Banana Bread

Hello! So, uh, it's been...a while. I've been busy. And, to be honest, I haven't been in my kitchen at all! Well, ok, I've been in my kitchen, but mostly to just fix some cereal, make some Kraft spiral mac-n-cheese, or to get something to drink. Oh, and once I microwaved some popcorn.

So, anyways, the last time I actually used my oven was in September. I wanted to try my silicone bakeware that I got from my bro and SIL, and I was craving banana bread. So, I found a recipe on-line, and away I went.

I measured out the dry ingredients, and of course had fun measuring the mashed banana. Then, it was as easy as mixing and pouring. Oh, and I added some chocolate chips. I figured it had bananas in it, so why not balance that out with some chocolate? :-) It baked fairly fast, and I think I got it out just in time so that I didn't burn it! It was a bit tricky getting it out of the silicone bread pan (? or dish? whatever) but other than that, I thought using the silicone bakeware was just fine.

 

  

I thought it was actually very tasty and moist, and easy to make. So, I would definitely use this recipe again. I found the recipe from All Recipes on-line: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Banana-Banana-Bread/Detail.aspx

Today I am baking some of my usual chocolate chip cookies, but nothing special there...and I've already blogged about that. 

And, I do want to try some new holiday cookies/treats this year...so, send along your favorite holiday recipe and maybe I'll give it a try!

Mexican Chili and Cornbread

Tonight I tackled chili again! I decided to go with more of a Mexican theme, and I even created the recipe kind of on my own (using the Mexican Lasagna recipe as a guide). I also found a "healthier" cornbread recipe on-line, so I wanted to try that, too. I LOVE cornbread. I actually wanted to make the cornbread first, and then had to decide what I could eat with the cornbread.

I diced the red onion and green pepper first. Then, I tossed those veggies into the soup pot with some evoo. I added ground turkey, chili powder, and cumin. I let the turkey brown for a bit. Then, I added a can of drained and rinsed black beans, a can of diced tomatoes, some corn, and 2 cans of low-sodium V8 juice. Then, I just let that simmer while I moved on to bake the cornbread. I also added some shredded cheese to the top of my bowl. It was pretty tasty. Next time though, I think I will add something to make it a bit spicer. Maybe some hot sauce, or some jalapeno pepper? It was tasty, I just could have used a bit more heat I think.

The cornbread was super easy to make. I will definitely use this recipe again. Each piece only has about 120 calories and 1g of fat. The "healthy" part of the recipe is that there is no oil in it...I used 1 C. of non-fat plain yogurt. It was nice and crumbly and fairly moist. I almost burned it, but grabbed it out just in time. Whew! I took a bite off the corner and then remembered I needed to take a picture still! Next time, I will spray some butter on the top right away...I forgot this time. Oh well.

So, I have LOTS of leftovers. Josh didn't want to eat with me. Remember the corn incident from the Mexican Lasagna...yeah...I didn't even go there with him this time. He ate cereal for dinner instead. So, I'll freeze two of these and I plan to eat two of them this week. It's nice to have some meals already planned for the week though I suppose. I also cut the cornbread into individual pieces and wrapped them up and froze all but two slices. We'll see how well they keep and taste in the coming weeks. I'm trying my best not to waste food. So, I actually had fun cooking tonight...but now I have a dirty kitchen and a lot of dishes to do...boo for that.

Update: So, while I was taking Josh to the airport tonight it dawned on me for some reason...I never even added the sugar that the recipe called for in the cornbread recipe!!! So, my cornbread is super healthy I guess! Oops! Oh well. Makes me want to bake another batch to see the difference the sugar makes...

Guest Post :-) Dinner at Troy's!

I was at UNI last weekend for the UNI-RA Conference, and during our break I spent some time with some of our good friends from college Troy, Kiley, Kelsie and Kelsey. Troy and Kiley were Josh's former residents at UNI, Kelsie is Kiley's fiancee (also a UNI alum), and Kelsey is Kiley's sister.

Troy hosted a fabulous dinner and baked and cooked for us! Here is Kiley with the wonderful spread that Troy had pulled together. (Kiley...you're luckly I included this picture...I typically only want pictures of food in this blog!) Troy told me the Doritos were home-made, but I didn't believe him there. He also made meatballs that were tasty. Troy was an excellent host!

The star of the meal though (in my opinion) was the wonderful beer bread and cheesey dipping spread that Troy made. It was super tasty! I still need to get that beer bread recipe from Troy...and the chees dip, too...

