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Banana Bread, Oh so Good.

ryan — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 18:39:46 +0000

Made this great tasting banana bread the other day and just had to log it here for easy access. There are always a couple bananas in the bunch that try to make it into the trash. Not on my watch! Ate a little for a late night snack then wrapped it up for breakfast with some coffee.

Best Basic Banana Bread

stolen from Simply Recipes

Ingredients: 2-3 ripe bananas (starting to brown even); 1/3 c. butter, melted; 1 c. sugar; pinch of salt; 1 beaten egg; 1 t. vanilla extract; 1 t. baking soda; 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
Preparation

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and prepare 4×8 loaf pan (butter and flour dusted). In a medium/large mixing bowl mash the bananas together then add melted butter and mix. Start adding/mixing in some of the dry ingredients, baking soda, salt, sugar. Then mix in the egg and vanilla extract. Finally add in the flour and pour into prepared pan. Bake for about an hour, check after 50 minutes. Done when a toothpick is pulled out clean. Let cool on rack, if you can wait that long. You can do all this with a fork or whisk, no need for electric mixer but no harm either.

Lemon pancakes!

ryan — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 03:31:02 +0000

These babies were AWESOME. I’m not sure if I want any other style of pancake as long as I live. So fresh and so clean, lol. Amazing lemon pancakes, everyone loved them! I seriously can’t wait until the weekend to make them again. Do yourself a favor and make these soon.

Cool song by a band called Meadownoise.

Lemon Pancakes

Recipe from “The Joy of Cooking.”

Ingredients: 1 c. all-purpose white wheat flour; 1/3 c. sugar (I used 2/3 c. organic powdered sugar, will try brown next time); 1 1/2 t. baking powder; 1/2 t. baking soda; 1/4 t. sea salt; 3/4 c. sour cream (sub yogurt for less fat); 1/3 c. milk; zest of two lemons; 1/4 c. fresh lemon juice; 3 T. butter, melted; 1 egg; 1 1/2 t. vanilla extract
Preparation

Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl mix together the rest of the ingredients. Pour wet mixture into dry and stir quickly. The batter will be thick and bubbly. Use 1/4 c. batter for each pancake and pour onto hot skillet. You know what to do. Cook until golden brown then flip! Serve with honey or maple syrup (my favorite).

Olive oil granola.

ryan — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 05:57:24 +0000

We tried a new granola the other day. The girls let me eat it all meaning they weren’t all that impressed. I on the other hand loved it. I brought some to work for the coworkers to try and they all loved it too. I’ve actually had multiple requests to bring in more. I will make this again, I didn’t have anything for the dried fruit element so I think with that in missing piece in place the girls will love it too.

Very good as cereal. I just love ice cold milk over homemade granola.

The loving spoonful.

Olive oil granola

Recipe from In the Kitchen with A Good Appetite: 150 Recipes and Stories About the Food You Love by Melissa Clark. Everything I’ve made from this book has been wonderful. Highly recommended.

Ingredients: 3 c. old-fashioned rolled oats; 1 1/2 c. pistachios, (I used a mixture of walnuts, cashews and almonds); 1 c. raw pumpkin seeds; 1 c. coconut chips; 3/4 c. pure maple syrup (I used 1/2 c. maple syrup and 1/4 c. honey); 1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil; 1/3 c. packed light brown sugar; 1 t. sea salt; 1/2 t. ground cinnamon; 1/2 t. ground cardamom or ground ginger; 3/4 c. chopped dried apricots
Preparation

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a large bowl mix all the ingredients except the apricots well. Transfer to an 11×17 baking sheet and spread evenly. Bake for about 45 minutes stirring every 10 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and mix in apricots. Serve with fresh ricotta and berries. You can also pour some cold milk over it and eat as cereal or just eat plain as an easy snack.

