The junior member of the clan has of late developed a taste for cinnamon raisin bread, to the detriment of his bananas for breakfast. So with a whole lot of bananas about to go south, I figured I would make banana bread, but then got to thinking, why not add the cinnamon and raisins?
Ingredients for Cinnamon Raisin Banana Bread
3- 4 Overripe bananas
½ cup butter softened
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 whole eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1- 1½ cups loosely packed raisins
1/3 cup of granulated sugar
1½ Tbs cinnamon
Directions for Cinnamon Raisin Banana Bread
Preheat oven to 350º,
Lightly grease a loaf pan,
In a bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt,
In a separate bowl whisk together the cinnamon and granulated sugar.
In a mixer on low speed cream the butter and sugar. When well blended add the bananas and mix until they are fully mashed and incorporated.
Add the eggs one at a time, adding after each is fully combined.
With the mixer on low add the flour, baking powder and salt. and continue to mix until all the ingredients are gully combined.
With the mixer still on low add the raisins. Once combined remove the mixer bowl scraping down the sides.
Add about ½ the cinnamon sugar mixture and with a spatula whirl it into the batter, once mixed in, add the remaining cinnamon and whirl that into the mixture.
Pour into the lightly greased loaf pan and bake in the center of the oven for 60 – 80 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the oaf comes out clean.
Place on to a wire rack and allow to cool for about 5 minutes then remove from the pan by inverting onto a wire rack, once removed from the pan turn the bread right side up.
Here are a few items to help make this recipe:
The Official Taste Tester
Bananas, raisins, cinnamon in bread? I would rather have it plain with a little sliced chicken inside, not a S.A.P.P. dish but I did like the melted butter, so only 3 paws and skip the fruits and bring on the meats!
In a bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt,
In a separate bowl whisk together the cinnamon and granulated sugar.
In a mixer on low speed cream the butter and sugar. When well blended add the bananas and mix until they are fully mashed and incorporated.
Add the eggs one at a time, adding after each is fully combined.
With the mixer on low add the flour, baking powder and salt. and continue to mix until all the ingredients are gully combined.
With the mixer still on low add the raisins. Once combined remove the mixer bowl scraping down the sides.
Add about ½ the cinnamon sugar mixture and with a spatula whirl it into the batter, once mixed in, add the remaining cinnmon andwhirl that into the mixture.
Pour into the lightly greased loaf pan and bake in the center of the oven for 60 - 80 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the oaf comes out clean.
Place on to a wire rack and allow to cool for about 5 minutes then remove from the pan by inverting onto a wire rack, once removed from the pan turn the bread right side up.
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OK so the first thing that is obvious is that, as an example, my Halloween Ice Box Cake shows I am not the greatest cake and cookie decorator.
The Nabisco “Famous” chocolate wafers ice box cake has been one of my favorites for years, the only differences between this and the original is the construction is slightly different and of course the color.
The recipe on the box says you can make it 4 hours before serving, but it is really best if left to sit in the refrigerator overnight so that the cream can be absorbed by the wafers and they swell and soften.
Ingredients for Halloween Ice Box Cake
1 Box Nabisco Famous chocolate Wafers
2 cups Heavy Cream Whipped Stiffed
¼ cup XXX sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Orange food coloring
Chocolate icing*
*Unless you plan to make cookies or use icing for something else a store-bought tube will be easier to manage
Directions for Halloween Ice Box Cake
Whip the Cream, sugar vanilla and as much food coloring, as needed to obtain your desired color, to stiff peaks.
On a cake plate or serving platter place 7 wafers flat, rough side down on the platter with a dot of icing on the rough side to adhere them lightly to the plate. Place one in the center of the plate and arrange the others in a circle around it. Place about a tablespoon of whipped cream on each. Now place a second layer of wafers over these so that they overlap the edges of the first layerand spread the whipped cream out from each wafer, it will end up being slightly larger than the first. Place whipped cream on them and then arrange a layer similar to the first on top, Continue to layer the wafers until all are used. Finish by covering the top and sides with the remaining whipped cream, decorate with the icing.