Oh, and Kelsie made a yummy yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Kiley messed up the frosting though and then complained until I fixed it for him. Ha!

Next post...coming early next week...I'm attempting another Rachael Ray recipe tomorrow!!!

Banana Nut Roll

Over MLK weekend I decided to be super ambitious. I got out my Better Homes and Garden Cookbook (you know the one...it has the red and white plaid cover) and started flippng through it. I came across this picture...remembered I had an overripe banana...saw there was cream cheese icing and filling (yum) and made the decision to try out this fancy dessert for Josh and me.

The recipe was pretty complicated (in my opinion), and I knew I'd be trying a lot of new techniques and using some fun tools in the kitchen, so I was kinda nervous. Also, I realized I did not have the exact sized pan that the recipe called for. I had a pan that was smaller and a pan that was bigger...but not the one I needed...so I decided to go with the smaller one and my plan was to just not use all the batter. I was hoping all would still be ok...I knew I was taking a risk...but I went ahead anyways...

To start with...I had to seperate eggs. I started off using this 'egg seperator' but it was kinda weird and annoying, and so I really just used it to hold the egg after I initial cracked it open. Then, I'd dump the egg in my hand and let the whites fall through my fingers. I had to do this and then let them set for 30 minutes at room temperature.

Once the 30 minutes were just about up, I went ahead and greased and lined the baking sheet with waxed paper. I also made the cream cheese filling and spread (almost all of) it in the baking sheet. I premeasured the rest of my ingredients that I could (including mashing the banana) and got out the rest of the measurement cups I would need. I also combined the dry ingredients.

I got to use my Magic Bullet...but it didn't work as well as I thought it would. The recipe called for finely chopped walnuts to fold into the batter. I had walnuts, but they were coarsly chopped, so I had the grand idea of using my Magic Bullet to obtain the fine chop. However...first mistake...I definitely blended them TOO long, and it turned into kinda a paste. :-( Oh well. I guess next time I won't be lazy and I'll get out the cutting board and knife...leason learned.

So, then it was time to mix the egg yokes until "they turn a lemon yellow color and stream continuously from the beaters." Then I folded in the walnut (paste.)

Next, I had to beat the egg whites. I was really excited to do this for some reason...probably because I've seen it done so many times on FoodNetwork. So, I began. At one point near the beginning, they looked kinda "bubbly." And I had a horrible thought that some soap residue got into the whites while I was separating them (as I had just washed my hands). But, I just kept mixing, and eventually, they looked like what I'd seen on TV. Whew! After mixing in some powdered sugar, I waited for the stiff peaks to form.

Then, I had to first fold in the egg yoke mixture into the whites. Then, I had to fold in the dry ingredients. Finally, the cake batter was done! That was a lot of work...and my arm shoulder kind of hurt from holding that dang mixer for so long. I poured the batter onto the cream cheese...reserving some of it since my pan was smaller...and popped it into the oven.

THEN (See...isn't this complicated???)...while that was baking, I had to lay out a towel and sprinkle it with sifted powder sugar. Yay! I got to use my sifter for the first time! That was fun. I hope to be sifting more in my future, too. Ha! Ok, once the cake was done baking, I had to immediately flip it onto the towel and get ready to roll it. I was so proud of myself that I hadn't burned it!

The rolling was going just fine....better than I expected, AND THEN...I noticed something...something bad. The middle of the cake still had raw batter!!! So, instead of burning the cake...I didn't bake it long enough!!! The cake wasn't done! :*-( All my hard work, all my time in the kitchen, all for NOTHING...and it's not like I could just pop it back into the oven at this point.

So then...I'll be honest... I started crying. Josh hugged me. Then, I stopped crying because then I was just ticked off. I still hadn't even made the cream cheese icing yet...but had room temperature cream cheese sitting out. Josh...luckily...noticed that perhaps the middle wasn't done...BUT, it looked like the ends were done. So...there was a bit of hope for me. I'm glad Josh noticed that, because before he said that, was about 1.5 seconds from throwing the dumb cake roll in the trash.

Meanwhile, I had decided to use some of the extra batter to make some banana cake muffins. At this point, they were already in the oven...so I was just crossing my fingers that these would bake through. I left them in long enough! Yay, they baked through!

