From The Kitchen: The Baker Is In

He's Been At It Again

Don't ask me why, but G took it upon himself to bake another bread this week. Right on the heels of his delicious banana bread, he decided to change it up a bit.  Our friend had some pears that he had no intention of eating, so he took them off his hands and put them in our freezer.

When I opened the freezer door all I thought was 'why the heck are there pears in the freezer?'. Can't say I've seen that one before.

Who knew, but they worked just fine for what G-the-Baker-Man had planned: Pear Bread.

Perfectly delicious pear bread, at that.

He took the pears out of the freezer the day before and let them defrost in the fridge.  NOTE: Now, be sure you put them in a bowl, because once they had thawed, there was a decent amount of liquid that needed to be drained away.  G also pressed them down with paper towels to get even more liquid out and then drained the bowl again.

Imagine........he's getting so crafty with the even he's trying things he made up on his own. He used his banana bread recipe as the base, adjusting as he went along. And it worked.

Oh yes it did.

It worked.

Hello heaven.

 For goodness sake woman.........get the butter while it's hot!

Oh yeah.

That's what I'm talking about.

Now it's your turn to whip some up.


Garrett's Why The Hell Not Pear Bread

3 Medium to Large Pears
(Over-ripe is best. Can be frozen and thawed. Note: If frozen, take out of the freezer the day before and put in bowl in the refrigerator to collect the liquid as they thaw.  Then drain liquid, and keep pears in bowl, press down hard with paper towels to release more liquid. Drain again.)

1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1.75 cups of flour (if it still seems a little loose, add up to 1/4 of cup of flour to adjust)

Squeeze pear out of skin and into bowl. Throw away the core.  Mash with butter in bowl. Add sugar, vanilla and baking soda. Mix well. Add flour and mix until all is incorporated. Pour mix into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350F for one hour. Let rest 5 minutes.

I guess I'll keep him around. If he keeps baking like this, that is.


It's the perfect day around here for baking bread. It is freezing! Sub zero again. I'll just sit on the other side of your computer screen, dreaming of spring.

Have a great day and get baking!


Ciao for now,

PS- Bonus points for those who get the 'for goodness sake woman' reference from one of my very favorite movies.

From The Muse Kitchen: Stuffed Mushrooms

Yes, Please

Any other mushroom lovers out there?  They are one of my absolute favorites. They are always on the grocery list. They're a given.

In consideration of this fact, stuffed mushrooms are on of my go-to appetizers for gatherings.  Last week, I made them for my night out with the bookclub/champagne ladies. 

Now, it's hard to hold me down to one recipe. I don't even really 'have a recipe' because it's the kind of thing you can wing every time, using whatever you might have on hand, but there are a few things that I do like to put in them if I've got them: scallions and carrots for color, garlic for flavor, and non-fat yogurt to keep them moist.

Dry doesn't make for a very good stuffed mushroom. At least not in my book. I hate it when all the stuffing is falling apart when you're trying to eat them.

This time, I made them gluten free, which really is no big deal.  If you want to go the super easy route, just use an all veg stuffing- if you still want something to replace breadcrumbs you can use gluten free corn crumbs, or gluten free bread broken up and crumbled.  For this recipe though, I went with brown rice.

They were delicious.  Of course, as I said, I am rather partial to them though.

'This Time Around' Stuffed Mushrooms

2  8oz packages or 1  16 oz package of button  mushrooms
(with mostly medium to large mushrooms in package)

stems from mushrooms, chopped

1 medium carrot, chopped very small
(I do this with a knife so they are still a bit rough, but it can be done with a food processor)

4 scallions chopped small (including the greens for color)

1 cup of cooked brown rice (cooked according to directions, but using 2 1/4 cup of vegetable broth instead of water)

