Whole Wheat Pasta with Cauliflower, Walnuts and Ricotta

I made this for the Robber today so that he will have food when I am gone in Utah this week. I'm trying to add more non-dessert recipes to my list of things to make, but I have a hard time getting excited about "pasta and..." However, this recipe caught my eye and it was surprisingly tasty given that most of the components are not of themselves particularly interesting. The Robber said, "I like this, it tastes kind of Asian." I didn't get the Asian vibe but maybe he means the garlic with the red pepper? It took my a little long to make this as I had to saute the cauliflower/onions in two batches because I have only a smaller skillet. We ate it with ricotta cheese and found that to be delicious although I'm sure the feta is good as well. I also threw in some carrots just because I had them which gave the dish more colorful. 

Note: You may ask, as did I, do I really need two heads of cauliflower? The answer is yes.

Originally from Chez Panisse Vegetables (Chez Panisse is a famous Bay Area restaurant) by way of Smitten Kitchen:

http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/03/pasta-with-cauliflower-walnuts-and-feta/

Ingredients:

2 heads cauliflower

1 medium onion

4 cloves garlic

1 lbs. whole-wheat pasta

Extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

1 pinch red pepper flakes

White wine vinegar

1/2 lemon

1/2 C. toasted chopped walnuts

4 oz. ricotta salata or feta cheese

Directions:

1) Put a large pot of water on to boil and while it is boiling do the following:

-- Cut the cauliflower into small flowerets. 

-- Peel the onion and slice it very thin. 

-- Peel and finely chop the garlic. 

2) Put the pasta on to cook. When it is done cooking, drain and run cool water over it to prevent it from clumping.

3) Saute the cauliflower in olive oil in a large saute pan. When the cauliflower begins to soften, season with salt and pepper and add the sliced onion and red pepper flakes. Saute over medium to high heat until the vegetables are brown and tender. The cauliflower should still be slightly crunchy and should not taste steamed. 

4. Add the garlic and remove from the heat, tossing and stirring so the garlic doesn’t burn; if it starts to brown, add a splash of water. 

5. Add a few drops each of vinegar and lemon juice and the toasted walnuts. Taste and correct the seasoning. 

6. Add the cooked pasta to the cauliflower, adding enough extra-virgin olive oil to coat the pasta thoroughly, toss together and serve, with the cheese crumbled over the dish.

Serves 6. 

Banana Bread

I have an .... ambivalent/hate relationship with banana bread. If you give it to me, I will sometimes like it, often feel very meh about it, often hate it, very rarely find it blissful. I've never met a banana bread recipe I loved, but then I haven't gone looking. But the Robber has gone sick on me this week, and his sick state he keeps calling out for "a pastry, I just want a pastry." When pushed and prodded, it turns out a "pastry" is better known as "a banana walnut muffin" or "French bread." So today I scrolled through my recent favorite food blogs, made a list of "pastries"-- ie banana containing bread products, bought a bunch of bananas, and let the Robber who had stayed home sick pick which recipe he wanted made, and this one is the one that won out.

So, banana bread. This banana bread was good-- meaning it was moist, and sweet but not too sweet (I hate dry, bland banana bread and also uber too sweet banana bread) so in those ways it was a winner. And what I loved was the carmelized bananas and the top crust-- I could just eat that and be happy. But I was still on the whole underwhelmed. Perhaps that will always be true of banana bread for me. Although I do have memories of a coconut banana bread my mom made a few times that was amazing-- at least in my nostalgic memory. Anyway. The Robber didn't like the crust but did like the cake so if we make this again we should cut a horizontal slice 1/3rd of the way down and I'll eat the top and he can have the bottom.

Notes: I tried the whole microwave the banana thing and no liquid came out. Hrmmm. Oh well. Oh and I added walnuts for the Robber's sake. He loved them.

From Cook's Illustrated by way of Annie:

http://annies-eats.com/2010/08/30/banana-bread/

Ingredients:

1¾ C. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

6 large, very ripe bananas (about 2¼ lbs.), peeled

8 T.. unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

2 large eggs

¾ C. packed light brown sugar (I used dark)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tsp. granulated sugar

Optional: 1 C. chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Lightly spray a loaf pan (about 9 x 5 inches) with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt; whisk together and set aside.

