Lately I’ve been on a baking kick. I’ve made coconut cupcakes that totally didn’t turn out, lime buttercream that totally did turn out (which caused me to make vanilla cupcakes for the lime buttercream), malted cupcakes with mocha malt buttercream (cakes were great, buttercream only ok) and a coconut-lime pie where the curd and the crust were fantastic, the cream tasted good, but had a weird texture. My experiments have been a little . . . interesting lately.

This weekend the experiment was banana pie. I’m of mixed minds when it comes to banana pie – I love banana and I love pie, but sometimes banana in pie isn’t great. So I decided to start with mom’s banana pudding recipe, make my own caramel and top it with a lightly sweetened whipped cream.

The one thing I can say about this pie is that the caramel and banana work really well together. Match made well. Bob liked it – calling it one of my best pies – so there is a definite reason to keep this recipe. The only thing I would do differently is use a vanilla wafer or traditional pastry crust instead of the cinnamon graham cracker crust. But it is still really good.

Recipe:

• Caramel:
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, heat sugar over medium heat until it melts and turns an amber color. Stir as little as possible to prevent crystal formation. Reduce heat to low (or remove from heat) and add butter, stirring to incorporate. If on heat, remove from heat and add vanilla and heavy cream. Mix well and allow to cool. (I ran it through a strainer just to get it super smooth, but that is unnecessary, really.)

• Pie filling:
• 1.5 cups whole milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons corn starch
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients in a medium sauce pan and cook, stirring frequently, over medium heat until it thickens. (I did add the vanilla at the end of the cooking, just because I forgot to add it, and it still worked.) Whisk frequently so lumps do not form, and allow to cool before filling the pie crust.

To assemble the pie, take the crust (graham cracker, vanilla wafer or traditional pastry) and coat the bottom with about half the caramel mixture. Spread to an even coating.

Chop one banana and layer the slices over the caramel to cover the bottom of the pie dish.

Pour pudding over banana even out to a relatively uniform layer. Add whipped cream (~3/4 cup heavy cream and 1 tablespoon confectioners sugar) over pudding layer. Cover and chill for about two hours.

It is strawberry season in Florida and that means one thing – I need to figure out what to do with strawberries so the pints I buy at the farmers’ market don’t just sit in my fridge until they are unrecognizable as the delicious fruit they are. I made a orange vinaigrette the other day and only used half for the recipe and decided to pair a strawberry and goat cheese salad with the vinaigrette and see what happened. Not only did it taste fantastic, it looked really pretty.

I also made strawberry french toast. I had not made french toast in a VERY long time – we almost never have leftover bread (or bread unless I buy it for a specific dish) so french toast just does not happen. In this case, I use a little orang zest in the milk/egg mixture and made a citrus french toast and topped it with fresh strawberries. How pretty was this?!?!

So the maple orange vinaigrette …

• Zest of 1 orange
• Juice of 1/2 orange
• 2 teaspoons maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon sherry vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil

That’s it. It is super simple, but really delicious. I used it in three different dishes that week (yes, I made two batches) and each one of them was better than the last.

I find grits a little weird. Logically I know they are pretty similar to polenta, but there is something about how I’ve had them in the past that makes me pull out something else from the pantry when cooking. Doesn’t matter what, just not usually the grits. Bob, on the other hand, loves grits. He would love it if I made them on a regular basis, but he also knows he married a Jersey girl, so that isn’t happening.

But … every now and then I make them. I’ve made them with breakfast food and just with cheese per Bob’s request. I figured I earned the right to make them the way I wanted – with vegetables (or as Bob calls it – with food his food eats).

Vegetables & Grits:

• 1/2 cup grits, rinsed
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 3 tablespoons grated hard cheese (pecorino)
• 1 parsnip
• 1 carrot
• 2 scallions – white and light green parts separated from dark green part
• 2 oz. snow peas (this is an estimate – it was a very full handful)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• olive oil for pan
• salt and pepper

In a medium pot bring grits, 2 cups vegetable broth and a pinch of salt to a boil. (I was using regular grits so the cooking time was longer than some other versions. Reduce heat to low/simmer and cook, covered, for about 40 minutes until liquid has been absorbed. Stir well and return lid to pot and let it rest for about ten minutes. Stir in cheese and keep covered.

