Pumpkin Puree

Whenever a recipe calls for pumpkin puree, I've only used fresh pumpkin. My mom plants pumpkin every year, and I was also able to nab one from work this past week. This is great substitute for canned pumpkin in any recipe that calls for it.

Ingredients:
1 fresh pumpkin

Directions:
1. Cut a pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds and strings.
2. Place face down on a foil lined pan and bake for an hour at 350ºF (180ºC), or until flesh is tender.
3. Cut into pieces and allow to cool.
4. Cut off skin and remaining strings.
5. Place in blender and puree.

I've used this method of pureeing in both my pumpkin pie and pumpkin cake. The hardest part is cutting the pumpkin in half and scooping out the seeds, but once that's done, the rest is a piece of (pumpkin) cake.

Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from: Little Corner of Mine
Inspired from: Kraft
Made by: Cathy
Edited: 11/20/08 to add baking soda

Happy Halloween. I wanted to make a themed cake for Halloween this year. I had the day off so I made a pumpkin shaped pumpkin cake. I've never used canned pumpkin in anything, so I used fresh pumpkin for this recipe.

Cake Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups fresh pumpkin puree (or 1 15oz can)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
green ice cream cone

Frosting Ingredients:
8 oz cream cheese
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
red & yellow food coloring (I used gel food coloring)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC).
2. In a medium bowl combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. Mix together eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugars.
4. Mix in dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
5. Pour batter into a greased bundt pan or fluted pan.




6. Bake for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before inverting into a wire pan.

Frosting/Decorating Instructions:
1. Allow cake to fully cool before frosting.
2. Combine cream cheese, butter, and sugar. Mix well.
3. Add 2 parts red food coloring and 6 parts yellow food coloring (or as directed on package instructions for orange).
4. Frost in an upward motion.
5. Pour extra frosting into the center of the cake. Place the ice cream cone on top for the stem.
I had fun decorating this cake. I don't have a cake stand, so I frosted this on my wire cooling rack, with a pan underneath to catch drips. Then I use to knives to transfer the cake onto a foil lined pan.

If you can't find the green ice cream cone (I just happened to have one on hand), you can always reserve some frosting for the stem and frost it green. There was extra frosting that I reserved and will probably use for something else.

Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from: Clumbsy Cookie
Made by: Cathy

I had 1 ripe banana, and I didn't know what to do with it. I searched "banana" in my google reader, and most of the recipes called for multiple bananas. I saw Clumbsy Cookie's Banana Filled Chocolate Chip Cookies and thought I should try it. On my way home, I was thinking about what else I can pair with the banana. I was thinking nutella, but the recipe already called for chocolate chips. I thought that would be overkill. So I thought, PEANUT BUTTER! The original recipe did have a modification of peanut butter chips, I didn't have that, but I did have plenty of peanut butter.


Ingredients:
8 tbsp butter (1/2 cup or 1 stick), softened
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup AP flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 banana, sliced
15 teaspoons peanut butter (give or take)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC).
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, combine butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla.
4. Mix in dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir in chocolate chips.
5. Using a small cookie scoop, scoop mounds of dough to the cookie sheet. Using the back of the scoop, make a dent in the top for the banana slice.
6. Place a slice of banana, then place about 1 teaspoon of peanut butter on top of the banana slice.


7. Scoop another dough ball, flatten and mound on top. You should have a big dough ball now.


8. Bake in preheated oven for 13-15 minutes, or until golden brown.


Makes approximately 15 giant cookies.

These were so good. I couldn't resist and ate one right out of the oven.

ooey gooey banana peanut buttery goodness :)

Minestrone Soup, no wait, Just Pasta

Made by: Cathy

I started to call this Minestrone soup, but after it was done, it was more like a hearty pasta with tons of veges. It was still good of course, but I can't really call it a soup if there's not much broth to it in the end.

All ingredients were estimated.

