Banana Bread

Banana Bread

Bananas and I have never really been a good mix especially when I was younger. However, now in my mid 20's I have grown to enjoy the taste of bananas. I guess with age your taste buds develop too. Well, with that said I got this recipe from my old co-worker Blair and loved it! Hope you like it too!

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
7 large ripe bananas, mashed
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs, slightly beaten
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda

Makes two loaves of banana bread.

Directions

1. Cream the butter and sugar. Blend in the bananas, vanilla and   eggs.

2. Whisk together the dry ingredients.

3. Add to the bread mixture and mix until just combined. Pour into two greased 9x5 inch loaf pans.

4. Bake at 350F. Check on the bread after 35 minutes (it may take up to 60 minutes). Banana bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool the banana bread in the pan for 10 minutes then cool completely on a wire rack. Enjoy!!!

Posted by Alina Manning

Nectarine Pound Cake

So I gave in and used the oven. I just miss baking too much! At work, we have a client who gets "fruit of the month" from Harry & David and they always provide a recipe card along with the fruit. This month, he decided to give us the fruit so I took two nectarines and the recipe. The recipe is actually quite simple and easy and doesn't take very long to prepare. Sweat on...

Ingredients

2 nectarines

2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

2 tbsp. brown sugar, packed

3/4 cup butter or margarine (I prefer magarine)

1 cup white sugar

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

8 oz. non-fat lemon yogurt

1 egg

1 egg white

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease a 10 inch. bundt pan and dust with flour (Make sure to grease and flour well or else the nectarines will stick to the pan).

 Blend 2 tbsp. flour and brown sugar together; add nectarines and toss until well coated. Place the mixture in the bottom of the pan.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and white sugar. Blend in flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the vanilla, yogurt, egg, and egg white; beat for 3 minutes at medium speed.







Pour the batter over the nectarines and bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cake and cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Invert onto a wire rack and cool completely before serving. Serves 6-8.

Recipe courtesy of Harry & David

Made by Edit Issagholian

A Good 'Ol Pasta Dinner

I live at home so my mom does a lot of the cooking during the week since I get home pretty late in the evening from work. Even though this heat is unbearable, we needed something to eat for Monday lunch at work so I decided to make some pasta. Through the Cooking Light website, there is another option called "my recipes," which is a search engine for recipes. You can type in what ingrediatens you have and it will find recipes with those items. I like to use what we have in the fridge so we won't have to throw stuff out. In the search engine, I entered pasta, mozzarella, zucchini and found "Penne Rigate with Spicy Sausage and Zucchini in Tomato Cream Sauce." Now that's a mouth full for a recipe, right?! With a glass of vino, there is nothing like a pasta dinner (in my case pasta lunch at work, with no vino)!

Here are your ingredients:

8oz uncooked penne rigate pasta*

6oz hot turkey Italian sausage, casings removed**

12oz zucchini, quarted lengthwise and cut into 1/2 in. slices

1 1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. dried thyme

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper

3 garlic cloves, minced

Dash of sugar

2 tbsp. red wine vinegar

1 (28oz) can no-salt-added whole tomatoes

2 tbsp. heavy whipping cream***

Cooking spray

3oz part-skin mozzarella, shredded and divided (about 3/4 cup)

1oz Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, grated and divded (about 1/4 cup)

* I used whole wheat bow-tie pasta (didn't have enough penne)

** I used Hillshire Farm Turkey Smoked Sausage

*** I didn't have any at home so I skipped this (and the calories!)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°.

2. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain; set aside.

2.Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage to pan, and sauté for 5 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble (you can't really crumble the sausage I used so I just cut it into little pieces). Using a slotted spoon, remove sausage from pan. Wipe drippings from pan with a paper towel.

