Banana Nut Friendship Bread

So I sort of allowed my one yeast baggie to grow into twelve and I’ve been forced to bake pretty much every day to keep them from taking over the kitchen. The original Friendship Bread recipe leaves a lot of room for experimentation so I decided to tackle banana nut bread. I substituted bananas in for liquid and made a few other changes and surprisingly enough, it worked! I’m trying new versions for scones and chocolate chocolate chip bread this week too. Once I perfect those puppies, I’ll record the recipes for you Sarah (or anyone else who wants them!) so you can have a bunch of options when you get your starter. ;) I’ve found that the longer you allow your yeast to grow the more your baked goods rise when cooked. If you use a starter right when you split it, the final version doesn’t have that awesome fluffy bread-like quality. So wait! Ignore my previous post’s instructions and use a starter when it’s at least 5 days old. Okay, so on to Banana Nut Friendship Bread!

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease two non metal loaf pans with butter and sprinkle all the sides with cinnamon sugar (1/4 cup sugar plus 1 tsp cinnamon).

In a non-metal bowl smash 2 large bananas (or 3 smallish ones). To that add an aged yeast starter, 2 eggs, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 cup oil, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 cup sugar, 2 cups flour, 1 box of instant banana (or vanilla or white chocolate) pudding mix, and 1 cup chopped walnuts. Mix with a non-metal spoon until just combined.

Pour your batter into the prepared pans so they are no more than 3/4 full. Sprinkle the tops liberally with cinnamon sugar. Pop them in the oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour and 20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. The length of baking time will vary greatly depending on the size and shape of your loaf pans so keep an eye on them! Cool and invert the pan over a plate and the bread should slide right out. Slice and enjoy!

Banana Nut Friendship Bread

Ingredients

• Friendship Yeast Bread Starter (Mine was about 5 days old)
• 2 large bananas (mashed)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 box instant pudding (banana, vanilla, or white chocolate)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup roughly chopped walnuts

Method

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease two non metal loaf pans with butter and sprinkle all the sides with cinnamon sugar (1/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon). Combine all ingredients in a non-metal bowl with a non-metal spoon. Pour the batter into your prepared pans so they are about 3/4 full (less is okay, more is NOT). Sprinkle the tops with more cinnamon sugar and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour and 20 minutes or until the tops are nice and brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. The baking time will vary depending on your pan size and shape so you just have to keep an eye on them and allow them to bake until the bread is totally set. When the loaves are done, remove from the oven and cool until you can handle them. Invert a pan over a plate and slide the bread out. Slice and enjoy!

 

Flickr Tags: banana,bread,frienship bread,yeast,Xochi

Blueberry Friendship Muffins

My buddy Ted recently gave me a ziplock bag full of a sloppy yeast mixture he swore turned into the most delicious bread he’d ever eaten- Friendship Bread. I was skeptical, but Ted was true to his word and this bread was amazing. It’s not really bread, it’s more like a cake. The key is to have this yeast mixture which is fed and grown by each person who receives it (I’m saving one for you when you come up here for Picnic Day Sarah!).  You allow your baggie to sit at room temperature and ferment for 10 days. At the end of the cycle you put your slightly smelly yeast mixture into a non-metal bowl along with 1.5 c sugar, 1.5 c flour, and 1.5 c milk and mix with a non-metal spoon. Portion that new mix out into 4 ziplock bags (about 1 cup each) and give three to friends. With the remaining portion you can make friendship bread!

In a non-metal bowl mix together one of your newly split yeast mixtures plus 3 eggs, 1 cup oil, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 tsp salt,                  1 1/2 tsp vanilla, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder,               1/2 tsp baking soda, 2 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1 large box instant pudding (try vanilla first).

Gently fold in 1 lb frozen blueberries (you can substitute anything else here that you want, like nuts, dry fruit, chocolate chips, etc).

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 or 3 cupcake trays with paper liners (this recipe makes about 30 muffins). You could also grease those cupcake trays with butter and then sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar (1/4c sugar plus 1 tsp cinnamon) but I was mistrustful of this because I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get the muffins out. :) Fill the trays almost completely full and sprinkle the tops with cinnamon sugar. Pop them in the oven for 45 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool and enjoy!

Blueberry Friendship Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 freshly split cup (or so) of yeast mixture
• 3 eggs
• 1 c oil
• 1/2 c milk
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 c flour
• 1 c sugar
• 1 large box instant pudding (vanilla is a good choice)
• 1 lb frozen blueberries

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 or 3 cupcake trays with paper liners (makes about 30 muffins).
2. Combine all ingredients (except the blueberries) in a non-metal bowl and mix with a non-metal spoon. Gently fold in the blueberries.
3. Fill each cupcake liner almost completely full. Mix 1/4c sugar with 1 tsp cinnamon to make cinnamon sugar. Sprinkle each muffin with a bit of cinnamon sugar.
4. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
5. Cool and enjoy!

