Banana Cake, Bread and Muffins!?

My mother-in-law Linda gave me this recipe years ago and this is one of those that I have altered many ingredients but the cake still come out really good. I usually freeze bananas that are going to ripen soon and put 4 bananas per zip lock bag. On baking day, I take out a bag of bananas and leave it on the counter for a couple of hour to thaw and then dump the entire content of the zip lock bag into the mixer. I think the freezing process release the moisture from the bananas and make the cake moist. My kids like the cake without nuts but Roland & I both like the nuts. Lately it takes me a long time to get enough frozen bananas to make the cake because my kids are really into making shakes in Roland's "Blending Station Advance" Vita-Mix machine. This Vita-Mix blender looks like the ones Jamba Juice use in their stores; complete with the plastic cover to reduce the noise level. It's big, bulky, noisy, but sure blends well.

Wet Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup sugar, I like to use 3/4 cup blue agave
1/2 cup oil, I often use a mixture of coconut oil and safflower oil)
4 eggs or two large eggs, I go for the four eggs for extra protien
4 ripe banana
1 teaspoon vanilla

Dry Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour (I use white wheat flour - if using red wheat flour, I would use half whole wheat and half white flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
a pinch of salt
1 cup rolled oats (coarsely grind in the blender or use instant oatmeal)

Topping:
1 cup chocolate chips (I like to use some semi-sweet, some milk, and some double chocolate chips)
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Mix all dry ingredients and set aside. Mix all of the wet ingredients together, place in a 9x3 pan, sprinkle chocolate chips and nuts on top, and bake for 40-45 minutes in 325F oven. I have use 2 regular bread pans or 4 mini bread pans to make banana bread or muffin tins to make muffins.

Since my kids don't like nuts in sweet bread, I skip the nuts but add some ground flex seed and some hemp seed to this recipe to make a healthier version.

Mongolian Beef - 蒙古牛肉

This is one of the favorites and most requested dishes by Kaydn and Cassidy. I usually do not measure any ingredients when I cook Chinese dishes. But I know it's really a pain to get instructions from someone who does not measure ingredients or always say "measure to taste". If you have not tasted the dish a few times, how do you know what it suppose to taste like? So, I took the ingredient list from Weight Watchers - five ingredients 15 minute cookbook (page 52) to give everyone some guidelines.

1 lb flank stake, trimmed and cut crosswise and in 45 degree angle into bite size thin slices. 

1/4 cup of water

2 Tbs soy sauce

4 tsp cornstarch

2 tsp brown sugar

Note: it is important to cut the beef into even, not to thin, not to think, bite size pieces so the pieces will be cooked in about the same amount of time. Marinade beef with water, soy sauce, cornstarch, and sugar for about 15 minutes.

1 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs sesame oil
2 tsp minced garlic
1 bunch green onions, cut into 2 inches pieces
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
toasted sesame seeds

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium hight heat, add garlic, pepper flakes and green onions and stir fry for about one minute. Add marinaded beef and stir fry for a few more minutes until beef is done. Do not over cook, remove from skillet immediately and place in a serving plate. Sprinkle with sesame seed. Serve over cooked cellophane noodles or rice.

Cassidy's favorite pasta - Pasta with Sun Dried Tomatoes

Cassidy has come a long way from her childhood favorite foods - white rice and pasta. Back in those days, we had a hard time getting her to eat anything but rice or pasta - plain rice or pasta with no sauce, not even butter or salt. I remember when we went to India restaurants, we didn't have to order anything for Cassidy. She was perfectly happy to have only rice for dinner. I still remember the first time she tasted Butter Chicken at a India restaurant and decided that it tasted good - she was seven years old. This recipe is from Amy & Cory Smith - I think Amy read it from a magazine and made it at Bear Lake a few years ago. It is also very easy to convert to a dairy free recipe without sacrificing any taste. I always toss together the pasta with tomatoes, olives, basils, and sun dried tomatoes and set some aside so I can add non-dairy cheese and vegan parmesan cheese topping. I bought some pepper jack styled non-dairy cheese from Sunflower Market the other day and it worked great for this dish.

3/4 lb pasta (spirals)
kosher salt
olive oil
1 lb ripe tomatoes, medium diced
1/4 cup good black olives, pitted and diced (such as Kalamata) - I use half kalamata and half regular black olives.
1 lb fresh mozzarella, medium sliced or diced
6 sun dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped

Dressing:
5 sun dried tomatoes in oil, drained
2 T red wine vinegar
6 T good olive oil
1 garlic clove
1 t caper, drained
2 t kosher salt, (use 1 t to start, add more if needed)
1/4 t freshly ground black pepper

Topping:
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup basil leaves, julienned

Cook pasta in water with salt and a splash of oil till done (do not overcook). Drain and cool. Place pasta in a bowl and add the tomatoes, olives, mozzarella and sun dried tomatoes. For the dressings, combined all ingredients in a food processor and blend until almost smooth. Pour the dressing over the pasta, sprinkle with the parmesan cheese and basil and toss well.

