dark brown sugar banana bread

i'd never heard of a person who didn't like bananas until i was driving around los angeles with one of my co-worker friends.

she was going on about how much she hates fruit in general (insert really baffled face from me here) but especially bananas.

"but thank goodness bobby hates them too, man if he liked bananas i don't know what i'd do. even if someone is opening a banana in the same room as me, i can smell it and the smell alone...." she made a gagging face that made me laugh.

like i said, i've never heard of such absurdities (no bananas?!) until her. it would be such a lonely world without these peel-able boats of yellow.

ever since her confession i always think of her when i'm making banana bread... or really anything banana... and i may or may not have peeled a banana in front of her on purpose several times. 

this proves what a great friend i am. 

 banana bread is one of those baked goods i feel obligated to make so my spotted dark bananas have a chance to contribute to something good in their short lifetime. it's funny to me, that i care about that little dark banana left too long in the fruit basket.

fruit has feelings.

 i have a thing with banana bread - actually you'll learn this about me with most things - i can be pretty picky. i'm always looking for the best version of something and so far - most "nana" breads i've had have been loaded with nuts and oil. neither of which lend a positive quality to the texture of the bread - at least to me and my insanely particular taste buds.

everyone needs a hobby.

this bread is light and moist with under tones of rich caramel-y banana. the older a banana is, the richer it is. i use the darkest of banana's when making this - bananas that might scare most people. 

it yields a delicious tender crumb without being the least bit oily. whenever i make it it disappears in a matter of seconds. actually, my dad and brother get mad at me whenever i make it and bring it over.  they blame me for feeling fat after polishing off almost the entire loaf. 

it's pretty stinking delicious.

this bread works swimmingly as muffins or with chocolate chips or simply with a smear of soft butter.  i prefer, as you can tell here, to top warm slices with cream cheese, crushed walnuts and teensy drizzle of maple syrup. the tang of the cream cheese with the earthy nuttiness of walnuts: perfection. both flavors along with the sweet caramel crumb of the bread are a little breakfast party in your mouth.

also, the walnut cream cheese solves my nut "problem". i love the idea of nuts in banana bread but have never been satisfied with the outcome. thus, with this lush spread over the top of a slice i'm getting the best of both worlds: the crunch and flavor of the nut without it taking over the taste of my bread.

 it's combination has converted everyone who's tried it - which is a whopping 6 people so feel convinced. 

and just in case you were wondering, no i haven't even tried to serve my old co-worker friend some... but i'm thinking maybe i should. wink.

happy banana peeling.

mim's chocolate fudge cake

my great aunt heard about this cake from my grandmother years ago when i went to go visit her out of state. my aunt said, " oh robyn, you simply HAVE to make that delicious chocolate cake for us that grandma jay-bird wont stop talking about! it will be perfect for our big family get-together tonight!" 

and that's where the trouble began. 

i happily agreed, came over and started searching for all the right ingredients in aunt's fridge and pantry.

this cake is a one bowl mix cake - no electric mixer needed. it's so easy that cake brings out a sort of peacock-strut of confidence in me that hopefully no one can detect in the kitchen. 

that confidence came to a quick halt when i heard a screeching "beep. beep. beep." 

i quickly grabbed some oven mits and opened the oven the mouth of a fire breathing dragon. 

the cake pans were spilling over with bubbling batter and at the bottom i could see little dribble castles of burned black. 

it wasn't pretty.

perhaps the real trouble began when i decided to double the recipe and failed to use the proper sized cake pans. sometimes there's a part of me that forgets the fact that CAKE batter RISES with heat. i'm also going to throw this in so you feel sorry for me  laugh with me: every time i've tried to double this recipe i end up with petrified dribble castles and fire-breathing ovens. this aforementioned experience being the first time in a slew of many. 

my aunt being the good sport she is tossed the burned batter into the sink and started scrubbing along with me.

 by that time the family started to arrive. i'm pretty sure they'll never forget that scene in the kitchen.

i couldn't let the first attempt defeat me, so i made it again with little mim.