While grits cook, chop vegetables. Cut parsnip and carrot on the bias, chop scallions keeping light green and white parts separate from the dark green parts, trim snow peas and cut into bite sized pieces (usually in half) and chop or slice garlic and chop chives.

Heat a large pan with 1 tablespoon olive oil. When hot, add parsnip, carrot and white/light green scallions. Cook over medium high heat, stirring frequently, for 3-5 minutes. Mix cornstarch into cool or cold broth and mix well. Add garlic to pan, cook 1 minute more, then add broth and stir together. Cover. Reduce heat to low and cook about 6 minutes until carrots and parsnip are tender and broth has thickened. Add snow peas and cook, uncovered, for about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper if needed.

Plate grit in a shallow bowl or on a plate with a rim. Top with vegetables and broth. Garnish with dark green scallions and chives. Serve hot.

I’m not sure why but lately I’ve been eating my lunch at 10:30 in the morning. This, of course, leaves me with no lunch and really, really hungry by dinner. I’ve tried some granola bars or other snacks to keep the hunger at bay so I can eat lunch at lunch, but they just don’t work great. I use to keep bags of tail mix in my drawer at work, but then I end up eating half the bag which I don’t mind, but it’s not the best option, so I decided to make my own trail mix and portion it out so I just have a snack and not a meal.

When I did some reading on this, a quarter cup is considered one serving. I looked at my measuring cup and realized that was not going to work. It’s the granola bar problem – one “serving” isn’t enough to keep me until lunch and it barely touches the hunger pangs.  I decided to go for half a cup. More than one serving, but still small enough to count as a snack.

We have a few new grocery stores here and they all have good bulk sections, so early Sunday morning I headed to the closest one and kept my fingers crossed that it wasn’t crowded. I picked up a good amount of nuts, dried fruit and dark chocolate chips. Once home I ended up making two different versions of the trail mix.

Version 1 (makes 11 1/2 cup portions):

• 2 cups dry roasted cashews
• 2 cups whole almonds
• 1 cup goldfish pretzels (I had them on hand)
• 2/3 cup dried cranberries
• 2/3 cup banana chip
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Version 2:

• 1 cup dry roasted cashews
• 1 cup whole almonds
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup sesame seeds
• 2/3 cup dried tropical fruit mix

This isn’t anything fancy but if it works its onto homemade granola next!

It has been a little while since I spent a day playing in the kitchen and baking. I’ve done some cooking, although not much really interesting lately, but I decided that with the latest cool snap it was time to crank up the oven and bake an actual cake.

Probably anyone who grew up in the 70s and 80s remembers the orange Betty Crocker cookbook. I think every house had one and unlike a lot of cookbooks today that are specific to one type of food (grilling, vegetarian, sauces, desserts) this one has just about everything you can think of in it. It definitely reflects the times when you read through some of the recipes, but for desserts, for cakes, I love this cookbook. I found a copy at a used bookstore in California when I lived there (I think for a dollar since it was pretty beat up on the outside) and snagged it. While I don’t go to it often for meals, I definitely go to it for baking ideas. Classics have a place.

The cake came straight from the cookbook and I actually followed the recipe. For the icing, however, I just went with the basic buttercream with the caramel sauce I made a month or so ago that was languishing in the fridge. The result – a cake Bob called “excellent” and one of my “best efforts.” Given that he generally likes what I bake, I’m taking that as a high compliment.

Cake:

• 1.5 cups whipping cream
• 3 eggs
• 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1.5 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• .5 teaspoon salt

Heat over to 350. Grease and flour pans (I used two 9 inch cake pans)

Beat cream until stiff. In separate bowl, beat eggs and vanilla until thick and lemon colored. Fold eggs into whipped cream. Stir together remaining ingredients and gently fold into egg/cream mixture. Fold until well combined.

Divide into pans and bake for 30-35 minutes. Cool completely before icing.

