My high school friend, Emily, likes her bananas a little green and crunchy. She'd have it easy in my house. I like my bananas freckled. But no matter how many bananas I buy, either my son gobbles them all up, or they go bad before they get freckly.
On Friday afternoon my neighbor brought me around two dozen over-ripe bananas ready for freezing. I've already been baking more than usual, so banana bread was not the solution. Unfortunately for me, it is still warm enough where I live to eat ice cream.
Last night I took several of the bananas out of the freezer and left them in my food processor to begin to soften. Then I just turned it on. It's that simple. Frozen bananas in a blender (or food processor). You can add just about whatever you want. Yesterday added vanilla and cinnamon. Today, vitamin D and probiotics. You could add mint extract and chocolate chips. Or you could pulse in frozen or fresh pitted cherries after the bananas are smooth. Top it with hot fudge or sprinkles. A banana split might be going a little overboard.
Don't try to save leftover ice cream because it will freeze solid if it has even slightly started to defrost first. (I tried it yesterday.) Today our guest had to go home to do her homework right before I served the "ice cream" so I put it in the freezer, still in my food processor, and periodically took it out and blended it. That worked very well to delay eating it for several hours, and it may have kept overnight after that. You could freeze it into ice pop molds. Kind of defeats the purpose of the creaminess, though. You might as well just eat a cold banana on a stick.
UPDATE: I had some moms and little kids over last night, but something came up and I couldn't get to the grocery store to pick up fresh fruits and veggies to put out. Luckily, the night before I had frozen 4 ripe bananas (peeled) in a zip-top freezer bag. When the crowd was over I blended them up with natural peanut butter and vanilla soy milk. Most of the kids were too busy playing, but the moms loved it, even on this January evening.
As I said in my original stuffed zucchini post, I suggested to my friend Tzippy that we both make stuffed zucchini and then compare what we did. I filled my zucchini with a rice mixture and baked them. When we ate ours they were still crispy and juicy. Below is what Tzippy did, along with her gorgeous pictures.
In this post I want to feature two things you probably have in your kitchen and don't use often enough: A melon baller and a medicine syringe.
The medicine syringe I just thought of today. I have a 1.5 kilo container of honey and I wanted to get a tiny bit on some pears. I strongly recommend it the next time you want to drizzle any syrupy substance on cake, toast, etc. I also plan to try it for piping icing and filling donuts.
The melon baller I use all the time. Anytime I want to carve out a zucchini or winter squash, or make avocado salad. When pears are in season I use it several times a day. Just slice the pear in half, pull the stem with your fingers toward the center and use the melon baller on the seeds. Look how much less waste I have when I use a melon baller to scoop the seeds out of these apples instead of cutting pieces from the core.
My kids like when I put cinnamon in the middle.
When my kids come home from school I try to have fruits and veggies ready. Today for a treat everyone (including my husband) got a drizzle of honey and cinnamon in their little apples and pears. My son loves red bell pepper and my daughter likes avocado. You can see I used the melon baller to scoop out the avocado.
My Aunt Nan recently got back from a trip to China and informed me that my blog is blocked in China. Now that I have more confidence that authentic Chinese residents will not see my blog and be offended by my faux Chinese food, I will surely post more. Here is a noodle salad good warm or cold. Many of the ingredients can be substituted or skipped to make the dish healthier or cheaper. Here are some suggested ingredients:
- Lo mein, soba noodles, whole wheat or Barilla Plus thin spaghetti
- Teryaki dressing/marinade and/or:
- date syrup or molasses
- soy sauce
- a little vinegar
- Sesame oil (I don't know if this is a waste)
- Another oil, peanut would be good if you have some.
- Sesame seeds
- Bean sprouts
- Cranberries
- Chopped chives or scallions
- Fried Chinese noodles (very optional and only if you don't mind having them in the house.)
1. Start boiling water for noodles.
2. Toast the sesame seeds. You can toast them in the oven or dry in a metal bowl or pan on the stove.
3. Wash and start cooking bean sprouts.
4. Mix everything together when the noodles are done.
This was an easy and tasty chicken dish I made as I was rushing to get dinner in the oven and shower in the time before sunset on Friday night. But mostly I want to show off my new silicone brush. I really wanted a green one, but my daughter was with me and she felt the pink would be a more prudent choice.
I covered the bottom of the pan with frozen green beans, then put on "fresh" chicken drum sticks and topped it with chopped onions and tomato paste. I covered it and cooked it for quite some time. The onions were sweet and juicy and the green beans were tasty... if you don't mind them limp.
Kid tip - When I use tomato paste, I call it ketchup and my kids are more likely to eat it. My son insists he hates tomatoes, though he loves sun-dried tomatoes, tomato sauce, and ketchup.
