Christmas Bread

For eating Christmas morning with Cheese, and a variety of meats - salami, hot capicola, etc

1 cup milk
1 cup warm water
4 Tbs melted butter
4 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs Yeast
1 Tbs ground Cardommomme
1/2 c currants
flour (6 cups?)

Heat milk, water, butter, sugar in a saucepan until butter is melted and it's warm. Add the yeast and Cardomomme and mix well. put in a mixer or big bowl , add 1 cup flour and mix well. Add the currants. Add flour until it forms a ball. Knead for 5 minutes to form a smooth ball. Put in a greased bowl and cover with Saran wrap and let rise until double in bulk. punch down. Divide into 2 pieces, one with 1/3 of the dough and one with 2/3 of the dough. Divide each of the 2 pieces into a further 3 pieces. Roll each piece into a snake and braid each set of three. Place the larger braid on the bottom and the smaller braid on top and allow to rise for 30min on a parchment paper coated cookie sheet. Bake 350 degrees for 25min or until just browned.

Bak
Heat the milk

Eggnog Cheesecake

'Tis the season. Eggnog - good, cheesecake- good Eggnog cheesecake-better!

1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons white sugar
3 tablespoons melted butter

3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese,
softened

1 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 cup eggnog
2 eggs
2 tablespoons rum
1 pinch ground nutmeg

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl combine graham cracker crumbs, 2 tablespoons sugar and butter. Press into the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool.
4. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
5. In a food processor combine cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, flour and eggnog; process until smooth. Blend in eggs, rum and nutmeg. Pour mixture into cooled crust.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.
7. Reduce heat to 250 and bake for 45 minutes, or until center of cake is barely firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and immediately loosen cake from rim. Let cake cool completely before removing the rim.


from allrecipes.com (Eggnog Cheesecake III)

Mexican Soup

This soup is mexican in an oh-so-very-american way. It came from a Weight Watchers via a roommate and her mother (apparently 2 points/serving if you care). It is super super easy and delicious, and just as good as a cold dip as hot

1 can refried beans
1 can whole kernel corn
1 can black or kidney beans (I usually use kidney)
1 can chicken broth (or 1 can water)
1 can chicken(omit for vegtable-arians)
1 cup salsa (industrial sized mild-ish is fine)
1 cup cheese

Combine everything but the cheese and bring to a simmer. Add cheese, mix well and serve with tortilla chips. Caution- this soup WILL BURN AND STICK if you leave it on the stove, just heat and serve, or else stir every few minutes. Tastes great leftover or thrown in the microwave the next day too!

Pizelle

Pizelles are a traditional Italian cookie made in a press. Also called 'Anisette cookies' by some, the typically have both vanilla and anisette flavoring. In my continuing series 'cookies which require special equipment' these also require a press - my waffle iron doubles as one.

3 eggs
1 3/4 c flour
1/2 c butter, melted
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp anise flavoring

mix together and drop by tablespoons onto a press. When hot, they can be formed into circles or cones and then filled.

Ham Bean Soup

Ham and Bean soup
Today's variation on the old standard - drive by a desire to rid the cupboard of ziplocks with small amounts of a wide variety of dried legumes in them as well as the cold temperatures.

2 cups dry beans (I used white, red, black)
1 leftover ham bone (what do you mean you don't still have one from Easter in your freezer? I'd try substituting bacon and some chunks of ham)
1/2 c green split peas
2 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
2 carrots
1 onion
pepper
salt
cumin?

Put the beans(not the peas!) in a pot with 1 tsp salt and water to cover and bring to a boil. Turn off and let sit for 1 hour. Drain the bean water and put beans and ham bone in crockpot/heavy bottom pot with about 5 cups water. Cook for 1 hourish. Remove ham bone, cut all the extra hammy-bits off and put in the soup. Throw out the now ham-less bone. Add everything else. Leave on the stove until you're ready to eat it. This only gets better with time so feel free to nap, etc. Serve with warm rolls (recipe to follow)

Fudge

Thanksgiving is over so the Christmas baking needing a quick-start. I decided to do a quick batch of fudge tonight. This is of the 'never-fail' variety and so simple it seems like cheating, at least until you read up on the 'could-fail' methodology.