Icing:

• 1 stick butter, room temperature
• .5 cups caramel sauce
• confectioners sugar to taste (about 1-1.5 cups)

Beat butter until light and airy. Add caramel sauce and mix well. Slowly incorporate confectioners sugar until the icing comes together and no longer has a distinct butter taste.

Every now and then I come up with something that just works. It isn’t often, but sometimes I do. This was one of them.

At the farmers’ market I found these incredible yellow peppers and some heirloom tomatoes. The garden has given me kale and basil, so I figured I could make up something with all of those. Bob isn’t a huge fan of peppers, but the yellow and orange ones he can do, so I thought he’d eat the filling and leave most of the pepper, but he ate the whole thing. The peppers were incredibly sweet and the filling had a deep flavor that was great on it’s own, but complimented the peppers so well.

Keep in mind that this was something I threw together and all quantities are estimations.

Recipe:

• 2 large peppers
• 1 cup Israeli Couscous
• 1 3/4 cup vegetable broth
• 1/2 pint heirloom cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 cup pecorino cheese (or other hard grating cheese), divided in half
• 4 kale leaves
• 3/4 cup basil leaves
• 1/4 cup diced onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/4 cup almonds
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil

Peppers: Cut the top of the peppers off and remove the seeds and veins of the pepper. Coat in olive oil and lightly salt. Roast in 350 degree oven while you prep the filling.

Pesto: combine basil, kale, lemon juice, garlic, almonds and a pinch of salt in food processor. Blitz until everything is finely chopped. Add 1/4 cup cheese and about 1/4 cup olive oil and blitz again. Adjust seasonings to taste. Set aside.

Couscous: Heat a large pan with a tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat. When oil is hot add onions and tomatoes. Cook for about five minutes, pressing the tomatoes with a wooden spoon every few minutes to help them burst. (you could also chop the into small pieces then add them about half way through cooking the onion.) Season with salt and pepper. Add couscous and cook for two minutes more. Add vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until all liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in pesto and most of the remaining cheese.

Put it all together: Remove pepper from oven and carefully (they are hot) fill each pepper with couscous mixture. Sprinkle a little cheese on top and return to the oven for about twenty minutes. There should be enough filling left for a third pepper, but I took it for lunch the next day instead of making another pepper.

Every now and then I get a craving for something that reminds me of childhood. It doesn’t have to be something I ate as a kid, but it tends to be the flavors that kids would typically eat. This craving was for sloppy joes.

I’ve only made sloppy joes once or twice before, so I didn’t have a whole lot to go on. Thankfully the internet has a treasure trove of recipes that I could refer to, but after reading about ten of them I decided to just wing it. The result – pretty darn good. I ended up taking the leftovers to work for lunch for a few days, so not only did I satisfy my sloppy joe craving, I was able to pack an actual (not cheese and carrots) lunch.

The second time I made this I reversed the order when adding the textured vegetable protein and the tomatoes, and I used only sauce since that is what I had on hand. I like adding the tvp at the end, but crushed tomatoes work better in the sauce – just a little more texture.

Recipe:

• 1/3 cup diced onion
• 1/2 tsp jalapeno (chopped fine)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1.5 cups rehydrated textured vegetable protein (I used vegetable broth to rehydrate)
• 15 oz of crushed tomatoes/tomato sauce (I used about 7 oz crushed and 8 oz sauce)
• 1 tbsp. brown sugar
• 1/2 tbsp. dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil for pan
• favorite hamburger bun for serving.

Heat pan with oil then add onion and jalapeño. Cook stirring occasionally for about five minutes, until onion is soft. Add garlic and cook about a minute more.  Season with salt and pepper. Add tomato/sauce, cumin, chili powder, brown sugar and soy sauce to pan with onion and stir to combine. Cook over medium high heat for about three minutes then add the TVP and combine well. Cook over medium low heat for about five minutes until everything is heated through and sauce is just a little thick. Taste and adjust seasoning.

I like to toast the bund before piling the sloppy joe mix onto the bun, but that is not strictly necessary.

