My Favorite banana cake recipe

I was talking smack about Dorie's banana cake.  I said mine was superior.  Here's your opportunity to try it for yourself.  I've been making this cake since I was about 15.  I'm not even going to let you do the math to figure out how long ago that was.  It was the recipe that my brother's then girlfriend used.  It has become a staple.  I'm pretty sure that it's similar to any number of other banana cakes.  This one is just the one that works well for me.  Here it is:

Banana Chocolate Chip Cake

1/2 c. shortening (I use butter)

1 1/2 c. sugar

2 eggs

3 bananas  (you can mash ahead of mixing if you'd like)

1 t. vanilla

2 c. flour

1 t. baking soda

3/4 t. salt

1/2 c. buttermilk (or sour milk -- just add 1/2 t. vinegar to milk and let it sit)

12 oz of chips (I'll sometimes use a combo of chocolate, peanut butter, butterscotch or toffee)

Cream the butter and shortening in ONE bowl.  Add the eggs one at a time.  Beat well after each addition.  Add the bananas to the bowl.  (I rarely mash them first.  I let the mixer do it for me)  Add the vanilla.  I add 2/3 c. flour, the salt and soda and blend.  Then half the milk.  Then 2/3 c. flour, and then the rest of the milk.  Then I add the last bit of flour.  ONE bowl.  I throw in any combination of chips.  To keep them from sinking, you can add them when you add the last bit of flour.  It coats them a little.

350 degree oven.  Greased 13 x 9.  Pour it in.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.  Baking time really depends on the size of your bananas. Watch for the top to be a really nice golden brown.  I will occasionally frost this cake, but mostly I just eat it out of the pan.

This version has chocolate and butterscotch chips.  It's so moist that it needs to be eaten with a fork.  Or, you could just lick your fingers.  A lot.  

See the knife just waiting in the pan?  That's so I can cut off little pieces every time I walk by.  If I don't have a big piece, there are no calories.  

Here's a profile picture.  You can see the butterscotch and chocolate chips.  Mmmmm.

And another close up.  The edges get all brown and caramely.  Mmmmmm.

So give this one a whirl.  You won't regret it!  Well, maybe your hips will.....

Enjoy!

TWD: Black and White Banana Loaf

For me, banana cake is fast, easy comfort food.  It's sort of the equivalent to Mickey and Judy saying, "Hey, I've got a barn!  Let's put on a show!"  and everything comes together quickly, easily, and everyone's happy in the end.  I say, "Hey, I have black bananas, let's make a cake!"  And then I throw it all together in a bowl, bake it, and everyone's happy in the end.  Then I eat it.  Perhaps while I'm making myself sound old while referring to movies made a very long time ago.  Anyway, my point is, banana cake is quick, accessible, and delicious.  Except when it's not.

See, black banana.  Ready for baking.

Ashlee of A Year in the Kitchen chose Dorie's Black and White Banana Loaf.  It was a good cake.  It tasted fine.  It looked good.  I didn't have the underbaking problem that lots of other bakers have.  Here's why I won't make it again, though.  It was very fussy.  In reading the recipe, Dorie calls for four separate bowls.  Four.  Plus the loaf pan, measuring spoons, rubber spatula, measuring cup, paddle attachment, and either an insulated baking sheet or two regular baking sheets.  That's just too much.  For me anyway.  And for my husband who does the dishes.  

My favorite banana cake with chocolate chips uses one bowl.  One.  (I'll post that recipe later this week)

Ok, so fine, it uses a lot of dishes.  If it was amazing, I could say, "So what if it uses a lot of dishes.  It's amazing!"  However, it wasn't.  It was good.  For me, it didn't have enough banana flavor.  I over-bananaed it as well.  It called for one and a half bananas, I used two large bananas.  The chocolate wasn't strong either.  It was a little muddied.  Mostly I just tasted sweet.

Here it is all swirly and ready to go into the oven.

Not so swirly anymore.  

The beauty shot.

Maybe I'm just used to my favorite recipe.  I don't know.  I like the moist banana cake with a hit of chocolate from the chips.  It was good that I tried another version.  Now I'm convinced I have the best recipe in my files already.

Ah well.  Upward and onward.  Next week:  Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream chosen by Dolores of Chronicles of Culinary Curiosity.

Big bag 'o veggies and other scintillating stuff

Another big bag 'o veggies was dropped off on my doorstep on Friday.  This one has arugula, beets, collards, Italian parsley, peaches, green beans, and summer squash.

Unfortunately, we're not eating at home much this week.  I'm trying to figure out some things I can do.  I used a  little of the parsley with dinner Friday (Rice and Orzo Pilaf), but I'm not cooking a real dinner again until Wednesday.  Hmmmmm.  The husband likes beets.  Maybe I'll cook some of those up so he can take them to lunch or something.  

I bought a panini press on e-bay the other day.  (Odd side note -- my spell check recognizes e-bay but not panini)  Perhaps some sandwiches with arugula?  I'm a little done with the collards.  They really require bacon to taste good, and then it's just all about picking out the bacon pieces.  Alright, maybe I'll try once more.

It's been glorious weather here.  Sunny and slightly warm.  We've try to be outside as much as possible.  As much, that is, when the kids can be lured away from our various electronics.  

My rhubarb seems to be growing.  It's still kinda short, but I see a little new growth at the base.  Anyone know what to do with it over the winter?  I'll have to research. 

I made that microwave chocolate cake for one last night for the kids.  Ok, cake for two.  It had a good taste but an odd texture that they didn't enjoy.  I'm sure it's from the microwave.  And now that I look at the recipe again, it could be from the 2 T. of vegetable oil I forgot to put in.  Ooops.

That's all the news that isn't (Thanks, Garrison!)  I'll be back on Tuesday with my Dorie recipe.

