Banana Spice Bread or Cupcakes

1/2 cup Butter, melted
150 grams Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
3 Eggs
3 medium Bananas mashed
150 ml of Buttermilk
90 grams flour, Buckwheat flour for Gluten free
90 grams Oat flour
1/2 teaspoon each of Baking Powder, Baking Soda, and Salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. cloves
*100 grams of dried Cranberries
*100 grams of chopped Walnuts or Pumpkin Seeds
 

Preheat oven to 350.

Melt the butter in the microwave (or use room temperature butter), mix in sugar, salt, spices, and vanilla. Add Eggs and beat till thoroughly mixed. Blitz Bananas in a food processor with the buttermilk, stir into the mixture. Stir together flour, baking powder and baking soda before mixing into wet ingredients. Mix in the nuts and cranberries, if using. Secret tip:  I use an ice cream scoop to measure out batter for muffin cups, it is 1/4 cup of batter. Makes 16.

Muffins bake for 25 minutes, an 8 x 8 cake or loaf pan will take at least 40.  Use the toothpick test if you are unsure. Let the Muffins rest in the pan for 15 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool. Refrigerate leftovers to prevent spoiling.

*Alternative recipe: Leave out dried fruit and/or nuts.  It will not make as many without the nuts and fruit.

Easy Lemon Curd

1/2 cup of Butter
1 cup of Sugar
3 Tablespoons of Lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon of Lemon Zest
1 Egg, well beaten
1/4 cup of water

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan, over medium heat, stir constantly until bubbling.  Remove from heat and let cool before serving.

Crustless Quiche

My easy answer to "quiche cups."  I like to make one a week and eat off the leftovers for a quick breakfast.

8 Eggs, cracked and beaten
1 cup Buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon salt

16 oz. of any cheese, shredded, crumbled, etc.

1 cup of browned, crumbled, or cubed meat (optional, but meat makes it more filling)

2-4 cups of any vegetables

For greens, saute, cool, then squeeze to remove any excess liquid.  With raw veggies, I use my food processor to cut or shred finely, then I squeeze the liquid.  For eggplant, summer squash, zucchini, or mushrooms, I roast in the oven till dry.  I will often make ratatouille, then use the leftovers for a quiche.

Preheat oven to 375.  Combine ingredients, pour into a greased glass pie dish.  Set in middle of oven, reduce heat to 350, and bake for 40-50 minutes.  Let cool/rest for 15 before cutting and serving.

Fritata: Spinach, Red Onion, Feta

1-2 Tablespoons Butter

1 Red Onion, quartered and sliced
10 oz. package Frozen Spinach, thawed
8 Eggs
4 Tablespoons water
8 oz. Feta, crumbled
3 Tomatoes, sliced

Preheat oven to 350.  In a oven-safe skillet, melt the butter over medium-low heat and gently cook the onions till they start to brown.  Turn off the heat, add in the spinach and stir.  In a bowl beat the eggs and water, crumble in the feta and mix.  Pour over the onions and spinach, gently lift the vegetables so the egg mixture pours under and around.  Layer the sliced tomatoes on top.  Pop the skillet into the oven until the top is set, about 35 minutes.  Let cool for 15, slice and enjoy.

This recipe was a little spinach heavy which sort of overwhelmed the feta.

Gingerbread with Lemon Sauce

From The Betty Crocker Cookbook, copyright 1969.  I have never made a bad cake from this cookbook.  It is a cake and quick bread lovers' delight.

This was a go-to dessert of my Moms when I was a child.  So it not only is comfortingly spicy for fall, but reminiscent of my childhood.

I know as far as culinary expertise goes this is not a complex or complicated cake, but that's what makes it so wonderful.  Feel free to add in chopped crystallized ginger, fresh ginger root, and whatever makes you happy.  Unless you add more liquid, I don't think you can screw up this cake.