mim couldn't have been more than 5 years old at the time; and with her dimples, bright eyes and incredible spatula licking abilities she brought the happy back into that disaster of a cake experience by helping me start over. her enthusiasm made me forget that i almost burned the kitchen down. funny, because even the second time around the middle of the cake stuck to the pan and we had to scoop it out and mush it all together. by the time we were done we were laughing and up to our elbows in fudge, but goodness she was proud of our kindergarden-like cake.

it was a bit embarrassing to serve as it more resembled a shiny fudge pile than a cake, but no one complained about the taste. 

mim is much more grown up now than she was then, but i decided to name the cake after her right then and there and it's stuck. 

mim cake. 

plus, "mim" sounds a bit like "mom" and well, this is my mom's favorite cake. it's also my mom's mom's favorite cake. so this goes without saying but it's the cake for all mother celebrations. 

i've come along way since with this cake, but may i suggest something? don't double it. it makes a nice two layer 8 inch cake that's perfect for mom. the best part if it? the frosting; it's more like spreadable fudge sauce. in fact i'm quite certain it's what makes this cake the cake requested by all the chocolate loving fiends in my family.

although, coincidentally my great aunt has never asked me to make it again.

happy mother's day eating.

strawberry creme fraiche tart with graham and almond meal crust

there are a lot of things on my mind today. i keep thinking about running marathons, ice cream and kitty poop; and in that order.

you see i've run a handful of marathons and i love the process. you find good music, make up good routes to run ridiculously far distances and think about the meal you get to eat afterwards. lately some extended family members have been in the process of signing up for a marathon come october: the st. george marathon. i just can't decide if i want to do that marathon again. last time the temperatures were flirting with the hundreds. so. i'm a little hesitant to put myself through that torture once again because me and extreme heat + running don't mix so well.... although the reward of running a marathon and achieving 26.2 miles is pretty incredible. i'm trying to convince the husband... and myself... training is the way i want to spend my summer, but so far the only thing partially swaying me to do it is the certainty that i will get to eat fantastic "splurge food" after those 10 mile plus runs... and i'm not sure that's a good enough reason. 

speaking of splurge food, the ice cream is pretty self explanatory. we've been experiencing summer weather in april down here and its kinda gotten me more than in the mood for ice cream. plus ben and jerry just came out with my favorite flavor (coffee coffee buzz buzz buzz), in a pint and i'm in heaven.

third, my sister just adopted a little cat and she's been on a pooping spree while my parents are out of town and the husband and i are house sitting. it's been a ball of fun. i seriously didn't know a cat could poop so much in one day. it's like finding little surprise love notes hidden in clever places from your lover only the complete opposite. 

now that i have your appetite and attention, let's talk about one of the most fantastic desserts i've ever set my taste buds on: 

 the strawberry creme fraiche tart. 

this dessert came about because i was hungry and shopping at whole foods. its true what your mother told you: shopping on an empty stomach inspires you to want all sorts of "things you must have" namely large quantities of organic strawberries. 

i was craving brown sugar with the strawberries and with it something tangy, fresh and light. in addition to the strawberries (and a few other delicious foods i couldn't resist) i picked up some creme fraiche went home and set out to fix the cravings. and surprisingly, landed this tart recipe on the first try. 

it was a strawberry miracle. 

i read a lot of strawberry tart recipes before i set out to make my own... and none of them contained the ingredient i wanted to use most: creme fraiche. creme fraiche is the ingredient that makes this tart light - and kinda plays behind the scenes making you wonder what is that ingredient that makes this so good.  

almond meal, brown sugar and butter also make the crust incredible. the crust might be my favorite part of the whole thing because it compliments the creamy tart filling with the juice of the sweet strawberries perfectly. its more like a buttery brown sugar cookie that ties all the flavors together. 

i hope you love it as much as my family and i did. they're always my taste testers and they gave this (between mouthfuls of strawberries) a please can you make this again this weekend thumbs up. 

strawberry

happy ^ eating. 

gooey rice crispy treats

i don't mean to insult your intelligence by talking about this and yes, i do realize this is something we all  felt comfortable making perhaps at the ripe age of 5. 

but i couldn't resist. 