2. Place 5 bananas in a microwave safe bowl; cover with plastic wrap and make several slits in the wrap to act as steam vents. Microwave on high until the bananas are soft and have released liquid, about 5 minutes. Transfer the bananas to a fine mesh strainer set over a medium bowl and let drain, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes (you should have ½-¾ cup liquid).

3. Transfer the reserved banana liquid to a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook until reduced to about ¼ cup, 5-10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. In a large bowl, combine the bananas and the reduced banana liquid. Mash with a potato masher or whisk until fairly smooth.

4. Whisk in the melted butter, eggs, brown sugar and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the banana mixture. Fold together gently, just until all of the dry ingredients are incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth with a spatula.

5. Slice the remaining banana diagonally into ¼-inch thick slices. Layer the banana slices along both sides of the top of the batter, leaving a couple of inches in the center to allow an even rise. Sprinkle the sugar evenly over the assembled loaf.

6. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 55-75 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool at least 15 minutes in the pan before removing. Continue to cool and serve warm or at room temperature.

Pear, Gorgonzola, and Mesclun Salad

Mesclun, according to Wikipedia, is just essentially mixed greens. In case you were wondering.

Salad and I have a little bit of a love-hate relationship. Truth is, I love salad and hate lettuce. I don't know where this came from. The salad of my youth was a side dish and was simple-- iceberg lettuce, tomato, cucumber, possibly some radishes-- and I was happy with that. But the salads of my adulthood have become more complex, cumbersome affairs that I am more likely to want to eat as a main dish rather than as part of a whole meal.

As a result, if a salad is as simple as this one, I find it lacking which is really too bad because the simplicity of this salad is nice-- just pear, gorgonzola, lettuce. And even that would have been too fancy for the old family budget. Yet, I want it to have chicken, toasted walnuts, and chopped dried apricots.

Because I think that salad-- meaning the below plus the above-- would be divine.

Note: I made a half-batch, and lacking vinaigrette, tossed a teensy amount of orange oil with some olive oil and a little nutmeg over it all which was just fine, and maybe drove the wanting for apricots.

From Mark Bittman's Thanksgiving in three hours:
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/19/dining/the-minimalist-give-thanks-in-three-hours-from-scratch.html?pagewanted=4&src=pm

Ingredients:

4 large pears, about 2 pounds
1 T. lemon juice
6 oz. Gorgonzola or other creamy blue cheese
12 C. mixed greens, washed, dried and torn into bite-size pieces

1 to 1 1/2 cups any vinaigrette

Directions:

1. Peel and core the pears; cut them into thin slices, and toss with the lemon juice. Cover, and refrigerate until needed.

2. Crumble the Gorgonzola into small bits; cover and refrigerate until needed.

3. To serve, toss the pear, cheese and greens together with as much dressing as desired. Serve immediately.

Yield: 12 servings.

Approximate nutritional analysis per serving: 215 calories, 15 grams fat, 11 milligrams cholesterol, 425 milligrams sodium, 4 grams protein, 15 grams carbohydrate.

Banana Cream Pie With Candied Walnuts

Since marrying the Robber I have been on a quest to find a banana cream pie I could really get behind. You see, the Robber loves loves loves banana cream pie and to the vast vast vast majority of cream pies I say: meh. There is nothing exciting a banana cream pie has to offer. No thrill of taste. No comforting sigh. Mostly just bland custard and too-soft bananas.

But the quest. The sacrifices we make for marriage. And finally, this pie, and this triumph. Yes! This pie is triumph! For the first time in my life, I have met a banana cream pie I could eat over again, get excited about making again, savor in my sleep. I have found you banana cream pie, and now I will never stray again. The search is over. I found this pie on pieloveyou.blogspot.com, but it comes by way of Bubby's Homemade Pies, a cookbook based out of a restaurant in Lower Manhattan. I made my own crust for it, but I'm sure it would be just as delicious with the crust suggested which is below.

Note: I made a full batch of the candied walnuts, which I used for both the pie and a salad. For the pie only I think you could use a half batch and have plenty.

You can find the recipe online here:

http://pieloveyou.blogspot.com/2010/02/banana-cream-pie-with-candied-walnuts-4.html

For the candied nuts:

1/4 C. honey (any type)

1 3/4 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

2 C. raw, unsalted walnuts or pecans

1) Preheat the oven to 300 degrees degrees Fahrenheit. In a large bowl, mix together honey, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, nuts and mix well.

