Food In Many Forms

If given the choice to eat 4 overripe bananas or make them into a cake - I would make them into a cake every time. This recipe was so much fun to try with my boyfriend and I was happy to have the extra hands when we were preparing the caramel. As a general rule, I like to cut the fat in half in my baking recipes - it almost never has an effect on the flavor. The butter may be needed for the caramel sauce, but the vegetable oil can definitely be cut in half from 1/2 cup to 1/4 cup. Caramelized Banana Loaf Cake  Rachel Ray Magazine, December 2009 Ingredients: 3 to 4 large bananas 3/4 cup sugar 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, in 1 piece 1 large egg plus 1 large egg white 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1 cup flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup vegetable oil Directions: 1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees. Grease a 5-by-9 loaf pan. Trim both ends off each of 3 bananas to...

After reading so many other blogs and recipes online I can't help but adopt the use of the word "hubby". I often read reviews that read like, "made this Sunday night, hubby didn't like it, probably won't make it again." Well, if I was writing a review of this Rachel Ray recipe (will try to post it), I would have to write, "made this last friday, hubby had seconds and thirds, will definitely repeat." Ingredients 3 cups dry red wine 2 cups chicken stock 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) 3/4 pound bulk Italian sweet or hot sausage 1 small onion, finely chopped 2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped 1 1/2 cups arborio rice Salt and pepper 1/3 pound spinach leaves, stemmed and chopped (about 2 cups) 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg 2 tablespoons butter 1/2 cup grated pecorino-romano cheese Directions In a large saucepan, combine the wine and chicken stock; keep warm over a low flame. In a large, heavy pot, heat ...

I'm not sure that I have mentioned that I started cutting out recipes from magazines and putting them in an empty, old photo album . Well, it has been interesting to say the least. I have been disappointed with how some of them have turned out, (See Squash Casserole ) while others were pretty tasty (See Holiday Fruit Pies ). But to be honest, the recipes that are consistently good are the ones that are online . When I go to a site like allrecipes.com and there are rave reviews about the Molasses Cookies, I know they are gonna be amazing. And even better, a lot of the comments are very constructive - reviewers discuss substitutions they made and try to clarify some of the directions. It's kind of like Peer Review in scientific journals - as people test this "chemical reaction" they are checking the validity of the experiment and making it better!  Yesterday, I made Macaroni and Cheese from scratch. I had a recipe from Rachel Ray in my recipe book/photo album t...