Nemo Blizzard Bites: banana cookies & popping corn

Unless you've been living under the sea, you must have heard of the notorious Nemo nailing New England. Because Governor Patrick of Massachusetts instated a driving ban and all subways in Boston were shut down in the afternoon, this is the second time in the past few months I was on lock down because of extreme weather conditions (see: Sandy). 

Nemo at about 12:30AM on 2/8/2013

So in light of the situation, Doug, Michael, and I were able to stay in and do some nutritious snack making! Both of the recipes below only require THREE ingredients each. Crazy, but true! But the craziest part of the entire situation is that neither Michael nor Doug has ever baked from scratch before. (Also, Doug has never seen a popcorn kernel pop before.) Therefore, as I was giving them instructions on how to lay down the cookies on the sheet, the sizing, the spacing, the timing... basically any aspect of baking, they were both pretty much in the dark. But, no worries! We ended up making a giant block instead of individual cookies, and then we sliced them into mini bars that were still quite addicting, as in we finished the entire tray once they came out of the oven and cooled. 

Chocolate chip banana oatmeal cookies

1. 3 very ripe bananas

2. 1.5 cups raw oats

3. 1/3 cup chocolate chips (or topping of your choice: pecans, walnuts, raisins, etc.)

1. Preheat the oven 350F. 

2. In a bowl, mash the bananas and fold in the oats. When even, mix in the chocolate chips. 

3. Using a greased pan, bake cookies for 15 minutes. 

OR

3. Using a greased pan, bake chocolate chip banana oatmeal block for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown on the edges. 

Verdict: They were definitely on the chewy side, but the recipe is so simple that I would do it again and alter the baking time to make them more crunchy. The best thing is that I was getting a load of fiber and not that much additional sugar (minus the chocolate chips)! And if you're too lazy to bake it, Doug enjoyed the mashed bananas and oats by itself without the baking. 

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So the next thing we made together was popcorn. Popcorn is tricky because it can burn very easily. Therefore you never want to be too ambitious and wait for every kernel to pop before taking it off the stove! Again, it requires only three ingredients, but we definitely had some fun mixing spices and added some black pepper and herb de Province to literally spice things up! 

Stove-top Popcorn

1. 1/4 cup popcorn kernels

2. 1.5-2 tbsp olive oil (enough to lightly coat the kernels)

3. salt or flavoring of your choice

1. Coat kernels with a light layer of oil.

2. In a deep pan, heat the kernels on medium/high. Make sure the lid (preferably a clear one) is on, but there is enough space for the steam to escape.

3. Watch them pop! And take them out when popping rate slows or when there are only a few kernels left. 

4. Drizzle on about a teaspoon of olive oil. Toss. 

5. Season with salt* or other spices.

*For those that are really going for a healthy snack option, skip the salt and try garlic powder, black pepper, paprika, or other spice options. Keep in mind that 1 teaspoon of salt is about 2,300mg of sodium, which is the recommended maximum intake per day. 

Post-Nemo at about 1:30PM on 2/9/2013