Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Pear Rye Banana Bread

MED's relatives are visiting and one of them, let's call her J, is wheat-free. I was planning on making frittata and banana bread, since they would be joining us for breakfast. Since J can eat rye, I looked to see if we were stocked with rye flour. I was victorious in my search and started cooking.
Things you will need:

2 cups rye flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
A pinch or two of salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar (or a bit less, depending on the ripeness of your bananas)
2 lightly beaten eggs
Just under two cups mashed ripe banana
1/2 cup mashed ripe pear, peeled and cored

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and butter a bread pan

Combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl
Add the rest of the ingredients, saving the banana/pear mush and flour for last.

Add the banana and incorporate fully.

Add the flour last and mix well. Don't forget the flour! I almost did...

Cook on a center rack until a toothpick comes out almost clean, or clean if you like it well done. Mine cooked for about an hour and a half, but I would test it before then.
The pear ended up turning purple...so if this happens to you, just eat it, it still tastes good (:

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Quinoa Fajitas


I was suffering from some insomnia the other night, and ended up staying up for 33 hours straight and then sleeping away the entirety of April 4th. A total of 26 straight sleeping hours. After that massive snooze, I awoke hungry! Having missed all my meals that day and with it being around 10:30 at night, I ventured to the kitchen to see what I could rustle up. The remnants of M, E, and D's dinner was still on the table, left out for me. They had eaten fajitas with carrots and onions and quinoa on the side. Being lazy and not wanting to use a plate I just microwaved everything and wrapped it up. But for those who wanted to make this as a legitimate dish this is what I came up with: the Quinoa Carrot Onion Fajita.

What you'll need:

One packet of Old El Paso fajita seasoning
4-5 medium carrots, chopped into thin strips
1-2 medium onions, slivered
Tortillas, warmed in an oven or microwave
About 2-3 cups of quinoa, cooked

Caramelize the onions and set aside.
Cook the carrots in a little water in a saucepan until soft
Add the seasoning and onions to the carrots
Take a warm tortilla and wrap your preferred quantities of quinoa and veggies inside.
Let your mouth go to nirvana. Enjoy another.
Remember, quinoa is a protein, so feel good about eating them.

Recipe credit to E. (I think. This was just speculation of preparation)

Sweet Potato Frittata

Do you ever get the notion when you wake up that today will be the PERFECT day to make ______? After hearing it rain all night, and waking up to gray skies and spitting rain I just felt like it was a frittata day. Having never made an official frittata before, I started with research. I looked on Foodgawker for recipes and read about two dozen of them. Once I had an idea of the basic how-to and proportions, I set to work.
Right now, I'm staying with my first cousin once removed (let's call him M), his wife (let's call her E), and their almost two year old daughter (let's call her D). So E suggested I used the sweet potato we had laying around, before she ran off to a toddler's group with D. And so, Sweet Potato Frittata it was...

What you'll need:

One large potato
One medium sweet potato
One medium/small onion, depending on preference
About one cup of spinach, again, a preference measure
One clove of garlic
About a cup of chopped broccoli
One teaspoon Thyme
6-7 eggs
One cup grated cheddar. Any cheese would work, but it was all I had on hand
Splash of milk
Pepper and salt to taste. I also used a Mixed Spice of cardamom, caraway, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and cloves.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C

I started by chopping the sweet potato into centimeter cubes and putting them in a saucepan, with water just covering them, to soften. I cooked them on high, but I was in a rush.
The onion was cut into centimeter squares and caramelized over a medium burner with the garlic. After they are soft and translucent, add the chopped spinach. I cut the leaves into rough quarters.
I sliced the potato into 3-4 millimeter discs and then cut those in half to make semi-circles which I then soften as I had done to the sweet potato.
Prepare the broccoli the same way as the potatoes, cooking until ALMOST soft enough to cut with a wooden spoon.
I sprinkled the thyme and Mixed Spice on to softened sweet potatoes and combined them with the rest of the prepared veggies and half of the cheese in a low ceramic buttered baking dish.
Whisk the eggs with the milk and a dash of pepper, and pour over the veggies. Sprinkle half of the remaining cheese on the egg and cook for around 30 minutes.
Check the egg with a toothpick or knife and when it's almost done, add the rest of
the cheese on top and wait for it to melt in.
Serve warm, alone or with anything you think it should be served with.