TWD: Summer Fruit Galette

Michelle from Michelle in Colorado Springs  did me a big favor this week.  See, I've been doing a lot of baking.  A lot of baking = a lot of dishes = a slightly grumpy husband.  (Hi honey!)  So when I saw this, I breathed a sigh of relief.  Pssst.  Over here.  Don't tell.  I made this a few weeks ago and took pictures!  Wasn't that lucky!

When we made the blueberry pie, I discovered that I had a lot of dough left over.  Viola!  I made a galette.  I didn't strictly make the galette as Dorie had it written.  Let's just call it being creative.  It had nothing to do with lazy.

The crust was already made and had been in the fridge overnight.  I rolled it out on my Silpat, and then transferred it to a baking sheet.  I layered on some ginger rhubarb jam, some cookie crumbs, and then some strawberries.  I sprinkled on a little coarse sugar.

Here it is all pleated and ready to go into the oven.

And here it is, done, golden brown and delicious.  I ate it for dessert that night.  And then I'm pretty sure it was breakfast the next morning.

This is such a great way to use up extra dough and/or fruit.  Since it's free form, it's very forgiving.  I'd make it again in a heartbeat.  One of these days I'll try the official version with the custard.

Coming next week:  Ashlee of A Year in the Kitchen chose the Black and White Banana Loaf.  Again, really good timing!  I have bananas that are begging to be baked.

David Lebovitz is a genius

I had plenty of left over cherries from last week's Dorie recipe.  And while I have been eating a lot of them, I needed to find a recipe for the rest.  As stated last week, I don't like baked cherries.  So, what to do?  Enter David Lebovitz and his No-Recipe Cherry Jam  This stuff is amazing!  I followed the no recipe, and it actually turned out!  I had to test it four different times until it was done.  Now I know what it looks like, so I'm set if I want to make it again.  My only question is, can I do this with other fruit?  I have no pictures because I was busy stirring, but if you go to David's website and check out the recipe, mine looks exactly like that.  Exactly.

The big bag 'o veggies for the week is pretty much gone!  I made home made coleslaw yesterday using a recipe from America's Test Kitchen.  It was meh.  It wasn't nearly creamy enough, so I ended up dumping some ranch dressing that I had made into it.  Still meh but with a ranch taste.  The chard was cooked with bacon, so, that was good.  According to Jim Gaffigan bacon is the BEST FOOD EVER.  I tend to agree.

I'm ready to post all about my galette.  See you tomorrow!

I'm behind. It's two week's worth of big bag 'o veggies.

I realize that I never talked about last week's veggies.  That's because I didn't really end up using them.  I didn't cook a lot this past week.  And these veggies didn't hold a lot of appeal for me.  Last week's offerings:  arugula, beets, chard, saute mix, fennel, and Korean zucchini.  I'm actually getting around to the zucchini tonight.  I think I'll toss a little fennel into our salad as well.  The rest of them, I think, are a little wilty and meant for compost.  Sorry.

This week was much more useful to me.  We got broccoli, cucumber, cabbage, basil, chard, and blueberries.  The broccoli and cucumber are going to be part of tonight's dinner.  The blueberries gave their little blue lives to make blueberry sour cream ice cream.  I'm growing basil, so we are long on basil.  I may toss a little into tonight's salad and then make pesto with the rest.  It freezes nicely.  I'm also growing tomatoes this summer.  Now all I need is a little mozzarella, and I'm set.  Can I grow that?   The chard and cabbage look to be on the menu Sunday.  Maybe I'll try some home made cole slaw.  I've never done that before. 

Tonight I'm hosting my friends for scrapbooking.  It seems that I only scrap anymore when people come to me.  Someone in my house might say that that's because I have too much scrap crap.  Of course, I don't agree.  There's no such thing as too much.  So what if I'm two years behind...

On another crafty note, I recently finished a sweater that I started in May.  I'll take pictures soon and show you all my handiwork.

Have a lovely weekend.  

Cookie Carnival: Blackberry Almond Bars

I couldn't help it.  I saw this beautiful ferris wheel of cookies on another blog, and I just had to have it for my own.  So I joined another group.  This time it's Cookie Carnival.  We make a new cookie every month.  Mmmmm.  More baking!  And more dishes!

This month was a recipe from Williams-Sonoma.  It looked to be a standard shortbread bar with a fruit topping a la lemon squares.  Those I've made a zillion times.  I thought this wouldn't be much different.

The crust.  I can't stop talking about the crust.  It had just a touch of almonds, and the buttery taste was outstanding.  I really liked it with the blackberry curd.  I think this is my new go-to crust recipe.

I will say that the curd was a little fussy.  I used frozen berries because they are very reasonable at Trader Joe's.  They needed to pureed, strained, cooked (for 8-10 minutes, stirring constantly), and strained again.  The flavor was delicious.  I think, however, that I won't be making the blackberry curd again any time soon.  The crust, though, I have been dreaming about.  There are so many choices for toppings spinning through my head.

My food photography, as always, leaves a little something to be desired.  

Here's a yummy cross section.  There's that golden delicious crust.

Here's the finished product.  A little confectioners sugar made it look all pretty.

Until next month!

TWD: Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler

I love rhubarb.  I think my love of rhubarb has been well documented on this blog.  Thank you Amanda from Like Sprinkles on a Cupcake for choosing something with rhubarb in it.  I like raw cherries.  I enjoy popping them in my mouth and spitting out a denuded pit.  I do not, however, really enjoy baked cherries.  Still, I love rhubarb, so I was hopeful that I would love this cobbler.  While it's not bad, I didn't love it.

Cherry carnage.  My cutting board looked like a crime scene.

Mmmmm.  Rhubarb.  And cherries.  Mmmmm.

