I had an entire loaf of banana bread and no one around to eat it. Rather than just simply eat it slice by slice I wanted to try something different.  I had a craving for french toast so I figured why not try it with the banana bread? I made it a bit healthier than traditional french toast by not dipping it in egg but rather using soymilk and flour and topping it with fresh berry compote as opposed to syrup. If you’re not familiar with compote, think of it almost like a fruit stew; a bit chunky but still liquidy. I guarantee it’s just as good if not better than traditional french toast

Banana Bread (Note: I had already made this bread myself but you can also purchase from the store if you’d like — if you buy from the store skip down to the french toast instructions)

- 3-4 ripe bananas smashed (you know when it’s ripe when the outer peel is completely or nearly all brown)
- 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup melted butter (or unsalted margarine)
- 3/4 cup sugar (raw sugar or sugar substitute)
- 1 egg (egg substitute)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking soda
- dash of salt

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Using a mixer (or you can do by hand with a spatula/wooden spoon in a bowl) mix butter and mashed bananas. Add the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Then add all the dry ingredients: baking soda, salt and flour. Mix all ingredients together. Butter or spray non-stick spray to your load pan. Place in oven and bake for 45 minutes to an hour or until the bread passes the toothpick test. Then remove from oven and allow to cool. Remove from bread from pan and slice.

French Toast-ing
- 1 cup plain soy milk (or you can use vanilla)
- 1 tbsp all purpose flour
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- unsalted margarine

Heat a pan on medium-high heat. Melt some unsalted margarine in the pan. In a shallow dish add soy milk, flour and cinnamon. Gently whisk to incorporate flour into milk. Dip each slice of banana bread in soy milk mixture. Place each slice on buttered pan. Cook until golden brown and then flip over to other side. If you need to add more margarine continue to do so. Once both sides are golden brown remove from pan and plate

Mixed Berry Compote
- 1/4 cup fresh blueberries
- 1/4 cup fresh raspberries
- 1/4 cup fresh strawberries with the tops cut off and quartered
- 1/4 cup sugar (raw sugar/sugar substitute)
- 2 tbsp water

heat a small sauce pot on medium-high heat. Add berries and allow to simmer for 5 minutes. Add water and sugar and allow sugar to full absorb in the liquid. Cook for 2-3 more minutes to allow to thicken. Remove from heat an allow to cool for 1-2 minutes. Ladle immediately after on top of banana bread french toast & enjoy!

My friend Olivia recently started a blog Ohlivin! about her life in NYC and many of them contain a good amount about food.  I was rather inspired by this entry particularly the pasta dish. The though of a pistachio-lemon sauce to the pasta just sounded amazing.  I used Father’s Day as the perfect opportunity to try and create this dish since I am not in NYC and can’t order this.  I also found some big green bell peppers from our garden and decided to try my hand at making stuffed peppers. No meal would be complete without an adult beverage of sorts.  Both my parents are fans of wine however, I am not. The only wine based drink I like is sangria.  I noticed that we had an abundance of fruit in our kitchen as well so it was only natural I made some with white wine.

Farfalle in Lemon-Pistachio Sauce w/Peas

- 1 package farfalle pasta
- 1/2 cup finely ground pistachio (take unsalted pistachios and use a blender or food processor to grind down. I used a coffee grinder)
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tbsp lemon zest
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper to taste

Bring a pot of water to boil. Add farfalle and cook for 8-10 minutes or until al dente. Heat a sauce pan on medium heat. Add olive oil and ground pistachios. Make sure all the pistachios are covered in oil. The pistachios in the oil should create a paste. Allow that too cook for 1-2 minutes once paste is formed. Add cream, peas, lemon zest and parmesan cheese. Cook for another 2 minutes or so and salt and pepper then remove from heat.

Once pasta is done cooking strain it and immediately add fresh lemon juice. Quickly toss then add to sauce and serve.

Stuffed Green Peppers

Now I had never made stuffed peppers before nor had I ever even eaten one.  Instead of looking up ways to make stuffed pepper I just went ahead and winged it. It still turned out pretty delicious it just got a teensy bit messy so just a forewarning if you want to try this out.

- 1 8 oz. package cream cheese
- 1/4 cup chopped white mushrooms
- 1/4 cup white onion chopped
- 1 small garlic clove minced
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella/cheddar cheese (optional)
- salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Take each pepper and cut the top off. Take out center and seeds of each pepper and rinse. In a bowl combine cream cheese, mushrooms, onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Fold all the ingredients together (don’t worry about the onion and garlic being raw, they will cook in the oven). Scoop cream cheese mixture into each pepper until nearly to the top. Don’t fill it all the way to the top because you don’t want it to flow out of the pepper once it melts. Top each pepper generously with shredded cheese.

Place each pepper in a casserole dish. Place in oven and bake for 10-12 minutes or until cheese on top is a nice and crusty.

White Sangria

The great thing about sangria is that it’s extremely easy and you can virtually put in any kind of fruit you want in it.  It’s better though to prepare a couple hours in advance of your meal just to allow all the fruit to settle into the wine to really give it the sweet fruity flavor found in sangria. Here’s what I used:

- 1 bottle of white wine
- 1/4 cup sliced Granny Smith apples
- 1/4 cup sliced white peach
- 1/4 cup sliced pear
- 1/4 cup fresh raspberries
- 1/4 cup fresh blackberries
- 1/4 cup fresh strawberries
- 1/4 cup sliced nectarines
- 2 slices lemon
- 1/4 cup sugar

Combine all ingredients into a pitcher. Stir to make sure all sugar is incorporated. Let it sit for a couple hours in the fridge before serving.

Note: (I made this some time ago thus the crappy photo ha!) Also, this recipe is non-Vegan due to the boxed cake mix which includes non-fat milk. For the Vegan recipe click here.

Strawberries and lemonade two things that signify the start of summer. What’s more perfect then to combine the balance of sweetness and tartness into cupcakes topped with fresh strawberries? Recipe below:

- 1 box lemon cake mix (Duncan Hines/Betty Crocker whatever is your fix)
- water, vegetable oil, and eggs (egg substitute) according to cake box
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar (or sugar substitute i.e. Splenda — raw sugar for Vegans) (optional) – this is optional because the cake mix already has sugar however depending on how sweet the strawberries you are using are, the cake could lean more on the tart side. this is just for added sweetness
- 1/4 cup strawberries, pureed
- 18-24 slices of fresh strawberry

Frosting
- 1/2 cup cream cheese at room temperature (or 4oz of an 8oz pkge – you can also use light cream cheese here)
- 1/2 tsp grated lemon rind
- 2 tbsp pureed strawberries
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar (or sugar substitute)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl combine cake mix, water, oil and eggs. Once all ingredients are incorporated add strawberry puree. Fold in puree and taste batter. If it’s too tart add sugar.
Line cupcake tins with cupcake liners. Pour batter into lined cupcake tins. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes or until it passes the “”toothpick test”

While cupcakes are baking, put together the frosting. In a bowl combine cream cheese, strawberry puree, rind, and sugar. Fold all ingredients together and set aside.

Once cupcakes are done, remove from oven and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before frosting. Frost cakes and enjoy!

Makes 18-24 cupcakes.