It's Basically Breakfast

Are you like me when it comes to bananas; you buy a bushel and then never eat them all before they are over ripe? If so do you throw them away or make banana bread? I am the latter, which my roommates and co-workers can attest to it. However I am over making just the regular old banana bread and have began experimenting with other recipes I have found while trolling Pinterest. They were all hits with the taste testers but my favorite so far has been the Strawberry Banana Bread with Blueberries from Julia's Album. Isn't her blog so enticing? The pictures and colors are what drew me in, plus she has some great recipes.

The other loafs I have made are Banana Mango Coconut Bread, Banana Bread with Applesauce & Honey, and Banana Bread with Greek Yogurt. You can find all of the links on my Pinterest Quickbreads board.

So why am I talking about banana bread. Well I had left over bananas again last week and decided that I wanted to make something other than a quickbread. So as usual I searched Pinterest and found a recipe for Banana Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Buttercream & a Chocolate Ganache Center from Adventures in Cooking. The title alone had me hooked and after seeing the pictures and reading the recipe I knew there was no way I couldn't not make this decadent dessert.

The most important thing I look for when finding a baking recipe is if it is made from scratch or from a box mix. I understand the convenience of the box mixes but there is something satisfying about producing anything from start to finish. Also, it is just as easy if not cheaper to measure the dry ingredients yourself.

I was pleasantly surprised with the consistency and flavor. When using whole wheat flour it is easy for the wheat flavor to dominate but it didn't. You couldn't even tell that's what was used. You definitely had the banana flavor, with just the right amount of peanut butter coming from the buttercream and a few surprises of chocolate in every bite. It was like a peanut butter cup with bananas!

Some differences that I did was I used mini chocolate chips in the cupcakes and for the ganache I used Valrhona Dark Chocolate. I found the chocolate at Trader Joe's but I believe Whole Foods may carry it as well.

I had a lot of fun making these cupcakes and taking pictures to work on my photography skills. 

So why the title? Well it contains bananas, dark chocolate, peanut butter & whole wheat flour. Sounds like breakfast to me....Ok, well not quite but that is what you will be telling yourself when you eat one for breakfast.

Don't they just look delicious? It's like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup with bananas!

Guaranteed they will be a hit at any gathering you attend and will be gone within minutes. Just ask my friends. 

Aren't You Just A Peach?!

Now I have a little personal issue, when I get hooked on something my mind can not stop running with all the different possibilities just waiting to be explored. In order to calm it I have to research the item and that is exactly what happened this week with peaches.

I love summer for the activities, sun, and fresh fruit that is available, especially peaches. I just can't get enough of this small, sweet and juicy golden fruit. I wish that is was freshly available all year long. Peaches are one of those fruits that you can do so many things with from making jam, to ice cream, to making a marinade.

Nerd Alert!!!! I am sorry if I am going to bore you, I am a foodie and lover of history so I can't help myself but research about an ingredients' history. So here it goes:

1. Even though Georgia is called "The Peach State", peaches actually originated in China.

2. That's right, they have been around since the 10th Century B.C. and spread across the western world via the Silk Road.

3. The peach tree and blossom hold significance in the Chinese culture.

4. The importance of peaches to many cultures have been depicted across time through art, sculptures, and folk tales. One such tale is the Peaches of Immortality

5. China is the largest peach producer in the world, followed closely behind by Italy. (I am part Italian so maybe that's why I love them so much)

6. A peach contains less than 70 calories, 3 grams of fiber and is a good source of vitamins A and C.

7. "The World's Largest Peach Cobbler" is made in Georgia every year and measures 11 feet by 5 feet. (My question is where did they get the pan from?)

8. Peaches are best from June through August, so get them while you can.

As I have been thinking about writing this post for the past week it seems like every day I opened my e-mail there was a new one from Real Simple, Foodie, or Food & Wine with recipe ideas for peaches. Now if you are anything like me, one click on a post just opens up a door to a never ending black hole of link after link.

I mean don't they just look delicious?!

These are just some of the links and recipes that have caught my eye recently:

Food & Wine Slideshow: Peaches 

11 Ways to Use Peaches

Peach Crostata

Roasted Peaches with Mascarpone Ice Cream : This is the one I really want to make. Mascarpone cheese is another one of my favorite ingredients that you can use in desserts or pasta sauce. The decadent richness of the ice cream and the flavor of the peaches brought out through roasting just take the dessert to a whole other level.

Peach and Blueberry Brioche Tart

Peach Honey Ice Cream with Lemon Verbana

I could go on and on but do yourself and me a favor, find one recipe with peaches that spikes your interest and commit to making it. Try something new and step out of your comfort zone, you will be so glad you did. And don't forget to let me know how it goes.