most of us learned how to make these babies from our mothers and that teeny tiny recipe printed on the back of the marshmallow bag. 

you can do better. 

i first tweaked the famous rice crispy treat recipe for a friend at work a few years ago who requested them above all cake for her birthday. it left me feeling a little annoyed. rice crispy treats were something i knew a toddler could master but until that point they'd never turned out the way i thought they should. 

gooey. marshmallowy. buttery. crispy. 

so, i rolled up my sleeves and set out to change it up slightly, while still staying true to the simplicity of the treat. i woke up at 4 in the morning to make them and silently cursing the hour. i broke my favorite bowl in the process, burned my hand on hot butter and was late to work as i piled the treats high on a cake platter. i seem to have the worst luck with the simplest things. 

it was all worth it though. they were the best rice crispy treats i'd ever had. 

in fact, they were so good that my friend at work stole the entire platter and kept them to herself. i mean, a few of us got some in the morning, but when we went back to the break room at lunch time, the entire cake platter was gone. after hours of asking around and searching, she'd confessed to me that she stole it and hoarded all the rice crispy treats for herself because they were that good. 

if that isn't convincing i don't know what is. 

yes, they're as simple as melting butter and marshmallows and dry rice cereal and making one hell of a mess doing it. embrace it. there will never be an easier and more sticky-delicious way to mess up your kitchen.  not to mention the best part is eating the marshmallow-crispy goo off your fingers. 

  i do a few things particularly; like melt everything in the microwave and not the stove stop to insure the perfect marshmallow consistency. i also up the marshmallow quantity and use salted butter and here, well, hot pink sprinkles. 

these are the perfect treats to serve kids after sports or co-workers in the morning or anytime at all. i don't think there's a wrong time for a rice crispy treat. please don't disappoint by leaving the sprinkles off. they're a necessity to happiness, although not the gooeyness of the treat.

here's to our childhood. 

happy eating. 

how to make caramel: a little video.

please excuse my appearance. somedays a girl just doesn't wanna do her hair you know? 

my favorite salted caramel ice cream, turned into sundaes

{clouds parting, burst of sunlight shinning through and angels singing ahhhhhhhhhhhh!} do you hear that? that's the sound of heaven.  because caramel is here today ladies and gentleman. caramel. 

... excuse me while i go get spoonful of caramel sauce out of the fridge.

that's better.

now, i know caramel is a reminder of fall (granny smith apples dipped in caramel, sticky caramel gingerbread) BUT one thing, that i can do with caramel right now that is "spring-y" is
ice cream.

 the weather is finally starting to get warm enough and the longer days are fading slowly in warmer nights... it all it beacons for a cool treat on a cone.

 actually, i have no cones here for you at the moment, but i do have some incredible caramel sundaes.

read on. 

the husband loves salted carmel. he grew up eating pretty ordinary meals and because of it - his pallet is restricted to pretty ordinary foods.

you can imagine how it drives a food nut like me crazy.

thank goodness he's adventurous cause we've added a lot to his pallet since he's met me. (anyone else out there a i'll-seriously-eat-anything-but-the-kitchen-sink kinda eater? me too.)

so when he likes something that's semi-unusual (although salted caramel has really become quite mainstream now) you can imagine the celebration that follows. salted caramel EVERYTHING!!! eeeehehehehe!!

is the idea of extra salt new to you? it still puzzles some people, don't worry allow me to explain:

the "lets add a little extra salt" has caught on to EVERYTHING in the dessert world. chocolate and caramel got hit hard with it. and i don't entirely object, but it doesn't belong on everything. like one time the husband and i tried a salted caramel hot chocolate from that infamous coffee chain we all hate to love and love to hate, and i couldn't even finish my first sip. it was like drinking the ocean with a hint of caramel. like i said, salted caramel, it doesn't belong everywhere.

where it does belong though is ice cream. particularly this ice cream. 

if i had to pick one thing to truly get you newbies into salted caramel, this ice cream would be it. it's so addicting it's scary and it's so delicious after trying it the first time you wonder where it's been your whole life. the salt helps the caramel sing. 

nervous about making your own ice cream? don't be. 