Ingredients:
3 quarts water
5 teaspoon chicken bouillon
3-4 stalks of celery, sliced
4-5 carrots, sliced
3 potatoes, chopped
1 cup string beans, cut into 3/4 pieces
1 onion, halved and sliced
1 can, 28 oz crushed chunky tomatoes
1 bay leaf
3/4 ground turkey
2 cups elbow macaroni (uncooked) (or pasta of choice)
ground thyme, to taste
ground Italian seasoning, to taste

Directions:
1. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add chicken bouillon to water and mix well.
2. Add the celery, carrots, potatoes, string beans, onion, bay leaf, and crushed tomatoes to the pot. Cover, bring to a boil, then lower the heat to medium-low and let simmer for about 30-40 minutes or until vegetables are semi tender.
3. Spray a pan with nonstick spray and brown the ground turkey.
4. Add the turkey, macaroni, and seasoning to the pot and stir. Cover, turn up the heat to medium-high and cook for another 8-10 minutes, or until pasta is done.
5. Remove bay leaf and serve.

None the less, it was yummy and easy. There was enough for leftovers for the next day.

Sweet Potato Pie

I was procrastinating making the sweet potato pie since Monday. I had to make it now, otherwise, my crust wouldn't be good anymore. I premade my crust on Monday, thinking I was going to make it then. I finally got a chance to make it today.

It was pretty easy. I like sweet potatoes by itself already, and I already knew I liked sweet potato pie. I had a 3lb bag of sweet potatoes from BJ's. I boiled 3 good sized sweet potatoes and made an extra for me to snack on.


Recipe from: All Recipes


Ingredients:
1 (1 pound) sweet potato
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust (recipe here)

1. Boil sweet potato whole in skin for 40 to 50 minutes, or until done. Run cold water over the sweet potato, and remove the skin.
2. Break apart sweet potato in a bowl. Add butter, and mix well with mixer. Stir in sugar, milk, eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until mixture is smooth. Pour filling into an unbaked pie crust.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 55 to 60 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Pie will puff up like a souffle, and then will sink down as it cools.


This was definitely easier than the pumpkin pie I made early this week. Cutting the pumpkin in half was hard work. I had to whip out the heavy butcher's knife. This was much simpler with just peeling the sweet potatoes.

Turkey Burgers

Made by: Cathy

On Thursday night, we both got home pretty late. I was planning on making minestrone soup, but getting home at almost 9pm doesn't give us much time to make dinner. We already defrosted the ground turkey, the piece I was going to put in the soup, so we decided on the way home I would make burgers instead. It's simple and quick, and we had the frozen fries on hand.

Ingredients:
3/4 lb ground turkey
1 small onion, chopped
1 egg
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
S&P to taste
cooking spray
frozen fries


Directions:
1. In a small bowl, combine all ingredients and mix by hand
2. Shape into patties. Spray a nonstick pan with cooking spray. Place patties in pan and cook on medium-high heat for approx 8 min each side, or until desired doneness if using ground beef.
3. Crumple a piece of foil, flatten and place on cooking sheet. Cook fries according to package directions.
4. Serve with ketchup, lettuce, and/or tomatoes.


This was a great quick dinner. Of course we won't eat it all the time, but it's an better option than fast food. We both can't get enough fries...yum.

Fresh Pumpkin Pie

Adapted from: All Recipes
Made by: Cathy

It's pumpkin season! In effort to use the pumpkins from my mom's garden, I decided to see what I could do with her bounty. Since I had the day off I decided to make pumpkin pie with this beauty right here.



The recipe called for a sugar pumpkin, so I used half of this one from my mom's garden.

Ingredients:

For the filling:
1 sugar pumpkin
1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie (recipe below)
2 eggs
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk

For the crust, I got the recipe from here:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, chilled and diced
1/4 cup ice water

Prepare the crust:
1. In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in water, a tablespoon at a time, until mixture forms a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
2. Roll dough out to fit a 9 inch pie plate. Place crust in pie plate. Press the dough evenly into the bottom and sides of the pie plate.

Pie filling directions:
1. Cut pumpkin in half and remove seeds. Place cut side down on a cookie sheet lined with lightly oiled aluminum foil. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the flesh is tender when poked with a fork. Cool until just warm. Scrape the pumpkin flesh from the peel. Either mash, or puree in small batches in a blender. Increase oven temperature to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C.)
2. In a large bowl, slightly beat eggs. Add brown sugar, flour, salt, 2 cups of the pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, and evaporated milk. Stir well after each addition.
Pour mixture into the unbaked pastry shell. Place a strip of aluminum foil around the edge of the crust to prevent over browning.
3. Bake 10 minutes at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C), then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bake an additional 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Remove the strip of foil about 20 minutes before the pie is done so that the edge of the crust will be a light golden brown. Cool pie, and refrigerate overnight for best flavor.