2) Spread the coated nuts on a large, well-greased, baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes. Stir and scrape them up every 5 minutes with a spatula. Return to pan until they smell good and are a deep glossy brown. Be careful not to burn them.

3) Remove the pan from the oven and scrap the nuts up while they are cooling and spread onto a plate so they won't stick together. When the nuts are cool, dry and set, store them in a container in the refrigerator and store up for 3 weeks.

For the sour cream crust:

1 C. all purpose flour

1 pinch salt

8 T. (one stick) cold, unsalted butter

1/2 C. very cold sour cream

1. Combine flour and salt and cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Add the cold sour cream and mix by hand to combine until it it forms a ball. Flatten into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

2. Roll chilled disk into a 12-inch round on a well-floured surface. Place into a 9 inch pie pan and cut overhang down to a 1/2 on all sides. Fold under to create a thicker lip on pie edge and decoratively pinch sides. Once set, chill in freezer for 15 minutes before cooking.

3. While re-chilling the pie, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line pie with parchment paper or foil and fill with pie weights or dry beans. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes and decrease temperature to 300 for another 15 minutes or until golden brown.

For the vanilla pudding:

2 C. whole milk

1/2 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise

1/2 C. sugar, divided

pinch of salt

1/2 C. egg yolks (about 6 yolks)

1/4 C. cornstarch

4 T. (½ stick) cold unsalted butter, cubed

1. In a large, heavy, non-reactive saucepan (aluminum reacts and will cause a pudding to turn dingy grey), combine the milk, 1/4 cup of the sugar, the vanilla bean and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the yolks, remaining 1/4 cup sugar and cornstarch until smooth.

2. Have the whisk, a ladle and a large glass or ceramic dish handy. Heat the milk mixture in the saucepan until it just comes to a boil, whisking it a bit as it gets steamy. When you see the first bubbles boiling up, take the pan off the heat and place it on a potholder next to the egg mixture. (To make life a little easier on yourself, put the egg bowl on the right if you're right-handed, or on the left if you're left-handed. Use your stronger arm to whisk; use your weaker arm to ladle the hot milk.

3. During the next steps, stir constantly or the eggs will coagulate and you'll have scrambled eggs. This is quick work. Take a ladle full of hot milk and pour it in a thin stream into the eggs, whisking constantly. Continue stirring, and add a few more ladle fulls of hot milk to the eggs in the same way. The tempered eggs are now ready to add back into the hot milk.

4. To do this, whisk the hot milk constantly and pour the tempered eggs in slowly. When fully combined, put this mixture back on the stove top over medium heat and continue to whisk constantly.The mixture should be ready to come back to a boil very quickly.When the custard nears the consistency of pudding, take very short pauses in stirring to look for signs of a bubble surfacing (it is more like a single volcanic blurp). Don't look too closely, or you'll risk getting spattered with hot pudding. Just stir, pause briefly, stir, and so on.

5. When you see the first blurp, remove the pan from the heat immediately and whisk in the cubes of butter.Whisk until fully combined and immediately pour the pudding into a large glass or ceramic dish to cool it down. While the pudding is still very hot, stretch plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding. Smooth out any air pockets to make the pudding airtight. This will prevent a skin or condensation from forming on top of the pudding. Refrigerate the pudding until completely cold — at least 4 hours.

6. Stir the cold pudding and retrieve the vanilla bean. Squeeze out the excess seeds (those little black specks) in the interior of the pod with your thumb and forefinger — pinch and slide your fingers down the length of the bean, freeing the black seeds as you go. Do this with each half of the bean, returning as many seeds as possible to the pudding.

Putting it all together:

4-5 medium sized bananas (select ripe bananas without any sign of spots or green near the stem)

1 1/2 T. of fresh squeezed lemon juice

1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 C. sour cream

Vanilla pudding

Candied nuts

1. Slice the bananas 1/4 inch thick to get 4 cups and immediately toss in the lemon juice to prevent them from browning. Stir the vanilla extract into the sour cream and gently fold into the bananas. Layer the coated bananas in the pie crust and flatten them. Pour the pudding on top and smooth it with a spatula.

2. Cover the pie in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before cutting. Serve the wedges of pie cold sprinkled with candied walnuts.

3. Store loosely covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Creamy Mac and Cheese

It sounds like a good idea, right? And multiple bloggers had gone on and on about how easy and perfect this recipe was. And I had been wanting to learn to make a mac and cheese I really like, since I feel like I don't have a mac and cheese recipe in my arsenal. And I was supposed to make dinner for my friend J., and it looked like a good let-me-bring-you-dinner food...

