Lusting after Banana Bread

I was in Eurofresh the other day, I needed fresh beans sprouts and pea pods for the Pad Thai, and I saw they had bananas on clearance - 12 bananas for $ 0.99 - good deal!  I was sad for a minute but moved on. In my former life, I would have bought the bananas: they were brown and mushy, perfect for banana bread. I would have made 2 loaves of banana bread - one to eat and 1 for the freezer for Eric next weekend. Sigh! But not this time!! I was so sad!

I love banana bread! My whole family loves the banana bread. Every time I ask my kids or spouse , what they want me to bake - they want banana bread. My Mom made banana bread, and so did my Grandma. I made banana bread before kids and even before spouse. I really love MY banana bread. The kids get a package from me, or come home from college for a few days, they get a banana bread to eat and one for the dorm. Their friends love banana bread, too

So I was sad that the banana bread part of my life was over. Or was it???

I forgot about it that night as I made the Pad Thai, but later in bed, I kept thinking about banana bread.

The next day, I talked with Scott. Prefaced it by saying, I had gotten the dinner thing to a reasonable level, but never tried baking. ( As much as I love my cooking, and I do, I LOVE my baking ) before I got the next words out, he said why don' t you make GF banana bread??  That clinched it.. I was gonna try baking and make banana bread.

I decided to have a banana bread bake off.. where i would try different recipes to find one that worked gluten free.

I pulled out my much loved and worn old cookbook by James Beard called "Beard on Bread" and it opened to the right page. LOL The recipe had splotches of stuff on it, so one could tell it was used over and over again. BTW they still sell it on Amazon. WOW! After all this time! It was pre bread machine, etc too.

Anyway the 1 loaf  recipe went like this:


2 cups sifted all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs ( room temp)
1 cup mashed , very ripe bananas
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon lemon juice or vinegar
1/2 cups chopped nuts

Sift the flour with soda and salt in a mixing bowl.
In a larger bowl, Cream the butter and gradually add the sugar. Add eggs and bananas, blend thoroughly. In a small cups , combine the milk and lemon juice; it will curdle.

Beginning with the flour mixture, stir in a bit and the add a bit of the milk mixture, repeat until all have been mixed. ( I do this but hand, i don't use a mixer for any of this.). Beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Blend well after each addition. ( i tried once to put it all in at once, but it wasn't a good experiment) Stir in the nuts. ( I have never used nuts, so I skip this part)
Pour the batter into a lavishly buttered 9 x 5 x 3 in pan and bake in a preheated oven for 1 hour or so.


I have made this so many times,  and it has always turned out good. As an aside, before I had milk drinking kids, I used yogurt..it turned out fine!

Now I was gluten free, so I had to make some changes.

First and foremost, I checked my book and found that baking soda and baking powder was gluten free. ( just buy the right stuff) YEAH!! I was baking now!

So yesterday, it was cold and blustery in Chicago, so I made soup and banana bread. (I must have  channeled my inner Betty Crocker LOL) anyway I was positive that the bread would turn out, so I naturally doubled the recipe and made 2 leaves.


First I hit the store and bought the ingredients. then on to make the banana bread.

I used the following brands or substitutions:
King Arthur Gluten Free all purpose flour ( http://www.kingarthurflour.com/glutenfree/?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Brand%20Plus&utm_content=King%20Arthur%20Flour%2dGluten%20Free&utm_term=king%20arthur%20gluten%20free%20flour&gclid=CLCR0L2lx68CFbMEQAodiw2PYg )

Arm and Hammer baking soda
Hain sea salt
Dominick's butter
Jewel Granulated sugar
egg beaters
Almond milk

Mixed according to the directions, but the batter was way to watery. So I added another cup of flour.

Next time I will use yogurt as the almond milk was the sweet kind and made the bread on the sweet side. Maybe I'll cut some sugar out too..HM I need to think on that!
Overall, it came out good!
Certainly smelled good in the oven and looked like real banana bread.

To put it succinctly,  the first loaf was gone in 1/2 hour of my pulling it out of the oven.
( Yes Scott helped me eat it)
and Scott felt it was a keeper and I should do it again and again and again.

