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2020.12.22My Pumpkin Pie (UPDATED)

Image of a slice of pumpkin pie

I never would have done this. I think I actually told myself when I started this website over ten years ago that the one recipe I would NOT post is my pumpkin pie recipe. But recent events have changed my mind — namely, having all of my recipes packed away.

A couple of weeks ago, when we were figuring out our plans for Thanksgiving dinner, I was told to not bother showing up for dinner without my pumpkin pies. I know right where my recipe is — it's packed in a cardboard box inside of a giant metal box someplace in the United States. Since I originally got the recipe from my mother, I called her asking for it — but she couldn't find it. I made calls to friends, my sisters, everyone to whom I thought I may have given the recipe over the years. No luck — although I did get a copy of my great grandmother's recipe, upon which mine is based. Desperate, I started looking through ALL of my iPhone photos, because I was pretty sure I had taken a pic of the recipe and texted it to a friend a few years ago.

To my great fortune, I was able to confirm that I HAD taken such a photo in 2015. And I was able to use that image to recreate the magic I've documented below.

Ingredients:

2¼ csugar
3 Tcorn starch
1½ tsalt
3 tcinnamon
1½ tginger
6eggs
3 Tbutter (less than 1 stick)
4 cwhole milk
1 large canLibby's pumpkin
3standard one-crust frozen pie crusts
OPTIONAL: plastic containers larger than 24 oz

Steps:

  1. Cut the butter into small cubes or slices so they may melt into the mixture more easily. Set aside. Keep pie crusts frozen until ready to bake.
  2. Stir the dry ingredients (sugar, corn starch, salt, cinammon, ginger) together, then fold into pumpkin and set aside.
  3. Slightly beat the eggs and set aside.
  4. In a large pot, heat the milk only until warm — do not boil.
  5. Eggs and milk:
    • Option 1: Add the eggs to the warm milk over low heat and stir to ensure the eggs don't cook to the bottom of the pot.
    • Option 2: Temper the eggs by stirring a couple ladles of the milk into the eggs, then add the egg and milk mixture back into the warm milk (easier).
    Add the butter.
  6. Stir the pumpkin mixture into the milk and eggs until smooth. Take it off of the heat.
  7. Refrigeration isn't really necessary, but I find it firms the mixture up enough to make ladling it into pie pans much less messy later on. So if you're inclined to take a break for dinner before the long baking process, stick it in the fridge.
    UPDATE: Also, if you're planning on not baking all of the pies in the same evening, consider ladeling about 24oz. of filling into separate containers for each pie you'll bake later.
  8. Pour the mixture into a total of three standard one-crust frozen pie crusts. Bake each pie for 10 minutes @ 450°, then for about 50 minutes @ 350° or until knife comes out clean from center. Cool each pie and refrigerate. I bake these one at a time, filling one shell at a time and putting the mixture back in the fridge after each fill. UPDATE: I *think* each pie crust will take about 24 ounces of filling.
  9. Here's a trick I learned in 2020: If you're baking a single pie in the evening (as I tend to do), cool the pie overnight by simply turning off the oven after the bake is done, and sticking a wooden spoon in the oven door. This will allow the pie to cool very gradually, and prohibit cracks from appearing in the filling! (How "cool" is that?!)

Thanks to my sister, I now know that the recipe my great grandmother or great great grandmother handed down originally appeared in a cookbook of recipes for corn products (recall the corn starch) and differs in a few ways from this one — chiefly in quantities of ingredients. Both recipes make 3 pies.



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2020.11.16Mexican Lasagna

 

I'm starting off with an apology.

I first posted this recipe in April, 2013. Sometime between then and late 2016, the images that were included got lost. I can't find them in any of the online backups, I couldn't find them on the old machine I did the development on until last year. My best guess is they got deleted off of the dev site, and at some point I did a full push and whacked all the old files on the production site. Anyway, I got motivated to repair this today, and found the original images on my iCloud account. Thanks to the descriptions I gave in the markup, I think I've got the right photos in the right places.

Rather than to point y'all back to the original 2013 post, I figured I'd just duplicate it here, with minor corrections (there's a difference between lasagne and lasagna).

 

I've been toting this recipe around with me for over 30 years now. Every time I make it, I end up eating it until it's all gone. I originally cut this recipe from the back of a Ronzoni lasagne noodle box. The recipe (and the old ripped baggie which contained it and all my other recipes) had been lost for the past two years — I'm so happy to have it back!

1boxlasagne noodles (16 oz.)
1lbboneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
2tbspoil
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1/4Conion, chopped
2tspchili powder
2C(16 oz.) ricotta cheese
1CMonterey Jack cheese, shredded (4 oz.)
1 egg
2C(16 oz.) prepared salsa
1Ccheddar cheese, shredded (4 oz.)
----Optional: sour cream, chopped tomato, minced garlic.

  1. Cook lasagne according to box directions; drain.
  2. Separate lasagne noodles and lay out flat on wax paper or aluminum foil to keep pieces from sticking together and cool. (See images 1 & 2).
  3. Cut that chicken breast into small pieces if you haven't already (see image 3).
  4. Lightly brown the chicken in hot oil (image 4). I did this by browning a little bit at a time, and I used a cover to try to minimize the splatter (see image 5).
  5. Add pepper and onion; cook until tender.
  6. Remove from heat.
  7. Stir in chili powder, ricotta cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, and egg.
  8. Spoon about 1/3 C. mixture onto each noodle (image 6); roll up in jelly-roll fashion. Place rolls, seam-side down, in a single layer in a greased 9x13 baking dish (image 7).
  9. Add salsa over the rolls.
  10. Cover and bake at 350°F for 25 minutes.
  11. Uncover and sprinkle with cheddar cheese; bake 5 more minutes or until cheese melts (see image 8).
  12. Serve with sour cream, olives, chopped tomato.

Image 1
Image 2

Image 3
Image 4

Image 5
Image 6

Image 7
Image 8


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2020.02.25Raglan Road Harp & Cheese Soup, Ten Years On

Image of the Raglan Road logo. Image credit: Cooke's/Raglan Road

I was making some other content edits on the site this afternoon when I happened to scroll down through TWIHH and noticed that I posted the recipe from Raglan Road TEN YEARS AGO TODAY.

