Banana Bread, Cream Cheese and Strawberry Open Face Sammies

We're in the middle of summer and I've been slacking as far as the blog posts go. My apologies, but I have a lame excuse, I do. There are too many delicious recipes to try and too much time to spend outdoors. Well this long over do post is one that is delish and truly not my own creation. It's a compilation of a few great bloggers out there and let's give credit where credit is due. The sour cream banana bread comes from Courtney at Neighborfoodblog.com and the strawberry sauce/compote comes from Christine who got the recipe from Aunt Missy's Kitchen.

I love a creamy banana bread and Courney hit the nail on the head with this one. Here's her recipe (with one minor change from me):

Sour Cream Banana Bread
8 slices

½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened (Courtney melted her butter)

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup white sugar

½ cup sour cream

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 large very ripe bananas

1½ cups flour

1 teaspoon. baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

 

Grease an 8 inch bread pan with butter or cooking spray.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

 

In a large mixing bowl, combine the softened butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. I used my hand mixer for this stage and mixed ingredients together until smooth and no brown sugar lumps remained. Put your mixer away and whisk in the sour cream, add the eggs, one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.

 

In a separate bowl, mash the bananas then whisk them into the sour cream/egg mixture.

 

Sprinkle the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon on top then stir it together until flour is incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs. Check the pan after about 30 minutes. If the top is getting too browned, cover with foil for the remaining baking time. I didn't have to do that the two times I made this bread.  Allow the bread to cool before removing from the pan. Wrap leftovers in saran wrap. Bread will keep for up to a week. (Mine is gobbled up in a matter of days)

 

 

Now how about some strawberries to top this moist, delicious bread? Sounds good to me!

Homemade Strawberry Sauce

12 oz fresh strawberries rinsed and hulled
3/4 cups sugar
1 tsp butter
Pinch of salt
Juice of 1 lemon (Missy uses 1/2 a lemon)
2 level teaspoons cornstarch
1 T cool water

In medium saucepan combine half the berries, sugar, butter, lemon juice and salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium low heat for about 7 minutes, stirring a few times to make sure the sugar is dissolved and the mixture doesn't stick to the pan. (If you forget the butter, as I did the first time I made this, the mixture WILL stick to the pan, but the easy solution is to add the butter as soon as you realize you forgot it and you should be all right). In a separate small bowl, combine cornstarch and water and stir until smooth. Pour the cornstarch slurry into the strawberry mixture and stir. Allow berries to bubble and simmer for another minute or two and remove from heat. Add the remainder of the strawberries. Cool and refrigerate for later.

As Missy says, "this makes a great sauce for cheesecake, ice cream, pancakes, French Toast etc". I took the etcetera route and made a decadent breakfast/brunch entrée or side. Open Faced Banana Bread, Cream Cheese and Strawberry Sandwiches. Yummy delish, that's all I can say. Thanks fellow bloggers for all your inspiration!

 

 

And a few days later, I came up with this idea for easy portability. Three layer banana bread with all the fixings.

 



Decadent Orange Ricotta Cake

I had quite a bit of oranges left from my Saucy Mama challenge last week and had a serious sweet tooth to boot. I remembered the ricotta cheese in my fridge and before I knew it, I was prepping my loaf pan for a variation of Mike's Lemon Ricotta Pound Cake. It's creamy. Oh so creamy! And for those who think the consistency of ricotta is grainy, you won't find that in this sweet little confection. It's a cake that almost reminds me of a flan. It's simple to put together and I think you'll enjoy making it and eating it- especially with the orange/sugar glaze that seeps into the cake and the strawberry/orange sauce that just puts it a little over the edge. Plus there's no waste when it comes to the oranges- you'll use the zest, flesh and juice. Enough talk, let's get cooking.

Orange Ricotta Cake
9 x 5 inch loaf pan

1-1/2 cups flour
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 cups unsalted butter at room temp
1-1/2 cups ricotta cheese (I used the lower fat)
1-1/2 cups sugar (I used Splenda no calorie)
3 large eggs at room temp
Zest of 1 orange
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Dash of orange extract (optional)

Glaze
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
Juice of orange that you used for the zest

Orange Strawberry Sauce
16 oz strawberries diced
Zest of 2 oranges
Supremed orange slices from the 2 oranges
Juice of both oranges
1/4 cup water
1 T sugar or Splenda

Prepare loaf pan with cooking spray and pre heat your oven to 350 degrees. In medium size bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix ingredients with whisk or fork and set aside.

