Banana Bread

Oh that traditional baked goodie you devoured as a child at the breakfast table! So sweet and delicious and made the whole house smell like sunshine. Where did those days go? Why isn't anyone baking me delicious sunshiny goodies on a Sunday morn? I feel so neglected. Pout.

One of my favorite Banana Bread recipes is actually not traditional at all: it's vegan. Why vegan, you ask? I have no idea. Sometimes I like to pretend I'm vegan. And covered in tattoos. And can ride a motorcycle. Because all those things seem to go together.

I love that this recipe features no refined sugars and almost no fat. Very healthy. Sort of. If you want to up the nutrition value of this bread even more, sub half the white flour for whole wheat flour. Add an extra tablespoon or two of applesauce to compensate for the denseness whole wheat flour usually adds. 

Vegan Banana Bread

2 ripe bananas (the browner, the better!)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup sweetener - maple syrup or honey
1/2 cup applesauce
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional) 

Set oven to 350 degrees. Spray a bread loaf pan with vegetable oil. 

Sift your dry ingredients, set aside.

Blend your wet ingredients in a large bowl. If you want a really fine banana bread (no banana chunks) you can blend in a food processor.

Slowly blend in your dry to wet. Fold in 1/2 cup of nuts of your choice if you like. Pour mixture into pan and place in oven.

Bake for 30-40 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before slicing. Though you and I both know that never happens.

I made a loaf of this bread the other night and decided to up the wow factor by "frying" pieces in a mixture of fresh squeezed orange juice and honey in a pan. The sugar from the honey crisps up the edges of the bread and adds a bit more sweetness. Top with fresh berries or whip cream and some toasted nuts. Yum.

Bread - from scratch!

Bread. We eat it pretty much every day but yet few of us will ever attempt to make it ourselves. As such a staple to our diet, why rely on the grocery store or bakery to provide this earthen goodness? Make it yourself!

I'm going to show you an amazingly simple recipe for bread. It will change your life. Like holy-in-the-water change your life. Not only will the result be delicious but you'll forever be able to brag to your friends that you are a "baker."

The bread recipe below is the "No Knead" method popularized by Mark Bittman, which he adapted from Jim Lahey at Sullivan Street Bakery in NYC. This was back in 2006. Being a little slow to the scene, I just starting baking this recipe last year. But I'll never go back. Maybe 20 minutes of active time and a dutch oven (enamel pot with a lid) is all you need and you'll have delicious, crusty bread right from your oven.

At the par-baked stage

Finished product

Try the basic method first and then dive into all of the glorious variations. There are even versions that don't require a dutch oven.

The Original Recipe

Multi-Grain Bread

Make it a Sandwich Loaf!

No Dutch Oven? Try these alternatives

Now go to the store, buy some bread flour and, shortly thereafter, you'll have amazing bread you're friends will swear came from La Brea Bakery. You'll glow with doughy astonishment. :)

Well Hello 2011!

Well hello 2011! And hello readers! It's 2011 and Cherryvale Farms is about to kick it into high gear. 2011 is already looking great and we can't wait to share more with you as our journey continues.

I'd like recap you on the past week since I (lazily) didn't post any new updates. It was a great trip to Northern California to see friends and family and eat far more than any normal person reasonably should.

Let's start off my noting there is always an endless supply of good food at my parents house. So when we arrived on Christmas day we were greeted by a delicious plate of truffled cheese, crisp bread and chips and dip. I mean, how can you not like chips and dip? It's like classic Americana. So we proceeded to stuff our faces Christmas afternoon until we were beyond full...then we had some dinner. A gorgeous roast of beef was joined by fingerling potatoes dripping with the beef au jus, accompanied by a salad. I don't eat beef often but I had no excuse not to dig into this prime piece of caveman deliciousness.

The eating continued the next morning with bacon and pancakes for breakfast. You know, light.

A few nights later we continued the food-a-thon with fried chicken, which you already drooled over.

