Banana Bread

1 ½ cups all Purpose flour
2 t. baking powder
½ t. baking soda
¼ t. salt
1/3 cup wheat germ
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup flax seed
½ t. cinnamon
¼ t. ground cardamom
2 large eggs, beaten
¼ cup buttermilk
¼ cup oil
1 cup mashed, very ripe bananas
½ cup walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter an 8 ½ x 4½ x 3 inch loaf pan.

Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl combine eggs, buttermilk, and oil; stir well. Stir in mashed banana. Add Flour mixture, and walnuts; stirring just until moist.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 45-55 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes and remove from pan.

Approximate Nutrition Fact: per slice (16 per loaf) Cal. 155, Fat 8, Carbs 19, Fiber 3, protein 4,

"Cuban" Burgers

There is a sandwich/pizza shop a few miles from where I live that has a Cuban sandwich that is so yummy. This sandwich is stacked with ham, swiss cheese, and pickles with lots of mayo and mustard. I got to thinking that a Cuban Burger would be really good so I googled it and Bobby Flay thought that a Cuban Burger was a good idea too. In the end I took the information and came up with my own Cuban burger.

3 oz ground beef
3 oz ground pork

3 oz ground veal

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 t. Ground Cumin (optional)

Salt & pepper

8 slices of ham

4 slices of swiss cheese

1 cup sliced (sandwich) pickles

Mustard

Mayo

Hamburger buns

In a bowl place the ground meats, onions, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and mix together, do not over mix. Divide the mixture into 4 equal portions and patty them and place them on a hot grill and cook to medium.

On 4 buns place 2 slices of ham, a slice of swiss cheese, medium cooked burger and pickles. Wrap each in aluminum foil and return to the grill with a weight on them. I used a jelly roll pan and cast iron pans. Cook for and few minutes and turn and cook for a few more minutes. Remove the burger from foil open and add the mayo and mustard. Enjoy.

Sanita at http://sunitabhuyan.blogspot.com hosts a monthly spice event and I have decided to enter my burgers in the August event for Cumin.

Menu

Lavender Pork with brown rice and veggies

Spicy Chicken stir fry

Onion Tomato tart of some kind

Seared scallops and shrimp with zucchini pilaf

Cuban burgers with grill roasted potatoes

Left overs

Happy Birthday My Little Boy - 2 years already

My son is not big on chocolate fan; however, I did not want to do a boring cake for his Birthday, so I chose to do a spice cake. I confess spice cake is one of my favorite and when you are turning two choosing a cake is not much more then “I want it to look like a car”. In the end he liked the cake very much eating more then the other kids at his party.

3 cups flour

1.5 t. cinnamon

1.5 ground ginger

1 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1 cup butter, softened

½ cup brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1 cup molasses

2/3 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 9x1½ inch round baking pans; set aside.

In a bowl combine flour, cinnamon, ginger, powder, soda and set aside

In a large mixing bowl beat butter at medium speed for about 30 seconds. Add brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the molasses and eggs; beat for a minute add flour mixture and water, alternating on low until just combined. Divide batter among the 3 pans.

Bake for 18 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in pans, remove cake from pans and cool completely.

I had to adjust for car cake pan so baking time was 70 minutes and I had to multiply recipe by 1.5

No fail Pizza Crust

Every time I make this Pizza crust it turns out wonderfully. I have tried making about 8 different crust recipes over the years and this is the one that keeps coming out great for thin crust pizza, thick crust pizza and everything in between. there are several ways that I will make pizza. It could be on a stone, in a cast iron pan, one a screen or in a jellyroll pan (pictured above) they are all different and the crust stands up to all of them.


In small bowl add 1 cup warm water, 4 t. yeast, 2 t. sugar 2 T. olive oil. let set for 10 minutes to get nice and frothy. Mean while in a bowl to the kitchen aid, with mixer set with dough hook, add 3 cups flour and 1 t. salt. Once water is ready add to the flour and mix for about 5 minutes, checking Constance of dough while mixing. Dough should be soft but not sticking to side of mixing bowl.

Cover dough and let rest and rise for about an hour or until it is doubled in size (I just let it go until I need it, up to 2 hours) press or roll dough out and place in or on desired baking "pan". top with what you like or have and bake at 450 until it is done about 15-30 minutes depending on how thick the crust is.

Zucchini Boats

2 medium to large Zucchini

1 pound Italian sausage

1 medium onion, chopped

½ red bell pepper, chopped

2 cups cooked brown rice

1 14 oz can whole tomatoes, crushed with your hands

1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

Salt & pepper to taste

1 T. olive oil

Brown the sausage with the onion. Add the garlic and cook for a minute then add red pepper and tomatoes and cook for about 5 minutes on medium. add the rice and parsley and stir through cooking for a few more minutes adding salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375. Cut Zucchini in half and scoop out the seeds with a spoon to make a well in the zucchini to put stuffing in. salt, pepper, and brush olive oil on the zucchini. Place the rice sausage stuffing in the well in the zucchini and bake on a cookie sheet for about 30 minutes or until it reaches desired doneness. Serve with plain yogurt.