Banana Bread

My banana bread recipe came from the Rebar cookbook (with slight changes of course).

2 1/2 c flour (I used whole wheat flour)

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 wheat germ (you can use flax instead)

1/2 c butter

1 c brown sugar (instead of 3/4 c of both brown and white)

4 eggs

3 banana (I used 2 cause it's all I had)

1/4 c sour cream

3/4 c toasted and chopped Walnuts

makes a loaf pan 9x5 (I used 8.5x4.5 - and I had some spillage).

Cook at 350 for an hour or there about, until your toothpick comes out clean.

This will go great with afternoon coffee.

Caesar 2

Last night I made a Caesar salad (Sorry, no pic), and though my dressing wasn't that different, it was way better then last time. Here's what I did - though I didn't measure my ingredients.

- 2 Garlic Cloves

- The Green part of one green onion (I added this cause I had it around and thought why not)

- A combo of Olive and Canola oil (Last time the Olive oil flavour came off quite strong, perhaps one day I will have to splurge on the good stuff.) Mixing them turned out OK, I thought it would work cause find Canola pretty light and neutral.

- Mayo

- Lemon Juice

- Mustard

- Parmesan Cheese

- S/P

- Red wine vinegar (Adding this was the main difference from last time - and I think it's absolutely necessary).

Next time, Perhaps I will play with some Anchovies, Worcestershire or perhaps even a clotted egg.

Cinnamon Buns

Cinnamon Rolls (by Michael Smith)

1 c milk

1/2 c butter

1/2 c brown sugar

2 T vanilla

Melt together in a saucepan - then add to the dry ingredients.

5 c flour - but only add 3 to start

1 tsp salt

2 tsp yeast

4 eggs

add one - stir it in, then add another - stir and another - stir and one more - stir the batter till is smooth. Then add the rest of the flour (I actually had to put about 6 cups in, Knead for a few minutes to get the dough sticky, but so it wouldn't stick.

Let the dough mixture rise for 2 hours, or until it has doubled in size.

Roll out and add mixed filling

1/2 c softened butter (room temp)

1 c brown sugar

2 T cinnamon

Roll into a log and cut into 12 to 16 buns - let rise on a baking sheet or pan till the buns rise into each other then bake at 350 till brown and done. The recipe calls for 40 minutes, but mine were done in 20.

The flavour of the buns were quite nice and I would try this recipe again in a heartbeat.

Though I did run into a few problems - no fault of my own of course.

I have a hunch that my yeast isn't the freshest and therefore no good. My last 3 attempts, using the yeast has failed to produce the necessary rise i require. Which has lead to a denser and smaller product.

Because, my dough didn't rise again in the pan before sticking it in the oven, the dough rose to quick in the heat and squeezed all the filling to the top of the buns or the bottom of the pan. I was hoping for a bit more filling to stick around, but it is what it is.

Kaiser Buns

I was feeling a bit adventurous today, which manifested itself in Kaiser Buns. I was going to bake a bread, but I thought buns would be better, cause I was craving a burger.

Here is where I got my Kaiser Bun recipe.

It was a good recipe, and pretty easy to follow - next time I may add another teaspoon of yeast - cause I didn't get a lot of rise, during the allotted rest time.

The Perfect Burger (by Michael Smith)

1 pd. Ground Beef

1 small onion (minced) - I don't use this much

1 T Soy Sauce

1 T Worcestershire Sauce

Pepper

It's that simple, and to be honest, I have made this burger before and it's been fantastic both time.

It also doesn't hurt to add a bit of bacon and bruschetta.

Peach's

Out here in Ontario (and I am sure everywhere else in the country) peaches are in season, which ultimately means they are cheap! So today, after a few days of putting it off I have decided to make a peach pie. It's my first attempt, so I am hoping all goes well.

I am quite taken by the look of rustic pies - so I attempted to leave the edges long and fold them inwards. It didn't turn out exactly how I envisioned but I am still quite content with the appearance. I should also mention that my house smells amazing!

Here's what I did:

Crust:
2 1/2 c Flour
2 Tb Sugar
1 c Butter (frozen)
15 Tb Ice Water
1 tsp Salt

Blitz in a food pro - then roll out into a ball (don't knead to much) then separate into 2 balls - one of which should be smaller for the top. Roll the dough out into circles (dusting flour every so often helps with the sticking) - The bigger being the bottom and the smaller the top.

