A recipe

When I already have frozen bananas for Banana Nut bread, not interested in making banana walnut pancakes, or the banana is just too soft/old for eating out of hand, I bake it like my Puerto Rican Abuela taught me.

1.  I line a tray with foil and place my banana on it.

2. I bake it in my toaster oven set at bake, 350 degrees and place on "stay on" setting. 

3. Bake for about 5-8 minutes until it is brown all over.

 4.  Place on a plate and slit the top side of the banana.

5.  Spoon out the warm, custard like banana and enjoy.  Tastes like Banana Creme Brulee.  And for decadence, put dark chocolate syrup on it.  Yum.

Quiltathon still on - go to sidebar for day 3.

Oven Fried Eggplant

Here's another favorite of my DH.  His mom, Helen, could make these so well - never greasy, always perfect, but I never could get the knack of it.  Then I found this recipe in an issue of Sunset magazine way back in the early 80s, and as they say, the rest is history!  This is much better than making them with a pan full of oil.  All you use is a tablespoon of olive oil per 11x14 baking sheet. 

Oven Fried Eggplant

1 large or 2 medium eggplants  - the one in the picture was the largest we've ever found.  Peel it and if very large cut down the middle and slice into 1/4" slices.  If using the 2, slice into 1/4" circles.

1 cup of breadcrumbs

1/3 cup of Parmesan cheese.

2 teaspoons of Basil flakes

1 tsp garlic powder

salt

1 egg

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup flour

Get out three pie tins or baking square pans.  In one, mix the flour with about a 1/2 tsp of salt.  In the second pan, crack the egg and add the 1/3 cup of water and beat thoroughly til frothy.  In third pan, put the breadcrumbs, garlic powder, Parmesan cheese, Basil and another 1/2 tsp of salt.  Mix well.

Now dredge a slice of eggplant in the flour to coat both sides. Drop into the egg mixture.  Transfer to the breadcrumbs and coat evenly.  Set aside on a large platter as you do all the slices in this manner. 

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  In a baking sheet (with sides) place a tbs of olive oil and with a silcon brush or your hands spread it all over the pan.  Do the same for the other sheet.  Now lay the eggplant slices on the pans and place in your heated oven for 15 minutes.  At 15 minutes turn the slices over, and place the top pan on the bottom and the bottom pan on the top shelf.  This will help them brown evenly.  Let then bake for another 10 minutes.  They should be lightly brown.  Place on a platter and enjoy.

PS:  I use these to make moussaka and eggplant parmisan, however - WARNING:  it's very easy to have the family eat these all up and not have any left for the dishes mentioned.   Enjoy!

A summer version

My husband likes creamed cauliflower, however the way his Mama made it was in the oven and it's way too hot to turn on the oven to make this side dish.  But he bought a head of cauliflower(he's the grocery shopper now) and some sour cream and brought them home hoping I'd indulge him - I like it too, but not enough to turn on the oven!

So off I go to my cookbook shelf to see if I can find a recipe for cauliflower in the microwave. Eureka!  I found one. Reading it through I realized I could assemble it just as I do for the oven but cook it in the micro for only 6 minutes and I essentially had the same dish.  And here it is:

I didn't tell him it was from the microwave.  And he liked it!  If you'd like to try it, here's the recipe:

Creamed Cauliflower
 1 head of caulflower (medium size) cut up into florets
 1 cup of sour cream ( I used Smart Balance)
 1 egg
 1 Tbs of flour
1/2 tsp salt, dash of pepper
1/2 tsp of garlic powder, 1/2 tsp of dill weed
 Bread crumbs

Grease a 9" ceramic/glass pan (something that can go in the microwave) with butter or PAM.  Set aside.

In a 4 quart pan, bring water to boil and toss in the florets, bring the water back to a boil and lower to medium heat and cook the florets for 3 minutes. They will be cooked but still a little crunchy.  Once they have cooked, drain in a colander and set aside.

While the cauliflower is cooking, mix the rest of the ingredients in a medium bowl until smooth.  Add the drained cauliflower to the sauce and fold the florets into the sauce until they are well coated (this was the only change from the oven version - on that one I pour the sour cream mixture on top only).  Actually, I like this new way better.  Pour the mixture into the prepared dish.  Sprinkle some bread crumbs on the top. Set in the microwave and cook at 100% power for 6 minutes  If you don't have a micro that turns, at 3 minutes turn the pan around so it will cook evenly.

Enjoy your cool kitchen!

PS If you're making it in the oven during a cool time outside, preheat oven to 350 degrees and cook in the oven for 30 minutes or when lightly brown.