Again, I turn to Heidi Swanson from 101 Cookbooks. If you haven’t explored her site and recipes, I’m telling you…do it NOW. Wonderful, delicious, healthy recipes…gorgeous pictures. I didn’t change a thing in this recipe, and I’m glad I didn’t. So interestingly good.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup  whole wheat flour
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate
1/3 cup  extra-virgin olive oil
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups  mashed, VERY ripe bananas (~3 bananas)
1/4 cup whole milk yogurt
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the glaze:
1/2 cup  dark brown sugar
1/2 cup  55g confectioners’ sugar
4 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350° F, and place a rack in the center. Grease and flour a bundt pan.

Whisk together the flours, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Add the chocolate pieces and mix well.

In another, mix together the olive oil, eggs, mashed banana, yogurt, zest, and vanilla. Pour the banana mixture into the flour mixture and fold with a spatula until just combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until golden brown, about 50 minutes. Look at it and see if you get a wonderful golden color…you want to try and pull this bread out a little on the under baked side if you have to, so you keep all the moisture.

Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn the loaf out of the pan to cool completely.

Prepare the glaze. In a bowl, whisk together the sugars and the lemon juice until smooth. When the cake is completely cool, drizzle the glaze on top of the cake, spreading with a spatula to cover.

I just had to make this after a friend of mine brought some freshly made to me at work. So delish, complex in flavors – and the feta brings a wonderfully salty undertone, which I am not about to argue about.

From 101 Cookbooks

•   1 pound of large, dried white beans (corona, giant limas, gigantes, or any giant white beans you can find), rinsed, picked over and soaked overnight – or up to 24 hours.

Chipotle-tomato sauce:

•     2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 big pinches of red pepper flakes
•  2 pinches of salt
• 1 large clove garlic, chopped
• 1 14-ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves
• 1 1/2 tablespoons adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers

Cilantro Pesto:

•     1 medium clove of garlic
• 1/3 cup fresh cilantro
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oilbig pinch of salt
• 2 cups kale or chard, washed, de-stemmed, and very finely chopped
• 1 cup feta cheese (see head notes)
• 1 1/2 cup whole-grain breadcrumbs, toasted in a skillet with a tablespoon of olive oil

Drain and rinse the beans after their overnight soak. Then place them in a large saucepan and cover with an inch or two of water. Bring to a boil and simmer until the beans are cooked through and just tender. This took us about 2 hours, but it may take you less, try not to overcook them. Using beans from a can could work, although they’d probably fall apart more easily in the dish.

Remove from heat, add about about a tablespoon of salt to the beans and their water and let them sit for 10 minutes before draining them.

For the tomato sauce (you can do this while the beans are cooking. Place the 2 tablespoons olive oil, red pepper flakes, couple pinches of salt, and chopped garlic into a cold medium saucepan. Heat, while stirring over medium-high heat. Saute just 45 seconds or so until it smells yummy, but don’t let the garlic brown. Stir in the tomatoes and the fresh oregano and heat for a couple of minutes until they come to a gentle simmer. Remove from heat and stir in the adobo sauce – give it a taste. Add more salt and adobo sauce to your liking.

Make the cilantro pesto by combining the clove of garlic and cilantro in a food processor. Drizzle in the olive oil while pulsing. Season with a bit of salt and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 425F degrees. In a 9×13 baking pan (or large oven-proof casserole/dutch oven) toss the beans with the tomato sauce and the kale. Sprinkle with the cheese and bake in the top-third of the oven for roughly forty minutes, until the cheese to starts to brown and any beans on the top start to get a bit crusty. Remove from oven and let sit for ten minutes. Top the beans with the breadcrumbs and just before serving drizzle with the cilantro pesto.

I love shrimp, I love tacos, I love beer and I love cooking for my lady. Love, your boy Man Chef.