So I want to tell you what an honor it is to have received this recipe from the chef, and to let you know we still make this recipe (usually in cooler weather — we actually just made it a couple of weeks ago!) and enjoy it just as we have for ten years.

Without further ado, the content of the original post is reproduced below:

While in Orlando recently I had dinner at the Raglan Road Irish Pub, and was fortunate enough to have sampled their amazing cheddar ale soup. After presenting our compliments, my girlfriend received the executive chef's card, and was encouraged to e-mail him asking for the recipe. She received the following from the very kind Mr. Heberto Segura:

2 ea.large potatoes, peeled and diced
5 Cvegetable stock
5 CHarp lager beer
1 stalkleeks, greens washed and sliced
1 sprigthyme, fresh
5 Cheavy cream
5 CDubliner cheese
1 pinchcayenne pepper
1 pinchsalt and pepper

Simmer the potatoes in the stock, Harp and a pinch of salt and pepper until tender. Add in the leeks, thyme, and cream, bring to a boil, then slow to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Add in a pinch of cayenne and blend using a hand blender until completely pureed. While blending add in the cheese in 5 batches until emulsified. Blend thoroughly until pureed. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if necessary. Strain and keep warm until ready to serve.

Comments from Executive Chef Heberto Segura:

"I am delighted to hear about your experience here at Raglan Road. Thank you for the compliments on the Harp and Cheese soup, I will be sure to share your comments with my team. Experiences like yours are what make Raglan Road so great; we have always been compelled to share the joy in our recipes as it is an example of Irish hospitality. I have attached the recipes you requested; please let us know how it turns out or if you have any other questions.

Hope to see you by the pub on your next trip to Orlando, or at our sister pub in the Power and Light District in KC.

Cheers

Heberto Segura
Executive Chef
Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant
P.O Box 22805, Lake Buena Vista, FL, 32830
Ph + 407 938 0300/Fx + 407 938 0305



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2018.08.25UPDATE: smashburger

Image of the smashburger logo. Image credit: smashburger

Second up in our parade of Texas fast-food joints is smashburger. I tried the Classic: normally lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese, pickles and smash sauce over a single patty, I ordered mine easy on the onions (still a little scarred from WHATABURGER) and easy on the smash sauce. It was excellent. smashburger's thing is that their burgers start as meatballs that get smashed onto the grill using weights. The "smash" creates lovely crispy edges on the patties — and THAT, in my opinion, is the true smash sauce.

I didn't really understand their fries. They looked wet. My wife, who had more than I, mentioned she could taste some very nice spices on them, suggesting they're tossed in some sort of oil. Other reviews online confirm the fries are tossed in olive oil with rosemary and garlic (she mentioned detecting the rosemary and garlic at the restaurant). Guess I'll give them another try later.

Overall, I found smashburger's product superior to WHATABURGER. Comparing the two, the WHATABURGER product is larger — about the size of a Whopper®. The smashburger was smaller, on par in diameter to a Big Mac®. I thought the meat had better flavor, plus the sear. The vegetables on the smashburger were sliced, not diced — true of the onions, anyway. Both brands offer sliced tomatoes. As for buns, hon, I was impressed by how flat the WHATABURGER buns were — the smashburger buns are egg buns which also didn't seem particularly bready.

So that's what's up with the smashburger.

 

UPDATE:
I want to talk for a little bit about smashburger's corporate headquarters.

Last week I visited the local restaurant and ended up with more than I wanted on my burger: a long black hair, that I pulled partly from my mouth, but mostly unspooled from the sandwich. I set it on a clean napkin in my tray and promptly took tha tray, including the remainder of my meal, up to the front and stole a glance at the two women at the grill: Both long-haired hispanic ladies with no hairnets, although both wore their hair pulled back. The person at the front saw the problem immedately, and did a few things: First, the two ladies were replaced by a guy wearing a hat, who got to work on replacing my meal. The second thing I saw was that the lady with the longer hair visited the restroom. I didn't want to be a jerk or anything, so I didn't look up at her when she emerged — I didn't want to risk receiving a look like, "Now I've got to wear this stupid hair net," or, "Because of you, I got in trouble," or whatever. The manager then handed me a pair of coupons for discounted meals. As it happens, Laurel has the smashburger app and received or took a survey regarding the visit — so she was honest. Smashburger contacted her, apologized for the incident, and sent us another pair of coupons — even though she explained we'd received some already.

Texas law requires "hair restraints," but doesn't specify what they are exactly, although it does mention that hats may be worn to serve in such a capacity. I checked the local health department reviews, and found the store received a score of 91 (out of 100, I presume) during their August evaluation.

The local store did a great job of identifying the problem and working to fix it immediately. The headquarters did a great job of following up with us — we explained everything, including the corrective actions we had observed — and ensuring we were compensated. They did a fine job.



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2018.07.12smashburger

Image of the smashburger logo. Image credit: smashburger

Second up in our parade of Texas fast-food joints is smashburger. I tried the Classic: normally lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese, pickles and smash sauce over a single patty, I ordered mine easy on the onions (still a little scarred from WHATABURGER) and easy on the smash sauce. It was excellent. smashburger's thing is that their burgers start as meatballs that get smashed onto the grill using weights. The "smash" creates lovely crispy edges on the patties — and THAT, in my opinion, is the true smash sauce.

I didn't really understand their fries. They looked wet. My wife, who had more than I, mentioned she could taste some very nice spices on them, suggesting they're tossed in some sort of oil. Other reviews online confirm the fries are tossed in olive oil with rosemary and garlic (she mentioned detecting the rosemary and garlic at the restaurant). Guess I'll give them another try later.

Overall, I found smashburger's product superior to WHATABURGER. Comparing the two, the WHATABURGER product is larger — about the size of a Whopper®. The smashburger was smaller, on par in diameter to a Big Mac®. I thought the meat had better flavor, plus the sear. The vegetables on the smashburger were sliced, not diced — true of the onions, anyway. Both brands offer sliced tomatoes. As for buns, hon, I was impressed by how flat the WHATABURGER buns were — the smashburger buns are egg buns which also didn't seem particularly bready.

So that's what's up with the smashburger.



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2018.07.04WHATABURGER

Image of the WHATABURGER logo. Image credit: WHATABURGER

Tried my first WHATABURGER today. Not too shabby. I ordered a double meat, hold the mustard and pickle. What I got was essentially a BK Lounge "Whopper," with thinnner patties and lots of chopped onion, but on a thin bun, which I really liked. But I found the burger overall to be a bit dense.

