recipes | Revolution of Love

I’ve been running around all day and now that I am home I have no energy to even get out of my chair. So I thought I’d give the quick take Friday thing a try.

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I just received my order of Pampered Chef items. I am looking forward to trying them out. I especially want to make the mini-quiches we had at the cooking party. I have to laugh at the recipe since it lists all their products within it, but regardless, they were delicious.

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My mom is flying up from Southern California on Sunday and she will spend a week with us to help me with some pre-baby things – finishing the nursery (which is a corner of our bedroom), wash the baby clothes, do some bigger chore housework etc. Most of all I just love having her around and hearing her laughter. I can’t wait! (And as I think more about the upcoming labor, it is also comforting to know that if she could handle nine labors, I can surely handle my third.)

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I was looking at a friend’s photos of their trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and it made me miss not going there more often. So I finally bought an annual pass for the whole family. Bella has been excited to see the new Sea Horse exhibit and I know Andrew will love the hands on kid’s zone. Hopefully I can take my mom while she is here.

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What I Am Reading: I took a break from my Agatha Christy novels when I borrowed a copy of Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza. I had started it but never got to finish. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it!

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What I Am Watching: I love old B&W movies and am leery to watch remakes of the old classics. Case in point – I rented the new version of The Women and it was so bad I couldn’t finish it. Don’t even bother. Rent the 1939 version with Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford. It’s an interesting (and at times heartbreaking and at times humorous) view of female cattiness, marital infidelity, forgiveness and the “bad guy” getting his (hers) in the end.

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What I Am Listening To: Matt Kearney’s City of Black and White. Loving this disc right now.

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Brian will be home in a few minute so I have to keep this last one short. He works so hard for us and even when he is tired he’ll help me out with the kids or cleaning the shower or scrubbing toilets because it is hard for me to bend over with my growing belly and he doesn’t want me smelling cleaner fumes. Sometimes I forget that it’s all the little things he does that says he loves me. So tonight I have one of his favorite meals and the kids are going to bed early so we can have a little one-on-one time after a long and busy week.
Have a blessed night and weekend yourself!

I remember when Brian and I were engaged and we were doing our wedding registry, I added a crockpot to the list. I envisioned all the meals I’d prep before going to work and the ease I’d have serving dinner later in the evening. Well, years later I found my crockpot hidden in the back of the cupboard with the price tag still attached. I decided to dust it off and give it a try and I’ve been having fun doing it!
I came across this link on a friend’s facebook page (thanks, Christina) and have already found a few recipes I want to try. Check it out at http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/ .

This morning I saw Alex make a recipe for an Apple Brown Betty on Food Network’s Cooking Loft and it looked so tasty! Guess what we’re having for dessert tonight?!

Apple Brown Betty
Ingredients
6 apples, Granny Smith or Braeburn, peeled and cored
3 lemons, zested and juiced
1 1/2 cups unseasoned bread crumbs
1 stick unsalted butter, melted, plus 1 additional tablespoon for greasing the baking dish
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
Equipment: 5 creme brulee dishes, shallow and oval
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F with a rack in the center of the oven.
Place the apples on a flat surface, cut them in half, and then into thin slices. Put them in a medium bowl and coat them with a light layer of zest from 1 of the lemons and all of the lemon juice.
In a separate bowl, mix together the butter and bread crumbs. Season with salt. Set aside.
In a third bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves. Mix to blend and add the apple slices.
Grease each baking dish with the remaining butter. Layer the bottom with the apples and cover with the bread crumb mixture.
Cover the dishes tightly with aluminum foil and place in the center of the oven. Bake until the apples are tender when pierced with the tip of a knife, 30 to 45 minutes. Remove the foil, raise the oven temperature to 425 degrees F and bake until the top browns. Serve immediately.

I was laughing this morn when I read on a friend’s blog that her son likes to play “food network” in the kitchen. Lately I’ve been trying to involve Bella in the kitchen more and she loves it! However, we always have to act out our recipe with me being Rachael Ray and she being Rachael’s daughter. I asked her what she’d like to bake with me on the weekend and she said, “How about Zabaione?” She doesn’t actually know what that is but she loved the way Lisa from Next Food Network Star kept saying the word. So we skipped the zabaione and decided to make the recipe we received from Auntie EML instead. We’ll let you know how it comes out!
Banana Chocolate Chip Cake
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed bananas
1 egg
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9×13 inch pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, combine bananas, egg, melted butter and milk.
4. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture until blended. Be careful not to over mix.
5. Stir in chocolate chips.
6. Pour batter into 9×13 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean. (It will have some melted chocolate, but no crumbs.)

Yesterday I thought I would honor the first day of autumn by baking some wonderful smelling cookies! It was such a Martha Stewart moment….Okay, truth be known I had some disgustingly black bananas that had to be used ASAP and I was tired of banana bread. So I found a basic recipe for banana oatmeal cookies at cooks.com and changed it a bit to fit the ingredients I had in the kitchen. The cinnamon and nutmeg smelled so good as they were baking and it was a great change of pace from regular ol’ banana bread. (Needless to say, they were a big hit with Brian and Bella!)The cookies were pretty moist (my favorite type) although I would like to experiment with making them crunchier. In the meantime, try them yourself and let me know your own variation!
Banana Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients:
3/4 c. butter, margarine shortening
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1 c. banana (about 2-3)
1 1/2 c. flour
1 3/4 c. quick oatmeal
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 – 1 c. raisons (optional)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter and sugars. Add egg. Add banana. Mix well. In separate bowl mix dry ingredients. Mix well. Add the two mixtures together. Add raisons. Drop tablespoon-sized portions of the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. (This is a soft cookie so bake a little longer for a crunchier cookie.) Makes about 3 dozen cookies.
Happy baking! b.

Revolution of Love

Do small things with great love.

Category Archives: recipes

7 Quick Takes Friday – 7/11/09

Getting Friendly with the Crockpot

Recipe from The Cooking Loft: Apple Brown Betty

Recipe: Banana Chocolate Chip Cake

9/24/03 – Banana Oatmeal Cookies