Food and Recipes while under Coronavirus quarantine #7

[snooptroop88]

It is a traveling pop up diner, was at two locations in New York for one week each.

Hope it comes to the Midwest soon!

Cheez-It opens its own diner featuring Cheez-It menu items, including a milkshake

Cheez-It is opening its own diner with all menu items featuring the iconic snack in unique ways.

www.wwnytv.com

OOOHH, pop up!! I love pop ups and food trucks! Have gotten to do some food trucks, but never a pop up. You're so lucky, lol

 

[PayrollNerd]

I kept wondering what I was going to do with that big roast. I left it in the fridge to thaw until I decided. I found a Beef stew slow cooker seasoning packet. I didn't trust myself to make it from scratch.

I kept thinking this is going to make soooo much. But it's really not a lot. I used carrots, potatoes and onion. I didn't have any celery and I don't particularly like it in beef stew. Anyway, it didn't make near as much as I expected. It all cooked down and it tastes good. It is salty to me tho, probably because we don't use a lot of salt.

I'm drinking lots of water to hopefully not have my ankles swell too much. My little foster dog Joey thought he was getting some. Nope. Good try tho! LOL!

 

[iamshadow21]

Our banana trees grew multiple bunches this year, which all ripened. Delicious fruit, perfect in every way, but only the length of my middle finger! I used six to make this Pecan, Date and Banana Cake.

 

[whiterhino]

Our banana trees grew multiple bunches this year, which all ripened. Delicious fruit, perfect in every way, but only the length of my middle finger! I used six to make this Pecan, Date and Banana Cake.

View attachment 506783
View attachment 506784

You have a banana tree?! Please share pics of the little bananas

 

[ilovewings]

Our banana trees grew multiple bunches this year, which all ripened. Delicious fruit, perfect in every way, but only the length of my middle finger! I used six to make this Pecan, Date and Banana Cake.

View attachment 506783
View attachment 506784

A banana tree-that is so cool:

 

[iamshadow21]

You have a banana tree?! Please share pics of the little bananas

Okay, here are some pics! First a few taken by my partner.

The bananas were planted by my late stepfather, years ago. As far as I know, they are Cavendish.




The trees are maybe eight or ten feet tall? They're certainly well taller than I am.

There's a picture of one of the bunches we harvested.

And the reddish thing is the banana flower.

I'll put the other pics in another post!

 

[iamshadow21]

Okay, here are my pictures from today. Fortunately, we still have one bunch left on the tree.


With my hand, for scale! You can see how teeny they are. It's hard to tell, but I think my fingers are actually touching the fruit, it's not a perspective trick.


Not bananas, but my Falstaff rose has three beautiful blooms right now, and I don't know when we'll start getting frosts that will finish them for this season. It smells just as beautiful as it looks - a true, heady, red rose scent.


And I had to include a brag shot once I cut it - I got the suspension of the date and pecan pieces so well this time. There's something of both in every bite, it's so good.

 

[whiterhino]

Okay, here are my pictures from today. Fortunately, we still have one bunch left on the tree.
View attachment 506948

With my hand, for scale! You can see how teeny they are. It's hard to tell, but I think my fingers are actually touching the fruit, it's not a perspective trick.

View attachment 506950
Not bananas, but my Falstaff rose has three beautiful blooms right now, and I don't know when we'll start getting frosts that will finish them for this season. It smells just as beautiful as it looks - a true, heady, red rose scent.

View attachment 506952
And I had to include a brag shot once I cut it - I got the suspension of the date and pecan pieces so well this time. There's something of both in every bite, it's so good.

I LOVE it!! Thank you!

When I bought bananas today I thought of this thread. Esp bc they were quite small this time. I As a single person, I've started buying the "loose" or "stray" ones. I try to get a few green ones at different stages so they ripen as the days go

I saw some "wild" bananas growing when I went down south many years ago and held the banana flower in my hand. Idk what kind they were but they were ornamental on the hotel property. Ever since I was fascinated with how they grow. Not to mention the interesting DNA connection between humans and bananas but that is for the other threads...

How Much DNA Do We Share with Bananas?

