Chocolate Covered Frozen Bananas and Accidental Truffles

I set out to make some chocolate covered bananas with a couple of nice ripe bananas,  the tail end of a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips and a solid milk chocolate Easter Bunny that had been sitting in my pantry since, well, Easter. I also had partial bags of shredded coconut and walnut pieces. Pardon the informality of the recipe. I didn't really measure anything because I make chocolate covered frozen bananas all the time and they're, usually,  ridiculously easy. I've also made hundreds of truffles... on purpose, even as gifts! As for these particular truffles, it just happened like most kitchen magic does... completely unexpectedly and most often accidentally. Fortunately I know what chocolate truffle insides look like, otherwise this would have been a fruitless sacrifice of that poor Easter Bunny.

Chocolate - whatever you have around
Ripe bananas
Popsicle sticks
Chopped nuts
Coconut
Heavy cream
A splash of Cointreau, Frangelico, or some other tasty flavoring that goes well with chocolate

1. First I prepped the bananas by peeling, halving, and impaling them with popsicle sticks (from a craft store). The walnuts went through my mini food processor and onto a plate. I had my little dude dump the coconut onto another plate. I also lined a baking sheet with my fondant mat - waxed or parchmint paper works too.
2. I hacked up the bunny and started melting the chocolates in a makeshift double boiler, which is just a bowl sitting on top of a pot of simmering water. I stirred and stirred until it was nice and shiny and melty smooth.

3. I tried to dip the bananas in the chocolate, but it was too shallow. I just spooned the chocolate over the bananas and used the back of the spoon to gently spread it around. I then rolled them in the chopped walnuts, coconut, or both and set them the lined baking sheet to set.

This is where the plot twists and the instructions lose the little precision they had.

4. For some reason my chocolate started to get really thick. It could have been the fan in the kitchen, the crappy burner, on the heat too long, who knows. I figured that I could stir in some heavy cream (about 1/2 cup?) to thin it out. Not so much. As I stirred, it began to look dry and fluffy. (Duh! I should have known, but somehow my inability to put two and two together is still surprising me.) After several seconds of starring, confused and a little pissed, into the fluffy chocolate mass in the top of the double broiler, I realized what the hell had just happened. I made chocolate truffle filling.
6. Still a little confused, I turned off the heat.
5. The next natural step was to stir in a splash of booze. I used Cointreau.
In the past I've made truffles with all sorts of stuff from espresso to aged balsamic vinegar. So, literally anything goes. If it sounds like it could work, try it.
6. I let the mixture cool down just enough to handle. I rolled it into small balls, about an inch or so. I then rolled them in the shredded coconut, walnuts, or both. I put them on the lined baking sheet to set... right next to the bananas.
7. Once they were set, I moved the truffles to a container for refrigerator storage and the bananas to another container to be stored in the freezer.

So that's how it happened. It's not exact and I'm not sure if it's even worth trying to recreate. But, hey, it was fun and both chocolaty treats ended up tasting pretty damn good.

Feeding Yourself Smartly - A Course for Elementary Schoolers

 

We're almost done with the first week of school. Fortunately, the tantrums have subsided (for the most part) and we're starting to get into the daily groove. Packing healthy, balanced lunches and snacks seems easy enough, right? In your head, you win. You're Superparent. Until... everything you sent comes right back, untouched at the end of the day and the kids are hell-spawn from apparent starvation by their own picky hands.  

As horrifying as the fact may be, we are training our children to feed and nourish themselves in the future. So, they might as well have some (controlled) practice and confidence-boosting decision making power when it comes the foods they consume.

It's time for the ever-popular Make-Your-Own Trail Mix Day. 

 

I'd be lying if I said the kids were the true beneficiaries of this project. I win twice because my kids are actually eating their snacks, and I get to rid my pantry of all of those half-used bags of walnuts, shredded coconut, candied pecans, or whatever else is left over from my last kamikaze baking night.

This time, I set out bowls and containers of almonds, peanuts, cashews, banana chips, dried apples, golden raisins, cheese crackers, pretzels, peanut butter-filled pretzels, shredded coconut, and a handful of M&Ms. The nuts and dried fruits are in larger containers and the less-healthy stuff is in much smaller bowls. The only rule is that they must choose at least two kinds of nuts and two kinds of dried fruit and those items need to be prominent in their mix. Everything else is up to them. I use the bowls on the table as props in the Food Groups talk. While the kids assemble a week's worth of snacks, we discuss why we need what and how much we need to be healthy and happy. They shake up their containers or bags to distribute their goodies evenly, and that's that.

Although this isn't the most creative recipe, it's certainly useful, in more ways than just physical nourishment. 

Enjoy 'em.

Tonight, Unexpected Dinner for 8 Sans Grocery Run

I pulled off some pretty decent grub. This was especially impressive considering the standard first day of school drama and a design meeting an hour away. I ended up cooking for my home crew of 4 and our lovely neighbors, an additional 4, without a grocery store run. Their power was out in their house and it's ninety-something degrees out. I had to help the best I know how... with food at my house. This was the plan: Mediterranean roasted chicken breast, broccoli with garlic Parmesan sauce, and roasted potatoes with parsley. How it happened sounds much less glamorous: I had 4 big chicken breasts in the freezer (stocked from a recent Costco run), a chunk of parm, some decent frozen broccoli, a bag of red potatoes that were a day from sprouting legs and walking away, and an herb garden.

 Here's exactly how, if you want to try.

