Banana Bread

 

Sometimes it pays to try a new recipe.  I tend to think that all recipes are the same and get stuck in a rut…especially with banana bread, chocolate chips cookies, brownies, etc.  There are two recipes for banana bread generally followed in my kitchen.  This may be the new ONE.  For some reason, this has a better crisp to the crust and it’s lighter than either of my other recipes.  I’m always on the lookout for a 4-H project, and had asked Angelina to try this recipe last week.  She didn’t have time, and those brown bananas on the counter were just begging to be used in something.  Here’s a picture…and here’s the recipe.  Try it for yourself!

 

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

½ c Coconut Oil – melted

1 c Sugar

1 c Mashed Bananas

2 Tbs Greek Yogurt – plain or vanilla bean

¼ c Milk

1 tsp Lemon Juice

2 c Flour

1 ½ tsp Baking Powder

½ tsp Baking Soda

¼ tsp Salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream coconut oil and sugar together. Add eggs and beat. Add mashed bananas, milk, lemon juice and Greek Yogurt. Mix thoroughly. Mix in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir until combined. Pour into a prepared bread pan (coated with oil or non-stick spray). Bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick, inserted in the center, comes out clean.

At your repeated request!

Blueberry French Toast

Yield: 8-12 servings

 

INGREDIENTS

12-14 slices day old bread (I used a large loaf of French bread cut into 1” cubes)

2 (8oz.) pkgs. cream cheese 

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

12 eggs

2 cups milk

1/3 cup maple syrup or honey

 

DIRECTIONS:  Cut bread into 1” cubes.  Place half into greased 9x13-inch pan.  cut cream cheese into 1-inch cubes and place over bread cubes.  top with blueberries and remaining bread.  In large bowl, beat eggs.  Add milk and syrup.  Mix well and pour over bread.  Cover and chill 8 hours or overnight.  Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.  Cover with foil and back at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Uncover and bake 25-30 minutes more or until golden brown and center is set.

SAUCE

1 cup sugar

2 1/2 Tbls. cornstarch

1 cup water

DIRECTIONS: In saucepan, combine sauce ingredients.  Bring to boil over medium heat for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.  Stir in 1 cup blueberries.  Reduce heat and simmer 8-10 minutes until berries burst.  Put sauce into pour pitcher to serve over hot dish. 

 

**This dish reheats fabulously!  We ate it almost three days in a row and enjoyed every bite.  I didn’t think to take a picture, but it looks wonderful, too.

Strawberry Scones

 

First saw these on Regan’s, then had to link  and link to find them here!  I planned to freeze them for next week, but I snuck a taste before they cooled completely.  Utterly light and delightful! 

My only issue is that the batter doesn’t make enough to completely fill my mini scone pan.  I’ll find a way to adjust and add about a quarter more to the dough (there are plenty of strawberries to accommodate) and fill the remaining 4 scone forms.  Either that or I need to make them all smaller!

My notes and changes are italicized.

Strawberry Scones

Yields: 6 large scones or 12 mini scones

Ingredients:

1 cup diced strawberries (or other fruit)

3 Tablespoons granulated sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

6 Tablespoons butter, cubed

2/3 cup half-and-half or cream or cold buttermilk*

Topping:

1 Tablespoon granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet. I used a mini scone pan.

If using larger fruit, cut into bite-sized pieces. Sprinkle fruit with ½ tablespoon sugar; set aside. Be sure to dice the pieces small or they tend to fall out of the dough. They’ll still be plenty prominent in your finished scones.

Combine remaining sugar with flour, baking powder and salt. Add butter, using a pastry cutter or 2 knives to cut in butter (you may want to use your dingers to be sure butter is evenly mixed into flour). Stir in fruit; then add cream/half-and-half/buttermilk all at once. Use spatula to gently stir dough until it holds together. I chose to add the fruit last because I didn’t want it to break up when I was mixing the dough. I also chose to eliminate the kneading, as the dough was fully incorporated by mixing in the bowl.

Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times to incorporate dry ingredients. Be gentle so you don’t break up the berries and don’t overwork the dough. Sprinkle dough with flour if it gets sticky.

Press the dough into a circle ¾ inch thick. If any berries peek out, push them into the dough. Cut circle into 6-8 wedges, then transfer wedges to the cookie sheet, leaving ½ inch of space between them.