Shrimp Tacos with Avocado Salsa

From Foodnetwork

Avocado Salsa:

• 1 small onion, quartered
• 1 jalapeno, quartered, seeds optional
• 1 garlic clove, smashed
• 4 medium tomatillos, (about 8 ounces)  roasted* and coarsely chopped
• 1/2 ripe Hass avocado, peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks
• 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/4 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped

Shrimp:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon chipotle or blended chili powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 pound medium shrimp (about 20), peeled and deveined
• 8 corn tortillas
• 8 sprigs cilantro for garnish
• 2 limes, cut into wedges

Put the onion, jalapeno, and garlic in a food processor and finely chop. Add the tomatillos, avocado, and salt and pulse until chopped but still chunky. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the cilantro.

Heat a stovetop or indoor or outdoor grill to medium-high. We used our Cuisinart Griddler. Mix the olive oil, chipotle or chili powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add the shrimp and toss to coat. Grill the shrimp until translucent, about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes on each side.

Grill tortillas, until slightly charred and pliable, about 20 seconds per side (we do ours on our gas stove). (Alternatively, wrap in a damp paper towel and heat in a microwave.) Spoon sauce on the tortilla, then top with about 2 or 3 shrimp and a sprig of cilantro. Serve 2 tacos per person, with a lime wedge on the side.

*How to roast tomatillos

1. Preheat oven to broil.
2. Peel off the outer brown skin that wraps the tomatillos and discard. Rinse the tomatillos and slice them in half.
3. Slice the tomatillos in half through the horizontal center (not up and down) and arrange on a large baking dish. Spray with oil.
4. Bake about 8 minutes, then flip the tomatillos. Bake another 5 minutes until skin side is blistering.
5. Remove, cool and peel.

NOTE: The tomatillos will be very soft at this point, so peel directly over your mixing bowl. Also, if you prefer to bake instead of broil, preheat oven to about 400 degrees, then bake about 20 minutes. Then proceed. They will not char, but they will be just as good.

Courtesy of Bobby Flay

Jicama Salad

• 1 large jicama, julienned
• 2 large carrots, julienne
• 1 cup red onion, finely sliced
• 1/2 red pepper, julienned
• 1/2 yellow pepper, julienned
• 1 tomato, julienned
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Pinch of cayenne
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Combine jicama, carrots, red onion, both peppers, tomato in a medium bowl. Whisk together the lime juice, vinegar, honey, olive oil and cayenne and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the cilantro and let sit for 30 minutes.

Serve it all up with a cold beer, of course.

But I have a good excuse in my opinion…

Yay!! Yes, Erik and I are expecting a little one end of July/beginning of August.

I haven’t been able to spend much time in the kitchen – my stomach won’t allow. It’s been a little bit of a bummer, since cooking and baking are my meditation, my Zen – but I know it’ll pass and I’ll be able to return to mixing and chopping and enjoying all aspects of my culinary adventures.

That said, Erik has been taking the best care of me. Pampering me. Cooking for me…and anything and everything else that I need. Bubble baths…pedicures…I name it, I got it.

And damn, is he a good cook…and I am learning…a great baker. First attempt at baking – oh, he thought he’d just whip up a little Brioche. Why not? And it was fantastic.

Don’t worry, we’ll be sharing his cooking adventures on here too…just you wait, Man Chef is coming your way.

And I’ve got a few posts up my sleeve too.

xoxo

Z

This has got to be the most delightful breakfast bread I’ve had in a really long time. Layers of cranberries and walnuts throughout, with an almost danish consistency, it was sooooo worth making. I was going to put ‘holiday bread’ but really, this can be made at any time of the year. Fabulous for breakfast or brunch…for anything from informal to formal. You’ll totally impress peeps when you make this. Maybe for New Years Day brunch?

Ingredients

• 1 packet (1/4oz) instant dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water (about 110° F)
• 1/2 cup warm milk (about 110° F)
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon cardamom powder
• 2 large eggs at room temp
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
• 3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

For the Cranberry-Almond Filling:

• 3/4 cup dried cranberries, soaked in 1/2 cup Cointreau or other liqueur
• 6 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
• 1/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup finely chopped roasted almonds
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon peel
• 1 teaspoon almond extract

*come to think of it, you could totally play around with the fruit/nuts in this…maybe cherry walnut? Or raisins and pecans?