Halloween ice box cake
Here are a few items to help make this recipe:
The Official Taste Tester
This one has chocolate which I can’t have so rule #1 applies No Tasty No ratey!
The recipe on the box says you can make it 4 hours before serving, but it is really best if left to sit in the refrigerator overnight so that the cream can be absorbed by the wafers and they swell and soften.
1 Box Nabisco Famous chocolate Wafers
2 cups Heavy Cream Whipped Stiffed
¼ cup XXX sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Orange food coloring
Chocolate icing*
*Unless you plan to make cookies or use icing for something else a store-bought tube will be easier to manage
Instructions
Whip the Cream, sugar vanilla and as much food coloring, as needed to obtain your desired color, to stiff peaks.
On a cake plate or serving platter place 7 wafers flat, rough side down on the platter with a dot of icing on the rough side to adhere them lightly to the plate. Place one in the center of the plate and arrange the others in a circle around it. Place about a tablespoon of whipped cream on each. Now place a second layer of wafers over these so that they overlap the edges of the first layerand spread the whipped cream out from each wafer, it will end up being slightly larger than the first. Place whipped cream on them and then arrange a layer similar to the first on top, Continue to layer the wafers until all are used. Finish by covering the top and sides with the remaining whipped cream, decorate with the icing.
If you enjoy our site and are thinking of purchasing anything from Amazon, please use the link to Amazon from our site. It doesn’t cost you anything and we profit from the ads and purchases .
Please help us keep our blog going by letting your friends know we’re here and by checking out the links on our front page.
Braciola is an Italian version of a beef roulade or “rolled beef dish. Just about every nationality has a recipe of this kind, a true peasant dish taking tougher cuts of meats and slowly braising them until they are tender. There are probably a great many version of braciola.
My version may not be traditional but it is good. It started with an episode of “Everybody Loves Raymond” in which his wife makes a braciola dish that Frank loves and that makes Marie very jealous. The secret to the recipe was she used currants in the filling.
That started me on a quest to produce a version of my own using currants, which have become rather hard to find where we live and so I have not made it recently. I was talking to someone the other day and we were discussing the opening of a new small chain grocery store near my house and I said I hoped they carried currants and told about my different recipes in which I used them including braciola.
I checked out the new store on their “grand opening”, sadly they don”t carry them either but it got the braciola bug going so I resorted to Amazon for the currants and made a batch of braciola.
Most of the amounts in this recipe are approximate, the amounts are more to the eye and taste. You will also need a good non reactive large pot with a tight fitting lid.
There are also many different opinions as to which cut of meat to use, I prefer the bottom round but by all means if you want to use something else ( top round or flank steak) go right ahead.
Ingredients for Braciola:
3½# piece of bottom round sliced into ¼” thick slices.
4-5 cloves of garlic
¼ cup pignoli (pine nuts) lightly toasted
½ cup flat leafed) Italian parsley
3-4 tsp salt and pepper
¼-½ loaf of italian bread (day old best) thinly sliced,crust removed
3-4 Tbs Olive oil
1 cup dried currants
2-3 thin slices of Pecorino Romano for each roulade
1-2 qts “Sunday gravy” or your favorite tomato sauce
Chopped parsley for garnish
2-3 additional Tbs olive oil for browning meat
Directions for Braciola:
The easiest way to prepare the beef is to have a good rapport with your butcher. Get him to cut a 3½-4 pound piece of bottom round into ¼ inch thick slices on the slicer. Depending on the weight you should get 14 or more slices of beef.
In a food processor place the garlic, pine nuts,parsley, and 1 tsp each salt and pepper. Pulse until finely chopped. Scoop out into a mixing bowl and reserve.
Place the bread slices into the processor next and pulse until you have coarse crumbs. By eye scoop the crumbs into the mixing bowl with the garlic mixture until you have about two cups of filling.
Place any remaining crumbs in an air tight zip lock bag and freeze for another day.
Add the currants to the mixture and combine thoroughly, then add olive oil until the mixture is slightly moist and holds together loosely.