Bake 15 minutes. Sprinkle with sugar and bake 5-10 minutes more or until the tops are beginning to brown and spring back when you push them (This took another 15-20 minutes in my oven, but keep a careful watch and check every 5 minutes – you do not want dry scones!). (The sprinkling of sugar over the top for the last few minutes of baking creates a simple, sparkly topping.) My scones were done after a total baking time of 25 minutes.

* I used slightly more (maybe 1 Tablespoon) than 2/3 cup to hold the batter together.

Amaretto French Toast

 

On our recent vacation with my side of the family, each of the ‘sibling’ families took turns in the kitchen.  My brothers Eric and Doug paired up for a couple breakfasts (Doug’s wife wasn’t able to make the trip - something about being 8 mos. along in her third pregnancy and 12 hours away from her doctor in December/January in Montana where snowstorms are frequent – we missed you, Laura!). 

My brother Eric in the foreground and Doug in the background.

 

Mmmmm … helpers or samplers??

 

Anyway, these two brothers served this AMAZING dish one morning and received rave reviews all around.  Absolutely YUMMY!  Five stars, I’m telling you!!

I made the recipe today just to relish it once more.  I made it with French bread;  my brothers used English Muffin bread.  Both are tasty.

Tip:  If you want more Amaretto flavor, slice the bread thinner.  I grill this on a griddle placed over the burners on my cooktop.  I’ve found that a lower heat works better and prevents burning (if the bread is soaked longer).

 

Amaretto French Toast

Makes about 6 servings or 18

Ingredients
6 eggs
1 1/2 cup half and half
3 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons Amaretto
9 tablespoons butter or margarine
18 slices brioche or egg bread (English Muffin bread and French bread work nicely, too)

Directions
In a shallow dish, whisk together all ingredients. Place bread slices into dish. Let soak for a bit, flip and let other side soak.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon of butter. When melted, retrieve slices from egg mixture and add to skillet. Cook 2-3 minutes per side, or until golden brown. Repeat with remaining slices.

Santa Lucia’s Braided Bread

 

Link to the recipe at the Family Fun site is here.  My only change was to add 1/4 tsp. of pure orange extract to the glaze because I thought it wasn’t flavored enough with just orange juice. 

I’d also like to try decreasing the recipe so that it fits in my bread machine.  This does make a huge amount of dough, so half the recipe would be enough for one meal or snack-time for our family.  I suppose if I’d have known ahead of time or actually read through the recipe last week, I could have made two rings and frozen one for later.  This time, we are just enjoying the leftover.

While I’d considered making the bread last week, I wasn’t prepared and it’s just been so hectic.  So, this was a little last minute… didn’t start on the dough until after lunch (I’m just too needed in the school-room until at least lunch/dinner).  It wasn’t baked until about 4pm and I frosted it before it was cooled because I’m just soooo impatient – and it smelled incredibly wonderful.

So, to celebrate the Feast of St. Lucy, we ate this wonderful bread and listened to her story – all because there happened to be a reminder to ‘read a story about the saint for today’ in Zeke’s syllabus.  No dressing up, no candles, no waking up early, just thankful to be reminded of our beautiful faith and trying to live it out in the smallness of our day.

Sourdough Buns

Sourdough Buns

The buns have a texture that is between bread and biscuit.  They're light and slightly dry, so use them or freeze within a day or two.  The King Arthur comments note the buns are moist, so the fact that mine tend to be dry (in two batches) is probably due to the fact that I'm a novice bread baker.  The flavor is wonderful, so I will be baking more.  It's a great way to use up sourdough starter, too.

Fresh Bread

I've been craving fresh bread.  I should just set my breadmaker on the counter, but the counters already have enough clutter and the sight of the bread machine would probably just make me feel guilty!  So, upon finding this recipe for Easy Batter Bread and seeing it's simplicity, I thought I'd give it a whirl.  It has a texture similar to beer batter bread and probably wouldn't hold up for sandwiches. 

While it rose fine before baking, for some unknown reason it fell a little in the middle during baking; but it tasted yummy with apricot jam and plum jelly.  I think I'll have to get out my bread machine for the 'real' bread texture I'm craving.

