Maduros Withdrawal (Fried Sweet Plantains)

Brown-Sugar-Baked Bananas with Rum and Lime

Fairtrade Recipes

Oh my goodness! I have been thinking about making baked or fried desserts, based solely on bananas, for a while now. After an extended stay in Miami Beach I am now hooked on Maduros...and the influence of my half-Cuban roommate, Cristina.
Now, the picture above does not represent what I'm craving, but it is a great recipe that I ran across and couldn't help but to post it!
This is maduros:

RIPE PLANTAIN CASSEROLE WITH STRING BEANS (a Dominican Republic dish)

[PASTELÓN DE PLÁTANOS MADUROS CON VAINITAS]

Via: Dominican Republic

Ingredients:

5 ripe plantains
5 eggs
1 can of evaporated milk
1 tablespoon of wheat flour
1 cup of grated cheddar cheese
** Salt to taste
** 4 cups of cooked string beans (marinated in advance)
Preparation:
Peel the ripe plantains and cut lengthwise (in strips). Fry them in hot oil and set them aside on paper towels. Mix the evaporated milk, cheese, eggs, flour and salt together.
Grease a mold and place a layer of ripe plantains on it. Then place a layer of string beans over it, then another layer of plantains, another layer of string beans, and so on.
Then pour the milk mixture in and spread grated cheese on the top. Baked in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes. Let cool and serve.

Day 10 - Cleansing - Monday Snow Day

For a mid-morning snack I cut up bananas and squeezed lime juice on them

(a happy accident that I discovered a few years ago) and then added blackberries.

Such a good, filling snack!

We bought two containers of blackberries at Sam's for a really good price

(compared to the grocery store).

This was quite a nice meal. My poor roommates just got back to the apt. from trekking in the snow and ice for nearly two hours. They got stuck at a friend's apt. the night before, due to snowfall. They were cold and wet (from the freezing rain) and, so when they arrived I cut up some veggies and put out some fruit as an appetizer to a warm meal. MK opted for her Dad's homemade vegetable soup. I re-created my Sunday night dinner for Cristina, lit an awesome Anthropologie candle and relaxed:

I was hungry every hour it seemed like. My body was just not satisfied with what has become the regular routine. I did my best not to go southward with sugary/carby things. This was my splurge:

Jalapenos Poppers.

I've actually never made these from scratch, but always wanted to try them.

My Daddy grows jalapenos so we have thousands of jars of pickled jalapenos, so this was easily obtainable for me.

I searched for a healthy alternative:

Baked, not fried.

Ground-up cereal (bran flakes),

although I used Panko breadcrumbs that I had in my pantry.

I didn't feel too bad about this "indulgence" because I only used 1 whole jalapenos and enough cream cheese and Parmesan for those two little halves.

I dunked the stuffed -'penos in eggs and then rolled it in the Panko. Also, I added garlic, salt, and pepper to the cream cheese mixture for the stuffing.

I baked at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

One important thing to note: I couldn't make it through half of the second one because my mouth was on fire.