Banana Oatmeal or Why My Boyfriend is the Awesomest

I am a creature of habit in some ways. I am one of those people who once in a while lose their keys because I get distracted and instead of putting them away, just toss them down or leave them in a pocket. You know, the darn things aren't where they “belong.” If I step out of my routine, I admit, I get a bit grumpy.

I do this with food too, and sometimes that gets me in a rut. I was complaining about this to my boyfriend last weekend. See, I usually eat one of two things during the week when I eat breakfast at home: yogurt and fruit in the summer or oatmeal in the winter. Delicious, simple, and well, boring unless I throw a little variety into the mix.

I prefer to make stove-top oatmeal. It’s healthier than most store-bought, instant oatmeal out there, and certainly tastier than the vast majority of the healthy ones. The problem has become that I was making apple cinnamon oatmeal. That’s it. This was the complaint I voiced to The Man.

Now, I have to (brag) tell you that my man is amazing. I find myself often just staring at him in wonder as to how I got so lucky to have a guy like him in my life. He’s intelligent, funny, thoughtful, loving…and he almost always has a smart answer (whether that’s in the “wow that’s a great idea,” or the “you are such a smart aleck” sense varies) when I have these obviously earth-shattering issues.

So I tell The Man I’m getting a bit tired of apple cinnamon oatmeal (not that I don’t love it) and he immediately comes up with that perennial favorite maple with brown sugar, which my reaction to was something along the lines of, “Meh.”

Then he says, “What about banana? You have a freezer full of over-ripe bananas.”

*ding*

You could do banana chocolate chip.

*ding ding*

The man. Is clearly. A genius.

I didn't do the banana chocolate chip the first time. I had a hankering for something a little simpler so I left off the chips. This time, the chips went in. Both were divine.

This also let the floodgates of ideas open. I’m thinking banana/date next time around.

Banana Oatmeal

1 Cup Water

½ Cup Rolled Oats

Dash Salt

One Over Ripe Banana

1/8 teaspoon Cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Condiments: chocolate chips, brown sugar, maple syrup, half and half… Your imagination is the limit!

Combine water, banana, cinnamon and salt in a small pot. Bring to a boil.

When the water comes to a boil, stir in oats.

Lower the heat to about medium, and cook for about five minutes, until soft and thickened, stirring occasionally. Use this opportunity to smash the banana against the sides of the pan to break it up a bit.

Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.

Move to a bowl and top with whatever condiments satisfy your hankering. I am a fan of brown sugar and a touch of cream myself.

Enjoy!

TwD - Chocolate Truffle Tartlets

This post is sadly lacking pictures, because I was more than a little distractable whilst I was baking and completely forgot to stop and do my photo-documentation. This is really unfortunate in this case, since there were lots of points that would have been good to share.

I didn't have my book for the first Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, so I was excited to get this one going. I decided that I would bake on the Friday prior to posting day so that I had a chance to compose my posts. Well, that was a good theory and helped with the normal delays that are part and parcel of the momma gig. I didn't manage to start the tarts until Sunday and finish them until yesterday. I finally got to eat one today.

I started the tartlets on Sunday in the hopes that I would be able to take 5/6 of them to an un-birthday party we were attending (had to leave one at home for My Sweet Man). I had looked at the posts from those intrepid bakers who had already finished the recipe so I knew that the dough would be crumbly and that being in a dry, arid climate I might have to add a bit of extra water. I decided to go ahead and do the recipe as written and make adjustments as necessary.

After working the yolk and water into the dry ingredients by fingertip and with my pastry scraper and working it with the heel of my hand against the countertop, I thought that the dough was together enough that chilling it would bring the dough together the rest of the way. Unfortunately, I mis-judged and when I took the dough out it was still too crumbly to work with. I added about another tablespoon of water and re-chilled the dough. This time it came out just fine, albeit too late by the end of the second chilling period to finish the tarts for the party (sorry, guys).

On Monday, I was able to pull the formed tart shells out and pop them in the oven to bake and make the filling. I used Ghiradelli chips for the three types of chocolate, which saved me the chopping portion of events (I'm not lazy, I'm efficient!). I've always been a bit skittish of using a double-boiler and melting chocolate, but it worked fabulously well. I even forgot to pop over and stir it when I started the base of the filling and it held up just fine for me.

