medcnet

4 ripe bananas

Honey

Cinnamon

1 1/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

6 T unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup sour cream

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel bananas, and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Drizzle with honey and sprinkle with cinnamon. Place in oven, and cook for 20 minutes, until bananas begin to caramelize. Remove, and set aside to let cool. Reduce oven heat to 350 degrees.

While bananas are roasting, melt butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, until it begins to brown and let off a nutty aroma. Remove from heat, and set aside to let cool.

In a small bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg). In a larger bowl, add the bananas and mash. Stir in the butter, vanilla, sour cream, brown sugar and eggs, and combine until just smooth. Add the dry ingredients, and stir to combine. Pour batter into a greased bread pan, and bake for one hour.

Roasted Cauliflower & Corn Salad

bread, salad, veggies

When I'm on vacation and in an unfamiliar kitchen without my own arsenal of kitchen ingredients, I love to make up recipes. Oh, when you're on vacation you love to relax, shop, get facials? You sound normal. I sound not normal. However, I gotta be, gotta be, gotta gotta be me (all I listen to is the Teen Beach 2 soundtrack). I made up this salad the other day, and while it may not look very appetizing (I think it could use some chopped chives on top?), it really, really was. Roasted vegetables, fluffy quinoa and crunchy garlic croutons... a perfect side dish for just about anything!

Roasted Cauliflower & Corn Salad

(Serves 6-8)

1 head cauliflower

1/3 cup olive oil, plus more to make croutons with

1 tsp cumin

Zest of one lime, plus juice for salad

Salt and pepper

4 ears corn

1 box quinoa, cooked

4 pieces bread, chopped into small pieces

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup crumbled cotija cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Break up cauliflower into florets and place on a baking sheet. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, cumin and lime zest. Pour over florets and toss with hands. Season with salt and pepper. Wrap each ear of corn in foil. Roast corn and cauliflower in oven for 30 minutes. I use this time to make my croutons. In a large skillet, heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add bread and garlic, and cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring often, until bread is golden and crispy. Once veggies are roasted, place cauliflower in large bowl. Let corn cool enough to handle, and then slice kernels off and add to bowl. Add cooked quinoa and croutons to bowl, and toss. Finally, add cotija cheese and squeeze some lime into bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper!

Tuna Avocado Toast + Bertolli Contest

appetizers, bread, fish, restaurants

Want to know something? I love olive oil. Some women collect shoes, or handbags, or jewelry... and I collect olive oils. One of my favorite brands, Bertolli, is celebrating their 150th anniversary and they sent me that beautiful anniversary bottle above. It's so pretty! I want to carry it around like a handbag or wear it on my feet! I'm very normal! Anyway, to celebrate, Bertolli is having a recipe contest in which you could win a trip to Tuscany (as well as other prizes) just by submitting a dish using Bertolli oils. Check it out here and enter soon, the deadline is July 31st!

The other night, using Bertolli olive oil (duh), I tried to recreate a dish we recently had at the Manhattan Beach, CA restaurant Love and Salt. If you follow me on Instagram, then you know I pretty much fell in love with this restaurant right away. We ate insanely crispy yet juicy roast chicken, and pasta with bone marrow (yup), and a salad with crispy garbanzo beans... all while sipping spicy margaritas. And we began the meal with an albacore tuna and avocado toast. This toast was something magical... every bite so full of bright texture and flavor. I could have made love to the toast alone... perfectly crispy and probably soaked in delicious olive oil. Creamy avocado, with a hint of lemon, topped with fresh, chunky tuna that melted in your mouth, and sprinkled with some sort of olive (caper?) mixture and a sliver of onion. Am I still talking about this toast??

I thought it would be the perfect appetizer to make with my fancy olive oil, see what I did below...

I had ciabatta bread leftover from our local pizza joint, so I used that, however you could use sourdough or french bread. Just slice, and sauté on the stove in a splash of olive oil over medium heat until both sides are golden. Take a can of solid white albacore tuna (soaked in water), drain and place in a bowl. Scoop out an avocado into another bowl and mash with a fork. Take the juice of half a lemon, and sprinkle over both bowls. Drizzle both bowls with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. To assemble toasts, spread avocado first, then tuna and then top with some chopped kalamata olives (or use an olive tapenade). Serve and enjoy!