Chocolate Chip Scones

Family Review: ***** Absolutely yummy!*****

Chocolate Chip Scones
Yield: 32 scones


Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 Tbls. baking powder
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into slices
1 cup mini-chocolate chips
2 large eggs
2 tsps. vanilla
1/2 to 2/3 cup whole milk


Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
4 Tbls. water or enough for a thin glaze
1 tsp. vanilla


Directions:
1. Whisk together all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cut in the butter; it's okay to leave some larger pieces of butter. Stir in the chocolate chips.


2. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, vanilla and milk together. Add liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until moistened. Add additional milk if the mix won't hold together.


3. On a well-floured surface, roll the dough into an 8" x 8" square. Cut the dough into 2" squares, for a total of 16 squares. Cut each square diagonally to form 32 small triangles.


4. Transfer to a parchment lined (or well greased) cooking sheet. They can be close together.


5. While the oven is preheating to 425 degrees F, place the pan of scones in the freezer, uncovered.


6. Bake the scones for 19 minutes and allow scones to cool on the pan.


7. Prepare the glaze. I transferred the glaze to a sandwich baggie, snipped a corner, and drizzled the glaze over the scones while on the parchment (less mess). You could also spread the glaze over each with a spatula.


** Sorry no pictures. Take my word for it, though, these are incredibly easy to make and taste great! I think I may try substituting blueberries for chocolate chips. I like the texture of this scone. They are not dense like some recipes, and neither are they too much like quick bread.

Sourdough Bread

This is my second attempt. The first ended up rather flat, and while it had the sourdough taste, it definitely wasn't good for much else! So, hopefully the end result you see here is better. I have been reading a lot online about sourdough. Lots of opinions out there! There is a bit of a learning curve ... mostly because I'm not a 'natural' bread baker. But, my waffles and pancakes have turned out wonderful and I felt it was time to branch out.

I was up early again today - 5:30a - so an early start for bread-making (which is a good thing). By 6a, the dough was mixed and ready to sit for its first 90 minute rise. I have such a hard time throwing out ANY starter, so this is a double batch. I split my starter yesterday with the intent of making bread this morning, so that meant I had two cups of starter ... thus the double batch. If all goes well, I'll have two loaves and sourdough buns for supper ~ and snacking.





Mixing the ingredients and forming a nice dough ball were the first steps this morning. As you can see below, the dough rose well during the first 'sitting'.



Next, I divided the huge dough ball into four portions. I formed two loaves and cut the remaining quarters into appropriate portions for buns - I was able to get about 2 dozen buns. (My picture shows 8 portions, but I had to make them a bit smaller for sandwiches. Eight portions would be great for hamburgers, though.)



Next, my formed loaves and buns are shown.





The formed loaves and buns sit for another 60 minutes to double in size, once again.



The tops are slashed on the loaves and they are ready to bake. Only time will tell ...



Buns into the oven, too. I'll try baking for 15 minutes and then check for doneness on the buns. (15 minutes is the perfect amount of time)



The loaves are done and nicely browned. They will need to cool just a bit and then I'll test a slice with rhubarb jam (courtesy of Grandma Golden Acres).



Sweet Success! The bread is delicious!! The buns turned out nice, too. I brushed the tops of the loaves and buns with butter after they came out of the oven. The best bun-maker in my hometown used to do that; I'm not sure why, but it tastes good.



Rustic Sourdough Bread
Source: King Arthur Flour
Yield: 2 loaves

Ingredients:
1 cup (8.5 oz.) "fed" sourdough starter
1 1/2 cups (12 oz.) luke-warm water
2 1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbls. sugar
2 tsp. instant yeast
5 cups (21.25 oz.) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Directions:
Combine all of the ingredients, kneading to form a smooth, soft dough, adding a bit of additional flour if needed. Place dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled, about 90 minutes.

Divide the dough in half and shape into two oval loaves. Place on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover and let rise till very puffy, about 60 minutes. Slash the tops, and bake in a pre-heated 425 degree oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven, and cool on a rack.

Sourdough Starter

At Easter, my sister brought a catalog from the King Arthur Flour Company. All of us women-folk perused the magazine which boasted of wonderful baking mixes and helpful kitchen utensils. We all ordered a few things that we needed or wanted to try and bundled our orders to receive free shipping. I ordered more of those handy bag clips ... mine had all disappeared in the past few weeks (or maybe they were all being used) ... and a crock and starter for sourdough.

