i only have 2 children at the daycare today, huzzah! and they have been busily playing together for the past 2 hours    ” there’s a whale! quick, run, chloe!  jack jack, did you see the whale??? there’s a whale! quick, run chloe! ” over and over and over for the last 2 hours. sometimes when i have heard the same play repeated more than ten times, i either turn the music up just a bit, get on the computer for a few minutes to clear my mind, or i get in the kitchen and do some baking. i used to think that i only really baked when i was sad, but i have come to the realization that i bake when 1) i am bored 2) i am sad 3) i am happy 4) i am hungry or 5) on a day that ends in y. okay, so i just like to bake. show me a delicious recipe for a cookie, brownie or sweet type of bread and i am sold. in the kitchen i go, on goes my apron, and out comes the vanilla extract, sugar and flour.

today, i made this

from here smitten kitchen. i added about 1/2 of a 70% cacao ( ca- COW!) chocolate bar and added a cinnamon crumb topping.  to amp up the flavor, i also roasted the bananas in their skins for 30 minutes @ 350 degrees on a baking sheet. they turned this lovely roasty chocolate brown color and the banana juice (?) that seeped out of the bananas and pooled on the baking sheet as they roasted was yummy. i had never roasted bananas before so i had to taste the stuff that oozed out, right? it tasted like bananas (duh) but with an incredibly concentrated and sweet, almost caramel like flavor. so good. no, i did not lick the baking sheet to get all the caramelly banana-y goodness. ahem. thats just ridiculous. but if you choose to do so, just let the baking sheet cool first.

i have made plenty of banana bread before this one, using several different recipes, and i do believe this is my favorite. roasting the bananas first really adds this roasty, sweet and intense banana flavor to the bread. in a good way. a very good way. i think the next time i make it the only thing i would alter is that i would add a shot of bourban to the batter. THAT might make it perfection. let’s see what daniel thinks of it when he gets home. this would make a delicious dessert all by itself, warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or with a heap of vanilla bean mascarpone cream on top. but we will be having it for breakfast tomorrow morning, warmed up just a little in the toaster and with a nice cup of coffee. who’s coming over for breakfast?

see recipe above, smitten kitchen

i just chopped the chocolate into small pieces and then added it to the batter and stirred right before i poured it into the loaf pan.

cinnamon crumb topping

2T sugar

2T packed brown sugar, dark or light, no matter

1t cinnamon

mix with a fork or your fingers, then sprinkle all of it all over the bread before it goes in the oven.

tip…i like to set my oven timer for 1/2 the amount of time a recipe calls for, bake,  rotate it, then bake it the remainder of the time. this ensures even cooking and browning since most ovens have hot/cold spots in them.

if you are feelin’  frisky and want to try it with the vanilla bean mascarpone cream…

• 3/4 cup mascarpone cheese,  at room temperature
• 1 cup very cold heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 vanilla bean pod, cut lengthwise. scrape with tip of paring knife, and add little seeds to the mixture
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

add heavy cream, vanilla bean, extract and sugar into a large bowl and using hand beater, beat on med speed 2 minutes, then med high speed until consistency of whipped cream. add mascarpone and fold in with a wooden spoon.

i have quite a few food blogs that i follow. they are entertaining, the writers are interesting to me and i appreciate their voices and the tone in which they write.  most importantly, they have great recipes. here are of few of my favorites…

http://smittenkitchen.com/

http://orangette.blogspot.com/

http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/

http://www.lottieanddoof.com/

http://www.mytartelette.com/

i have made the lemon bars, pizza dough, no knead bread and zucchini bread from smitten kitchen. all amazing. i have made  the vanilla bean rice pudding, vanilla sugar cookies, big fat bolognese sauce and potato frittata from joy the baker. so very tasty.