Science suggests that we have similar DNAs as monkeys. But did you know that we also have similarities with their favorite fruit? Discover how humans and bananas share DNAs.

knowyourdna.com

 

[snooptroop88]

Our banana trees grew multiple bunches this year, which all ripened. Delicious fruit, perfect in every way, but only the length of my middle finger! I used six to make this Pecan, Date and Banana Cake.

View attachment 506783
View attachment 506784

That bread is drool-worthy, seriously. And I love dates, this reminds me I've got to get some because we're out. OMGoodness, that bread came out beautifully. That must be incredibly cool, to actually have a banana tree! That's all kinds of coolness, all day long, LOL.

Today, I made my own version of an Egg McMuffin. Store bought English muffins. Lil round slice of ham, like thicker-cut ham off the bone so it was like Canadian bacon. Egg of course. I don't have an egg ring (I've always wanted one, lol), but I shaped the egg as it fried to keep it a nice shape, and I made it so the yolk would be runny. Had ham frying at same time. Put the Muenster cheese on the egg, let that melt a bit, put the ham on. Toasted the muffins, then kind of smeared them around in the same pan where everything fried, had butter in the pan. So now, I've got the buttered muffins, top with egg & cheese & ham. Was SO happy with the eggs, nice runny yolks. Yummy, lol.

 

[iamshadow21]

That bread is drool-worthy, seriously. And I love dates, this reminds me I've got to get some because we're out. OMGoodness, that bread came out beautifully. That must be incredibly cool, to actually have a banana tree! That's all kinds of coolness, all day long, LOL.

Today, I made my own version of an Egg McMuffin. Store bought English muffins. Lil round slice of ham, like thicker-cut ham off the bone so it was like Canadian bacon. Egg of course. I don't have an egg ring (I've always wanted one, lol), but I shaped the egg as it fried to keep it a nice shape, and I made it so the yolk would be runny. Had ham frying at same time. Put the Muenster cheese on the egg, let that melt a bit, put the ham on. Toasted the muffins, then kind of smeared them around in the same pan where everything fried, had butter in the pan. So now, I've got the buttered muffins, top with egg & cheese & ham. Was SO happy with the eggs, nice runny yolks. Yummy, lol.

Thank you! I can share the recipe if people want. It's super simple and absolutely not a secret - it used to be on the CSR brown sugar packet out here in Australia in the '90s. It's a solid gold recipe, and converts well to gluten free. I've made it with GF flour since my partner was diagnosed Coeliac in '04. So that loaf I photographed is GF.

You'll get a great result with regular flour, too, it's what the recipe was designed for. My first experience with this recipe was a family member used to make it for me for special occasions in the '90s with wheat flour. They used to make two rounds and ice and layer it with cream cheese icing, and decorate the top with a ring of half pecans. So it can be a simple loaf, or dressed up like a super nice carrot cake. It's flexible like that.

 

[iamshadow21]

Banana and Pecan Cake (from the CSR brown sugar packet)

Ingredients
*125g butter, softened
*1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
*3 eggs
*100g pecans, roughly chopped (I added 100g dates, roughly chopped also)
*1 3/4 cups self-raising flour (works well with GF SR flour too!)
*3 medium bananas, mashed
*1/2 cup milk
*1 tsp vanilla

Method
Preheat oven to 160C. Grease and line a 24 x13cm loaf tin.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light and creamy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Fold in flour and nuts (and dates) until just combined. Combine bananas, milk and vanilla and stir into the cake batter.

Spoon cake batter into prepared tin and bake 1 to 1 1/4 hours or until cooked when tested with a skewer. It may be necessary to cover cake after 45 minutes to prevent over browning.

Allow to cool for five minutes in the tin before turning out onto wire rack to cool.

My Notes

As I said above, I know this cake works well in rounds as well as loaf tins, but I don't know if it changes up the timings a little. I've not cooked it that way myself. I also imagine it might make great muffins, but I haven't tried it that way. If you do, let me know!

My loaf that I cooked took about 1 1/4 hours to cook, and I didn't have to cover it, but I know my oven runs slow and cool, so your mileage may vary.

It said to grease and line, and I've done that in the past, but this time I just greased with butter and floured the pan, like you do with bread, and it came out absolutely fine, despite all the fruit and brown sugar.