3- 4 oz of diced feta cheese

2 cloves of garlic, pressed or diced very small

1 tsp of fresh or dried rosemary
  

2 cloves of garlic, pressed or diced very small

1 tbs of melted butter

2 - 3 tbs of non-fat yogurt

preheat oven 350F

Clean mushrooms with a dry kitchen towel or paper towel, brushing away any dirt and gently breaking off stems.  Do not wash as it will make them soggy.  Set mushrooms aside. Cook rice in vegetable broth and set aside. Chop mushroom stems, carrots and scallions and place in mixing bowl. Add pressed garlic, rosemary, melted butter, yogurt and cooked rice.  Mix well.  Add feta and mix again.  Using teaspoon, press into cavity of each mushroom and place on baking sheet or in roasting pan with sides to keep them from moving around when putting in oven.  Place in oven and bake at 350F for 25-35 minutes.  Let cool 3 minutes, transfer to serving dish and serve hot.

 

As I said, I made these with what I happened to have on hand.  You can use whatever vegetable you have whether it's peppers, onions, or celery, etc. You can also change out the rosemary for a different herb or spice. Stuffed mushroom are as versatile as you want them to be.

Enjoy!


Snowed In

The snow is now literally over the top. We got even more snow starting yesterday afternoon into night.  We were supposed to get maybe 4 inches.

Try 12.

It was dumping for a few hours at about 2 inches an hour.  Dumping is what we call it around here, when the heavens open up and all you can see is snow.

So I thought I'd give you a peek at why cabin fever is starting to get the best of us in these parts.

In case you don't recognize them, that's our pool to the left, my patio table (which never made it to the basement) in the center, and our grill to the right.

Yeah. I know. We haven't been grilling too much this winter.

This is our cozy cottage looking west from one side of our driveway, after I finally dug the car out and moved it so our neighborfriend Tom could push some snow with his tractor.  That was after I had to climb through the passenger side of the car to push the driver's side door open because it was frozen shut.  The snow keeps coming so quick - storm upon storm, that we haven't even had time to rake the roof.

Thank God for neighborhoodlum Tom and his tractor. Truly. Thank you. This is out our side door this morning. I still haven't shoveled a path to the door yet. Poor Tom is starting to have a hard time lifting the snow any higher than it already is.

Tom plowed a path for Lucan, but he can't really go anywhere else at the moment.  The snow in the yard is up mid thigh on me, (and I know because I had to make my way through it this morning) so it's just too high for the old boy to climb through. Even Lucan looks like he has had enough.

Looking across to Tom and Joanie's pine trees toward sunset meadows.  That's how high the road embankments are at the moment.

Looking back across the street at our cozy cottage...................well, sort of.....since you can barely see it.

Our weathermen are getting ready to go on their own comedy tour.  They gently broke the news to us that we may get a couple more inches this evening.

We'll have to see about that. 

Reporting from The Bates Estate at Sunset Meadows...........I'm Pamela Bates. 

Make it a great day my friends, because it is indeed a great day to have.

Ciao for now,

From The Kitchen: Banana Bread

The Man Can Bake

I'm writing this post for Monday, on Sunday. I've been at my desk working today trying to get a head start on the week. While I was working away, G took to the kitchen. He's been wanting to make use of the old bananas we've had in the freezer and bake some banana bread.

Mind you, this doesn't happen often, but perhaps it should. 

This is good banana bread!

Not easy doing a photo shoot of a fresh baked banana bread when what you really want to do is eat it.

But I wanted you guys to see how good it came out. Just perfect. 

Hello butter. Because every slice of hot out of the oven banana bread requires some pats of butter melting into it. It wouldn't be right otherwise.

OK, we held out long enough. Time to taste..............

As good as it looks. Delicious. Well done Babe! When are you baking again?


Gar's Classic Banana Bread

4 Bananas (over-ripe is best)
1/3 cup melted butter

1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1.5 cups of flour

Mash/mix bananas and butter in mixing bowl.  Add sugar, vanilla and baking soda. Mix well.  Add flour and mix until all is incorporated.  Pour mix into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350F for one hour.  Let rest 5 minutes.



Give it a try, we think you'll like as much as we do.