I thought their fries were similar to but thinner than McDonald's', if McDonald's left out the salt.

Overall, it was a decent enough burger. I'd order it again. It was large, but not majorly "bready."

So there's my thoughts on WHATABURGER.



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2018.01.07Notes on Harp and Cheese Soup

The word 'Soup' from a Campbell's Soup can label. Image credit: Campbell's Soup

I've a few notes to offer on the Harp and Cheese soup recipe. It's hard to believe we've been making this recipe for eight years now.

The notes come following the construction of... can I say "construction?" "Assembly," maybe? I'll go with "assembly." The notes come following the assembly of a recent batch. We made it as a present for a neighbor who did us a favor. We used some upgraded ingredients, and what a difference it made.

  • The biggest improvement was in the cream we used. We bought cream from a local dairy, instead of using a standard product found at the grocery store.
  • Yukon Gold potatoes were used because they seem to be a little more starchy, which lends itself to the concoction. It's supposed to be thick — really thick.
  • 5c of Kerrygold Dubliner cheese is basically three 7-oz. blocks.



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2017.12.26Pecan Pie, Revised

Pecan pie. Image credit: Food Network

For as good was this pie has always been using the original recipe plus my earlier notes, this year's attempt was an absolute slam dunk.

As mentioned in a previous post, I updated the link to the Food Network recipe in the earlier posts (and noted the updates). That recipe is (currently located) here:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/pecan-pie-recipe-2011668

Also in previous posts, I offered some notes about things I learned or did along the way. Here are a few more:

  1. Pecans: a single 12-oz. bag of chopped pecans will satisfy the requirement for 2 cups. Put those on a baking sheet and toast them for 5 minutes at 350° for the filling. Also, the photo of the pie shows pecan halves on top. There's no need for the halves. Really.
  2. Bourbon: For years, I've used H.L.Weller's Special Reserve for the bourbon component. This year I switched it up — Laurel bought us a lovely bottle of Jack Daniel's Sinatra Select. I used 2T of that instead and I really loved the flavor it produced — the vanilla finish blended very well with the vanilla extract. I highly recommend it.
  3. Filling: I followed the recipe exactly. The ingredients stir uneasily until the eggs are added — then it becomes much more pliable.
  4. Crust: I took a shortcut this year and did not make the crust. I let Marie Calender handle that part this year. Needless to say, it cuts way down on the prep and baking time. I did stick the frozen shell into the oven for 5 minutes before adding the filling (the recipe said to do this if your crust has cooled too much). I'm not certain that really did anything positive.
  5. Finally, the recipe makes a single pie.

I'll leave you with this: Laurel told me it was probably the best pie she's ever had EVAR. And pecan pie is her thing — I didn't grow up with them like she did. When our Christmas dinner guests left, we still had about 40% of the pie; I know better than to even think about touching it.



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2017.12.24Pecan Pie Not Found

Pecan pie. Image credit: Food Network

I was pretty confident coming into the holiday season, because I knew I had the pecan pie recipe online.

So yesterday I got quite a scare when I visited my old posts from 2011 and the link to the recipe was broken.

Happily, I was able to recover the link. The new link is in place inside the old posts, including a note on when I updated them.

I'm all set to get my bake on tonight!



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2017.12.22Turkey Time Means Brining

When I was a kid, brining wasn't a thing — at least, it wasn't in our family. Grandma, may she rest in peace, always served a very dry turkey. That was the cause of my affinity for dark meat — it's fattier and less susceptible to a lack of moisture.

We first brined a turkey at Christmastime a couple of years ago. The bird was so juicy it sprayed juice all over both of us AND the kitchen ceiling when I started carving it.

Here's the boss' brine recipe:

1cKosher salt
2 qt.stock
10 clovesgarlic
1Tfresh rosemary (sprig)
1Tpeppercorns
1Tfresh sage (sprig)
3 leavesbay leaves
3Tbrown sugar
1 gal.water


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2017.11.23My Pumpkin Pie

Image of a slice of pumpkin pie

I never would have done this. I think I actually told myself when I started this website over ten years ago that the one recipe I would NOT post is my pumpkin pie recipe. But recent events have changed my mind — namely, having all of my recipes packed away.

A couple of weeks ago, when we were figuring out our plans for Thanksgiving dinner, I was told to not bother showing up for dinner without my pumpkin pies. I know right where my recipe is — it's packed in a cardboard box inside of a giant metal box someplace in the United States. Since I originally got the recipe from my mother, I called her asking for it — but she couldn't find it. I made calls to friends, my sisters, everyone to whom I thought I may have given the recipe over the years. No luck — although I did get a copy of my great grandmother's recipe, upon which mine is based. Desperate, I started looking through ALL of my iPhone photos, because I was pretty sure I had taken a pic of the recipe and texted it to a friend a few years ago.

To my great fortune, I was able to confirm that I HAD taken such a photo in 2015. And I was able to use that image to recreate the magic I've documented below.

Ingredients:

2¼ csugar
3 Tcorn starch
1½ tsalt
3 tcinnamon
1½ tginger
6eggs
3 Tbutter (less than 1 stick)
4 cwhole milk
1 large canLibby's pumpkin
3standard one-crust frozen pie crusts

Steps:

  1. Cut the butter into small cubes or slices so they may melt into the mixture more easily. Set aside. Keep pie crusts frozen until ready to bake.
  2. Stir the dry ingredients (sugar, corn starch, salt, cinammon, ginger) together, then fold into pumpkin and set aside.
  3. Slightly beat the eggs and set aside.
  4. In a large pot, heat the milk only until warm — do not boil.
  5. Eggs and milk:
    • Option 1: Add the eggs to the warm milk over low heat and stir to ensure the eggs don't cook to the bottom of the pot.
    • Option 2: Temper the eggs by stirring a couple ladles of the milk into the eggs, then add the egg and milk mixture back into the warm milk (easier).
    Add the butter.
  6. Stir the pumpkin mixture into the milk and eggs until smooth. Take it off of the heat.
  7. Refrigeration isn't really necessary, but I find it firms the mixture up enough to make ladling it into pie pans much less messy later on. So if you're inclined to take a break for dinner before the long baking process, stick it in the fridge.
  8. Pour the mixture into a total of three standard one-crust frozen pie crusts. Bake each pie for 10 minutes @ 450°, then for about 50 minutes @ 350° or until knife comes out clean from center. Cool each pie and refrigerate. I bake these one at a time over three hours, filling one shell at a time and putting the mixture back in the fridge after each fill.