In large bowl cream your softened butter. I do not have a stand mixer and find that my small hand mixer works fine. Add your sugar (or Splenda) in a few batches and beat until creamy and light. Now add the ricotta and combine to the mix. Add 1 egg at a time until all 3 have been incorporated. Now add the zest, and extracts.

When all the yummy wet ingredients are mixed well add the dry ingredients. I do this in two steps. And like most cakes, don't over beat. Combine until all ingredients are incorporated and there is no dry flour hanging around. Remember to scrape down the sides of your bowl a few times while mixing.  Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake 15 minutes. Lower oven heat to 325 degrees and turn loaf pan 180 degrees. Bake another 45 minutes and your cake should be ready. Use the toothpick trick- if a toothpick inserted into the cooked cake comes out clean, you're cake is done. And don't throw away that toothpick because we'll be poking some mini holes in the cake. But first, let cake cool on cooling rack.

Remove from pan and continue to cool on rack. While cake is cooling, make your glaze by whisking together the confectioner's sugar and juice of zested orange.

When the cake is easy to handle, transfer to plate and poke as many holes with your toothpick as you like. These holes are going to allow the sweet glaze to seep into the cake to make it even richer and creamier than you ever imagined.

With holes adequately poked, take a spoon and drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake. Let some of it sink in and repeat. And repeat and repeat until all the glaze is used up.

I let my cake sit overnight carefully wrapped in plastic wrap with toothpicks standing guard on all sides.

As soon as I got home from work tonight I added the final touch, the orange strawberry sauce. Now this is easy. Take your diced strawberries, supremed oranges, sugar (or Splenda), water, zest and orange juice and place in a saucepan on medium heat and bring to a boil.

Lower heat and simmer until mixture concentrates and begins to thicken, about 15-20 minutes. Stir this sauce occasionally as the sugar likes to try and stick to the pan.

Let the sauce cool and plate your dessert and sauce.

The addition of a dab of whipped cream would have been nice on top of the sauce, but darn it again, I didn't have any cream in the fridge. When I make this little bit of decadence again, you can be sure I will have some on hand.

French Toast with Strawberry Syrup

I don't think I've made French Toast in at least 20 or maybe even 30 years. My friend Lynn was talking about it on facebook today and I jumped on that bandwagon and pleased myself like you wouldn't believe. If you ever have a night where you can't decide what to cook, this is a direction you should explore. So easy and quick. Oh, and inexpensive. Get ready, you'll be eating in 20 minutes.

Strawberry Syrup/Sauce
Enough for 4 slices of French toast

8-10 oz fresh strawberries sliced
1/4 cup water
1 T Splenda or sugar
1/2 lemon squeezed

French Toast
4 slices

3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
2 tsp half and half
4 slices sturdy white bread
2 T butter
1-2 T canola oil

Powdered sugar for garnish

Slice your strawberries. Put them in a saucepan with water and Splenda (or sugar). Bring to a low boil and cook for 10 to 15 minutes. Add the lemon juice right before you remove it from the stovetop.

While strawberry syrup is cooking, prepare the batter for your toast. Combine eggs, salt, vanilla and half and half.  Soak bread for a few minutes until it becomes a bit egg-laden and heavy.

The bread I used tonight was Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse Hearty White. It's sturdy enough to hold up to the egg soaking procedure. Heat a large skillet and add butter and canola. On medium to low heat add your bread and cook about 3 minutes on each side until toasy and brown.

Plate and serve with a dusting of powdered sugar and your quick homemade strawberry syrup. Yummy, economical and oh so comforting.

Cherry Cobbler with Oats

This is a quick post to let you know that the peach cobbler I made a while back can be re-mixed with frozen cherries and some oats for a marvelous crunch. Love when I can add a few oats in my desserts! Here's the recipe:

Cherry Cobbler
serves six

12 oz frozen pitted cherries, drained of juice and defrosted
1 stick unsalted butter melted
1 cup flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup Old Fashioned Oats
1 cup Splenda no calorie sweetener
1 cup low fat buttermilk
1 tsp vanila extract
1/4 cup Splenda no calorie sweetener for topping

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8 x 8 inch pan with cooking spray. Melt butter and set aside to cool. Mix your dry ingredients together with a whisk (flour through the one cup of Splenda). Now add your buttermilk, vanilla and butter and stir to combine. Top with the cherries and sprinkle with 1/4 cup of Splenda. Breakfast or dessert will be done in 1 hour. Easy and super yummy. Hope you give this a try!  

