Recipe: Garam Masala Cookies

I am hosting my first Guest Post over at Mommy Cooks! today.

Julie is a riot and she really knows how to cook. 

Take a moment to browse her wonderful recipes, have a laugh, and be inspired!

Today we'll be making Garam Masala Cookies :)

Recipe: Banana Chocolate Coffee Cake (aka Mexican Monkey Cake)

While searching for a recipe to use up 3 ripe bananas, I came across this lovely cake on Farmgirl Fare.  It's called Mexican Monkey Cake but tastes like a coffee cake which is why I renamed it.  The banana flavour tastes wonderful with the chocolate, along with the added crunch from the nutty streusel topping.  My kids (and neighbour) absolutely loved this cake.

BANANA CHOCOLATE COFFEE CAKE
from Farmgirl Fare

1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (I use Saigon Cinnamon)
1/2 cup (1 stick/4 ounces) butter, softened (or 1/2 cup trans-fat free margarine, such as Earth Balance)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1-1/4 cups mashed, very ripe bananas (they cannot be too ripe)
2 Tablespoons yogurt or sour cream (I used plain yogurt)
1 Tablespoon milk
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees (325 if using a glass pan such as Pyrex). Grease an 8"x8"x2" baking pan. In a small bowl, combine chocolate chips, brown sugar, walnuts (if desired), and cinnamon; set aside.

In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar, and egg with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add bananas, yogurt, and milk, and mix well. On low speed, beat in flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt just until blended.

Spread slightly more than half of the batter in the pan. Sprinkle with half of the cinnamon streusel. Carefully spread the remaining batter over the streusel and then top with the rest of the streusel. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 40 to 50 minutes. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

This cake tastes even better the next day, and it freezes beautifully. You can freeze the cake whole or cut it into pieces, wrap them tightly in plastic, and place them in a zipper freezer bag.

Printable Recipe

Happily submitted to Works for Me Wednesday over at We Are THAT Family.
Enjoy!

from the book "Chicken Soup With Rice - A Book of Months"

written & illustrated by Maruice Sendak

1962, Harper & Collins

I got this book from our local library.

Hard Working Mommy Blogger Award

Thank you Erin @ Dropped Stitches
for giving me this award!

Visit her beautiful blog and be inspired by her thoughtful writing.

Some of my favourite recent reads from her site ~

The Magic of Readeez

I Love: Lazy Summer Days

She hosts a Bunny Hop to visit other blogs

12

-If you are awarded the "Hard-working Mommy Blogger Award" you need to pass on the love to 7 other Hard Working Mommy Bloggers. I think everyone is worthy of this award so I wish I could have given out more awards! Congrats to everyone on being a hard working mommy!

-Accept the award (by leaving a comment on the original award post)

-Post about the award on your blog (include the image of the award) together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and her blog link.

-List 7 other Mommy Bloggers that you want to pass the award along to (no backsies). Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Passing on the Love:

Wendy @ Realatively Unique

Julie @ Mommy Cooks!

Gina @ Home Joys

Alison @ The Cleaner Plate Club

Heather @ Home Ec 101

Brenda @ Brenda's Canadian Kitchen

The Kitchen Pantry Scientist

Enjoy!

from "Betty Crocker's Kitchen Gardens"

by Mary Mason Campbell

pictures by Tasha Tudor

1971, Western Publishing Co.

Recipe: Blueberry Peach Salad with Thyme

Make this fruit salad to celebrate the first day of summer or anytime.  Made with fresh peaches and blueberries with ginger, lemon and thyme.  A perfect salad to take with us in the cooler for our Father's Day ride on the boat yesterday. 

The kids loved this salad and all asked for seconds.  The ginger and thyme are very pronounced but the sweetness from the peaches and blueberries add balance to this salad.

BLUEBERRY PEACH SALAD WITH THYME
from Simply Recipes

4 peaches

4 nectarines (I used 8 peaches)

1 cup of blueberries
2 teaspoons of fresh, chopped thyme (I used 1 -1/2 teaspoons dried thyme, will use less next time)
1 teaspoon of grated ginger
1/4 cup of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of lemon zest
1/2 cup of water
1/4 cup of sugar  (I used 2 packets of Truvia)
Or 1 tablespoon of agave syrup in lieu of water and sugar

If using water and sugar place them into a saucepot and bring to a boil and liquid is reduced by half into a simple syrup. Allow to cool.