Depending on how large your work area is, layout the beef slices and with a meat tenderizer or mallet pound the slices to about 1/8 inch in thickness, then lightly salt and pepper one side and turn over and lightly salt and pepper the other sides.
pound and lightly salt and pepper
The slices of bottom round will be slightly triangular in shape. Place 2-3 Tbs of the filling at the wide end of the triangle then with a peeler shave 2 or 3 pieces of the Pecorino Romano on top of the filling.
filling
Begin to roll up the beef folding the sides in to encapsulate the filling and continue to roll to the thin end and secure with one toothpick to hold the roll closed.
rolls
All this can be done in advance of cooking. the entire cooking time will be about 3 hours 15 minutes.
When you are ready to cook set your oven on 300º-325º and using either a large sauté pan or the non reactive pot you are going to cook in, place a small amount of olive oil and in batches brown all sides of the braciola and once browned remove to a warm plate.
When all are browned, place the sauce into the pot and bring up to medium simmer. place all the braciola into the pot so that they are covered with sauce, place the lid on the pot and set in the oven for 2-3 hours until the meat is fork tender.
Serve with pasta or noodles or even potatoes your choice as to what your family will like.
braciola
Here are few items to help make this recipe:
The Official Taste Tester
Currants and garlic are not too S.A.P.P. friendly but the sauce and the noodles were palatable, so I only got half the meal so only half the paws more or less
3½# piece of bottom round sliced into ¼" thick slices.
4-5 cloves of garlic
¼ cup pignoli (pine nuts) lightly toasted
½ cup flat leafed) Italian parsley
3-4 tsp salt and pepper
¼-½ loaf of italian bread (day old best) thinly sliced,crust removed
3-4 Tbs Olive oil
1 cup dried currants
2-3 thin slices of Pecorino Romano for each roulade
1-2 qts "Sunday gravy" or your favorite tomato sauce
Chopped parsley for garnish
2-3 additional Tbs olive oil for browning meat
Instructions
The easiest way to prepare the beef is to have a good rapport with your butcher. Get him to cut a 3½-4 pound piece of bottom round into ¼ inch thick slices on the slicer. Depending on the weight you should get 14 or more slices of beef.
In a food processor place the garlic, pine nuts,parsley, and 1 tsp each salt and pepper. Pulse until finely chopped. Scoop out into a mixing bowl and reserve.
Place the bread slices into the processor next and pulse until you have coarse crumbs. By eye scoop the crumbs into the mixing bowl with the garlic mixture until you have about two cups of filling.
Place any remaining crumbs in an air tight zip lock bag and freeze for another day.
Add the currants to the mixture and combine thoroughly, then add olive oil until the mixture is slightly moist and holds together loosely.
Depending on how large your work area is, layout the beef slices and with a meat tenderizer or mallet pound the slices to about 1/8 inch in thickness, then lightly salt and pepper one side and turn over and lightly salt and pepper the other sides.
The slices of bottom round will be slightly triangular in shape. Place 2-3 Tbs of the filling at the wide end of the triangle then with a peeler shave 2 or 3 pieces of the Pecorino Romano on top of the filling.
Begin to roll up the beef folding the sides in to encapsulate the filling and continue to roll to the thin end and secure with one toothpick to hold the roll closed.
All this can be done in advance of cooking. the entire cooking time will be about 3 hours 15 minutes.
When you are ready to cook set your oven on 300º-325º and using either a large sauté pan or the non reactive pot you are going to cook in, place a small amount of olive oil and in batches brown all sides of the braciola and once browned remove to a warm plate.
When all are browned, place the sauce into the pot and bring up to medium simmer. place all the braciola into the pot so that they are coveredd with sauce, place the lid on the po and se in the oven for 2-3 hours unil the meat is fork tender.
Serve with pasta or noodles or even potatoes your choice as to what your family will like.
If you enjoy our site and are thinking of purchasing anything from Amazon, please use the link to Amazon from our site. It doesn’t cost you anything and we profit from the ads and purchases .
Please help us keep our blog going by letting your friends know we’re here and by checking out the links on our front page.