It was, certainly, simple to make.  You mix up some fruit, dump it in a pan, mix up some dough, distribute it over the fruit, and bake.  Easy!    I did not roll the dough into 20 little balls and lay them in a 4 x 5 grid.  I crumbled.

I will note, though, easy as it was, I still managed to screw it up a little.  I took it out after the recommended baking time.  It was golden and delicious looking.  I snuck a little bite of the crust and fruit.  The crust under the golden brown and delicious was still slightly raw, and the fruit had not cooked all the way.  Here's where I did something crazy.  Something I know never works.  Hours after I had originally taken it out of the oven, I put it back in and baked it some more.  You know what?  It worked.  The crust was baked through.  The juices had thickened.  It was ok.  It was even better with the caramel toffee ice cream, but that's another post.

See, golden brown and delicious.

Up close, golden brown and delicious. 

Here it is finished and looking pretty.  It's still raw.  More of my famous trick photography!

I don't have "after" photos from the second baking.  It was a much deeper brown and the juices were very syrupy.  It was still slightly bland tasting.  I still go with my contention that the dough is meant to act as sort of a sponge for the juices and is, therefore, meant to be bland.  But that doesn't mean I have to like it.

This recipe isn't going to be added to my "go to" list.  I enjoyed the other cobbler that we made much more than this one.  And I still have my favorite baked fruit recipe, which I will one day bake, show you all, and share the recipe.

Next week is a sort of a rewind for me.  Michelle from Michelle in Colorado Springs has chosen the Summer Fruit Galette, which I baked up a couple of weeks ago.  I may just re-post my pictures.  Shhhhh.  Don't tell.  

It's a great day!

Today is national ice cream day.  You have my permission to eat as much of the stuff as you'd like.  I'll even throw in the chocolate sauce and brownie for free.

You're welcome.

Just some food notes from the week

Here's some food stuff.  See!  I said I'd get back to food writing!

1)  Red kale isn't as good as green kale.  Or, at the least the way I made it this time wasn't as good as last time.  It was too chewy.

2)  4 cups of half & half + 1 can of dulce de leche + 2 teaspoons of vanilla + a dash of salt + half a bag of toffee bits = the most amazing ice cream.  Just mix, chill overnight, and churn.  YUM!  Caramel ice cream was the boy's choice for this week.  It's a good one!

3)  I finally am starting to like salmon.  Specifically, salmon on the grill.  I am not a fish eater, so this is a breakthrough.

4)  Mashed sweet potatoes with a little butter, salt, pepper and maple sugar is really tasty.

5)  Chocolate pudding that doesn't set makes for a nice ice cream when you put it in the freezer to decide what to do with it later and then pull it out and just start spooning it into your mouth.  And then your kids come along and decide they want some too and everyone is putting spoons in at the same time and it turns into a spoon war.  Which Mom will always win.  A little chocolate carnage later, we were all happy.

6)  Our big bag 'o veggies is going up $3 a week starting in August.  We decided to keep it because it's been a fun exploration.

7)  Have a nice weekend!

This just cracks me up

Ok, so mostly my posts are about food.  But this video, actually there are now two, made me laugh out loud.  The writing is hysterical.  The cast is magnificent.  There's even singing and dancing.  What more could you ask for.

If you have a little time to kill, you must go watch this.  

I'll get back to food writing soon.  Because food is important.  Very very important.

TWD: Chocolate Pudding

Mmmmm.  Chocolate.  Mmmmmm.  Pudding.  How can you miss with creamy, chocolatey goodness?  Well, let me tell you how.  

You take wonderful premium ingredients.  You use your mega food processor.  You stir and stir and stir.  You put it in the fridge.  And then, you serve chocolate soup.

I'm not sure what happened.  I tweaked a tad, but I can't figure how my one ingredient change would have stopped it from setting up.  I used Lindt Excellence Intense Orange.  (not endorsing the website, just using them for an example).  It was only a 3.5 ounce bar, so I finished out the rest of the five ounces with chocolate chips.  The other change I made was out of laziness.  I just dumped the finished pudding into one big bowl instead of individual ramekins.  It was chilled overnight, so it did have plenty of time to set up.  I followed the directions on the stir time just before the last whirl in the processor, but perhaps I could have gone longer.  See how it actually looks pudding-like.  Trick photography.  And yes, that is Cool Whip on top.  Or Cool wHip if you are Stewie.

On the plus side, soupy though it was, it tasted amazing.  The boy wasn't so fond of the orange/chocolate combo, but the rest of us loved it.  The girl and I finished the boy's dessert.  The girl even asked for it after dinner tonight.  The husband and I brainstormed some other options which included pouring it over pound or angel food cake, dipping fresh fruit into it, or just eating it with a spoon.  We're still debating.  

I will try this again using plain chocolate, ramekins, and a longer stirring time.  We'll see how it goes.  Thanks Melissa for choosing this recipe.  Oh!  And Dorie actually has this one online so you can try it out for yourself.  

Coming up next week:  Amanda from Like Sprinkles on a Cupcake chose Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler.  Yeah!  Rhubarb!  I love rhubarb!

Back to our big bag 'o veggies

And some other stuff.  Of course, all without pictures.  I gotta get on that.

And this week we have:  cherries, red kale, zucchini, lettuce, and parsley.  Other than the red kale, it's all easy and familiar.  The recipe that was included in the bag for the kale is, of course, with bacon.  Maybe I'll give it a try tonight.  The cherries are going to be eaten out of hand.  I can't resist.  The zucchini will be part of a Martha pasta dish that I love.  It calls for asparagus, but I'll use the zuchs.  Also on the menu, the chocolate pudding from TWD.  I'll let you know all about it on, you know, Tuesday.