For the Sugar Glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder

Blend in the milk, sugar, butter, salt, cardamom, eggs and lemon peel in a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, with the dough hook. Stir together the yeast and flour in a separate bowl. Stir in two cups of the flour, one cup at a time. Mix for 2 minutes – by hand or on medium low with the mixer. Add remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until you have a soft, workable dough. Note: You might not use all the flour.

Mix the dough with the dough hook of your stand mixer for 5-8 minutes on low until well mixed and the dough is stretchy and shiny. Alternatively, dump the dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead until smooth, about 5 to 10 minutes, adding more flour if needed to prevent sticking. Place in a lightly oiled mixing bowl large enough to accommodate dough when doubled in size. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until doubled (about 1 1/2 hours). I ran errands and left mine for well over 3 hours, and it was totally fine.

Meanwhile, prepare the Cranberry-Almond Filling: Drain the dried fruit of its liqueur and reserve for another use (trifle perhaps?). In a small bowl, combine the drained fruit with remaining filling ingredients. Cover and refrigerate.

When dough has risen and doubled in size, punch it down and turn it out onto a lightly floured board, kneading just enough to release any air bubbles. Roll the dough into a 9- by 30-inch rectangle. Crumble the filling over the dough to within 1 inch of the edges. Starting along a long side, tightly roll up the dough, pinching edge against loaf to seal. With a sharp knife, cut roll in half lengthwise, carefully turn cut sides up, and loosely twist ropes around each other, keeping cut sides up.

Go to the Kitchn’s website and see a step by step in pictures.

Carefully transfer the wreath to a greased and floured baking sheet and shape into a wreath, pinching ends together to seal. Or, you could leave it as a long loaf – totally up to you!

Let it rise, uncovered, in a warm place until puffy, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350° F. Bake wreath until lightly browned, about 25 minutes. While wreath is baking, Prepare Sugar Glaze by stirring together ingredients until smooth.

When wreath is done, transfer to a cooling rack with wide spatulas or a pizza peel. Cool for a few minutes then drizzle the glaze over the warm bread.

The wreath can be made up to 2 days ahead of time, cooled completely and wrapped tightly in foil. Store at room temperature then re-heat at 350° for 10-15 minutes, drizzling the glaze just before serving.

It’s chilly. I want to be cozy. I started taking down my fall decorations and realized I had pie pumpkins around the house. What better time to use them?

Cashews, pumpkin (you can use other orange squash if you’d like) and coconut milk…curry. Erik is a mad curry maker. And this one was gooood.

From Sunset Magazine

Well, our Christmas tree went up yesterday (we still have to decorate it today). And our Christmas mantel is nearly complete. I’d say that calls for a festive brunch. What better than the involvement of eggnog and cranberries? Oh so delicious together…but if you can’t swing the cranberry preserves, the eggnog pancakes are just as good with a good dose of maple syrup.

Pancakes adapted from Martha Stewart

Last weekend Erik and I spent a lovely afternoon at an olive brining and olive oil tasting workshop – at Hillcrest Olive Ranch thanks to The Institute of Urban Homesteading.

Only 45min from our house, we spent the morning amongst 130 year old olive trees, learning how to brine our own olives, and tasting ranch pressed organic olive oils.

Hillcrest Ranch in Sunol is a six and a half acre island of 137-century-old olive trees in the middle of 2000 trees in Pleasanton Ridge East Bay Regional Park. The trees, of Picholine, Mission and Manzanillo varieties, are dryland farmed using organic farming methods. Absolutely mesmerizing.

Our jar are now kickin’ it on our preserve shelf in the dark. They’ll be ready in a month or so…

A stunning sunny day, it was one of our weekend long festivities to celebrate Erik’s birthday.

Olive brining was, of course, followed by a delightful picnic with my love.