Something about cold weather inspires baking and cooking and all that housewarming jazz. Found this recipe off some website that I can’t remember anymore because I found a gajillion versions just searching for a simple banana bread recipe. This is simple. I like simplicity and minimal effort. Speaks to the lazy in me. I changed some of the original recipe based on what ingredients I had on hand and personal preferences.

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (you don’t need to measure, it’s about 3 bananas)
• 1/2 cup 1% milk (recipe called for whole)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar (maybe it was closer to 1/2 a cup - didn’t measure; recipe called for 1 cup of sugar)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup toasted walnut pieces (original recipe called for pecans)
• 1 tsp cinnamon (recipe didn’t call for this, but I love cinnamon)

Start with the bananas, mush them up in a bowl. After that, put in everything else. It might be easier to mix together the liquids first, but really, it all just gets combined in the end so there’s no need to follow any order. I added the toasted nuts last. If you’re adding the stick of butter straight out of the fridge, zap it for 15 to 20 secs in the microwave to soften it.
Butter a 9 1/4 x 5 x 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Bake in a 350 F preheated oven for about an hour or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Let it cool for 5 minutes.
Snarf.

Or be like me and cut an inch-thick slice and pretend like you’re only going to have half. Take a bite and greedily reach for the other half because it’s that good. Not too sweet, not too anything. Just right. A good dense moist bread. Goes great with coffee. Everything goes great with coffee for me.

Left work early on Friday, my short-day and went grocery shopping. Yeah - that’s my idea of a good time on a beautiful Friday afternoon. I’m sick.

I was going to make some more of those mashed potatoes because I liked the other batch so much. Since the celery root at the grocery store looked so sad, I decided to try it with turnips and parsnips instead. Never had turnips or parsnips before. Parsnips look like white carrots. Parsnips are not white carrots. After boiling everything together, the pungent smell of the turnips and parsnips was overwhelming. Ended up picking out about half of those pieces and made the mashed roots just like last time. A couple of other things I did differently with good results was: added cayenne pepper (finally found some at Target!), and omitted the scallions. The cayenne gives it a bit of a kick. A good kick, if you like spicy.

I also made deviled eggs from a recipe I found off of Simply Recipes. I sort of incorporated other peoples ideas after reading everybody’s comments. I used sour cream instead of mayo (because I already had sour cream and not mayo), left out pepper, tobasco, and minced onion/shallot. Added cayenne pepper (because new found spices must be generously used in every recipe to fully appreciate the beauty of it), and dill relish.

Yum, never had these before either, but quite good. It’s hard to stop eating them… I may make myself sick with too many eggs. I’m such a glutton.

This recipe came from the Food Networks’ website.

• 4 red or yellow bell peppers, large poblano chiles, or a combination
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onions
• 1 1/2 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1 cup coarse cornmeal or polenta
• 3 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup cream
• 3/4 cup corn kernels
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• 1/2 cup shredded Gruyere

1. Cut the tops off the peppers, remove the seeds and ribs, slice in half from stem to tip. Arrange them in a shallow baking dish.
2. Cook the onions and garlic over medium heat with the oil, 3-4 minutes or until the onion softens. Add the cornmeal and stir to mix. Slowly pour in the chicken broth, stirring to combine. Add the rest of the ingredients and 1/4 cup of the Parmesan. Cook, stirring constantly until the polenta becomes thick, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
3. Fill the peppers and sprinkle the remaining Parmesan and Gruyere over it. Bake for 20-25 minutes in 350 degrees F.

What I did differently: I didn’t have basil, heavy cream or Gruyere. I used milk instead of cream. I put in a lot of cilantro so less chicken broth, because cilantro has a lot of water. I didn’t follow any of the quantities because I’m just a rebel like that. I think I used about 3 cups of polenta and only 2 cups of chicken broth.

Here’s the polenta mixture:

Stuffing the peppers was a bit time consuming.

But so worth it!

I made a recipe I found somewhere (I can’t remember where) called, “Mashed Potatoes and Celery Root with Creamy Yogurt.”

• Kosher salt
• 1 1/2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, unpeeled, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 large celery root (1 1/2 pounds), peeled, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 5 cloves garlic, peeled
• scallions
• 1 1/2 cups of shredded Parmesan
• 2 1/2 cups plain low-fat yogurt, plus 1/2 cup extra if desired
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Boil 8 cups of water in a large pot with 2 Tbsp. salt. Add potatoes, celery root, and garlic. Return to boil and reduce heat to medium, cooking uncovered until potatoes and celery root are very tender, 15-20 minutes.
2. Drain potato mixture. Add scallions, yogurt, pepper, and cheese. Smash everything together.

