'naner bread

Adapted from Simply Recipes (http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/001465banana_bread.php)

This bread is magnificent with butter, but I suppose one could substitute fancy nut oils if absolutely necessary.

Ingredients

* 3 ripe bananas, smashed (I like to freeze them and then warm them up in warm water--this makes them get all melty-like)
* 1/3 c melted butter
* 1/2 c sugar
* 1 egg, beaten (fork is fine--no need for a mixer)
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1.5 t baking powder
* 1/4 t salt
* 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
* 1 t cinnamon
* 1/4 t cloves

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon or spatula, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients. Pour mixture into a buttered (MORE BUTTER) 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 45 min until a chopstick inserted into the middle comes out clean.* Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

*A toothpick will do if you have no Asian flair

Mexi Mahi

Inspired by my Spanish class this evening, I came home to cook a Mexican-inspired Mahi Mahi with black bean and corn salsa. I've never cooked fish without a broiler before, so this was big for me. My serendipitous leftovers--half a tomato, almost wilted cilantro, cooked black beans, accidentally frozen ear of corn--led to this enticing combination!

If anybody else has low-tech (read: no broiling pan or grill) fish recipes, send them my way! I am emboldened by tonight's attempt.

Salsa:
heat 1 capfull evoo over medium-high heat
add 1/2 onion (chopped) and one ear corn (cut off cob) and saute until the onions don't taste nasty
add 1/2 cup black beans, 1T lime juice, 1t chili powder
cook until beans are warm
remove from stove, add 1/2 tomato (chopped), a handful of chopped cilantro, and ground pepper/salt to taste

Fish:
Rub fish with 1 capfull evoo
heat 1 capfull evoo over medium-high heat (use same pan as you did for the above)
place fish in pan and wait until it smokes a little bit
flip fish and wait until it flakes a little bit

Top fish with salsa and enjoy!

Nectarines for Mahi, this time warm

Peel and thinly slice 2 nectarines. (I have a slicing disc for my FP - so there!)
add to 1/2 cup orange juice in saucepan, on medium low heat
Add the zest of one smallish orange
Add 1 t. ground cinnamon and 1 t. balsamic vinegar
Cook for 20 min or so.
Brown the peppered mahi in oil, then add this sauce, cover, and poach on low to finish.

I ended up cleaning out the pan with a spoonful of left over rice so as not to loses a speck of the sauce.

vegetarian chinese-style stir fry

I finally cooked again! With free food at meetings plus visiting home every weekend, I haven't been experimenting much in the kitchen. I was inspired to cook this because I realize that, despite being a vegetarian for three years, I'm woefully ignorant when it comes to cooking tofu.

Before I go into the recipe, I'd like to offer my ringing endorsement to Jo's sweet potato and bean recipe. Mom made it this weekend and it was fabulous.

This recipe was adapted from about.com. I felt peer-pressured into cooking Asian food in my apartment, so I decided I'd try my hand at it. Use whatever veggies you have on hand. I used mostly fresh veggies, but I imagine you could just throw in a bag of mixed frozen veggies and the whole thing would be a lot quicker.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
juice from 1 lemon
1T fresh ginger, grated or minced
1 block extra firm tofu
2T olive oil
1/2 cauliflower, chopped
1 bunch broccoli, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large handful frozen pepper slices
1 cup snow peas
flavor with mysterious Asian hot sauce (Alyssa, my Chinese-Canadian-American roommate, kindly let me use some of her mother's homemade Szechuan hot sauce. It's flavorful and makes my lips tingle. I love me some hot sauce.)

Cut tofu into 1-inch cubes and marinate in soy sauce, lemon juice, and ginger (~1h).

In a large skillet over high heat, cook oil, sturdier veggies and tofu over high heat, stirring frequently. Once veggies are cooked but not limp, add weaker veggies (snow peas) and marinade. Cook for a few more minutes.

Serve on rice. Get just about all of your daily veggie requirements. Pat yourself on the back for being healthy.

Two Vegetarian Dishes!

I have been eating so much delicious food and not posting! Sorry! But these two recipes MUST be passed along to Suzanne, and I think Robin would like both of them as well.

Lemony Chickpea Stir Fry

This recipe appeared on my favorite food blog, 101 cookbooks. I pretty much followed it exactly, for once I had all the ingredients! The only thing I changed was that I added a bit of ground cumin to the chickpeas while they were cooking. I think it was a nice touch. Also, I pretty much doubled the recipe. We (Oliver and I) almost finished it, I just had enough for lunch the day. To my chagrin, the original recipe claims to feed 2 - 4. Perhaps Oliver counts as 4 and I count as 2. 

Since I didn't change much here's the link:

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/lemony-chickpea-stirfry-recipe.html

Black Bean Sweet Potato Hash

This recipe is also based on some random thing I found on the internet, but I went looking for it because I was having a black bean sweet potato craving. Libby once made me a burrito containing said ingredients and it was AMAZING. It really is a nice and very healthy combination. This dish really hit the spot, and was pretty easy to make

Saute 1 onion in olive oil until soft over medium high head in a really big sauce pan. Add three cloves of garlic and cook for about a minute. Add 2 big or 3 small sweet potatoes, peeled and 3/4 inch dice. Add 4 teaspoons of cumin, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of salt, and good shaking of chili pepper flakes (you could of course use a real chili if you had one). Cook, stirring frequently, 3 - 4 minutes. Add about 1.5 C stock or water, enough to almost cover the sweet potatoes. Raise the heat until the liquid boils, and cook until the sweet potatoes are soft and the liquid is greatly reduced, about 5 minutes. Add a 15 oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed. You could of course use prepared dried beans, in which case add however much you like. Cook until the beans are heated.

I had mine with a a bit of yogurt. It would probably be even more delicious with sour cream, and perhaps cilantro and lime as garnishes, but I didn't have any of those lying around. This dish also makes great leftovers.

Toby: "Holistic my a-hole"

That Holistic Dog Food from Hol Foods was unquestionably the cause of Toby's sketchy eating habits for the last 2 months. When it was obvious at the outset that he wouldn't eat it straight, I bought him some Iams and mixed it with the Holistic at maybe a 4:1 ratio. He ate it, but only disdainfully, and never immediately or with gusto. But I finally threw it all out and just gave him straight Iams. He was a little slow to eat the first unadulterated meal, but the next morning dug into his breakfast like he hadn't in months. He enjoys having Coleen and Tim here. He seems pretty happy.

Almond Oil's Take on Suzanne's Banana Take On

Muffins!
Preheat oven to 350 & prepare tin for 12

Mix the dry ingredients:
1 c. cake flour
1/2 c. King Arthur old fashioned whole wheat flour
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. salt

In a 2 cup measuring pitcher, add and then whiz
1/4 c. eggbeater (or 1 egg)
3/8 c. milk
1 t. vanilla extract
1/2 c. almond oil

Add the liquid ingredients to the dry and mix briefly. Separately, mash half a banana, then add it. Add 1/2 c. granola. Pour into muffin tins and bake 20 minutes.

Free Pizza

is the best way to stay fed at school. It appears everywhere. In fact, a pizza tree grows outside my building.

So, I haven't been cooking much. Apologies for the lack of posts.