Thanks to my sister, I now know that the recipe my great grandmother or great great grandmother handed down originally appeared in a cookbook of recipes for corn products (recall the corn starch) and differs in a few ways from this one — chiefly in quantities of ingredients. Both recipes make 3 pies.



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2017.10.29Only Too Happy to Cook for my Family

Photo of my white chili cooking in a crock pot. Photo credit: halfgk.com

Sure has been a while since I posted here.

In late 2017 we sold our home and moved in with my mother in law for the winter, then buying a new home next spring. My dearest recipes (contained in the infamous "recipe baggie") were likely all packed up for the long term.

Cooler weather is upon us now, and that means it's time to break out the crock pot, as all Michiganders know. Lately I've been having a real jones for my white chili — a great way to kick off crock season.

Additionally, I was told earlier this week by my brother in law to not even bother showing up for Thanksgiving this year without my pumpkin pies. *sigh* You can guess where that recipe is.

Just for funsies earlier I did a search on my website for recipes I have posted over the years. I was looking specifically for my white chili recipe. As luck would have it, I had posted it — TEN YEARS AGO!

I got so excited, I took a screenshot of the post and drove to the grocery store!

The product, early in its process, is pictured above. I had to play a little with the recipe because the store here doesn't have the large jars of Great Northern beans. I figured each jar held about as much as does three standard-sized cans. I bought eight cans just to be safe, and think I have five cans in the mix now. I also bought extra chicken to brown up and dice in real fast — but I suspect the bag I bought is enough.



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2016.07.02This Chicken is NOT RIGHT

This salad tastes like mango, cigarettes and regret.

And I'm betting the grilled chicken is actually the same meat as is in their nuggets.



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2013.04.15Mexican Lasagne

I've been toting this recipe around with me for over 20 years. Every time I make it, I end up eating it until it's all gone. I originally cut this recipe from the back of a Ronzoni lasagne noodle box. The recipe (and the old ripped baggie which contained it and all my other recipes) had been lost for the past two years — I'm so happy to have it back!

1boxlasagne noodles (16 oz.)
1lbboneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
2tbspoil
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1/4Conion, chopped
2tspchili powder
2C(16 oz.) ricotta cheese
1CMonterey Jack cheese, shredded (4 oz.)
1 egg
2C(16 oz.) prepared salsa
1Ccheddar cheese, shredded (4 oz.)
----Optional: sour cream, chopped tomato, minced garlic.

  1. Cook lasagne according to box directions; drain.
  2. Separate lasagne and lay out flat on wax paper or aluminum foil to keep pieces from sticking together and cool. (See images 1 & 2).
  3. Cut that chicken breast into small pieces if you haven't already (see image 3).
  4. Lightly brown the chicken in hot oil (image 4). I did this by browning a little bit at a time, and I used a cover to try to minimize the splatter (see image 5).
  5. Add pepper and onion; cook until tender.
  6. Remove from heat.
  7. Stir in chili powder, ricotta cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, and egg.
  8. Spoon about 1/3 C. mixture onto each piece of lasagne (image 6); roll up in jelly-roll fashion. Place rolls, seam-side down, in a single layer in a greased 9x13 baking dish (image 7).
  9. Add salsa over the rolls.
  10. Cover and bake at 350°F for 25 minutes.
  11. Uncover and sprinkle with cheddar cheese; bake 5 more minutes or until cheese melts (see image 8).
  12. Serve with sour cream, olives, chopped tomato.

Image 1
Image 2

Image 3
Image 4

Image 5
Image 6

Image 7
Image 8


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2012.11.14NYT Review of Guy Fieri's Eatery

"When you cruise around the country for your show 'Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,' rasping out slangy odes to the unfancy places where Americans like to get down and greasy, do you really mean it? Or is it all an act? Is that why the kind of cooking you celebrate on television is treated with so little respect at Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar?"

Links:
Today's Best Read: NYT's Review of Guy Fieri's Eatery
"As Not Seen on TV - Restaurant Review: Guy's American Kitchen & Bar in Times Square", The New York Times (November 14, 2012)


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2012.08.12Jam Jar Moscato at Seasons 52



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2012.07.14Unagi at Kiku



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2012.07.13Crevettes Meunière at Chez Yasu



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2012.05.21Brasa's Pork Shoulder Roast with Citrus Mojo and Green Sauce

My wife found this recipe in Food and Wine Magazine (May 2012 issue), and we gave it a try. Tasty. Fresh. Delicious! We'd seen food from Brasa featured on Man vs. Food. Look up the Minneapolis episode.

Pork Shoulder Roast with Citrus Mojo

1tbsp.olive oil, extra virgin
½Conion, minced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1Cfresh lemon juice
1Cfresh orange juice
2tbspdistilled white vinegar
2tbspgarlic powder
2tbsponion powder
2tbspfreshly ground pepper
1½tspground cumin
1tbspWorcestershire sauce
5lbbone-in Boston Butt (pork shoulder, butt end)
----salt

Creamy Cilantro-Lime Sauce

2 large jalapeños, seeded and coarsely chopped
2 large garlic cloves, smashed
2tbspfresh ginger, minced
2tbspwhite onion, minced
1tbspfresh lime juice
¼Cwater
1Cmayonnaise
¼Cfinely chopped cilantro
----salt

  1. In a small saucepan, heat the olive oil. Add the onion and cook over moderate heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant. Add the lemon and orange juices and simmer for 2 minutes. Add the vinegar. Transfer half of the mojo to a blender and let cool. Refrigerate the remaining mojo.
  2. Meanwhile, in a jar, shake the garlic and onion powders, ground pepper and cumin. Add 2 tbsp of the dry rub to the mojo in the blender. Add the Worcestershire sauce and 1 tbsp. of salt and puree the marinade.
  3. Put the pork in a resealable 1-gallon plastic bag and add the marinade. Seal the bag, pressing out the air, and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours, turning occasionally. Bring the pork to room temperature.
  4. Preheat the oven to 350°F and set a rack in a roasting pan. Remove the pork from the marinade and pat dry. Rub the meat all over with the remaining dry rub and set it on the rack. Roast for 3 hours, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat reads 150°. Reduce the oven temperature to 275° and roast the meat for about 3 hours longer, until very tender and an instant-read thermometer registers 180°. Remove the roast from the oven and cover with foil; let rest for 30 minutes.
  5. Shred the meat, discarding the bones and excess fat. Serve the roast with the remaining mojo and the Creamy Cilantro Lime Sauce.
Serve with Guacamole and tortilla chips.

