Double Chocolate Banana Muffins

Well we have a very happy baby on our hands. He thoroughly enjoys sitting in the kitchen watching the commotion of Aubrey and I baking.  That's a good thing since it's a very regular occurrence!

I had five bananas ready to be made into banana bread but I wanted a little change from my ordinary recipe. I made a few changes and got a very scrumptious muffin.

The ingredients:

5-6 bananas

3cups white flour

1/2cup whole wheat flour

1/2cup unsweetened cocoa

1/2cup brown sugar

1/2cup white sugar

2tsp baking soda

1tsp salt

2eggs

1cup sour half and half

1cup oil

1/2cup semi sweet chocolate chip

I whipped the ripe bananas and mixed in the wet ingredients; incorporating well.

I dumped in the dry ingredients all at once and mixed until all the ingredients were incorporated but not over whipping.

Then I added the chocolate chips and mixed until they were incorporated evenly.

I was very happy with the consistency! Sometimes when I substitute in baking recipes it doesn't work out. In this instance I was hopeful!

I used mini muffin liners and filled them pretty much full. I baked these at 350F for 20 minutes.  I used large muffin tins as well and filled the lined muffin cups a little more than 3/4 the way full. I baked these for about 25 minutes; but use a toothpick to check them since ovens vary. 

They rose so nicely; they had a great crunchy exterior and moist centre.

This batch made 24 large and 24 mini muffins. I let them completely cool on the wire rack before putting them away.

These were a huge hit....muffin is definitly a loose term with these; they were more reminiscent of a cupcake.  Aubrey enjoyed hers with a mug of milk!

So happy I made enough to share especially since they turned out!

Shepard's pie...an oldie but a goodie!

Shepard's pie; I love to eat this comforting dish but realized when I started making it that I have never made a traditional recipe before. I often remember and dream of eating the shepards pie my friend Bonnie would make when I lived with them. 

I decided I'd give it a try with a little consult from our resident professional!

I sautéed diced onion, garlic, carrot, celery and ground beef.  With that I added 3 cans of mushroom soup, thawed drained sautéed diced mushrooms  and two packets of onion soup mix. Once this was cooked I added a whole bag of spinach and a few cups of frozen peas and corn. I taste tested this and adjusted the seasoning with salt and pepper. I didn't season earlier in the process because the soup mixes I added have a lot of sodium so I didn't want to over season; usually I would say season along the way as you cook a dish but this would be the exception.

I have learned my lesson about fillings being too soupy so I made sure I didn't add any water to my mixture and I drained any of the water out of the veggies; I wanted this to be pretty thick.

While the filling was cooking I peeled and diced red skinned potatoes and boiled them until tender.

As the potatoes were cooking I roasted 3 heads of garlic in tinfoil with salt and olive oil.

Once the potatoes were done I mashed in the roasted garlic, butter, shredded cheese, Greek yogurt, milk and seasoned with salt and pepper. 

I evenly distributed the filling between 4 baking dishes. I used one of my baking dishes but three disposable baking dishes so I can give them away if need be.

I divided the potatoes between the dishes and top the filling.

I sprinkled with paprika and once they were completely cooled I wrapped them with plastic wrap and tin foil and put them in the freezer.

These kiddies were enjoying the mashed potatoes!

Four meals in the freezer; now that's something to smile about! I feel like they'd even be worthy I sharing!

French toast breakfast

Aubrey came home from grandmas a couple days ago talking about French Toast with strawberries and whipped cream. When I asked her yesterday what she wanted for breakfast her quick response was grandma's French Toast. 

I quickly googled a recipe because my experience with French Toast was very different growing up. Grandma's French Toast is much different than my mothers French Toast...my sisters and I talk about how we're not too sure where this grandma came from but we love her!

I was raised with a savoury type of French Toast; it was basically just bread dipped in salt and peppered egg mixture and pan fried. This was traditionally served with ketchup; I think Jeff's initial reaction to this was "ewww disgusting!" and so he has dubbed this omelette bread thinking that name suites it much better.

Back to grandmas Frenh Toast:

I found a French Toast recipe by Alton Brown; 4 whole eggs to 3/4 cup milk, a pinch of salt and  a couple Tbsp of honey.

We whisked those ingredients together.

Our sweet audience!

We poured this into a shallow dish perfect to soak the bread in.

I didn't have stale or day old bread so I just used what I had. I cut the Whole Wheat French Loaf into thick slices.

We let them soak for 30 seconds and then flipped them.

I got my cast iron pan hot and then added a  generous tablespoon of butter; I browned this slightly then started adding my soaked bread. 

Once they were all in the pan I lowered the heat.

I got out all of our topping options; icing sugar, yogurts, maple syrup, jam and thawed mixed berries.

I flipped them when it had a good crust on the one side; I only flipped them once during the cooking process making sure they were even on both sides. I finished them in a 350F oven for about 5 minutes.

For Aubrey's I sprinkled icing sugar and berries.

For mine I put a dusting of icing sugar, a dollap of plain Greek yogurt, a spoonful of berries and a drizzle of maple syrup.

Delicious!

Aubrey's response to the French toast was, "mom your French toast was good but grandmas is very good!". I'll take that; how can I compete with sweetened whipped cream?!?!?!?

The season of rhubarb; "hp" chutney

Last year my moms neighbour gave us a boat load of rhubarb. What to make? I wanted something different than pie and jam. My mom had mentioned a chutney recipe from back in their Simcoe days. 

I made a huge pot of it and when I taste tested it I thought "what is this?!".  Before I was just about to throw out the entire pot I thought I'd call my mom. She said "oh it's supposed to taste like HP steak sauce". That made way more sense! It totally tasted like that and it also tasted awesome cold.

So fast forward to this year and the "hp" chutney as we refer to it; was right at the top of our canning list. 

My aunt, mom and I begged our way around Winnipeg finding people willing to part with they're rhubarb!

We gathered, cleaned, chopped, measured out and froze the rhubarb in bags so it would be ready for when we got together to make it.

This is the recipe I found that matched my moms description. 

My only addition was a 1/4tsp of nutmeg per recipe.

My aunt and her mother in law came over and we had enough rhubarb for 4 recipes.

My aunt offered to hold Liam!

We combined everything and just cooked it down!

I sterilized the clean jars in the oven. 

We got 30-250ml portions out of 48 cups of rhubarb.

Not too sure where it comes from but now all I want to do is go down stairs and stare at my growing canning stock! 

I have to remind myself that it's better to give than to receive!!

Aubrey is such a great helper! 

She wanted to take my picture since I'm always taking hers!