The final night of our trip was a light vegetable pasta to bring in the New Year on a much healthier note. But, of course, we had to ruin it by our desire for a fresh banana cream pie. Marie Callendar's it was not. My mother started in on a baked pie crust while my father whipped up the banana custard and freshly (hand) whipped cream. You know, because at the end of a long day and a light meal, there's nothing better than spending an hour in the kitchen making an entire banana cream pie from scratch. 

I couldn't get a picture in before everyone started hacking away, so here you go. It's not Marie Callendar's perfect but damn was it good.

All of us at Cherryvale Farms hope your New Year is off to a great start as well! May Health, Happiness and Good Luck greet you throughout 2011.

Vegan Thumbprint Cookies

Considering that I'm about to endeavor into the frozen north, aka my parent's house, aka a place that always has a ton of delicious fatty foods around, I figured I'd bake up some low-cal cookies to satisfy my sweet tooth pre-Christmas.

I came across this recipe for Vegan Thumbprint Cookies and it seemed utterly perfect - a little sweet, very little fat and a lot of crunch. Almonds and oats make up the most of the batter, keeping it light as well. The love that the recipe instructs you to put the oats and the almonds, respectively, into the food processor to achieve a soft, flour-like consistency; it provides a really nice consistency to the batter. And the use of maple syrup prevent these thumbprints from getting too sweet- they leave the jam for that!

I used a Plum Jam circa Summer 2009 that I had in the cupboard. My parent's have several fruit trees on their property so every summer is canning season there and this jar was straight is my mother's kitchen. Slightly chunky and a deep purple color, it's a delicious jam that I've yet to make on my own. I figured why waste my money on fruit shipped in from god knows where when I can get it straight from the tree that grew along with me as a child. Quaint, right?

Needless to say, the jam was perfect on these cookies and, though they took a bit longer to cook than the recipe suggested (I blame my spotty oven) they turned out really nicely, with a good crunch and just enough sweet.

If you're looking for a lighter alternative to Christmas cookies this week, give this recipe a try!

Don't we like the little gnome poking his head through the bushes?!

Crispy Toasts!

As you know, I'm on a budget these days, so no more truffled cheese, blinis with caviar or full priced cocktails at over-priced LA bars for me! To deal with my utter culinary sadness (and empty belly) I've been seeking out my favorite food obsessions and figuring out how to make them at home on the cheap.

Challenge #1: Raincoast Crisps

Oh yes, you know these little devils. Beautiful packaging, all natural and lovingly tucked into a peek-a-boo box so you can see the deliciousness inside. Let's be honest, I'm obsessed. Like box-a-week obsessed. Like no-money-in-my-pocket-for-dinner-because-all-I-want-is-crisps obsessed. At anywhere from $6 - $9 a box, this obsession ain't cheap. Luckily I found an amazing recipe to recreate them at home!

From creating this recipe, I now realize why these are so expensive. They are quite laborious and time-consuming, even if most of the time is inactive. First you make the bread mix, chop and add in nuts / fruit / herbs, bake for 30 minutes, then cool, then freeze (oh really) then slice (painful, I'll explain) then toast, turn and toast again. Geez!

Crisp Add-Ins: pecans, sesame seeds, almond meal, rosemary and homemade raisins (from my dehydrator)

Slicing the frozen bread into crisps: not easy! The frozen bread is tough to slice through

Crisps laid out in rows on baking sheet, ready for the oven

Though these were a bit of work, the results are honestly so close to the original I'm never going back. The recipe I used called for pecans, rosemary, raisins and sesame seeds and truly mimicked the real (expensive) thing.

The final product

If you have some extra time (perhaps over the holidays when you won't have any desire to be away from the kitchen anyway) I highly recommend making these. Packed up in an airtight container they will last for weeks, if you don't eat all of them the second they come out of the oven.

I'm making some balsamic jelly (think gelée) to go with some goat cheese on these delightful crisps. I'll report back later on how the combo works out.