Last week's ice cream, picked by the husband, was Dorie's Honey Peach Ice Cream.  It was divine.  I changed it up a bit and used buttermilk instead of whole milk.  I thought that with the sugar, honey, and peaches it might be too sweet.  Plus, I didn't have any more whole milk and didn't want to go to the store.  I liked the tang.  The husband thought it was a little too much like yogurt.  Maybe half buttermilk half whole milk next time.  

We've been enjoying some glorious summer days here.  That is, when it's not raining.  The kids want to go to the pool pretty much every day.  The boy plays tennis two afternoons a week, so the girl and I hang out at the park while he runs around.  We've been biking and scootering.  I planted some tomatoes, rhubarb, and strawberries.  We have tomatoes!  The rhubarb will hopefully make it through, and we'll have it for next summer.  The strawberries, well, RIP.  Today is the Lego Lady at the library.  I get to go to an art fair in the park while the husband hangs out at the library and reads.  Then tonight, it's a Jane Austen movie fest with some girlfriends.  Aaaaah, summer.

TWD: Double Crusted Blueberry Pie -- and a bonus!,

I have to admit that I was never a big fan of blueberry pie.  Apple?  Delicious.  Key lime?  Love it.  Banana Cream?  Heavenly.  Blueberry?  Meh.

Boy o boy am I singing a different tune!  I loved this pie.  Amy of South In Your Mouth, thank you!  

The crust came together very easily.  I made it the night before our Independence Day barbecue.  I had all the ingredients on hand for the crust, which made it that much easier.  The tiny bit of prep that I did early in the day was to cut the butter and shortening and put it in the freezer.  I did mine in the food processor.  I always leave it a tiny bit crumbly.  I figure that I can add more water if I need it.  The disks went into the fridge for the actual pie day.

I did have a little adventure with the crust.  I bought one of those "rolling bags" that Dorie talks about.  It's a zippered clear plastic bag that is about 11" in diameter.  It was a learning experience.  At 11" with the amount of dough that I had, it was pretty thick.  It's an easy fix for next time.  Don't use as much dough.  I also like a little more overhang, but for a standard 9" pie pan it would have been fine.  Did I mention that I had a little extra dough?  The crust went into the fridge, and I made the filling.

The filling posed no problems.  Though, next time, I would do the steps a little differently.  I would rub the lemon zest and sugar together and toss the berries with the lemon juice.  I dumped in the lemon components with the sugar and flour per the instructions.  There was an occasional pocket of lemon sugar.  Live and learn.  I also forgot to use the bread crumbs, but it didn't seem to make a difference.

I filled the crust, put on the top crust, and sealed the edges with a fork.  Then I got creative.  Instead of a hole in the center, I would do a star!  It is the 4th after all!

Ok, star, scottie dog, whatever.  

Here's the finished version.  Yum!  The crust baked up golden and flaky.  The blueberry filling was nicely jelled without being gummy.  

I have no photos of a sliced pie because it disappeared so quickly.  Once it landed on the dessert table at the party, it was like there was a locust invasion.  I grabbed a piece for myself and got out of the way.  Yes, I'm bragging.  It was that good!

Here's the bonus:  Remember when I said there was leftover dough?  It was enough for a strawberry galette.  I took a couple of Dorie's recipes and combined them.  I rolled out the dough, spread it with rhubarb ginger jam, and then layered on strawberries that I had tossed with brown sugar.  I folded up the dough into pleats and popped it into the oven.  It was amazing as well.  I'll be sure to make the full dough recipe next time I make a pie so that I will have leftovers.

Not sure of next week's recipe.  I'm making peach honey ice cream from the book for my husband's ice cream choice.  Check back soon, and I'll have the update!

Edited to add:  Melissa from It's Melissa's Kitchen has chosen chocolate pudding.  Mmmmm.

What I've cooked and what's coming up

I never think about photos of my food until I head to write a blog entry.  So this will be a photo-less entry.  Use your imagination.  Please.

This past weekend was my anniversary, so there was lots of eating out.  I finally cooked again on Monday.  I reached into my big bag 'o veggies and pulled out the garlic scapes, lettuce,  and the collard greens.  I put some chicken sausage on the grill.  I made a salad.  I sauteed a little bacon (remember, it's the law) and put in the scapes and the collards.  Now, while I wouldn't have purchased the collards on my own, we decided that it was pretty good.  I'll amend that to say the adults thought it was pretty good.

Tonight's dinner was courtesy of Robin from Made With Love.  She's a TWD blogger.  I found this recipe when I was trolling for Dorie entries.  I will agree that it was quite good.  I ended up broiling because there was another monsoon in Chicago.  I rounded out the meal with zucchini pancakes and corn on the cob.  Very summery.  Dessert was the girl's pick for ice cream.  It was from the Ben and Jerry cookbook.  Chocolate ice cream with gingersnaps.  Mmmmmm.  It was delicious.  The husband chose peach for the next round.  I'm on the hunt.  Anyone have a good recipe? 

I'll be eating plenty of treyf this weekend.  Friday is the pulled pork shoulder, and Sunday is rib fest in Naperville.  

Happy Fourth to one and all.  I'll be back with berry pie on Tuesday.

TWD: Apple Cheddar Scones

We were pretty excited at my house when Karina of The Floured Apron chose these scones.  First off, I really enjoy a good scone.  I make them occasionally, but now I have even more reason to make them more often.  My husband is a New England boy.  He tells me whenever I have apple pie that I should add a nice slice of cheddar to it.  I've seen him order an apple and cheddar omelette.  I knew this was right up his alley.

These came together incredibly easily.  I actually had all the ingredients on hand.  That included buttermilk and dried apples.  I chose to make the drop version because, quite frankly, it was easy.  I would say my only mistake was using a pre-grated cheddar cheese.  I have some eight year old cheddar that I thought about grating up.  But then I thought again.  It's too good for cooking.  Next go round, though, I'll use a stronger flavored cheddar.  And believe me, there will be a next go round.

