Due to a long wait at Red Bamboo (a place we enjoyed) Carmella, myself and 3 friends of ours decided to eat at Quantum Leap Natural Food. Located at 226 Thompson Street, Quantum Leap offers various vegetarian and vegan dishes at reasonable prices.

This popular NYU haunt has a fairly diverse menu that includes everything from humus to Mexican to spring rolls. I found the baby “rib” hero to be filling and tasty, and Carmella liked the chikin sandwich with fries. Our friend Mateo had an enchilada dish that looked really good!

Quantum Leap’s strongest point is their good service. The waitress was friendly and attentive. She even offered my friend Ana a free bowl of soup while she waited for her dinner. Quantum Leap is a good second choice eatery.

- Carlo

I just felt like making cookies tonight. I was also craving bananas. Then all of the sudden, banana chocolate chip cookies came to mind. So I did a search and came across this one from Recipezaar.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups flour (I used unbleached all-purpose flour)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup sugar (I used Splenda)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup walnuts (I omitted these)
• 1 cup mashed bananas

Notes: I also added 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder and 1tablespoon of peanut butter.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350,grease a cookie sheet.
2. Beat the butter& sugar, and then eggs until light.
3. Add bananas & vanilla extract, mix well.
4. Blend in the flour, salt, baking powder & soda until well blended.
5. Stir in nuts & chocolate chips.
6. Drop by spoons onto greased cookie sheets.
7. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

I only baked one dozen. I wrapped the rest of the cookie dough in parchment paper and placed it in a freezer bag. I may make more this week.

The dough is very light, almost like one for meringue cookies. While I was mixing, it had almost a marshmallow-y consistency.

Cookies have a great aroma, and taste like tiny banana bread loaves. YUM!

(taken with Carlo’s cell phone)

So today’s been a big cooking day. As I type, I have chili in the slow cooker. It should be ready by 11:30 or so. Carlo can have it for his lunch tomorrow. I hope it comes out good.

This morning, while checking our recipes, I came across this really cool one from Recipezaar. Who would have thought that William Shatner would writing recipes?!?!? So I thought I’d try it out, and I must say that it came out GREAT!!!

Here’s the recipe from the site:

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips

Notes: I used Splenda in place of sugar and International Coffee’s Italian Cappuccino coffee in place of espresso powder. I also used unbleached white flour, 1/2 teaspoon of organic cocoa powder and semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400° and grease muffin tins or line with paper baking cups.
2. Sift all dry ingredients together into a bowl.
3. Make a well in the center of the mixture.
4. Beat the egg together with the milk and the melted butter. Add the vanilla.
5. Add to the dry ingredients along with the chocolate chips and mix until just moistened.
6. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.
7. Bake until just done, approximately 20 minutes.

I’m going to freeze the muffins so we can have them during the week. They’re going to be awesome with a cup of Stumptown coffee!!

Happy Saturday Night!

- Carmella

They, whoever they are, say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. So why not get your morning started with a donut, served up by the Swedish Chef.

We can’t wait until we see the Swedish Chef take on an Iron Chef in Battle BORK! We think Mario Batali would be an awesome competitor. Who do you think would win in plating?

One to think on…

Have a great day!

- C+C Blogging Factory

While watching Project Runway, I was in the mood for peanut butter & jelly, but in sandwich form. I was scanning recipes online and came across this one on Allrecipes.com. I just tried it out, and it’s not that bad.

Since Carlo doesn’t dig jelly cookies, I split the batch between pb&j and pb&chocolate. Carlo tried both and liked them. Me? I thought they were just OK. I think I like them better with the chocolate than the jelly.

The pro of the recipe: They taste great warm!
The con of the recipe: When cooled, they were too dense for my liking.

I think if I melt the pb a bit before putting it into the mixture, it may come out a little better. I’m going to try to build upon the recipe over the weekend. Will post results.

BTW, my damned camera’s LCD display is busted. After 5 years, I think it’s time to get a new one. I had to use my cell phone to take a photo of the cookies I made.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup white sugar
Egg replacer for 1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons fruit preserves, any flavor

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a medium bowl, mix together peanut butter, sugar, egg replacer, and vanilla until well blended. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Use a fork to make a criss-cross pattern on the top. Make a small hole in the top of each cookie using the handle of a wooden spoon. Fill the holes with preserves.

Bake for 8 to 11 minutes in preheated oven. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Time for bed,
Carm