The starter arrived separately, because the plastic shipping jar was damaged in the first shipment. The company quickly replaced the starter and it arrived at my home last Friday. I was amazed at the small amount - not even a tablespoon! The first step was to add 2 tablespoons lukewarm water to loosen it from the plastic shipping jar. Then I was instructed to go through a series of steps where I mixed in water and flour. Twice I discarded half of the mixture and then added more water and flour. I felt like I was throwing out a lot of flour.

The starter is 'resting' right now. I'm at the point where I either need to use or refrigerate the starter. Since I kept both portions this time, I'm going to refrigerate half in the crock and use the other half for waffles tomorrow morning. The waffle recipe asks that you start a 'sponge' overnight, so I'll need to plan ahead to make waffles.

This is the crock, which will be used to store my starter in the refrigerator. Isn't it cute?

Sourdough is wonderful when used for grilled cheese sandwiches. I just hope my sourdough bread is tasty! I have a feeling sourdough has a learning curve, but it also seems forgiving (at least according to the directions that were included).

*The sourdough waffles turned out yummy this morning. Everyone who ate, really liked the flavor. A couple of my kids had already eaten -VERY early risers - so I had plenty of leftovers for tomorrow morning. I'm also going to freeze about a dozen of the 4"x4" squares. I haven't done that before, and am hoping the toaster can revive them to taste almost like freshly made waffles.

Once a Month Cooking

On Wednesday, I finally had time to look through the 'Freezer Cooking Manual' - something I'd been meaning to do since I picked up the book this summer our our local homeschool conference - and am planning to attempt a mini-cooking day on Saturday. I registered as a member of the http://www.30daygourmet.com/ website, too. This gives me access to tested recipes and tips from those who have done it. While I don't think I'll be doing a major cooking day that would cover our whole month, I can definitely see getting 10-15 meals out of a cooking session.

The website also touted an interesting software program that keeps recipes, tracks and mulitiplies ingredients, and creates a variety of reports to make your cooking day easier. A free 30 day trial is available, so I'm testing it out. So far, I'm impressed. I am using a few recipes that were pre-entered, but also entered some of my family favorites for this Saturday. The program creates an ingredient list for shopping and my next favorite feature is the inventory list. The inventory list shows how many entrees have been prepared and can be kept on or near your deep freeze for easy check-off when entrees are taken out for use. Have I mentioned that I LOVE lists? Maybe that's why I like cookbooks and recipes; they're full of lists.

Tomorrow, I'm going to make use of the ingredient list. Fridays are my meeting, errand & shopping day. My dd and I will head to town to fill the cart, the coolers & probably the back of the van!

This is one of the family favorite recipes that I entered into the software (and yes, it does freeze and reheat quite well) . . .

TACO SOUP (from Suzie’s friend, Michelle M.)
Servings: Approximately 12

2 lb. Hamburger
1 small chopped onion
4 oz. can Chopped Green Chilis
1 Pkg. (1.25oz.) Taco Seasoning (I make my own Taco Seasoning Mix)
1 pkg (1oz.) Ranch mix
2 cans (15oz.) Chili Recipe Stewed Tomatoes (I can my own Mexican Stewed Tomatoes)
2 cans (15oz.) Bush’s Hot Chili Beans (I generally use the store brand)
1 ½ -2 cups Water
8oz. Mexican Blend Cheeses
1 Bag Fritos (Ranch or Chili Cheese Flavored are good, but I like plain Fritos)
8oz Sour Cream (we use more sour cream!)

Brown hamburger & chopped onion, drain grease. Add chopped green chilies, beans, tomatoes, taco & ranch seasonings, and water. Simmer 30-45 minutes for best results or let it simmer in the crock pot for 4-6 hours. Serve soup over the Fritos. Then, top with cheese and sour cream.

If I'm ambitious, I try to serve the Taco Soup with my favorite corn bread recipe - adapted from the Company Corn Bread recipe in the cookbook 'Help! My Family's Hungry'.

COMPANY CORN BREAD
Yield: 1 1/2 dozen (more if you only fill the muffin cups 2/3 full)

1/2 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 cups biscuit baking mix
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 eggs
1/2 cup butter, melted but not hot

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Either spray the muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray or use muffin cup papers. In a large bowl, stir together the cornmeal, biscuit mix, sugar, baking powder, and nutmeg. Add milk, eggs, and melted butter. Stir or whisk until smooth. A few lumps of biscuit mix may remain. Pour into prepared muffin pan. Bake 25 minutes or until golden brown.