Chocolate & Coconut Bread

I find June to be a crazy, crazy time. The school year is ending, summer is lingering around the corner and children are restless. There are parties and graduations and there is me, trying to keep my head on straight enough to remember when lacrosse ends and swimming begins. And teacher gifts! This was much easier when I had one kid and he had one teacher. Now, my kids are not only in school but involved in many activities and oh, yeah, there are three of them. So yes, this is a crazy time, however I love showing the wonderful people who take such good care of my children how much they mean to us in baked goods form. Is there any other way? (Um, $$$)

I've baked a lot of goodies from this "no knead" cookbook (seen here, here and here), and I've had this Chocolate & Coconut Bread bookmarked forever. You have to prepare a bit for the recipe, because the bread needs a 12-18 hour rising period, but otherwise it's simple! Which is what I love about the no-kneading formula: it's foolproof. That is, if you don't burn the bread like I did. I found the high temperature to be overkill with the chocolate chunks protruding from the bread (just asking to be charred) so next time, I'll turn it down a bit. Otherwise, success! Nothing can go terribly wrong when chocolate and coconut are involved.

You can find the recipe HERE.

Pumpkin Bread (with Chocolate Chips)

Why do I put chocolate chips in everything? Why? WHY? It's a reflex at this point. I don't think my brain consciously decides to anymore. My arm just goes for the chocolate chips, my fingers rip open the bag, and I pour. It's a sickness, really. You should feel bad for me, and pray. Why can't my robot arms reach for nuts, or raisins (yuck)? How long am I going to talk about this today?

Moving on... a friend sent me this recipe for pumpkin bread, claiming it one of her favorites because of its moistness and simplicity. It is simple and IT IS DELICIOUS. Even though somehow chocolate chips ended up in my bread. No idea how (help).

Pull-Apart Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Bread

I have wanted to make this bread for an entire year. No really, see this post from one year ago. I told you I'd get to it! One, year, later. But it was SO worth the wait and effort. While it wasn't a difficult bread to make, there were definitely more steps involved than your average baked treat. However, the "pull-apart" nature of the bread means it doesn't have to look perfect. I had a hard time rolling out my dough into a rectangular shape but I stopped stressing about it, figuring that once it baked everything would mesh together nicely... and it did! Instead of a buttery rum glaze, I used vanilla paste. I'm sure rum would be delicious, but I didn't want the flavor to freak out my kids. Everyone in the house love it - MAJOR hit! And after the bread and these cookies, I still have more pumpkin puree left in the can, hmm... ideas?? Have super DUPER weekends!

Find the recipe HERE.

Pretzel Hot Dog Buns

bread

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, no baby yet?? You're also thinking, Siri is nutso kookoo for taking on large baking projects such as pretzel bread just days from her due date. WELL YOU'RE WRONG. (About the second part, baby is never leaving my belly, nope never.) These Pretzel Hot Dog Buns were extremely easy to make and only took me about an hour from start to finish. No kneading, no hours and hours of rising. And I had every ingredient on hand (but that's because I'm the type of person with bread flour and active yeast in her pantry). In fact, it was one particular ingredient that made this recipe jump out at me: grated garlic. Yum! I'm not sure if you can taste it but it made the house smell fantastic as these rolls were baking. And how did they taste?

Delicious. Soft, salty, just enough pretzel chewiness. Yum.

I will say, they're pretty big. Not exactly the perfect vessel for a hot dog (but maybe a brat or sausage with tons of peppers and onions). I think the recipe could have yielded 16 rolls instead of 8. However, I will be making sandwiches with them all week, or simply warming them up and slathering them in butter. Because that's what you do when you've been pregnant for a year.