The apples on the surface did brown a little quickly, but I liked the toasty taste.  They are best eaten the day they are made, but they were still pretty respectable two days later out of the toaster oven.  

Here it is just out of the oven.  Mmmmmm.

  

Here it is plated and seemingly upside down.  I can't get the Image Browser to cooperate with me.

Well, from any angle, it was delicious!  (See how I worked that in.  Made my mistake seem clever)

Next week is perfect for this weekend's festivities.  We'll be making and serving up Double Crusted Blueberry Pie.  Thanks Amy from South in Your Mouth for the choice.

What to do with the big bag 'o veggies and other random thoughts

Friday's big bag was another BIG bag.  Lots of leafy greens again this week.  We have collards.  Almost every recipe I've seen contains bacon.  I think it's a law that you must cook collards with bacon.  Who am I to break the law?  Garlic scapes look like curly ribbon without the ridges.  Not sure what to do with those.  Maybe I'll cook them with the collards and bacon.  We have more lettuce and curly kale this week.  I'm not sure how curly kale is different from regular kale.  I'm pretty sure that one won't get eaten, however.  More cilantro!  That's a big yum for me.  I think I'll make more pesto and freeze it in an ice cube tray.  Since I'm the only one who really liked it, I'll make individual servings.  Last in our big bag were beautiful strawberries.  We've just been rinsing those and eating them out of hand.

I haven't done too much cooking in the past week.  Lots of nights out (tennis, t-ball, dinner with the girls, my anniversary --10 years, woo hoo!)  With the holiday weekend coming, there won't be a whole lot of cooking coming up.  The bag 'o veggies was to be delivered on Tuesday instead of Friday, so this week we cancelled.  It'll give me a chance to catch up.

A friend of ours made Alton Brown's smoker.  (Can't find the link.  Sorry!)  Every year, he makes pulled pork from a pork shoulder.  I made a deal with him this week.  I'll go to Costco and get the pork if he'll smoke it for a BBQ in the 4th.  Mmmmmm.  Smoked pork.  Mmmmm.

I made some strawberry rhubarb ginger ice cream the other day.  It was pretty tasty.  If I was to make it again, I'd make a few changes to the recipe.  But isn't that how things work?  We've figured out a rotation for choosing ice cream flavors to make.  Since I'm the cook, I chose first.  The girl gets the next choice.  Hers is chocolate ice cream with crumbled ginger snaps in it.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

Monsoon/hurricane season is back in Chicago.  To celebrate our anniversary, the husband and I stayed at the hotel where we were married in Evanston.  There was an art fair there this weekend.  A freak storm blew in and injured six people and destroyed lots and lots of art.  At least one of the potters lost everything.  Ouch.

I'll be back on Tuesday for my TWD post.  Until then.

One (of the many) reasons I could never host a cooking show

I am a scraper.  I scrape every last bit off the beaters, spoon, and bowl.  Every.  Last.  Bit.  It pains me when I watch a cooking show, and they pour the batter into the pan (or whatever) and just put the spoon in the bowl and dump it in the sink.  They are leaving so much deliciousness behind!

This is also why I like deglazing pans.  Nothing goes to waste!  And then, of course, I scrape out all the saucy goodness onto whatever I cooked.

I'm pretty sure I own at least a half dozen rubber spatulas.  You can never have too many!  I even have a special rigid plastic scraper for the ice cream maker.

John, Martha Stewart's baking guy;  he's a scraper, too.  Maybe I could bake with him.  

TWD: Mixed Berry Cobbler

Beth of Our Sweet Life chose Dorie's Mixed Berry Cobbler.  I love me a good berry dessert.  I was a little apprehensive because of some of the comments from the other bakers.  I had heard that the topping was bland and too thick among other things.  I used some of that information and was able to turn out a pretty good product.

Dorie's original recipe calls for frozen berries.  I had some frozen and some fresh, so I did a mix.  I added ginger and cinnamon to the crust.  I sprinkled coarse sugar on the crust before baking.  It was thumbs up all around.  I made a half recipe and baked it in two little loaf pans.

It's hard to tell, but that's a 4 x 6 pan.  The crust looks golden brown and it smelled wonderful.   While it was a little thick, it was tasty enough that it didn't bother us.  The berries cooked up nicely, and the juice was thick and syrupy.  It was nice to be able to swish the crust around and pick up more of the berry juices.

We did enjoy it.  I'm not sure that I'm rushing out to make it again, though.  I have another recipe that I like better for for frozen berries.  Though, in the middle of winter, this might be a welcome touch of summer.

Up next week:  Apple Cheddar Scones chosen by Karina of The Floured Apron

Using up some stuff

Yesterday I decided to use up some of my veggies and a few other things I had hanging around the house.

Remember the ice cream with the six egg yolks?  (Which, on a side note was devoured by my husband's friends.  Thank you for saving my hips!)  That left me with six egg whites.  And did I mention that I have a pound of vanilla?  Naturally, that led to meringues.  I did a search.  Thank you internet!  I found a recipe for vanilla bean meringues.  I made those.  They were yummy.  (Another side note: I just realized that I forgot to add the liquid vanilla.  Hmmmm.)  They taste just like a crunchy toasted marshmallow.  Considering I'll be making more ice cream, I'm sure there will be more meringues as well.  They didn't puff up a whole lot, but that could be due to the oil content in the vanilla beans.   The link for this recipe is in the previous post.

Next up is the kale ragout.  The husband liked it.  The kids and I felt it was a little too bitter.  I'm glad to have tried it, but I don't think I'll be making it again.  Also from our big bag:  asparagus on the grill.  There's not much better.