Hope you enjoyed your weekend. Ours was fairly quiet.  Friday we went out to eat with my parents and sister and had a good few laughs.  Saturday, we stayed close to home and watched the Bruins in the afternoon and old movies at night.  Sunday was another home day, my desk and G baking the bread. I did catch some of the ski jump competition this morning (they are crazy! talk about no fear) and hoping to catch something else.  I really enjoy watching all of the Olympians compete. They've worked so hard to get there. I did see some of the opening ceremonies and my favorite part were the lit up wireframes of athletes and the little girl with the red balloon flying high above the stadium. Do you watch the Olmpics? What's your favorite event?

Here's to a great week.

Ciao for now,

From The Mercantile Muse Kitchen

Rhubarb Cake

Have I told you my neighbors don't like rhubarb. More importantly, have I told you that we love rhubarb and that our next door neighbors, Lauren and Jay (who happen to not care for it) have a big bed of rhubarb and that we get to take as much as we like? In all fairness, they didn't plant the rhubarb. Our previous neighbor did.

Hello gorgeous.

It was high time I did something with their glorious harvest of rhubarb.

I was going to make my friend's mom's rhubarb bread recipe, but I'm out of brown sugar. So where do you think I went to find a new rhubarb recipe? Yup. Pinterest.

What I found was Oma's Rhubarb Cake on allrecipes.com. 

I baked it last night and it came out pretty darn good. Hot out of the oven we gave it 8 out of 10 stars- we only waited long enough to not burn ourselves while holding a piece. Be forewarned, the fruit inside is hot to eat even when you can hold it. Learned that the hardway.

This morning I thought it had gotten a little bit dry. I think my oven must bake on the high side, so next time I'd check the cake before 45 minutes. Also, I didn't have sour cream and used yogurt instead,which I'd probably do anyways. I like the tangier bite of non-fat yogurt.

The topping really made this cake. Decadent. Golden brown when baked and delicious.

Rhubarb Yogurt Cake ala Oma

1 1/4 cupswhite sugar

1 teaspoonbaking soda

1/2 teaspoonsalt

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup non fat yogurt (or sour cream)

3 cups diced rhubarb

topping:

1 cup white sugar

1/4 cupbutter, softened

1/4 cupall-purpose flour

cinnamon for dusting

 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease and flour a 9 x 13 cake pan (note: I'd be more generous with the greasing than I was). 

 

In a large bowl combine dry ingredients (sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt) and mix.  Add wet ingredients (beaten eggs, yogurt- or sour cream if you prefer) and mix until smooth.  Fold in rhubarb a little at a time until it is incorporated into batter. Pour into cake pan and spread evenly.  Set aside.

 

In another bowl mix topping by adding sugar, flour and butter. Mix together with fork until crumbly. Sprinkle topping over entire cake. Dust cinnamon over top if you like.

 

Bake 40-45 minutes. Insert cake tester or toothpick in center to check for doneness. Let rest. Cut and serve. 

 

 

 

All and all, a lovely cake recipe to make use of our neighbors' rhubarb.

 

Do you have a favorite rhubarb recipe? There's still more to be harvested and I hate to see it go to waste. I might do a little searching for a jam recipe, but I'm open to suggestions.

 

 

Raining cats and dogs here. It really lashed overnight. The sump pump is now working overtime.  So glad I cut my peonies before it started to get heavy.

 

Today I'm working on some logo design adjustments, among other things.

 

How about you? What's on your plate today?

 

Ciao for now ,

 

 

 

From The Kitchen: Good Start Granola

 

Homemade Granola. It's Easy!

 

Here's the thing. G is a cereal in the morning man. He's sometimes a cereal for dessert man too. And he loves granola. We go through boxes of granola lickity split.  I'm not sure if he knows this, but generally speaking when he pours his bowl of granola, it's way more than a serving. Like I said, he loves granola.

 

Since he loves granola so much, and it seems to be made of some pretty basic ingredients, I thought it was time to make a big batch of homemade goodness for the man until his bowl runneth over.

