Banana Raspberry Bread & A raspberry failure

We bought a half crate of raspberries at Costco.  I ate two packages, used two (had to sort out the bad ones) for the bread, one for my failure and Thomas ate one.  I first thought of making my raspberry muffins, but we had two over ripe bananas on the counter, so we looked for a banana raspberry bread recipe online.  Thomas wanted to make it just as much as I did.  He rinsed the raspberries for me.

List of ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• [1/2 cup brown sugar]
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas
• [1/4 cup vegetable oil]
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 cup fresh or frozen unsweetened raspberries (if using frozen, don't thaw)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• [1 tsp cinnamon]
• [1/2 tsp nutmeg]
• [1/4 tsp ginger]

Directions
Combine eggs, bananas, oil and water. In another bowl, mix together flour, sugars, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.  Stir egg mixture into the dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in raspberries and walnuts. Pour into a big loaf pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool before serving.

You can see the whole raspberries inside!

Recipe from www.allrecipes.com, changes are indicated by brackets

 This bread is moist and flavorful.  The bites of raspberry bring a tang to an old standby.  It's really good!

And now onto my raspberry failure experiment:

I envisioned it in my head-- biscuit braid with fresh raspberries and walnuts, drizzled in white chocolate.  I messed up with the biscuit, so almost half stayed glued to my hands and got washed down the sink, instead of staying onto the baking sheet.  So I had a lot less dough to work with.  That's still alright, I could do a roll.  I put my mashed, sugared raspberries onto the biscuit and attempted to roll it.  It didn't look very pretty and the raspberries were falling out.  It didn't taste bad.  There is just something a bit odd about biscuits and raspberries, though.

Chocolate Chip Frozen Yogurt

Here my first attempt at using my new birthday toy.  Mom and Dad gave me an ice cream/frozen yogurt/sorbet maker (Cuisinart).  I tried the chocolate frozen yogurt from the instruction booklet. It yields 1-1/2 quarts or eight 1/2-cup servings.

In the blender*, mix six ounces chopped chocolate [I used 3 oz semi-sweet and 3 oz bitter-sweet chocolate chips] and 1 cup whole milk [I used 1% and I'd like to try a higher percentage next time for a richer taste] for 30 seconds.  Add 2 cups of low-fat vanilla yogurt and 1/4 cup sugar for 30 more seconds until well blended.

All blended

 Take the freezer bowl out of the freezer, place the mixing arm and put the lid over the unit.  Turn on the machine and pour the mixture.  It will be finished in 30 minutes or less.

Soft Frozen Yogurt with Chocolate Bits

*I learned the hard way that a food processor simply can't blend!!

Banana muffins with caramal icing

This recipe is originally called "Jumbo...Muffins" and the yield is just six.  The recipe made enough for 12 muffins although they aren't Costco-jumbo size.  These were pretty easy to make.  The icing was simple to put together, but I wasn't fast enough topping the muffins with it and it hardened (or crystallized) pretty quickly.  Three are iced very sad, indeed.  I have actually only tasted just a little that fell off the side of a muffin.  From what little muffin and icing I've sampled, I think these are delicious-- just like muffin shaped banana bread!  And two thumbs up from Thomas!!

1/4 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1-1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 large)
1 tsp vanilla
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Cream together shortening and sugar.  Beat in egg.  Add in mashed bananas and vanilla, mixing well.  In another bowl, mix together flour, soda and salt.  Combine flour mixture into the banana mixture.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Fill paper liners three-fourths full.  Bake for 23-28 minutes.  When done, allow to cool for at least five minutes.

Caramel Icing
2 T butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 T milk
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

In a small saucepan, melt butter.  Stir in sugar and milk.  Let cool slightly and whisk in confectioners' sugar.  Spoon icing into a small resealable bag, cut corner, and ice the tops of the muffins.

I packaged five of these for my dad; it's his father's day gift.

Recipe from:
McClelland, Katherine. "Jumbo Caramel Banana Muffins." Taste of Home Annual Recipes. Ed. Michelle Bretl. Greendale, WI: Taste of Home Books, 2007. 104-105.

What's-in-the-pantry Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Too long ago now, my Italian professor told us in class that this was a popular dish for the men to take down into the mines and that the black pepper, today, represents the coal flakes that fell into the pasta.  I ordered this dish in Rome.  It's so rich and good.  But I had to modify this recipe, so it wasn't the same although it still proved to be a great Sunday lunch.

6 slices [turkey] bacon (Prosciutto is often used)
{5 slices were sufficient}
6 oz dried fettuccine or linguine {or spaghetti, hehe}
1 beaten egg
1 cup half-and-half, light cream, or milk
2 T butter or margarine
1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese {oops, we had to use good ol' cheddar}
1/4 cup snipped fresh parsley
coarsely ground black pepper

Cook bacon until crisp and set aside.  Boil water and cook pasta according to package directions.  To make the sauce, combine egg, milk and butter into a small saucepan.  {I decided to add the cheese in the sauce.}  Cook and stir until the mixture coats the spoon.  Do not boil.  This should take about six minutes.  Combine the pasta and sauce together.  Top with bacon, Parmesan cheese and parsley.  Gently stir again.  Season with grounded black pepper.

{recipe from Better Homes and Garden Cookbook. 12th ed. Des Moines, IA: Better Homes and Gardens Books, 2002. 396.}