Recipe: Banana Macaroon Loaf

My grandparents have reached an age where material gifts aren't much good to them. They get the most enjoyment out of food, so I try to oblige whenever a gift-giving event rolls along. Last Christmas, they got a beef & bacon pie and a trip to McDonalds for breakfast; for their birthdays, they received an apple pie and a plate of banana cupcakes stuffed with chocolate ganache and topped with cream cheese icing.

This Christmas, I'm repeating the breakfast gift--they enjoy trips to fast food restaurants--and baking a loaf cake for each of them. Grandma's all set to receive a chocolate loaf, since she's big on that sort of thing, while Grandpa's getting a little something I like to call banana macroon loaf.

Recipe: Coffee Meringues

Coffee meringues are the perfect holiday dessert.

Welcome, Virtual Advent Tourists and regular readers alike! A couple of days back, I told you about some super-awesome caramel sauce. Today, I'd like to share one of the many, many recipes with which you can eat the stuff.

My mother is hosting Christmas dinner this year, and I plan to contribute an EPIC DESSERT BUFFET (caps necessary). I quickly made (and froze) all the usual suspects: shortbread, spice cookies, gingerbread, and toffee; however, I found myself in need of more gluten free options. My aunt eats GF, and I want to make sure she can scarf down just as much dessert as everyone else.

To that end, I turned to my culinary nemesis: meringues.

Recipe: Super-Awesome Caramel Sauce

I ain't saying this is the best caramel sauce in the entire world. but it's certainly the best caramel sauce I've eaten in, oh, the last few years. As is so often the case with all things sweet, I discovered it through Nigella Lawson, who cites it as an excellent topping for coffee meringues with whipped cream. I made a batch to see if the meringues might suit for Christmas dinner (they might) and found myself with a ton of leftover sauce after I'd prepared my test meringue.

This proved no hardship. The sauce is excellent as a topping for, well, pretty well everything you'd normally top with caramel: ice cream, cake, the bowl of a large spoon, etc. Blended with milk or cream and topped with fresh brewed coffee, it also makes a painfully delicious caramel latte.

I have to share it with you. The sauce leaves me no choice.

Recipe: Enchilada Peppers

Earlier this week, I found myself with a lone green pepper, some leftover chicken breast, and a craving for green enchilada sauce.

There was only one solution. I brainstormed a few ideas based on enchiladas I have known, looked at a couple of stuffed pepper recipes to make sure I understood the technique, then got down to the thrilling business of culinary invention.

The results, if I may say, were excellent. The brown rice and the chicken give the filling a satisfying weight and texture, while the cream cheese adds a wee bit of tang and the enchilada sauce brings the whole thing together.

As an added bonus, the peppers are gluten free and a great way to use leftovers rice and chicken. You can easily increase the amount to accommodate any number of diners, and I'm sure tofu or TVP would work well in place of the chicken if you fancy a vegetarian option.

Recipe: Sausage Latkes

Latkes in progress. Those nearest to the camera are sausage-free.

Now, I'd never tell you Hanukkah is the only time you can eat latkes, but it's certainly an excellent excuse to devour a large pile of the things. And since Hanukkah is well underway, the time for latkes is at hand.

Whee!

Since I can never leave well enough alone with any recipe that crosses my path, I've made a few changes to the standard latkes I discovered in Joan Zoloth's JEWISH HOLIDAY TRADITIONS. To begin with, I replaced the white onions with green; a simple enough change, and a logical one given my eternal hatred for white onions. The green onion latkes were a success, praised by all comers.

I made them several times before that fateful night when I asked myself whether I could combine my constant craving for latkes with my deep love of sausages.

I cooked up some chicken sausages, gave 'em a chop, and mixed them into my latke batter.

Best. Idea. EVER.

The Sunday Salon: Crepes

When I was a little kid, my father often made crepes late in the evening, sometimes even after I'd gone to bed. This lent them an air of mystery. I grew up thinking crepes were a nocturnal food, reserved for sundown and beyond.

In reality, my father timed his crepe-making to accommodate the batter's need for a two-hour rest. He mixed the ingredients when he got home from work, then waited the appropriate stretch before he warmed up his crepe pan and got down to it.

While I was somewhat dismayed to lose my romantic view of crepes, knowing the secret did make them more accessible to me. I realized that hey, I didn't have to wait for my father to get the late-night crepe-making urge. I could whip up a batch for myself.

Crepes have since become one of my staples, albeit a less frequent one due to the planning involved. They're great with both savory and sweet fillings, and while they can be fiddly at first, they're a lot easier than one might suspect.

I Could Eat

I used to think I disliked food.

I ate, of course, and I did enjoy some of what I ate, but it was a question of quantity. My itty bitty list of Foodstuffs I Genuinely Liked was a drop in the ocean next to the master list of Foodstuffs That Exist.

Most of the items on the first list fell into a particular category, too: sweet stuff. From where I stood, I liked sugar in specific; I didn’t like food as a whole.

I held this attitude until I joined Twitter.