This all to say that I will never be making this again for ME. Maybe for my family, or the Robber, but not for me. It was just too much. Too creamy. Too cheesy. Too garlicky. And what finally nailed this as never ever again was having to wash the pot and watching the cheese stick all over the sink and clog my drain and imagine what it must be doing right now to my poor little stomach, intestines, and arteries.

Mac and cheese, we might not be friends for a while. Nonetheless, the Robber liked this. He thought it tasted like cheesy breadsticks. And the recipe is versatile-- you can mix and match a bunch of ingredients. So I imagine it has its uses, but for me, in this time of life, it is not a winner.

What DID redeem it for me was adding finely diced walnuts to mine, which gave it an unusual twist, some nutty flavor, and a little crunch.

From Annie's Eats, by way of the Curvy Carrot, originally from some cookbook by Marlena Spider called Macaroni and Cheese:

http://annies-eats.net/2011/10/27/creamy-stovetop-mac-and-cheese/

Ingredients:

12 oz. dried pasta (any old shape, we used elbow macaroni)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 shallot, finely minced (can also use yellow or green onion)

8 oz. cheese, shredded (suggested cheeses from various bloggers include Gouda, Gruyere, Emmenthal, Appenzeller... we just used Muenster and some sharp cheddar)

2 oz. fresh grated Parmesan

1/4 C. milk, half and half, or heavy cream

4 oz. Greek yogurt (sour cream, creme fraiche, regular plain yogurt can work too)

3 T. unsalted butter (can omit this, I think)

Salt and pepper, to taste

Optional: pinch of nutmeg, I recommend diced walnuts

Directions:

1. Cook the pasta as directed until it is al dente and drain, reserving 1 C. of the cooking liquid.

2. Return the pasta to the saucepan immediately. Add the garlic, onion, and cheese to the top and mix lightly to coat.

3. Add the yogurt, butter, and spices (salt, pepper, etc.), stirring well.

4. Add 1/4 C. of the hot cooking liquid to the mixture and stir the cheese until it is thoroughly melted, adding more hot water if needed.

5. Stir until smooth and creamy. Serve immediately.

Pumpkin Walnut Pancakes

I made these for my friend J. for brunch and they were sweet and autumnal and light and delicious as a pancake should be in the fall. You can either put the walnuts in the pancake or sprinkle them on top, it's pretty equivalent either way. The recipe is originally from Mirror Lake Inn at Lake Placid in New York (there's a little nostalgia here for upstate New York in the fall), found on the internet by way of Epicurious, but I have modified it somewhat here as per the reviewers comments.

The original recipe at Epicurious:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pumpkin-Walnut-Flapjacks-108613

Ingredients:

1 1/4 C. buttermilk

3/4 C. canned pure pumpkin

4 large eggs, separated, at room temperature

2 T. sugar

3/4 tsp. vanilla extract

2 T. unsalted butter, melted

1 1/3 C. cake flour (can also use regular or 1/2 whole wheat)

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

3/4 tsp. ginger

3/8 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

Vegetable oil or butter

1/2 C. finely chopped walnuts

Pure maple syrup

Directions:

1. Whisk buttermilk, pumpkin, egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla in medium bowl to blend; whisk in melted butter.

2. Whisk flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in large bowl to blend.

3. Add dry ingredients to buttermilk mixture and whisk to combine.

4. Using electric mixer, beat egg whites in medium bowl until soft peaks form. Fold whites into batter.

5. Lightly oil or butter heavy large skillet set over medium heat. Working in batches, pour batter by 1/3 cupfuls onto skillet; cook until bubbles form on top, about 1 1/2 minutes. Turn flapjacks over and cook until second sides brown, about 1 minute.

6. Transfer flapjacks to plates. Sprinkle with nuts. Serve with syrup.

Baked Acorn Squash With Walnut Oil and Maple Syrup

I was hoping this would provide a way for me to fall in love with squash. They are so appealing, the fall and winter squashes, round and fat in their wooden bins in Wegmans. I first found this recipe last year but didn't make it, and this year I have decided to cook what would be Thanksgiving recipes all fall long if and when I have time. Unfortunately, the acorn squashes themselves that I purchased lacked flavor and so while the toasted walnuts were delicious, the squash itself remains lacking. The Robber, however, is adding melted butter and some maple syrup to his quarter squashes and in so doing is happily making his way through the lot. His stomach is amazing. Now what to do with all the leftover walnut oil?