Chop up the peaches and nectarines and place them in a bowl with the blueberries. Pour over the cooled simple syrup or agave syrup. Add the thyme, lemon juice, lemon zest, and ginger.

Stir and cover with plastic wrap, place in the fridge and allow to macerate for one hour. Serve.  Serves 4-8.
(I made this in the morning, then placed it into a plastic container, and we put it in the cooler until late that afternoon.  It still tastes great this morning).

Printable Recipe

Enjoy!

from "Betty Crocker's Kitchen Gardens"

by Mary Mason Campbell

pictures by Tasha Tudor

1971, Western Publishing Company

Recipe: Banana Cinnamon Chip Bread

This bread was eaten by the kids and their friends so quick that I barely got a picture of it.  Like all banana breads it was easy to make, very moist, yet had a real kick of cinnamon from the chips.  What a nice flavour combination this was.

I found this recipe over at Recipe Girl. where her recipes and photography will inspire you.  She has lots of options for entertaining and a whole page dedicated to it.  She's also auditioning to host her own cooking show on Oprah and you can see her audition tape and vote here... (wait until you see her awsome kitchen!).

CINNAMON CHIP BANANA BREAD
from Recipe Girl

1½ cups mashed ripe bananas (3 to 4 medium)
¼ cup melted butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup (packed) brown sugar
1 large egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
handful of cinnamon baking chips (or any other kind of chips)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 5×8-inch loaf pan.

Mix bananas, butter, sugars, egg and vanilla in medium bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet and stir just until flour is incorporated. Stir in a handful of desired flavor of chips.

Pour into prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle a few more chips on top of the batter. Bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

 Let cool in pan for 15 minutes, then turn out loaf onto rack to cool completely.  Yield: 1 loaf

Cooking Tips
*Sub 1/2 whole wheat flour if you’d like.
**Use any flavor chip that you wish, but the cinnamon chips are quite delicious!

Printable Recipe

Enjoy!

from the book "A Hole Is To Dig"

by Ruth Krauss

pictures by Maurice Sendak

1952, Harper & Row

Update on Faith

My Aunt wrote me this update last night. 

Please keep Faith in your prayers.

Dear Sarah ... things are about the same. It will be a very long time before the swelling goes down in her brain - she will be in hospital for at least 3 months ... or maybe longer. It will be a waiting game. Sorry I don't have much other news ... Her mother did have her out in the yard of the hospital to get some fresh air - she is strapped into the wheelchair. I attached a picture ... remember she is really non-responsive - I think you can tell by her eyes.

Last week I posted about Faith, my cousin's oldest daughter, who's in the hospital with herpes encephalitis in the brain.  My Aunt has set up a trust account for donations and there has been alot of fundraising such as:
 

Faith's elementary school held a fundraiser for her which raised $2400!
 
One of my cousin's wrote:
My little Luke was very concerned when I told him about his cousin Faith being in the hospital. Leah and he will have a kool-aid stand on the weekend and will collect bottles to donate. 
The company their mother works for also donated $500!
 
Our family has also decided to have a "cousin-wide" benefit garage sale and donate all proceeds to the fund.  Some of us live away from home so this is a nice way to contribute.  I have 31 first-cousins so we're a force of good when our family is in need.
 

 
For those who live outside Nova Scotia donations can be made by cheque or money order and made out to:

"Trust Fund - Faith Swinkels-MacLean a/c # 49970111" and mailed directly to the Bergengren Credit Union in Antigonish. The mailing address is: Bergengren Credit Union, 257 Main Street, Antigonish, NS B2G 2C1

Recipe: Cowboy Caviar (Bean Salad)

Packed full of nutricious beans, peppers, tomatoe, celery and red onion this salad is delicious.  I'm glad it's called Cowboy Caviar because I don't think my kids would eat it if it was called bean salad.  My husband brought home this recipe from a lady at his work who brought some in to share.

A gift for a friend.  Isn't it pretty in the jar?