Gingerbread:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, or *Gluten free baking mix*
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup dark molasses
3/4 cup hot water
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 325 F.  Grease and flour a round cake pan or 9x9 square pan, or glass baking dish.  Cream the sugar, butter, molasses, hot water.  Beat in the eggs.  Add the flour, soda, ginger, cinnamon, and salt, gently stir together before beating till just smooth.  Scrape down sides as needed.  Pour into pan, bake for 50 minutes.  Serve warm with Lemon Sauce

Lemon Sauce:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup water
1 egg well beaten
3/4 teaspoon grated lemon peel
3 Tablespoons lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan.  Over medium heat, bring to bubbling, stirring constantly.  Serve warm on the ginger cake.

Egg [Pan]-Cakes Revisited

These gluten free/high fiber/low carbohydrate "egg" cakes will keep you full for longer without spiking your blood sugar and with the added soluble fiber so important in a gluten free diet.

For every person eating use:

2 Eggs
1 Tablespoon water
a dash of salt
2 Tablespoons Buckwheat or Oat flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

Or, for fewer eggs:

1 Egg
3 Tablespoons water
a dash of salt
3 Tablespoons Buckwheat or Oat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1.)  Preheat a 10 inch skillet to Medium heat, *grease with butter.

2.)  Beat together lightly the first 3 ingredients.  Add in dry ingredients and beat till incorporated.

3.)  Pour in batter slowly, stirring well just before.  Pour till it spreads to a 6 inch cake.

4.)  Wait till you've got bubbles on top (1-2 minutes), flip, and let it get golden on the other side before removing (30 seconds-1 minute). 1 serving makes two of these sized cakes.

*How I grease with butter: Take your fork and pierce the stick, or your fingers and hold the stick (with it's wrapper on the end you're holding), smear the end of the stick on the hot skillet all around. With this method I use less butter, and it's evenly distributed, I don't have to swirl my skillet.

Serve with Pure Maple Syrup or cream cheese and fresh fruit compote or Jam.

Kedgeree: Poached Fish and Rice

Kedgeree is an English breakfast dish that had migrated from India and assimilated into the English culture.  Of course some modifications were made, and nowadays you can pretty much season it how you like, use whatever fish (In England smoked Haddock is common) and rice you choose, but always top with a medium boiled egg.  This is one of the few recipes I make that involves seafood, and mostly that is because it is not sustainable and hard to find "safe" choices.  By safe I mean wild caught, not farmed, and not loaded with contaminants.  Wild caught Salmon can be purchased frozen any time of year.

Here's what I did:

4 eggs medium boiled, peeled
1 Salmon fillet, 7 oz, poached
2 cups cooked brown Basmati rice
1/2 large red onion, diced
2 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon fresh Lemon juice

For the Dill Sauce:

1/2 plain yogurt
1/2 teaspoon Dill weed
salt to taste

Saute the onion in the butter, add in the rice.  Add the Salmon and break it up as you stir around.  Squeeze the lemon juice over all.  Serve hot in a dish with a quartered boiled egg and dill sauce (optional) on top.  Serves four.

Omelet: The Ms. Dash

So easy, I created this when I was following South Beach (back when you could eat tomatoes on phase 1), and had limited breakfast resources.  It was also summer and I was getting free tomatoes.

2 eggs
1 Tablespoon water
Butter
Ms. Dash, or any other seasoning blend, just a few shakes
Salt to taste if your seasoning blend does not have salt
Mozerella, shredded (I do it myself to avoid additives)
1 Tomato, halved and sliced, lightly salted

Heat your omelet pan to medium-high heat.  Rub the stick of butter across the pan.  Beat the eggs and water and pour evenly into pan.  Sprinkle the Ms. Dash, wait for it to set up a bit (use a lid if you need to), sprinkle the mozzerella.  Wait for it to set up completely, fold, and serve with the cut up tomato.

Cold Potato Salad

This for me is the classic cold potato salad recipe.  I absolutely hate sweet pickle relish, particularly in potato, egg, or tuna salad, so you won't find it in this recipe.

