Are you hungry?: 4/1/10

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Ripe Plantain Bread, you have been tagged!

Well I have just been Photo tagged! Not a Facebook photo tag, a blog photo tag - same concept. Seems my pal Sara over at The Breathing Post thinks I always post yummy pics thus the tag, thanks Sara you are too kind.

To accept the tag, the rules of the game are similar to those award rules:

Go to your photo files, select the 8th photo folder.
Select the 8th photo in that folder.
Post that photo along with the story behind it
Challenge 8 blogging friends to do the same

Of course I went to my food pics folder. The eighth folder there was my ripe plantain bread photos, woo hooo! this bread recipe is quite different (and delicious) and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.
The Plantain Bread Story - I had three or four plantains that were excessively ripe therefore, preparing Platanos Fritos (fried plantains) was out of the question. Most of you know how I just refuse to toss out food and as a result, I went directly to Google for an answer.

Here is the original recipe post with my modifications (like this).

Pan de plátano
(Ripe plantain bread)
Serves: six adults
Preparation time: one hour
Ingredients:
1 cup mashed ripe plantain (I used 2 black and very soft)
1/2 bar margarine (1/2 cup coconut milk)
1 1/4 cups flour
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking power

Procedure:
Beat margarine until soft; add sugar, eggs, and sour cream (mix coconut milk, sugar, eggs, and sour cream until thoroughly combine)
Blend plantains, flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Add them to the previous mixture. Add the vanilla and beat thoroughly.

Pour the mixture into a greased and flower pan. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for about an hour. Check with a wooden toothpick. When it comes out dry, the bread is done.
Enjoy!

http://www.dollarman.com/puertorico/pandeplatano.html

Red fell asleep on the couch before the bread was ready. He woke, ate a slice, and had this face after finishing the last bite. "What’s up with the face Red?" "Ma, this is some wacky bread, tastes pretty good just has weird aftertaste. The next morning Red tried a second slice and alleged the flavor improved, although it would not be his choice of bread. I guess I should tell you Red dislikes Platanos Frito, a good reason for his comments.

As for my assessment, oh my gosh this bread was outstanding! The taste was quite different from traditional banana bread; however, the same robust characteristics of banana bread existed. The ripe plantain flavor was prominent to say the least. I smothered another slice with cream cheese the following morning; an exciting flavor and grand breakfast bread idea!

That concludes my Plantain Bread story, hope you liked it.

Now for eight truly amazing foodie photo tags:

Southern Grace Gourmet by Angie
La Fuji Mama by Rachael
Food o' del Mundo by Mary and the gang
Foodalogue by Joan
Elras Baking by Elra
Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice by Reeni
Burp and slurp by Sophia
Whats Cookin' Italian Style Cuisine by Claudia

Are you hungry?

♥

Comments Recipe Tags: baking, bread, snack

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Chocolate Graham Pudding Dessert - My square pie

We had a few warmer than I expected days a few weeks ago, meaning dessert would not be oven baked. I was reminded that all too soon the weather here in Florida would be a “no way am I baking” situation. Chocolate graham pudding dessert is a [square] chocolate pie with butterscotch and graham cracker topping. Red, my dessert partner, described this dessert as the most wacky delicious pudding dessert ever. Guess he liked it, huh? Oh and I should tell you that the original recipe came from a box of Granny Ella’s Honey Graham Crackers.

Crust-
9 Graham Crackers, crushed to 1 ¼ cups
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup baking cocoa
6 Tbsp. butter, melted

Butter an 8” by 8” pan/dish. Whirl crackers in a processor until crushed. Combine the crumbs, sugar, and baking cocoa; stir to mix. Add melted butter and mix well. Press into the bottom and partway up the sides of the dish. Leave some thickness where the bottom and side intersect as you press up the side. This helps support the edges when serving. Set aside.

Filling-
1 1/2 cups milk (I used low fat)
1 package chocolate instant pudding mix
1 cup sour cream

Combine milk and pudding mix. Beat about one minute or until thickened. Blend in the sour cream. Pour over crust.

Topping-
1 Graham Cracker, crushed
1/4 cup butterscotch chips

Whirl cracker and chips until crumbly. Sprinkle over pudding mix and press gently in place. Chill 2-3 hours or until completely set. Makes approximately 6 servings.

If truth be told, this was an amazing dessert; simple to prepare and yet so pleasingly rich. Too bad I didn't have a big dollop of home made whipped cream to plop on top. If so, my square chocolate pudding pie would have earned the title outrageous square chocolate pie dessert!

♥

Comments Recipe Tags: chocolate, dessert, snack

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Grilled Pork Chops, pineapple, and cinnamon apples

Grilled food, you all expected that right? We ate grilled food every day last week. Over the weekend, we attended two weddings. Our niece was married pool side on Saturday, and a very close friend of my son was married at a horse ranch on Sunday. We ate grilled food and pulled pork at both of those events!
Apples and pineapples are the first fruits I ever grilled and Oh boy, were they delicious. Red had a bottle of spiced rum in the cabinet. Remembering reading how others used wine and Jack Daniels in preparation for grilling fruits, I thought why not use the rum. Good choice!

Grilled Pork Chops:
I splashed low sodium soy sauce on both sides, rubbing before turning. Then I scattered liberally with Adobo seasoning and ground chipotle pepper, and rubbed. The pork chops marinated for about three hours. Just before grilling, I mixed half a cup of Kansas City BBQ sauce with half cup water for basting. Half way through the grilling process, the pork chops were lightly brushed with the KC BBQ sauce.

