It's been a good couple of days...eating wise. I have finally finished my Mexican Loaded Potatoes and I can honestly say that after six meals of it, I could go for seven or eight easy. Yes, I enjoyed it that much!
I finally put those rotting bananas to good use! Banana bread! :)
Who doesn't like a warm slice of heaven. I mean really...pecans, cinnamon and banana warm goodness with a little spread of butter. Mmmm! I will say that although I am happy with how it turned out, sans recipe, it isn't as good as I have made before. It was a little undercooked in the middle...or as I think I'll start referring to it...very moist. However, it was totally still edible. (side note...I was baking a sweet potato while baking this...and I definitely shouldn't have had the oven set to 425 for the bread...I knew what I was doing was wrong...I just didn't want to have to wait until after the potato was finished cooking. OK...glad I got that off my chest) I threw a slice in the toaster this morning for breakfast, poured a glass of OJ and enjoyed my Good Morning America.
Banana Bread
2 very ripe bananas
1/4C pure maple syrup
1t cinnamon
1/4t nutmeg
1t vanilla bean paste
2t baking powder
1/2C almond milk
1/4C canola oil
2C flour
1/2C chopped pecans
Mash bananas until creamy, add all other ingredients and mix until incorporated. Pour into desired baking dish and bake for approximately 40 minutes at 375 (or until toothpick comes out clean).
--------
Tonight's menu: Hearty stew and yeast rolls. I have made a pizza crust from the Moosewood Restaurant cookbook a few times (pre-experiment). It is some of the tastiest crust that I have ever had. So, I thought since I was making a nice stew I would attempt to recreate this crust in the form of rolls. There is such a great balance between white, whole wheat and oats in this crust that I was nervous I wouldn't even get close. I switched it up a bit...let it rise twice and added some flavors. I'm a lover of bread...so I was happy with them. They are quite light but hearty!
We'll start with the stew (everything is very rough chopped because I like a chunky, rustic stew):
4 carrots
4 celery stalks
1/2C corn
1/2 red onion
1 large sweet potato
3 turnips
3 cloves garlic, smashed
1t salt
1t black pepper
2t rosemary
1/2t thyme
1t cayenne pepper
1lb extra firm tofu (pressed and crumbled)
1C red wine
5.5C veg stock (or less depending on how much juice you like)
Add all ingredients into enameled cast iron and stir to incorporate. Bake at 400 degrees until vegetables are tender. I cooked mine for 2 hours.
-------
Now for the rolls:
1 package yeast
1T sugar
1C warm water
1C white flour
1C whole wheat flour
1/2C oats (chopped/processed to be flour consistency)
1/2t salt
1/2t garlic powder (wanted fresh, but ran out from stew)
1t rosemary
1t olive oil
Combine yeast, sugar and warm water and let set aside. Combine all other ingredients, then add wet to dry ingredients. Mix and pour out onto floured surface. Knead for 7-8 minutes or until it is smooth. Place in oiled bowl with moist towel on top. Put in warm area and let rise for one hour, or until doubled in size.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Punch dough down and roll into balls. Place in baking dish and let rise for 30 minutes. Bake 15 minutes. Enjoy!
------
Not totally sure, but thinking about making this roll recipe again tomorrow night. We are having a potluck at work on Friday...so I think I'm going to pick up an olive tray and make this recipe but in loaf form. I was thinking that I should make something special, but I need to get a lot of stuff tied up tomorrow night and don't want to be baking all evening. Sorry to disappoint. ;)
Well, I need to get to bed folks. Until next time.
I definitely need to try the banana bread looks soo good!
ReplyDelete