Lat night some of my friends invited me to dinner as post birthday celebration. for desert they baked one of my recipes from the cookbook - Banana Cake. It was so good that I thought I would share it with the blog readers.
Banana Cake is very simple. The original recipe bakes two round layers and uses Whipped Cream for the frosting. Last night the baked it in a loaf pan and added chocolate frosting. Either way is very tasty!!
BANANA CAKE
Use your favorite yellow cake mix or your favorite from scratch recipe. Add two medium bananas that you have mixed to a liquid state. Follow the directions for your recipe. It is that simple. When it is done let it cool and then ice as you wish. Here are some suggestions.
1. Make sweetened whipped cream and use as your icing. Be sure to keep the cake in the refrigerator until time to serve. I recommend using powdered sugar to sweeten the cream. It will keep it from separating and it will hold its shape.
2. You Can put slices of banana and/or strawberry in the middle with the whipped cream, if you like. However that means you really cannot save overnight the cake as they will cause the whipped cream to soften after about an hour. Bavarian cream will work better.
3.Add a layer of chocolate in the middle or ice with chocolate butter cream
I hope you enjoy this recipe. It is simple. The cake will be very moist!
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Summer Kitchen
Sorry for the gap in posting!! It has been a busy week.
It was over 103 today so the heat is here. One way I avoid adding more heat to the house is by creating a summer kitchen. It is not that hard or expensive. I have a covered patio that it just off the main kitchen. I keep a selection of appliances out there wrapped in plastic to keep the dust and bugs out. This allows me the opportunity to cook food outside that normally would be cooked inside. I also have a small refrigerator to keep drinks cold on those hot Las Vegas afternoons. Here is a list of appliance that are easy to maintain outside.
I have a portable Deep Fryer ( electric) that I use most of the year for anything that I want to deep fry. The best part is that the fumes and heat are also outside. This gets a lot of use for chicken wings or fingers; french frys or onion rings and even fish and chips. These units clean easily and can be covered once they are cooled down and unplugged. I use peanut oil and strain it after every use.
I also added a convection toaster oven. This is great when company comes over and I need to heat up appetizers or cook something quickly that requires an oven rather than a microwave. The convection feature is a must as it helps to keep food crisp and cooks much quicker. Very handy!
A rotisserie oven - small compact and very effective. I use this a lot too. Does a great job on chicken.
Of course I have my gas grill that houses a smoker and a rotisserie as well as a large grill area. I do smoke a lot of meats. ( I love a smoked turkey for Thanksgiving.)
With just a small space you can create a wonderful outdoor cooking area that you use most of the year. In the summer it helps to keep the electric bill down because the heat is outside not in the kitchen. Give it try!
It was over 103 today so the heat is here. One way I avoid adding more heat to the house is by creating a summer kitchen. It is not that hard or expensive. I have a covered patio that it just off the main kitchen. I keep a selection of appliances out there wrapped in plastic to keep the dust and bugs out. This allows me the opportunity to cook food outside that normally would be cooked inside. I also have a small refrigerator to keep drinks cold on those hot Las Vegas afternoons. Here is a list of appliance that are easy to maintain outside.
I have a portable Deep Fryer ( electric) that I use most of the year for anything that I want to deep fry. The best part is that the fumes and heat are also outside. This gets a lot of use for chicken wings or fingers; french frys or onion rings and even fish and chips. These units clean easily and can be covered once they are cooled down and unplugged. I use peanut oil and strain it after every use.
I also added a convection toaster oven. This is great when company comes over and I need to heat up appetizers or cook something quickly that requires an oven rather than a microwave. The convection feature is a must as it helps to keep food crisp and cooks much quicker. Very handy!
A rotisserie oven - small compact and very effective. I use this a lot too. Does a great job on chicken.
Of course I have my gas grill that houses a smoker and a rotisserie as well as a large grill area. I do smoke a lot of meats. ( I love a smoked turkey for Thanksgiving.)
With just a small space you can create a wonderful outdoor cooking area that you use most of the year. In the summer it helps to keep the electric bill down because the heat is outside not in the kitchen. Give it try!
Friday, May 18, 2012
Fresh Fruits
You can already get a lot of fresh fruit in the supermarket. Sometimes it is very tempting to buy more than you really need. If that happens you certainly do not want it to go to waste. So how can you save it?
Strawberries and other berries can be frozen. Trim off any stems or blemishes. You have several manners to freeze these. 1. place them on a baking sheet and put in your freezer until they are frozen and then put them in a freezer bag. This is the best way to keep them whole and separated but it is not fool proof. 2. make fresh frozen jam. You have to buy pectin. It will have the recipe. 3. Make a Compote - or sauce and then freeze.
Bananas - if they start to get too ripe freeze the banana whole. Those are great for making banana bread. or you can cut them into pieces and freeze to use in a smoothie. They can go dark so sprinkle some fresh lemon juice on the pieces before freezing.
Melons - make a fruit salad! These cannot be frozen,
Almost any fruit can be cooked and then frozen. Or make jelly or jam. This very true of most tree fruit such as apples or peaches. No sense in letting the harvest go bad!!
Strawberries and other berries can be frozen. Trim off any stems or blemishes. You have several manners to freeze these. 1. place them on a baking sheet and put in your freezer until they are frozen and then put them in a freezer bag. This is the best way to keep them whole and separated but it is not fool proof. 2. make fresh frozen jam. You have to buy pectin. It will have the recipe. 3. Make a Compote - or sauce and then freeze.
Bananas - if they start to get too ripe freeze the banana whole. Those are great for making banana bread. or you can cut them into pieces and freeze to use in a smoothie. They can go dark so sprinkle some fresh lemon juice on the pieces before freezing.
Melons - make a fruit salad! These cannot be frozen,
Almost any fruit can be cooked and then frozen. Or make jelly or jam. This very true of most tree fruit such as apples or peaches. No sense in letting the harvest go bad!!
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