ice cream is a lot of whisking and stirring and trying to remain calm. it's all about temperatures and continuing to whisk. especially salted caramel ice cream. i mean, as if making caramel wasn't intimidating enough, we're gonna throw making it into ice cream on top of it?!

let me guide you through this, okay?

and maybe you need to take it one step at a time, and just start out with making caramel sauce. smother that over store-bought vanilla and watch the crowds cheer your name.

what's that crumb stuff she has all over the salted caramel ice cream, you may be asking yourself. they're buttered and toasted graham cracker crumbs. the ideal compliment to salted caramel ice cream if you ask me. i mean, if the husband couldn't get enough of the combination then i know i've done something right.

homemade ice cream is worth it and it's totally and completely possible for you to make. all you need is some patience, a whisk and an appetite.

trust me we can get through this together. get into it friends. it's about to get sticky in here.

{psssst!  stay tuned for a little video on how to make your own fool proof caramel sauce later this week!}

and if you need one thing to impress a loved one with this week. make this. they'll love you forever... and i guess be warned. you'll be stuck making it forever for them too. it's that unforgettable.

happy scooping.

bolognese, rotolo and farro {a review}

the prep kitchen. 

have you heard of it? 

it's a restaurant located in different parts of san diego and it's everything a restaurant should be; crazy delicious, rustic, clean and simple with white table clothes that leaves the stuffiness out the door. they serve incredible food - food that's both familiar and unfamiliar - just enough to tease your sense of adventure without feeling like you're in a strange foreign country.  

great restaurants have been difficult to find.  i'm pretty sure it's because i'm a food snot (sorry) and i want my money's worth. i also want great service (where have all the good people gone?!) creativity and a seasonal menu. 

this place delivered - from all aspects of what makes a great restaurant. *see foot note 

the husband and i went there with my papa to celebrate the animation festival. (and it's still going on fellow southern californians, for more details click here.) john has some big-plan dreams for animation and papa has always (always, always) loved animation so these two get along so well sometimes i feel like i'm lucky to be tagging along. peas in a pod doesn't quite do them justice. 

speaking of peas, papa got one of their season dishes: ricotta and swiss chard rotolo and peas. 

"what's a rotolo?" my papa asked me. 

roasted spring carrots and asparagus

you might feel a little gipped here as this entire post is merely about roasting beautiful spring vegetables but please allow me to explain:

my best friend cannot cook.

cannot cook to the point where she takes 15 minutes to microwave 1 minute rice.
this is recent discovery. 

i don't know why i really never knew this before - we've been friends since the first grade. in fact, i even remember going over to her apartment all throughout college, scoping out her fridge finding nothing but milk (for cereal) and a freezer full of frozen pizzas. you'd think i would have put two and two together...

 a few weekends ago she stayed with us in our tiny shoebox of a place. to say it was a blast is an understatement. this girl is all sorts of hilarious. please tell me you have friends who make you laugh with just a look. maddie, is that for me.

during the long weekend, she shadowed me in the kitchen keeping me laughing and humming along. among the stirring and chopping she kept asking questions like - so, what's zest? and how long did you cook those tomatoes for? what is that you're sprinkling and is this the right brownness for this bread? 

i paused after the slew of questions looking at her a little puzzled. she must have read my look because she said, "i have no idea how to cook."

the realization came to me the same way "i see dead people" comes to bruce willis in "6th sense." 

and kinda made me feel like the worst friend ever.
i mean, she loves food - she knows all the best places to eat in LA!
how could i have missed this?!  from then on out i felt the need to explain my every move in the kitchen.

i don't know if all my explaining was fun or exhausting but at the end at the end of the weekend, she asked if i'd put together some simple healthy dinner recipes for those who, (and i quote) "do not know how to cook." 

i have lots of ideas to share with her (and you!) although first, let's start with a simple no-fuss cooking method that can turn any dinner into a good meal. 

...or more simply put, how to roast spring carrots and asparagus. (hopefully this inspires your dinner for tonight as it is quite easy and delicious!)

so maddie, this one's for you dear. hope it makes sense. xo

happy roasting.