1 lb chocolate chips (that's 2 2/3 cup for those of you with the costco sized bag)
1 can sweetened condensed milk (normal size, I don't think even costco messes with it)
1 Tbs vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped into bits
1 cup chopped walnuts

1. Mix soda, salt and chocolate well. Add milk, vanilla
2 Heat over a double boiler until just melted. Remove from heat and add walnuts
3. pour into an 8"x8" pan lined with tin foil and greased (spray oil is fine, no need to drag out the crisco)
4. cool for 2 hours
5. resist the temptation to eat now instead of saving for Christmas gifts.

Cream Cheese Spritz cookies

I started my Christmas baking with this classic cookie. You'll need a cookie press, which, if you don't have one (or one from Grandma to borrow) may be a bit pricey, but it's so much fun I think it's worth it. These cookies freeze well, but are a bit delicate, so don't put them on the bottom of the freezer.


1 cup butter
3-4 oz cream cheese (about 1/2 cup)
1 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cup flour.

Cream the cream cheese and butter, add the sugar and beat well. Add remaining ingrediants and mix well. Note- it's fun to add food coloring so you get green trees, etc. If you do, I advise buying the good food coloring (available at craft or baking stores) the colors are sooo much richer than the stuff from the grocery store.

Fill up your cookie press and go to town- press onto an ugreased cookie sheet and bake 8-9 min at 350. Allow to cool on the sheet a few minutes before removing.

Spicy squash soup

It's finally getting cold enough for soup and I've been staring at an acorn squash from my coop order so when this recipe appeared in the latest "EveryDay with Rachel Ray" magazine I knew I had to try it. It's still simmering on the back burner but the few spoonfuls I've tested already warrant a post.

1 acorn squash (about 2lbs)
3 dried red chiles
3 poblano chiles
(I swapped both of the above for 4 roasted Hatch green chilies, thawed and de-seeded)
1 tsp chili powder
3 Tbs olive oil
1 onion chopped
1 15oz can black beans
1/2 c sour cream
garlic
oregano
parsley
salt
black pepper

1. cut the squash in half remove seeds, and then microwave on high until soft, about 10 minutes

2. Scoop out the squash flesh into a food procesor and add the chili powder and whatever forms of chili peppers you chose, puree to eliminate lumps

3.In a heavy bottom sauce pan (I use the enamal coated dutch oven for soups) heat the olive oil and then add the chopped onions and garlic. Saute until the onions are soft, around 5 minutes.

4. Rinse and drain the black beans.

5. Add the squash puree, beans and 1 cup water to the onions and allow to simmer. Season with oregano, salt, pepper, parsley to taste (I bet cilantro would be great but I don't have any)

6. add the sour cream just before serving.
2.

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake

Another success from America's Test Kitchen!
Cake
12 Tbs unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 3/4 c flour
4 oz unsweetened chocolate
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 c hot water
1 3/4 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 c buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
2 egg yolks (yes that makes 6 egg folks)

Frosting
16oz semi-sweet chocolate
1 stick unsalted butter
1/3 c sugar
2 Tbs Corn Syrup
2 tsp Vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 c cold heavy cream

For the Cake
1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour 2 9" round 2" high pans. Yes I realized your cake pans are probably not 2" - neither were mine. It overflowed slightly when I did it in 2 pans so if you're aren't 2" high I'd recommend three layers.
2. put chopped unsweetened chocolate, cocoa, and hot water into a double boiler and stir utill melted. Add 1/2 cup of sugar to the chocolate and stir until glossy - set the mixture aside to cool down.

2. Combine dry ingrediants (flour, soda, salt) in a small bowl and whisk to combine - set aside. In the big mixer bowl beat the eggs, yolks, and remaining 1 1/4 c sugar until light and fluffy - this will take a few minutes (use the whisk attachement if you have a stand mixer). After they eggs are fluffy and light, add the vanilla and then switch to normal (flat) beater

3. add 1/3 dry ingrediants, 1/2 buttermilk, dry, buttermilk, dry mixing each time untill well incorporated - don't over mix or you'll loose the fluffy eggs.