I don't do much baking, but of course I wanted to participate in "Challah for Healing", so my kids and I made whole wheat soft pretzels/bagels. I used the basic recipe and method shown in the Good Eats episode "Pretzel Logic" with some changes. Did I mention I have trouble sticking to recipes? This was my first time trying to make pretzels and I think they were pretty good, but I think I will try a different recipe next time, or increase the kneading and rising.
Take any recipe for bagels, pizza, or soft pretzels that looks good to you, let it rise, then start having fun with the dough. This is my favorite shaping technique:
1. Roll two skinny snakes around 6 inches each.
2. Dampen the dough and roll each snake in a different colored topping, like poppy seeds and sesame seeds, or paprika and curry. Push it in well, or it'll fall off when you boil the pretzels.
3. Twist the two snakes and bring the ends together to form a circle.
Last night my friend Tzippy and I were at the shuk around closing time. I pointed out some zucchini that were different from what I was used to in the States. She said they are very good for stuffing. We both bought some and I suggested that I would post what we each did with ours.
Here are mine:
I filled mine with 2/3 brown rice and 1/3 short grain white rice, a mix of dried vegetables and spices from Pereg and canned corn. Then I baked them uncovered, but not long enough according to my husband. He preferred the rice while my daughter preferred the zucchini, my son didn't eat much and I liked it all.
"Challah for Healing" was kicked off around 9:00 am, EST, in Maryland, USA, by one of my favorite people - Leor. She was unable to cook closer to the Sabbath, but wanted to participate. She sent me video showing how to make a 4-strand braid and a roll with a single strand. Thanks Leor!
Leor mentioned that her and her husband like their challah "just baked so the inside is fully cooked but doughy." I like that too, but my husband prefers his consistent and loafy.
I was considering making pretzels tomorrow. Any dough that uses at least 10 cups of flour is enough to make the blessing for the commandment to separate "challah", it doesn't have to be traditional egg bread. From what I gather, I can use any good pretzel, bagel, or pizza dough recipe that will give me a nice chewy dough. I shape the pretzels or bagels, give them a brief boil in baking soda water, then bake them. Doesn't seem too hard. I figure, once, I break out all that flour, what's a little boiling water? I'm thinking I might use the opportunity to have fun with some of my new spices.
In Israel there is really no line between pretzels and bagels. They are all called "bagel'leh". Everything from big soft round bready things to little crunchy things covered in sesame seeds. Common toppings seem to be za'atar, salt, sesame, and something orange that might be like curry. If I can make a soft pretzel, I might try to fill them with sun dried tomatoes. If mine are coming out crunchy, I think I will stick to salt, sesame, and maybe add some honey.
The traditional pretzel shape has origins in Christianity. I think I might try some shapes of my own. Here are some ideas from Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories:
For more information on participating in the mitzvah of challah in the merit of a complete recovery for Nechama Gittel Chaya bat Chana, click here.
For more Challah braiding techniques, see "Shaping and More."
Update: Soft Pretzels
Spices are like accessories to your food wardrobe. Sometimes you want that blouse (or zucchini) to sing it's own song, unhindered by the most delicate necklace (or oregano). And sometimes accessories bring out the best (or hide the worst) in your clothes. When I moved to Israel I had to start from scratch with my edible wardrobe. I've had the opportunity to try new things, but I've also shied away from things I rarely used in America. There were some spices I counted on to be there for me, even though they didn't often make it past my nose, into my food.
This dish looked so celebratory, it seems like it would be appropriate for whichever New Year you celebrate. I really just wanted to experiment with some new things. I was going for a sweet and spicy Mediterranean/Spanish feel. Now that I have a better idea how long things take to cook, I might be able to combine some of the things I cooked separately.
I used my Ethiopian chick peas (you could use canned), brown rice (undercooked), fried onions, carrots, green and red peppers, cumin, smoked paprika, cinnamon... I think it would also be good with raisins and peas. My husband bought chicken already in those little strips. I rinsed, drained, and covered the chicken with honey (remember my 1.5 kilograms of honey?) and some pepper and then lightly fried them in oil.
I topped it with pistachios. I actually got that idea because I needed a job for my son, who badly wants to help and watch everything I do. I had just enough to top one dish. Then I drizzled a tiny stream of honey over the chicken and rice. I covered the whole dish with foil and put everything in the oven to finish cooking. Some veggie of chicken broth would have been a nice addition, as would even a single fresh herb. The smaller pan went in the freezer for a future dinner.
Update: The smaller pan was successfully rewarmed. It love eating food after I forget the work that went into it. I really don't get more pleasure from the fruits of my labor. The chicken was juicy and the vegetables were just as tasty after their 2.5 week suspended animation.