3. Add zucchini to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until crisp-tender, stirring frequently. Add oregano and next 4 ingredients (through sugar); sauté 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add vinegar; cook for 30 seconds or until the liquid evaporates. Drain tomatoes in a sieve over a bowl, reserving 1 cup tomato liquid. Crush tomatoes with hands, and add to zucchini mixture. Add reserved 1 cup tomato liquid; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove pan from heat; stir in cream. Add pasta and sausage to tomato mixture; stir to combine.

4. Spoon half of pasta mixture into an 11 x 7-inch glass or ceramic baking dish, or divide half evenly among 4 individual dishes coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle 1 ounce mozzarella and 2 tablespoons Parmigiano-Reggiano over pasta. Top with remaining pasta mixture; sprinkle evenly with remaining 2 ounces mozzarella and remaining 2 tablespoons Parmigiano-Reggiano. Bake at 375° for 20 minutes or until browned and bubbly.

ENJOY with some garlic bread and red wine!

Recipe courtesy of  Deb Wise, Cooking Light, October 2012

Made and Prepared by Edit Issagholian

No-Bake Fresh Strawberry Pie

This summer heat is quite dreadful especially when you don't have central air conditioning. Let me tell you, it gets hotter inside than out so my cooking and baking is on hold. While reading my May issue of Cooking Light on my Nook, I came across a "No-Bake Fresh Strawberry Pie" receipe. "No-bake" means no turning on the oven or stove, which means no extra sweat. On a Tuesday night after work, I picked up a few ingredients from Ralphs and headed home to start my no-bake dessert!

Ingredients:

25 chocolate wafers (such as Nabisco's Famous Chocolate Wafers) *

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

2 teaspoons canola oil

Cooking spray



Grounding the Oreos.



6 ounces 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup powdered sugar

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups frozen fat-free whipped topping, thawed

2 tablespoons seedless strawberry fruit spread

1 tablespoon Chambord (raspberry-flavored liqueur) **

1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 pound small strawberries, hulled and cut in half

*Even though this receipe calls for chocolate wafers, I used Oreos. If you want to use Oreos, 20 will be enough.

**For some reason Ralphs didn't have Chambord, so I didn't use it.

1. Place the wafers or Oreos in a food processor and process until finely ground. Place the chopped chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and microwave at HIGH for 45 seconds, stirring every 15 seconds. Add the melted chocolate and oil to the ground cookies and process until well combined. Using a 9-inch pie plate, press the mixture on the bottom and sides of the plate (spray cooking spray before if desired, I did not). Place in freezer for 15 minutes (20 minutes if using Oreos).

 

Mix in melted chocolate and oil.

 

Spread throughout the bottom and edges of pie plate.



2. Place the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Fold in whipped topping (make sure it's thawed). Spread the mixture over the bottom of the crust. Place the strawberry jam in the microwave on HIGH for 10 seconds or until softened. Add Chambord and lemon juice. Whisk until smooth. Add the strawberry halves and toss to combine. Arrange the berries over pie. Chill for 30 minutes before serving.    

                                         

  

Beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla.

 

Fold in whipped topping.

 

 

Add berries in Chambord, lemon juice, and strawberry jam mixture.



 

A refreshing summer treat with no baking!



Recipe courtesy of Ann Taylor Pittman, Cooking Light, May 2012  

Posted and Made by Edit Issagholian







Hello World, Meet Spicy and Sweet!

After 11 years of friendship surviving through high school, college, a career life and everything in between, we are taking it up a notch. Whether it's because of a life change or just the pure joy of cooking and baking, we are coming together as a team to share our most favorite recipes. The name Spicy and Sweet refers to the art of cooking and baking, by our definition at least. Our tagline "Homemakers in Training" came after about an hour of brainstorming on Google chat. As two Armenian girls, there comes a stereotype in our culture that women raise kids, cook, and clean all day everyday. Well, as women with career goals, we are not molding into that stereotype. Cooking and baking for us isn't a domestic chore, it's a way to express ourselves and truly enjoy the time in the kitchen. We, Alina and Edit, welcome you to our creative world of cooking and baking!







The beautiful Santorini.