Banana Chocolate Chip Biscotti

On my poll I got an equal number of votes for Banana Chocolate Chip Biscotti and Freeze them for later. So I'm doing both. I used one banana for the biscotti, and the other two are being saved for a special treat that I just need to get around to making.

Banana Chocolate Chip Biscotti
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup mashed very ripe banana (1 medium)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips (miniature recommended)

Heat oven to 250. Grease large cookie sheet.

Beat sugar and butter in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon. Beat in banana, vanilla, and eggs until smooth. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in chocolate chips.

Divide dough in half. Shape each half into 10 x 3-inch rectangle on cookie sheet with greased hands (dough will be sticky).


Bake about 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on cookie sheet 15 minutes.

Cut crosswise into 1/2-inch slices. Turn slices cut sides down on cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown and dry on top. turn cookies. Bake about 10 minutes longer or until golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.


Many people enjoy these dry, crunchy cookies dipped in their coffee. I'm not a coffee drinker, so I enjoyed mine with a glass of milk. This would also be really good with some hot chocolate! Another fun option would be to dip these halfway in chocolate - yum!

I'm entering this in the I Love Baking foodie event. Obviously I love baking - I'm still running the oven despite the August heat!

Oatmeal on Toast - Comfort Food from the Farm

This morning when I woke up it was cold - cold enough to actually be uncomfortable. Hooray!!! Fall is my favorite season in the whole year, so I'm really excited to see that summer may be starting to ease up just a bit.

Since it was so nippy this morning, I wanted to do a nice warm breakfast, the kind that warms you from the inside out. A comfort-food breakfast. I immediately thought of oatmeal, then remembered the homemade bread I did up yesterday (I'll post that later). And I thought of my grandparents.

When we visit my maternal grandparents, it's like stepping back in time. They live simply - my grandfather the stoic gentlemanly farmer, my grandmother the cheerful and productive housewife. They live in a large house that my grandfather built when my mom was just a child. Grandpa spends his days out in the fields while Grandma cooks, cleans, quilts, tats, sews, knits, and does crossword puzzles.

The meals we eat at Grandma and Grandpa's house reflect their simple way of life. They're the meals that my mother grew up on - meals that a farmer's wife prepares and feeds to her farmer husband and farm-grown children. Nothing fancy - just delicious, easy, and hearty.

Oatmeal on Toast is one of those breakfasts that we would eat when visiting with my grandparents. Well, it took me a while to get up to eating it actually. When I was younger, I would eat my oatmeal out of a bowl, topped with brown sugar and milk just like I was used to. I would stare at Grandpa as he built up his breakfast, and think it was a really weird way to eat oatmeal! But now I love this hearty breakfast probably as much as he does, not only because it's good, but because of the simple and happy memories it provides.

Oatmeal on Toast
Toasted homemade bread
Jam or jelly
Oatmeal
Milk

Toast a piece of homemade bread and place it on your plate. Yes, the bread absolutely has to be homemade. If it's not, you'll end up with a soggy mess and it's not tasty at all.


Spread your bread with jam. This is our homemade apricot jam, but any will do. I have very fond memories of using Grandma's homemade crabapple jelly.


Scoop a big spoonful of oatmeal on top of your jammed-up bread.


Pour milk over the whole thing.


Now eat and enjoy! When you're done, go out and do some farming. Or spend the day playing at Grandma's house.

Southern Hoe Cake

Jeff, my husband, works strange hours. Since he works in the lab at our local hospital, the shifts are not the typical 9-5 you see in office jobs - hospitals are open 24/7. Since he's a newbie there, he often gets the funny hours. Lately, that means he doesn't leave for work until noon, or even later, and gets back late at night.

What does all this have to do with food and recipes? Well, I used to focus a lot of my energies on making sure we had really yummy dinners. But with Jeff gone many evenings, the motivation drops. I know he'll eat when he gets home, but no matter how good the dinner was, it will just be "cold leftovers" by the time he gets to it.

(Speaking of dinner, it's after six already. Maybe I should try to come up with something to eat tonight once I'm done with this post...)

