Super easy chocolate-banana cream pie in a walnut crust

Visiting my friend Tristan, we made this fantastic pie!

When you live in Alaska and travel down to the Lower 48, you try to cram as much as possible into every trip.  I just attended a conference in Estes Park, Colorado.  Since I was in the neighborhood I decided to take a road trip around the Four Corners region, visiting friends in the area.  

Tristan, one of my best friends from high school, lives in Farmington, NM, and she said that she would bake a pie if I came to visit her.  I would have totally visited her without the promise of a pie, but that made it a totally sweet deal!

Tristan, me, Heidi, and Stacey hanging out at the Village Inn parking lot circa 1993

When I arrived, we discussed what type of pie we should make, and this is what we came up with: a chocolate pudding pie with bananas and whipped cream in a walnut crust.  

Chocolate-banana cream pie in a walnut crust

Crust

1.5 cups walnuts

3 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp butter

Filling

1 package Jell-chocolate pudding

2.5 cups milk

2-3 bananas

1/2 pint whipping cream

2 tbps sugar

Preheat the oven to 325˚.

In a food processor, add the crust ingredients and mix together.  Press into a 9 inch pie plate and bake for 10 minutes.  Let it cool completely.  We stuck the crust in the freeze to help it cool since it was about 95˚ degrees outside.

Add the chocolate Jell-O pudding mix to 2.5 cups of milk and mix with an electric mixer for 3 minutes until the pudding is firm.

Slice the bananas into 1/8th to 1/4 inch slices.

Whip the whipping cream with an electric mixer until you have firm peaks; mix in ~ 2 tbsp of sugar after the whipping cream is able to form firm peaks.

Once you have the crust, banana slice, chocolate pudding, and whipped cream ready to, start assembling the pie.

Begin by placing a layer banana slices over the bottom of the crust.

 

Pour the chocolate pudding over the banana slices; add a second layer of banana slices over the chocolate pudding.

Spread the whipped cream over the banana slices and top with any leftover banana.

 I'm not sure how well or long this cream pie will keep in the refrigerator; it was devoured fairly quickly!

Curried Red Quinoa Salad

So, I haven't posted any recipes for a few months since I've been busy finishing my PhD.  The good news is that I graduated this past weekend!

The sad news is that lately I haven't had too many culinary adventures... but now I'm excited to once again enjoy some of my favorite recipes and also try new recipes.

For my graduation, I celebrated in true Fairbanks style— with a potluck!  There were a number of people I wish could have joined, including my friends Karen and Markus. 

Karen finished her PhD last May, so they're off traveling the world for a year.  So far, they've backpacked around South America and bike toured around Europe.  They'll be back in Alaska for the summer, and you can follow their travels at http://2enroute.blogspot.com/

So, to include them at the potluck in spirit, I made a recipe that I received from Karen.  Originally it was a curried wheat berry salad.  One of the alternations I made to the recipe is that I substitute red quinoa for wheat berries to make it gluten-free.

Curried Red Quinoa Salad

Dressing
¼ c lime juice
½ c olive oil
1 ½  tsp curry powder
½  tsp cayenne powder
½  tsp cumin

Salad

2 c red quinoa

3-4 scallions (sliced thin)
1 c walnuts (chopped)
½ bunch cilantro (chopped)
1 c dried cranberries
1 tart apple (diced)

   
In a medium saucepan, add 2 cups of red quinoa with 4 cups of water.  Bring to a boil and then simmer until all the water is absorbed (~15 minutes).
 

After the quinoa is cooked, set it aside to cool. 

In a glass jar, mix together the dressing ingredients.

 

Chop and dice the scallions, walnuts, cilantro, and apples.

Add the salad ingredients and dressing to the quinoa.

Stir together ingredients and toss with the dressing.

(If not serving immediately, stir in cilantro and walnuts just before serving).

Serve cold or at room temp.