Buttermilk Peach Cobbler

Last night after the atrocious bombing incident at the Boston Marathon I wanted to keep abreast of new developments, but was too antsy to sit in front of the tv. So I put on news radio and decided to keep myself busy in the kitchen. My friend Diane Smith recently made a Blackberry Buttermilk Cobbler which has been in the back of my mind since I got the first glimpse of her delicious-looking pictures. And, for the first time in many years I had buttermilk in my fridge. So the plan was set, I'd make a cobbler. Comfort food. Just what this emotionally, shell shocked lady needed. Naturally I didn't have any blackberries but I did have a bag of frozen peaches in the freezer and decided I could work with those. Diane gave her cobbler a citrus undertone and since I was using peaches, I thought a hint of almond would work nicely in mine. Here's my recipe:

Buttermilk Peach Cobbler
Inspired by Diane Smith
Serves 6

2-1/2 cups frozen sliced peaches
1 stick of unsalted butter
1 cup of self rising flour- I made my own: combine 1 cup AP flour, 1-1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt
1-1/4 cups Splenda no calorie sweetener
1 cup low fat buttermilk
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. In small saucepan melt butter and set aside. Remove peaches from freezer and set those aside too.

They only partially defrosted, but it didn't seem to matter. If you have self rising flour, measure out 1 cup and set that aside. I made my own and mixed it with 1 cup of the Splenda.

To the Splenda flour mixture add buttermilk, half the melted butter and both extracts and whisk until combined.

In baking dish (spritzed with cooking spray) add the batter. I used my favorite soufflet dish that's about 40 years old. Top the batter with the peaches and top the peaches with the rest of the Splenda (1/4 cup).

Now drizzle the rest of the butter on top. It looks very rich, I know.

This baby is ready to go into your pre-heated oven. Bake for 1 hour, allow to cool a bit and serve warm with ice cream, whipped cream or even just plain cream the way my dad used to like it.

This is one creamy, crunchy, fruity dessert that I really enjoyed. It was the perfect food solution for a very stressful day. Thanks Diane, what an inspiration you are!

Sinfully Good

I recently came across a recipe for a super yummy cake on my go-to-recipe site- Just a Pinch. I love that it's made with no oil or butter, plus you don't have to take out your electric mixer. You just mix it with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula and 35 minutes later you've got a sinfully delicious cake. The recipe goes by the name of Preacher's Cake, but some know it as Mexican Wedding Cake. I decided to give it a shot, and agree that it's so sinfully good, you might want to call the preacher right away. I've altered the recipe a bit by using Splenda and cutting back on the actual amount of sugar, but it's still super sweet and very quick and easy.

Preacher's Cake
made in a 9" x 13" pan

1 cup Splenda no calorie sweetener (1 cup of sugar will work fine)
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 cups AP flour
2 large eggs
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup nuts (I omitted these since there were none in my freezer)
1 can  20 oz crushed pineapple (and the liquid)
Confectioner's sugar for dusting

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare baking pan with cooking spray and set aside
In large bowl combine dry ingredients and whisk with a fork
Add remaining ingredients and mix by hand
Pour into paking pan and bake 35 minutes
Let cool and dust with confectioner's sugar

Creamy, Dreamy Banana Cake

This is indeed a creamy, dreamy recipe. I wanted  to make an easy fruit cake so I perused many of my banana bread recipes, as well as fruit cake favorites and came up with this simple, one-layer cake, topped with an out-of-this-world, decadent cream cheese frosting. It took me a few tries to get it right, and I believe the secret to this cake's yumminess is the 4 very ripe bananas I used and that creamy half  cup of sour cream.

One Layer Banana Cake

2 cups AP flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 T unsalted butter softened to room temperature
2 T canola oil
3/4 cups Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (granulated sugar works fine too)
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 egg white, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 very ripe bananas- the browner the better
1/2 cup light sour cream

Frosting
4 oz Neufchatel cheese (low fat cream cheese) softened to room temperature
4 T unsalted butter softened to room temperature
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees and spray an 8" x 8" pan with cooking spray. I like to buy the disposable aluminum pans that come in packages of three and go on sale quite often. They're easy to transport and you never have to ask friends for your cake pan back.

In medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In small bowl, mash bananas and combine with sour cream. Set aside.

Using an electric hand mixer, beat butter, oil and Splenda until incorporated (2 or 3 minutes). Add eggs, egg white and vanilla. Add half the dry ingredients into the butter/egg mixture and combine. Now add the banana/sour cream mash into the batter and mix until incorporated. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Try not to overmix.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 40-45 minutes. Allow to cool on wire rack and prepare the frosting.