8 medium to large red, yukon gold, or russet potatoes
8 celery stalks
1 small red onion
4 hard boiled eggs
1 cup Mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard
1 Tablespoon salad oil
1 Tablespoons white wine vinegar (I didn't have, so I just used white wine)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Scrub and boil potatoes till a fork pierces easily, about 35-45 minutes. Remove potatoes and add eggs, bring back to a boil, put on lid, turn off heat, and let eggs sit for 20 minutes.  Remove eggs, and place in an ice water bath.  Under cold running water slide off potato skins, rinse and set aside.  Finely chop celery and onions, mix remaining ingredients.  Cube potatoes, and one-at-a-time toss with dressing.  Refrigerate the salad, till ready to eat, the longer the better (at least 4 hours).  Before serving, peel the eggs, dice, and toss with salad.  I found the eggs infinitely easier to peel after being in the fridge overnight.

Black Bean Brownies or Flourless Brownies

2 cups cooked black beans, drained and rinsed
4 large eggs
1/2 cup melted butter, more for the baking dish
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons gluten-free vanilla extract
3/4-1 cup cane sugar
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 
  
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Melt the butter in your 8 inch baking dish in the microwave.  Swirl it around the dish to "grease."  Place the black beans, melted butter, eggs, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla extract and sugar in the bowl of a food processor or blender, and blend until smooth.  Gently stir in the chocolate chips before pouring mixture into the prepared pan.  Bake the brownies for 40 minutes, or until just set in the center. Cool before cutting into 16 squares.  Cover and refrigerate once cool.

 I could not recommend these on day 1.  They were oddly dry and spongy, in addition to not being sweet enough because I goofed on the amount of sugar.  Also, as I expected, all the chocolate chips had sunk to the bottom.  A remedy would be to use the tiny chips, or melt the chips with the butter to achieve a truly chocolaty flavor, because, let's be honest, cocoa powder doesn't cut it.

By day 2, and even more by day 3, they were fudgy, not dry, and had taken on a more chocolaty flavor.  Not bad at 160 calories per brownie, 175 if you use the full cup of sugar.

Seasonal Quiche

I love eggs! There's a long standing joke in my household that the reason I started dating my husband was because he had chickens. There is nothing better to an egg lover than never having to pay for good eggs again. What are good eggs you ask? Good eggs come from a small farm, from truly free range Hens that get plenty of sunshine, and live real chicken lives. Our own Hens enjoy scratching and bathing in the dirt, eating bugs and grass, roaming about all day, and roosting in the trees at night. Once you get spoiled on good eggs you won't believe how you ever swallowed the caged, artificially lighted, grain fed, antibiotic pumped and supplemented, factory house eggs. My stomach turns not only at the taste, but at the sad existence of those birds.

Good eggs are not only better tasting, but are healthier for you. They contain lots of B vitamins, natural omega fatty acids, and lean protein. For heart health fanatics a must know tip is that the cholesterol you eat is not the same as the cholesterol in your blood. So eat those vitamin rich yolks all you want.

Quiche is a great way to use eggs. It's a good meal for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Some claim the history behind pies are that the Amish carried this tradition in order to have something quick to grab and eat while heading out into the fields to work. My only regret is that for what you get it uses relatively few eggs. But like pizza in the summer, Quiche is a great way to use what you have on hand seasonally.

Start by making the crust, see "Easy as Pie-Crust" recipe. For Quiche you will be using one crust, the recipe makes two. Either save the other crust, make two Quiche or use the second crust to make something else (see future post Mixed Berry Pie).  Or go crust-less if you are gluten free.

Filling:
4 eggs beaten
2 cups milk
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
or
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk, if you have a small pie plate
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt

Add to this any combination of 2 cups (cooled) sauteed vegetables and 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese, see below for a few ideas.

Mustard Greens and Cheddar (my favorite)
Caramelized onions and White Cheddar
Leek and Goat Cheese
Spinach, garlic and Feta
Kale, Red onion and Swiss

Make sure the vegetables have cooled from cooking, and you have pulsed till nearly pureed in your food processor before adding the eggs and milk, and stirring in cheese. Pour into pie shell and bake at 375 for about 45 minutes, till top is gold and bubbly. Let cool for 15 minutes before cutting and serving. Serves 6.

