Recipes Discovered

Spinach, Orange, and Avocado Salad

Although it sounds like an odd combination (to me, at least), this salad has become one of my favorites for lunch. It’s easy to put together with just a few ingredients, and the flavor is just insanely good. The spinach is a little bitter, the orange is sweet, the avocado is creamy, and onion is tangy, and the sunflower seeds add just a little bit of saltiness. It’s delicious and easy, which is always good in my book.

Blueberry Buckle Recipe

Blueberry Buckle is fantastic cake made with fresh blueberries and a crumb topping. The name supposedly refers to the cake engulfing the blueberries and then buckling on top to make a dimpled appearance. Although my cake has a dimply top, the blueberries weren’t engulfed by the cake, but they did make a rather yummy blueberry goo on top. To me though, the cake was a tad dry, so I will definitely fold the blueberries into the cake batter next time to spread them out more and to give the cake some moisture. The cake also burnt on the bottom, and I’m not quite sure if that was because of my cake pan or the oven temperature. The cake does bake quite awhile (at least 45 minutes), so I will probably lower the baking temperature to 350 next time. And there will be a next time – this cake, even with it’s problems, is delicious. It may not be Blueberry Delight, but it definitely ranks up there.

Banana Crunch Muffins

Since Seth loves banana, and I had a few very ripe bananas that needed to be used up, I decided to make banana muffins. The batter is very similar to a banana cake batter, with the addition of walnuts, coconut, and granola. The granola seems a little odd, but it gives the muffins a nice crunch. The muffins are really moist and wonderful on their own, no need for frosting. And I had much better luck getting the paper off these muffins than with the apple crumb muffins.

Apple Dumpling Recipe

Cinnamon Ice Cream Recipe

One of my favorite things to get at the Bloomsburg Fair is the apple dumplings from Bissinger’s. They are served fresh from the oven with a scoop of cinnamon ice cream. Unfortunately with Seth’s travel schedule, 2007 was the first I was actually at the Bloomsburg Fair in quite awhile. The apple dumplings were still as good as I remember though, and I have been craving them ever since. To put an end to this, I was determined to make my own. I asked my mom for an apple dumpling recipe, which she got from her friend, and found a recipe for Cinnamon Ice Cream in a ice cream cookbookwhich has yet to let me down.

Since the ice cream had to freeze overnight, I started with that. It’s a standard custard recipe that is infused with cinnamon sticks. I didn’t have any whole milk, so I substituted 2 cups of half-and-half for 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of cream. Since half-and-half is a combination of whole milk and cream anyway, it didn’t make much of a difference. Once the half-and-half, sugar, salt, and cinnamon sticks were warm, I covered the pan and let it steep for an hour. Once infused, I rewarmed the mixture, removed the cinnamon sticks, and then slowly poured the warm liquid into the egg yolks, whisking it constantly. It’s importantly to do this slowly so the eggs don’t scramble. Once combined, I poured the custard back into the pan and continued to cook it until it thickened, which took maybe 5 minutes. Then I poured the custard through a strainer, into a large bowl that had the cream and vanilla it it. I stirred this mixture over an ice bath until it cooled down, about 10 minutes, and then put it in the refrigerator it for 2 hours to chill. Once chilled, I froze the ice cream in my ice cream maker and then stashed it in the freezer. Of course, I did taste the ice cream while transferring it, and it was amazing. >> Read more

Cream Cheese Banana Bread Recipe

Since I finally conquered the chocolate chip cookie, I thought it was time to move on to my other nemesis, banana bread. Seth loved bananas probably more than he loves chocolate chip cookies, but I have yet to make a decent, or even edible, banana bread. I decided to try again with a completely different recipe, one that included cream cheese in the batter. I had my doubts, but there were so many positive reviews, I tried it anyway.

To start, I toasted pecans in the oven. Toasting nuts for me is always tricky, because I’m afraid I will burn them. I watched them pretty closely though, stirring them every couple minutes. They only took about 6 minutes to toast, and then I started the banana bread batter. I combined cream cheese and butter until it was creamy, and then added sugar and eggs. Once that was combined, I added the dry ingredients – whole wheat pastry flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt – alternately with the buttermilk. Once everything was mixed, I stirred in mashed bananas, the toasted pecans, and vanilla. I poured the batter into greased loaf pans (I used Baker’s Joy, which has the flour in the spray), sprinkled the rest of the untoasted pecans on top, and put the loaves in a 350 degree oven. >> Read more