In separate bowl, with hand mixer or a sturdy spoon, combine Neufchatel, butter and vanilla extract. When incorporated, add the confectioners' sugar and mix until frosting is smooth. When cake is cooled, frost that little darling and slice yourself a little goodness. I like to cut 9 slices per cake. Twelve seems a bit chincy, and six is a bit over the top.

The re-mix: #1-Sprinkle crushed nuts to the frosting. #2-I can't wait to try this recipe with strawberries and bananas. I think it might work. Plus strawberries have been on sale lately and that is always a plus. #3-And then I had the carrot cake thought. Might experiment a little with that. I'll keep you posted. 

Berrylicious

Courtney, this recipe is for you! It's a re-mix of the blueberry cake you enjoyed two years ago which I'm finally getting around to posting. It has the right amount of sour cream and non-fat half and half which makes it tender and moist. And it's pretty easy to make. Here's the recipe.

Blueberry Coffee Cake

Topping (Crumble)
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup AP flour
2 T unsalted butter
2T canola oil
1/4 cup Splenda no calorie sweetener (granulated sugar works fine too)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

Dry Ingredients
1-1/2 cups AP flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients
6 T unsalted butter softened
2 T canola oil
1 cup Splenda no calorie sweetener (or sugar)
1/4 cup fat free half and half
1/2 cup light sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pint blueberries, washed and patted dry

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare an 8" x 8" pan with cooking spray and dust lightly with flour. I like the disposable aluminum pans from the grocery store. Place blueberries in a strainer and sprinkle with a tablespoon of flour. Shake out excess flour. This coating will prevent the blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the cake. Set the berries aside.


I like to prepare the topping first. In small bowl combine all crumble ingredients and set aside.

Now on to the cake. In mid size bowl combine the dry ingredients and whip with a whisk to incorporate.

In large bowl, with hand mixer combine butter, canola oil and Splenda and mix until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time and mix, then vanilla, sour cream and half and half. Combine well. Add the dry ingredients in two batches, scraping down the sides of your bowl as you go and mix until smooth. Fold in blueberries and pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle the topping on the cake and press down lightly with your clean hands to make it stick to the batter. Bake 35 to 45 minutes and remove to cooling rack. Let cool at least 30 minutes before you dig in.

Slice into 9 portions and enjoy. I can't think of a better way to kick off the summer fruit season!

Re-mix: If you're feeling nutty, add some chopped walnuts to the batter (1/2 cup). And if that isn't enough nuts for you, add 2 tablespoons to the topping. Also, I have made this recipe with fresh peaches as the star and some haphazard blueberries thrown into the mix and it's also quite good. Tip- If you want to make this with frozen blueberries, don't defrost them or your batter has the chance of turning blue.

Applicious

When I started this blog almost a year ago I was going to share my recipe for apple bread but opted for pumpkin instead because I thought the apple was too fussy for an introductory post. Apples are a fussy fruit. First of all there are so many varieties and if you're not familiar with their qualities, you never know what kind to buy. Secondly, if you're cooking with apples, more than likely they have to be peeled and sliced or chopped. Time consuming. And of course, then they oxidize and turn brown. Let's put these negatives aside and dive into a tasty apple quick bread that's very forgiving and tastes great. Set aside time for peeling, grating and clean up and you'll be very happy you put forth the effort. Plus, the re-mix offers a lot of choices.

Apple Quick Bread

Makes 2 loaves (4 1/2 x 8 inch pans, measured on the top)

Cooking spray

1 T AP flour for dusting loaf pans

1 cup AP flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup quick or old fashioned oats, ground in food processor or spice grinder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking soda

1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp

1/2 cup Splenda Brown Sugar Blend

1 cup Splenda No Calorie Sweetner

4 large eggs, room temperature

1-1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

3 cups peeled, grated apples (I used 3 large MacIntosh)

Juice of 1 lemon

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Prep 2 loaf pans with cooking spray and a light dusting of flour. In medium size bowl combine AP flour, whole wheat flour and ground oats. Add salt, baking soda and cinnamon and whisk to incorporate. Grate apples in food processor or use a hand grater and squeeze lemon over the fruit to eliminate browning. In large bowl combine canola oil, butter and both sugars. Mix for 3-5 minutes (I use a simple hand mixer). Add eggs and vanilla. Mix until mixture is smooth and luscious. Slowly add flour mixture. Don't over mix. Fold in grated apples and turn into prepared loaf pans. Bake 50 to 60 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pans on wire rack 15 minutes. Remove from loaf pans and continue to cool on wire rack. Slice and enjoy. This bread is great with butter and even better with cream cheese.