Baby biscuits & gravy.

ryan — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 19:59:59 +0000

I was watching Chopped the other day and a girl (who had a horrible attitude and I hope lost) made a gravy that she said her mom or grandma used to make, I can’t remember which but it’s really not important. Anyway, she said it was equal parts butter and flour and enough milk to get your desired thickness. Oh, and salt and lots of pepper. I love simple easy to remember staple recipes and I LOVE a good white gravy so I couldn’t wait to give it a try. It turned out fantastic! J and Z both liked it and I love it when that happens. It’s definitely not vegan but it’s meatless, hearty, and scratches that itch.

If you have any left over biscuits they are great as a snack with some honey.

Biscuits & Gravy

Biscuits recipe adapted from the book 1,000 Vegetarian Recipes by Carol Gelles. I halved the recipe (Herbed Biscuits) and I got twelve baby biscuits. I also rolled them out to only be 1/2 inch thick since they were smaller. If you go with the full recipe it will make the same amount (10 to 12) of the standard biscuit size (2.5 inch biscuit cutter).

Ingredients – Biscuits: 2 c. white wheat flour; 1 T. baking powder; 1 t. baking soda; 1/2 t. sea salt; 1/4 c. butter, cubed small and cold; 3/4 c. buttermilk (I used whole milk with a few drops of lemon juice); dried oregano

Salad for breakfast & the soft boiled egg.

ryan — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:44:17 +0000

I wanted to make a salad with our breakfast so I just decided to make our breakfast a salad. I looked for ideas on the interwebs and found one with cinnamon toast croutons, sold.

Cut up some bread and toss with some melted butter, sugar and cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees until crunchy. Make a simple vinaigrette using 1 T. apple cider vinegar, 1 T. real maple syrup and a few T. olive oil and you’re pretty much set. Add some crispy bacon, walnuts and whatever you like and top it off with a soft boiled egg.

This was my first attempt at soft boiled eggs and they were awesome. Bring water to a boil, carefully add eggs and boil for about 5 to 7 minutes. Remove and cool or eat right away. I’m addicted.

Steel cut oats.

ryan — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 06:28:54 +0000

This website is a journal of our families cooking experiences and more importantly a quick reference to recipes we want to cook again and again. I haven’t made steel cut oats for awhile now so when I went back to the intertubes to find my old go to recipe it was, well…. gone. I found basically the same thing by Alton Brown but I had to dig through several sites wasting valuable time as I was trying to get something in J’s stomach before she went to yoga. Somebody’s gotta workout in this house. So I figured it’s time to get this recipe in a safe spot.

Steel Cut Oats

Recently found recipe by Alton Brown.

Ingredients: 1 T. butter; 1 c. steel cut oats; 3 c. spring water; 4 T. unrefined sweetener (brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, or a mix like 2 T. brown sugar and 2 T. maple syrup) or to taste; 1/2 c. whole milk
Preparation

Melt butter in large heavy bottom saute pan. Toast the oats for a couple minutes constantly stirring. Add in water and bring to a low simmer for 20 to 30 minute or until the water is all absorbed. Add in the sweetener(s) and mix well. Stir in milk and cook an additional 10 minutes. Serve topped with cinnamon/extra milk/butter or whatever you wish.

Chocolate pancakes.

ryan — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 07:03:22 +0000

I asked Z if she wanted pancakes for breakfast this last Saturday, it was just the two of us because J had to work and was gonna hit yoga afterwords. She replied with “chocolate pancakes”. It caught me off guard at first but then I realized she meant chocolate chip pancakes like I’ve made a couple times in the past. But now I had chocolate pancakes burned into my mind and there was no turning back. I’m glad I went with my “gut” because these were totally awesome. It was actually like eating a birthday cake for breakfast, not something you should do often unless you want to blow up like the stay puft marshmallow man but very super tasty non the less. Everyone obviously loved them (we saved some for when J got home that afternoon). Three thumbs up.

They look so good cooking on the griddle.

Chocolate Pancakes

Recipe from here.

