Coconut Banana Bread

If you like pina coladas...and gettin' caught in the rain...

If you're a child of the 80s, you'll remember that song.  It came to mind as I was reading the recipe for this bread.  If you've been following along, you have noticed that I like banana bread and I have several recipes on here for it.  Not sure why I have never thought to try coconut in it.  This recipe actually calls for pecans too so there will no swapping only enjoying!

1 C. butter, melted
1 1/2 C. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. rum extract
2 C. ripe bananas, mashed
2 3/4 C. all purpose flour
1 1/4 baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
6 squares, 1 oz. each white baking chocolate coarsely chopped
1 C. flaked coconut
1 C. chopped pecans

In a mixing bowl, combine butter and sugar and mix well.  Add eggs and extracts; beat on high speed until thickened.  Stir in bananas. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt.  Gradually add to banana mixture.  Fold in the chocolate, coconut and pecans.

Transfer to 2 greased loaf pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 70-75 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

Chocolate Nut Bread

This is going to be on my Christmas baking list.  I love making mini loaves for my co-workers.  I will most likely swap out the walnuts for pecans but then I usually do.  I just like the taste of pecans better.

1 C. butter, softened
2 C. sugar
5 eggs
2 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 C. cake flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 C. buttermilk
1 C. chopped walnuts, optional

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs, chocolate and vanilla; mix well.  Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating well after each addition.  Stir in nuts if desired.

Pour into four mini loaf pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

Herbed Tomato Cheese Bread

I may try this for work.  It will be a switch from the beer bread that I make from time to time.  I do love to bake when the weather turns cold.  It adds a coziness to the house.

3 C. all purpose flour
1/2 C. grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 C. crumbled blue cheese
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. each dried basil, thyme, and rosemary, crushed
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 egg
1 1/2 C. buttermilk
1/4 vegetable oil
2 tbsp. tomato paste

In a bowl, combine the flour, cheeses, baking powder, baking soda, and seasonings.  In another bowl, beat the egg, buttermilk, oil and tomato paste.  Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.  Transfer to a greased loaf pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan to a wire rack.

Citrus Punch

I saw this in a holiday recipe book and could see this for a brunch or for a nice spiked sparkler on New Year's with some Tito's Handmade Vodka.

2 C. orange juice
1 C. grapefruit juice
2 C. pineapple juice
1 C. lemonade
2 C. ginger ale

Chill all ingredients.  Mix gently in a pitcher or punch bowl.  Add alcohol if desired. ;-)

Almond Apricot Logs

I found this in a holiday cookbook.  I plan to try it for the holidays and I am guessing it will either be the centerpiece of my holiday spread this year or it will make me completely insane.  I always make such grandiose plan and then life gets in the way and I get in a time crunch.  I wonder if I should try these beforehand and see what I am getting myself into.

Truth be told, this recipe jumped out at me because of my love of apricots and almonds.  When your mouth starts to water by simply reading a recipe you know you have to try it!

2 pkgs. (1/4oz. each) active dry yeast
1/3 C. warm water
1 1/2 C. warm milk
1/3 C. vegetable oil
1/2 C. sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground nutmeg
5 to 5 1/2 C. all purpose flour
1 1/2 C. coarsely chopped dried apricots
1 C. chopped almonds

Glaze:
1 1/2 C. confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 to 3 tbsp. milk

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in water.  Add milk, oil, sugar, eggs, salt, nutmeg, and 2 C. flour.  Beat until smooth.  Add apricots and almonds.  Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.  Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes.  Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top.  Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled; 1 1/2 hours.

Punch dough down; let rest 10 minutes.  Turn onto a lightly floured surface.  Roll into a 15x12 inch rectangle.  Cut into 3 inch by 1 inch strips.  Place 1 inch apart on greased baking sheets.  Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.  Bake at 375 for 15 minutes or until light golden brown.  Remove to wire racks.

For glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar, vanilla and enough milk to achieve desired consistency.  Brush over warm logs.

Makes 5 dozen.

