Granny's Banana Bread (with a twist)

I don't like cooked bananas, but one of my favourite things to make is banana bread. The smell is heavenly and it's a great way to use up bananas that are about to go bad cause my kids have gone on a sudden banana strike after I bought 6 of them. (Infuriating!)

Luckily the kiddos and most of my extended family loves banana bread and are only to happy to take it off my hands once it comes out of the oven. Banana bread is one of the smells I always associate with my grandma's house. She always had some on hand. So naturally I use her recipe when I make a loaf. I used to make it exactly as she had it written but over the years I added my own spin on it: a few extra spices, a cinnamon-brown sugar topping and occasionally, chocolate chips if my 4 year old happens to be helping (she wants to put chocolate chips in everything... I taught her well).

This is a great back-to-school lunch box addition. Give it a try and tell me if it's not totally yummy... I dare you!

Print this recipe

Granny's Banana Bread

2 eggs
1/2 c vegetable oil
1 c sugar
2 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3 ripe bananas, mashed
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla

brown sugar topping

1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 c brown sugar
2 tbsp butter, melted

Instructions:

1. Mix together the eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla.
2. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated.
4. Add the mashed banana and mix to combine.
5. Pour into a greased loaf pan.
6. Melt the butter in the microwave and add to the sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle over the top of the batter.
7. Bake at 350˚F for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Print this recipe

you have to eat it with a little schmeer of buttah!

enjoy!

Muffins That Taste Like Donuts

Every Christmas, for as long as I can remember, my grandparents have made huge batches of old-fashioned cake donuts. They wrap them up by the dozen and give them to everyone they know. They used to make random batches at other times of the year but now that they're getting older, and have about 500 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, this treat is strictly a Christmas tradition. I love those donuts. I crave those donuts.

I was flipping through a stack of church cookbooks my grandma gave me a few years ago and came across a recipe called Muffins That Taste Like Donuts and low and behold it had my grandma's name next to it! I called her up and she said that yes it was hers and the muffins tasted like the donuts she and my grandpa make every year. So I made them and sure enough, they tasted just like them. Now I have those donuts whenever I want!

The trick to keeping these muffins light and cakey is to not over-mix. What you get is a cinnamon and nutmeg spiced muffin that tastes just like an old-fashioned donut, perfect with your morning latte or a glass of milk before bed. Sprinkle on a little powdered sugar or cinnamon and sugar for an extra special treat.

Print this recipe

Muffins That Taste Like Donuts

1 3/4 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 c. sugar
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 c. milk
1 tsp vanilla

Instructions:

1. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg until combined.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together the oil, egg, milk and vanilla.
3. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture, mixing only until incorporated.
4. Spoon into greased muffin tins and bake at 350˚F for 15-20 minutes.
5. Dip cooled muffins into melted butter then sugar and cinnamon, or sprinkle on powdered sugar.

Print this recipe

enjoy!
Amanda

Salmon Cakes with Herb Cream Sauce

Nothing gets kids running to the table, excited for dinner, like fishy cakes!



Okay, I lied... chances are if they knew this was on the menu they'd be hiding under their beds. Unless they're my kids. My kids have a strange affinity for salmon, not strange like salmon is gross (cause my husband and I love it), just strange cause most kids their age like hot dogs and.. well... just hot dogs.

Salmon is one of those super foods, full of anti-oxidants and Omoega-3s, brain food. But salmon, especially fresh salmon, is expensive. When you're attempting to stay within a food budget, one salmon meal could easily use half your week's food allowance. Ever since our teenaged nephew moved in with us I've watched our weekly grocery bills sky-rocket and I've watched my husband get more and more depressed over how much of his paycheck is getting left at the grocery store.

In an attempt to keep my husband from going off the deep end, and serve my family the fish they all so deeply love, I tried to figure out a way to make everyone happy. That's when I remembered my grandma's salmon cakes. She used to make these all the time when I was little, using up left over mashed potatoes and a can of salmon. $7.99/filet (x 5 for my hungry family) vs. $1.99 for 1 can of salmon. Now THAT'S a budget conscious meal!

You could easily make this with tuna, shrimp or any other cooked and flaked, white fish. Give them a try with my herb cream sauce and serve up some affordable brain food!

Salmon Cakes with Herb Cream Sauce

Salmon Cakes
1 can salmon (I use Cloverleaf Wild Red Pacific Sockeye Salmon), with skin and bones removed
2 c. potatoes, peeled, diced and boiled
1/2 container of light garlic & herb cream cheese
3 scallions, diced
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 c. Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 tsp. dried dill or 1 tsp. fresh
salt & pepper to taste
1 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. olive oil

Instructions:

1. Boil the potatoes until for tender. Drain and a return to the pot and place the pot on the burner for a few seconds to dry out the potatoes.
2. In a bowl mash the potatoes with the cream cheese.
3. Add the salmon, egg, scallions and bread crumbs, dill and salt & pepper. Mix to combine thoroughly.
4. Shape into 8 patties.
5. Heat butter and oil in a skillet and fry patties until golden brown & heated through.