4. bake at 350 for 25-30 min until a toothpick comes out clean (note if you ignored me and used only two pans put somethign underneath to catch the drips and bake a few minutes longer)

5. Allow the cakes to cool in pans 10 min before flipping onto a rack. Wait at least 45min to frost!

Frosting
1. Melt chocolate over a double boiler (microwave will work also, if you use this method, stop often to stir and add about 1 tsp veg oil to the mixture)
2. in a pan melt butter , then add corn syrup, vanilla and sugar. Cook until the sugar is completely dissoloved.
3. place mixer bowl in ice bath and combine chocolate, butter sugar mixutre and cold cream. mix with a rubber spatula until combined and room temperature.

4. Using a wisk atttachment beat the mixture until very fluffy- a few minutes. frosting will be very soft but will nicely harden in the fridge.

Frost the cake and enjoy!

Molasses Cookies

Another airport, another America's test kitchen "Best of" magazine, and another wonderful recipe. As a New Englander I was trained to like molasses, and these cookies while closer to gingersnaps than Nanny's molasses cookies are delicious. I use the Breir Rabbit Dark molasses, as it is the darker of the two available in my grocery store.

1/3 c granulated sugar, plus some for dipping
1/3 c dark brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 tsp orange zest, plus some for coating
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup molasses
2 1/4 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 allspice
1/4 black pepper (yes, really!)

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Whisk dry ingredients in a separate bowl, and set aside
3. beat the butter, orange zest, and brown and white sugars until fluffy
4. Add the egg yolk, molasses and vanilla to the butter mixture and beat well.
5. slowly add the dry ingredients to form a dough.
6. combine remaining orange zest (around 1 tsp) with about 1/2 white sugar in a bowl and mix until the sugar is orange.
7. form teaspoonfuls of dough into balls and roll in sugar.
8. bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for about 11 minutes- cookies will be slightly underdone. Allow to cool a few minutes on the cookie sheet before removing to a cooling rack.

Moist, Chewy, and delicious.

From America's Test Kitchen All time Best Recipes.

Bagels

I've tried bagels a few times before and had previously concluded they weren't worth the effort. Now with a good recipe and stand mixer to do the hard work they easily beat the round wonder bread the local store passes off as bagels. If you don't have a mixer just be sure to knead the dough very very well. it should be very dense and smooth when finished kneading.

I've seen many sources, I'll attribute mine, Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads.

Les Bagels de Jo Goldenberg (makes 10 bagels)

3-5 c flour
2 Tbs yeast
3 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs salt
1 1/2 c hot water

3 qts water
3 Tbs sugar

1 egg white beaten
sesame seeds, poppyseeds, etc


Combine the dry ingrediants in the mixer bowl and add the hot water (you should be able to stick your finger in it and count to 10 but no longer for perfect temp) mixing with a flat beater to combine, beat 2 min, then switch to a dough hook and add flour until the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl (the recipe claims 1/2 cup more but It's been taking me more like 1.5 C extra) continue to knead with the dough hook by machine for 7 minutes - time it, it's longer than you'd think.

Cover the bowl with saran wrap and let rise 1 hour-ish. While the dough is rising bring a large kettle of water to boil and add the 3 tbs sugar to it. Also get out a paper towel or other towel to drain the bagels on.

Punch down the dough and divide into 10 pieces. roll each piece into a bowl and allow to rest about 10 min. preheat oven to 400. Stick your finger through the center of each ball of dough and work into a bagel shape - try to make smooth surfaces as the boiling water will peel off anything you try to stick together.

Drop the bagels, 2 at a time into boiling water and boil for 2 min, flipping sides in the middle. Remove from heat onto a paper towel and drain. Repeat with remaining bagels. Grease a cookie sheet (I just used spray oil) . brush the bagles with egg white and coat with chosen topping - do both sides for more fun and mess!.

Place on the greased cookie sheet and bake at 400 for a TOTAL of 25min. After about 15min take them out and flip them. If they seem stuck and do not want to flip wait a few minutes- if you try to unstick them you will get a torn gross bagel and if you wait a few minutes they will cook enough to flip easily. The tops should be just starting to show a hint of brown when you flip. I also switch trays top and bottom.

