foodiefanatics

Made banana bread this morning that was excellent. It was almost like dessert. The recipe is from Williams and Sonoma quick breads and calls for 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour which you would think would make the bread dried out, but instead it was light and sweet and quite tasty. I will definitely make this again.
Last week I made carrot bread starting with a recipe from Cookinglight, apr 09 but wildly adapting it. 
1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1 t cinnamon, 1 t baking soda, 1/4 t salt, 1/4 cup flax seed (mix this together)
2/3 cup grated apple, 2/3 cup grated carrot, 1/2 cup coconut milk, 2 T oil, 2 large eggs (mix together)
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, add the nuts, stir and bake in a greased bread pan at 350 for 45 minutes.

We had an unusual combo tonight. I made spicy chocolate thighs (the recipe called for wings but we like thighs better) from RAchel Ray mag (Feb 09, I believe). These were really good if you like mole. Lots of chocolate flavor. I would have liked a bit more spice next time around. Then I also made a green curry soup that we poured on udon noodles (and when the noodles ran out, ate on rice). The sauce was excellent. I invented it (probably not even remotely authentic).

Green Curry Sauce a la Vasudeva
Mix 1/2 t turmeric, 1 T chopped garlic and 1/2t salt in a mortar and pestle until paste. Add 1 T green curry paste and 1/2 T red chile paste (if you have it).  Mush it up.
Heat 1 T canola oil in a large skillet and add the mush. Fry for about 1 minute.  Add one can coconut milk and 1/2 can water and 2t sugar.  Stir until the sauce thickens somewhat (about 5 minutes). Add 1 T fish sauce and 1/2 squeezed lime. Taste for salt. If  too salty, add more sugar until the tastes are balanced. Put your noodles or rice in a bowl (probably could do some quickly steamed veggies as well or tofu) and ladle the sauce over. 
I'm just finished up a turtle ice cream pie so I haven't tried it yet. It's from bon appetit march 09 and features a graham cracker toasted pecan crust with ice cream and home made caramel topped with chocolate ganache (which is what I'm working on right now).  The caramel is made of brown sugar which I'm not sure I favor when making caramel. But we'll see.

Sunset magazine August 2006 has a great recipe for Bart's Ultimate BLT. This sandwich rocks.  It's made with applewood smoked bacon (the recipe says thick cut, but we like the thinner better), tomatoes, arugula, fresh mozzarella and basil aioli.  Make sure you get some good artisan peasant bread. I used my own basil aioli recipe made up on the fly: about 2 T finely chopped basil, scant 1/2 cup mayo, 1/2t chopped or crushed garlic and 1t lemon or lime juice. If you have time, let the aioli sit in the fridge for at least an hour.