I decided to make the icing anyways since the muffins were a success, and I figured we could at least have a slice off of each end of the roll. So, the icing was made, the cupcakes were iced, and the ends were eaten right away with the icing drizzled over them. In the end, it was pretty tasty. Would I make this again? Well, if you asked me last week...I would have said no...but I'm not a quitter...so, yes, I do think I'd try it again...but not anytime soon...

Stay tuned for another guest post later this week!

Holiday Baking-Round IV

I didn't have time to post my last night of baking before I left to head back to IA, so here I am now. I guess you could call these cookies my "signature cookie" as my family, Josh's family, and many of our friends love these chocolate chip cookies and request them often.

My mom found the recipe a long time ago and I've basically grown up eating these delicious cookies. For a long time, making these cookies were the only thing that brought me into the kitchen.

For the holidays I made 3 batches...all in one night...and that was a little TOO much baking for me to cap the end of my holiday baking spree. I remember despising cookies by the end of that night. (And, even now, I still don't want to bake for a while....) I should have counted them...but I'm guessing I made about 210 cookies as I think one recipe usually makes about 70 cookies.

Funny story (not really). Josh was eating some cookies while we were at his parent's house. He opened the container and set it on the dining room table. He ate one cookie, then left the room to talk to his Dad. While he was gone, his Dad's very naughty, disobedient, poorly trained (but really cute) dog, Hemi, jumped onto the chair and then onto the table and ate about 10-15 cookies! Geesh!

Josh's grandma doesn't like chocolate (yeah, I know), so I always make her a few without chocolate chips, too. When we went to her house for the big family celebration, I gave her a small tupperware with her cookies. She quickly hid them in her freezer so no one else would eat them! :-)

There is a "secret" ingredient. Here's a picture of "it" as I had just added it to the wet ingredients...do you know what it is???

Holiday Baking-Round III

Tonight's task was to make the very festive candy cane cookie (my Dad's request). This is another traditional cookie that my mom always made, too. I haven't made these since Christmas of '05. Tonight didn't go quite as well as last night's cashew nut cookies. *sigh* Read on and find out why! I made the dough first, halved it, dyed half of it red, and got it in the fridge to chill for an hour. As I was waiting, I unwrapped 34 peppermint candies. I had fun taking out any agression I had by crushing the peppermint candies for the topping. It was quite loud. I had fun using my hammer though.

I used a teaspoon to help me create equal size balls of dough, to then roll into logs, to then twist and shape like a candy cane before placing on the cookie sheet. I forgot how long that took. I also (briefly) forgot what a perfectionist I am and how I had to get over that for my own sanity tonight. In fact, the one in this picture bothers me and definitely isn't my best...but oh well. I had to work fast as the dough rolls and shapes easier when it's a bit chilled, so there wasn't a lot of time for "do-overs."

So, my first blunder...I BURNED the first sheet of cookies that I had so diligently and patiently worked on. :-( I made the mistake of NOT setting the timer...I thought I'd be fine. But, I lost track of time as I continued to work work on the second sheet and before I knew it...I smelled burning. I had forgotton that these cookies really only take 8-10 minutes, and that you have to watch them very carefully. I was mad that I wasted dough and time. But, then I got over it...and kept on rolling, twisting, shaping, and baking.



All went well for the rest of the dough. I set the timer for each sheet...hey, I learned my lesson...and I didn't want any more burnt cookies. I even managed to be patient when removing them from the cookie sheet (another opportunity for me to break the cookies if I wasn't careful). Then, I went ahead and sprinkled them with the sparkly and sweet peppermint/sugar mixture. They are so light and have a unique flavor with the almond extract. I forgot how much I liked these!

On to blunder 2. Towards the end, I had a bit more red dough left over once I ran out of the white. So, I decided to just make some red candy canes. I set the timer as usual. When one minute was remaining, I turned the timer off, and grabbed my camera to snap a few pictures of my finished product since I didn't think it would take too long. I started taking pictures for this blog...and before I knew it...it took more more than 1 minute to snap my pictures. So yes, I burned my SECOND sheet of cookies for the evening! :-( Oh well, the plain red ones were kinda ugly anyways...don't ya think?

So yes, I managed to burn not just 1, but 2 sheets of the cookies! Haha! But, what's new...when don't I burn something? Oh well. The majority turned out just fine, and I'm very glad I stuck with it. One more night of baking for me tomorrow...

Holiday Baking-Round II

Wednesday night I made cashew nut cookies (with a butter frosting). I decided to make these this year in memory of my mom. Cashews were her favorite nut and she loved these cookies. I have many memories of making these cookies with her as a child around the holidays. We always frosted half of them red and the other half green. Growing up, it was my job and favorite task to frost and add the cashew half to the top of each cookie.