These are delicous and chewy. The only downside is I haven't dared to try a double batch in the mixer and Rob and I can eat a single batch quite fast.

Macaroni and Cheese

Now I am usually a serious fan of the 'purple box' mac and cheese, but this homemade recipie might turn me off boxed stuff forever. It's from America's test kitchen and for once I pretty much followed the recipie.

1 lb elbow macaroni
4Tbs butter
5Tbs Flour
3 12oz can evaporated milk
2 tsp hot pepper sauce
1 tsp dry mustard
8 oz extra sharp cheddar (about 2 cups)
5 oz jack cheese (about 1 1/4 cups)
2 oz deli american cheese
bread crumbs
chicken, brocolli, green onions

1. cook pasta al dente, around 6 min, drain, cool and reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water.
2. Melt the butter and add flour to make a roux cooking until light brown, stirring constantly. Add the evaporated milk, hot sauce, mustard and keep stirring and bring to a simmer until it feels like it is starting to thicken. remove from heat and stir in teh cheese and 1/2 cup pasta water until melted.
3. combine pasta and cheese in a large bowl, adding chicken and veggies as desired.
4. pour into an ungreased 9 x 13 pan and top with bread crumbs if desired. Cook 20-25 min at 350 or until bubbling around edges and golden in the middle.

Delicious!

Cake Cake and Cake

Heather and I made a wedding cake for Rebecca and Keith. It was really 2 cakes, well, 4 cakes. A "grooms cake" carrot with green coconut on top made into a farm scene and a traditional three tiered cake of yellow cake with apricot jam and buttercream, chocolate cake with butter cream and carrot cake with cream cheese icing. A lot of work, but so worth it. We also used Royal icing and fresh flowers to pipe decorations. I'll just post the recipies here. If you do go to make a wedding sized version (we did 14" 10" and 6" tiers) email me and I'll give you hints as to what we learned about very large layers.

Altitude adjustments are indicated in italics for those of you at SLC elevation.

Carrot Cake (from Paula Deen)
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar ( less 2 Tbs)
2 tsp baking soda (less 1/8 tsp)
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 1/2 c vegtable oil (add 1 1/2 Tbs)
3 cups grated carrots

Grease and flour a 9" pan. (we used a healthy coating of crisco and flour) Combine the dry ingrediants and then add eggs and oil. mix well. Add carrots. and mix well. Cook at 350 until a stick inserted comes out clean or internal temperature reaches 200F. Allow to cool in the pan a few minutes and then loosen and turn out onto a rack to cool.

Classic Yellow Cake (from Cakes from Scratch in 1/2 the time)

3 eggs
2 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter
1 c sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 c whole milk

Grease and flour pans. beat butter until fluffy, then add sugar and beat for 2-3 minutes. add eggs beating well after each addition. add vanilla. Sift dry ingrediants onto a sheet of wax paper. alternate adding dry ingrediants and the milk beating well each time. Bake at 400 until a stick inserted comes out clean.

Chocolate Cake (from Cakes from Scratch in 1/2 the time)
2 eggs
2 oz unsweetened chocolate
2 c flour
2 c sugar
1/2 c cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 c whole milk
1/4 c veg oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 orange
water

sift dry ingredients together into a large bowl. add the eggs, oil, milk and vanilla mixing well after each addition. Melt the chocolate in the microwave. Juice the orange and then add boiling water to make 1 c liquid. combine Orange water mixture with melted chocolate. Add orange chocolate to batter and beat well (it looks like it's not going to work when you first add it,but just keep mixing.

Buttercream icing (from google)
the crisco helps the icing to whip as well as melt at a higher temperature, making it ideal for summer weddings.

1 c butter
1 c crisco
8 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c milk (we used less!!)

Beat butter and crisco until fluffy, gradually add powdered sugar, beating continually, add vanilla and milk as needed to achieve desired consistency - you can't over mix this one - the more you beat the lighter it gets!

Cream Cheese icing (from Paula Deen)
2 8oz pkg cream cheese
1 stick butter
1 lb powdered sugar (about 4 cups)
1 tsp vanilla

cream creamcheese and butter, add sugar and vanilla. This icing is delicious, but very liquid-y and will NOT pipe for designs.