In retrospect, I think I may not have whipped the yolks long enough. I thought that I might have over whipped them, because my tarts looked puffier and softer than the tarts in the photos in the book, but after watching the episode of Baking with Julia where they were featured, it looks like I should have waited until the yolks were even paler and thicker than I did.

Even with that, these little gems are delicious! I was entirely too full to eat one after dinner last night, but the kids thought they were great. I had one this afternoon cold, with vanilla ice cream on the side. Yummy!

Much thanks to the Tuesdays with Dorie crew for letting me join in on this adventure. Stay tuned for Rugelach, coming on March 6. Hopefully with pictures. :-)

This is My Blog Being Dark Today

Because I didn't think ahead and make sure I knew how to make my blogs dark for today to protest the legislation that is being considered by congress today, let this serve as notice that I stand with the internet community protesting today.

SOPA is the equivalent of The Patriot Act. Taking away our freedoms makes no one safer, it only makes us afraid. 

Been a While...

I just signed up to do Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julia! I am so excited to do this! If you want to play along, go here.

We are going to have so much fun!

Butter

Last night, I made butter.
I thought this would be much more of a process than it ended up being. Here's how it all began.

I get my cow stuff from a lovely local dairy: http://www.karlsfarmdairy.com/eCart/default.html. (hm, need to figure out how to put links behind a cut) I'm ashamed to say that I've lived where I am for almost four years, and only started patronizing them again in the last few months. You'd think that if I could patronize them when I lived forty minutes away...but I digress...

I went in looking for butter from the dairy only to find they don't make butter. When I playfully whined about the situation, the wonderful owner Gerry said, "Make your own; that's what I do."

"Really?" I asked, intrigued.

She proceded to give me the following directions: put heavy cream in the mixer and whip it as though you were making whipped cream and keep going.

That's it?

Yep.

I didn't believe her. Well, I did believe her, but still felt the need to check things out on the almighty internet (thanks Meredith) to make sure she didn't leave out any significant steps. Turns out, except for rinsing the butter thoroughly after straining off the buttermilk, and needing to be a bit more restrictive with speed (she had said to just put it on full bore, but that got a bit messy) that's really about it.

So... It took me a few weeks before I had the time and the need for butter simultaneously (I realized I had some in the freezer). This week I picked up the cream and last night I made butter.

In the future, I'll have pictures of the process to add to this post, I didn't think to take them last night, but I will be doing this again! All in all it took about half an hour for the butter to come up and separate from the buttermilk. The buttermilk doesn't have that characteristic twang, so I may try tempering it by leaving the cream out until it begins to sour next time.

This method will not save money, sadly. Well, unless you compare the cost of the good cream from the dairy store with buying organic butter, then I sure came out ahead. My yield was about 2 pounds, but I was lazy and didn't measure. I salted about a third for use as a spread, the rest I left unsalted for baking. Will report on the results of baking with it later on.

Butter:

(with thanks to Gerry from Karl's Farm Dairy)
1 Pint Heavy Cream
Salt

Put heavy cream in stand mixer bowl. Start mixing at about 1/4 speed until the cream begins to thicken, then you can increase the speed to high until the butter begins to yellow. At this point drop it down a notch or two or else you'll redecorate your kitchen.

Moments after the butter turns yellow, it will clump and start to leave behind the buttermilk. Keep an eye on it and once the butter is chasing the beater around the bowl, it's time to strain and rinse it. Save the buttermilk for another recipe!

Be sure to thoroughly rinse the butter with cold water, turning the butter as you go, until the water runs clear. Mix in salt to taste, then you can package the butter as you see fit. On a less lazy night I'll measure the butter into 8oz sections and shape it into logs or rolls. Right now it's in two containers in my fridge.

Welcome

This is a blog to journal my culinary adventures. I love cooking and futzing with other people's recipes. Credit due will always be given for where I find my starting points. If you have something you want me to try, throw it at me. :-)

I spend half my time cooking for one, the other half cooking for 4 or 5, so some of the recipes here will be things I've found and adjusted for smaller yields and others, well, won't.

I also am experimenting with "making my own" and will chronicle that adventure here as well.

Slainte! (hm...need to figure out how to do special characters)