Banana Chocolate Chip Nut Muffins May 26, 2008

After perusing the web for a while, I combined a variety of recipes to create this one. They all offered similar ingredients and measurments, so today there’s not one link I can send you too.

A few recipes said to add a tablespoon of fresh ground coffee or several tablespoons of peanut butter — so if you want to try that, I’m all for it! I stayed in a comfort zone this time but look forward to adding these extras later.

Ingredients

2 smashed bananas

1/2 cup melted butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 egg, beaten

1 1/2 cup flour (optional: divided between wheat and all-purpose

1/2 cup mini-chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

Preheat oven to 350

1. Smush bananas with masher. Add butter and mix until lumpy and mixed well.

2. Add sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, baking soda and egg.

3. Add flour and mix well. Add chocolate chips and mix. Then add walnuts and mix.

4. Shell out mixture into greased muffin pan, filling each cup about 1/2 full. Sprinkle a few walnuts on top of each muffin.

5. Cook for about 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown on top.

**

Voila! These are great snacks and go well with a cold glass of milk.

Buttermilk Apple Bread May 19, 2008

This recipe comes to us from Cocunut and Lime.

Here is my first video! Enjoy — ingredients and recipe below.

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 cups all purpose flour

3 T. brown sugar

1 T. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon (i added a few shakes of nutmeg)

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. allspice

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

2 T. olive oil

1 egg

3/4 cup (equivalent to about one apple) apple, cubed

** As mentioned in the video, I used Granny Smith Apples, the original recipe used Pink Lady Apples. If you use tart apples, add more brown sugar.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

1. In large bowl, combine flours, salt, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice.

2. Add buttermilk, olive oil and egg to flour mixture and stir well.

3. Fold in apple cubes.

4. Butter and flour loaf pan. Pour mixture in and bake for about 30 minutes.

***

Enjoy warm with jam or just plain!

***

Lessons learned: Read the instructions! Just now as I step this post I see it says 1 Tablespoon of baking soda! I put in about 1/2 tsp. No good but noted for next time. Also as noted in the video, I didn’t add more sugar to counter the “tartness” of the apples. Despite these few slips, the bread turned out really well, once I added some jam or ate it with a thin slice of apple.

***

UPDATE: I made this recipe again last night because, as you saw in the video, it wasn’t quite right. So, I did what the original recipe called for and added more brown sugar (about 2-3 more tablespoons) to the flour mixture. I did this because I was using tart Granny smith Apples. Another thing I did to sweeten up the “flavor-flav” is after chopping the apples, I coated the cubes with cinnamon and brown sugar. In the end — a success!

Sunflower Cherry Oatmeal Bars May 12, 2008

This delicious brunch/breakfast recipe comes from Whole Foods

BUT FIRST: Our dinner and brunch this past weekend was a complete success! The family, the food, the celebrations – graduation AND mother’s day.

Mother’s Day Brunch spread: On the table, starting at the top and moving clockwise: bagels, strawberries, blueberry-kiwi tarts, turkey bacon, tomato gruyere camembert tart, sunflower cherry oatmeal bars. And you can also see James and David (pointing at the bagels).

NOW BACK TO THE RECIPE: The Sunflower Cherry Oatmeal bars are something I’ve been meaning to make for, literally, months! And this Sunday as part of the Mother’s Day brunch spread, it proved to be the ideal time to cook these up.

These are healthy anyway you eat them: whether a breakfast bar, snack or side dish. With no butter, minimal oil and then handfuls of dried fruit and fresh granola, these bars make you feel good just looking at them.

Per usual, my own twists and suggestions are highlighted by italics.
Ingredients
1 C. rolled oats (I used more than a cup of honey granola. It added a little more crunch and flavor to the crumb based and topping.)
1 C. whole wheat flour
1/2 C. packed brown sugar
dash of salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
cinnamon and nutmeg
1/4 C. sunflower seeds
1/2 C. dried cherries (overflowing cup of cherries. This adds moisture to the crumb base and topping, as well as to the overall bar)
1/4 C. canola oil
5 T. orange juice
1/2 C. cherry preserves (I used blackberry preserves because that’s what I had in fridge and it worked great!)

NOTE: I found that I had to make a quick, small extra patch to make the top so I would advise to one-and-a-half the recipe proportions. But, it’s up to you! It wasn’t hard to whip up the oat mixture real quick at that point.

Directions
Preheat oven to 325.
1. Mix oats (or granola), wheat flour, brown sugar, baking soda, several big shakes of cinnamon and nutmeg, sunflower seeds and dried cherries.
2. Add 3 T. of orange juice and canola oil. Mix well!
3. Pour 3/4 of the mix, evenly, into bottom of glass baking pan.
4. In separate bowl, mix cherry(or blackberry, or any preserves, really!) with 2 T. of orange juice. Spread mixture over oat mixture.
5. Sprinkle remaining oat mixture over the preserves.
6. Bake for 35 minutes or until preserves begin to bubble.

***

And you’re ready to impress your guests! Or family! Or yourself! Enjoy!

Tomato Gruyere Camembert Tart May 8, 2008

This delightful and savory tart is from the blog the daily green.

I added my own touches to it, marked by italics. I made it as a side to salmon, although a white fish or just a big salad would pair nicely. It’s also a great brunch treat. It’s so versatile — don’t you just love those types of dishes?

Ingredients
1 1/2 C. flour
6 T. butter (3/4 stick)
salt and pepper to taste
1 T. Dijon mustard
1 C. gruyere, shredded
4-5 plum tomatoes, sliced and quartered
small wedge of camembert, cut into thin strips
rosemary
thyme
parsley
garlic
basil

Directions

Making the Dough

1. Combine flour, butter, dashes of salt and pepper. Mix until it’s coarse and crumbly.
2. add dashes of rosemary, thyme, basil and pepper
3. Using a fork, mix 2-3 T. of oil and 1 T. water. Mix until dough begins to cling to each other.
4. Shape dough into a ball, then flatten into a disc. Wrap with saran wrap and refrigerate for 30-45 minutes.

Making the Tart

Preheat oven to 375
1. Roll out dough into wide, thin circle. Place in tart pan.
2. Spread 1 T. mustard evenly over bottom of tart shell.
3. Sprinkle gruyere evenly over mustard.
4. Then layer tomato, camembert and a little extra gruyere. At each layer add a dash of spices.

5. In a small bowl, mix together 1/4 C. olive oil, and spices. Using spoon or brush, pur carefully and evenly top of tart.

6. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Serve warm.

**

Finished….enjoy!