The final effort is homemade vanilla extract.  I have an abundance of vanilla beans.  And I had a bottle of Absolut Citron that has been in my freezer for an inordinately long time.  It's never been opened.  Can you tell I'm not much of a drinker?  You just pour it in a jar, split open some beans and drop them in.  Keep it in a cool dry place, and in six or eight weeks I should have some interesting orange vanilla.  Here it is on day two.  I'll keep letting it steep and post pictures every once in a while.

Next post:  Tomorrow is a TWD!  I have reports, photos, and next week's treat!

And here's another big bag 'o veggies

Here we have another Friday and another big bag 'o veggies.  And this week it really was big.  The last of the asparagus was delivered.  There was some more salad mix and a little bit of spinach.  New for this week were peas, pea vines, and kale.  Kale is huge!

The pea vines and kale threw me a little.  Unfortunately, the pea vines were a little slimy, so even had I known what to do with them, they were mostly unusable.  The kale is a little tricky.  Almost every recipe I've seen calls for a soup, stew, or pesto.  None of these are especially summery dishes.  The pesto would not make it past the lips of the boy or girl.  I know I'd get a "I like it, but it's not my favorite" at best.  I found this recipe that I thought might work.  I'm planning on serving it with a little grilled chicken.  We'll start with salad greens and I'll use the asparagus as well.  Woo hoo!  Three items in one meal.  I'll just snack on the peas.  Yum!

I'm using some of my vanilla beans and those six egg whites left over from the ice cream to make these.  I'll let you know how that turns out as well.

Oooh, and I used some of last week's chives to make Chive Cheddar Scones.  I found this recipe, and used chives instead of scallions.  I also cut it in half, because six scones was plenty.  They were eaten fairly voraciously.  I'll be making them again.

Some meals and musings

We're working our way through the bag 'o veggies.  On Monday night, I made a favorite side dish with a little twist.  It's a warm caramelized onion and lentil salad.  (recipe below)  I  got the recipe from Trader Joe's.  It's delicious and actually good for us.  And, at least the girl will eat it.  This time, I added some of the spinach.  I really liked it!  We also ate some of the salad greens as, you know, salad.

Tonight's dinner contained more salad greens and the turnips.  I never would have believed that I would eat turnips.  I roasted them with green beans, oil, salt and pepper in high heat.  They were great!  I'm pleased that we're discovering new foods (for us) and actually enjoying them.  Again, the girl ate them.  The boy not so much.

What they both discovered that they'll eat is coffee ice cream.  I bit the bullet and went whole hog.  And the whole nine yards and any other cliche I can think of.  I used six egg yolks, one cup of heavy cream, and two cups of whole milk to make this recipe.  Yes, there is certainly a difference in texture.  It was so smooth and silky and wonderful and I could have eaten the whole thing.  I limited us all to one small scoop.  Too much more would not have been good for our hearts.  

I used the strawberries from the big bag for the pound cake last night.  I must say I was a little disappointed texture-wise.  The taste of the cake was wonderful.  It was just a little drier than I would have liked.  It was at the short end of the baking time, and I know my oven temp was right on.  Anyway, with the strawberries and juice and Cool Whip (yes, Cool Whip), it was a wonderful treat.  I have a "go-to" pound cake recipe that I think I'll stick with.

Caramelized Onion and Lentil Salad

8 ounces lentils cooked according to directions (T J's sells this already cooked)

2 large onions, sliced

2 T. butter

1 T. oil

2 T. tomato paste

1 1/2 c. chicken broth

dash cayenne (I usually omit this.  Too spicy for the kids)

salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onions low and slow in the butter and oil until they are a beautiful caramel color.  Add the tomato paste and chicken broth. (and in this past recipe, one pound or so of cleaned spinach leaves)  Let the broth cook down at a medium simmer until it is slightly syrupy.  Add the lentils back in.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve hot or warm.

Enjoy!

TWD: You just need a little imagination

Well, I did end up baking, but I went back to the archives.  I need a dessert for tomorrow, but I really only wanted one step.  Don't get me wrong, the Peppermint Cream Puff Ring will be on my table one day.  Just not this one.

Instead, I made the Perfection Pound Cake.  Here it is just after it came out of the oven:  

Mmmm.  It's golden brown on the outside and it smells heavenly.  Here it is all wrapped up so it can "ripen" as Dorie recommends.

Now, tonight it will be sliced into slabs and covered with fresh strawberries macerated in a little sugar and an alcohol to be named later.  I will also put just a dollop of whipped cream on top.  I will not, however, have pictures.  It might be a little hard to explain to our hosts why it is I'm whipping out my camera and stopping everyone from enjoying the goodness.  

Never fear, though.  Next week I will be right back in the saddle.  The chosen recipe is Mixed Berry Cobbler.  YUM!  Thank you to Beth of Our Sweet Life for choosing the yummyness.

A new big bag 'o veggies and some other stuff

Whew!  I made it through the weekend.  It was a great one with lots of family and food, but I'm exhausted.  Friday night was a Shabbat service and family dinner of delicious Middle Eastern food.  Saturday started early with photos, and then my nephew's Bar Mitzvah.  He was fabulous, by the way.  A wonderful luncheon followed with some amazing desserts.  Another family dinner Saturday night with Italian food.  This morning was a brunch with some of the best bacon I have ever eaten.  Being Father's Day, dinner tonight was more meat.  I'm not sure that I need to eat for the next few days.  I'm pretty sure I consumed enough calories for the next week or so.

Good thing I have my veggie bag to counteract some of the cholesterol.  This week's offerings:  strawberries, salad mix, lettuce, salad turnips, chives, and spinach.  The salad mix and spinach will be part of dinner tomorrow.  I'm grilling lamb chops, so we'll try the mint honey that I made a few weeks back.  I'm percolating ideas for the rest of the veggies.

