Banana Blondies Recipe Week #7

Banana Blondies

Ingredients

Blondies

• ½ cup butter, melted and if desired browned
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1½ tsp vanilla
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 cup flour
• ½ cup mashed banana (1 medium banana)

Brown Sugar Frosting

• ¼ cup butter
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp milk
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

Blondies

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line an 8x8 baking dish with foil and spray with cooking spray. Set aside
2. In bowl of stand mixer combine melted (or browned) butter and sugar. Mix until combined. Add in egg and vanilla and continue mixing until incorporated. Stir in salt, flour and banana until batter is smooth and even. Spread in prepared pan.
3. Bake for 25-30 minutes until center is set.
4. Transfer pan to wire rack to cool.
5. Frost the blondies when they are mostly cooled.

Brown Sugar Frosting

1. In a medium saucepan melt butter. Add brown sugar and milk and stir until mixture comes to just a boil. Remove from heat, allow to cool for 5 minutes.
2. Stir in powdered sugar with a whisk.
3. Spread on top of blondies and allow frosting to set and blondies to cool completely before cutting into squares.

Notes

If you choose to brown the butter, melt butter in saucepan and continue cooking, once it's melted by swirling the butter in the pan until butter reaches a deep golden brown color. 

Crepes with Homemade Lemon Curd Week 6

Never Fail Lemon Curd

• 6 tablespoons soft butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs + 2 egg yolks
• 2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Cream together butter and sugar in stand mixer on medium speed for about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time while mixing on low speed, then add yolks.  Continue to beat on low for another minute or two. mixture should be smooth and creamy light yellow. Next, add the lemon juice and continue to beat on low speed until incorporated.  Things turn pretty ugly at this point, the mixture will be lumpy and look curdled, fear not, forge ahead.

Transfer the lemon curd to a medium sized saucepan and place over low heat.  Stir until the mixture is heated through and no longer has a curdled appearance.  Increase the heat to medium and stir constantly for the next 12 minutes until thickened.  Remove from heat and allow to cool with cling wrap pressed directly onto the surface of the curd.  This will prevent it forming a skin on top. Once cool decant to storage container of your choice.  This keeps about a week in the fridge, it also freezes well.

How to Make Sweet Crepes

Ingredients:

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups flour

1 and ½ cups milk

1 cup water (add additional 1/2 cup water if needed)

Cooking spray for greasing the frying pan

Mini Mexican Pizzas-Week 5

Mini Mexican Pizzas

Ingredients:

3-4 Large whole wheat tortillas, or enough to cut out 12 small circles

1 cup Lean ground turkey, cooked or lean ground beef or 1 cup Morning Star Meatless Crumbles)

1/2 cup Salsa of choice

2 tsp Dry taco seasoning

1/2 cup Low fat refried beans

1/2 cup Low fat shredded Mexican blend or 2% cheddar cheese

**Optional Toppings: sliced black olives, shredded lettuce, low fat sour cream, chopped tomatoes, green onions etc.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a 12 count muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.

Start by laying each tortilla out individually on a flat surface, and use an empty can, glass cup, or cookie cutter to cut 3-4 medium circles out of each wrap. Press each wrap circle into muffin tin using your fingers. (Note: it doesn’t have to cover the entire side of the tin, it should just fit snuggly!) Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together the ground meat, salsa, taco seasoning, and refried beans. Stir until well combined. Scoop 1/8th cup of meat mixture into each mini cupcake. Top with shredded cheese and olives if desired.

Bake mini Mexican pizzas in pre-heated oven for 12-15 minutes, or until the cheese has melted. Wait for mini Mexican pizzas to cool, and remove from muffin tin using a fork or knife. Pizzas should pop out with ease! Serve with a side of salsa, low fat sour cream, chopped tomatoes, shredded lettuce and cilantro as a garnish.This recipe is great as an appetizer. You could also use larger cupcake pans and make them bigger. Make it a meal and add a side salad.

Enjoy

Week #3 Picture of our Strawberry Shortcake

This week the kids were introduced to a microplane zester. They learned how to grate any type of citrus fruit by rotating the fruit and only grating the peel to remove the zest. They also learned what the zest adds to a recipe (the natural oils in the zest, flavors our recipe of choice). The kids also used a strawberry plucker to remove the stem out of the berries. They were taught that using an egg slicer to slice strawberries allows them to cut uniform slices while having fun.

Fresh Strawberry Shortcake Recipe

Strawberry Shortcakes

For the Biscuits:

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
4 ounces (1/2 of a 8 oz. package) cream cheese, cut in cubes
1/3 cup milk
1 tablespoon milk for brushing the tops
For the Strawberries:

1 1/2 lbs. of fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/3 cup sugar
For the Whipped Cream:

1 cup whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon sugar

Preheat oven to 425.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and orange zest in a large bowl.
Add in the cream cheese and mash it with a fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Stir in 1/3 cup of milk and form a dough.
Flour hands and divide the dough into 8 balls.
Place the dough balls 3 inches apart on a greased baking sheet or silpat.

With a glass flatten the dough balls to 1/2 inch thickness and brush the tops with milk and sprinkle a bit of sugar on top.
Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Take out the biscuits and allow them to cool down to room temperature.

In the meantime prepare the strawberries.

Once you have cleaned and sliced them, take 1/3 of the strawberries and mash them with a potato masher.

Add in the rest of the strawberries and pour in the sugar.
Set aside for at least 20 minutes.

Meanwhile prepare the whipped cream by combining together the whipping cream, vanilla, and sugar.
Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
When chilled, beat the mixture until stiff peaks form.

Assemble the shortcakes by cutting the biscuits in half.
Place a tablespoon of the strawberry mixture on the bottom half of the biscuit and top with whipped cream.
Cover with the top half of the biscuit, and top it with whipped cream and a few more strawberries.
Serve immediately or put the cakes in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Week #2 Picture of our Fresh Tortilla

The kids had so much fun learning how to make fresh tortillas! They learned the difference between all purpose flour and bread flour. They were taught how to knead the dough and roll out a tortilla. Each kiddo made a Quesadilla with their fresh tortilla.

Fresh Homemade Flour Tortillas Recipe

Flour Tortillas made with Butter NOT Lard or Shortening. We made Homemade Quesadillas with our fresh tortillas.

Ingredients

• 1½ cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup bread flour
• 2½ tsp baking powder
• 1¼ tsp fine sea salt
• ½ cup salted butter (at room temp)
• 1 cup hot water

Instructions

1. Sift together the all purpose flour, bread flour, baking powder and sea salt into a large bowl. Add the butter to the bowl and using your hands mix the butter into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles course crumbs. Slowly pour the hot water into the crumble mixture and stir together until the mixture become moist and sticks to itself, forming a ball shape. Knead the dough for 3-5 minutes or until the dough can hold its shape better and is less sticky.
2. Cover bowl with tea towel and let rest for 1 hour.
3. After dough has rested, break the dough into 14-16 smaller balls. Cover the balls and let rest an additional 30 minutes.
4. Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Using a well floured rolling pin, take a ball of dough and roll out to a thin round circle, or whatever shape you can manage. Try to roll the tortilla as thin as you can. Carefully place tortilla on hot skillet. Cook for 30-40 seconds or until bubbly and golden. Flip and cook the other side until nice and golden. Repeat with remaining dough balls.
5. Wrap the cooked tortilla in a clean tea towel until ready to eat.
6. Eat right away or once completely cool you can reheat by wrapping tortillas in a damp paper towel and microwave for 20-30 seconds or wrap in foil and warm in the oven.