Double Chocolate Banana Oatmeal Cookies

OK, I can't help but to go over the top with my recipes. I know I am wreckless and ambitious, a dangerous combination, but I make it work for me. This cupboard raid turned up something that will remain in my recipe book forever. Here's where I started:  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-oatmeal-cookies/

The only thing I did differently was substitute a blended banana for the egg, added a teaspoon of honey, a handful of crushed cashews and a hint of fresh ground nutmeg. Everything else was exactly to this recipe. In less than a half hour and for under $6 I made 2 dozen delectable treats that had the house hovering and waiting the last few minutes of baking. I love how food is so communal! Try keeping these around at your house. I dare you!

Feel free to get creative with the extra dry ingredients like almonds or raisins. You can substitute coconut oil for butter if you want to go vegan. For gluten-free you might try mostly rice flour, a little tapioca starch and baking soda only in place of baking powder. And as always, test one cookie before baking off the rest. This will tell you if you need to adjust the dough at all. Sometimes it's too wet and I add a tiny bit of flour to stiffen it up. Also feel free to use pastry flour, whole wheat and/or all purpose flour in any blend you want. If you want soft, chewy cookies bake for 10-11 minutes, for crunchier bake for 13-14 minutes.

Cottage Pie

Nothing says home cooking like cottage pie to me. Such a simple dish but so heart-warming, especially on a chilly evening. It gets right to the ribs... to the soul even. And I love having my soul tickled by some great home cooked comfort food. I can explain this one in no time.

Peel and cut russet potatoes into cubes and boil in salted water until soft when poked with a fork but not falling apart. You'll know because you'll be thinking "I can drain that and still mash them pretty easily." See how that works? Nice!

While that's going carmelize some diced yellow onions. Medium heat, stir often, deglaze with red wine 2-3 times, only when getting kinda dry, to prevent them from burning. Add diced carrots and cut green beans and saute in a little olive oil until softened a bit but not too much. You may want to add some water to the saute after a few minutes to help steam-cook the veggies. Remove veggies from the pan. Cook the lamb about 3/4 done. A little pink will remain and that's a good thing because we are baking this dish when assembled. Mix the veggies and the meat with some herbs and spices like thyme, paprika, cinnamon, salt, pepper or whatever you like. Put in a baking dish and set aside.

Mash the potatoes and add some milk, salt, pepper, dill, chives and butter until smooth enough to spread or pipe onto the veggies in the baking dish. Cover with shredded cheddar cheese and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is golden bubbly on top. Cool for 10 minutes and then, if you are like me, cut carefully into squares, slide a pie spatula under and slide onto the plate with a flat-edged knife or other tool pressed firmly at the bottom of the spatula. It just looks better that way. My family used to just scoop a spoon into it making it a mess of stuff rather than a "pie" which I always hated. Do it your way, but if you come to my house this is how it's done.

Scotch Eggs with Mustard Sauce

This little ditty of a photo (to the right) popped up in an article I was reading about jQuery (web design code..) and I totally lost my train of thought. The only thing I could think was "I have to make that right now." And I did the very next day.

I got some Organic Valley eggs on sale, and a pound of ground beef (which was subsequently replaced with lamb since the dog ate the entire pound off the counter behind my back). I rounded up some corn starch, bread crumbs, plenty of canola oil and fresh parsley.

After that I boiled 8 eggs for 12 minutes and chilled them in ice water (to reduce the chances of a brown ring forming around the yolk, which happened anyway here since I used only cold water). Crack them while pulling them out of the boiling water to make them easier to peel.

Next I heated about 3 inches of canola oil to 350 in a small flat-bottomed pot. Mixed the meatball mixture next ie; a couple handfuls of bread crumbs, a pound of meat, an egg, chopped parsley, salt, pepper, thyme and paprika. Roll an egg in the corn starch. Pick up a medium meatballs worth of meat and form it around the egg, making sure to keep it tight and touching the egg. Roll it in a beaten egg then in breadcrumbs. Place in oil gently and fry for about 3 minutes or until dark golden brown. Drain and put on paper towels. Repeat 7 more times. My results were the photo on the left. Oh how I wish I had a better camera :)

The mustard sauce is easy. Mix whatever mustards you have together in your fridge with some worcestershire sauce, pickle juice, lemon juice, mayo and your pick of herbs and spices.

Delicious, but one must wonder what sort of sick mind designed this concoction to begin with? It's a bit, well... just look at them!

Banana Carrot Coconut Cake

Ever wondered what banana bread and carrot cake would be like together? No? Really? Well I have and I created such a concoction very recently. Here are the two recipes that I used for the cake:

Banana Bread http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/banana-bread-recipe/index.html
Carrot Cake (thanks Alton!) http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/carrot-cake-recipe/index.html

I used a bundt cake pan because... well, it's all I could find to bake in at the moment. Not my first choice but let's give it a go. I started with a buttered and powdered sugar dusted pan, then made and added the banana bread, smoothing it out slightly without spreading it up the sides of the pan. This is for a double layered effect. Next I chopped up some candied pecans I made a few days prior and sprinkled them on top. Then I made and added the carrot cake over top of those. I baked it at 350 for one hour then turned the oven off and left it in for another 10 minutes. I then pulled it out to cool (preferably in a place where your friend's dog isn't going to eat it) for about an hour. Then chill in the freezer for 10 minutes before adding the frosting.

I wanted to make a French buttercream for the frosting or at least a cream cheese frosting but alas neither were available from the cupboard genie. So I opted for a yogurt frosting. I made this by softening a tablespoon of butter in the microwave and blending it with yogurt and vanilla extract. Then blending in powdered sugar until thickened to a nice icing texture. Spread frosting on the cake and sprinkle coconut flakes on the outside, tilting the cake sideways to spread more evenly. You could even zest an orange or lemon into the icing or sprinkle on top. Slice and eat with a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream. Nums.

Stoneground Wild Cheddar Jalapeno and Onion Bread