Even with very good ingredients, this pizza is still only about $10 or less. The basic method is to roll out the dough and bake it plain for about 8 minutes to make it crispy. While it's in the oven, slice the cheese and tomatoes and then compile everything and bake for about 10-12 minutes more.