Re-mix and tips: If you don't have whole wheat flour or oats, use all AP flour. The recipe works fine. Granny Smith and Fuji apples are a great substitute for the Macs. And if you have any no-sugar-added applesauce in the house, toss in 1/2 cup before you mix in the dry ingredients- more flavor, more moisture. By the way, this recipe also works with 2 large eggs and 1/2 cup of egg substitute. If you like nuts, add 1 cup of your favorite (chopped). And if you're a raisin fan add a cup of those too. Apple Raisin Nut Bread is deliciously dense and hearty. You must try it toasted. And if you want to get a bit decadent, add a streusel-like topping: 1/2 cup of AP flour or ground oats, 1/2 cup Splenda No Calorie Sweetner, 4 T butter, 1 tsp ground cinnamon and 1/4 cup chopped nuts.

Dip It

Here's a little snack I conjured up due to my love of cheese and lemons and strawberries being on sale at the market. I thought it would be a perfect nibbler while watching the Oscars. It literally takes 5 minutes to make.

Ricotta Lemon Fondue

1 15 oz container part skim ricotta cheese

zest of 1 lemon

1/2 tsp pure lemon extract

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

4 packets of Equal

Place all ingredients in blender and whirl until smooth. Serve with fresh strawberries.

No lemons? Eliminate the zest and substitute almond or coconut extract for the lemon.

No strawberries? Cubed pound cake is delish. Oh heck- eat it with a spoon.

A Supreme Combo

A few weeks ago I saw Claire Robinson (a relatively new chef on the Food Network) coat broccoli florets with orange juice and olive oil and roast them in the oven. Pretty interesting combination I thought, must try that. I must also mention that after she roasted the broccoli, she combined it with heavy cream on the stove top and did some sort of mash. It looked interesting as well, but I skipped that part and just did the roast. Great idea Claire. Thanks!

Here's what I did:

Orange Infused Roasted Broccoli
adapted from 5 Ingredient Fix

4 cups broccoli florets
juice of one orange
3T canola oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Pre heat oven to 425 degrees. In large bowl combine orange juice, oil, salt and pepper. Add florets and toss with oil/orange liquid to cover. Place florets on baking sheet. Bake 15 minutes until edges of broccoli are caramelized. Cool slightly and serve as a side dish or healthy snack.

I nibbled on these caramelized bits of goodness for two days and then bought more broccoli. And this time I took the dish a step further too. You know how much I like pasta and salads and creamy dressings- see where I'm going here? I decided I'd bump up the citrus, create a dressing that sings and put together a salad that would work as a side or light lunch I could take to work.

Roasted Broccoli and Orange Salad

4 cups roasted broccoli florets (above recipe)

2 navel oranges- they have no seeds

1 cup penne pasta uncooked- I use Dreamfields

1/2 cup scallions sliced 1/2 inch

Dressing

zest of one orange

1/2 cup low fat mayonnaise

1/4 cup rice vinegar- any white wine vinegar should work here as well

2T sugar or Splenda

pinch of salt

pepper

Roast broccoli according to recipe. While broccoli is roasting, cook pasta according to package directions, then drain, rinse and set aside to cool. Zest one of the oranges and set zest aside- you'll be using it in the dressing. Now it's time to supreme the oranges. Supreming an orange is when you remove the skin and pith and slice around the orange membranes (the white stringy things that hold the orange segments together) and you come up with a "clean" wedge of fruit. Rachel Rappaport has a lovely pictorial of supreming an orange here.

After supreming is done set orange wedges aside and make the dressing: Combine all ingredients in a medium size bowl and whisk until smooth. Now, if you're questioning the amount of sugar in this dressing- believe me I did too. I started with a teaspoon and wasn't getting the oomph I was looking for until I hit two tablespoons.

Now to assemble the salad: In a large bowl combine broccoli, pasta and scallions. Add about half the dressing and toss to combine well. Add orange wedges and lightly toss again. Refrigerate until chilled, re-dress if necessary and serve.

The best part about this salad, aside from the taste, is how you can jazz it up, or add your own personality. My favorites so far are:

Thinly sliced red Fresno peppers- love the color and the spicy bite

Crumbled turkey bacon-everything's better with bacon

Kalamata olives- the contrast between the sweet dressing and the salty olives is the way I looove my food

Toasted almonds- well, they're good on everything

And let's not forget, as tasty as this salad is, the stars of the dish offer some very healthy benefits. Broccoli and oranges both protect your heart and possibly combat cancer. Broccoli also strengthens bones, controls blood pressure and helps with eyesight. Oranges, as we all know by now, support our immune system and hey- they're just so sweet and juicy. Orange you glad you're going to make this salad?