I baked it for about an hour.

I couldn't wait. I ate it the same day. I took a picture of it before it sunk. I had just taken it out of the oven for only a couple of minutes. After a little while, the filling flattened out and it looked great. It wasn't smooth like store bought, it looked more like a creme brulee top.

There were extra crust and filling left, so I made little mini pies. Those baked for about 20-25 mins. at 350 degrees.

Zebra Cake

Adapted from: Baking Bites
Made by: Cathy

On 10/20 I was planning on making 2 pies. One fresh pumpkin pie (post to follow) and a sweet potato pie (not done yet as of this post). Gary calls and tells me that he's going to buy a cake. I tell him, I can just make a cake instead. I debated whether to make a carrot cake or a chocolate cake. I looked through my recipe binder and saw the recipe for the zebra cake I haven't tried yet. There was my opportunity to make it.

Ingredients:
4 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk (low fat is fine) (I used low fat lactaid)
1 cup vegetable oil (I used half oil, half applesauce)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp almond extract (I omitted)
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9-inch round cake pan with a circle of parchment paper and lightly grease the bottom and sides of the pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix together eggs and sugar until mixture is light and creamy and the sugar has mostly been dissolved. Stir in milk, vegetable oil, vanilla and almond extracts.In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Pour into wet ingredients and whisk to combine. Measure out just over two cups of vanilla batter and place it back in the medium bowl. Sift cocoa powder over the bowl and whisk until fully incorporated.
3. Put 3 tbsp of vanilla batter into the center of the pan and let it spread slightly on its own. Put 3 tbsp of chocolate batter in the center of the vanilla. It will push out the other batter and, as it sits for a moment, will also spread itself. Alternating spoonfuls of the two batters, repeat the technique until all the batter has been used up.

I poured the vanilla batter from a measuring cup and eyeballed the amount. For the other half, I measured the batter out by the tablespoons from the mixing bowl.
The result: a mesmerizing bulls eye.

4. Bake for 38-42 minutes, until the cake is light gold and a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
5. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then turn out the cake and remove the parchment paper. Reinvert on to a wire rack and let cool before slicing.
Serves 10.

I baked it for about 45 min. It was still coming out runny in the center. It was a little crisp on the edges and it cracked on the middle.



I couldn't present that for someones birthday, so I ended up adding store bought frosting. Before I frosted, I trimmed off the burnt edges.

BTW, I let Gary start writing the greeting, and that's why "happy" looks like that.

All in all, it came out pretty well. I didn't have the almond extract, so I omitted, but that was probably the flavor it was lacking.

Chicken and Broccoli

Adapted from: Andrea's Recipes
Made by: Gary

Gary's favorite dish from the Chinese takeout place is chicken and broccoli. He's been looking for a recipe to adapt from. Google is his friend, even though I have tons of recipes in my reader.

Gary found this recipe on Andrea's page.



Ingredients:
1 chicken breast, boneless and skinless (about 10 oz) (we used chicken tenderloins)
1 tablespoon corn starch
2 teaspoons dry sherry (or dry white wine)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 pound broccoli florets
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 slice fresh ginger, minced
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce (we used regular)
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon sugar
extra cornstarch for thickening


1. Slice chicken breast across the grain into strips about 1/4 inch thick. In a bowl, toss the chicken with the cornstarch, sherry, salt, and pepper. Make sure it’s coated evenly. Set aside for 10 to 15 minutes.
2. Immerse the broccoli in a pot of water with oil and salt. Cover and bring to a boil. Drain and set aside.
3. In a wok, heat oil over high heat for about a minute. Add garlic and ginger and stir-fry for just 30 seconds. Add the chicken and stir-fry until it is white and opaque, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the broccoli, soy sauce, oyster sauce, chicken broth, cornstarch, and sugar. Stir-fry until broccoli is tender and heated through, about 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Serve with rice.

It was a little salty for my taste. It may be because we used regular soy sauce instead of low sodium. However I think there may be too much soy sauce and oyster sauce. We will definately use this recipe and adapt to our tastes.

Loco Moco

Made by: Gary

I mentioned to Gary I had a craving for Loco Moco, a local Hawaiian dish. It's packed with calories, but oh so yummy. This is a hearty breakfast dish that is served in Hawaii.