Optionally, you may cover and refrigerate the whole roast for up to two days. Bring to room temperature and shred, then gently reheat in a 300° oven.

To make the Creamy Cilantro-Lime Sauce, puree the jalapeños, garlic, ginger, onion, lime juice and water until smooth. Add the mayonnaise and cilantro and pulse a few times. Season the sauce with salt and serve. The sauce can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.


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2012.04.24Low-Carb Blueberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake is Awesome for Atkins

My wife made this coffee cake for me at Easter. It was worth developing a food aggression for. Maybe that's what three months without bread will do to you, but this was seriously delicious!

You should be able to find almond meal in your grocer's baking section. My wife used 8oz. cream cheese instead of 6 oz., 8 oz. sour cream, and where extra liquid was needed, used melted butter (about a tablespoon) instead of water.

3Calmond meal
1½Csugar substitute (liquid or powdered; see below)
3 eggs
1tspbaking powder
½tspbaking soda
¼Cbutter, chilled and cut into small pieces
¼Csour cream
2tspvanilla extract
2tbspoil
1Cblueberries or raspberries, fresh or frozen (but not thawed)
6ozcream cheese
----cinnamon
----salt

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter or oil 9"x9" pan (cooking spray is fine).

Coffee cake is prepared in three layers. If you are using a standing mixer, you can use the same bowl if you make the layers in the order listed - just remove them to separate bowls until ready to assemble.

Streusel Topping: Mix 1 cup of the almond meal, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ½ cup sweetener, a pinch of salt and the 4 Tablespoons butter. I find that the whisk type attachment on my standing mixer works well - you want the mixture to stay crumbly. You can use a pastry blender, knives - whatever works. But if it all clumps together, don't worry - just crumble it over the top when the time comes. This is one area where I used to use powdered sweetener, but I have found more recently that my beloved Sweetzfree liquid (zero carbs; no aftertaste) works fine.

Cream Cheese Layer: Mix cream cheese, 1 egg, and ¼ cup sweetener. If you want a thinner layer of cream cheese, you can use 4 oz. instead of 6. The mixture won't be as thick and will pour more evenly over the cake layer.

Cake Layer: Mix dry ingredients: 2 cups of almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, ¼-½ teaspoon cinnamon, teaspoon salt, and ¾ cup sweetener if you are using a powder. Then add the sour cream, oil, extracts, liquid sweetener (if that's what you're using), sour cream, and 2 eggs and mix well. At this point, you might want to add 1-2 Tablespoons of water or melted butter, depending on the consistency. You want the batter to be thick enough to support the rest of it, but not too gloppy - you should be able to spread it easily in the pan. I usually end up adding about a tablespoon.

Assembly: Spread the cake layer in the pan, and spread the cream cheese on top (if it's the larger amount of cream cheese, you won't be able to spread it evenly, but that's OK). Then sprinkle the blueberries on the cream cheese and the streusel on the top of that.

Bake for about half an hour, or until toothpick not inserted into a berry comes out clean. If you use a thermometer, it should be about 155° F. in the center.

Cool and slice. It is filling, so I usually cut it into 16 pieces.

Nutritional Information: Each serving has 3 grams net carbs plus 2.5 grams fiber, 6 grams protein, and 217 calories. 16 servings total.


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2012.04.23Fruity Pork Loin

I'm really looking forward to trying this recipe:

3lbsingle pork loin, center-cut, well-trimmed
5 prunes, pitted and dried
15 apricots, dried
1/4Ccraisins
1/4Cgolden raisins
2Torange zest
1/4Cbutter
5Tapricot preserves
----salt
----black pepper

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coarsely chop dried fruit and mix with butter and orange zest. With a long thin knife, carefully make a horizontal slit lengthwise through the center of the roast. Twist the knife gently to make a 1/2-inch hole, making a "tunnel." Gently push the dried fruit mixture into the tunnel. Coat a roasting rack and roasting pan with nonstick vegetable spray. Place the pork on the rack in the pan. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper; cover tightly with aluminum foil. Bake for 1 hour.

Remove from the oven and spread the apricot preserves evenly over the top of the roast. Return to the oven and bake, uncovered, for 15 to 20 minutes, or until no pink remains. Remove the pork to a cutting board and slice across the grain. Serve immediately.


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2012.03.19Jenn's Low-Carb Lasagne

I've been doing Atkins since January. A friend of mine was kind enough to forward me this recipe:
1/2Cricotta cheese
1/2Clow-carb spaghetti sauce
1ozshredded Italian blend cheese
  chicken breast, cooked and pulled
  Italian sausage, browned and cut up
  

Place pulled chicken and sausage in the bottom of a single-serve, oven-proof dish. Smear ricotta over the meat; top with tomato sauce and shredded cheese. Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes or until warmed and browned. Approx. 9 carbs, given spaghetti sauce with 4 net carbs per 1/2 C.


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2012.03.15Hard to be a "foodie" on Atkins

In January I started the Atkins diet. I'm pleased to report I've lost over twenty pounds on the diet so far. My original goal was 30, but I'm considering going for 40.

This has, of course, put a major dent in my dining enjoyment. Believe me, a world without rice, beans, fruit and bread is not a happy world; it's pretty much beef, chicken and broccoli. My forkly activity has dropped quite a bit, too — now when I use the app, I review things from an Atkins-friendly perspective.

The Burger Stand has been wonderful about it. When I ask for the "Smoke" without a bun, I'm immediately asked if the request is related to celiac disease. Though that's thankfully not the case, I greatly appreciate their sensitivity. They happily serve the burger over greens. And I have to say — eating a burger this way is helpful even when not observing the Atkins lifestyle because it forces you to use a fork and knife — slowing your pace.

