Friday Night Dinner - Time to Catch Up

Friday night dinners are pretty low-key here at the Good Cook Doris house. We usually have something quick and easy, or if we're feeling especially lazy we'll go out for Indian or sushi. Last week's Friday night was the former.

We picked up some bagels, cream cheese and lox at the store. We had eggs and some parsley in the fridge for omelets. I thinly sliced up some red onion and cucumber to complete the lox platter. On the side was our typical Thursday and Friday reading - US Weekly, Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly and ESPN Magazine. By the end of dinner our heads were filled with a lot of useless pop-culture and sports information, and the knowledge that some people just wear it better than others (you US weekly fans will understand).

Have a great weekend!

When He Fends for Himself - Breakfast Edition

One of my favorite things about the weekend is that the hubby likes to make breakfast. His specialty is pancakes and French toast. He purchased an egg beater (two beaters with the hand crank) and enjoys mixing up the batter. I've had these photos of recent breakfasts and haven't had a chance to post them yet.

Since he's started experimenting more in the kitchen, he feels more confident in coming up with new flavors and twists on the standard pancake batter and egg-mixture for the french toast.

For the pancakes, he mixed in some vanilla extract for the twist. The pancakes were well done on the outside, but still nice and fluffy on the inside. A great breakfast served with warm maple syrup, a cup of coffee, and the Sunday comics.

The French toast was delicious. I had recently stopped into a local Brazilian bakery and bought something that looked like challah. It had a sugar glaze on top and we decided it would make great French toast. With the eggs, the hubby mixed in some vanilla and almond extracts and soy milk to give it a "nutty" (his words) flavor. The result was a sweet, almondy, well-cooked breakfast treat! We'll be adding this to the regular breakfast rotation.

Bananas + Chocolate + Marshmallows....a Perfect Dessert

I can't remember when I started making this - but it is one of my favorite ways to squeeze in a serving of fruit into my diet. It is up there with strawberry shortcake, chocolate chip banana bread, strawberry milkshakes, and other fruity treats.

If you're camping this is perfect for the campfire. At home you can use the grill, oven, or toaster oven (the microwave results aren't good). All you need is a banana, some chocolate chips, and some marshmallows. I think the mini-chips and mini-marshmallows work the best. Make sure you don't cut the banana too thinly, it will get too mushy. Heat up the oven, wrap it all up and in 10 minutes you have a delicious (and semi-nutritious) dessert!


Banana-Chocolate-Marshmallow Dessert
Serves 1

1 banana, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
A generous sprinkling of mini-chocolate chips (semi-sweet)
A good handful of fresh mini-marshmallows (and a few to eat while assembling)

Preheat the oven to 350 (or heat up the grill to medium-low)
Tear off a piece of foil large enough to wrap the banana loosely
Place the banana slices on the bottom
Sprinkle the chocolate chips and marshmallows evenly over the banana pieces
Seal up the foil, creating a tented top (otherwise the marshmallow will stick)
Cook for about 10 minutes, until everything is just melted and the banana is still firm
Unwrap and either transfer to a boil or eat right out of the foil