So I have been wanting to do more with breakfasts. He's usually home to enjoy breakfast with the family, so I want for there to be a delicious breakfast for him to enjoy. Therefore, today I decided to break out of the "cold cereal and milk" rut we've been stuck in (plus we were out of milk anyway. I had to get creative). So I made Hoe Cake, from one of my favorite blogs, Southern Plate. I'm sure that this bread is not traditionally served as a breakfast food, but culinary tradition rarely stops me when I set my mind to something.

Southern Hoe Cake
2 cups self-rising flour *See note*
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup milk (or equivalent in powdered milk and water)

Preheat oven to 425. Pour a thin layer of oil into an 8- or 9-inch cake pan (or you can get traditional and use a nice big cast iron skillet). Place pan into preheating oven so oil will be hot when you're ready to pour in the batter.

Measure flour into mixing bowl. Cut in shortening with pastry cutter or a fork until it's the consistency of crumbs. Stir in milk. It should be a nice wet biscuit-like batter. If it's too dry, add up to 1/4 cup more milk.

Remove pan from oven and pour batter in. According to Christy, it should sizzle because the oil is nice and hot. I didn't let my pan get hot enough for the oil to sizzle, but it turned out okay anyway. Spread the batter in evenly, and return to the oven. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the top is turning golden brown. Remove from oven.


Invert hoe cake onto a plate. The bottom (now the top) will be deliciously golden and crispy.


*Note* In the absence of self-rising flour, you can add 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder and 1/2 tsp. salt for every cup of flour. Just measure the baking powder and the salt in the bottom of the measuring cup, and spoon flour over it until you get one cup.


I served this with homemade apricot jam and bacon. I had butter on the table too, but the hoe cake was so good on its own (because of all the shortening and oil) that the butter wasn't necessary. Next time I make this, I might try melting butter in the pan instead of using oil - I bet it would be great! We all absolutely loved this - it was light and fluffy like a biscuit, with a crispy bottom (top) and sides. It was fast and easy, and is definitely on my make-again-and-again list!!

Yes! We have no bananas...

Just kidding, we have lots of bananas. My interest right now is focused around these three:


Beautiful, aren't they? What do you think I should make with them? Answer my poll on the right, and/or leave me a comment! I'd like to use them tomorrow, so be quick! Of course, whatever I make, I'll post the recipe for all to enjoy.

House Seasoning

This is a recipe I've seen a couple times, and thought it looked good. I don't remember where online I originally found it, but I think it was attributed to Paula Deen? I need to research my recipes better.

Anyway...

House Seasoning
1 cup salt
1/4 cup garlic powder
1/4 cup ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients, mixing well. Simple as that!
I had a small container to put this in, so I used only one fourth of each ingredient - 1/4 cup salt, and 1 tbsp. each garlic powder and pepper.

This makes a really pretty pattern when you layer the ingredients, before mixing them all together. It kind of reminds me of sand-in-a-jar art.


I use this instead of plain table salt when I season my foods. It's become my new favorite seasoning.

Frugal Fridays - Soup, Bread, and Dessert

Our menu this evening consists of a deliciously flavorful Garden Fresh Lentil Soup, served with French Bread. Dessert is Peanut Pistachio Pudding and Crackers.

Since this post is being submitted to Frugal Fridays, here is the price breakdown:

Lentils - 1/2 lb. - $0.35
Bacon - 1/2 lb. - $0.50
Flour - 4 cups - $0.45
Yeast - 2 1/4 tsp. - $0.17
Graham crackers - 1 sleeve - $0.40
Peanut butter - 1/4 cup - $0.20
Milk - 1 cup - $0.27
Pudding - 3.4-oz box - $0.75

Squash and tomatoes - free from parents' garden
Chicken broth - free from boiling chicken
Seasonings and simple pantry staples - negligible price

Total price: $3.09



Garden Fresh Lentil Soup


1/2 lb. lentils
Water
1/2 lb. bacon
1 large yellow squash
1/4 cup onion
2 large tomatoes
2 cups chicken broth
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Cover lentils with water (about 3 or 4 cups). Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer until tender.