Lemon Berry Muffins

I read about the Lemon Berry Muffins in Penzey's Spices Spring 2010 catalog (pg 51) a while ago and had always wanted to try it. One day while I was at Harmon's visiting my credit union branch, I bought "one" wallaby organic lemon yogurt planning to try this new recipe that night. In the back of mind, I knew I was going to get into trouble when I only bought one, but the wallaby yogurt are way more expensive than any other yogurt and I had a lot of other yogurts at home (a case of them to be exact). I was not able to get to the muffing-making that night and told the kids to stay away form the lemon yogurt because I needed it to make muffins. The yogurt was in the fridge for about three days until the night I had a couple of hours of free time to make the muffins. I opened the fridge to reach for the yogurt and it was gone! Of course Roland did not get the "important message" and he just wanted to try a different flavor of yogurt that evening. I went "ballistic" (PMS for sure) and Roland had to go out to the store that night to buy a wallaby lemon yogurt. To my family members who were home that night, especially Roland, - sorry about going crazy over the lemon yogurt, but the muffins were yummy! I did not modify the recipes much - I used fresh lemon zest instead of the dry lemon peels.

Dry ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 Tbs fresh lemon zest
1/2 tsp salt

Wet ingredients:
1 cup lemon yogurt (I love wallaby organic yogurt)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Berries
1/8 cup flour
1 1/4 cup of fresh blueberries, cherries or raspberries, alone or mixed

Streusel Topping:
2 Tbs all purpose flour
1 tsp fresh lemon zest
3 Tbs vanilla sugar
1 Tbs cold butter

Directions:
Combined all dry ingredients and mix well in a large bowl. Mix all wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Add the wet ingredients to to dry ingredients bowl and mix until just moist. Toss barries with flour and fold into batter. Spoon into lightly greased muffin pans, fill 2/3 full.

Combine the streusel topping ingredients and cut the butter into the mixture with a fork until crumbly.  Spoon evenly over the batter in the muffin pan. 

Bake 375F for 20-22 minutes or until golden.

Recipe from: http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/recipes/r-penzeysLemonBerryMuffins.html

Lamb Chunk With Olives

On the last Saturday of March, I went to clean the church building with our church young women organization. My job was to vacuum the east wing of our building and I was enjoying my vacuum assignment. The vacuum tipped over when I was switcing to a different outlet to be able to vacuum a new area. As I reach down to pick up the vacuum, my back went into a spasm. I managed to stand straight, and without anymore bending, carefully and slowly finished the vacuuming. I tried to be very careful with my back but by the early evening, I was not able to do much except to lay straight on my back. This is really a problem since you have to move sometimes especially when nature calls. Well, I could not move at all without triggering the spasm again and again. Needless to say, I was not able to go to church or do much of anything on Sunday. I sat on the couch, in an un-natural and uncomfortably straight position, running our "Kneading Fingers 2000" nonstop. I couldn't even put socks on my feet when my toes got cold. When I asked Cassidy for help, she kneeled down in front of me and said "yes, mother queen!" just to be funny. Anyway, to take my mind off the pain and suffering, I watched channel 11-3 Create TV all day. And here is an interesting dish from Lidia's Italy to share with you. It is different but a very flavorful dish. My kids loved it.

Ingredients:
3 1/2 pounds boneless lamb shoulder or leg

2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

7 plump garlic cloves, crushed and peeled
1/2 teaspoon peperoncino flakes, or to taste

2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves, stripped from the branch
1 cup white wine

2 tablespoons red- wine vinegar

1 1/2 cups brine- cured green Italian olives or oil- cured black Italian olives, crushed and pitted

Directions:
Trim the exterior fat from the lamb shoulder or leg, and cut the meat into 2- inch pieces, removing fat and bits of cartilage as you find them. Pat the pieces dry with paper towels, and season all over with 1 teaspoon of the salt.

Pour the olive oil into the pan, and set it over medium heat. Scatter in the crushed garlic cloves and peperoncino. When the garlic is sizzling, lay in all the lamb pieces in one layer, scatter the rosemary on top, and season with the remaining teaspoon salt. When the meat starts to sizzle, cover the pan, lower the heat, and let cook gently, browning slowly and releasing its fat and juices.

After about 10 minutes, uncover the pan, turn the pieces, and move them around the pan to cook evenly, then replace the cover. Turn again in 10 minutes or so, and continue covered cooking for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the lamb is nicely browned all over and the pan juices have thickened and caramelized. If there is a lot of fat in the bottom of the pan, tilt the skillet and spoon off the fat from one side.

Stir the wine and vinegar together, and pour them into skillet, swirling them with the pan juices. Turn up the heat, bring the liquids to a boil, and cook them down quickly to form a syrupy sauce. Drop the olives into the pan, all around the lamb chunks, then cover and adjust the heat to a bubbling simmer. Cook for another 10 minutes or so, again concentrating the juices and marrying the flavors. Finally, cook uncovered for a few minutes, tumbling the meat and olives in the pan, coating them with the sauce.

Serve immediately, right from the skillet, or heap the meat chunks on a platter or in a shallow serving bowl. Spoon out any sauce and olives left in the pan and drizzle over the lamb.

Recipe from: http://lidiasitaly.com/entrees/lamb-chunks-with-olives