The strawberries will be used to top Dorie's poundcake.  It's how it will be a TWD this week.  We're out for dinner on Tuesday, and I can bake it on Monday.  Apparently, it gets better with age.  I'll post more about that on Tuesday.

A report on the banana ice cream -- first of all, there was a huge amount of the mix.  I didn't use it all, and it almost overflowed my ice cream maker.  I used the half and half from the last ice cream attempt also in place of heavy cream.  Again, we could taste the iciness.  I may have to bite the bullet and use the real stuff.

Hope all the dads out there had a nice day.  I'm missing mine something fierce.

Where I reach into my big bag 'o veggies

In our last two dinners, I used every last ingredient from my big bag 'o veggies!  Yes, I did!  Woo hoo!  I think it's the first time I've used everything.  We don't need to talk about the parsnips that are still in my vegetable drawer.  

Dinner last night was a big thumbs up from me, an "I'd eat it again" from the husband, and two "I like it, but it's not my favorite" votes from the kids.  I went a little Asian.  I made a cilantro and peanut pesto.  I tossed the cilantro, some sesame oil, a little olive oil, some peanuts, a little lime juice, and some ginger into the blender.  Pressed a button, and, bingo! we have pesto.  I really liked it, but I live cilantro.  I diced the tempeh and marinated it in a little soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil.  I sauteed it in some vegetable oil.  I really liked the crispy outside and the nutty taste.  (thanks for the really helpful suggestions Jayne and Barbara A!)  I served it over spaghetti.  The saute greens were the salad.  Overall, I really enjoyed the taste.  I liked experimenting a little and trying out the new flavors.  I might make it again, but only for me apparently.

Tonight was grilled asparagus, green garlic and creamed spinach, drop biscuits, and grilled steak.  The asparagus was wonderful as always.  I just toss it in olive oil, salt, and pepper and toss it on the grill.  The green garlic was new for me.  I modified my creamed spinach recipe a little.  I used the bulb of the garlic in place of the onions.  I cut up the leaves to add to the spinach leaves.  I thought it came out really well.  Nice garlic flavor without being overpowering.  The drop biscuits came from the web.  Simple simple recipe.  And they were warm and tasty.  

I have a plug for a local spice vendor.  The Spice House in Evanston, IL is amazing.  That's where I got the rub for the steak.  Tonight we used Ukrainian Village seasoning.  It's a great blend for so many foods.  Alas, there are no freebies for my plug.  It's just a great place with wonderful fresh spices and herbs.

I'll be a little MIA this weekend.  Big family goings on.  I'll tell you about the veggies when I can.  And probably use them the very same way.

Mmm mmmm mmm mmm mmmm

This week's TWD recipe was chosen by Marie of A Year in Oak Cottage.  She chose La Palette's Strawberry Tart.  It was certainly a good choice.

It's essentially a rich, buttery, short dough that is pressed into a tart pan and baked until it's slightly caramely and brown.  It's sliced and then topped.  This keeps the crust wonderfully crunchy.  Although the recipe is written for strawberries, the family and I sat around thinking up wonderful combinations for the crust.

This is the first time I changed up the recipe a little.  I had read about a few problems that people were having with crumbling when they were trying to slice the crust.  I decided to make individual servings using a muffin tin.  It was perfect.  We each had a wonderful little tart that we could dress as we chose.  The tarts were a little thicker than if I had used a larger pan, but it was so tasty that I didn't mind.  At all.  My photography still needs work, or maybe I just need a camera that does better close-ups.  Or both.

I will definitely use this recipe again.  It's great for slightly last minute because the butter needs to be cold.  Plus, since the dough has to be frozen for a bit before baking, I think it lends itself well to do-ahead crust making.  Then you just pop it in the oven when you're ready.  Remember the four pounds of rhubarb?  I see another tart in my future!

Next week won't be a TWD for me.  It's my nephew's bar mitzvah this weekend, and I have volunteered to bake.  I think that by Tuesday I will be baked out.  Caroline of A Consuming Passion has chosen a Peppermint Creme Puff Ring.  I have made cream puffs before, so I don't feel that I'm totally missing out.  Plus, the idea of the peppermint just doesn't sound so good.  Oh well.  There's always the Tuesday after that!

Some musings and some photos

Apparently we have a new season here in Chicago.  It's monsoon season.  It has rained every day for the past five days.  And it's not just little drizzles, it's RAIN.  And wind, hail, and all the accompanying mayhem.  We planted three little tomato plants and one strawberry plant that have been bruised and battered.  We'll see how they turn out.  This also means that we haven't been able to really play outside in almost a week.  The girl met some friends on Saturday for an ice cream and park play date, and we were barely there a half hour before it started raining.  The new Wii is a blessing and a curse.  It's keeping them occupied, but it keeps them yelling at each other as well.  Last week's t-ball game was rained out and the make-up game was subsequently canceled.  I'm not all that optimistic about tonight's game.

The vanilla ice cream was delicious.  Though, to be honest, it was a little grainy and icy.  I'm sure that's because of the lack of three egg yolks and the half and half substitution for the heavy cream.  The photos don't do it justice.  It's my uneaten bowl (orange) and the bowls of the boy and girl.  They didn't seem to mind the iciness at all.  It is served with some strawberry rhubarb sauce.

My next experiment is Alton Brown's Banana Ice Cream.  It calls for corn syrup, which I think helps with the consistency.  I may substitute some maple syrup for some of the corn syrup.  I think it will be tasty.

I found a local vendor, similar to my delivery vendor, who sells organic fruits and veggies.  And meats and cheese and loads of other stuff, but I went for one reason only.  Rhubarb.  As posted before, I love rhubarb.  He had it on sale this week.  I bought four pounds.  Yup, four.  I'll use one this week and dice and then freeze the other three.  Good thing I have a second freezer.