I looked on the Internet, and will try some other GF recipes. There is one by stockpiling Moms and another by Musings of a housewife that I want to try, but I am open to others..

any suggestions??

After all I used 6 bananas and have the rest left over, so what is a "girl" to do but try another banana bread recipe! :-)

I cheated!

Yup, I cheated! In making Pad Thai I cheated!

So what did I do??

Well I decided that since Scott liked my Pad Thai so much, I would make it again.
I looked on the Internet for recipes.
I did find lots..

There is an easy Pad Thai recipe at About.com Thai
Food.
http://thaifood.about.com/od/quickeasythairecipes/r/onepagechickpad.htm.

but I have no patience..so I saw the list of ingredients and my eyes glaze over..
Said to self..next time I'll try this..but this time, I am gonna cheat..

So I went to Plan B.

Thai Kitchen has a gluten free ( yes, all Pad Thai is gluten free as they use rice noodles..)
called Thai Peanut Noodle kit.( thaikitchen.com)

I made the sauce as directed. ( 1/4 cup of water and seasoning kit).
I made some rice for Scott, as he likes rice with everything..

The noodles in the kit are fine but not enough for me, so I added a Thai Kitchen GF Rice Noodle stuff.. it was 14 oz..lots of noodles, so I used 1/2 ( 7 oz or so..I just grabbed about 1/2 the noodles in the box)  of this kit and added to the rice noodles from the other kit.
I followed the directions and heated water to boiling in a clear pot, added the rice noodles, took the pot off the flame and let the rice noodles stand 6-8 minutes for noodles to get soft; then I rinsed them with cold water and let them sit in the colander.

I used a lot more chicken then the recipe called for..it said 4 oz..seemed a little sparse to me, so I used 2 chicken breasts cut in pieces.  (Yes I gave some to the cat..she does love raw chicken)
Heated my wok, with olive oil..turned the heat to medium and added the chicken.

Once the chicken was cooked, I added the rice noodles and sauce, mixed them up and put on low heat for 4 minutes or so ( uncovered) .I didn't count as I was washing the snow peas, bean sprouts and peeling the zucchini.

I then added to the rice noodles and chicken:

 2 1/2 cups of  bean sprouts - love the bean sprouts.
snow peas - 2 cups or so..
water chestnuts
1 zucchini, chopped up and peeled.

I used what I had  on hand for veggies..could have added broccoli, or even asparagus.
Then I added the San J peanut sauce.san-j.com
How much??
 Well I just poured, until it looked okay..( you know the old season to taste routine).

I mixed all of the veggies, chicken and noodles and  cooked for about 5 more minutes, uncovered..

It was good!! But next time, I gonna try to not cheat and make the stuff from scratch.( famous last words)

Grandma's Best Ever Gluten Free Matzo Ball Soup..

My Grandma B's recipe but revised by me for cholesterol, gluten free, less fat..but my Grandma Bessinger's recipe still the same and the one that my mother used too.

Every time I eat the matzo balls I have mental pictures of my mother standing in her kitchen making the soup and the matzo balls..

But let's start at the beginning..I started looking for matzo or matzo recipes I could use. I found  one  at the website of Anne, a kosher celaic ( her website is the kosher celiac cooks). http://www.kosherceliaccookery.com/ and she had a link to Gluten Free Matzo by Yehuda.
http://glutenfreehotproducts.com/2011/04/yehuda-gluten-free-matzo/

I sent the link to my sister and brother..my sister loved the idea and we order 3 boxes..one for each of us to try and one to split.
My Glatt Kosher brother was another story. He replied that it would not work for Passover as it did not have a form of wheat. He directed me to another website on Chabad that discussed the matzo issue and offered a solution.  He ordered a box of  gluten-free oat shmurah matzahs for my sister and I . http://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/pesach_cdo/aid/1814200/jewish/Can-I-Have-Gluten-Free-Matzah-on-Passover.htm


The Matzo from Yehuda came to my house.  My sister, cousin Tom and I tried it. It was delicious! Even my brother and his family could eat it, as it was not only certified Gluten Free but also OU and kosher for Passover and Parve.