 

Flickr Tags: muffins,frienship bread,blueberries,baking,Xochi

Italian Egg Soup

 

We’re almost into spring up here, but the weather has been fickle and vacillating back and forth between blue skies and warm weather to cold, gray, rainy days. I wanted something warm a few days ago and Italian Egg Soup totally fit the bill. This soup is a take on a classic Italian dish called “stracciatella” which is taken from the Italian word stracciato meaning “torn apart.” This is a direct reference to the way the eggs are cooked in the dish. At the very end of the cooking process you whisk in some lightly beaten eggs which transform the soup from brothy to creamy, flecked with little feathery egg bits that melt in your mouth and give the soup a curiously thick and luscious taste. The original recipe is really light, usually only comprised of chicken broth, herbs, and eggs. This recipe is much heartier and really flavorful while still being extremely healthy. I thought it was a really filling dinner (with a side of french bread), but Tony caved about half an hour after inhaling his soup and ate a couple of turkey dogs. I think his body wanted more calories- there are like 200 in one bowl of soup. This is basically delicious diet food. :)

 

Begin by heating 6 cups of chicken (or veggie) broth and 2 cups of water in a covered medium sized soup pot. In the meantime,  chop one bunch of green onions (chives, scallions, whatever) separating your white ends from your greens. Add the white ends to the broth as well as a washed 15 ou can of cannellini (white kidney) beans and 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg. Let this mix come to a boil and then reduce it to a simmer. Add 2 cups of whole wheat Rotini pasta and simmer uncovered for about half as long as the box says to cook the pasta, or about 4 minutes. I really love whole wheat for this because it’s super healthy, has a great nutty flavor, and it’s sturdy enough to retain some bite after sitting in warm soup for a long time.

While the soup is simmering, grab about 4 leaves of mustard greens (or as much of some other light tasting, leafy green lettuce-style veggie to produce about 3 cups of chopped greens). Remove the tough middle stem and stack the leaves on top of each other to prepare for a chiffonade cut. Roll them like you’re trying to make a long tube (it kind of looks like a cigar) and then, starting on one end of the tube, slice down to make a ring about as thick as your finger is wide and move all the way down your tube making this cut. It’s easy if you keep your knife tip on the board and your most distal knuckles acting as a guiding cut point for the broad side of your knife. Set the greens aside and lightly beat 6 eggs in a cup.

After about 4 minutes of boiling toss in your mustard greens and allow them to wilt for about a minute.

 

Stream the beaten eggs into the soup while whisking vigorously. The liquid changes from a clear, brown broth to a lighter, cloudier soup. The egg bits should settle into small, feathery pieces when they cook. Allow the soup to simmer for 2 minutes, then remove from the heat. Add about 1/4 tsp black pepper, 4 tbsp lemon juice, and all of the green tops from the onions. Adjust for taste.

Ladle the soup into some bowls and top with freshly grated parmesan cheese. This soup would go really well with some crusty french bread or garlic bread and maybe a Cesar salad. I hope you try it!

Italian Egg Soup

Ingredients

• 6 cups chicken or veggie broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 15 ounce can Cannellini beans, washed
• 1 bunch green onions, diced, whites and greens separated
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 2 cups whole wheat Rotini pasta
• 3 cups chopped mustard greens
• 6 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 4 tbsp lemon juice
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese to taste

Method

In a covered medium pot bring the broth, water, beans, onion whites, and nutmeg to a boil. Uncover and reduce to a simmer. Add the pasta and cook for half as long as the box instructions direct you to, or about 4 minutes. As the pasta boils, chop your greens chiffonade-style and lightly beat your eggs in a cup.

Add your mustard greens to the pot and let them wilt in the soup for about a minute. While whisking constantly, stream in the beaten eggs (they should look like little feathery strands as they set). Allow the soup to cook for another 2 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and mix in the pepper and lemon juice. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Serve with french bread or garlic bread. Enjoy and remember you can easily mix up these ingredients!

Flickr Tags: Italian,vegetable,soup,vegetarian,noodle,Xochi

Braised Lamb Shanks

This is an adaptation of a Gordon Ramsey recipe (1). I was impressed at how easy it was to make. I thought his recipes would be challenging and involved, but it was just fantastic, not hard. He says that the the shank is one of the easier cuts of lamb to cook and I can attest that this recipe was simple yet SO delicious that I found myself licking the sauce directly from the pan. It is possible that the sauce is the tastiest thing I have ever cooked. And that's saying a lot, because I have definitely cooked some impressive meals.

First you heat some olive oil in a large pan. Then you season the lamb shanks and brown them all over in the oil, then remove from the pan and set aside. This takes about 5-8 minutes per shank. I cook 2 shanks at a time and they turned out just fine.