This salad takes a little time to make as there's alot of chopping, but it lasts 2 weeks in the fridge.  Perfect for a pot luck, camping, to pack in a cooler, lunches for the week, or to give as a gift to a neighbour.  Yes, you don't always have to give baked goods as gifts.  This recipe makes a huge batch.

I served this with homemade turkey burgers and buns and I'll post those recipes next week.  Let me tell you, they were awsome!  You can also serve this on tortilla chips, pita bread, flat bread crackers or simply with a spoon like we did.

COWBOY CAVIAR (BEAN SALAD)

Boil the oil, vinegar and sugar, and let cool
1 cup oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup cider vinegar or red wine vinegar

Dice and place in large bowl
4 stalks celery, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 red onion, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
3-4 roma tomatoes, diced

Drain, rinse and place in a large bowl with diced vegetables
1 can (15 oz) shoped or white corn
1 can (15 oz) pinto beans
1 can (15 oz) black eyed peas
1 can (15 oz) black beans
1 can (15 oz) chick peas

Salt and ground black pepper to taste.

After oil, vinegar and sugar mixture has cooled, mix it together with the diced vegetables and beans.  Store in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.  This gets better by the day, if you can keep it that long.

Printable Recipe

Enjoy!

1952, Harper and Row

CSA Week 1

I picked-up my first CSA package yesterday!  This is my first year purchasing a CSA and I'm excited by all the different fresh produce I'll receive each week.  This is from an established, local, organic farm.  In my box I received farm fresh eggs, kohlrabi, nappa cabbage, green shallots, and a Stevia plant. Also included is Buffalo Round Steak.

The best part about picking up my weekly package is visiting the farm.  The kids love to visit with the chickens, ducks, goats, horses, dogs and cats.  All the animals are very friendly and affectionate.  You can see how loved and taken care of they all are.

My CSA began late as it's been a terrible spring for planting as we've had many storms with torrential rains.  Two weeks ago we received one and a half inches of rain in four hours with a total of six and a half inches that week alone.  The farmer had to plant in the mud just to get things in the ground and have replanted 350 pounds of potatoes because the first planting rotted in the mud.  They're replanting 5 acres of ambrosia sweet corn this week.

Last night at dinner time a storm quickly came up, as often does here in Kansas, and dumped buckets of rain within an hour.  I'm sure this won't help my farmer any and all the planting she's trying to achieve.

I'm looking forward to preparing and sharing all the delicious recipes that I'll be making with my CSA produce each week.

Enjoy!

KC Organics Market Wednesdays 10:00am-2:00pm

Recipe: Herbed Shrimp Skillet with Lemon Parsley Potatoes

My family loved this light, lemony, herb-infused meal.  Tender red potatoes served with corn, shrimp and savoury herbs.  Everything is made quickly on the stovetop and can be thrown together easily at the last minute.  I served ours with a nice crusty bread. 

I originally read a good recipe for Shrimp and Corn with Fresh Basil over at One Perfect Bite but didn't have all the ingredients on hand.  So, I found a similar recipe on the Taste of Home website along with the potatoes recipe.

HERBED SHRIMP SKILLET
adapted from Taste of Home

1 small onion, chopped

1 small green pepper, chopped (I used half a cucumber)
3 tablespoons butter
3 cups frozen corn (or fresh when in season)
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3/4 pound uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

In a large skillet, saute onion and green pepper (or cucumber) in butter for 2 minutes.

Stir in the corn, sugar, salt, basil, thyme and pepper. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 5-8 minutes or until corn is tender.

Add shrimp; cook and stir for 3-4 minutes or until shrimp turn pink. Yield: 4 servings.

Printable Recipe

LEMON PARSLEY POTATOES
from Taste of Home

3 pounds small red potatoes

1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup minced fresh parsley (I used 1/4 cup dried parsley)
1 tablespoon lemon juice

With a vegetable peeler, remove a strip of peel around the middle of each potato. Place potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 15-20 minutes or until tender. Drain.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt the butter; stir in parsley and lemon juice. Pour over potatoes; toss to coat. Yield: 8 servings.
 
Printable Recipe
 
Enjoy!
 

1965, The Children's Press