Note: The original recipe called for 1 large finely chopped shallot.  You mix the boiled potatoes, garlic, and celery root in it.  It did not have the cheese or scallions.

MeanFace and I went to a local restaurant that serves Chinese food, but really specializes in dumplings. Their dumplings are pretty big and not your typical half-moon shaped dumplings. When they’re making them they squish the filling in the dough a certain way in the hands that gives them that funny shape. Wish I could see how they did it. You can choose from the common pork and napa cabbage filling to something like vegetarian and there’s also a variety plate with four different types of dumplings. They’re served pan fried or boiled, or frozen if you want to cook them at home. We got them boiled. Pretty tasty! I’d go back. Their other dishes like noodle soups looked good too because their noodles are hand made, maybe like the chewy skin of the dumplings.

Came home and made a ginormous pot of chili. MeanFace gave me some cayenne pepper, which I couldn’t seem to find at the grocery store. They were out or something. I used a slow cooker recipe from MeanFace’s sister and combined it with a Washington Post recipe for turkey chili. Didn’t use the slow cooker because it would’ve been too small for the amount of ingredients I had. Obviously still having difficulty judging how much is enough when I shop for ingredients. Invariably, I get too much, figuring too much is better than not enough. Besides, leftovers are even better!

Here’s the gist of it:

• 3 lbs ground turkey
• 3 green bell peppers (capsicum in Australian, heehee)
• 4 medium sized yellow onions
• 8 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 cans of diced tomatoes
• 1 can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 can of tomato sauce (each can is 29 oz. size)
• 4 cups of dried beans (roman, black, and kidney) - cooked in advance
• chili powder (many shakes)
• cayenne pepper (1 tsp about)
• salt & pepper
• shredded cheddar

Cook the turkey, breaking it up. Add the garlic and onions, stir around for a bit, then add the green peppers. After it’s all semi-cooked, add the rest of the ingredients and simmer on low heat. Not sure how long I’m going to let mine simmer, but it’s still cooking right now and smells great! The shredded cheddar is optional when you serve it.

Seeing as how Winter decided to return, I thought some comfort food was in order. Last night, I made two pots of chicken soup. See? I’ve improved from the three pots I had to make last time due to too much chicken. This time, I left out potatoes and peas, and added cabbage. I also left out the thyme because my audience did not like it at all last time I made it. So it’s chicken soup, but a little different.

3-26-07 Update: Made a new batch of chili this past weekend and decided to add cumin, carrots, and a jar of salsa. The last 2 ingredient ideas came from the sister who has no qualms about adding even potatoes to her chili. Sounds good to me! Maybe I’ll add celery and oregano next time, in addition to all the other ingredients. The recipe is so elastic.

My coworker, Sharon shared her chicken soup recipe with me. Boil chicken legs (quarters) until the meat falls off the bones. Pick out the bones and add potatoes, carrots, onion, celery, scallions, a vegetable bullion cube, thyme, salt and pepper. Simple.

This morning I went to the grocery store and bought the ingredients and decided to add a few others including mushrooms, corn, peas, and pumpkin. First, I blanched the chicken leg quarters, skinned and defatted them. That took forever! There is a lot of fat on chicken legs. Plus, I bought too much of everything and ended up having to make 3 big pots of chicken soup. Then I boiled it for about 2 and a half hours. I picked out the bones and added the vegetables and thyme and decided to omit the bullion because the chicken flavor was already so rich.

Then I made cornbread muffins.

I can’t believe the amount of time it takes to do all this. From leaving the house to grocery shop until now, when the muffins are still baking, it was a good 8 hours! No wonder they say being a housewife is a full time job. In one household, I’d say it is about 2 FTE’s worth of work at least!

1 can (15 ounce) no-salt added corn, drained or 2 cups frozen whole kernel corn

1.5 lbs raw medium shrimp

1 cup salsa

2 tsp lime juice

1 tsp olive oil

Oven: 450 degrees

Peel shrimp, rinse in cold water

In glass (pyrex 2 quart) baking dish layer corn, shrimp and salsa. Drizzle with lime juice and olive oil. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cooked through, stirring once.

Serve on rice, serve with a side salad of lettuce with avocado and tomato. Serve with corn bread. Pair with Pinot Grigio.

Serves 4: 280 cals/serving

*Picked this recipe up from a Giant Food grocery store. Haven’t tried making it yet but it seems relatively easy and sounds tasty. I bet you could even add other ingredients like chopped onions and diced tomatoes.  If you don’t have shrimp, or prefer something else, you could try chicken too.