I've been spending a TON of time at Buffalo Wild Wings lately — and have downed more Parmesan garlic (traditional) wings than I can count, although whatever that number is, it's evenly divisible by twelve. I mostly prefer the Parmesan garlic wings because it reminds me of Alfredo sauce — and this is about as close to pasta as I'm going to get for a while!

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2012.01.03My First Pecan Pie: SMASH HIT — Here's How!

  • Follow this recipe. The recipe includes instructions for making a crust.
  • Not a bourbon drinker? If you want to use some in the recipe, head over to a local liquor store to pick up a 50ML bottle of W. L. Weller Special Reserve. It's a perfect size for the recipe, plus a wee nip for you.
  • Remember to toast the pecan halves first — only five minutes on a cookie sheet at 350°F will do the trick.
  • I ground up the pecans in a food processor using only a few short bursts.
We ended up making the pie on Christmas Day to serve with dinner. There are two slices left and my wife all but refuses to throw them away.

EDIT: Updated the recipe URL, 12/24/2017.


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2011.12.28The ChopStir

I. Arrival

Last week a box arrived from Harriet Carter. For those of you who don't know, Harriet Carter is a mail-order company that is the standout purveyor of the most miscellaneous junk ever made. 98% of the time, one leafs through their catalog (if they still do catalogs) more for humor than anything else. (I just checked their website — predictably, at the URL "harrietcarter.com." On the home page: a sofa side table, a gift wrap organizer, quilted furniture protectors, Flex Seal™, a fingernail art kit, a windshield cover, the Huglight™, NFL slankets, and Pajama Jeans ®.)

The trouble is the remaining 2% of the time, when you actually need one of those silly things. Harriet Carter is the go-to company. I'd wondered if I'd seen the last of them in the late '80s.

Apparently not.

I first heard about the box's arrival from LD. "You got a package from Harriet Carter." I remember thinking, "Harriet Carter?... *squinting* Mom."

We opened the box to find, unwrapped and unblemished, a ChopStir. My first impression was that Harriet Carter was the perfect company to sell this thing. According to the ChopStir website, "ChopStir is an innovative cooking tool that substantially decreases the cooking time in many recipes. Ground meats cook in almost half the usual time, and frozen concentrates are ready to drink in seconds. Ingredients of all kinds are chopped instantly." Naturally, as the good son, it's my job to thank my mother for spending her money so foolishly. She tells me about how amazing it really is, and how she just KNEW I HAD to have one. Meanwhile, I'm considering it's design in terms of amateur rocketry — I'm betting this thing would fly awesomely if it had the right fuel and/or explosive.

II. Pecan Pie

Okay. Fast Forward to Christmas Day. I'd been planning to bake a pecan pie for my wife's birthday (she was nearly a Christmas baby), but we'd decided to put it off until the family was over for the holiday. The oven's been on all day long, baking the turkey and sweet potato rolls. Happily, we'd made the pie crust the night before and stored it in the fridge for the night. Laurel baked the pie crust that morning before the bird went in, but I wasn't going to be cooking the pie mixture until about 4:30 that afternoon — with guests arriving at 5. Not that I knew this at the time I started assembling the mixture — a combination of brown sugar, light corn syrup, butter, and toasted pecans, plus eggs, vanilla, a pinch of salt, and bourbon. Following the directions, I placed the brown sugar, corn syrup, and butter in a pot. Not following the directions, they sat in there for a couple of hours. When I was finally given the go-ahead to cook, I picked the pot up from the stove... ...and Nothing. Moved. What could I use to stir this gloppy, gooey mess?

III. ChopStir to the Rescue

The worst part about this, of course, is having to call mom and tell her how she and the ChopStir saved my bacon. I used it to grind apart the semi-solid ball of brown sugar and the corn syrup goo, and to stir the mixture while the chopped, toasted pecans and eggs were added. It really did a great job getting everything flowing beautifully. (It got WAY easier once I poured in the bourbon.) The end result was a pecan pie the family just fawned over. The ChopStir performed well, and has earned a place among my cooking tools. ...much to my chagrin. 'Cause now I gotta call my mom back and tell her what a genius she is.

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2011.12.28Forkly Reviews Catch Founder's Eye

I don't seem to have much luck with the Forkly app. I review taste after taste at the restaurants I frequent — snapping photos and offering thoughtful commentary — and have yet to become a "tastemaster," which I believe roughly translates into the virtual position of "Mayor" on Foursquare. (My wife, on the other hand, is tastemaster at a few places... and we're normally going out to eat TOGETHER.) So it was a pretty big thrill to find that my "tastes" have gained the attention of Martin May, one of the founders of Forkly. To date, I've influenced him on four examples of local cuisine (in Facebook-speak, he's "liked" them). I know he follows hundreds of Forkly faithful — but I just think it's kinda cool he's picked a few of the dishes I've reviewed.

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2011.12.17My First Pecan Pie

This weekend I'll try my hand at pecan pie. Specifically, this recipe. It notably calls for bourbon; since I don't keep any in the house, I'ma head over to a local liquor store to pick up a small, airline-sized bottle of some good stuff.

EDIT: Updated the URL, 12/24/2017.


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2011.12.07I love food.

I love good food (and it shows). In the spirit of finding yum-yums for you to try, I give you some of my modest collection of tastes from Forkly.

Mangia!

White Bean Hummus from The Cheesecake Factory

"Smoke" from The Burger Stand

Sicilian Fire Sticks from Carino's Italian

Western Buffalo Burger from Season's 52

Kraken and Coke from Chaz on the Plaza



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2010.03.27Almond-Crusted Pork Loin w/Pico de Gallo

Found this recipe for almond-crusted pork loin w/pico de gallo in the December 2009 & January 2010 issue of Taste of Home Magazine, in the "Cook Smart" section — brought to us by the Almond Board of California:

6 oz.bag of slivered almonds
2medium garlic cloves, crushed OR 1 tsp minced garlic
2egg whites
1.5 lbsboneless pork loin
2medium tomatoes, diced (about 2 C)
1/2 Cred onion, diced
1jalape~no pepper, seeded and chopped
1 tspground cumin
2 Tbsplime juice
1/4 Cfresh cilantro, chopped
 salt and freshly ground pepper to taste (optional)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line roasting pan with foil and place meat rack on the foil. If the rack is not non-stick, spray with vegetable oil spray. Coarsely grind almonds in food processor. Mix almonds, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste in a bowl; set aside. Whip egg whites to form soft peaks, and remove the fat from the pork. Roll the pork in the egg whites and then in the almond mixture. Place the pork on the rack and roast for 1 hour or until a meat thermometer reads 160°F. (In my oven, this took about 40 minutes.) While the meat is roasting, mix the pico ingredients together. Remove from oven and let rest 15 minutes; slice and serve with the pico.