Ingredients: 1 c. whole milk; 1 egg; 2 T. butter, melted; 1/4 t. vanilla extract; 1 c. all-purpose flour; 1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder; 1/4 c. sugar, I use unrefined brown; 1/2 t. baking soda; 1/2 t. sea salt; powdered sugar to top (optional)
Chocolate sauce: 1/2 c. heavy cream; 1/4 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preparation

Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, sea salt and sugar and set aside. Beat egg and add milk, butter and vanilla. Then finally combine the dry and wet mixtures making a nice pancake batter. Pour onto a hot skillet and cook like any other pancakes. Toss in some whole chocolate chips if you want to take it even further.

For the sauce, and it’s all about the sauce FYI, just melt chips with the heavy cream over a low to medium heat in a small sauce pan continuously stirring with a wire whisk. Pour over pancakes and serve.

Ebleskivers!

ryan — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 21:25:03 +0000

When my Dad brings up past stories of when him an my Mom were married there’s one that seems to come up most often. It’s about ebleskivers/apple skivers. He couldn’t quite remember what they were called exactly but he could remember that they were delicious. He always says “You need to ask your Mom about apple skivers”. I’d ask what they were and he could never really explain them… at all. His story was about how they went to some fair in Iowa where some old ladies were making ebleskivers and my Mom was like, I can make those. So she bought a couple ebleskiver pans from the ladies and the rest is history. So finally one day I asked my Mom about them. She went downstairs into the storage room and after a bit of digging she pulled out her ebleskiver pan from years ago. The same one she used to make them for my Dad back in the day. She handed it to me and said “Go for it!”.

When I arrived back home it took me a few times to get them right but once I did they were simple. So get yourself an ebleskiver pan and get to work. They’re a fun way to make sweet round pancakes or even savory cornbread jalepeno cheese filled balls. Kids love them and the just look so neat.

Simple batter, although the more popular (maybe more traditional) version calls for separating the eggs and whipping the whites. Google ebleskiver recipes and you’ll find tons to choose from. Like I said before there are even interesting savory versions.

I didn’t use enough butter the first time and everything stuck. Make beautiful little pools of butter if you want to be successful the first time.

The flipping technique takes a second to figure out but it’s like ridding a bike once you figure it out. I embedded a video below to help.

On a side note I’ve been trying to take one of these blown out background photos for awhile now and our new place has a perfect window to make this happen. Supper happy with this new light source for taking photos.

Ebleskivers

Recipe swiped from MyRecipes.com, it was the first one I found that didn’t require separating the eggs, whipping the whites, folding and all that other nonsense when your starving your butt off.

Ingredients: 1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour; 3 t. sugar (I used unrefined organic brown sugar, use something to replace the white granulated if you can, its bad for ya.); 2 3/4 t. baking powder (aluminum free also!); 1/2 t. sea salt; 1/2 t. cinnamon or cardamom (we used cinnamon); 1 large egg; 1 c. milk; 2 T. butter, melted; extra butter for pan; maple syrup; preserves, strawberry or whatever (optional); confectioners sugar (optional)
Preparation

Combine dry ingredients, combine wet ingredients then mix together gently until incorporated. Some lumps are just perfect, set aside

Heat your ebleskiver pan on the stove top over a medium to medium-high heat. When the pan gets warm enough, grab a stick of butter and rub it around in each pocket melting and coating leaving a little pool of butter in each pit, as shown above. As the pan gets hotter the butter will start to sizzle, that’s when your ready to scoop or pour about two tablespoons of the batter into the each pocket (almost full but not completely). Cook for about 30 seconds until a crust forms on the bottom. You will know this by using a wooden skewer (or the traditional knitting needle) to poke down center-bottom of dough and pull to one side. Pull up just a little and move on to the next one going in the order you poured the batter. Then return to first one and pull up half way where its like a 90 degree angle. As you do each pull/turn/flip the batter will pour out and fill in the bottom and cook. The third and final turn will flip the ebleskiver to form a ball. Let the insides cook for a few more seconds. Poke a clean skewer all the way through and if it pulls out clean its cooked all the way. You can break open a bit and fill with some jelly then close and top with powdered sugar. Serve hot!

Below is a video which will do a way better job of visually explaining the three turn flipping process of an ebleskiver.