1. Thaw chicken

To thaw meats or fish quickly and safely, stick them in a large bowl of cold water in the kitchen sink under the faucet. Then leave the cool water on, just a little. The tiny current the stream creates will thaw almost any chunk of meat in a safe 45 minutes or less.

 while that's working

 2. Get the potatoes going
Heat oven to 450ºf. Peel and cut taters into sort-of uniform 1/2" dice. Toss with a couple tablespoons of olive oil, kosher salt, and black pepper. Spread the potatoes into a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for about 30 minutes. If they're cooked through, but not golden, crank up the broiler to high and let them brown for a minute or two. Stay close and keep an eye on the broiler, seriously. Take out the potatoes and set aside.

lower oven temp to 400ºf

 3. Cook chicken
Remove the chicken from the water and pat dry with paper towels. Rub them down with a bit of olive oil and some Mediterranean seasoning. Stick them on a baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes or until they reach an internal temp of 165º.
I don't eat chicken or red meat, so this is The Way to tell if it's done or not. Cooking to this temp pretty much nixes the possibility of catching poultry-borne bugs like salmonella... especially when we're talking about freezing and thawing. Worry not, that olive oil rub down will keep the meat moist.

while the chicken is cooking

 4. Make Parmesan sauce
Melt 3 tbsp unsalted butter in a smallish saucepan over medium low heat. Add a finely chopped clove of garlic and cook for about 2 minutes. Wisk in 2 tbsp all purpose flour, simmer and wisk for about 2 minutes until there are no clumps and it looks smooth. Add about 1/2 cup milk, a fat pinch of salt and some pepper, wisk some more and cook until it starts to bubble. Wisk in about 1/3 cup finely grated parm. Continue wisking until parm is melted. If sauce seems to thick, just add a splash of milk. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if need be. Turn heat down as low as possible and cover. Wisk occasionally until you're ready to serve. If it's getting too thick add another splash of milk.
I happened to have a tiny bit of provelone in the fridge, which went in the sauce too. If can easily add or substitute other cheese, whatever floats your (and your picky eater's) boat. It also helps to use a mini-wisk.

When the chicken is done, remove it from the oven, transfer it to a serving plate and cover with foil. 

5. Heat broccoli

Use a saucepan, with about 1/2" of water. Heat over medium high on the stove until just tender but still firm. Remove broccoli with a slotted spoon and transfer to a serving bowl and cover.

Please, please do not overcook the frozen broccoli. It turns into public school cafeteria slop which would be unsuitable for the kick ass parm sauce you just made. Of course if you wanted to be fancy, you would use fresh broccoli. But hey, my day just wasn't working out like that.


6. Finish potatoes
Put the potatoes back in the oven to warm up for serving. Don't turn the oven on. The heat from all of that roasting will be plenty to heat them through. When nice and warm, remove and transfer to a serving bowl. Slap on at least a tablespoon of unsalted butter, more salt and pepper to taste, and a small handful of finely chopped parsley. Toss to coat.

Top your broccoli with the warm parm sauce. Serve your hot, balanced, home-cooked meal and eat.

I think tomorrow I'll make empanadas with the leftover chicken.

Basic Scratch Pancakes plus Tasty Variations

Don't be intimidated. I'm very specific and these things are amazing. This is really the easiest and most frequent food I cook, hands down. I've included some variations, but once you have the base recipe you can add just about anything. Make a big batch. Double it. Tripple it! Freeze it!

Tools:
Griddle or skillet (I use a giant electric griddle so I can do 6 cakes at once)
Dry measuring cups
Liquid measuring cups
Teaspoon & Tablespoon
Spatula
gallon freezer bags
waxed paper

Ingredients
2 cups unbleached, unbromated all-purpose flour (I use King Aurthur)
4 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
2 tbsp sugar
2 eggs
2 cup milk (whole milk is best)
2 tbsp vegetable oil

butter or cooking spray to grease your griddle

Do not preheat your griddle or skillet
1. Combine the first 4 (dry) ingredients in a large mixing bowl
2. Combine last 3 (wet) ingredients in a separate bowl
3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir to combine. Set aside.
The batter is supposed to be a little lumpy.
4. Start heat up your griddle to 350ºf or skillet to medium
Let your batter rest while it heats. Your batter will start to bubble and puff up. Avoiding over working the batter and giving it some time to rest and fluff up will give you perfectly risen delicately textured pancakes. Forget the 1/8" Bisquick flatties.
5. Once heated, oil your griddle or skillet with a fat pat of butter or a spray of cooking spray.
6. Using a 1/2 or 1/3 measuring cup scoop the batter onto the griddle or skillet about 3 inches apart. If you haven't mastered the flip, give yourself some extra space.
7. Cook the cakes until the edges appear slightly dry and bubbles are starting to rise in the centers. FLIP! Continue cooking the other side until golden. The second side will take significantly less time that the first. Remove from heat.
8. Serve or store. If storing, cool cakes completely in a single layer on a wire rack. Layer pancakes in freezer bags, separating layers with waxed paper. Don't squish them in too tight, or they'll be ugly when reheated. Date the bags and stick 'em flat in the freezer where they can live for up to 3 months.

Reheating:
Toaster Oven: Place on a single layer directly on the rack use the medium toast setting or until heated through.
Microwave: Arrange in a single layer on a microwave-safe plate. Cover with a paper towel. Cook in 30 second increments, flipping occasionally until heated.


Variations!

Vanilla Cinnamon
Add 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon to the dry ingredients and 1/2 teaspoon good vanilla extract to the wet ingredients and proceed.

Multi-Grain
Substitute the all-purpose flour with a combo of 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour, 1/2 cup quick-cook rolled oats and 1/2 cup all purpose flour. Increase oil to 3 tbsp. Use brown sugar.

Banana Nut
Add 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon to the dry ingredients. Once the batter is mixed, fold in 1 mashed ripe banana and 1/2 teaspoon chopped walnuts or pecans.

Blueberry
Fold in 1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries to the batter.


More to come... Maybe even some photos!