Banana Muffins - For those left over brown bananas on your counter or freezer.

H goes through stages where he will eat 2 banana's a day and then for the next week or two, will not touch them.  So, we tend to have a few left over bananas, almost going to waste, that get thrown in the freezer.  Yesterday, I opened the freezer door and an avalanche of frozen banana's almost broke my foot.  Therefore, banana muffin's were required......

I have adapted this recipe from a few different ones that I have seen/used via All Recipes website.  I use a combination of whole wheat and AP flour and applesauce instead of butter/oil to make them a tad more healthy.  I also cut the sugar down which I am going to continue to try to do so until I get a batch that tastes bad and then I'll repost to let you know the least amt needed (for those of you with little ones...)  This recipe can be made with entirely AP (all purpose) flour as well as 1/3 c butter/oil (butter melted) instead of the applesauce.

Enjoy!

Banana Muffins


3/4 c AP flour
3/4 c Whole Wheat Flour
1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
 1-1.5 t cinnamon
3 banana's, mashed
1/2 c sugar
1 egg
1/2 c applesauce
1 t vanilla
Cooking Spray for muffin pan


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In medium bowl, mix flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Use a whisk to be sure to get the dry ingredients well blended (or you can use a sifter but I don't own one.)  In a larger bowl, mash bananas.  Add sugar, egg, applesauce and vanilla to bananas and mix well.  Stir in your dry ingredients being sure NOT TO OVER MIX....just stir until you don't see any more flour streaks and then STOP.  Over mixing muffin mix makes dense rock hard muffins, which are yucky!

Spray muffin pan, I use mini muffin pan's because H likes them that size for his lil' hands...and so he can shove the whole thing in there and proceed to run around and give me a heart attack (see photo below.)

such a sloppy baker...

Fill to top and bake for 10-13 minutes...poke with toothpick and your ready to go...Careful these babies are HOT HOT HOT.....

A Tasty Finger Food - Goat Cheese and Olive Muffins

I am always looking for good "finger-friendly" appetizers for parties and gatherings.  I found this recipe on another food blog (which you can find here.)  This blogger served them full sized and over mixed greens.  The idea of a savory muffin intrigued me and I thought it would be a fantastic idea in a miniature size.  So out came my mini muffin tins and away I went.  I did make a couple changes to the recipe and did not originally serve over greens.  I do think they needed a lil' something....a lil' something in the form of drizzled olive oil/truffle oil perhaps or possibly the original bloggers idea and over a small amount of dressed mixed/micro greens.

The recipe found here is by weight.  I used an online conversion chart to make the changes but really they are estimates so feel free to adjust how you see fit.  I was considering using a little more milk next time.

Goat Cheese and Olive Muffins
Recipe adapted from Angie's Recipes


1 cup AP Flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 cup milk (i used whole because that is what i had on hand)
1/3 cup EVOO
2 eggs, yolks and whites seperated
2 oz. Green Olives (I used the small ones and left these whole)
2 oz. Black Olives (I used canned and sliced)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
2 T fresh parsley, chopped
2 T fresh rosemary, chopped (I used less because I'm not a huge fan)
Small log of goat cheese

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk together (to eliminate chunks) flour and baking powder.  Add milk, EVOO and egg yolks and beat until smooth. I used my stand mixer for all of this but it isn't overly thick so it could easily be done by hand.

Add in Parmesan, olives, chopped herbs and some salt/pepper. Go easy on the salt...Olives are VERY salty by themselves.  This mixture is going to seem overly thick and not at all muffin like, but we aren't finished!! :)

In a seperate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff.  Keep in mind this needs to be fluffy so don't beat them to death, just until they don't fall off whisk when you turn upside down.

Fold the egg whites into the olive batter.  Again, we want these to remain fluffy so be sure to fold and not stir.  We need the air to stay in the batter.

Fill the mini tins 3/4 or just until the top, simply being sure to not over fill.  Top each one with a small piece of goat cheese and drizzle with olive oil.  I drizzled mine with truffle oil and it was fantastic so if you have it or love it, use it!!

Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.  My where cooked through but not as golden on the top as I wanted so I flipped oven to broil and moved up the rack.  I left the oven door half open to release some heat so they wouldn't be cooking at full temp and browned the top slightly.

They were yummy, but as I said before, I served just like this and next time I will drizzle with oil again right before serving and/or serve on a platter of greens being sure to let guests know it is meant to eat with a small amt of greenery.

For the love of......CORN DOGS!

Shhhhh....don't tell anyone....but....I....love....corn dogs!!

Typically, I would devour a corn dog on only one occasion (Tiger's games) until now.  These little darlings taste just like the local dirty carny dogs.  They are puffy, sweet, savory and most of all FRIED.  The fact they also deliver a lovely dose of yellow mustard doesn't hurt either (one of my favorite condiments.)  I decided to give these a try for one of my mother's friends, Sharon.  She also has a secret crush.  This recipe was originally for full size hot dogs, however I cut them into "sample" size pieces prior to frying.  I believe this resolves the embarrassment of trying to consume the "wiener on a stick" in a public forum.