Grilled Pineapple
Mix one ounce of spiced rum with one tablespoon of brown sugar. Slice half of a pineapple about ¾ to one inch thick. Drop slices one at a time into the rum-sugar mix, coating both sides. Allow to rest for at least 30 minutes before grilling.

Grilled Cinnamon Apples
Mix one or two ounces of spiced rum with one and a half tablespoons of brown sugar. Core and slice three apples about one inch thick. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon, and add to the rum-sugar mix. Stir to coat completed and allow resting the same as the pineapple slices.

I was a bit nervous and thought the fruit would grill much faster than it did. Originally, the last burner was set to medium low. The fruit just did not seem to be grilling correctly so I upped the burner to medium. In all, the fruits took about thirty minutes to grill. I read in The Barbecue! Bible that grilled food should be allowed to rest. That is some fine advice. I tasted one of the apples while setting the table. They were good. When we sat down and ate, the apples were extra flavorful. In all honesty, I thought they were fabulous! Red preferred the pineapples, but then again pineapple is one of his favorite fruit so his opinion is biased. Grilled meats are hubby’s favorite and he raved about those pork chops.

♥

Comments Recipe Tags: dinner, fruit, grilled, pork

Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Creamy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Pie

This is a half of one recipe and half of another recipe dessert. I did my usual pantry scan and then went to searching. This was one of the recipe search times where I read so many darn recipes, it's hard to tell where the filling came from. I was so fixed on a dessert, that I completely forgot the links. What I can tell you is that I used Catherine's Oatmeal Pie Crust recipe. The filling came from a discussion board somewhere, just not sure which one. Besides, you all know I alter most things to suit what I have on hand, and I did just that. This was a great combo and very easy to prepare. The crunchy oatmeal crust was the ideal contrast to the rich peanut butter creamy filling. I added the graham cracker chocolate butterscotch topping, thinking coarse crumbs would be the perfect texture. Besides where there is peanut butter there must be at least some chocolate, right? The chips soften just a bit when processed creating a nice coarse crumb topping.

The original recipes are given as written with ~~unused ingredients~~ stricken and my revisions italicized.
Crust:
1 cup oats
½ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ tsp cinnamon
4 tablespoons butter – softened

Preheat oven 350 degrees:
In a food processor combine oats, flour, cinnamon, and brown sugar; Give a few good swirls until the oats are ground.
In a bowl combine butter, add mixture from the food processor, and mix until dough is crumbly.
Butter the bottom of a single 9" pie plate and press the dough to the bottom and sides. Place pan in the oven and bake 15 minutes or until crust is slightly golden.

Pie:
Filling
1/2 (8 ounce) package Philadelphia brand cream cheese
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed
~~1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust~~
~~1/4 cup finely chopped peanuts~~

Topping
1/8 cup butterscotch chips
1/8 cup dark chocolate chips
1 honey graham cracker

Whip the cream cheese until soft and fluffy. Beat in the sugar and peanut butter.
Fold whipped topping into the peanut butter mixture. Pour filling into the pie shell. The filling is very thick and did not pour. I had to spoon and spread. Combine graham cracker and chips. Coarsely chop or whirl in a food processor till crumbly. Sprinkle pie with ~~chopped peanuts~~ crumb topping and press gently. Chill until firm.

Double the recipe when using a deep dish pie plate.

♥

Comments Recipe Tags: dessert, snack

Saturday, April 03, 2010

Sassy Vegetables and Baked Oregano Chicken

Chicken and more chicken, lots of chicken eating going on in my house. If hubby, being the Florida boy that he is, had it his way chicken would always be served fried and spicy. I don't agree; I'm always on the look out for new chicken recipes. Catherine, author of Living the Gourmet, shares quite a few irresistible chicken recipes. I book marked this one some time ago and finally served it up this week. Of course Catherine used fresh vegetables and I substituted the vegetables with what I had on hand. The original Oven Baked Chicken with Veggies recipe is shown with my alterations (like this).

Ingredients

( 8 pieces chicken, thighs and drumsticks)

* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 onion – sliced
* 3 green bell peppers – sliced
* 4 cloves of garlic – crushed & chopped
* 3 zucchini – sliced
(1 large bag of frozen cauliflower, zucchini, and carrots + 1 fresh red bell pepper)
* ¾ cup chicken broth
* 1 tsp smoked paprika
* 1 tsp paprika
* 1 tsp dried oregano
* 1 tps chili powder
* Olive oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees:
2. In a baking dish place 1 cup of flour plus 1 tsp smoked paprika. Dip the chicken in the flour and place in a baking dish; sprinkle a tsp of dried oregano over the chicken. Drizzle a little bit of olive oil over the chicken and place in the oven.
3. Bake the chicken for about 45-50 minutes, until the chicken has reached a golden color.
4. In a bowl place the (thawed and drained) zucchini, peppers, onions and garlic. Add the chili powderchili powder and paprika and 2 or 3 tablespoons olive oil and toss.
5. In a large heated frying pan place the (red bell pepper) veggies and sauté until slightly golden. (Add the thawed, drained vegetables. stir just to heat through) Dust the veggies with 1 tablespoon of flour and add the chicken broth and stir about 2 minutes, until the broth thickens.
6. Plate the chicken and spoon the veggies and thickened broth on top.

The flavor of the sauce was wonderful with the chicken. The frozen vegetables really absorbed the sauce, leaving little to spoon over the chicken. Next time I will double the sauce if using frozen veggies.

Are you hungry?

♥