(ridiculously easy) Herb Cream Sauce
1/2 container light garlic & herb cream cheese
2 tbsp. milk
1/4 tsp. salt

Instructions:

1. Place cream cheese and milk in a microwave safe bowl.
2. Microwave for 30 seconds (or until cream cheese really soft and milk is heated) and stir to combine.
3. Season with salt and spoon over salmon cakes.



enjoy,
Amanda

Magic Soup

Whenever I'm sick, before I reach for the tissues or cold medication, I go straight to the freezer to see if I have any of this soup left. If I don't, I start to make it ASAP. It's another one of my Gran's recipes, she's truly my biggest cooking inspiration. This soup was always in her fridge once the weather started to cool down. I call it her Magic Soup cause this soup can cure any cold almost over night. I don't know what it is, maybe it's the chicken, maybe it's the veggies, or maybe it's just the idea that it's magic, but whenever I've been sick and had this soup I'm better the next day.

With Thanksgiving this past weekend, I found myself with a rather large turkey carcass and a whole lot of leftover turkey so I seized the opportunity to make my own stock for a big batch of soup.

Stock simmering

Stock is really easy to make. Take your bones and put them in a big pot and cover with water. You need some flavours to add depth to the stock so the next thing to add would be Mirepoix, also known as the Holy Trinity of cooking: carrots, onion and celery. No need to dice or be fussy with this, just a rough couple of chops is good. I was preparing the veggies for my soup at the same time so I also threw in the skins of the onion and carrots and the base of the celery, you're not eating them, they're just for flavour and will be strained out later. I also like to throw in a lemon or two to brighten up the stock. The last thing to add would be your herbs. Salt and pepper along with bay leaves, thyme and anything else you like can go in. Simmer the stock for a couple of hours to get all the flavour out of the bones, veggies and herbs.

Cool down your stock and strain it to removes all the bones, skin, and cooked veggies and then let it sit (you can even do this overnight in the fridge) and skim off the fat that rises to the top. And voilà, your very own homemade stock, perfect for Magic Soup!

Magic Soup

4 c. chopped chicken or turkey, cooked
1 onion, diced
3 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 tbsp. butter
1 14oz. can diced tomatoes with juice
1/2 c. small pasta (I use pasta stars but any will do)
1/2 c. short grain rice
8-10 c. of water or stock
salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Melt the butter in a large pot and sautée to onion, celery and carrots for a few minutes.
2. Add the chicken and continue to sautée for 2 minutes.
3. Add stock or water.
4. Add the tomatoes (with juice), pasta and rice.
5. Cover and bring to a boil and then reduce temperature to low and allow to simmer until pasta and rice are cooked.

Enjoy right away or freeze in small batches for when you really need it!

*Note, my grandma was never a stickler for a recipe with this soup, she threw in whatever she had, cabbage, beans, macaroni, peas, etc... let your pantry be your guide!

My favourite way to have a bowl of soup!

enjoy,

Amanda

Rustic Jam Tart

My grandma made the BEST pie dough. It was light, flaky, buttery, everything pie crust should be. And as good as her pies were, it was what she did with the scraps that I loved most.

She'd take all the little leftovers bits from trimming the edges and re-roll them into little shapes (she wasn't fussy enough to make sure they were round) and then she'd spoon on some butter, cinnamon and sugar, or some homemade jam, and pop them into the oven. In only a few minutes and we'd be eating warm jam filled tarts right from the oven.

I made strawberry freezer jam this week and remembered how good those little tarts were and so as an homage to my late grandma I threw together some pie crust dough (sadly, no where near as good as hers, but I have time to perfect it!) and loaded it up with jam and in no time I was tasting my childhood.

Now that's love from the oven.




Rustic Jam Tarts

Pie crust leftovers (however much you have will do), or store-bought dough sheets
1 cup Jam, any flavour
1 egg white
powdered sugar

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F
2. Roll out your dough. Cut into portion sizes and place 1-2tbps of jam in the centre depending on the size of your tarts.
3. Crimp edges up so that the jam is contained.
4. Brush pastry with egg white.
5. Place on cookie sheet in oven for 1o-20 minutes (again, depending o the size of your tarts) or until your crust is golden brown and cooked through.
6. Remove from oven and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

enjoy!

Amanda