Banana Peanut Butter Coffee Cake

One of those relaxed, semi-annual Sunday mornings. I wanted something a little special for breakfast, like a coffee cake, and I had over ripe bananas in my kitchen. My search online for Banana Coffee Cake showed some promising recipes, but most had nuts in or on them--something my nut hater would not be happy about. How about a peanut butter streussel instead? This is what I ended up with, and I have to say, it was . . . wow.
Recipe adapted from ones in allrecipes.com and Better Homes and Garden Cookbook.

Banana Peanut Butter Coffee Cake
1 8-oz package cream cheese
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1-1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
3 medium bananas, mashed
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
TOPPING:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup peanut butter
3 Tbsp butter or margarine, softened

Beat together the cream cheese, butter and sugar. Add the bananas, eggs and vanilla; beat until smooth. Combine dry ingredients; add to batter and mix. Smooth into a greased 13 x 9-inch pan. Sprinkle with topping. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
For topping, stir together brown sugar and flour. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter and peanut butter until uniform.

Corn Chowder

I'm usually a recipe gal, especially when it comes to baked goods. I've never created a cake or cookie or bread without a recipe right next to me. But soup, that's where I get a bit adventurous. I've been making chowder without a recipe for years now. The type depends on what I have, or don't have, in the fridge. But the basics of it remain the same. And they've remained in my head, until now. It suddenly dawned on me, possibly because one of my soup-loving daughters will be heading off on her own soon, that I couldn't pass on an exact recipe to her if she asked. Not that she will. She hates to cook. But maybe she will someday, or someone else will. In anticipation of that day, I actually paid attention while making my corn chowder last night. And now I'm writing it down. If only for myself for when I'm old and forgetful and, oh yeah, I'm already that way.
This by the way, is the pantry-friendly version because it uses canned corn and evaporated milk. Fresh or frozen corn would also be good.

Corn Chowder

Serves 4-6

Four potatoes cut into bite-sized cubes

2 cups chicken broth or the equivalent of water and boullion

1/2 Tbsp dried onion

1/4 tsp dried dill

1 15-oz can of corn (about a cup and a half of frozen or fresh kernels)

1 12-oz can evaporated milk

1 heaping Tbsp cornstarch

salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Suggested toppings: cheese, bacon bits, green onion

In a large saucepan, combine cubed potatoes, broth and onion and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium low and simmer about ten minutes or until potatoes are tender. Open can of corn and pour off half of the liquid. Pour the corn and remaining liquid into a blender or food processor and pulse a few times until about half the corn is chopped up and the liquid has a creamy look to it. (Skip this step with frozen. With fresh, cut it off the cob and use the back of a knife to scrape some of the cob's juice in with the kernels.) Add corn to soup and simmer until corn is heated through.   

Add the dill and all but about 1/4 cup of milk to the soup. Pour the 1/4 cup into a small bowl and mix with cornstarch until lump-free. When the soup begins to steam, add the milk-cornstarch mixture and stir until the soup thickens. If not thick enough for your liking, repeat process with another tablespoon of cornstarch combined with 1/4 cup milk. Add two or three turns of a pepper grinder, but taste before adding salt.

Serve with suggested toppings or others of your choice.



Cool drinks for a hot summer

Here it is July already, and it's been a hot one. I can't blame the heat for my lack of blogging, but I can credit it for a spurt of inspiration I had in the kitchen. While searching for a nice cool drink to serve, I came up with the following, which was adapted from an Orange Julius recipe.

Pina Colada (my version)
6 oz frozen pineapple juice concentrate
1 cup water
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp coconut extract
1 tsp rum exract
1 tray of ice cubes

Combine all the above ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Orange Julius
6 oz frozen orange juice concentrate
1 cup water
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tray of ice cubes

Combine all the above ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Fruit Dip

This is so simple, but I get lots of requests for the recipe.

8 oz pkg. cream cheese
7 oz container marshmallow cream
juice from one lemon or one lime

Beat all ingredients together until smooth. Serve with any kind of fruit.
Note: I just tasted someone else's version of this recipe. She used orange juice and some grated orange rind. It was tasty. I still think lime is my favorite, though.

A Good Mystery

I like a good mystery, especially a historical one. My favorites are the Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters and the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. Cadfael is a monk in the middle ages, Amelia an Egyptologist in the late nineteen and early twentieth centuries.
I've recently discovered a new mystery series that I'm excited about. This one, too, is historical, and is called "The Lady Grace Mysteries". It's written as the daybooke ( a kind of journal, I guess) of Lady Grace, a young maid of honor to Queen Elizabeth 1. Lady Grace uses the vocabulary of the time period and has a spunky, funny personality, which I find a plus in any book, even a mystery. Though geared toward middle-grade readers, teens and adults would enjoy it too--at least, I did. As far as the mystery goes, it didn't take me long to figure out what was going to happen, but the solution of the puzzle was only half the fun.
The series follows the alphabet. So far I've read Assasin and Betrayal. The author isn't credited on the cover of the book, but it's Patricia Finney.

A Doughnut Fry

We had a doughnut fry yesterday. But before I write about that, I have to mention this. I seem to have an unusually strong connection with the past. I'm sure that many of the things that I like to make or do seem old-fashioned. And that is exactly why I do them.
For instance, I like to knit. And one of the reasons I knit is because it reminds me of my grandma. When I sit and make that soft tic-tic sound with my needles, it's as if grandma is right there beside me, her hands busy as they always were. If ever a turkey dressing is required, I can only make her recipe. It doesn't matter that I've seen hundreds of different recipes, and some of them actually sound good. If I'm going to make it, it has to be hers. The same thing goes for pie. Perish the thought of making anything other than my mother's pie crust recipe.
And so, back to doughnuts.
Making doughnuts requires a wintry day. It's best if you've been out sledding or tubing and come in to warm up and find hot, crispy doughnuts waiting. At least, that's the way it was for me and my cousins when I was growing up. In fact, the only time we had homemade doughnuts was after a full day in the snow. We'd come home to hot chili, cocoa, and Aunt Ann's steaming, crispy doughnuts, fresh from the fryer.
That's the ideal, anyway. And I've attempted to recreate that mood a couple of times in the past. But it didn't happen yesterday. It was wintry, but we didn't play in the snow. I made up a batch of dough, then we sat down and settled into an involved game of Settlers of Catan: Cities and Knights. We fried the doughnuts later, after Jeff had proved himself, once again, the master of games in our family. The girls helped cut them, I did the frying, and Tamsyn dunked them in glaze. Megyn ended up with a splash of hot oil on her finger, but it wasn't bad enough to spoil the fun. We enjoyed them with hot cocoa and sticky fingers.
Would it have been easier to run to the grocery store and buy some? Sure, but who said passing along tradition was easy?