I'm all ready for my TWD post tomorrow.  And I can't wait to see what the new choice is.

Another big bag 'o veggies with a head scratcher

Ok, this bag has asparagus, cilantro, and spinach.  Three things that I love.  I can cook wonderful things with these ingredients.

It also came with those saute greens that you are supposed to eat raw.  I'm still working on something for those.  Perhaps I'll go out on a limb and saute them.  I'll let you know.

A new ingredient to me is green garlic.  I'm pretty excited about it.  It seems pretty ramp-like.  You use the bulb and the stem.  Maybe I'll cream the green garlic and spinach together.  Mmmmm.

And then, throwing me a total curve ball, there was a package of I don't know what.  I refer back to my sheet of information.  It's tempeh.  Mushroom flavored tempeh.  What the heck is tempeh?  Here is an explanation.  It's some odd looking stuff.  I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with it.  Most recipes I've seen call for frying it.  I feel like that slightly defeats the purpose of "healthy.  Then again, the healthy label might be all in my head.  When (if) I decide to cook with it, I'm sure I'll post all about it.

Homemade ice cream rocks

In a wonderful convergence, the planets aligned, and I had all the stuff I needed to make vanilla ice cream.

There was finally space in the freezer for the icy bowl for the machine.  I had vanilla beans.  (more on those in a minute).  I was able to go to Trader Joe's and get the dairy ingredients.  Last night I made the custard.  This morning we assembled the machine, poured in the custard, and let it do its magic.  Mmmmmm.  The kids and I would have eaten the whole thing if I hadn't come to my senses.  It's in the freezer hardening up now.  We'll have it for dessert tonight with some more of the strawberry rhubarb compote that I made.  Mmmmmm.

The recipe was adapted from Cook's Illustrated.  I just don't have the courage to use six egg yolks, two cups of heavy cream, and two cups of whole milk.  I just couldn't do it.  It hurt my heart thinking about it.  Instead, I used three yolks and half and half.  By the way, this is from a 1993 edition of the magazine.  Chris Kimball had a lot more hair.

YUM!

Now, about those vanilla beans.  I found a website that sold beans by the pound.  For a ridiculously low price.  I received the beans the other day.  They aren't the plumpest things around, but they'll do.  I'm going to give half to my sister in law, because I don't think I can use 100 or so beans on my own.  Any suggestions as to what else I can make?  I'll let you know what else I come up with.  Photos with the ice cream and sauce to be edited in later.

TWD: French Chocolate Brownies.

Di of Di's Kitchen Notebook chose the recipe this week.  They are French Chocolate Brownies.  Apparently, this started out as a cake recipe that didn't quite work.  Dorie calls for rum soaked and flambeed raisins.  The comments were fast and furious on the board.  It seems to be a love 'em or hate 'em situation with the fruit.  I gave them a try this past weekend.

Now, truth be told, I'm not the biggest fan of baking brownies.  I like them just as much as the next guy.  But if I'm baking, it's not something I usually make.  There are just too many other dessert recipes that I love.  In fact, brownies are the one food item for which I will actually use a mix.  I doctor up the Ghirardelli mix, and it's quite tasty.  

Having said that, I was all for a recipe for which I had all the ingredients.  I had some dried fruit left over from the granola bars the other day, so I decided to use that.  It's a mix of cherries, raisins, blueberries, and cranberries.  It was my first try at flambeing something.  It was fun!  Dork that I am, I actually turned out the light to see the flame better.  Dork.  The brownies came together easily.  I had read about people having lots of trouble with the top crust, but mine came out just fine.  I kind of liked the addition of the fruit.  The touch of cinnamon added an extra flavor note without being too overpowering.  The brownies were moist without being too fudgy.  The top was nice and shiny.

I enjoyed them.  The kids and the husband liked them as well.  I'm not sure I'm rushing out to make them again soon, but I'm glad to have tried them.

Up next week:  La Palette's Strawberry Tart chosen by Marie of A Year in Oak Cottage.  We're all pretty excited about this one.  Fresh strawberries are a favorite around here.

The last big bag 'o veggies for May

This week was a strange combination of things.  We have:  arugula, sunchokes, saute mix, radishes, sweet potato, and crimini mushrooms.

You may notice that I said sweet potato.  As in one.  One sweet potato.  Hmmmm.  And the saute mix?  It's "baby cooking greens that have a wonderful flavor raw."  That's from the newsletter.  Does anyone else see the irony in cooking greens that are wonderful raw?  Good.  It's not just me.  

I actually used five, count 'em, five things from my bag today.  I made radish pickles from a recipe in the newsletter.  I'll tell you how they turn out tomorrow.  They're supposed to sit for 24 hours before eating.  The vinegar did turn a lovely shade of pink already, though.  (Updated to add a photo and the decision that radish pickles are good!  Tangy and crunchy and yum!)

Dinner tonight was a salad made of the saute mix.  And they were pretty good raw.  I made a saute of the criminis and some onions.  Served that over flank steak.  I made a mash of the sweet potato and the sunchokes.  Normally, I love mashed sweet potatoes.  I microwave them until they are soft, mash up the insides in a bowl, add salt, pepper, butter, and maple sugar.  And then eat until I am full.  The sunchokes didn't really add much.  They contributed an earthy flavor that didn't compliment the sweet potato.  Oh well.  Live and learn.

I made, for the first time, homemade biscuits tonight.  I was surprised at how easily they came together.  They were very good tasting as well.  They were, perhaps, a little heavy.  I think with experience, I'll be able to use a lighter hand with them.

My TWD baking is complete.  I'll have full details tomorrow!