Grilled Pork Chops with Apricot Salsa

Another spin off on a Rachel Ray dish.

4 pork chops
olive oil
salt
pepper
4 apricots
2 scallions
1 Tbs Balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs lemon juice.
1 Tbs minced fresh ginger.


Coat the pork chops with olive oil and salt and pepper. Half the apricots. Put apricots and pork chops on the grill. In the meantime chop scallions and combine with ginger, vinegar, and lemon juice in a bowl. Remove the apricots when they are just browned put them in the bowl and tightly cover with aluminum foil for 10 minutes. Cook the pork chops until done (10-12 minutes). Remove pork chops from grill to a plate to sit. uncover apricots and chop them finely and toss chopped apricots with the rest of the ingrediants. Top pork chops with apricot salsa and serve. Total cook time: 20 min

Peach Butter

just like apple butter only so much better! I had a bunch of extra peaches from my food co-op order. (I got some extra ones for helping on distribution day in addition to my order) so I needed some way to use them. Enter Peach butter, tart sweet and delicious on toast or anything.

12ish peaches
1/4 c honey
1/4 c lemon juice
1 tsp ginger

cut the peaches in half and remove the pits. Put them in a saucepan with about 1/2 c water (just enough to keep them from burning to the bottom while they juice) and the honey and lemon. Cover and cook over medium heat stirring occasionally until they are a soft sauce-like mush - about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and put them through the Foley food mill to remove skins, etc. Put the sauce in the crokpot and cook UNcovered on high for about 5 hours or until there is no water seeping from around the edge when you put a dab of it on a plate. In the last 30 min add the ginger. Remove the butter from the crockpot and put in a jar and in the fridge or can it in a boiling water bath canner for 5 min (10 min for folks at 3,000-6,000ft elevation)

Note if you don't have a food mill first off I'd go buy one or pick one up at a yard sale like me but if you really don't have one you could blanche the peaches in boiling water for about 1 minute and then remove the skins, half and pit them and then put them in the pot to cook into mush.

Whoopie Pies

The only true way to experience a whoopie-pie is to buy one from someone sitting under a blue tarp by the side of Rt. 1 in Maine. Rob informed me that you don't have 'em in other parts of the country - boy are you missing out. This classic New England treat is part cake part filled cookie and delicious. It seems every country store in northern New England has a pile by the cash register wrapped in plastic thanks to some local women who makes em up fresh daily. Since I'm feeling a bit under the weather I haven't actually made these yet. Note that the recipie calls for vegtable shortning (aka Crisco) NOT butter. Especially in the filling Crisco is what makes it so white and fluffy.

Whoopie Pies

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup cocoa
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
Whoopie Pie Filling (see recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease baking sheets.

In a large bowl, cream together shortening, sugar, and egg. In another bowl, combine cocoa, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a small bowl, stir the vanilla extract into the milk. Add the dry ingredients to the shortening mixture, alternating with the milk mixture; beating until smooth.

Drop batter by the 1/4 cup (to make 18 cakes) onto prepared baking sheets. With the back of a spoon spread batter into 4-inch circles, leaving approximately 2 inches between each cake. Bake 15 minutes or until they are firm to the touch. Remove from oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Make Whoopie Pie Filling. When the cakes are completely cool, spread the flat side (bottom) of one chocolate cake with a generous amount of filling. Top with another cake, pressing down gently to distribute the filling evenly. Repeat with all cookies to make 9 pies. Wrap whoopie pies individually in plastic wrap, or place them in a single layer on a platter (do not stack them, as they tend to stick).

Whoopie Pie Filling
Whoopie Pie Filling:
1 cup solid vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 cups Marshmallow Fluff
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a medium bow, beat together shortening, sugar, and Marshmallow fluff; stir in vanilla extract until well blended.

recipie from http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/WhoopiePieHistory.htm

Plum Cake (with apologies to Melissa)

America's test kitchen is a PBS show which meticulously tests its recipes, creating may variations in a quest for the exact perfect recipe. All so people like me can buy their "best of " magazine in the airport and start substituting. This is based on the Rustic Plum cake featured in The Best of America's test kitchen 2009, with variation by me. I'll leave their original in normal font with my variation in italics.