There is something about the combination of cheese, tomatoes and bread that is unbeatable. I love bruschetta and decided to make a warm dish out of the classic. This wasn’t fancy, it wasn’t hard and it didn’t take long to make, but it was one of the most satisfying meals I had in January. (This was in part to the cold that came, went and came again so nothing sounded or tasted particularly great for a few weeks.) But on the other side of that cold, in the middle of a cold snap that had me covering plants and putting flannel sheets on the bed this dish was pretty perfect.

Recipe:

• 1 pint heirloom cherry tomatoes
• 1 shallot
• 2 cloves garlic
• olive oil
• salt
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• French bread
• Buratta cheese (about 4 oz)
• Basil for garnish (I used 3 leaves)

Heat oven to 375.

Half cherry tomatoes, quarter if they are larger. Slice down the shallot and rough chop the garlic. Toss tomato, shallot and garlic on foil lined pan with 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar. Roast for 20-25 minutes until everything is soft.

While tomatoes roast, slice down French bread into thick slices (I made ten). Brush with a little olive oil. When tomatoes are done, broil for a few minutes until bread starts to turn golden. Remove from oven immediately.

Top bread with tomato mixture. Cut buratta in half and then slice each half into five sections. Top each bread/tomato slice with one section of buratta and some basil leaves.

Brownies are delightful. There is something wonderful and indulgent about brownies. Brownies need to be rich, chocolate-y and goo-y. No cake like brownies here. If you want cake like brownies, make a cake.

Over the years I’ve search for the perfect brownie recipe, and I always seem to come back to this recipe from David Leibowitz. I’ve tried others, I’ve modified others and I’ve tried my own, but whenever I want really good brownies, I go to this one. But … I may have stumbled onto the best alteration of these brownies possible – caramel. I made caramel sauce right before Christmas and I had a jar full left over in the fridge, just sitting there, taunting me. (just look at the picture – it taunted me every time I opened the fridge looking for kale or potatoes. So caramel brownies it is.

I am also in inherently lazy baker so I shortened a few steps in the recipe. I mixed all the dry ingredients without sifting, then added the wet and just combined. Pour that into the pan and pour on the caramel (about a quarter cup) and swirl it in. That was it. I baked it for a bout 35-40 minutes – I started checking it at 20 minutes, but it really does take much longer than 20-25. (I also used an 8×11 pan lined with foil, but I don’t think it matters much – no matter the size of the pan, I generally end up needing more than 30 minutes to cook the brownies.)

The results – oh my goodness! Talk about a near perfect brownie. These are rich, chocolate-y and goo-y. There is enough caramel in them to taste it, but not so much it overpowers the brownies. I cut them into rather large squares, but that’s ok – I can then “split” a brownie with Bob and feel good that I’m not eating the whole thing. … Or I can just eat the whole thing and call it dinner.

During the first week in January Florida, like much of the country, got hit with a cold front that left us feeling pretty miserable. I am not a fan of cold weather in general, but this was just biting. Bob wasn’t feeling well and so I decided to make soup.

One of my favorite soups as a kid was the ham and barley soup mom would make every now and then. I’m not sure if there is a recipe or not for that soup, but I remember it required simmering the ham hock for a while.  I didn’t have a ham hock (and didn’t really want one) so I just made a vegetarian version – this is a basic soup, but it really worked well.

Recipe:

• 1/2 large sweet onion
• 2 medium carrots
• 2 stalks celery
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 bay leaf
• 5 cups vegetable broth
• 3/4 cup barley (I used the instant quick cooking kind)
• salt and pepper to taste
• ~1 tablespoon olive oil

Chop the onion, carrot and celery, mince the garlic. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium to medium high heat. When oil is hot, add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and cook until onion is soft, about 4-6 minutes. Add the tomatoes (with juices), vegetable broth, and bay leaf and stir. Season again with salt and pepper and cook, stirring every now and then, for about 15 minutes. Add the barley and cook ten minutes more. (If using regular barley, you may need to cook this longer.) Adjust seasoning and serve with crackers or some toasted bread if you like.

Quick, simple soup. It gets better the second day and made 6-8 servings – enough for Bob and I for several lunches. Best part about this soup is that I had everything on hand when I decided to make it – something that very rarely happens in this house.