Have fun with what you put in it. Change up the nuts or remove them, change up the dried fruit or remove it. I imagine chocolate chips would be nice. I'm thinking of trying this recipe with a different fruit to bananas to see what happens. Maybe strawberries.

This is great just as a loaf, but if you want to ice it, ice it. I know cream cheese is a great option from past experience. I also think it would work well with a lemon drizzle or lemon water icing. Something tart would offset the sweet butteryness really well.

My partner really loves this served warm, cut in a slice and spread with butter, and that is amazing, but a warm slice with a scoop of vanilla ice cream is awesome too.

Enjoy!

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Thank you! I can share the recipe if people want. It's super simple and absolutely not a secret - it used to be on the CSR brown sugar packet out here in Australia in the '90s. It's a solid gold recipe, and converts well to gluten free. I've made it with GF flour since my partner was diagnosed Coeliac in '04. So that loaf I photographed is GF.

You'll get a great result with regular flour, too, it's what the recipe was designed for. My first experience with this recipe was a family member used to make it for me for special occasions in the '90s with wheat flour. They used to make two rounds and ice and layer it with cream cheese icing, and decorate the top with a ring of half pecans. So it can be a simple loaf, or dressed up like a super nice carrot cake. It's flexible like that.

Thank you for sharing photos of the banana/pecan/date loaf and the recipe. I rarely use dates, but the combination of bananas and dates sounds delicious. I love bananas and could eat one every day

Re: your banana trees. Do they attract nasty insects, i.e. spiders? We visited a banana plantation in Costa Rica some years ago. When I stepped off the bus and started walking towards huge banana shipping crates, I noticed hundreds of small, fuzzy-looking spiders crawling around the wooden crates. Others in our tour group didn't seem to mind, but I don't like creepy crawling creatures and stayed far away from the banana crates. When we left the shipping area, we rode past the banana trees, men with machetes were up in the trees cutting down the bunches in blue bags. It was interesting to see how bananas are harvested.

 

[iamshadow21]

Thank you for sharing photos of the banana/pecan/date loaf and the recipe. I rarely use dates, but the combination of bananas and dates sounds delicious. I love bananas and could eat one every day

Re: your banana trees. Do they attract nasty insects, i.e. spiders? We visited a banana plantation in Costa Rica some years ago. When I stepped off the bus and started walking towards huge banana shipping crates, I noticed hundreds of small, fuzzy-looking spiders crawling around the wooden crates. Others in our tour group didn't seem to mind, but I don't like creepy crawling creatures and stayed far away from the banana crates. When we left the shipping area, we rode past the banana trees, men with machetes were up in the trees cutting down the bunches in blue bags. It was interesting to see how bananas are harvested.

Nothing that isn't usual for Sydney? We get orb weaver spiders in the front yard where they are, but they're all over the yard, not exclusively near the bananas, and they're not harmful.

 

[anneg]

Banana and Pecan Cake (from the CSR brown sugar packet)

Ingredients
*125g butter, softened
*1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
*3 eggs
*100g pecans, roughly chopped (I added 100g dates, roughly chopped also)
*1 3/4 cups self-raising flour (works well with GF SR flour too!)
*3 medium bananas, mashed
*1/2 cup milk
*1 tsp vanilla

Method
Preheat oven to 160C. Grease and line a 24 x13cm loaf tin.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light and creamy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Fold in flour and nuts (and dates) until just combined. Combine bananas, milk and vanilla and stir into the cake batter.

Spoon cake batter into prepared tin and bake 1 to 1 1/4 hours or until cooked when tested with a skewer. It may be necessary to cover cake after 45 minutes to prevent over browning.

Allow to cool for five minutes in the tin before turning out onto wire rack to cool.

My Notes

As I said above, I know this cake works well in rounds as well as loaf tins, but I don't know if it changes up the timings a little. I've not cooked it that way myself. I also imagine it might make great muffins, but I haven't tried it that way. If you do, let me know!

My loaf that I cooked took about 1 1/4 hours to cook, and I didn't have to cover it, but I know my oven runs slow and cool, so your mileage may vary.

It said to grease and line, and I've done that in the past, but this time I just greased with butter and floured the pan, like you do with bread, and it came out absolutely fine, despite all the fruit and brown sugar.

