Wait! Don't toss it!

So, I had one ripe banana. One. Started to just toss it and thought, no - let's see what it can become. (I have no pictures because I was in a hurry this morning)

I took the banana, a qtr cup of flour, a tablespoon of sugar, a splash of milk, and an egg and mixed it with the banana. Fried it up in a little oil and butter. Sprinkled it with powdered sugar. Voila` - the banana became a great frittata! Made me happy.

Messing with the Philly Cheesesteak

I got this recipe from a culinary genius.  (I won't take credit for this because Philly Cheesesteak experts will be all over it... How DARE anyone mess with perfection?)

Now ignore the fact that in my pictures, I am making 6 of these.  I needed that many, but the recipe is to make 4.  Oh-- and a tip for you:  When choosing bell peppers, count the bumps on the bottom of the pepper.  Peppers with 3 bumps are sweeter and best used in dishes requiring  a sweet pepper taste.  Peppers with 4 bumps are sturdier and best used in dishes where the pepper is a vessel for the rest of the ingredients (i.e. stuffed peppers). One of the peppers I used had 5 bumps.  It seemed to fit into the 4 bump category.  (I always wondered about that.  No one ever told me about 5 bumps!)

Anyway, the recipe: 

PHILLY CHEESESTEAK STUFFED PEPPERS

Ingredients:
8 oz. thinly sliced roast beef
8 slices Provolone Cheese
2 (4-bump) large green peppers
1 medium sweet onion
6 oz. Crimini or Baby Bella mushrooms
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
Salt and Pepper to taste


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Slice onions and mushrooms.  Mince garlic.  Saute over medium heat with butter, olive oil and a little salt and pepper.  Saute until onions are mushrooms are nice and caramelized, about 5-10 minutes or so.

Slice roast beef into thin strips and add to the onion/mushroom mixture.  Allow to cook an additonal 5 to 10 minutes. 

Cut peppers in half lengthwise.  Remove ribs and seeds.  Line each half with a slice of provolone.

I had rather large slices of cheese, so I only used haf a slice  in each one.  Fill each pepper with the mixture until they are nearly overflowing.  Mine are a little skimpy because I made 6, but you should  pile the stuff in and use it all in the 4 shells.

Put another slice of cheese over the top. (again, I used half a slice.)

Bake for 20 -25 minutes until the cheese on top is golden brown.  The thickness of the peppers' shells will make a difference.  Thicker shells will take longer to cook.  However, I like my stuffed peppers a little on the crunchy side rather than the soft side, so 20 minutes was perfect for me.

Let me know if you forgive me for messing with the Philly Cheesesteak.

7-up Biscuits

I think this recipe has been around for a long time, but I tried it for the first time today.  I was impressed.  The biscuits are soft, fluffy, and tasty.  And.... bonus.... it's easy.  Here we go...........

7 up Biscuits  (makes 9)

2 cups Bisquick

1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup 7-up
1/4 cup butter

Hey---  did you know that you are supposed to keep Bisquick in the fridge?  I never knew that.  I bought a box to do this recipe, and on the top of the box, it says to keep it in the fridge after opening.  Huh.

Oh, sorry.  Here is all you do:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Put the butter in a 9" square pan and stick it in the oven to melt the butter.

Put the Bisquick in a bowl, cut the sour cream into it, then add the 7-up.  Mix well.  It makes a very soft sticky dough, so how you handle the next step is your choice.  You can put more of the Bisquick on your table, and rub some on your hands and pat it out, or roll it with a silicone roller.  At any rate, get it about 3/4 inch thick.  Cut with your biscuit cutter (OK.  I have one of those..  You can use a glass or a round cookie cutter or whatever you want... or use a knife and cut it into squares.)  Put them into the pan with the melted butter and bake about 20 minutes or until golden brown.  Try not to eat the whole pan.

Snickers fudge

OK.  Save this recipe for a day that you spent 4 hours cleaning up the tree that blew down in the windstorm nearly a month ago and has been ignored by the strong member of the household (but when pressed about it, he did actually cut it into pieces that I could handle).  Do the tree project while he is gone.  When he comes home and complains the laundry is not done, but does not even notice the beautiful tree-free lawn that Bob and I spent HOURS of backbreaking work cleaning up, you have my permission to eat the WHOLE PAN.  But I digress.............

Snickers Fudge:

     There are a lot of steps to this, but don't panic.  It does not take long for each layer to set up in the fridge.  Here is what you are going to need:

1st layer:
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup butterscotch chips
1/4 cup peanut butter

2nd layer:
4 Tablespoons butter (That is 1/2 stick) or margarine
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup evaporated milk (OK.  I did not want to open a whole can of evap milk for 1/4 cup of it,
                so I used heavy cream instead)
1 1/2 cups marshmallow cream.  (I guessed--- have you ever tried to measure this stuff??)
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup chopped (not too fine) salted peanuts

3rd layer:
14 oz. package caramel candies, unwrapped
1/4 cup heavy cream

4th Layer:
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup butterscotch chips
1/4 cup peanut butter

OK.  How to do it:

Butter a 9" x 13" pan

1st layer:
In a heavy saucepan over low heat, melt all 3 ingredients together until smooth. Spread over the bottom of the pan. (the INSIDE, Dennis)  Put in fridge until hard.