Mexican White Bean Soup

I see this becoming a winter staple in my house.  I am glad Chris is pretty flexible when it comes to dinner.  If he was a "meat and potatoes" every night guy...he'd just have to starve.  Sometimes I like soup and bread for dinner; even if I had soup and bread for lunch.  I have soup to thank for the fact that I like more and more veggies all the time and things like navy beans and lentils.  Good grief...I am eating all kinds of stuff I swore I wouldn't ever like when I was young.  That must mean I am getting OLD!  Ah well, it happens to the best of us and it sure beats the alternative.

8oz. dried navy beans (1 1/4 C.)
1 large onion, chopped (1 C.)
2 stalks celery, sliced (1 C.)
2 medium carrots, sliced (1 C.)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 to 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 14.5oz. can vegetable broth or reduced sodium chicken broth
1 orange
1 C. salsa verde

Rinse beans.  In a 4 to 5 quart Dutch oven combine beans and 6 cups of water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat.  Simmer uncovered for 2 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Cover and let stand 1 hour.  Drain, rinse beans.

In the Dutch oven, cook onion, celery, carrots and garlic in hot oil until tender.  Stir in cumin, salt, and cayenne pepper.  Add broth, beans and 2 C. water.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat.  Simmer, covered for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until beans are tender.

Using a handheld immersion blender, blend mixture slightly.  Return to pan.  Finely shred 1 tsp. orange peel, then juice the orange.  Stir in juice, orange peel and salsa verde into soup.  Heat through.

Serve with cilantro, sour cream and cayenne pepper, if desired.

Makes 6 servings.

203 calories, 4g. fat, 0mg. cholesterol, 653mg. sodium, 34g. carbs, 12g. fiber, 10g. protein per serving

Goat Cheese Mashed Sweet Potatoes

There are a couple of schools of thought in my family when it comes to holiday meals.  Some of us are purists.  DO NOT put oysters or fruit or nuts in my stuffing.  I am not even sure I want sausage in my stuffing.  I grew up with bread cubes, onions, celery, butter and broth and I can eat my body weight in stuffing if challenged to the task.  I can remember the first time I made Thanksgiving dinner and I called my Grandma because she made the best stuffing ever and asked for her "secret" recipe.  Without any fanfare, she told me to buy a bag or two of Pepperidge Farm sage and onion stuffing cubes and follow the recipe on the bag.  REALLY?!?!?  That's it?!?!?  Yep, that's it.

Sweet potatoes though are different, at least to some of us in the family.  Sure, you can candy yams or roast them, bake them.  I have made chipotle sweets and taken them to Thanksgiving.  Some people raved...others were not impressed.  This recipe is making me want to volunteer to make the sweets this year.    If no one is impressed, I will eat them myself.  LOL

Simmer 3lbs. peeled and cubed sweet potatoes until tender; drain.  Heat 1/2 C. half and half and 1/4 C. butter in a glass measuring cup in the microwave 1 minute.  Mash into potatoes.  Stir in 2oz. goat cheese.  Toast 1/2 C. pistachios with butter and salt in a skillet.  Sprinkle pistachios, additional goat cheese and fresh sage over potatoes.

Food as Celebration

You've been to parties, right?  We all have.  At almost every party I have ever been to, food is served.  Birthday parties, holiday parties, prom, weddings, christenings, family reunions.  I could go on and on and on.  Sometimes the food is good, sometimes it's just OK.  Sometimes it's rubber chicken that you secretly wish would bounce right off your plate and back to the kitchen.

Chris and I went to a wedding this weekend of good friends of ours.  We've shared a few meals; mostly crawfish and its accompaniments on warm spring afternoons.  This past spring they announced they were getting married.  A few weeks later, Chris and I received a save the date and then the invitation.  Chris and I are many years beyond the time in our lives when you would have 6 or 7 weddings in a year so we were excited to be invited.  Plus the wedding was going to be in the Crystal Garden at Navy Pier which is a beautiful room when not decorated for a wedding so I knew it would be breathtaking all done up for the wedding.  Once I secured a hotel room, dress, shoes, wrap and clutch, my mind drifted to my favorite part of going to weddings; the food.  I have been fortunate that rubber chicken at a wedding has only happened to me once or twice.

Let me tell you that Kenneth and Kelly's wedding did not disappoint.  I will happily accept the "dork" label for taking as many photos of the meal as I did.  I knew that my descriptions would not do it justice.  Below is the dinner menu.