Make these! P.S. These are wonderful frozen and reheated in the micro and popped under broiler to re crisp...for the kids of course.

Start with a couple of these...and continue with recipe below~ :)

Corn Dogs

1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 t. salt
1/4 c sugar
4 t. baking powder
1 egg
1 c milk
water*
Corn starch, to roll dogs in*

Veggie Oil*
2 (16oz) packages hot dogs*
wooden skewers*

* I used canola oil.  I used one package all beef hot dogs and one package white meat turkey dogs.  I used tooth picks.  I need a little bit of water, ~ 3 T, to loosen the batter just prior to frying.  Corn starch is to roll the dogs in prior to dipping in batter to help it to stick.


Directions:

In a medium bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, salt, sugar, baking powder.  Mix to incorporate.

Stir in egg and milk to form a batter.

Place batter in freezer for at least 15 minutes prior to frying.  It sticks much better if very cold but because of the temperature the batter thickens up.  This is where you will need just a couple splashes of water added until you feel like it will coat the hot dogs nicely.  Remember though, this is a THICK batter so don't thin it out to much because it will them just drain into your oil and not create a coating on the dogs. 


Preheat oil in large deep saucepan (the deeper, the less splatter for those like me whom hate cleaning the stove!) over medium heat. If using a thermometer, approx. 365 degrees is good.

Dry hot dogs with paper towels. Insert wooden skewers/toothpicks.  

(These are "devilish-ly" good!)

Roll dogs in corn starch, dip into batter.  Be sure to get the whole dog, including the area where the skewer is inserted, coated in batter.  The dog will tend to burn in places the batter is missing. Drop into oil and be amazed as the transformation occurs. (I was not able to get a picture of the dogs coated in batter prior to hitting the oil...I did not have an assistant and my hands were covered in batter- my apologies)

 Corn dogs to enjoy in the comfort of your own home...carny-free and delish!

Eggplant Mezzaluna Ravioli

First and foremost, do not disregard this pasta if you do not like eggplant! I am not the largest fan of this strange purple veggie BUT it takes on its own crazy flavor in these ravioli's. You will be missing out if you do not at least attempt. This is, as the previous post, a Giada recipe. I seem to be grabbing her cookbooks over everyone else as of late so bare with me as I get the addiction out of my system.

Also, one more side note, I know many of you are looking for my "staple" recipes. The recipes in which I claim to have started this blog. I promise I will get to them shortly. I have just been in the experimentation mode and excited to cook new things.

1/3 c Olive oil (if you only have Extra Virgin just use that)
1/2 large onion, diced
1 large eggplant (1.5-2.0 lbs.), diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 t chopped fresh oregano, plus 1 t fresh oregano for garnish*
1/2 c fontina cheese, grated (~2 oz.)
1/2 c whole-milk ricotta cheese**
1/2 t salt, plus more for sprinkling
1/4 t black pepper, plus more for sprinkling
1 package square wonton wrappers (~50-60 wrappers)
1/4-1/2 c Extra Virgin Olive oil, for garnish

* You must buy FRESH oregano, it will not taste right with dried and you MUST garnish once cooked because that is basically the flavor of the "sauce"
**Do not try to use skim milk ricotta, it is too watery and the ravioli's will have zero flavor-- these are pretty good for you already you will be fine with the whole milk stuff!

Heat the OO in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until tender, about 3 minutes. Add the eggplant, garlic and chopped oregano, and continue to cook until the eggplant is soft and falling apart, about 12 minutes (this often takes me longer than 12 minutes- make your salad or prep you sides during this time because you can leave it and only stir every so often). Transfer the eggplant mixture to a medium bowl and let cool.

Once cool, add the cheeses, salt and pepper. Place 6 wonton squares on a dry work surface (or how ever many you are comfortable making at once.) Place 1 teaspoon of the eggplant mixture on each square. Fold one corner over to the opposite corner (hard to explain via text- look at the pictures. Giada makes a rectangle with hers and then cuts them w a ravioli cutter- I have done this but it seems like an extra step to me- this is easier.)
Place the finished ravioli on dry baking sheet lightly sprinkled with flour. Continue to finish the remaining. (I freeze mine at this point and take out as needed)

To Cook: Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Add ravioli. Do not add all ravioli at one time because they are pretty delicate and will stick to each other and break open. Cook until ravioli's float to the top. (If cooking from frozen let them float a bit on top to make sure the inside warms) I use a slotted spoon and place directly on serving platter/plate. Salt and pepper them (important step!) Drizzle with EVOO and sprinkle with fresh oregano (also important step!) Enjoy!!!!!
Alternative options:
Fry them in some canola and serve with marinara. These are a GREAT appetizer.