2nd layer:
In a  heavy pan  (We just used the same pan without washing it but we had cleaned it out pretty good....  OK.  yes, we licked the pan--- for every layer we made.....and we are not ashamed!!), melt butter over med. heat.  Mix in sugar and milk.  Bring to a boil and let boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. (keep stirring.... it WILL burn if you do not... if your arm gets tired, switch hands) It will start to caramalize when it is ready.  Remove from heat and quickly stir in the marshmallow cream, peanut butter and vanilla.  When that is smooth and fully mixed, add the peanuts.  Pour it over the set chocolate layer and spread evenly.  Return to the fridge.  Visit with the kids and grandson for a while while it sets up.  (Watch Loony Tunes with the grandson)

3rd layer:
Mix the caramels and cream in a heavy saucepan (sorry, you want a clean pan this time).  Cook over low heat, stirring until caramels are melted and smooth.  Pour into pan and spread on top of 2nd layer.  It helps to use an ofset spatula to do these layers.  (and if you are working together, with one person pouring, and the other spreading, be careful not to overlap and pour boiling hot sugary stuff all over your sister's hand.  I will never forget that even though it happened 40 some years ago.  Everytime I work with someone pouring and spreading, the memory comes screaming back.  Sorry Carol... I STILL feel bad about that one)

4th layer:

Now, if you have a glasstop electric stove like I do, as soom as you have licked the last of the caramel goodness from your pan, you can wash it, dry it out and put the ingredients in for the 4th layer.  Put it back on the stove (turned OFF) and go chill while the 3rd layer sets up.  By that time, It will be all melty, and all you have to do is stir it and spread it over the 3rd layer.  If you use a gas stove, you will need to put all 3 ingredients into a pan and stir them over low heat until they are melted.

The instructions said to refrigerate at least 1 hour before cutting into squares.  BAH.  When it looks set, just go ahead and cut yourself a big piece.  Remember, this morning you worked off all those calories and whatever calories will show up in your dinner tonight doing SOMEONE ELSE's work.  Did I mention my back hurts?  I think I will have another square................

Double Stuffed Goodness

So it went a little something like this......

Madi: "Dad I'm bored..."

Me: "What would you like to do?"

Madi: "DAAAAAAANCE PARTY!!!!!!"

 

Me: "Uh.. No. How about we make cookies and post them on "Bob's" blog?"

Madi: "You had me at cookies......"

Okay Chef Madison is ready for Double Stuff Goodness.

Shhhhh.... Don't tell aunt Barbara I use a knife....

We cheated and used store bought cookie dough, but they make it with just as much love as homemade cookie dough.  Madison cut the cookie dough into disks.

Now place an Oreo sandwich cookie on top of one of the cookie dough disks.

Place another cookie dough disk on top of the Oreo sandwich cookie.

Roll the Chocolate Chip / Oreo Sandwich cookie sandwich into a ball

Place on a grease cookie sheet.

Place in the oven and bake as per instructions on pre-made with love cookie dough.

Remove from oven and let cool.

Madi removes the cookies from the still warm pan

Opened up so you can see the Double Stuffed Goodness.

100% of taste testers agree.... Double Stuffed Goodness is mmm...mmm...GOOD!

Oink and Cluck Cups

CLICK ON THE PHOTOS to enlarge...

Bake Bacon at 400˚ until slightly crisp, but flexible.

Line one muffin cup with a whole strip of bacon and use a half strip to line the bottom

Crack and drop the internal contents of one egg in each bacon cup. Salt and Pepper to taste.

Bake at 300˚ for 15 - 25 minutes until eggs is done to your liking (over easy to charred nugget.)

Remove from oven and sprinkle minced parsley and Parmesan Cheese on top.

Served with Mini-French Toast and Citrus Fruit Cup.

Egg-cellent Bacon-ing to one's day....

First Try at Cooking Singaporean

So, I love the food in Singapore. It is a kind of fusion between Chinese, Thai, Malaysian, and Indian. Not exactly something for which there is a recipe and even if there are recipes, I cannot recall the names of anything. So, I just decided to try to put these ingredients together in a Singaporean way:

So, for serving one person, gather up some chunks of chicken breast, some celery, some onion, some red and green pepper, and two cloves a garlic. The key ingredient in this will be some fresh basil from my own countertop garden.

So, I took the tall stalk - about 10-12 leaves of fresh basil. I used olive oil, but put a little sesame seed oil in for flavor (you can't cook with sesame oil - too low of a smoke point). The little brown color in the oil in the bottom of the wok is the amount of sesame oil that I added.

Heat the oil and toss in the garlic. Cook it just until it starts to smell garlicky. Then, toss in the chicken. Stir fry until cooked. It only takes a few minutes. Don't do it too long or it will dry out.

Add the veggies and stir awhile. I like them crispy...so, I only cook them until they release smells.

Then, make a little hole in the center and add some sauces - I used 2 T of Thai chili sauce and 2 T of fish sauce. I was out of soy sauce in a bottle, so added a packet from take out - that is probably about 1/2 teaspoon. Stir that until veggies and meat are evenly coated. Then, toss in the basil leaves. Stir them in and serve.

Here's the finished product with a little basil garnish for pretty. One would typically serve with rice, but I ate it without rice - personal preference. It was a close second to Singaporean fare. I was happy with every bite.