Research found on:
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/peach-10-healthy-facts
http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/fruits/peach-facts.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peach

Sunshine Risotto

Here comes another recent culinary adventure and get ready for more to come :)

I have decided that is enough is enough with all this talk about planning meals and decided to start doing something about it. We have a chalkboard in the kitchen that we haven't done much with and so I decided what better way to use it then to write my menu items on there so it is plainly visible to me. So far it has turned out to be a success.

This recipe is for the Sunshine Risotto from The Italian Cookbook by Fiona Biggs. I think next time I may add mushrooms or olives to it. I think green olives would have tasted very very good with the rest of the flavors.



Serves 6 | prep 10 mins + 30 mins soaking | cook 40 mins

Ingredients
12 sun-dried tomatoes
6 1/3 c. Chicken or Vegetable stock
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 large Onion, chopped finely
4-6 Garlic cloves, chopped finely
1 3/4 c. Risotto Rice
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 cup freshly grated aged Romano cheese
Olive oil for drizzling

Place the sun-dried tomatoes in a bowl and pour enough boiling water over to cover them. Let the soak for 30 minutes or until they are supple to cut. Once ready, drain, pat them dry and shred them.

Bring the stock to a boil and then reduce the heat but keep it simmering.

Heat the olive oil in a deep pan (large enough to cook the rice) over medium heat and cook the onions for 2 minutes or until soften. Add the garlic and cook for 15 seconds.

Reduce the heat, add the rice and mix to coat in oil. Cook, stirring constantly for 2-3 minutes or until the grains are translucent.

Gradually add the stock a cup at a time, stirring constantly, adding more liquid as the rice absorbs each addition. Increase the heat so that the liquid is bubbling. After 15 minutes stir in the tomatoes.

Continue adding the stock, stirring constantly, until the risotto has been cooking for 20 minutes or the liquid is absorbed and the rice is creamy.

Remove from the heat and stir in the parsley and half the cheese. When serving drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Goat Cheese, Pear and Walnut Salad...yummmm!

I finally have all of my cookbooks in one place and am going to start making things from them...finally. I bought "The Italian Cookbook" a few years back but just never made anything from it. I was flipping through it the other day and found a recipe for a Goat Cheese, Pear and Walnut Salad. Doesn't that just sound divine? It was delicious. I even cut it in half and it lasted me for about 4 meals.

Serves 4 | Prep:15 mins | Cook: 10 mins
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups dried penne
1 head radicchio, torn to pieces
1 Webbs lettuce, torn to pieces
7 Tbsp chopped walnuts
2 ripe pears, cored and diced
5/8 cup arugula, trimmed
2 tbsp lemon juice
5 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, chopped
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
4 tomatoes, cut into fourths
1 small onion, sliced
1 large carrot, grated
9 oz/250 g goat cheese, diced
salt and pepper

1. Bring a large pan of lightly salted water to a boil over medium heat. Add the pasta and cook until done. Drain the pasta thoroughly and refresh in cold water, then drain again and set aside to cool.

2. Put the radicchio and Webbs lettuce into a large bowl and mix together well. Top with the cooled pasta, chopped walnuts, pears and arugula.

3. Mix the lemon juice, oil, garlic, and vinegar together in a measuring cup. Pour the mixture over the salad and toss to coat the salad leaves.

4. Add the tomato fourths, onion slices, grated carrot, and diced goat cheese and toss together until well mixed. Let the salad chill in the refrigerator for about 1 hour before serving.

Poppy Seed Bread

Hannah stayed over this weekend for some much needed time away from the dorms and roommates. It was a pleasure having her over. Well last night we decided to make Poppy Seed Bread. Love the stuff. Although ours didn't turn out like they normally do. They got slightly over-baked on the sides...something our oven has a tendency to do. Anyway, the quick bread turned out ok, but it wasn't as moist as I had liked or as it had previously been.

Poppy Seed Bread
3c. Flour
1 1/2 tsp. Salt
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
3 Eggs
1 1/2 c. Milk
1 1/8 c. Oil
2 1/4 c. Sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp. Poppy seed
1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp. Almond extract
1 1/2 tsp. Butter extract

Mix all the ingredients together in the order that they are listed.
Grease and pour the batter into a loaf pan, bundt pan, muffin tin or some other baking pan.
Bake in the oven at 350 F for 40 min  or until a knife comes out clean.

Glaze (optional)
3/4c. 6x sugar
1/2 tsp. Vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. Almond extract
1/2 tsp. Butter extract
water or orange juice

Combine together the 6x sugar and extracts in a bowl. Add enough water or orange juice to make a slurry. Drizzle the glaze on top of the poppy seed bread once it is removed from the oven and has cooled slightly.