Banana Bread

For the Bread:

3 whole bananas

1 table spoons whole milk

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature save the wrapper!!

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

Streusel Topping:

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter

A pinch of salt

1/3 cup Walnuts, Chopped

NOTE :::  I don't like the streusel, might as well just add the walnuts into the mixture of bread together with the cinnamon and use a portion of dark brown sugar for the sugar in the bread mixture. Add some rolled oats maybe or a mixture of almonds and walnuts and pecans and some sunflower seeds. This recipe tastes really healthy and good. And I always exchange all the usage of butter for olive oil. :)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place bananas {peel left on} onto a baking sheet.

Place in preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes. Bananas should be soft and the peels should be dark. Now reduce the temperature of the oven to 325 degrees F. and butter {using your reserved wrapper} and line a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan.

Cream the sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a small bowl, mash the bananas, cinnamon and nutmeg with a fork. Mix in the milk. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add the banana mixture to the creamed butter/sugar mixture and mix until combined. Add in the dry ingredients, mixing just until flour disappears.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 40-45 minutes. With ten minutes remaining prepare the streusel topping by combining the butter, flour, dark brown sugar in a medium bowl. Using a pastry cutter, blend the ingredients. Add a small pinch of salt, and the chopped walnuts and toss. After the 40 minutes remove and sprinkle on topping evenly and bake for 20-25 more minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool on a rack for at least 15 minutes.

Slice and spread with honey or serve with ice cream, but I like mine still warm with butter!

Sticky Toffee Pudding

I got this off Jamie Oliver. You can just search up online but I must say that I would love it with more dates and stickier :) And if you ever were to substitute the self-raising flour with flour, baking powder and baking soda and salt, trust me, don't put the salt. Just don't......I made mine in lil' serving cup sizes so that I can give them away easily. 

 225g fresh dates, stoned (or more)

 • 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

 • 85g unsalted softened butter

 • 170g caster sugar

 • 2 large free-range eggs

 • 170g self-raising flour

 • ¼ teaspoon ground mixed spice

 • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

 • 2 tablespoons Ovaltine

 • 2 tablespoons natural yoghurt

 for the toffee sauce

 • 115g unsalted butter

 • 115g light muscovado sugar

 • 140ml double cream

You are going to love this pudding – it has a rich, fantastic flavour and the sauce is amazing. Fresh Medjool dates are best to use, but dried ones work well too.

Preheat your oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. Put the dates in a bowl with the bicarbonate of soda and cover with 200ml/7fl oz of boiling water. Leave to stand for a couple of minutes to soften, then drain. Whiz the dates in a food processor until you have a purée. Meanwhile, cream your butter and sugar until pale using a wooden spoon, and add the eggs, flour, mixed spice, cinnamon and Ovaltine. Mix together well, then fold in the yoghurt and your puréed dates. Pour into a buttered, ovenproof dish and bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes.

While the pudding is cooking, make the toffee sauce by putting the butter, sugar and cream in a pan over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved and the sauce has thickened and darkened in colour. To serve, spoon out the pudding at the table and pour over the toffee sauce.

French Toast and Cream Scones

FRENCH TOAST

Who doesn't like french toasts? I was up early to prepare for my big exam and I made french toast for myself. It's relatively simple but I decided to have some variations for this one. So, I bought some Hailam bread (it's very fluffy and absorbs the egg really easily). I added some vanilla essence, honey, rum, and butter, cinnamon. That's practically it actually. Maybe not that special to some.

I fried the bread soaked with olive oil. I think you can make savoury french toast with no sugar/honey, but use some herbs in the egg. So, back to what I did. I switched off the fire and I placed  the butter into the still hot pan so that it will melt. I mixed in the rum, honey, vanilla, and cinnamon. I didn't actually put maple sauce cause I didn't feel like it. The, I just showered each layer of french toast with the butter-rum sauce. 

CREAM SCONES

2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar

2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup (75 grams) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup (120 ml) milk, half-and-half, or heavy cream

Glaze:

Cream or Milk

Cream Scones: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and place the rack in the middle of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

In a large bowl, whisk or sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender, two knives, or with your fingertips. (The mixture should look like coarse crumbs.) In a small measuring cup whisk together the milk or cream, beaten egg and vanilla. Add this mixture to the flour mixture. Stir just until combined. Do not over mix.

Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead the dough gently four or five times and then pat into a 7 inch (18 cm) round. Then, using a lightly floured 2 1/2 inch (6.5 cm) round cookie cutter, cut the dough into rounds. Place the rounds on the prepared cookie sheet, spacing a few inches apart. Brush the tops of the scones with a little cream. (This helps to brown the tops of the scones during baking.)

Bake for about 15 - 18 minutes or until nicely browned and a toothpick inserted into the center of a scone comes out clean. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Serve with Devon cream or softly whipped cream and your favorite jam. These scones are best the day they are made but can be covered and stored for a few days. They also freeze very well.

Makes about 10 - 2 1/2 inch (6.5 cm) round scones.

Variation : I added some raisins which were soaked in rum. Sorry, I have a thing for rum. 

Breakfast, My Way.

Isn't breakfast everything to you? Well, it is to me. I was trying to use up my English muffins cause I was getting tired of sandwiches as I've said before in the last post. So, :) eggs are good for you! Easy to make too.

English muffins, spread with olive oil and fried to the crisp, the cut into bite size

2 eggs

Spices (I used pepper, salt, chili, dried oregano)

So, this egg-poaching needs a lot of attention and patience. Make sure that the hot water that you boil in a pan doesn't reach boiling point. Turn off the fire when the bubbles are about 1 cm in diameter. Break one egg at a time if you;re not very confident. Drop the raw egg slowly and do not disturb it until the egg has turned white (let the duration be shorter if you want a more "flowy" egg). Take the egg out from the pan and remove as much water as possible before placing it on the egg. Sprinkle the spices on top and EAT!!!!!!

Mix Vegetables and Salami Roast

I got kind of sick of sandwiches. Haha. I guess I love cooking and baking instead of piling things up one by one. It bores my by the end of the day but I must say that the sandwiches were yummy. Anyway, I have some extra English Muffins which I couldn't finish. So, I decided to put in in the roast which I was craving. I was craving vegetables, as weird as it is....

This serves 3-4 large servings.

What you're gonna need :::::

1 Cucumber, cubed

1-2 Tomato(es), cubed

1 carrot, sliced

1 aubergine, sliced

A handful of beef salami, sliced

1 large onion, cubed

3 English muffins, cubed

a handful Fresh marjoram

1/2 lemon, juiced and some cut and mixed with the vegetables to be roasted

Gruyere cheese, freshly grated

1/4 cup Red wine

1/3 cup Olive oil

 a splurge or two of White vinegar

Spices (chili flakes, nutmeg, cinnamon, paprika)

salt and pepper

So, just cut all the ingredients up and mix it all up in a large bowl before putting it into the tray. Roast at 180 degrees for 10-15 minutes till golden brown. Mix it and serve right away. It's so delicious. Try it!!!!!!!!!!!

Before baking..

 After 10-15 minutes

Casserole

Want something healthy? Something fast? Something easy? casserole is practically you chopping things up and baking it and it's done. Cooking is the simplest thign to do. Just be creative and daring. I created this actually. I placed some macaroni at the bottom, I blended brocolli and feta cheese. Poured it over the pasta and add some  black olives, and baked it for 15-20 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius, and it's done :)

Homemade Pesto Genovese

Pesto goes well with salad, sandwich (sauce) or in pasta. I made mine following an old recipe book (but I changed it a bit) which my mother passed down to me. It's by Joanne Glynn. 

Italian food is all about freshness. Try making an aglio olio with dying veggies, I wanna see how that's gonna work out for you....

Ingredients :

a handful of fresh basil. 

cloves of garlic

1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil

a handful of nuts (almond/pine nuts/walnut; basically whatever you like)

1/2 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup goat cheese

Toast the nuts for 5 minutes and chop them into small bits. Mix the oil, garlic, basil, and nuts together. Add the cheese and stir well. Serve it up with pasta if that's what you choose to have.