Zucchini Egg Fritters

Earlier today I declared I wanted something delicious for dinner.  But I had no idea what to do.  Deciding to use the Zucchini I had in the fridge I googled 'great zucchini recipes.' and I found this one on a website called Big Girls, Small Kitchen.  It was terrific.  I immediately mixed up another batch to fry after trying the first cake.  Nearly two years later, I altered the recipe, see below.
 

1 cup grated Zucchini (1 small)
1/4 cup minced Onion
1 Tablespoon Lemon juice
1 Egg
1 teaspoon Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 cup flour (gluten free or all purpose)

For Frying:
1 Tablespoon cooking oil
1 Tablespoon Butter


I don't fool around with a hand grater for vegetables, I use the shredding blade on my food processor.  Mix first 7 ingredients.  Heat the oil and butter in a Cast Iron skillet (if you have it, otherwise use your egg pan) to medium high heat.  Drop by the heaping Tablespoon full without crowding the pan.  Cook for about 1 minute each side, just long enough to puff and brown.  Makes about eight 3 inch cakes.  Serves 1-2.

Potato Pancakes

I have been obsessed with these ever since childhood. Each potato with mixture will make 3 4-inch pancakes.

1 medium potato
1 egg
1/2 Tablespoon of any kind of flour (even Gluten Free)
1/2 teaspoon salt
Canola Oil

1. Start by peeling and grating the potatoes. If you are lucky like me you have a food processor that will shred for you.
2. Spread out the shreds on a brown towel or a towel you don't mind turning brown. Fold and roll the towel so you can wring out the shreds. You will be surprised how much liquid can come out of potatoes.
3. Dump the shreds into a bowl and mix with other ingredients.
4. Spoon into a hot skillet that has just enough Canola oil to cover the bottom. Press out into 1/4 inch thick, round pancakes. Fry over medium to medium high heat till golden, flip and fry the other side.

Serve hot. These are great by themselves, Tom likes them with Bavarian style Sauerkraut, I like them with cream cheese, lox, and finely sliced red onion. If you are an onion fan, try adding some finely diced onion to the potato mixture.

Bread Pudding

So I can't decide if I love french toast or bread pudding more. But bread pudding is definitely easier to make. The key is to using good bread, like Sourdough. Failing that, use any bread you like.

1/2 loaf of bread, cut into 4 cups of cubes. Let it dry a bit, if you are in a hurry you can toast it lightly in the oven while it's preheating.

3 eggs

2 cups of almond milk

1/2 cup of white granulated sugar

1 teaspoon of Cinnamon

 dash of salt  

1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla extract

1/2 cup Raisins (Optional) or 3 sliced fresh plums

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease an 8 x 8 x 2 glass baking dish. Evenly spread the cubes in the dish. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs, then beat in the sugar, salt, and Vanilla, slowly add in the milk. Pour the egg mixture over the bread cubes. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Serves 4.

Challah French Toast

Lots of RiverSong Farm customers tell me our Challah makes excellent French toast. I've never had the opportunity to try it until yesterday. Here is the recipe we used:

1 loaf of RiverSong Farm Challah, sliced on the bias (diagonally) into 10 slices
4 eggs
1 cup of milk
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Vanilla extract
Cinnamon

Place the slices of bread on a cookie sheet in the oven and toast both sides till crispy but not brown.

In a mixing bowl beat the eggs, add the remaining ingredients and beat. Pour the mixture into a small deep dish. Place the slices into the dish and let soak 15 seconds per side. Then transfer to a buttered medium hot skillet and cook till browned, then flip. As I explained to my kitchen accomplice, French toast like pancakes needs to cook on one side for a long time and the other side for a short time. Alter the heat as needed to prevent burning. As you remove pieces, add more butter and soaked pieces. Place the finished toast back on the cookie sheet in a 350 degree oven till all the pieces are finished.

Enjoy with RiverSong Farm maple syrup or powdered sugar and fresh fruit.

Scotch Eggs

Tom and I love The Irish Rover restaurant in Louisville, KY. We don't get to eat out often but this would be in the top 10 places we might go. On their appetizers menu are Scotch Eggs, which is just a medium boiled egg wrapped in sausage and deep fried, and they are so delicious. Last night we decided to make our own. They turned out pretty good for a first attempt. I only wished we had more Coleman's Hot English Mustard. I don't typically eat pork, but this was from our friends at Stone Cross Farm here in Taylorsville. And we used our own Duck Eggs, the same ones featured in the colored eggs posting.