On the first night of Passover, I didn't bring my good Matzo :-(  but would rely on the Shmurah Oat Matzo. My brother and his wife assured me over and over again that they had a GF friend that ate this matzo and did not have a reaction.

I placed my GF oat matzo under napkins and did not use the matzo cover that had years of gluten matzo in it. When it came time in the service to eat the matzo, I bit in. I like oats, I have substitute Oat flour in cooking and baking and ate oatmeal ( thanks BOB RED MILL http://www.bobsredmill.com/oats/) so I was determined to like this.

Well, it was SO BAD! How bad?? So BAD!! Dry, tasteless, texture of nothing I have ever seen before. Dog and cat food is better. REALLY BAD!
My face turned a dozen shades of red, my niece sitting next to me, said the look on my face was priceless. My son was across the table from me and just laughed and laughed. I, in turn, started giggling and covering my mouth so as not to let the laughter out and spoil the Seder. IT WAS SO  BAD, that sandpaper would be better, cardboard was preferable.It was dry and inedible.. I drank a whole bottle of water to try and get the taste out of my mouth. Then ate 6 leaves of romaine lettuce with homemade horseradish...IT WAS BAD!!!! Did I ever suffer!!

At  another part of the service, I tried the handmade Oat shmurah matzo..it was better..or not as BAD as the machine made had been.. How could they ruin oats???

Anyway, after the Seder, my sister asked if I was going to make soup and matzo balls..well I had forgotten all about it. So I said no, but then said YES! I would try.

Now we are finally getting to the recipe part!!

My Mom and her MOM made soup and Matzo Balls using Matzo and Matzo meal. I translated my Grandma recipe years ago. She used a pinch of this, and a bit of that and of course season to taste.
Mostly it is done with your hands..so be prepared to get really globby and season to taste.


My Grandma's recipe was:

6 each Matzo crackers
3 cups of Matzo Meal
12 eggs
Some salt, pepper, parsley flakes, paprika
1 teaspoon schmaltz ( i think) I changed it years ago to mayo.

I changed the eggs to eggbeaters or egg whites .
18 egg whites = 10 eggs

Break up the Matzo crackers and soak in water, covering the Matzo with water. When the Matzo is soggy, squeeze excess moisture by hand. I put my bowl in the clean sink and wet the Matzo.So squeezing, the water goes down the drain instead of all over.
Mix in Matzo meal, 2 eggs, mayo, some salt, pepper, parsley and paprika. ( not sure what the paprika did, my mother put it in everything.) How much salt, pepper, parsley?? I don't know, I don't used them, so you can omit.
If  mixture is too loose, add more matzo meal. If too dry add more eggs. The more eggs the better it will be. Cover and set in the ice box for an hour or so. ( see I told you it was from my Grandma)
Let cold water run, wet hands and make the matzo balls. Place them into boiling soup stock.  Place cover on the pot. Decrease heat and simmer for a while, still covered. Cook about 20 to 40 minutes.
Hope the balls don't become rocks.

So first i made the soup stock.

 I used:

1 sweet potato
1 lbs carrots
1/3 stalk celery
1 onion
2 zucchini's
2 parsnips

Water to fill over the veggies. Usually, turn on the pressure cooker, locking the lid in place,over high heat and let it build up steam to high pressure. I then turn the heat down to medium and maintain high pressure. I cook the soup for 10 minutes. Then I turn the heat off and let the pressure drop naturally about 25 minutes. Then I taste and add spices.

As I didn't have time to play with the stock, I used Imagine stock instead of water. http://www.imaginefoods.com/products#broths.  I used non-chicken broth, it is vegetarian and GF.

My mother used to use a can of tomato paste instead of the sweet potato. But I don 't do can goods, so I found a sweet potato provides color and helps thicken the soup.

I used the Yuhuda GF Matzo  for the balls. I used a box, divided it in 1/2. On 1/2, I placed in a zip lock bag, and crunch and crushed it into meal using a rolling pin.
The other half, I used as I would any Matzo.