After browning the shanks add a little olive oil, add the chopped vegetables, garlic, herbs and anise, and cook gently until browned. Pour in the wine and cook until it has reduced down to a syrup. Put the shanks back into the pan and pour on the stock. Season to taste.

Cover the pan and cook gently for 2½-3 hours until the meat is tender and falls off the bone.

About 30 minutes before the end of the cooking time, make the parsnips. Though this recipe is easy to make and yummy to eat, it takes quite a long time. By the end I was hungry and tired and so I decided to opt out of puréeing the parsnips and just sauted them instead. The whole thing was totally worth all the time I put in to it. I did not feel let down, but I do think that next time I will purée the parsnips, just to taste the recipe the way it was conceived.

Melt the butter in a frying pan over a low heat and cook the parsnips until completely soft and falling apart (about 25 minutes).

Remove the lamb shanks from the liquid and put in the oven to keep warm.

Now for the sauce! This sauce is amazing. It is so good that I would eat it with anything I possibly could. Even if there were nothing else there I would eat it plain by itself. In fact, there were leftovers after this meal, but I was out of bread to sop up the sauce. So, instead of bread I used tortilla chips. It was ghetto, but so good.

After you remove the shanks strain the stock and pour it back into the pan. and cook over a high heat until it forms a sauce consistency.

Serve each shank over the parsnips, and pour over the sauce. Eat and all your wildest foodie dreams will come true.

Ingredients

Olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 small lamb shanks
1 carrot, roughly chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 leek, roughly chopped
1 celery stick, roughly chopped
½ a head of garlic
A sprig of fresh thyme
1 bay leaf/a sprig of fresh rosemary/2 star anise 300ml dry white wine
1l chicken stock
100g butter
4 large parsnips, peeled and chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Extracted from Kitchen Heaven by Gordon Ramsay, published by Michael Joseph on May 6 at £20, © Optomen Television and Gordon Ramsay, 2004.

Bacon Waffles

My dad came down for a visit over President's Day Weekend. And one huge perk, other than the conversation and fun, is the bacon waffles in the morning. Also, my dad gets up early and brings coffee and the news paper from my favorite coffee shop on 101. So I get to wake up to coffee, and bacon waffles. Fantastic Saturday morning.

Okay, so bacon waffles are another simple and delicious family favorite. All that goes in to this recipe is a standard waffle recipe and two (or three) strips of bacon. It makes for the most delicious breakfast, pretty much ever.

First thing to do is make up your waffle mixture. I've included a great recipe for this by Alton Brown at the end of this post. You could choose to use a boxed mix if you like as well. My dad's favorite is Krusteaz Belgian Waffle Mix.

So after having mixing that all together heat up your waffle iron and prepare to be dazzled. Pour about a cup of the waffle mixture on to the iron. Then place the desired amount of bacon across the mixture.

My dad went for a manly 3 slices of bacon for his waffle and put them in an asterisk pattern. If you're using 2 slices you can just make an "X" over the waffle batter and you'll be good.

Close the lid of the waffle iron and let the sizzling deliciousness begin. Cook until the waffle is golden brown on both sides. One way to check to see if your waffle is done without pulling it open and possibly disturbing it before it has completed cooking is to wait for the steam to stop coming out of the sides of the waffle iron. This means you have to be noticing the steam coming out in the first place, but it works for me. Generally, my waffle iron kicks out waffles in about 5 minutes. And they are done to perfection at that point.

Eat up and enjoy!

Ingredients

• 4 3/4 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 1 cup
• 4 3/4 ounces whole-wheat flour, approximately 1 cup
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 whole eggs, beaten
• 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
• 16 ounces buttermilk, room temperature
• Vegetable spray, for waffle iron

Directions

Preheat waffle iron according to manufacturer's directions.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flours, soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. In another bowl beat together eggs and melted butter, and then add the buttermilk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until combined. Allow to rest for 5 minutes.

Ladle the recommended amount of waffle batter onto the iron according to the manufacturer's recommendations. Close iron top and cook until the waffle is golden on both sides and is easily removed from iron. Serve immediately or keep warm in a 200 degree F oven until ready to serve.

Cheesecake Cupcakes

Cheesecake just so happens to be Tony and Andy’s favorite kind of cake, so they were super excited when I told them I’d be attempting cheesecake cupcakes. I stumbled upon this recipe (1) a while ago but hadn’t really had the time to make it till last night when we had some left over curry for dinner. These little guys are delicious. They are light and fluffy right out of the oven, but give them the time to set in the fridge overnight and they become firm, smooth, and absolutely decadent. I whipped up some whip cream (because I’m the kind of girl who can do that on a whim) and plopped a bit on top with some shaved chocolate for garnish. Divine.

