Posted on 05/28/2011 6:28:45 AM PDT by libertarian27
Welcome to the 25th installment of the FR Weekly Cooking (Recipes) Thread.
Looking for something new to make or made something new that came out great? Please share a 'tried-and-true' recipe or two - or all of them:)! for fellow FReepers to add to their 'go-to' Recipe Stack of Family Favorites!
Here's the place to share and explore your next favorite recipe.
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May 28 - National Brisket Day - National Hamburger Day May 29 - National Coq Au Vin Day
May 30 - National Mint Julep Day
May 30 - National Macaroon Day
June 1 - National Hazelnut Cake Day
June 2 - National Chocolate Macaroon Day
June 3 - National Rocky Road Day
Weekly Cooking Thread Ping List
(to be added/deleted ~ please post on thread or PM me)
Recipe Recap from last week’s thread:
Appetizer* 15 Easy Garlic Escargot
Meal* 12 Outback Steakhouse Mac A Roo & Cheese
Meal* 13 Crock-pot Pulled Pork
Meal* 19 Chicken (or Turkey or Ham) A-La-King
Meal* 33 Dr. Pepper Pork Chops
Side* 3 Black Eyed Susan
Side* 6 Paintpeeler Sauce
Side* 11 Pickled red onion
Link to May 21st recap post:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2723032/posts?page=37#37
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Please add me to your list
Not much of a recipe but here is a quick and easy dessert for the Memorial Day weekend.
chocolate ice cream
A & W Cream Soda
whipped cream or whipped dessert topping (optional)
maraschino cherries (optional)
Two or three scoops of ice cream in a glass and fill with cream soda. If desired, garnish with whipped cream and/or cherry.
I have three very ripe bananas that I was going to throw out. My daughter, who is visiting us for another week, suggested we make banana nut bread with them.
So . . . I am looking for a recipe for banana nut bread.
Here are a couple of recipes that are easy to make and fairly inexpensive. Both of these dishes can be made for $5 or less in my part of the country.
Italian Stir Fry Noodles
This is what I would call a “fusion” recipe since it is made like Asian Stir Fry Noodles, but with ingredients popular in Italian Food.
1 pound Spaghetti Pasta
cooking oil
1/2 - 1 pound Italian Sausage (use what ever kind you like)
1-2 onions, cut in small strips (I like to use red onions for this dish because the color looks nice, but any will do)
1/4-1/2 tsp. Crushed Red Pepper flakes (optional)
2-3 zucchini, cut in 1-2 inch strips
1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half (optional)
Italian Salad Dressing to taste
Grated Parmesan Cheese to taste
Cook Pasta according to package directions, and drain.
While Pasta is cooking, stir fry the Italian Sausage in a wok or a large frying pan with just enough oil to get the meat started cooking and prevent it from sticking to the pan, moving it around as you would for a stir fry. When the meat is almost cooked through add the onions and cook them to translucent, continuing to stir fry. We like our zucchini barely cooked, so I add it last and stir fry it just until it is slightly cooked and still quite crisp.
Add the pasta and red pepper flakes and stir fry until the noodles and other ingredients are well combined. I then add the tomatoes and a little Italian style salad dressing to the pan to season the pasta, and toss well.
Remove from heat and finish off the pasta with Parmesan cheese (we like a lot of freshly grated parmesan on this recipe). Serve with garlic bread and a side salad. In the summer months I like to serve it with a fresh fruit salad, since there are veggies in the pasta.
When you are craving a nice fruit salad in the Winter here is a great alternative to a fresh fruit salad:
Wintertime Fruit Salad
1 can pineapple chunks, drained
2 small cans mandarin oranges, drained
1 jar of maraschino cherries, drained (optional)
1-6 ounce container of plain or vanilla yogurt (some people also use mayo, sour cream, or even whipped cream instead of the yogurt)
1 cup mini marshmallows (optional)
1/4 cup shredded coconut (optional)
1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)
Combine all the ingredients and serve. In my family I have to serve the marshmallows, cherries, coconut, and pecans on the side since I have picky eaters. That way everyone can add the extra’s they like, and everyone will eat the fruit salad. I have also added grapes instead of the maraschino cherries and that is good too!
Notes: I like the fruit to be nice and cold, so I drain the pineapple and oranges early in the day, and leave it in my collander with a bowl under it so any extra juice drains off as well. My collander fits in my large tupperware bowl with a lid, so I set the collander in that and put the lid on it and put it in the refrigerator until just before I am ready to mix up the salad at dinner time. Use plastic wrap if you don’t have a bowl with a lid, so the fruit doesn’t dry out.