(This picture reminds me of Squidward from Spongebob Squarepants.)

You can make it however you like, with your own spices.

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked white rice
1/2 lb ground turkey (or beef, I usually use turkey)
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs
gravy (prepared or made from scratch)

For the Gravy:
1 can beef broth
dash of Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp cornstarch

1. Add the rice and water to the pot and cook.
2. Combine the ground turkey, onion, garlic, and S&P. Mix well. Shape into 2 patties. Cook in a frying pan until well done. (cook to your liking with ground beef)
3. Fry an egg sunny side up on low-medium heat.
4. In a saucepan, heat up beef broth with Worcestershire sauce, adding cornstarch to thicken.
5. Assemble in this order: 1 scoop of rice, steak patty, egg, top with gravy.

Serves: 2

No Fuss Foccocia

Recipe from: Amber's Delectable Delights

I love foccocia bread. I've been looking for an easy recipe and I found it at Amber's Kitchen. It was so simple and delicious. I made it on a Tuesday night when I was free, just like her. Rosemary and pizza seasoning make for a delicious bread.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) warm water
3 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) olive oil (plus additional for drizzling)
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 1/2 cups (14 3/4 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour (I used Gold Medal AP Flour)
1 tablespoon instant yeast
4 teaspoons Pizza Dough Flavor, optional
1/4 cup (1 ounce) Vermont cheese powder, optional
Pizza Seasoning, optional

Directions:
1) Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan, and drizzle 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil in the bottom.
2) Combine all of the ingredients, and beat at high speed with an electric mixer for 60 seconds.
3) Scoop the sticky batter into the prepared pan, cover the pan, and let it rise at room temperature for 60 minutes, till it's become puffy.
4) While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 375°F.
5) Gently poke the dough all over with your index finger.
6) Drizzle it lightly with olive oil, and sprinkle with pizza seasoning, and/or the dried herbs of your choice, if desired.
7) Bake the bread till it's golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes.
8) Remove it from the oven, wait 5 minutes, then turn it out of the pan onto a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

DIY Spice Labels

So after purchasing the spice rack, I pretty much replaced the majority of the containers with my own spices. The existing labels were plain black labels. I decided to snaz them up with my own designs. I think it came out pretty nice.

The top of the spice containers were a little larger than 1.5 inches in diameter. I created 1.5 inch round labels. They didn't have that size at Office Depot, so I bought the 3x5 labels and created the 1.5 round sizes on that. 4 on each label, 16 total.

Fish and Stringbean Stir-Fry

Adapted from: Martin Yan Quick and Easy
Made by Gary

For the Marinade:
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon white pepper

3/4 lb firm white fish fillet: halibut, cod, or grouper, thinly sliced (we used cod)

For the Sauce:
1/3 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry (we used red cooking wine)
1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 lb Chinese Long beans, cut into 1 inch pieces (we used stringbeans)
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced (we used a whole small onion)
2 teaspoons minced ginger
2 teaspoons cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tablespoon water


1. Combine all the marinade ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Add the fish and stir to coat evenly. Set aside.

2. Combine all the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl and mix well. Set aside.

3. Boil the beans over high heat until tender-crisp (about 3 min). Drain.

4. Place a stir-fry pan over high heat until hot. Coat with oil. Add the onion and ginger and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the fish and stir-fry until opaque, about 1 1/2 minutes. Add the beans and the sauce and bring to a boil. Add the cornstarch solution and cook, stirring, until the sauce boils and thickens, about 20 seconds.

5. Transfer to plate and serve.

Rave of the Day: Progressive Salad Spinner

I've wanted a salad spinner for a while now. I hate soggy veges. I went shopping over the weekend and bought a bunch of kitchen gadgets.

One that I started to use was the Progressive Salad spinner. It reminds me of the spin cycle of a washing machine. I pull the trigger and it spins and all the water gets pulled to the sides. I found it loads of fun, but then again, it doesn't take much to amuse me :). I got this one because I couldn't pay the $30 for the OXO brand. I'm not going to abuse this thing, so I think it's ok for me.

My other kitchen purchases this weekend:

- A new cookie scoop! I wore out my plastic cookie scoop from Target. Now I have a grown up metal one from Martha Stewart.

- A cake froster. No more huge knife to frost cakes! Also from Martha Stewart.