Burrata and White Peach Crostini

appetizers, bread, cheese, fruit, herbs/spices

Hamptons, I can't quit you and your quaint farm stands everywhere you turn. We went back for a quick weekend trip, and this time I picked up some freshly baked bread, homemade Burrata cheese, juicy white peaches, locally made honey and some fresh basil. And then I turned it all into a delicious appetizer! Carson, who is not usually one for the sweet and savory combination, LOVED this. Everything just came together perfectly. White peaches aren't overly sweet, but drizzled with a little honey, on top of creamy, salty cheese, on top of crispy bread... it was perfect. A little earthiness from the basil and a sprinkle of coarse sea salt topped it all off. I want more.

(**Which isn't saying much, because I want EVERYTHING right now. Only 4 more weeks left in this pregnancy and I want to eat and sleep the days away... healthy, huh? Don't worry, though, that's not happening because I'm constantly running after my 22 month-old and there is no more room left in this belly for food. Move over baby! Mama wants a thousand cookies.)

Burrata and White Peach Crostini

Loaf of french bread, thinly sliced on a diagonal

Burrata cheese (ricotta or goat cheese would work well too, me thinks)

Extra virgin olive oil

White peaches, thinly sliced

Honey

Fresh basil, cut into thin strips

Coarse sea salt

Preheat oven to 350. Brush both sides of bread with olive oil, and place on a baking sheet. Bake for roughly 15 minutes, flipping bread halfway through cooking process. Remove from oven when top of bread is lightly golden. Spread cheese on toast and top with peach slices and basil strips. Drizzle a small amount of honey and extra virgin olive oil over each and sprinkle with a small amount of coarse sea salt.

Pizza Dough turned into Ciabatta Bread

bread

I love making homemade bread (oh my, remember this), and even my own pizza dough (seen here), but let's face it - with two small kids, a third on the way, and the desire to shower OCCASIONALLY, I don't always have the time. One of my favorite short cuts is to ask my local pizzeria to sell me some pizza dough. They will! And now that I live in New York, I can say things like "my local pizzeria" and sound more legit. So here's an easy way to turn store-bought pizza dough into something that resembles ciabatta bread:

Preheat oven to 425. Divide dough into thirds. Shape with lightly oiled hands into 4-inch rounds, roughly 1/2 inch in thickness. Place on lightly oiled, parchment-lined baking sheets. Poke all over with a fork. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning, coarse sea salt and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Bake for 10-15 minutes, keeping an eye on the bread, until it's nice and golden on top.

This are delicious solo, or sliced in half and used as a vessel for this.

S'mores Banana Bread

The Internet ruins everything. I'll show you how. Think of an amazing idea - the best idea you've ever had - then google that idea, and you'll notice thousands of other people have had that very same thought. Gee, thanks Internet, for stripping us of our originality and making us feel BOR-ING. But I'll show you, I will. The next time I wake up at 3am and think of combining s'mores with banana bread I will loudly proclaim Google DEAD TO ME and make up my own recipe (while waking up Carson and the kids with my middle-of-the-night proclamations).

But not this time. I can't take credit for this ridiculous banana bread creation. When I googled "my idea" and found this recipe, it just looked too good not to try out. I happened to have 3 ripe bananas and all the other ingredients too, so, much to Carson's dismay (we still have half a Lemon Cake in our kitchen), I set off to bake this crazy thing, as my Instagram feed will show you...

That's my big belly.

So. This is moist, chocolate chip banana bread, lined with a graham cracker, cinnamon sugar swirl, topped with roasted marshmallows. Breakfast? HA! Maybe, if you're camping and you woke up early to jog 15 miles. Which is how I camp, yeah, sure. You should definitely make this though, because it's summer, and s'mores should be combined with everything. Kale S'more Salad? BRILLIANT IDEA, IT'S MINE, DON'T GOOGLE IT.

More creative S'mores here, here, here and here.

Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding

baked goods, bread, breakfast

Nothing makes me happier than a chocolate croissant. Nothing. I mean, other than my kids and Carson and good health and peace on Earth. Obviously. But I've always had a thing for chocolate croissants, even as a kid when most people my age preferred frosted, sprinkled donuts. Nothing is worse than a bland, stale chocolate croissant, and nothing is better than a buttery, flaky, WARM one. For your information, the best one I've had in my 33 years is from Maison Giraud in Pacific Palisades, CA. Any New Yorkers want to weigh in?? I'm still looking...