My mother used to save all the juice from the fruit and add it to orange juice to make a delightful and refreshing orange punch.
Here is what we often do with bananas that are over ripe. It is a quick and easy way to make a moist banana muffin or cake.
Quick Banana muffins or cake
Mash up the bananas and set aside.
Mix up a yellow or white cake mix according to package directions (or if your bananas are really over ripe and watery I drain the bananas and use the extra banana liquid instead of some of the water and just reduce the amount of water to compensate for the “banana water” when mixing up the cake mix).
Fold in mashed bananas and pour into miffin tins lined with papers, or into cake pans or a loaf pans and bake according to the directions on the cake mix. Enjoy!
Done. Thx!
Banana Bread
An old Betty Crocker recipe...
1 1/4
cups sugar
1/2
cup butter or margarine, softened
2
eggs
1 1/2
cups mashed very ripe bananas (3 to 4 medium)
1/2
cup buttermilk
1
teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2
cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1
teaspoon baking soda
1
teaspoon salt
1
cup chopped nuts, if desired
1 Move oven rack to low position so that tops of pans will be in center of oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottoms only of 2 loaf pans, 8 1/2x4 1/2x2 1/2 inches, or 1 loaf pan, 9x5x3 inches.
2 Mix sugar and butter in large bowl. Stir in eggs until well blended. Add bananas, buttermilk and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt just until moistened. Stir in nuts. Pour into pans.
3 Bake 8-inch loaves about 1 hour, 9-inch loaf about 1 1/4 hours, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans and place top side up on wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days.
Yum! A coworker made a similar salad but left out the yogurt. I had another similar salad at a Chinese celebration; that one had dragon’s eye fruit and whipping cream as the dressing. Both were wonderful.
This is the best banana bread I have ever made, from Cooks Illustrated. Since you might not have enough bananas, freeze the ones you have and wait for more to be available... or go to the store and buy some that they are trying to get rid of.
The Best Banana Bread
Makes one 9-inch loaf
NOTE: Its important to use very ripe banana in this recipe, they should be heavily speckled or even black. Do not attempt this recipe with under-ripe bananas. This recipe can be made using ripe bananas that have been previously frozen, but because such bananas are too soft to slice, the 1 banana in step 3 should be omitted. Even if the banana is omitted, the top of the loaf should still be sprinkled with the granulated sugar. Previously frozen bananas release a lot of liquid, so the peeled, thawed bananas can bypass the microwave and go directly into the fine-mesh strainer. Wrapping the loaf pan in foil prevents the edges of the bread from overcooking before the center is cooked. Microwaving the bananas and cooking down the reserved liquid reduces their water content, allowing the loaf to hold more bananas without making it too dense.
1 3/4 cups (8 ½ ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup (6 ounces) packed light brown sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) room temperature unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
6 large very ripe bananas (heavily speckled or even black), peeled (see note)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped (optional)
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1. Adjust rack in middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Stack two 12- by 18-inch pieces of aluminum foil on flat surface; fold in half to form quadruple layer of foil measuring 12- by 9-inches. Place inverted 8 ½- by 4 ½-inch loaf pan in center of foil and push foil down over sides of loaf pan, smoothing and pleating as though wrapping package. Return wrapped pan to upright position and spray lightly with non-stick baking spray. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together in large bowl.
2. Place 5 bananas in microwave safe bowl; cover with plastic wrap, cut several steam vents in plastic with paring knife. Microwave on high power until bananas are soft and have released liquid, about 4 minutes. Transfer bananas to fine mesh strainer placed over medium bowl and allow to drain for 15 minutes (you should have 1/2 to 2/3 cup liquid). Transfer liquid to medium saucepan and cook over medium high heat until reduced to 1/4 cup, about 5 minutes. Add butter, remove pan from heat, and stir until melted. Add reduced liquid/butter mixture to bananas and mash with potato masher until fairly smooth. Whisk in eggs, brown sugar, melted butter, and vanilla.
3. Pour banana mixture into flour mixture and stir until just combine with some streaks of flour remaining. Gently fold in walnuts. Scrape batter into prepared pan. Slice remaining banana diagonally into 1/4 inch thick slices. Shingle banana slices on top of loaf leaving 2-inch margin down center of loaf to ensure even rise. Sprinkle granulated sugar evenly over loaf.
4. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean, 1 to 1-1/4 hours. Cool bread in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes, then remove loaf from pan and cool on wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Here is my mother’s recipe for Banana Bread from scratch if you have a little more time and energy.
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 c sugar
1/4 c butter, softened
1 egg
2/3 cup bananas (about 2 medium or 3 small bananas)
3 tbs. sour milk or buttermilk
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Sift first 4 ingredients, stir to mix them well and set aside. Cream butter and sugar until light. Stir in one egg. Fold in bananas. Stir the butter mixture into the flour in about three parts alternating with 1 tbs of the sour milk or buttermilk. As soon as combined fold in chopped nuts. Do not over stir!
Pour into a greased 8 X 4 inch loaf pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 1 hour.
My mother would often have three bananas or more left so she would make a batch that was 1 1/2 times this recipe abd use a slightly larger loaf pan or double the recipe and make two loaves. She would serve one loaf to us and wrap the other in foil and and then place it in a freezer bag and toss it in the freezer to have sometime later.
For those that have the Cuisanart Frozen Yogurt/Ice Cream Making machines here’s one recipe for those three over ripe bananas:
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup regular milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp Banana extract (oil)
Pinch of Nutmeg
3 over ripe Bananas
Put all in a blender except for 2 of the bananas, and whip until smooth, and place in the fridge to chill for about an hour.
Crush the remaining Bananas, and chill for an hour.
Pull the whole lot out of the fridge, place in the ice cream machine, and process as per the instructions by the maker of the machine, and add the crushed Bananas as the machine is in operation.
We use washed 48oz large Sour Cream containers we’ve saved to place the various ice creams we make into as they are just the right size for the finished product to place into the freezer. This Banana ice cream is excellent, and goes well with a dribbling of Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup.
1/2 cup butter or shortening (I prefer butter, just btw)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs, separated
3 bananas, preferably overripe mashed or pureed
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1-2 TBSP peach jam or pear preserves (see note)
Pre-heat oven at 325 F. Grease and flour a loaf pan or 8" x 8" baking dish.
Beat egg whites until stiff (add a pinch of cream of tartar if you have it), and set aside.
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt.
Cream butter/shortening with sugar. Beat the egg yolks well and add to butter/shortening mix, blending until mostly smooth. Add the bananas and jam/preserves, stir in well.
Add butter/sugar/egg/jam mixture to sifted flour, stir until consistent. Fold in beaten egg whites and nuts until you're satisfied with the texture.
Bake for 1 hour or until cake tester or wooden skewer inserted into centre comes out clean and dry. As a rule, it's a **little** better to underbake than overbake.
Remove and let cool for 10-15 minutes on countertop or rack. Run a small sharp knife around the edge of the pan/dish (important!). Serve with softened butter and/or a sprinkle of cinnamon on each slice/piece.
Note: you can use any jam/jelly/preserves you like. One with a more neutral flavour, such as pear, tends to work better. The purpose of the jam/jelly/preserves is to enhance and retain moisture (and, boy, does it work!).
Next note: the purpose of beating the egg whites rather than just adding the whole egg is to change the texture of the bread. Therefore, do not OVERfold when adding the stiff egg whites; just give them a decent mix. If you like, fold in the nuts before folding in the egg whites, for better distribution of the nuts.
Albondigas (Mexican meatball) Soup
Saute in olive oil in a large pot:
1 diced white onion
2 bunches green onions, chopped
1-7 oz can chopped green chilies
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
Add 1 large can “fire roasted” broken tomatoes
and 1 quart water to pot and bring to boil.
Mix:
2 pounds lean hamburger
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste
Form into one-inch balls, added one
at a time to boiling soup.
Turn heat to low and simmer, covered.
Cook 45 minutes, then adjust seasonings.
In honor of National Brisket Day.
My late aunt’s beer brisket.
Simple enough for a clod like me to prepare, and as a bonus, contains my two favorite ingredients.
Chop one onion and a couple of garlic cloves.
Add 2 Tbsp. of brown sugar, 1/2 cup chili sauce and 1 beer.
Mix ingredients well and pour over 3-4 lb. brisket.
Cover tightly and bake at 350 for 3-1/2 hrs.
Uncover and cook for another 1/2 hr.
Needs a bit more garlic and cumin for me (of course!)
;^)
SNICKER SALAD
1 tub Cool Whip
2 unpeeled Granny Smith apples chopped into small pieces
2 Snickers chopped into small pieces
Mix all ingredients together, enjoy
Do you use regular white flour or masa flour?
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