I had no issues making these cookies and the process went smoothly. The recipe is easy, and the frosting is yummy! Let me know if you want the recipe!

Holiday Baking-Round I

I finally decided I would do some baking for the holidays. Since I'm done with class (Yay!) and have my evenings free again, I knew I'd have the time.

I started this last Saturday with something really simply...technically not baking, but I'm including it anyways because I still had to be patient and spend time in the kitchen. I made some "white chocolate" dipped pretzels AND to be festive, I sprinkled them with red sugar. I think they look pretty cute. However, I'm like addicted to them, and they will only be made once a year because once I start I can't stop! :-) And, Josh doesn't even like them!

Tonight I tried a new, super easy recipe for chocolate-chocolate chip cookies. (I have to admit I found this recipe while riding the stationary bike at the gym...seriously, who works out and reads recipes for cookies? Only me probably...I'm a nerd.) The recipe actually uses a devil's food chocolate cake mix, so the cookies are very soft! I love soft cookies. The recipe also calls for some white chocolate to be melted and then drizzled over the cookies. So, I thought I'd try them for the holidays since they look a bit fancier in my opinion. Of course, I had to pull out the red sugar again and sprinkle some with the sugar...some without...I couldn't decide if I really liked the sugar accent or not. Thoughts?

Now, for my "oops" moment tonight. The recipe suggested using the baggie method for the frosting drizzle where the corner of the baggie is snipped off in order to do the drizzling. (Wow, can I use the word "drizzle" more?). I've seen this method used on FoodNetwork all the time...so I thought it'd be easy...it's not rocket science right? Anyways, the first few cookies went ok, even though I didn't really like the way they looked. Then, when I got to the 5th cookie...I guess I squeezed too hard...because the baggie totally split and a bunch of melted chocolate just plopped onto the cookie. See the picture?! Oh well. I scraped off what I could...then, I just used a fork and dipped it in the chocolate and then drizzled the best I could. Once again, that took patience, and I wanted to quit after I did about 5 cookies, but I didn't. Then, I decided to eat that cookie since it looked ugly from me scrapping off the glob. :-) So, in the end...I appreciated the glob.

Well, there will be more baking this week...on the schedule is candy cane cookies, cashew cookies, and my chocolate chip cookies. So...check back in later this week!

"Churros"

So...if you've ever been to Costco, you might know that they sell Churros for $1. I LOVE them. And, since we no longer belong to Costco...I no longer eat them. Well, on Simply Delicioso (FoodNetwork) the host of the show, Ingrid Hoffman, made what she called "churrisimos" and they looked just like churros...maybe they are the same thing...I'm not sure. Anyways, I thought...why not? I've been wanting to make something with puff pastry for a long time since I've never used it...so I went ahead and purchased some at the store on Friday.

So, it started off well...I thawed the puff pastry like the directions said, and then I mixed the cinnamon and sugar together and prepared my working surface and baking sheet. Then...I re-read my instructions quick...and I was supposed to brush the pastry with water. Well... I have no "pastry" brush or any brush for any baking/cooking in the kitchen. What? Why don't I have that. I have lots of stuff I don't use...Uh. Ok. I'm bummed. So, Josh suggests I use a spatula. Oh. Ok.




Anyways, the spatula didn't work (thanks for the suggestion though, Josh). So, I ended up just using my fingers. It worked just fine and I tried to make them as "cinnamon-y and sugar-y" as possible...but I still want a brush now. (Hello...Christmas idea, Josh!)

Since Josh was around he took some "action" shots of me as I was twisting away at my churros and putting them on the baking sheet. Thanks, Josh!

My goal was to place them all on one baking sheet (there were 12). Then, I remembered..."puff" pastry. I figured they needed more room. So, I pulled out another baking sheet. I'm glad I did that. they looked fluffy and yummy out of the oven.

However...I'm NOT glad that I left the second sheet in too long...and ended up really burning that second sheet. Oops!!! (Geesh, it's so burnt the black totally matches my sweatshirt!) I was sad. Josh thought it was funny. I always burn stuff. Oh well. Overall, easy and fun, and I'd make them again...just not burn them again...

**Oh, and I have some new recipes to try for dinner soon...now that I have more time since classes are ending...so the blog should be updated within a week or so for sure!!!