Whole Wheat Banana Cake

Here's an oldie but goodie. This is my go to Christmas giveaway and one of the most requested. This is also one of the very first baking recipes I had tried. The recipe has changed over the years, with the addition of the use of whole wheat flour being the latest. So here it goes. Hope you enjoy this "healthier" version!

*Based on New Banana Cake recipe, Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book, 1st ed, 1950.



1-1/3 cup sifted all purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1-1/2 cup sugar
1-1/4 tsp baking powder
1-1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup buttermilk (I use reduced fat buttermilk), if you can't find buttermilk, use milk + white vinegar (1 cup buttermilk = 1 cup milk + 1 tsp vinegar)
1-1/4 cup bananas, mashed (about 3 medium bananas)
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup chopped nuts (I prefer walnuts)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 deg
2. Grease and flour 2 9" layer pans or 1 13x9 pan or 1 9x5 loaf pan
3. Sift together flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl
4. Add the softened butter, 1/2 of the buttermilk and bananas
5. Beat at medium speed until until just mixed together
6. Add in remaining buttermilk and the eggs
7. Beat for about 2 minutes at medium speed, but do not overbeat, if the batter is too thick, add more buttermilk, 1 tbs at a time
8. Fold in the nuts
9. Pour batter into the pans
10. Bake for about 30-35 min for the layer pans, 40-45 min if using the 13x9 pan or loaf pan
11. Check cake for doneness
12. Let the pans stand a bit before transferring the cakes onto a wire rack to cool

Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Coconut Cookies

A friend who shall not be named recently requested that I send her some cookies, the same ones I sent Christmas from long ago. Unfortunately, neither of us can recall what it was! I decided to just make a different kind. I decided on a variation of these heavenly cookies I always have at Cafe Caturra... Lucky for her, another friend happened to be in DC for a business trip and was able to bring some back to Manila.

Here's the recipe. One batch makes about 3 dozen regular-sized cookies. You can certainly make them as big as your hand!


1 cup unsalted butter, melted
2-1/4 cups Gold Medal Better for Bread flour
1 tsp Kosher salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1-1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tbs milk
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup shredded plain coconut
1/2 cup hazelnuts, loosely chopped

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 deg
2. Sift flour, salt and baking soda together in a medium bowl and set aside
3. Blend sugars and the melted butter until creamy and smooth
4. In a small bowl, whisk eggs, vanilla, and milk together then add into sugar mixture
5. Mix on medium speed until smooth
6. Slowly add in the flour mixture until well combined
7. Stir in the chocolate chips, coconut, and hazelnuts
8. chill dough in the refrigerator for at least an hour
9. Scoop the chilled dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets, about 1-1/2 in apart
10. Bake for about 12-14 min, rotate the trays halfway through to ensure even browning

You can certainly use other nuts like macadamia or even walnuts!

Pantry Egg Mug

This is my go-to breakfast dish. I grew up eating torta (or frittata) and with this recipe, it cuts down the calories and the prep and cook time! You can also go all veggies and lower the sodium by removing the ham (and cheese too).

Nutrition Info: Calories: 162; total fat: 4.1g; sat fat: 2.3; cholesterol: 25mg; Sodium: 642.8mg; Potassium: 271.0mg; total carbs: 10.4g; dietary fiber: 1.9g; sugar: 4.6g; protein: 24.3g; vit a: 96.6%; vit c: 34.7%; calcium: 17.5%; iron: 32.8%



Ingredients:
Crisco oil spray
1 tbs red onion chopped
1-2 grape tomatoes, chopped
2 tbs shredded carrots
1-2 large mushrooms, chopped
1 cup spring mix greens
1/2 cup liquid eggs (you can use whites only liquid eggs for lesser calorie and cholesterol count but I prefer mine the yellow kind! lol)
black pepper
grated nutmeg
2 slices Hormel Natural Choices cooked deli ham
2 tbs shredded cheddar cheese (low moisture, 2% milk)
1-2 tsp dried parsley

Directions:
1. spray the bottom and sides of a large mug with the cooking spray
2. add in the onions, tomatoes, carrots, mushrooms, and spring greens
3. microwave for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes on high
4. remove extra moisture by patting down with a paper towel
5. take the liquid eggs, add a dash of black pepper and nutmeg, and beat lightly
6. add beaten liquid egg to the veggies
7. microwave for 1 minute
8. add the ham, cheese, and dried parsley and mix
9. microwave for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes or until you reach your desired consistency of eggs (i like mine well cooked so i extend cooking to about 2 minutes).
10. let stand for 1 min.
11. Transfer to a plate and enjoy! I always pair mine with a slice of whole wheat orange cardamom bread or whole wheat bagel thins!

Chocolate Bread Pudding

I kinda figured I won't be able to eat all the orange cardamom bread I made, so I thought I'll turn the rest into... bread pudding! I've always loved the combination of orange and chocolate and with the bread already with the orange flavor, chocolate should go into the pudding!