From Recipes For Health:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/health/nutrition/13recipehealth.html

Ingredients:

2 acorn squash

2 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons walnut oil

Freshly ground nutmeg

Ground walnuts (I used finely chopped)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the squash on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, until soft enough to easily cut in half. Cut in half, and scoop out the seeds and membranes.

2. Cover a baking sheet with foil. Stir the maple syrup and walnut oil together in a bowl, then brush over the cut surfaces of the squash. Sprinkle with a very small amount of ground nutmeg. Place in the oven and bake one hour, brushing every 10 minutes with more oil and maple syrup. When the squash is tender, brush once more, then spoon a tablespoonful of finely chopped walnuts into each cavity and return to the oven for five to 10 minutes, until the walnuts are toasty. Remove from the heat. Serve hot or warm.

Yield: Makes four large servings or eight medium servings.

Pumpkin Bread

When I got married the lovely ladies from my parents' (now old) ward in Utah sent me the ward cookbook compiled by the RS for one of the previous marriages in the ward. It was a nice gesture, but when I flipped through it I was forced to admit that there was only one recipe in the whole book that I thought I would ever make.

It was my mother's.

I present to you my mother's pumpkin bread. And after said presenting, I will recycle the rest of the cookbook*. Sorry old ward, but this new little cook doesn't like cream of mushroom soup, Bisquick, or casseroles.

Ingredients:

2/3 C. yellow shortening

2 2/3 C. sugar

4 eggs

1 can (1 lbs.) pumpkin

2/3 C. water

3 1/3 C. all-purpose flour

2 tsp. soda

1 1/s tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. cloves

1 C. coarsely chopped nuts

Directions:

1. In large bowl, cream shortening and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs. Stir in pumpkin and water.

2. Blend flour, soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and cloves. Stir flour mixture into sugar mixture. Stir in nuts.

3. Spoon into two well greased medium loaf pans (8.5" x 4.5") and bake at 350F about 70 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clearn.

Mom's note: This is a favorite at Christmas time. We also like it at Thanksgiving as an alternative to pumpkin pie. (My note: We do??? We like anything that isn't pie???)

*-- Will I regret this when I have children?

Upside-Down Caramel Apple Muffins

Another recipe from my binge of NYTimes breakfast recipes. I am sorrowful. How, how can the NYtimes expect me to pay for their never-ending bounty of cooking ideas, photographed in such delectable splendor? I am sorrowful indeed. I have until Monday to cook everything good, or pay.

This is a tasty recipe, but I felt something was lacking in the muffins that had to be compensated for by the tastiness of the toasted walnuts. Perhaps it is the same with the blueberry muffins-- the NYTimes critics think the muffin has to be bland in order to show off the fruit? I was left wanting with the muffin, if not satisfied with the overall effect.

Here is the link:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D05E7DA163BF935A35753C1A9669D8B63&ref=apples

Ingredients:

3 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

Pinch kosher salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (optional)

FOR THE MUFFINS

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

3/4 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Generously grease a 12-cup muffin tin.

2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, stir together the apples, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 8 tablespoons butter and pinch salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples are tender, about 15 minutes. Distribute the apple slices among the muffin cups. Add walnuts, if using, on top of the apple slices.

3. To make the muffins, in a large bowl, whisk together flour, 3/4 cup brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon salt.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk together 8 tablespoons butter, eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and fold together until smooth. Distribute the batter on top of the apples. Bake until the muffins are slightly puffed, about 20 to 22 minutes.

5. Allow the muffins to cool partly in the pan; turn onto a platter and serve warm or at room temperature.

Yield: 12 muffins.

Dixie Salad

A family Thanksgiving tradition.

Basic elements all mixed together with the cream as the binding agent:

Whipped cream
Shelled pomegranate seeds
Chopped apples
Nuts: pecans or walnuts

R. says this is abominable but I just put chopped Snickers AND chopped fresh brownie in mine.

Maple-Walnut Pie

From The New Moosewood Cookbook. Mollie Katzen says, "Delicious-- and very easy!"