Notes:
I couldn't find a 1.5-lb. pork loin; they were all about 3 lbs. at my grocery. I used a food processor to grind the almonds, and believe there were enough left over to have done the other half of the loin. To cover the loin with the almond mixture, I used two baking sheets — one containing the egg white and the other, the mixture. It's also fair to note I forgot to whip the egg white — and I'm not entirely sure what whipping it would achieve (not because I'm that smart; it's because I'm that dumb). Finally, I used a "remote" meat thermometer to monitor the temperature of the loin. Such a device simply has a separate probe and CPU, connected by a long thin wire. The CPU sits atop the oven and the wire runs through the oven door to the probe inside the meat.

Oh - P.S. - Facebook post tonight: "You make me want to marry you everytime you post what you're cooking." :-)

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2010.03.07Blushing, with some love from my friends

I've gotten into the habit of taking snapshots of foods I cook and posting them to my Facebook account. A friend of mine noted the popularity of such posts — and was incredibly sweet to do so. Another friend seems to have chimed in quite often, claiming intent to give these recipes a try. I guess I hadn't really thought about it before. I tend to include a link to the recipe if I've posted it here. So, friends, please feel free to give these a try! If you got here from one of my Facebook posts, consider posting a reply and letting me know how you liked the recipe! If you're here just surfing the site, feel free to contact me via the contact form!

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2010.02.25Harp and Cheese Soup from the Raglan Road Irish Pub!!

While in Orlando recently I had dinner at the Raglan Road Irish Pub, and was fortunate enough to have sampled their amazing cheddar ale soup. After presenting our compliments, my girlfriend received the executive chef's card, and was encouraged to e-mail him asking for the recipe. She received the following from the very kind Mr. Heberto Segura:

2 ea.large potatoes, peeled and diced
5 Cvegetable stock
5 CHarp lager beer
1 stalkleeks, greens washed and sliced
1 sprigthyme, fresh
5 Cheavy cream
5 CDubliner cheese
1 pinchcayenne pepper
1 pinchsalt and pepper

Simmer the potatoes in the stock, Harp and a pinch of salt and pepper until tender. Add in the leeks, thyme, and cream, bring to a boil, then lowed to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Add in a pinch of cayenne and blend using a hand blender until completely pureed. While blending add in the cheese in 5 batches until emulsified. Blend thoroughly until pureed. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if necessary. Strain and keep warm until ready to serve.

Comments from Executive Chef Heberto Segura:

"I am delighted to hear about your experience here at Raglan Road. Thank you for the compliments on the Harp and Cheese soup, I will be sure to share your comments with my team. Experiences like yours are what make Raglan Road so great; we have always been compelled to share the joy in our recipes as it is an example of Irish hospitality. I have attached the recipes you requested; please let us know how it turns out or if you have any other questions.

Hope to see you by the pub on your next trip to Orlando, or at our sister pub in the Power and Light District in KC.

Cheers

Heberto Segura
Executive Chef
Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant
P.O Box 22805, Lake Buena Vista, FL, 32830
Ph + 407 938 0300/Fx + 407 938 0305


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2010.01.10Polynesian Pork Chops

Super easy pork chops with a little tang (no, not the drink). Tonight is my second time making this recipe; I do it right in my toaster oven.

3 tbsphoney
3 tbspsoy sauce
3 tbspketchup. That's right. Ketchup.
1 tspminced garlic
4boneless pork chops. The thinner the better.

Start your oven's broiler or set your toaster oven on broil. Line a pan with foil and spray it with cooking oil. In a small bowl, mix together the honey, soy sauce, ketchup and garlic. Set the pork in the pan and brush about half of the mixture over them. Cook for about 5 minutes to brown the top; flip the chops, brush on the rest of the sauce, and cook for another five minutes. SUPER easy.



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2009.12.21Chicken in Wine

This is awesome:

2 - 3 lbsboneless chicken breasts
110.25 oz. can cream of mushroom soup
110.25 oz. can French onion soup
1 cdry wine

Mix together soup and wine. Pour over the uncooked chicken in your crock pot. Cook on low 6-8 hours or high 4 hours.

I cooked it on high because I got started putting it together late. At about the 3.5 hr mark, I cut up the chicken a bit and put it back in for another half hour. The chicken fell apart as I removed it from the crock. I served the meal over a long grain wild rice (follow preparation directions on rice package).

The wine I chose is a 2008 Chateau Grand Traverse dry Riesling.



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2009.10.30What does TWIhH have to do with white chili?

A couple of weeks ago I added a new feature on halfgk.com. "This Week in halfgk History" basically reflects on content added in the past three years. As it happened, two years ago this week I added my recipe for white chili. Just seeing the text in the new section made me think about how good that stuff is -- and cooking up a batch now wouldn't be a bad idea, with so many at work getting ill. So last night I made a big batch!

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2009.07.13How goes the resolution?

Actually not doing too badly on keeping up with the new-dish-per-week plan. But last week I completely destroyed my rosemary mushroom chicken. And what I did to the skillet... unspeakable.

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2009.06.07Chicken and Carrots in Lemon-Thyme Gravy

I'm really excited today. I decided to buy a new cookbook and, over time, consult that book for new recipes, which I will force myself to make. Two objectives: the first, make things I don't normally make; the second, buy cookware and associated accoutrement necessary to make the dish. By doing these things at least every other week, I should be able to stem the OH-MY-GOD-I-NEED-THIS-AND-THIS-AND-THIS-AND-THIS freak-out that is so easy to do when setting up a kitchen, AND exposes me to how to cook new, good dishes in new ways. Well, I hit the jackpot on cookbooks — for $20 I bought THREE cookbooks PLUS a bartending guide, AND a book that has both recipes AND wine discussions (e.g., "Here's the recipe and here is a really good choice of a wine to serve with it, and here's why"). FanTASTIC. So here's the recipe that got me started — Chicken and Carrots in Lemon-Thyme Gravy. It's an easy recipe that doesn't take long to prepare. It appears in Mary Jane Henderson's Half-Baked Gourmet: Family Suppers ( link to Amazon.com ).