Ingredients:
4 cups of leftover orange cardamom bread, cubed into about 1-1/2 inch squares
1-3/4 cup nonfat milk
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa (I used 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa and 1/4 cup semi-sweet milk chocolate chips)
1/3 cup sugar (I only used about 1/4 cup since the chocolate chips were already sweet)
1/2 cup egg substitute (or 2 eggs beaten)
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbs orange juice
1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 cup dried cranberries (optional)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans would work too, optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 deg F and coat an 8 X 8 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Place bread cubes, cranberries, and nuts in a large bowl. Mix carefully to evenly distribute the cranberries and nuts but not too much to break down the bread.
3. Heat the milk in a small saucepan until simmering.
4. Whisk in cocoa powder/chocolate chips and sugar.
5. Place beaten eggs in a small bowl, whisk a bit
6. Add about 1/4 cup of the warmed cocoa milk to the eggs, and stir. Then add this cocoa and egg mixture to the rest of the cocoa milk, along with the vanilla, orange juice, and nutmeg.
7. Pour liquid over the bread and stir the bread cubes, allowing them to soak up the liquid. Let stand for about 15-20 minutes.
8. Pour into the greased baking dish and bake for 40-45 minutes until set.
9. Let cool and enjoy!

PS. I wish I thought of getting light whip cream, it would have gone well with warm bread pudding!

La Fuji Mama — Bringing world flavors to the family dinner table.

http://www.lafujimama.com

Orange Cardamom Bread

Breads have always scared me so when my cousin started posting on FB that she has recipes for no knead breads, I thought maybe that's the way to go. Anyway, I've had ups and downs with no knead breads but last week, I found this recipe that required very, very minimal kneading, and with my Kitchen Aid doing almost all the work! Perfect, right? To top it off, it's orange-flavored, which is one of my favorite citrus scents! The recipe called for white bread flour but I thought I could tweak it and use some white whole wheat flour to make it "healthier". Luckily, it turned out really well! :-) Original recipe by La Fuji Mama (www.lafujimama.com)

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cup + 2 tbs bread flour (I use GM Better for Bread flour)
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/8 cup sugar
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tbs instant yeast
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1-1/8 cup warm water (120 to 130 deg F)
1/8 cup fresh orange juice
3/4 tbs oil
1 tbs finely shredded orange zest

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Grease a baking sheet.
2. Using kitchen aid paddle, whisk the bread flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, yeast, salt, and cardamom together in the mixing bowl of an electric mixer.
3. Add the water, orange juice, oil, and orange zest and mix for 1 minute at medium-high speed, then check the consistency of the dough. The dough should be quite sticky. Add a tablespoon at a time of water if you find that it is too dry.
4. Mix for 5 minutes at medium speed. Do not add any additional flour after dough has finished mixing.
5. Spray a smooth kneading surface with cooking spray and turn dough out onto the surface. Divide the dough into 3 equal portions.
6. Knead each portion briefly, turning it out about 4-5 times just to smooth out.
7. Roll each piece into 3 strands of the same length then braid together.
8. Place the braid on the greased baking sheet and cover with large dish towel.
9. Let rise for at least 25 min. It won't hurt to leave the dough be for more than that!
10. Bake the bread in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown.
11. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool before slicing.
12. Enjoy with Alton's Honey Butter!

Long Life Noodles

It's tradition to serve noodles for Media Noche so this year I wanted something different than the usual pancit or spaghetti with meat sauce. Jaden Hair and her site www.steamykitchen.com to the rescue! She's got a special page specifically for Chinese New Year! What a find! She is my food goddess! Of course I didn't have thin spaghetti and I forgot to buy the Chinese rice wine, so, improvise, improvise, improvise!!! My mom loved it to say the least!

Ingredients:
6 oz whole wheat spaghetti noodles (i think pansit canton noodles would work very well with this!)
1/2 lb shrimp, shelled, deveined
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 tbs cooking oil
1 tsp finely minced garlic
1 small shallot, finely chopped
1/4 cup snow peas (or snap peas, I misread her recipe and got 1 package of snap peas, half of which I was to use for another recipe anyway!), sliced thin on diagonal
1/4 cup matchstick cut carrots
1/4 cup celery, sliced thinly on diagonal
2 tsp soy sauce (NOT Kikkoman ok???)
1 tsp Chinese rice wine (I used dry white wine)
1/4 tsp sesame oil
1 tbs sesame seeds
black pepper

Directions:
1. Cook spaghetti noodles in salted water, al dente, drain, set aside
2. While pasta is cooking, place shrimp in a small bowl and add 1/2 tsp of salt and cornstarch. Mix well and let sit (about 8 min). Rinse the shrimp well, washing off the salt and cornstarch. Pat dry with paper towels.
3. Once pasta is done, heat cooking oil on high in a large wok or skillet until a bead of water sizzles and evaporates upon contact.
4. Add the shrimp and fry until halfway cooked through, 1 min on each side. Take out of the heat and set aside.
5. You should have about 1 tsp of oil left, add a little bit more if you have less.
6. Turn the heat down to medium and add garlic and shallots. Saute until fragrant then add celery. Saute for about 1 min then add the snow peas and carrots. Saute for about 1 min until carrots and snow peas are cooked but still crunchy.
7. Add the soy sauce and wine. Add some black pepper. When it starts to simmer, add the spaghetti noodles and the shrimp. Toss to combine.
8. Let cook for about 2 min or until shrimp is cooked through
9. Toss with sesame oil and sesame seeds.
10. Serve while hot.