Ingredients:

4 large eggs
3/4 cup real maple syrup (I used 1/2 syrup and 1/4 cup honey)
2 Tbs. lemon juice
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. cinnamon (to taste)
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups chopped walnuts
1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust
Optional: whipped cream, for the top

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 375 F.

2) Beat together all ingredient, except walnuts and pie crust, until light and frothy.

3) Spread the walnuts into the unbaked crust. Pout in the batter.

4) Bake for 30 minutes or until solid in the center. Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.

5) Serve warm, at room temperature, or cold, with or without whipped cream.

Yield: About 6 servings.


I doubled this recipe and made two pies at once. I used my mom's pie crust recipe (see Apple Pie) and baked the pie crust by itself for 10 minutes at 450 prior to adding the filling and baking the whole pie as directed. This made for a less soggy crust.

I served this pie in two places, both times with Cool Whip. First in PBL, where 2/3 of the people ate it and probably 1/2 liked it. Second at dinner with the missionaries where I also served bacon, avocado, and tomato (BAT) sandwiches on toasted English muffins, macaroni salad, and halved grapefruits. It was better received at dinner, but then missionaries can't really complain.

I wasn't in love with this pie, but I might make it again for a Thanksgiving if I was looking to make a variety different pies, or as an alternative to pecan pie which is richer. It also makes a good winter pie, since it doesn't require any fruit and syrup and nuts can be purchased during any season. The pie is also very easy and very quick relative to other pies, so while it might not win any awards, it might put dessert on the table in a pinch.

Banana Coffee Cake With Chocolate Chip Streusel

Another recipe from Epicurious, which I found to make use of the six slowly rotting bananas sitting on our kitchen counter top. I don't know what in this recipe is a Vegetable, and it's Saturday, not Tuesday, but I'm for. I'm for love.

Again, the original recipe, followed by my modifications and then thoughts.

Original: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/BANANA-COFFEE-CAKE-WITH-CHOCOLATE-CHIP-STREUSEL-107629

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips (about 8 ounces)
2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 1/3 cups mashed very ripe bananas (about 3 large)
3 tablespoons buttermilk

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 8x8x2-inch metal baking pan. Stir chocolate chips, brown sugar, walnuts, and cinnamon in small bowl until well blended; set streusel aside. Sift all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat sugar, room temperature butter, and egg in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in mashed bananas and buttermilk. Add dry ingredients and blend well.

Spread half of batter (about 2 cups) in prepared baking pan. Sprinkle with half of streusel. Repeat with remaining batter and streusel. Bake coffee cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool coffee cake in pan on rack.

Modified version (What I made):

Following the advice of the reviewers on Epicurious, I doubled the cake recipe for a 13x9x2 pan and 1.5 timed the streusel recipe. I lowered the sugar in the cake. We didn't have any cinnamon, so we substituted other spices, and I used sour cream instead of buttermilk.

Ingredients

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (about 8 ounces)
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Generous dashes nutmeg, cardamon, ginger, and allspice
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/8 cup sugar
1 cup (2 stick) salted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
2 2/3 cups mashed very ripe bananas (about 6 large)
6 tablespoons sour cream

This took about an hour to bake at 350. When it came out, we ate it after it cooled it for about 15 minutes.

This cake is very moist. When it came out, it had a denser bottom layer, perhaps this comes from something in the mixing procedure. The streusel makes this cake very sweet, even with lower sugar, but it adds some interesting flavor, especially with our spice changes. The cake by itself is tasty and I might make it again with a less sweet streusel with some butter in the actual streusel itself.

I like a regular coffee cake better, but I would make this recipe again if I was having company for breakfast or I had six bananas hanging around waiting to be used. It is certainly delicious.

Carl Goh's Zucchini Bread

08.16.08

-- Taken from Beard on Bread. James Beard says of this bread, "This rather unusual loaf has a very pleasant flavor, a little sweet side, and a distinctive texture."


3 eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups grated, peeled raw zucchini
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup coarsely chopped filberts or walnuts

-- Beat the eggs until light and foamy. Add the sugar, oil, zucchini, and vanilla and mix lightly but well. Combine the flous, salt, soda, baking powder, and cinnamon and add to the egg-zucchini mixture. Stir until well blended, add nuts, and pour into two 9 x 5 x 3-inch greased loaf pans. Bake in a preheated 350F oven for one hour. Cook on a rack.

Makes two loafs.

-- 1 cup of whole wheat can be substituted instead of white flour

-- I made it with all white flour and with finely chopped walnuts