2Tbs red currant jelly (apricot jam)
3 Tbs Brandy (Rum)
1 lb prune plums halfed and pitted (a bunch of under-ripe plums and peaches pitted in pieces)
1 tsp cornstarch
3/4 c sugar
1/3 c slivered almonds
3/4 c flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tbs butter, softened.
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp almond extract

1. mix jelly and liqour in a pan over medium heat until just thickened. Add the fruit and cook until they shed juices and thick syrup is formed about 5 minutes (cover because the peaches are too hard, wander off to discover plums have disintegrated, add cornstarch to deal with excess water)
2. grease and flour 9 in springform pan (any cake pan) preheat oven to 350
3. mix almonds and sugar in a food processor until finely ground. Add flour, salt and baking powder and pulse to combine. Add the butter, and mix until batter resembles coarse sand. Finally add eggs, flavorings and process until smooth. Batter will be thick.
4. spread the batter into a thin layer on the bottom of the pan. Arrange the plum halfs skin side down on the surface of the batter (arrange recognizable peach slices in a pretty circle, fill in the rest with a thin coating of peach/plum/apricot sauce)
5. Bake until cake is golden brown and wooden skewer comes out clean, about 40-50 min. allow cake to cool in pan on wire rack for 30 min.
6. sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.

Red Beans and Rice

This is my creation and based on what arrived in my co-op food order this weekend. so far we have
1 c dry red beans
1 1/2 c rice
1 pkg mild italian sausage
1 green pepper
1 onion

soaked the beans overnight and just put them on to boil with 1 tsp salt. Sausage is thawing on the counter.

It came out well - here's the rest
1 boil the beans until soft - about 2 hours.
2cook rice with 3 cups water in a separate pan until done.

3 Chop the onion and saute with olive oil in a large pan, chop the pepper and add it. Cut the sausage into peices (about 8 per sausage) and saute. Add
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
liberal sprinkle of ground black pepper
1/2 tsp cumin

and cook until the sausage is done. combine sausage mixture with red beans and rice and mix well.

makes about 6 servings.

Banana Bread

New weekend, new post, new recipe (well perhaps new to you, old and used to me) The bananas were turning a dark brown on the counter signaling the time to get out the Jane Brody cookbook for Banana bread. The 10-year-old me is turning over in her swimsuit at the thought I would voluntarily cook from the ever-present "healthy-eww' cookbook of my childhood. For those needing reading from the library, it is Jane Brody's good food book (also Good Food Gourmet) tagline - 'Living the high-carbohydrate way' you can tell she didn't live in LA in the last 10 years, . .

This delicious bread gets its crunch from Grape Nuts Cereal, it also has much less fat and sugar than most banana bread recipes (but don't tell kids!)

pg 585 Banana Bread
3/4 c whole-wheat flour
3/4 c all purpose flour
1/3 c sugar
1/2 c nonfat dry milk
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 c Grape Nuts Cereal (or Nutty Nuggets, Kroger brand)
1/2 c rasins (I always omit these, even before I married a rasin-hater)
2 eggs
1 cup mashed bananas (2-3 medium)
1/4 c melted butter, margarine or oil
1/4 c water

1. combine the dry ingrediants in a large bowl
2. beat the eggs, add the banana, melted butter, and water and mix well. I throw in 1 tsp vanilla too.
3 add wet to dry stirring until just moistened
4. place in a oiled and floured loafpan
5. bake at 350 for 50-55min (longer sometimes) allow the bread to cool in the pan for about 10 min before you take it out.

Yum!

cheese cake

I've been craving cheesecake, and what could be better than something that has 2 billion calories and uses every appliance and dish in the house?

Coffee-Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake
(adapted from the internet by me)
In a large bowl combine
2 8oz pkg cream cheese
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/4 cup strong coffee
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
Beat well, very well, you're not done yet, keep beating.

Crust: combine
1 1/2 packages graham crackers (so 1/2 of a normal size box)
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp cinnamon
throw it in the food processor or otherwise crunch it up into even crumbles.

