Sauteed Bananas

Don't you love recipes that take just a couple ingredients and a few minutes? This is one of those. A lovely little dessert that's super simple to make. I found it in a nifty cookbook by Mark Bittman called The Minimalist Entertains.

These directions will serve one, so multiply accordingly.

Peel one banana. Cut it in half then split in half again lengthwise. You will have four pieces.

Melt a pat of butter (about 1 T.) in a skillet over medium-high heat. Wait until foaminess subsides.

Dredge banana pieces in a bit of flour. Shake off excess flour, then

place banana in butter.

Cook until golden, turning when needed. (Bittman says this takes 10 minutes, but mine browned in about 2-3 minutes.) Sprinkle with 1/2 t. - 1 t. sugar and cook for one more minute. Serve with a sprinkle of fresh lemon juice.

Anything you like to make with bananas that the rest of us should know about?

Salad in Search of Dressing

OK, I'm trying my best over here. But I'm not having much luck in the blue cheese salad dressing department.

First there was this batch, a low-fat version made mostly of water and vinegar and tasting of . . . well, water and vinegar.

Then there was this batch, made of cottage cheese, buttermilk, and blue cheese, blended together. The texture was fine but the taste was bland and uninteresting and not at all blue cheese-pungent.

So help a girl out here, if you can. Know of a great blue cheese salad dressing recipe you'd be willing to share?

Asian Meatballs and Noodles with Black Bean Sauce

Oh my! Talk about a good blogging day.

I discovered this delicious garlic-black bean sauce from Vanilla Sugar's blog.

Which led me to these Asian noodles from the Dishing Up Delights blog.

Which led me to these meatballs from the big ol' Costco bag in my freezer.

Which led to some pretty happy tummies around here.

What quick-to-fix dinners are making your tummy happy these days? Please share. Because your kindergarten teacher was right.

Sharing is good.

Walnut-Coconut Squares with Citrus Frosting

. . . because I'm just not convinced we've all had enough sugar yet.
I made an orange cake with glaze the other day, and must say I came away with the conviction that while glaze is good, frosting is better. So when I came across this recipe from great-great-grandma Hattie's stash, complete with orange rind/lemon juice/powdered sugar frosting, I knew exactly how I wanted to use that final orange from the toe of the Christmas stocking.

An added bonus: the recipe also allows you to smush.

And I do love smushing.

See that crust to the left? Completely smushed, with fingers and all. If you have little ones around, they would love to help with this part.

The recipe came from an old newspaper article that's probably close to a hundred years old. I made a few changes, most notably ditching the raw egg yolks in the original frosting version.

There is only so far I will go for the sake of historical accuracy, and salmonella poisoning is a titch too far.

I also added quite a bit less than the 2 3/4 cups brown sugar called for in the original walnut filling. The 1 1/2 cups I added were plenty.

Enough chatter. On to the recipe (originally called Walnut Cookies, but as you can see from the photo above, it's a grossly inadequate name for these lovelies).

WALNUT-COCONUT SQUARES WITH CITRUS FROSTING

Crust:

1 c. butter

2 c. flour

Cream butter and flour in large bowl with pastry blender. Grease a 9 x 13-inch pan, and smush mixture into pan to make crust. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.

While crust is baking, prepare filling.
Filling:

4 eggs

1/4 c. flour

1/2 t. baking powder

1 1/4 c. shredded coconut

1 1/2 c. brown sugar

1/2 t. salt

1 1/2 t. vanilla

1 c. chopped nuts (I used pecans)

Mix all together.

Spread over baked crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, make frosting.

Frosting:

rind of 1 orange, grated

2 t. fresh lemon juice

2 T. orange juice

3 T. cream (I used this in lieu of the 2 egg yolks in the original recipe. If you don't have any, I'm sure milk would work fine)

about 2 c. powdered sugar

Mix all together until frosting is smooth. Drizzle over warm (cooked) cake and spread.

So here's the question: Have we all had enough sugar yet?

What I Love About Being a Homemaker . . .

. . . on a random day in December:
Scented candles
An extra trip to town for dinner ingredients, because I just felt like having shrimp and lemon and garlic pasta tonight
Lowering the kitchen lights, lighting the Advent candle, and soaking in thoughts of the Light of the world
Getting to have a half-hour telephone conversation with my son who's two states away


Enjoying homemaking pictures from inspiring magazines, even if they are of iced tea in pretty crystal glasses while I'm two feet from the fireplace and wearing layers
Being home to get fires going, giving physicality to the statement, "Keeping the home fires burning"
Homemaking books from my shelves that inspire me to love my family even more

Food, glorious food
These are simple SMOKED SALMON APPETIZERS. Spread smoked salmon strips with softened cream cheese. Put sliver of dill pickle in center and roll up. Voila.

What do you love about being a homemaker on a random day in December?

Not So Fond o' This Fondue

I was hoping to be able to share with you a wonderful, festive fondue recipe, dense with Gruyere cheese, diced shrimp, white wine, and tarragon.
Alas, what I am able to share with you instead is this glop. Rhymes with flop.
The cheesiness never quite came together with the white wine - apple juice - lemon juice liquidness, save for about 20 seconds mid-cooking, and even then I had to whisk furiously to keep the whole thing from looking like a chemistry experiment gone awry.
As Julia Child liked to chirp, Never Apologize.
So I shan't apologize, but simply direct you, if you have a hankering for a nice, festive dinner of cheese fondue, to try instead this recipe.
Cheers.

Thankfulness and Potatoes

"O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!" (Psalm 34:8)
Happy Thanksgiving. What a wonderful holiday filled with feasting and family and gratefulness for the abundance of good gifts from our Father in Heaven. (See James 1:17 :))
Among many, many other blessings, I am thankful for my mom's awesome cranberries (two kinds!), my friend Pam's make-ahead gravy (love that gravy), and, of course, pecan fudge pie (recipe, pg. 255, Queen of the Castle).

If you have extra mashed potatoes lurking in your fridge (see this post for a shining example), you will be overjoyed to learn of this recipe: chocolate-coconut potato candy.

You might also want to look into these delicious, light as air potato rolls.

Now go. Eat. Be filled with thankfulness.

And if you get a chance to go see the movie The Blind Side? Go do it. Awesome.