1 tbspolive oil
4boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 6 oz. each), trimmed of fat
11.2 oz. packet of roasted chicken gravy mix
3/4 cmilk
1/4 clemon juice
1/2 tspdried thyme
19 oz. box frozen baby carrots

In a 12" skillet over medium high heat, heat oil. Add chicken and cook, turning once, until browned, about 4 minutes.

While chicken is cooking — which means I hope you read this part over before you began — in a medium bowl, whisk together gravy mix, milk, lemon juice, thyme, and 1 c water. Transfer chicken to a plate, add sauce to pan and bring to a boil, whisking. Return chicken and any juices to pan, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, turning chicken occasionally, until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes. (Chicken should be 160°F.)

Meanwhile, cook carrots in microwave according to package directions. Stir carrots into sauce, and serve with chicken. That's IT.



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2008.11.09

I'd been dying to make a new twist on my good ol' banana bread recipe, so last week I baked up a couple of loaves, and added a rum glaze to one of them. Thought I'd let the test loaf bake as usual until about 15 minutes remained, and pour some glaze in to see what happened. Shopped part of it around the following day; clearly my test subjects favored a more rum-saturated loaf. I'll play around with it a bit more.

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2008.05.03

Wendy introduced me to pistachio cake — her favorite:

1box, Duncan Hines yellow cake mix
1box, pistachio instant pudding
1 cclub soda
3/4 cHershey's chocolate syrup
1/2 cvegetable oil
4eggs

Combine mix, pudding, oil, eggs, club soda. Take out 2 TBSP mix and add chocolate to it. Pour the main mix into greased 10" tube pain (or "boonk"). Pour chocolate mix over top and knife through. Bake at 350°F for 50-60 minutes; cool & wrap in plastic.



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2008.04.28

Best marinade for chicken EVAR: Newman's Own Lighten Up Light Lime Vinaigrette. I let four chicken breasts sit in a pan full of the wonderful stuff for about 7 hours, with FANTASTIC results!

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2008.02.03

Looking for something nutritious to serve at your Super Bowl party? Try this instead:

1 lb.ground beef
1jar, Frito-Lay Tostitos Queso dip
1jar, Frito-Lay Tostitos Chunky Salsa

Brown ground beef; drain fat, and combine beef with contents of salsa and queso jars in a large, microwave-safe bowl. Nuke until hot. Serve with plenty of tortilla chips.



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2007.12.19

I had terrific luck with this rum cake recipe. Made it for the crowd at work for the holiday party. I placed it beside another rum cake (didn't realize it at the time). By the time the smoke had cleared from the feeding frenzy (there were two conference rooms full of food!), one of our cakes was completely gone. The other was evidently sampled by one person. Which was "left standing?" Your call. Credit for this unbefreakinglievably decadent recipe belongs Karen Robertson, a contributor to The Food Network. Rather than transcribe the recipe to code, I decided to post it as a separate document in Adobe® portable document format (PDF).

The recipe in that file contains my minor tweaks and notes, and some photos I took during the preparation process. The only things I did differently were to use Captain Morgan Private Stock rum (a heavier, spiced rum; pictured — wanted to give my coworkers fair warning) and to increase the rum content of the cake and the primary glaze by about 1/4 c. each.

Note that the cake theoretically contains nuts: bits of pecan are sprinkled into the Bundt (viewers of My Big Fat Greek Wedding will correctly pronounce this "boonk") pan. However, when I baked this cake, most of the pecans remained adhered to the pan. *shrug*

Finally, any rum left over in the bottle belongs in a low-ball with cola, over ice, and garnished with a maraschino cherry. Sweet Caribbean nectar. Just please bake responsibly.

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2007.10.31

Okay, here's my white chili:

2large jars (__oz.) Great Northern beans
1small onion, chopped
3cloves garlic, minced
14-oz. can green chilis
2 tsp.ground cumin
1 tsp.oregano
3/4 tsp.cayenne pepper
2 lbs.boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2cans Campbell's chicken broth

Recommend bags of the cubed, frozen chicken breasts. Nuke those bad boys for the recommended cooking time and throw those along with everything else into yer big ol' crock pot. Pinto/mixed beans work well, too. Just dump in the whole jar, bean snot and all. Over time, the mixture will boil down. Use water sparingly; emphasis on the broth here. This is a fantastic recipe to cook when you're coming down with a cold, by the way. Cook on low through the day. This should take you about ten minutes to throw together before you leave the house in the morning.



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2006.11.10

While I was out on vacation, I had the best grilled chicken ever. It was so moist I was convinced it had been pressure-cooked - but the waiter told me that it was grilled - the secret was that it had been marinated overnight in lime juice with crushed red pepper. You can bet I'm going to try this very soon.

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2006.09.22

Today I baked up two loaves of my (in)famous banana bread. Here's how — at least currently:

2 call-purpose flour
1 tspbaking soda
1/4 tspsalt
1/2 cbutter (1 stick)
3/4 cbrown sugar. Regular sugar may be substituted.
2eggs, beaten
2 1/3 cbanana
1 tspcinnamon — SUPER-SECRET INGREDIENT!!
dashginger. Based on your location, this could equate to a "smidgeon", or "skosh", using the rule 1 skosh = 3 sprinkles. — SUPER-SECRET INGREDIENT!!

Ahh, I do so love a standards-based browser (hint: IE users won't get the joke). Anyway, here's the deal: Preheat your oven to 350º and lightly grease a 9''x5'' loaf pan. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl and set aside. In a separate (mixing) bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. If you haven't the luxury of a stand mixer, stir in the eggs and mashed bananas until well-blended; for the cool KitchenAid kids, with the mixer still going at less than half power, toss in the eggs and chuck in chunks of banana until everything's mixed in pretty well. Add the super-secret ingredients here. On the ginger, seriously, go easy. It's a very strong spice. Finally, stir/mix in the flour gradually. Dump it into your greased loaf pan and chuck it into the oven for about 65 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the bread cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack. Great for impressing up to 12 girls and their parents in whatever combination you see fit.


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