When I found out that a Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding existed, I knew it was going to be my Mother's Day gift to myself. I used this recipe and went with mini croissants. I also omitted the raisins (I mean, really? raisins?) and skipped the bourbon ice cream, serving it with just plain old vanilla. Mine needed at least 10 minutes longer in the oven for it to set, but otherwise I found the recipe to be perfect. It sort of tastes like a decadent, chocolaty french toast. It's sort of perfect.

My biggest, littlest helper...

Happy Mother's Day, you Mamas you!

(Also, Pain au Chocolat)

#VoiceTailgate: English Muffin Pizzas + Pimm's Cup

appetizers, beverages, bread, cheese, entertainment, pork, snacks, veggies, Voice Tailgate

To celebrate the fact that tomorrow night Rixton is performing live on The Voice, our Monday #VoiceTailgate will be all about this particular British Invasion! I remember very clearly (at least my eardrums do) when The Wanted hit The Voice stage and therefore it's safe to assume that Rixton, a talented pop/rock band from the UK, will most likely make a few women in the audience faint.

UNLESS THOSE WOMEN HAVE THESE ENGLISH MUFFIN PIZZAS IN THEIR STOMACHS!

(I'm working on my segues which, by the way, is a very oddly spelled word).

We make these a lot in our house. They're simple, fast, and individual - therefore everyone can enjoy a delicious pizza unique to their own tastebuds. For your tailgate, you can have a variety of pizzas already prepared OR you can create a toppings bar and let people make their own. Either way, you're guests will say, "Bob's your uncle!? These muffins are the dog's bullock's! I am properly gobsmacked! All is tickety-boo in my world!"

Um, because your guests will be required to speak using googled British phrases.

*You might be wondering how "English" English Muffins really are. Well, Wikipedia says that "despite being considered as quintessentially English, and available in most British supermarkets, they are less widely eaten than crumpets or scones." By the by (British people say that), what on Earth is a crumpet?? I'm going to ask Rixton.

For our #VoiceTailgate, we're making Roasted Garlic + Swiss Chard and Mushroom + Sausage Pizzas (I sautéed the swiss chard and mushrooms in olive oil, cooked the sausage until it was nice and crispy and roasted the garlic prior to cooking the pizzas). Other good toppings would be roasted peppers, olive tapenade, broccolini, burrata, roasted chicken or plain old pepperoni for the kiddos.

(You can also REALLY impress your friends and make Homemade English Muffins.)

English Muffin Pizzas

Sliced English muffins

Jar of pizza sauce (or we use a 28oz. can of crushed tomatoes)

Mozzarella cheese

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Desired toppings

Preheat your oven to 450. Lightly coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place English muffins slices on baking sheet, top with pizza sauce, cheese and toppings. Drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 10 minutes or until cheese is golden and bubbly.

On to our proper English-style cocktail. Pimm's! You said that with a British accent, didn't you? The first time I ever had one of these was at a pool party with Carson and his friends, way way way way way back in the day before children and one-piece bathing suits. A classic English liquor, which tastes a bit like fruit and spices, served often with ginger ale or lemonade and garnished with all sorts of fruits and veggies. For this tailgate, I will be drinking an "Iced Tea Cup" instead, which doesn't sound as cool in my fake British accent but still tastes delicious. Cheerio!

Carson's Pimm's Cup
Printable Recipe

Pimm's No. 1 Liqueur (or Iced Tea)
Ginger Ale
Ice
Assorted sliced fruits and veggies like apples, oranges, lemons, strawberries, raspberries or rhubarb
Sprig of rosemary for garnish

Place ice in tall glass. Fill halfway with Pimm's (or Iced Tea) and the rest of the way with ginger ale. Stir well. Add desired fruits and veggies.

*Note: it can be easier to make a large pitcher of this, still using the half and half ratio. Fill glasses with ice and fruit/veggies and then pour in Pimm's mixture.

Have fun watching the Top 10 tomorrow night on NBC at 8/7 Central!