I followed the recipe and hoped it would turn out. I did need another box of Matzo for more meal. Bit I didn't have one, so my matzo stuff was eggy.. I thought about using the crunch master crackers crushed up for more meal, but decided against it. I may do that later to see what happens to the taste.

Anyway,I followed the directions and made the balls.  IT WAS GOOD. Not just allergy good but really good!

So..if you want/need GF Matzo Balls.. these are the best. Ask my sister and her family.
 A BIG thumbs up to this one!!

Salmon on the grill

Last night I made salmon on the grill, asparagus on the grill, salad, and of course Ben and Jerry's Free Cone Day

I tried the following for the salmon ( it is the Jefferson Adams recipe i mentioned yesterday)

Ingredients:
1½ pounds salmon steaks or fillets
½ teaspoon fresh ground ginger (I used ground ginger , not fresh)
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced ( I used minced garlic from Costco, I used 3  teaspoons)
⅓ cup gluten-free Soy Sauce
⅓ cup orange juice
¼ cup honey
2 green onions, chopped ( I didn't have green onion, so I used regular onions, about 1/3 of one ( but I like onions) .I also put some of the onions on the fish when it was grilling)

Directions:
1. In a glass dish, or a large resealable plastic bag, mix ginger, garlic, soy sauce, orange juice, honey, and green onion.

2. Place fresh salmon in bag and seal tightly. Turn bag gently to distribute marinade. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

3. Heat barbecue, or outdoor grill to medium heat. ( I used my Weber grill with charcoals)
  
4. Remove salmon from marinade, drain excess. Toss out remaining marinade.

5. Grill salmon on a lightly oiled grill for 12 to 15 minutes for each inch of thickness, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

I also grilled the veggies. I used Olive Oil and lemon juice, coated the asparagus and put them on the grill.. Made a super salad with the normal stuff and green peppers, red peppers, strawberries, grapes and Kiwi's.

It was a GREAT meal!!!

I figured that I would have some fish left over to put on salad for today. But I was wrong, it was so good that it was all  gone last night. So tonight was salad with pecans and preparing the crockpot for tomorrows General Tso's Chicken..

I am going off on Dominick's ( Safeway)

I decided to make a beef stew since all I did was chicken so far..so I looked at Stephanie O'Dea's blog crockpot 365 for a beef stew and found one I liked.

..http:/crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/11/crockpot-azrorean-spiced-beef-stew.html

My definition of one I like was a recipe that is easy  for me..not too many ingredients, or throwing the stew in a pan, then doing something else, then throwing back etc ..not EASY.. I do like to cook, but not COOK..know what I mean??

I walked to Dominick's, not far from my house, so I could get some exercise and save money on gas.. Anyway, got there with list in hand, I started at the zucchini..bad looking, had pock marks and I thought they wanted $.99 for this and it looked disgusting almost like a second,when it was supposed to be first quality... so I skipped it, it wasn't in the recipe anyway and went on to the next thing..all sad looking and expensive.. hmmm..
I looked at the Rice Chex's for a price and it was on sale at $3.59.(YIKES)

So I left..phooey! and walked home muttering to myself.

I jumped in my car, drove all the way to the northside of town and went to Mariano's.
I walked in and they had zucchini for $0.69 per lbs and it looked really good. So I went overboard and bought carrots, broccoli, bananas, green pepper, red pepper, onions, meat etc..all looking good and at a better price. Then the final straw was my Rice Chex cereal..not on sale..was $3.29!!

So I am done with Dominick's for good! When it was Dominick's it was much better, but since Safeway bought it, I have a check dates on goods as they will sell outdated or soon to be outdated products.

After all this shopping at Mariano's, I got home, had salad for dinner  and made the beef stew for the next day.The stew turned out to be quite tasty..

Today, I am doing salmon on the grill, asparagus, salad and a white wine..YUMMY!
Geoff is home ( and Scott is not) so fish is in order, and since he just turned 21, wine with dinner will be great.


I found a recipe for the salmon marinate from Jefferson Adams, a writer in San Francisco. His blog is at http://celiac.com/articles/22540/1/Marinated-Grilled-Salmon-Gluten-Free/Page1.html

I'll let you know if the recipe is any good.