While the lentils are simmering, cook bacon over medium heat until it reaches desired crispiness. Remove bacon from skillet (leave drippings in skillet) and set aside. Chop squash and saute in bacon drippings. Remove from pan and set aside. Chop onion and saute in remaining bacon drippings. Set aside. Chop tomatoes.

Check on lentils. When they are tender, add chicken broth (my lentils had cooked off all the water. If there is water left when the lentils are done, drain it off before adding broth). Stir in vegetables and seasonings. Heat through. Garnish with bacon and serve.

The great thing about the end of summer is all the fresh garden produce available. Use what is growing, and you can eat delicious and nutritious foods, like this soup, for incredibly cheap.

I only included bacon in this recipe because it was a manager's special and we got it for a dollar per pound. Normally we don't have bacon. This soup is delicious without it, but incredible with it!



Bread Machine French Bread


1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. oil
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
4 cups flour
2 1/4 tsp. yeast

Place ingredients in bread machine in order suggested by manufacturer. If your machine has a setting for French Bread, select that. Otherwise, set it for basic. Once the machine is set, forget about it until it beeps at you to tell you it's done!



Peanut Pistachio Pudding and Crackers


Approximately 1 sleeve graham crackers
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 cup milk
1 3.4-oz box instant pistachio pudding mix

Place graham crackers along bottom of 8- or 9-inch pan, breaking crackers as needed to cover the pan. I did two layers of crackers. Next time I might do one layer, then the pudding layer, then a second cracker layer on top. Either way. Set aside.

Place peanut butter in mixing bowl. Add milk and whisk until combined. Add pudding mix and whisk for 2 minutes. Spread on top of graham crackers. Chill for a couple hours, then cut into squares and serve.


The dessert isn't much to look at. I originally planned on using chocolate or vanilla pudding, but when I checked the cupboard this evening all we had was pistachio. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but gave it a try anyway. It turned out delicious.

Jam Banana Biscuit Puffs

I'm not sure whether this is a breakfast, a dessert, or just a fun snack. Well, whatever it is, we ate it for dinner tonight. Sometimes you just gotta indulge and have a little fun.

The inspiration for the idea for what became this dish was Michelle's Cheesy Chicken Cups, found on her blog Fabulous Food! Although my finished product in no way resembles Michelle's cups, you should check out her recipe anyway, because her chicken cups look so tasty! I liked the idea of biscuit cups, but I couldn't think of anything to fill them with that wouldn't require much work (I've been feeling lazy in the food department today). I decided to go ahead and start making some biscuits anyway, and hope that I could come up with something before it was time to start eating them!

Somewhere between the computer and the kitchen, the idea of a sweet biscuit entered my mind. I liked the idea, and built this dish up from there.

Jam Banana Biscuit Puffs
2 cups flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 small banana, cut into small chunks
3/4 cup milk
Extra flour as needed
Jam

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in shortening until the mixture resembles crumbs. Stir in the chunks of banana, then add milk and stir well. For some reason, my dough was much wetter than it usually is when I make biscuits, so I sprinkled in a little extra flour.

Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead about ten times (I needed more flour for this as well - my dough was still really wet). Divide into twelve pieces.

Press each piece into lightly greased muffin tin, forming a cup shape. I intended for this recipe to be jam-filled biscuit cups. However, they puffed up far too much during baking, and weren't cup-shaped at all. I don't know how they would form if you just pressed the dough in without forming a cup.

Spoon about 1-2 tsp. jam (I used apricot) into each cup of dough. Bake at 400 until biscuits are golden brown. At this point, I pretty much needed to take the biscuit puffs out because this biscuit's jam had overflowed and left a nice little present for me on the bottom of my oven.










Remove from muffin tin and set on wire rack to cool. But don't cool them too much - these were delicious to eat warm!


The biscuits had a delicious, lightly-sweet flavor, and were definitely "puffy" and light. The banana chunks added a nice touch, and the jam completed the ensemble.


I would definitely make these again. Next time, however, I might think about reducing the milk so the biscuit dough wouldn't be so wet, and I think I will try sandwiching the jam inside the biscuit so there's no chance of spillover. Although, doing that would eliminate the beautiful glazed look that these puffs had.