Filling:
8 Peaches - sliced
1/2 c brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 1/2 T flour

Mix all together then place in the pie crust.

It's that simple.

My Window Garden

My Avacado root has grown quite a bit in the last few weeks, and I can see the steam forming (though it can't be seen in the pic).

My lemon tree's/sprouts are very slowly getting taller and the leaves are getting bigger.

Watermelon

I have always LOVED watermelon and though I know it's not good to gorge on anything - I sometimes just can't help myself. While visiting Halifax, I found a ***WEBSITE - CLICK HERE*** that explores the nutritional facts and benefits of Watermelon. To say the least I was overjoyed.

Here are my tips/theories to picking the best watermelon:
1. The knocking is good - It should have a good clean sound, and if it's muffled, put it back cause it's gone on sitting a little to long.
2. It's all about the colour - The Yellow on the bottom is not to be feared - it's just where the watermelon was sitting in the dirt. If it has a lot of yellow it was deeper in the dirt and wasn't getting enough sun, If it only has a little bit of yellow it was sitting on top of the ground and perhaps getting to much sun. SO - look for a watermelon with a medium yellow size spot. (I realize that this is possibly crazy - but I can't remember the last time I picked a bad watermelon - so I will continue!).

Wheat Free, Sugar Free, Gluten Free Apple Crisp

So after my last blog post, I started to crave something sweet. After some thinking, I came up with (a staple in my house) apple crisp. So I started to freestyle in the kitchen and this is what I came up with. I should say that these measurements are my approximate guesses, so nothing is set in stone

Topping:

1/2 cup Almonds - blitzed in a food pro till it won't breakdown any further (a few minutes)
1/2 cup Cranberries - blitzed in the same food pro with the almonds (until you can't hear them anymore).
1/2 cup of Brown Rice Flour - add to food pro
1/3 cup Flax - add to food pro
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 cup or there about of butter - blitz all till crumble forms (you don't want it too wet or dry).

Filling:
4 cups Apples (I steamed them a bit beforehand a splash of water and vanilla - till aldente)

Bake:
I baked it for 30 minutes at 350. That's when my topping started to go a little to brown

Outcome:
It turned out good - the topping was a little loose and dry, but the apples seemed to balance it out. I would make this again - perhaps next time with walnuts, maybe even hazelnuts.

Detox - Week One!

Week One is over and here are my findings.

- Coffee - It has been hard to give up - so I haven't! I have allowed myself one cup per day (Usually a Soy Latte). I should also mention that I have been persuaded to do away with my aluminum espresso maker, replacing it with a highly superior stainless steel one.
- Bread - Has also really hard to give up! I have tried to make some bread out of buckwheat and brown rice flour, but all my attempts have been flops. I had mixed results with a coconut flour bread/loaf, that being said I am not to eager to rush back into that recipe. I am optimistic though, cause I found a local bakery downtown that makes a Brown Rice (gluten/wheat free) bread.
- Coke - Has been surprisingly easy to give up. After reading up on Aspartame, Teegan and I have decided to do away with it (to the best of our ability). That means no more Diet Coke, Fresca, etc, etc. That being said, I doubt she is going to let me replace it with regular Coke (which is quite dear heart). I am not saying that I am not going to be able to drink it or buy it - it just means I can't buy it in big quantities, that sit it my fridge of closet taunting me.
- Fruit & Veg - Intake is way up - witch in no way can be bad.
- Red Meat - Has proven quite an insignificant challenge. Sure I would love a big hunk of steak done up on the BBQ - or for that matter a big plate of Bacon, but its not like I am craving it. Which is nice.
- Dairy (Cheese) - Has not been much of an issue either - though I think it would have been if I wasn't allowed to eat Feta or Goat cheese. Soy milk has basically filled the role of milk and cream, though to be honest probably wouldn't be used if it wasn't for coffee.
- Sugar - I have been surprised at how many things have sugar, quite surprised. Yesterday while at the grocery store I picked up a bottle of peach nectar and looked at the back thinking I could maybe bring this home and sweeten some tea with it, but to my surprise the FIRST ingredient was in fact sugar! It's Peach nectar, not sugar nectar flavoured with Peach!
- Corn - is also in everything.

That about caps it.

One week remains!