4-6 medium boiled Eggs, peeled
1 lb of Sausage
frying Oil
Oil Thermometer

Cover the eggs with the sausage. Make a generous layer because it will shrink during the frying process. Heat the oil to 350 degrees F. Whatever pan you use the oil needs to come up the sides to at least 1 inch. Fry the eggs turning them frequently until really golden brown. We ended up having to put some back in, even though they looked done, because the sausage on the inside was not cooked all the way. Another way to do this would have been to finish them in the oven, which is great if you are cooking in batches so they all stay hot, and it helps to drain the excess cooking oil. Enjoy.

Cinnamon Pullapart Coffeecake

I found this newspaper clipping in my mom's old recipe tin. Who knows what publication it's from but it sounded good if not a little labor intensive.

Makes two 9-inch cakes

4 1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour
2 packages active dry yeast
1 cup of milk
1/3 cup of butter
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoons salt
3 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla

2/3 cup butter, melted
Cinnamon sugar: 2 cups sugar, 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Stir together 2 cups flour and yeast. In small saucepan, heat milk, butter, sugar and salt until warm (120 to 130 degrees), stirring to blend. Add liquid ingredients to flour-yeast mixture and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes on medium speed of electric mixer or 300 strokes by hand. Add eggs and vanilla and beat 1 minute. Stir in additional flour to make a moderately soft dough.

Turn onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and satiny, about 5 to 10 minutes. Shape into ball and place in lightly greased bowl, turning to grease all sides. Cover and let rise in a warm place (80 to 85 degrees) until doubled, about 60-75 minutes.

Punch down; let rest 10 minutes. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into 15 inch log. Cut each log into 20 pieces, about 3/4-inch wide. Dip each piece in melted butter and roll in cinnamon sugar until heavily coated. For each coffeecake, place 10 pieces in bottom of 9-inch tube pan. Arrange second layer on top, placing pieces over spaces in layer. Let rise in warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes.

Bake in preheated 375-degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then unmold.

Note: For one large coffeecake use whole recipe in 12-cup ring mold or 10 inch tube pan. Use half of dough each layer and bake as directed. (Spoon flour into dry measuring cup; level, Do not scoop.)

Kirsch Cheesecake

Start by soaking overnight a 16 oz bag of dried, pitted sour cherries in enough Kirschwasser brandy to cover.

For the Crust:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder (I like Green and Black's)
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine dry ingredients, melt the butter and stir into dry mixture. Turn gently until all ingredients are incorporated. In a 9 inch spring-form pan, pie plate, or glass baking dish. Press crumb mixture onto bottom and at least 2 inches up the sides of pan. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool to room temperature.

You can substitute chocolate graham crackers for the crackers and cocoa.

For the Cheesecake:

20 oz. cream cheese (2 1/2 8oz. packages)
12 oz. cottage cheese (1 1/2 cups)
1 cup white granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Kirsch soaked cherries

Let refrigerated ingredients come to room temperature, about 1 hour. Heat oven to 300 degrees. Using an electric mixer, whip cream cheese with sugar until smooth. In a food processor, blitz cottage cheese and cherries until smooth. Add the cottage cheese, the cherries, and vanilla to the cream cheese mixture and blend until smooth. With the beater on low, add the eggs one at a time until blended well. Pour into pan and bake for 1 hour or until center is firm. Cool to room temperature and refrigerate overnight in the dish or pan you baked in, covered. Cheesecake gets better and better each day it sits.

Variations:

Use only cream cheese or only cottage cheese.

Substitute 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest for 1 teaspoon vanilla or 1/2 teaspoon of each.

Substitute gingersnap cookie crumbs instead of graham cracker and omit sugar for crust; works especially well with lemon zest.

Spread 1 cup sour cream on top of finished cheesecake before refrigeration. Works well to hide a cheesecake that has cracked.