Spread the crust on the bottom of the cheesecake pan and
-sprinkle with cocoa.

Whip about 1/2 cup heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Fold this into the rest of the batter.
Pour the batter over the cocoa coated crust in the pan.

Melt about 2oz dark chocolate with 1 Tbs butter. Drizzle the chocolate into the cake- make about 3 big blobs. Then take a toothpick and lightly swirl the chocolate in. Bake at 300 until the middle is stiff.

*****Disclaimer*** It's still in the oven so who knows how it will set, but the batter sure did taste good!

Black Beans

So it's raining which means it's time to cook long slow hot foods.

1 1/2 c dry black beans
1 onion chopped
3-4 cloves garlic
1 jalepano pepper
3/4 cup ham chopped, or 3 slices bacon

Cover the beans with cold water and bring to a boil with 1 tsp salt. Turn the heat off when the water boils and let the beans sit for 1 hour - or as long as it takes to deal with the other ingredients.

Chop the remainder of the ingrediants and saute with a generous coating of vegtable oil.

Drain and rinse the beans, and put the beans and the sauted veggies in the crockpot. Bring 4 cups water to a boil and pour over the beans and veggies in the crockpot. Leave the crockpot on high for 4-5 hours until beans are soft.

Pizza on the grill

So I was just reading about Melissa's baking adventures in Ottawa and it inspired me to come back to this blog. Yesterday I made pizza on the grill, and it was a big sucess. We did get a pizza stone as a wedding gift, but it was too heavy to bring on the plane and is thus still in NH. Never-the-less this grill pizza turned out amazing. In fact it's definitly going on the menu for my future resturant.

I shamelessly stole the recipie from "cuisine at Home" which I received free in the mail (pay no money now, this issue is your to keep type thing). First the dough. I've never been big on allowing pizza dough to rise too much, possibly because I've never been big on planning that far ahead to make pizza, but this is recommended.
combine:
1 cup warm water
1 Tbs yeast (recipie says 2 1/2 tsp, but I say what's a 1/2tsp betwee friends)
1 Tbs sugar
let sit for 5 min while the yeast proofs

In the mixer bowl combine
2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup cake flour (since I belive cake is all purpose food, I of course used all purpose flour)
1 Tbs salt (yes, that's a lot, just do it)

Add 2 Tbs olive oil to the proofed yeast and then add all the moist ingrediants to the flour. Knead with a mixer dough hook for 10 minutes. (N.B. I am sure you can knead things normally too, but since I just got a mixer about 2 weeks ago I now use it for everything)

coat a bowl with oil and place the ball of dough in it to rise for 2 hours. cover dough with plastic wrap while it rises.

punch the dough down, and shape into 4 little balls and coat each with oil and cover with plastic either
--> follow the directions and let rise for 1 hour before going on or
--> follow my impression of the directions and leave them in the fridge for 4 hours while you run errands, go to a birthday party, etc.


Pre-chop all your toppings now. Yes, I never pre chop things, but I did this time, and it was worth it as these pizzas cook fast and you'll want the toppings handy. We used
-leftover spegheti sauce
- bbq sauce
- garlic
-cilantro
-fresh mushrooms
- red onion
-leftover ham (yes from Easter, but it had been in the freezer so don't get all worried)
- shredded moztarella cheese
- feta cheese

turn on the grill to medium to let it warm up (there were all sorts of details about grill temperature but I just threw the hibachi on medium and it worked great)
take one ball of dough and roll it out into a 12in circle. throwing around the patio is encouraged. brush one side of the dough with olive oil and put it oil side down on the grill. cover and let cook 3 minutes or until the bottom is crunchy - it takes a bit longer than you'd think. burned sections are fine, they end up tasting good.

Now either turn down the heat and be super fast or take the pizza off onto a plate, and put toppings on the side that was down on the grill (i.e. the cooked side) go wild, it's all yummy. then put the pizza back on the grill for another 3 mintues- you may need to turn the heat down to get the cheese to melt.

Amazing. that's all I have to say. My next dinner party is grilled pizza hands down. And not really very hard despite my long explanation.