Tomato/Kale/White Bean Soup!

It's getting cooler in Norman, OK, FINALLY! I really wanted to enjoy some soup while the weather is cool, and I have been under the weather for the last week and a half. I love Kale, but I wasn't sure if Kale soup would be any good. Boy, was I wrong! This is delicious!

I found the recipe online, not remembering where exactly, but it's nice to find vegetarian and hearty soups/chilis for me and the boy. He can't eat much (I think it's horrible, but he enjoys his diet, and it's for his future success and career), so this was a winner!

Roasted Carrots

Well I just found my new snack! Carrots!

Taken with my iPhone because I wasn't expecting it to be as good as they were. Also I was starving and didn't want to waste time documenting it. Hah!

This recipe is super simple and is ready in 25 minutes. You just need four ingredients, and you'll probably just have to buy one!

3 Bean Chicken Chili

It's FALL! (Well, kind of) and I couldn't resist cooking up something for these upcoming cool nights. Last year I made turkey chili and couldn't find a recipe. So I just looked this recipe up and changed it up a bit. I wanted to use shredded chicken instead of ground turkey, but I bet it's just as good!

INGREDIENTS
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 small onion, chopped
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (16 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (4.5 oz) can chopped chilies, drained
1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, undrained
1 (15.5 oz) can black beans, undrained
1 (15.5 oz) can small red beans, undrained
2 tbsp chili powder

DIRECTIONS
1. Cook chicken and onions in a sauce pan until brown. To shred the chicken you'll want it to cook about 1/2 way and start piecing it apart with forks, then finish cooking it and sautéing the onions.

2. Place all of the other ingredients in a large pot along with the chicken and onion and let simmer for about 45 minutes on medium-high.

3. Top with cheese, onion, or whatever you like on your chili.

Banana Bread

Look at me! I'm blogging again! I was taking a break from a design project and went into the kitchen to find two bananas that had about seen their day. So I quickly found a banana bread recipe and whipped it up while eating lunch!

In my rendition of this recipe, I decided to spice things up with some cinnamon and semi-sweet chocolate chips. You can't go wrong with either, and it's so nice outside, I was feeling domestic and bakerly (yes, that's an adjective!) and wanted to be fancy with my ingredients!

INGREDIENTS
2 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 C butter
3/4 C brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 C mashed overripe bananas
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
Semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture until just combined. You can add the cinnamon and/or chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Blueberry Monkey Bread

Good Morning! I usually don't have time to eat breakfast, regardless, I still enjoy it! Maybe not at 8 when I wake up, sometimes I eat it on the weekend, like as we speak. I'm sitting at my desk with the windows open (it's cool outside!), a cup of coffee, and eating the monkey bread I'm posting on here. It's quite relaxing.

Look at these beautiful photos! Doesn't it look amazing? It's such a nice breakfast treat. It's not super sweet, it's not super heavy, which is how I like my breakfast. I have a tendency to get sick in the morning if I eat something too rich or heavy, my stomach can't handle it. But these are definitely a good trade off, I could eat these often! Oh, and this is called monkey bread, and I found the recipe here.

INGREDIENTS
2 - 11 oz. packages Pillsbury Thin Crust Pizza Dough
1/2 C strawberries
1/2 C blueberries
1 tbsp sugar
1 - 8 oz. package of cream cheese, room temperature
2 tablespoons sugar

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Spray an 11-inch spring-form pan with cooking spray and set aside.

2. Place all berries, cream cheese, and 1 tablespoon of sugar into the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth (about 1 - 2minutes).

3. Lightly flour a surface, and roll out a crust and spread evenly with the berry mixture leaving a 1" border around the edges.

4. Roll the dough up like a jelly log or cinnamon roll and cut them into 1 inch pieces.

5. Place each piece of dough into the spring-form pan, placing them close together. Sprinkle dough with remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar and bake for 35 minutes or until bread is lightly golden. Serve warm.