Banana and Ginger Snap Cupcakes

You know what they say about bananas, don't you? Umm, I don't either. I do know that if you're patient but a few days after purchasing them practically green you will have beautifully overripe fruit just perfect for baking.  Plus I really wanted to try out my new decorating tool, and as you can see by the pictures I could use a little more practice. Though they weren't all perfect looking (but they weren't too shabby either for my first time), I promise you they taste awesome. I took almost, that's right, almost all of them to my mother's place today and gave them to the gals working there. They loved them! Using a tried and true banana cupcake recipe from Martha Stewart, I kicked it up a notch with the addition of ground ginger. Here's the simple recipe for these light, moist and delicious treats.

BANANA AND GINGER SNAP CUPCAKES

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 to 3 large ripe, thoroughly mashed bananas

2 eggs

1/2 tsp. vanilla

GINGER BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup butter, very soft

1 1/2 tsp. milk

1/4 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 cup crushed ginger snap cookies for the tops

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a 12-cup muffin pan with regular sized paper or foil liners. In a mixing bowl, stir together the first six ingredients, the flour through the ginger. In another bowl, stir together well the butter, bananas, eggs and vanilla. Add all at once to the flour mixture and stir well. Divide the batter evenly between the 12 cupcake liners, approximately one-quarter cup of batter per cupcake. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, maybe a minute or two longer, until a toothpick comes out clean and dry. Remove immediately from pans to a wire rack and cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting, mix the sugar and butter together and add the milk, vanilla and ground ginger. You can always add more milk, so always start with less. Frost the cooled cupcakes simply or try your hand at decorating. Sprinkle the tops with the crushed ginger snap cookies. Enjoy!!!

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Not too much, not too little....just perfect!

Sassy Water from The Flat Belly Diet Cookbook

Just keepin' all things real here.  I am one of those up and down, thinner one day, wondering what the hell happened the next day dieters....  Recently I broke down and bought Prevention Magazine's Flat Belly Diet Cookbook. I know, the sound of that conjures up all sorts of gross pictures, doesn't it?  But for many of us, that's where the evidence of a multitude of sins lives. Am I right or what? The concept of this diet makes total sense, and the recipes sound wonderful, starting with this simple recipe for a rehydrating and delicious tasting water concoction.  Here's the recipe, thanks to Prevention Magazine. The only change I made was to use half of a cucumber, rather than a whole one as the recipe suggests, and a few less mint leaves. The end result is still a potent and delicious, summery tasting water.  I really need to look at that lemon cupcake recipe, though. That just doesn't look like diet food.

SASSY WATER

8 1/2 cups of water (2 liters)

Half a cucumber, peeled and sliced thin

1 lemon, sliced thin

1 tsp. freshly grated ginger root

8 mint leaves

Combine all the ingredients in a large pitcher and let the flavors blend overnight. Drink this throughout the day, and finish the pitcher by the end of each day. Sassy Water is a very important component of the first stages of the Flat Belly Diet. You don't have to keep drinking it, but it is surprisingly delicious and refreshing, it's a great way to stay hydrated, and it's catching on in my household!Here are a few tips to keep in mind about the water. Make a new batch of it every day.  Do not substitute dried mint or powdered ginger. You've got to use the real thing. You can strain the ingredients, or pour them into your glass along with the water. They look pretty, like a cocktail... ;-)

I am going to try some of the recipes from this book, and if you are interested in knowing more about it, let me know. It's all about MUFAs!! What is that?? Monounsaturated Fatty Acids.  Eat them, they're good for you!

Sesame & Panko Crusted Tofu with Toasted Coconut & Pineapple Rice

This dinner idea came to me in bits and pieces. I had all the ingredients but wasn't quite sure how I wanted to put them together. The tofu I bought several days ago. It was calling to me to please do something with it or throw it out. This is what I came up with.... And I should start by saying, please give tofu a try! It's soy, it's good for you, it's high in protein, it's low in cholesterol, low in carbs, economical, a great alternative to meat,  it goes well with everything, just like that neutral shade of lipstick you have. (I'm talkin' to the girls now....)

THE MARINADE:
1 pkg. extra firm tofu, drained and blotted dry. I wrap the whole block of tofu in paper towels and press it until most of the packaging liquid is removed from it.
2 green onions, finely chopped
Fresh ginger, 1 inch finely chopped (use powdered if you don't have fresh, to taste, probably 1/4 tsp.)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
Sesame oil, 2 Tbs.
1 8 oz. can pineapple chunks. Open the can, drain into a cup, and use half the juice for this marinade. The other half of the juice you will use for cooking the rice (below). The pineapple chunks you'll use in the rice also.
1 tsp. salt
Ground black pepper

Cut the tofu into five slices. Cut each slice in half the long way, then cut it into 4 pieces. You should wind up with about 40 pieces of tofu. (In other words, you should get 8 chunks from one slice of tofu.) Throw those into a large zip-lock bag and add the above marinade ingredients. Refrigerate.

THE CRUST MIXTURE:
Using three bowls, place a couple handfuls of flour in one, 1 egg plus a little water in another bowl, and in the third bowl place 1 cup of Panko breadcrumbs, 2 Tbs. toasted sesame seeds, salt and pepper to taste. I buy the sesame seeds and toast them myself in a dry pan for a few minutes until browned.

Get some canola or another light oil hot in a pan, not olive oil. Place half the tofu chunks into the flour, stir to coat, shake off the excess flour. Then place the pieces into the egg/water mixture and stir to coat, then drop them into the third bowl of Panko/sesame seeds/salt and pepper. Fry on medium to medium-high heat, turning until nicely browned. Remove to paper towels to drain.  Repeat the process with the other half of the tofu, adding a little more oil to the pan if necessary. They turn out crispy on the outside, soft in the middle and just downright excellent.

THE RICE: 
Brown or white rice, you'll need 1 cup of raw, whichever you choose
1/4 cup or more of coconut, toasted in your toaster oven for a few minutes until nicely browned.
Pineapple chunks (from the can that you opened for the juice in the marinade)

I used brown rice. I made 2 cups of it, using mostly water and the rest of the pineapple juice to measure 2 cups of liquid for 1 cup of uncooked rice, and I added a few drops of sesame oil. Cook according to the package directions.

When the rice is done, remove it from the heat and stir in the pineapple chunks and the toasted coconut, reserving a sprinkle to garnish the entire plate. I chopped the chunks of pineapple smaller too.

You are ready to plate!  I am serving this with a simple saute of the three vegetables that I had on hand, but it certainly was a good choice; red pepper, yellow pepper, zucchini, a clove of garlic, salt and pepper. The combination of those vegetables was delicious, but you can use whatever you like or have on hand.

Listen kids, I know this sounds like a lot of work. It was. Nothing that a cocktail won't smooth out :-) The whole process was really NOT that serious. And the end result was well worth a bit of effort. If you just can't handle the thought of tofu, then there'll be no convincing you otherwise. For the rest of you, please try the recipe and then let me know what you think. If nothing else,  just leave me a note and let me know you stopped by.