banana bread muffins

I just made this recipe with changes.

Basically:

• 1 cup white sugar (I did 1/2 white and almost 1/2 dark brown because brown sugar is tasty)
  
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (I did 1 scant cup white flour and 1 cup white whole wheat because whatever)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts (closer to 1/2 cup)
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• added 1/4ish tsp cinnamon and a dash of vanilla because cinnamon and vanilla are nice. (NB last year I made banana bread and had no cinnamon and I used some combo of nutmeg and cardamom instead and it was great.)
  

I blended the bananas in the food processor first, then added the egg, oil, sugar...basically everything except the flour and nuts, and processed a few more times. Then I dumped it into a bowl to stir in the flour and nuts because my food processor is tiiiiny.

Spooned it into unlined muffin tins greased with flour+oil Pam, and now baking. I predict that the recipe's 30-40 minute bake time will be too long. We shall see. Verdict: at least 30 minutes is necessary.

Almond Bars

(from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/almond-bars/)
This is the weirdest recipe I've made in a while. I thought it would be more like a brownie minus the chocolate flavor/color, but they're cakey and sort of spongy. (My guess is this is due to beating the eggs and sugar, and also due to the two cups of flour; brownie recipes would have less flour for this size pan.) They seem better after a few hours/the next day when they're a little more dense.

Preheat oven to 325. Grease a 9x13 pan (I used flour+grease Pam spray.)

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups sugar (I used less, between 1.5 and 1.75 cups, which is plenty)
  
• 1 cup butter, melted (I used salted butter)
  
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons almond extract (I used a little more, almost a tablespoon)

Beat the sugar and eggs with mixer. Add in butter, flour, almond extract. Mix well. Spread into pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of pan comes out clean. (I was worried they'd be underbaked at that point, but they were fine. They seemed weird until they cooled and sat for a while.)

sugar cookies

I've never made a great sugar cookie, but it's been years since I tried. New project: find a recipe and method that works.

Tonight I made the dough for Alton Brown's recipe:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon milk

and I added 2 tsp vanilla.
I creamed the butter by itself first, then added the sugar. I never really get my sugar totally dissolved in my butter so it's not gritty, and this time was no exception. My arm just gets too tired. Someday with a better-sized bowl, or a stand mixer, I'll try that. (Or maybe a food processor. Hmm.) By the time I was done adding all of the flour, the dough was in small clumps and didn't/wouldn't really cohere. I'm not sure if that was because my mixer bowl is gigantic, but I think it's happened before. At any rate - you're supposed to chill the dough for two hours, so I divided it in half, scooped up half and molded it into a lump with my hands (and I think the heat and pressure from my hands helped it cohere quite a bit) and wrapped it in plastic wrap, and then added a little more milk to the second half, mixed it more, and wrapped it up. We'll see which (if any) comes out better. Next time, (if I'm not happy with these results) I'll try a recipe that uses two eggs.

Verdict: I am giving up on making sugar cookies because I cannot roll them out without them sticking to the surface or breaking for love or money.

Dutch Babies

I made a Dutch Baby (man, the name is silly) pancake for brunch today using this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/dutch-babies-ii/

I don't have a 10" skilet so I made it in a 9.5" Pyrex pie pan. I used an electric hand mixer instead of a whisk, and I didn't sift the flour because I have no sifter (or even strainer, sigh. This is not a well-equipped kitchen.) I added a splash of vanilla extract and some sugar to the batter.
It came out looking like this:

chicken and sage and onions and stuff

This was really tasty:

3 frozen chicken tenders, mostly defrosted, sliced into small pieces
marinated in:
juice of half a lemon
soy sauce
ground sage

then,
most of an onion, sliced
one carrot, sliced
maybe 5 mushrooms (which had been frozen, just thrown loosely into a plastic container and left for 3-4 months!), sliced
one small potato, microwaved to pre-cook it, sliced
and the chicken,
sauteed in some oil with some added paprika, with a lid on the pan

I added a bit of water at one point after the natural juices seemed to be drying up.
At the end I added this roux-ish thing I made out of a TBS of butter and some flour, which was a bit...odd, since I don't really know my way around roux.

But damn, the whole thing was super tasty. I think sage is my new favorite herb. And next time I'd like to try it without the roux. I'm curious how much the butter added. I hope it'd be tasty without it.
ETA: I made it again and it was fine without the butter mixture. I added an extra potato, also pre-cooked, which broke apart a bit and added some thickness. It doesn't look glamorous, but it's gooooood.

kale/chickpea soup

I tried this recipe tonight, slightly modified.

Original said:
You could also switch out the beans for chickpeas and use cumin and smoked paprika and crushed red pepper and I think also get a very nice soup with a different flavor.

Bean Soup with Kale

Olive Oil
8 large garlic cloves, crushed or minced
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
4 cups chopped raw kale
4 cups vegetable broth (I add more if needed)
2 15-oz cans of white beans such as cannellini or navy, undrained
4 plum tomatoes chopped (I used 2 cans of diced tomatoes)
(optional) 1/2 butternut squash, cubed or a couple of sweet potatoes
2 tsps. dried italian herb seasoning (or 1 tsp each dried thyme and rosemary)
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, heat olive oil. Add garlic and onion; saute unitl soft. Add kale and saute, stirring until wilted. Add potatoes or squash and saute, stirring until soft. Add broth, bean and all of tomatoes, herbs and salt and pepper.

Sometimes I put 1/2 can of the beans in a blender with some broth and blend until smooth and I stir that in the soup to thicken or use a hand blender in the pot at the end of cooking.

Simmer on low for a couple of hours.
---
I used canola oil (olive oil isn't good for high heat), slightly more kale, vegetable bouillon instead of broth, a little less than half a (large) butternut squash, only one can of chickpeas, a large onion (plus a little more I had in the fridge added later), a little more than half a 26-oz package of chopped Pomi tomatoes, added a single stalk of celery, and used the red pepper flakes/paprika, and cumin as seasoning.

pasta + vegetables

I watched a friend make this last night and would like to replicate it some time. It was richer than I'd expect.

chopped onion + garlic
sliced vegetables: bell pepper, broccoli, snow peas, grape tomatoes
pasta
milk
breadcrumbs
cheese

Saute onion and garlic with some Italian seasonings, then add other veggies. Toward the end--some grape tomatoes.
Then, add milk(mixed with buttermilk, this time) (and I think also some vegennaise?)and cook for a bit. Then add "Italian" breadcrumbs. And add some cheese (he used grated Havarti.) Serve over pasta and with some chicken or other meat for protein.