First make sure that you have 16 ounces of cream cheese and two eggs out at room temperature. It makes the mixing later on way easier. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. To make the crust, I crushed about 25 graham cracker squares by mortar and pestle to make 2 cups of graham cracker crumbs. I suppose I could have used my food processor, but I like to access my cave woman roots every now and then.

In a small bowl, combine the crumbs with 4 ~ 5 tablespoons of melted butter. I needed more to make the mixture packable. At this point I started nibbling away at my mix and needed to get a glass of milk. :)

In another bowl combine 16 ou cream cheese, 3/4 c granulated sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract, and 2 eggs. Using a hand mixer, beat the tar out of it till your mixture is nice and smooth and kind of fluffy. I never did get mine TOTALLY smooth, but the cupcakes turned out fine. It’s amazing how baked goods just come together when coaxed by a bit of heat in the oven. Still nibbling away because raw eggs don’t scare me in the least.

Line a cupcake tray with paper cupcake liners. Place a tablespoon of the crumb mixture into each paper cupcake holder and press down gently with a spoon. Fill each cupcake just about to the top with the cream cheese mixture. I had enough mix to make about 15 cupcakes in total. The original recipe said to bake these in the oven for 15 minutes. I baked one tray for 25 minutes and another smaller one for 20 minutes. Both turned out fine, but I probably over cooked them a bit because I was nervous and didn’t know how to assess the doneness of cheesecake. The toothpick trick didn’t work and they seemed too wobbly… I don’t know. I finally decided that when they were all pretty cracked and poofy, I should take them out. 20 minutes should be fine.

While the cupcakes were baking I introduced Nicky to the wonderful world of cream cheese. Kittens are so much fun.

Because these cupcakes depend solely on eggs to give them rise, they kind of deflate upon exiting the oven. That’s cool. It just means they need to be filled. :) I love whipped cream, so I put a dollop of that on top of mine. You could also put some fresh fruit on there, canned pie mix, chocolate candies, jam, nutella, swedish fish… ;) The sky’s the limit. Have fun!

Cheesecake Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 2 cups of crushed graham crackers
• 4 ~ 5 tablespoons of butter, melted
• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese (room temperature)
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs (room temperature)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• your topping of choice

Method

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake tray with cupcake liners.

2) Crush the graham crackers and mix with butter. Place 1 tablespoon of this mixture in each cupcake liner, and press down with a spoon to make the crust.

3) In a mixing bowl, beat room temperature cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy.

4) Fill each cupcake liner with the cream cheese mixture, just about to the top.

5) Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.

6) Top with a teaspoonful of your topping of choice.

(1) http://www.nibbledish.com/people/legallyliz/recipes/cheesecake-cupcake

Pomegranate Guacamole

This recipe is a family favorite. Okay well "recipe" would be a bit strong for the description. We have a free form sort of cooking philosophy in our family. Recipes, instructions, they're all just suggestions. As my grandpa used to say "You call them instructions; I call them destructions." I called my grandma for the pomegranate guacamole "recipe" a few weekends ago to discover that she simply uses store bought guacamole and puts a half a cup of pomegranate seeds, I feel like Martha Stewart or Ina Garten collectively rolled their eyes and sighed at this discovery.

I am, however, a bit more particular about my guacamole. I like to make it myself so it can be just exactly how I want it: avocado, garlic, red onion, a little lime juice, and pomegranate seeds. It's totally delicious and perfect!



The whole process is really simple. To start with I take the seeds out of a pomegranate. Okay, I know I know, not so simple. If you're me this process leaves your kitchen looking a bit like a crime scene. I have friends who are able to remove the seeds of a pomegranate without a speck of red appearing on them, but that's not me. I have to put on my painting shirt for this business.

Since I was brought up in a family without recipes I estimate the half cup of pomegranate seeds to be the seeds from one small pomegranate. Set the seeds aside in a bowl; you'll be adding them at the very end.

Then you can begin the general preparation of the guacamole. This varies in length and involvement. If you're my grandma apparently all it requires is undoing the packaging and moving to another bowl. For me this process requires a bit of slicing, dicing, and mushing.



Since I currently live in San Diego I have plenty of fresh organic avocados from the farmers market to use. As far as these babies go, I like to buy them before they're completely ripe. I set them on the table next to the window until their good, and then transfer them to the fridge until I'm ready to use them.

Mush and smash your avocados, then spritz with some lime juice to prevent browning. At this point you can add all your extras to the guacamole, including the pomegranate seeds. Enjoy!




Ingredients

* 2 avocados
* 1 small red onion, finely chopped
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
* 1 lime, juiced
* salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Peel and mash avocados in a medium serving bowl. Stir in onion, garlic, pomegranate seeds, lime juice, salt and pepper. Season with remaining lime juice and salt and pepper to taste. Chill for half an hour to blend flavors.