i think my favorite food blog is orangette. molly wizenberg, aka orangette, also wrote an amazing book a homemade life in which she shares her life with the reader while also sharing her food memories and her recipes for that food. i love the tone in which she writes and i can just about hear her voice when i read her blog. she is smart, and witty and self deprecating and just funny. and her food is delicious. i guess that is the ultimate test for how good a food blog is, how is the food? i have made banana bread with cinnamon crumble topping, banana coconut bread, zuni cafe polenta, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and her  tomato sauce with onion and butter. to name a few. all amazing. i believe that miss wizenberg can do no culinary wrong.

i made the tomato sauce with onion and butter tonight. i made a double batch so that i can pass a jar along to my mom and one to my sis, and still had enough left over to freeze some and we have a jar sitting in our fridge for this week. its a simple, straight forward recipe, delicious exactly as she makes it, and even better when you add a few cloves of garlic and some fresh basil.

homemade tomato sauce, adapted from molly wizenberg aka orangette

2 cups whole, peeled, canned plum tomatoes, chopped, with their juices (about one 28-oz. can) canned san marzano tomatoes if you can get them, they are my favorite

5 Tbsp. unsalted butter

1 large yellow onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 cup fresh + organic basil, chiffonade

Salt, to taste

In a large sauce pot or dutch oven heat 2 T olive oil over med heat. Add onion and cook to soften about 8 minutes. add garlic and cook 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and their juices and a pinch or two of salt. Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, at a very slow but steady simmer, adjusting the heat as necessary, for about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally, mashing any large pieces of tomato with the back of a wooden spoon or a potato masher. Add butter and basil and cook  until butter is melted into sauce. Taste and salt as needed. Let cool and then puree in food processor in small batches.

we count ourselves lucky to have great friends in the area. we dont get to see our friends as much as we would like to, even our chico friends, but we are so happy when the stars align and we are able to visit with them.  life gets in the way all the time and before we know it, its been months since we’ve seen anyone.  it seems like we have to arrange to get together MONTHS in advance. im pretty sure we planned this past weekend with the speers and the cervantes families 2 months ago. we all got out our calenders and found the weekend that we could actually make it happen. and it was worth it. we had a great time. the kids are all getting so big. they had fun playing in the mud and water table in our backyard, and the guys took isaac and xavier and cami to nearby oak way park to play some baseball. a good time was had by all. and we played a mean drunken  game of apples to apples late that nite. we needed this last weekend, time to just be with some close friends and think about, well, nothing. just drink, and eat and chat. thanks to both families for making the drive to come see us. love to our homies!

the speers brought their sweet dog, diesel, that they are fostering.

miss cami made me chocolate soup. it was spectacular.

matt and christie finding us a beach house for this summer

daniel grilled us up some turkey burgers. i caramelized 2 yellow onions before hand and added them into the turkey meat before i made them into patties. this adds a lot of flavor and keeps the turkey burgers moist.  ground turkey can tend to dry out when you cook it (think shoe leather ) so adding some onion or mayo or bbq sauce into the burgers keeps them tender and tasty. we piled those on grilled ciabatta rolls with all the fixins and bleu cheese. we had sweet potato fries ala trader joes and grilled organic zucchini on the side. i made a chipotle cilantro dipping sauce for the sweet potato fries- 1/2 c mayo, 2 T sauce from a can of chipotles in adobo, 1 t fresh lime juice and 2T fresh cilantro, pinch of salt.

and for dessert…

ultimate chocolate cupcakes with a ganache filling and vanilla bean meringue frosting

this picture doesnt do them justice. we found the recipe in an issue of cooks illustrated. that magazine can do no worng. they go about finding the best way to make a recipe the most delicious it can be. this involves their staff making the same recipe over and over and over, tweaking 1 or 2 ingredients each time, until they reach perfection. its kind of pricey for a subscription, but completely worth it. every recipe we have made out of there is delicious. go get yourself  one at the store and check it out. or check it out here. http://www.cooksillustrated.com/

as for the recipes for the cupcake and the frosting, i will have to post those another time. the magazine seems to have gone MIA and i cant find it anywhere. just know this, it was delicious on those cupcakes, but equally delish on a spoon, finger and on the cinnamon bread the next morning. it made the cinnamon bread taste like a cinnamon roll. not a bad thing.