Have fun with what you put in it. Change up the nuts or remove them, change up the dried fruit or remove it. I imagine chocolate chips would be nice. I'm thinking of trying this recipe with a different fruit to bananas to see what happens. Maybe strawberries.

This is great just as a loaf, but if you want to ice it, ice it. I know cream cheese is a great option from past experience. I also think it would work well with a lemon drizzle or lemon water icing. Something tart would offset the sweet butteryness really well.

My partner really loves this served warm, cut in a slice and spread with butter, and that is amazing, but a warm slice with a scoop of vanilla ice cream is awesome too.

Enjoy!

This loaf/cake sounds and looks wonderful! I copied the recipe and will try it out.

 

[iamshadow21]

This loaf/cake sounds and looks wonderful! I copied the recipe and will try it out.

Let me know how it goes for you! You should be able to convert the weights, measures and temperature on Google if you need to, no problem. That's what I do for all the American recipes I cook. Fahrenheit to Celsius, how much is a stick of butter in grams, Google is my friend.

 

[snooptroop88]

Let me know how it goes for you! You should be able to convert the weights, measures and temperature on Google if you need to, no problem. That's what I do for all the American recipes I cook. Fahrenheit to Celsius, how much is a stick of butter in grams, Google is my friend.

I just made it in a cupcake/muffin pan, and it was awesome. Now, I used more milk, I used walnuts instead of pecans (would have preferred pecans but don't have them). I did use the dates. Only 2 eggs, but jumbos. At first, I thought I didn't have any self-rising flour, but I eventually found it, thankfully. I tried one of the little muffins already, although I'm giving em a little more time, and they're soooo good, seriously. I wish I hadn't used the extra milk, but it'll probably balance out with the one less egg.

I can't find my loaf pan, LOL.

 

[snooptroop88]

@iamshadow21 my kid loves them, he said thank you!! I told him you have your own banana tree.

He also thinks it's cool, LOL.

 

[iamshadow21]

I just made it in a cupcake/muffin pan, and it was awesome. Now, I used more milk, I used walnuts instead of pecans (would have preferred pecans but don't have them). I did use the dates. Only 2 eggs, but jumbos. At first, I thought I didn't have any self-rising flour, but I eventually found it, thankfully. I tried one of the little muffins already, although I'm giving em a little more time, and they're soooo good, seriously. I wish I hadn't used the extra milk, but it'll probably balance out with the one less egg.

I can't find my loaf pan, LOL.

Yeah, my eggs were a little small this time, and I used all three. But sometimes the dough is wetter or drier just based on the size and ripeness of your bananas, too.

Walnuts work! But pecans are my fave, so I'll use them whenever I can.

If you ever don't have self-raising flour, plain flour with baking powder is exactly the same! Just mix them well together so the baking powder is well distributed. The ratios you need are on Google.

Oh no! Did you lend it to someone, or did the gremlins at the back of your cupboard steal it?

 

[snooptroop88]

Yeah, my eggs were a little small this time, and I used all three. But sometimes the dough is wetter or drier just based on the size and ripeness of your bananas, too.

Walnuts work! But pecans are my fave, so I'll use them whenever I can.

If you ever don't have self-raising flour, plain flour with baking powder is exactly the same! Just mix them well together so the baking powder is well distributed. The ratios you need are on Google.

Oh no! Did you lend it to someone, or did the gremlins at the back of your cupboard steal it?

It was the only thing that we could fit in the slot to catch leaking water from AC, LOL. I should have gotten another one by now. Plus, I think there's another one somewhere in here, but I still can't find it. (Just looked again.) Oh! And the muffins in the cupcake/muffin tins took maybe 40 mins. I figured I'd let them get good and brown cuz of extra liquid. Oh, they're nice, honestly. I like them pretty brown. The tops are a nice shade of brown. Three heaping tablespoons of batter per muffin.

 

[iamshadow21]

It was the only thing that we could fit in the slot to catch leaking water from AC, LOL. I should have gotten another one by now. Plus, I think there's another one somewhere in here, but I still can't find it. (Just looked again.)

Ah, desperate times!

But at least the recipe worked for you in the muffin pan, that's awesome.