Showing posts with label 2011 Challenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2011 Challenge. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Whip Up Something New: Banana Bread with Candied Pecans

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup butter
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1⅓ cups mashed overripe bananas
  • ½ cup Castries Peanut Rum
  • ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • ¾ cup candied pecans (chopped coarsely into small pieces)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
  2. In a large bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
  3. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and 3/4 cup brown sugar.
  4. Stir in eggs, vanilla, rum, pecans and mashed bananas until well blended.
  5. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten.
  6. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
  7. Sprinkle remaining brown sugar (and additional pecans if preferred) on top of mixture.
  8. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Whip Up Something New: Mayan Omelet with Chorizo Sausage


Today could be a stressful day. After all, my kitchen is about to get torn apart and I've got 3 little rugrats running around the house doing what rugrats do.  So before Mr. Fix-It came I ran to my girlfriend's house and picked up two boxes of Girl Scout Cookies (should help me achieve a woo-sah moment when I peak at the destruction before the beauty is restored) and then came back to whip up something new before closing down the kitchen.  My recipe was taken from the cookbook Daisy: Morning, Noon and Night by Food Network's Daisy Martinez my favorite Latin cuisine queen.  Here's a little snippet from the jacket cover:
Growing up in her mother's and grandmother's kitchens, Daisy became an expert in traditional Latin-American cuisine.  Here she "Daisifies" those classics and includes a hearty sampling of dishes from her travels across Spain, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Peru and Argentina.  To Daisy, food is about bringing family together, and so she peppers her collection with anecdotes and family vacation photos. Each recipe is as much about the memory the flavors recall as the love that goes into preparing the dish...

Mayan Omelet with Chorizo, Granny Smith apples and a plump buttermilk biscuit
Quick and easy to make, the Mayan Omelet recipe is definitely a keeper.  I'd heard of omelets with spinach and onions, but not made with arugula. Surprisingly, the greens complimented the buttery eggs perfectly. Since only my oldest daughter and I like mushrooms, I scaled down the recipe. Since I do not eat eggs without cheese, I also added a shredded cheddar to the filling.


Mayan Omelet (adapted from Daisy: Morning, Noon and Night by Daisy Martinez)
1/4 cup baby spinach leaves
1/4 cup baby arugula leaves
3Tbs unsalted butter
1/4 cup sliced cremini mushrooms
2 extra large eggs
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/8 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  1. Beat the eggs in a bowl than set aside.
  2. Heat 2Tbs of butter in a skillet over medium high heat until foaming.  Add the mushrooms and cook until they begin to brown.  Add the spinach and arugula and cook just until the leaves wilt.  (Add the remaining butter here if needed).
  3. Add the beaten eggs to the pan, tilt the pan so that the entire bottom is covered with egg.  Sprinkle the shredded cheese on top of the egg.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Cook over medium heat until the egg sets. Use the edge of a spatula to lift the edges of the omelet from the pan to ensure the egg is not sticking, then tilt the pan and flip half of the egg onto the other half.  
  5. Slide the omelet out of the pan and onto your plate.
If you enjoy trying out new recipes or, like me, have made a commitment to actually begin using some of the tons of recipes you have stored everywhere why don't you join me in the Whip Up Something New challenge? Learn more here.

As soon as I can get into the kitchen I will be making two more recipes from this awesome treasure of culinary delights...Shrimp Ceviche "Xni Pec" and Penne a la Sirop.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

2011 Cookbook Challenge


I've got stacks of recipes, too many cookbooks to count and belong to several major online foodie sites...so I have a list a mile long of recipes I want to try. In fact, I made a commitment to cook at least 3-4 recipes a month from the cookbooks I already own because I keep buying more and more, but not actually using them.
Imagine my delight when I discovered this challenge hosted by April over at My Food Trail.
There are 26 themes over 26 fortnights. The challenge is to interpret the given theme whatever way you wish and cook a dish (or dishes) from one of your cookbooks (or magazine) related to the theme. Cooking your dish for each week starts from the date listed and you should post the results of your dish on your blog by the following Saturday before the next fortnight begins if you can.
Here are the 26 THEMES:
Week 1 Saturday 1/01/2011 Stonefruit
Week 2 Saturday 15/01/2011 Citrus
Week 3 Saturday 29/01/2011 Rice/noodles
Week 4 Saturday 12/02/2011 Love
Week 5 Saturday 26/02/2011 Outdoors
Week 6 Saturday 12/03/2011 American
Week 7 Saturday 26/03/2011 Celebration
Week 8 Saturday 9/04/2011 Eggs
Week 9 Saturday 23/04/2011 Crunchy
Week 10 Saturday 7/05/2011 Blue
Week 11 Saturday 21/05/2011 Cup
Week 12 Saturday 4/06/2011 Spice
Week 13 Saturday 18/06/2011 Dessert
Week 14 Saturday 2/07/2011 Hearty
Week 15 Saturday 16/07/2011 European
Week 16 Saturday 30/07/2011 Soups
Week 17 Saturday 13/08/2011 Baked
Week 18 Saturday 27/08/2011 Roast
Week 19 Saturday 10/09/2011 Green
Week 20 Saturday 24/09/2011 Asian
Week 21 Saturday 8/10/2011 Childhood
Week 22 Saturday 22/10/2011 Breakfast
Week 23 Saturday 5/11/2011 Red
Week 24 Saturday 19/11/2011 Seafood
Week 25 Saturday 3/12/2011 Cool
Week 26 Saturday 17/12/2011 Christmas