Someday Recipes

I have a HUGE paper grocery bag filled to the breaking point with "Someday" recipes: Someday I will make this, Someday I will sort this, Someday I will file this, Someday I will chuck this whole bag in the trash. So far, Someday hasn't arrived. BUT, I am getting a little closer since I got my new iPhone 4S. (Okay, so I haven't quite figured out my relationship with Siri, have become addicted to playing Mahjong, and stopped carting around my digital camera ever since I heard that Annie Leibovitz recommended the iPhone camera for candid pix.)

My moment of clarity occurred as I flipped through Gayle's über-neatly organized 3-ring binder of collected recipes, complete with clear plastic sleeves. Of course, I saw quite a few recipes that I wanted to try so I began rummaging around in my purse for a pen in order to write them all down. (Sure...like I need more recipes.) And there it was — my iPhone — I realized that the Annie Leibovitz-recommended camera was offering me a short-cut...the path to my Someday!!

In particular, I was drooling over a "Pear-Pecan Upside-Down Cake" that is baked in a crockpot. Looking at the page Gayle had pulled out of the November 2009 issue of Food Network Magazine, I could almost smell how delicious this cake would be...pears, butter, brown sugar, pecans, cornmeal?? Yep, I had to try it, thus it became my first Someday Recipe Photo.

And that's my not-so-secret secret for getting rid of stockpiled recipes: photos I can file away via iPhoto...no wasted time spent copying, loose papers getting lost, thick folders to store, etc...just *snap* & toss. See if this works for you, too (click on the smaller photo to see the full-size, aka readable, version):

...ripped from the pages...

My instincts were right — this cake smelled wonderful as it slow-baked for 3 hours and it was perfectly timed for our Sunday after-dinner sweet-treat. The pears were juicy, the brown sugar/butter gooey topping was sweet and slightly salty, the cake was moist with a really distinctive texture. I'm absolutely making this again soon!

...the final result...

Buon appetito!

My confessions...

Okay, I admit it...I slipped a day.

My excuse: we were babysitting our granddaughters a little later than we expected and ended up eating dinner close to midnight even though I had everything prepared in advance. So if you're curious, I made the "Almost Gyros" and related recipes from Saturday's post since being reminded about them made me hungry for the combination. It also gave me an opportunity to take a picture of Harvey's plate to update the posting. Yum, indeed!

Tonight, I am archiving the recipe I have for Monkey Bread. I've had this one for about three decades and it's still memorable: not that long ago, I had to dig the recipe out for Meghan since she wanted to make one. This is clearly one of those 1980s throw-back recipes--during a time when we young enough that we didn't care about gaining weight and used stick margarine like it was butter. Ick. Oh, and you better dust off your old bundt pan--you'll need it.

Monkey Bread

✔ 3 cans of inexpensive buttermilk biscuits
✔ 1 cup chopped walnuts
✔ 1 stick butter (ok, use margarine if you want to be "authentic")
✔ 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
✔ 3 tablespoons milk
✔ 1/2 cup sugar + 2 teaspoons cinnamon, mixed

Preheat oven to 350°. Place chopped nuts in the bottom of an ungreased bundt pan. In a sauce pan, heat and blend butter, brown sugar and milk until butter is melted; set aside. Cut biscuits into quarters and roll in sugar/cinnamon mixture; lightly place on top of nuts in bundt pan--do not pack them in. Pour melted mixture over all. Bake for 30 minutes. Turn the bread over onto a serving plate while still hot from the oven and lift pan; cool about 10 minutes and serve warm.

Another admission: since I always wanted extra-gooey pieces, I also squirted a bit of pancake syrup on the top before popping it into the oven so it would drip down through the biscuit pieces. It's up to you--though in retrospect, it may have been overkill!

Ooo, I suddenly feel the need to find some reruns of Dynasty...

Buon appetito!

If a tree falls in the forest...

I think you're out there...yes? I'm back in Okeechobee FL, visiting with my parents.

If I could fix everything, I would...but I can't...so for now, I'm happy to just be here. Mom is fighting very hard to get healthy enough to have radiation for esophageal cancer. Dad is doing all he can to support her, including taking care of their dog Molly and things at the house.

But right now, you're here and I promised you a recipe. My "day" is not quite over so I think I'm still keeping to my one-recipe-per-day mantra. True to my nature, this one's a goody and its aroma while baking makes the whole house smell wonderful. Slightly adapted from simplyrecipes.com, this banana bread is dark, moist and delicious.

I keep overripe bananas in the freezer, either in their skins (that become unappealingly blackened but are still ok to use), or peeled and bagged--3 to 4 in a bag to defrost for use in this particular recipe. Don't be surprised if the peeled bananas get watery after defrosting--just mash it all together anyway!

Banana Nut Bread

✔ 3 to 4 ripe bananas, smashed
✔ 1/3 cup melted butter
✔ 3/4 cup sugar
✔ 1 egg, beaten
✔ 1 teaspoon vanilla
✔ 1 teaspoon baking soda
✔ pinch of sea salt
✔ 1-1/2 cups flour
✔ 1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional--but really, this is banana NUT bread!)

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, mix butter into the mashed bananas with a wooden spoon. Mix in sugar, egg and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the batter and mix. Mix in the flour, then fold in the walnuts. Pour into a buttered 4"x8" loaf pan and bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack; slice and serve with butter, cream cheese, or by itself. Leftover slices are nice toasted, too!

Buon appetito!

You put WHAT in it???

Okay, this one's a little crazy. But once you try it, you'll realize it's crazy GOOD! I found this recipe by following Lexi's Twitter link to thepioneerwoman.com. Intrigued by the oddity of one of the ingredients, I made it about a week ago during a cooking frenzy. Soon after the dish began baking, the aroma of buttery-sweet-cinnamon-goodness spread through the house. So, here's the recipe and I dare you to make it only once!

Apple Dumplings

✔ 2 whole Granny Smith apples, cored+peeled
✔ 2 cans refrigerator crescent rolls (I use "low fat")
✔ 2 sticks butter (to complement the low fat roll dough!)
✔ 1½ cup white sugar
✔ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
✔ 1 can (12 oz.) Mountain Dew (YES!)
✔ ground cinnamon (I'm pretty liberal with my "sprinkling")

Preheat oven to 350°. Cut apples into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in a 9 x 13 buttered pan. Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir, and pour over apples. Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake for 40 minutes.

Spoon some of the sauce from the pan over the top of the dumplings and serve with whipped cream (my fave) or ice cream.

Buon appetito!