Before I start in on dinner, I should probably mention the appetizers.  I have mentioned once or twice in this blog that goat cheese belongs everywhere.  It is delicious on little tiny pears.  I ate 2!  I think the waitress with the platter thought I was nuts because I was so taken with those pears; so much so, I didn't get a photo.  You're going to have to trust me, the were little bites of heaven.  I think Chris will attest to the fact that the little lamb chops (or lambsicles as we called them at our cocktail table) were outstanding as well.  I only heard about the scallops, I never actually saw them and the rumors I heard involved grabbing waitstaff the instant they appeared and tossing those scallops back like shots of fine tequilla.  I am not a giant seafood lover but I do like scallops.  I guess next time I will have to be more assertive during cocktail hour. ;-)  Below is a photo of my favorite appetizer of the evening.

The shot glass held velvety tomato soup and YES that's a grilled cheese sandwich on a stick.  Yes, I dipped; double dipped too!  Mr. Campbell better look out...this was the best tomato soup I have ever had and I have made a few different tomato soup recipes.  It's funny how your tastes develop as you get older.  When I was a kid, a can of Campbells and a Kraft Single on a slice of white bread was gourmet!  Thankfully my tastes have developed for the better!

Ah, dinner.  If there was a prize for being a member of the clean plate club, I would qualify for each course.  As I mentioned before, I am not a huge seafood fan but when the invitations came and our response cards showed a choice of filet and sea bass or pasta, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and try the sea bass.  Nothing against the pasta chef, but I have made homemade pasta, make my own marinara and have made pretty decent vodka sauce, bolognese, and carbonara.  A pasta dish has to be pretty amazing to rock my world.  I figured this way, if I didn't like the sea bass, I could trade it to Chris for his filet.  He's a reasonable guy and he's into fantasy football so he's used to making trades.    I was sure he would not let me starve.

That was my dinner plate.  At first I was grateful that the sea bass was small.  After 2 bites, I was wishing the sea bass was as big as the filet!  Sorry Chris!

Dessert was the beautiful wedding cake.  It's not my best shot, trust me, it was beautiful.  It was also delicious.

Too often I have had wedding cake that is dry, or had too many flavors going on or had so much liquor in them, I didn't need to visit the bar for a while.  This cake was simple but so, so good.

After dinner, there was dancing.

 Now you know after some dancing, you get hungry again, right?  Perhaps you could try some of these on for size.  I had 2!  Creme brulee spoons!

  What a fantastic idea!  We were like kids in a candy store when the sweet table was assembled.  Creme brulee is one of Chris' favorites.  I won't throw any of our table mates under the bus but I think we had more empty spoons on our table than I have in my silverware chest here at home. :)  Like the cheese TV commercials say, "but wait, there's more!"

Key lime pie shots

Chocolate mousse

 Yes, I took close ups too!  You'll notice that I couldn't wait to nibble on the key lime pie before I snapped the photo.  You'll also notice my purse getting in on the shot as well!

At the far end of the sweet table, we watched a different type of set up.  An homage to tailgating at a football game.  I am of course assuming football...I think there were 1 or 2 fans at the wedding.

Pulled pork sliders and fries w/ truffle salt.  Now that's a tailgate party I want to go to!

I have been going on and on about the food we enjoyed at Kenneth and Kelly's wedding.  I am sure my family and friends are tired of listening to me.  But think about it for a moment, do you remember your first date?  A wedding of dear friends?  The tailgate at your alma mater on a spectacular fall Saturday afternoon?  I bet you can tell me what you ate.  I bet if you think about it now, it will bring a smile to your face; unless of course you are recalling rubber chicken and if you are, choose a different celebration!

Now, you might be thinking, "Wow, Kath's fairly obsessed with food."  That may be the case but it wasn't just the food that made this celebration so beautiful and special.  There were too many small details to mention here...but lets just say the evening glowed with tiny candles and there was the scent of beautiful flowers where ever you went.  The mini lights in the Crystal Gardens twinkled like stars.

Special thanks to the bride and groom Kenneth and Kelly for letting me share the story of their beautiful wedding meal.  We had such a fantastic time.