- An avocado slicer. I used to look at this and think it was another gadget to waste space, but if I'm going to making sushi rolls regularly, this is a timesaver.

- A silicone bundt cake pan in red. I'm wondering if I should make the pumpkin shaped cake I saw on kraftfoods.com. It looks so easy.

- Halloween cookie cutters. I looked for these everywhere. I finally found the shapes I wanted and for a decent price at Kohl's.

- The OXO measuring cup I've wanted forever. Again, it's the little things that make me happy.

- A spice rack! Finally! I got a 16 spice rack from Kohl's. I replaced the spices I didn't need with ones I have already. My project with this is to make nice labels to replace the existing ones. It looks so snug and comfy in my cabinet.

- I also got a sweater and pants for work. But that’s a different blog...

Eel and California Sushi Rolls

Sushi rolls are so good, but I can't justify the price I pay in Manhattan to enjoy them.

My father works at a Japanese restaurant in the kitchen. He watched and learned to make sushi and taught it to us. Now, my family has been making it for some time now, but I usually just watched and ate :). This time, it was our turn to try to make it. I think it came out pretty well for our first time.

Sushi refers to the rice and not the fish. There is a lot of prep work involved in making it, but it's so worth it.

I don't have exact quantities of some ingredients because I bought ingredients in bulk and didn't count how many I used. This will be scaled down from the amount I made. If you don't have eel, you can make just california rolls or whatever rolls you like.

Ingredients:
2 cups sushi rice (uncooked)
2 1/2 cups water
2 tbsp sushi seasoning
1 cucumber cut into strips lengthwise
1 package frozen prepared eel, defrosted
10 (approx.) frozen imitation crab meat, defrosted
2 avocados sliced
5 sheets (approx.) packaged seaweed (nori), square sheets cut in half
sesame seeds (optional)

Prep materials:
bowl of cold water (to prevent sticking to the hands)
bamboo sushi mat
saran wrap
sharp knife
rice cooker
cutting board (preferably plastic, the rice will stick to wood)

Directions:
1. Wash the rice until water runs clear. Add 2 1/2 cups of cold water (or as directed by the packaging) to the pot and cook in rice cooker. Once done, scoop rice into a large mixing bowl. Mix with sushi seasoning while hot. Cover with damp paper towel and let cool for 10-15 min. Wrap the bamboo mat with saran wrap.
2. Prepare: cucumbers, eel, crab meat, nori, and avocados. Cut a cucumber in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and discard. Cut the cucumber into thin strips. Defrost the eel and crab meat in the microwave. Slice the eel into strips. Shred the crab meat by hand into pieces. Cut an avocado in half, remove pit and skin. Slice avocados into approx. 1/2 inch wide strips. Placed all ingredients into separate bowls/plates. Cut the nori sheets in half (they are about 8 inch squares when purchased).
3. Dip you hands in the cold water and shake off the excess. Place nori on the bamboo mat. Place about a palm sized oval wad of rice and spread on 1 side of the nori. Flip over and place desired ingredients on the side without rice. Leave about an 3/4 to an inch of space on each side. Using the bamboo mat, roll sushi up and use the rice to seal up. Use the bamboo mat to shape the sushi on top. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Dip the knife into the water and cut sushi roll into 6 equal pieces starting from the middle. Repeat until all ingredients are used up.

Tada! Sushi! We ate a few that didn't look too great while we were making it. Once you make it, you will want to make some more. It's much more satisfying to make it yourself.

Once you get the hang of it, you can make any roll you want. ie: Boston rolls (lettuce, cooked shrimp, mayo)

Banana Crumb Muffins

Adapted from: All Recipes
Made by: Cathy



Ingredients:
For the muffins:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 bananas, mashed
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten

For the crumb topping: (optional)
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Lightly grease 12 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
3. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
4. In another bowl, beat together bananas, applesauce, sugar, and egg.
5. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Using and ice cream scoop, scoop batter into prepared muffin cups and fill 3/4 full.
6. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle heaping teaspoonfuls of the topping over muffins.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Makes 12 muffins. These were so easy and so yummy.

Let's get cooking

So now that G and I have been married for almost a year, we are trying to explore the kitchen some more and learn to cook. This blog will follow us during our journey in the kitchen.

We would rather cook things that are simple and easy, but delicious at the same time. If G and I can do it, anybody can do it.