Quinoa, dried fruit, and almond granola

I came across a recipe for quinoa granola in a magazine a few weeks ago and thought I'd give it a try, but I wanted to alter the recipe to add in a number of things such as including oats and substituting in maple syrup... While oats are gluten-free, people who are quite sensitive to gluten should use gluten-free oats (such as Bob's Red Mill gluten-free oats) since most oats are processed in places that also process things with gluten and therefore may be contaminated with traces of gluten.

 

Today is one of those cold January days that is best spent at home—a perfect day to try a new recipe...

Xena and Kowie, the dogs that I’m housesitting, also agree.

Quinoa, dried fruit, and almond granola

Ingredients

1 c quinoa

2 c oats

1/2 c raw pumpkin seeds

1/4 c flax seeds

1/4 c raw, unsalted sunflower seeds

1 c raw almonds

1/4 c maple syrup

2 tbsp oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 c dried fruit (I used 1/4 c dried blueberries and 3/4 cup diced dried fruit mix included apples, peaches, apricots, prunes, and figs)

Directions

Rinse the quinoa with water and drain.

Add the quinoa and oats to a large mixing bowl.

Add the pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, and sunflower seeds.

Coarsely chop the almonds.

Add the almonds to the mixing bowl.

 

Mix together the maple syrup, oil, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt.  Pour liquid mixture over the other ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Spread evenly over a baking sheet.

Bake at 350° for 20 minutes, stirring every 7 minutes.

Cut up all the dried fruit to little bite-size pieces.

Pour the granola back into the (cleaned) mixing bowl.

Add in the dried fruit it in.

 

Store the cooled granola in an air-tight container.

The granola goes well with a dollop of yogurt.

Spaghetti squash with sausage and sun-dried tomatoes

I discovered spaghetti squash a few years ago after going gluten-free and really have fallen in love with this squash.  They're not that common in Fairbanks and seem hard to find at the grocery store most times of the year.... 

But today I made this really fantastic spaghetti squash dish with sausage, sun-dried tomatoes, and other delightful things.

I've been hanging out in the Mountaineer State for the past few weeks, and I've had a spaghetti squash sitting on the counter without really knowing what I was going to do with it.   When I went into the town earlier this week to the grocery store, I ended up doing some impulse shopping when I saw this sausage in the meat section.

(I'm ignoring that is has MSG in it since it has such an awesome drawing on the package)

The grocery store in Terra Alta is pretty small and carries the basics that you would expect at a small grocery store.  I've been on the lookout for any local products to try.  My first attempt at buying local was a bag of West Virginia apples.  I didn't even know that they grew apples is WV, but then I discovered why that was-- they ended up being pretty bruised and a bit mealy, but they made great applesauce... I had higher hopes for the Mountaineer sausage, and it turned out to be really tasty.

Spaghetti squash with sausage and sun-dried tomatoes

Ingredients

a Spaghetti squash (I used half of it for this recipe)

Sausage

a few garlic cloves

a sweet onion

½ green bell pepper

1 tsp oregano

½ c sun-dried tomatoes

1 tbsp olive oil

¼ c grated Parmesan cheese

salt & pepper

Directions

Spaghetti squash can be boiled, baked, or microwave.  I cut spaghetti squash in half, scooped out the seeds, placed it rind side up on a cookie sheet at bake it for about 30 to 40 minutes at 375° F. (You can also cook it whole by poking holes all over the squash and baking it for about an hour.)

Form the sausage into small balls.

Add the sausage to a pan over a medium heat.  I covered the sausage with a lid to reduce the amount of grease splattered.

Cook the sausage thoroughly, and then drain excess grease from the cooked sausage on a paper towel.

Remove the grease from the pan by pouring it into a heat-safe container for disposal.

Mince the garlic and add to the pan over a medium heat.

  

Dice the onion and add it to the garlic.

Chop the green bell pepper and add to the pan once the onions begin to brown.

When the bell pepper are cooked but still have a slight crunch left to them, add the oregano, mix together, and remove from heat.

Use a fork to separate the spaghetti squash into strands.

Scrape the flesh of the spaghetti squash into a large mixing bowl.

Add in the onion mixture, sun-dried tomatoes, olive oil, sausage, and Parmesan cheese.

Season with salt and pepper, if necessary.