French toast & thick maple bacon.

ryan — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 05:50:28 +0000

Ina Garten is a lovely woman. She has to be one of my favorite celebrity chefs from the Food Network. Her show Barefoot Contessa is super awesome. I love the way she prepares a full meal and a dessert in every episode. Everything seems simple and I get so inspired with each show that I end up at the store grabbing the ingredients or cooking what she cooked right then if I’m lucky. I’d have to say that everything I’ve made of hers has been wonderfully delicious and with that I’m a huge fan.

This French toast came out amazing. I left the bread in the egg mixture a bit too long but all was good and tasty in the end. J loved it and Z, well I don’t know what’s wrong with that kid sometimes.

French Toast & Thick Maple Bacon

Taken from an episode of Barefoot Contessa with Ina Garten on the Food Network.

Ingredients: 6 extra-large eggs; 1 1/2 c. half and half or milk; 1 t. orange zest; 1 T. honey; 1/2 t. sea salt; 1 large loaf challah or brioche bread (We used regular sliced bread); sliced almonds; unsalted butter; vegetable oil; maple syrup; preserves, strawberry or whatever (optional); confectioners sugar (optional)
Preparation

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Whisk eggs, half-and-half, orange zest, vanilla, honey, and salt. Slice bread into 3/4 inch thick slices and soak as many pieces as you can for five minutes flipping once.

Heat 1 T. butter and 1 T. oil in a very large saute pan over medium heat. Sprinkle one side of bread with sliced almonds and place in pan almond side down first cooking for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until nicely browned. Put cooked French toast on a pan in the oven to keep warm while your frying the other pieces. Add butter and oil as needed. Top with maple syrup, preserves, fresh cut fruit and or confectioners sugar. Yum!

Oh, maple bacon! Bake some thick bacon in the oven at 350 to 375 degrees for about 20 minutes or until done, just keep an eye on it. But first you must drizzle it with some pure maple syrup. Dang that’s good.

No crust quiche.

ryan — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 06:26:18 +0000

I love basic recipes/formulas that have a million possibilities and this no crust quiche is one of them. The no crust part makes it a low calorie yet high protein breakfast (whole pie: 830 cal. 55 g. protein). Since there are three of us I divided it into six portions so we could have it again for breakfast tomorrow. Cutting it into sixths, each serving is almost 10 whopping grams protein and only about 140 calories. Come on man, that’s just awesome! J and Z both loved how these turned out, J actually said it was cooked perfectly. We easily could have eaten the whole thing, and still would have been under 300 calories with 20 grams of protein each, sorry but I love doing the math on this one because it always comes out a win.

It’s a no crust quiche but a nice baked crusty edge does present itself.

What I love about this recipe is that you can basically sub out any veggies/cheeses/meats/milks you want so the combinations are endless. Ours was sort of a Mediterranean style with the feta and all though some black olives, fresh basil and tomatoes would have been nice too. You could go a little more Mexico with it and use chorizo, pepper jack and black/pinto beans. Again, endless. This is now and forever on our morning menu.

I’m seriously surprised we didn’t just finish the whole thing right then.

No Crust Quiche

From the book Simple Food for Busy Families. The whole life nutrition approach. by Jeannette Bessinger and Tracee Yablon-Brenner. A wonderful guide to whole food understanding chock full of great information in an easy to digest way.

Ingredients: 5 free range organic eggs; 1/3 to 2/3 c. unsweetened milk (cow, rice, almond, soy, etc.) (I used 2/3 c. cow); fresh herbs and spices (I used a handful of dill); sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste; 1 c. vegetables, chopped (I used red bell peppers); 1/4 to 1/2 c. meat or cheese (optional) (I used 1/2 c. feta *4 oz.)
Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Oil or butter a pie pan then chop veggies and meats into small pieces. Mix the eggs, milk and herbs and spices. Add the chopped veggies/meat/cheese to the bottom of the pan then gently pour the egg mixture over top. Sprinkle top with extra herbs and spices if you wish. Cook for 30 to 50 minutes/until set and lightly browned on top. If you notice the top browning to early cover with some foil.