 

I found a good few recipes, including this one from Stone Gable.  I got the basic gist of it and made up my own. A little more of this, none of that, less of this........you get the picture. 

 

Good Start Granola

 

6 cups of rolled oats (I used Red's extra thick)

1/2 cup of wheat germ

3/4 slivered almonds

1 1/3 cup of coconut (flaked)

2 cups raisins

3/4 cup of brown sugar (reserve a 1/4 of a cup)

1tbs of cinnamon

2 tbs. of vanilla

honey

 

Combine the oats, almonds, wheat germ, coconut, 1/2 a cup of brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla.  Spread on cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper.  Bake at 225f degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turn every 15 minutes, and sprinkle with reserved brown sugar and drizzle with honey. 

 

If you're gluten intolerant, leave out the wheat germ and if you have nut allergy swap out the almonds for another dried fruit. 

 

 

An easy, homemade breakfast. I doubt you'll want store bought granola again. (See Mom, it really wasn't hard.)

 

Have a great day wherever you are. The sun is shining here and the windows are open. It actually feels like Spring, so I'm going with it. Hope to get out into my flower beds at the end of the day. Maybe even before then for a break.

 

Ciao for now,

 

 

 

From The Kitchen: Cuban Black Bean Soup

 

 

As Good As Soup Gets

 

I remember the first time I heard of black bean soup. My Dad and I were at a local standby, The Loaf and Ladle in Exeter. I'm not even sure why we were there because this was not a common outing for us. As soon as my Dad saw black bean soup on the menu, his decision was made. Me? Not so fast. That soup is black? Are you sure that's what you want?

 

Somewhere along the way I tried it and I gotta tell ya, I love the stuff. We love the stuff. It's just so good.

 

Now, photographing black food (it's really sort of brown, but either way it's dark) and making it look good enough to devour isn't the easiest thing to do.

 

Can you just trust me on this one? Truly. This is good soup.

 

 



I've cooked this soup a number of different ways, and if I'd had a ham hock on hand, I probably would have used that as the stock base, but since I didn't, this is how it worked itself out this time.

Cuban Black Bean Soup
{crock pot style}

14 oz bag of dried black beans
6 -8 cups of chicken stock or vegetable stock
One large onion, diced small
3 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
Palmful of chopped fresh cilantro
3 tbs of cumin
1 tbs of saffron
Salt and pepper

Put dried beans in crock pot and cover with chicken stock so that liquid is about inch above the beans. Reserve rest of liquid and add during cooking.  Add onion, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper. Set on high and let cook for a couple of hours, checking and stirring occasionally.  If all liquid has been soaked up, add more and do so each time beans have absorbed all liquid. When beans are simmering and getting softer, turn down to low.  Add cilantro, saffron and rest of liquid and cook half hour longer.  If you want a thinner consistency soup you can add more stock if you like.  Serve with dollop of sour cream and a little chopped fresh cilantro.

Makes 6 - 8 servings

Oh. Hell. Yeah.

I like to add the fresh cilantro after the other spices because I think it allows the cumin and saffron flavors to develop. Then when you add the cilantro, it adds another completely different layer of fresh flavor.

Enjoy.


Sunset Meadows

I don't know what it is about the weather or the temperatures this week, but the sunsets have been pretty impressive.  Last night's included. Another free show that lasted for more than an hour. I called my Mom to tell her to check it out, but it was kind of a low sunset because it was hanging below clouds. She couldn't see what I was seeing, but now she can and so can you.

You need a break, don't you? Sit back, relax and take it all in.

 

Ah. Isn't that better?

 

Hope you enjoyed your weekend. Ours was filled with bookwork (yuk and which still isn't quite complete), time with the neighbors, and good steaks on the BBQ.  We wanted to have a campfire but the winds have been wicked, so it was a no go on that plan.  Did you do anything special or did you hang close to home?

 

Make it a great Monday. Let's start the week off with a bang.

 

Ciao for now,