{ps. about the first picture - do you see the way there's two carrots hugging each other up there? i die.}

easter egg cream puffs with lemon curd cream

okay, i'm gonna get real here. i almost, almost didn't want to talk about these cream puffs. 

you know when you've completely finished off that bag of cadbury eggs you had displayed in your candy jar and when the husband asks what happened to all the chocolatey eggs you say, "i don't know? so weird, i thought you ate the rest?"

i wanted to deny these cream puffs the same way i denied eating all that easter candy. 

since i needed to replenish the supply of candy around here, i wanted a way to incorporate easter candy into a dessert. i wanted something fun and whimsical and really easy.

so, i found this cute idea tucked away in an old edition of bon appetite magazine. little eggs nested in a cream puff. perfect! and so simple!

let's talk about cream puffs. they sound easy enough. they are puffy and you fill them with cream, right? wrong!

the first time i tried them, they deflated. they were more like cream flats. the second time, the batter turned out very runny, and the results were, again, cream disks. 

WHERE did the puff go?! 

i was about to throw the towel in and call it a day, but i felt like that was in some way, letting the cream puff win and i was not about to be defeated by something with the word "puff" in it. 

so, after a meticulous third try, they were a success. and i'm just gonna straight up apologize right now, these might be the ugliest cream puffs you've ever seen, but they are incredibly delicious so i couldn't hold back. ps. how the poo do you photograph a cream puff? it was a struggle. 

anyway, i'm sure you've walked away by now vowing to never make a cream puff, but i assure you - 

 i've figured out the tweaks to insure that you may have a beautifully simple time making them. 

if you follow my tips, i promise you, you will not be pulling flat disks out of the oven. 

once you get past the fact that you're making the dough over the stove top, it's all easy-peasy. 

and they're awfully fun. the best part is filling them with cream and then nesting the egg on top. it's the little things guys. really.

happy eating. 

love

{picture by one love photo}

i hope you don't mind if i get personal on here too.  i have a hard time separating my life from my food; they are so much the same to me. {i'd also like to note, that i am made of cheese. meaning i can get cheesy at times.}

two years ago yesterday i did not sleep a wink. i felt like a kid on christmas eve, only it was hundred times worse because i was very much a grown up, and in fact the following day was going to prove that, for tomorrow, i would become someone's wife. 

john came stepped into my life indefinitely after a simple hello. some people just know when they've met the right one, and that was me. i just knew. you don't ever believe it until it happens to you and when it does, is both an exciting and terrifying experience. 

you wonder at first if your feelings are misleading, if that "6th sense" or intuition as you call it can be trusted. you don't really want to tell anyone about it for a while. it's like a making a wish on a shooting star- so quick and unreal and heavens, magical - you have a hard time letting it all sink in. 

upon meeting he immediately felt like a friend, someone i had known for years. we'd met at a big bonfire on the beach, both invited by different people. after talking for a while we found out we had several mutual friends, we'd even attended the same college and even taken the same classes - wait no - even been in the same class at the same time - but never met.  that was nuts. how close we'd come to meeting before, but for some reason, the universe prevented it. 

i've always been a hopeless, yet realist romantic. someone who tears up in movies but reminds herself its just a silly movie... or who bawls from a broken heart nursing the rejection with lots of chocolate and car sing-along sessions, reminding herself he wasn't right for you anyway. 

 i love love. not just the cheesy love {like flowers on birthday or red hearts on valentines day}, or the physical attraction love but real love.  the best friend kind of love. the love that keeps you going through the wrinkles and heartaches. the kind of love that makes you lemon honey tea when you're sick, makes you laugh till you cry and kisses your forehead when they first greet you. the kind of love that leaves notes, gives you butterflies, tells you how lucky they are to have you.... love that is fun and unexpected but constant and steady. love that allows you to dream big. love that does the dishes, compliments a meal or takes you out to pizza when you forgot to set the timer. 

the kind of love that calls you out when your wrong, fights when necessary and makes-up always. the kind of love that lets you reveal your whole self. even the parts of you you're ashamed of... and when they know or discover these parts they don't run away. they stay. 

they stay and love you anyway. 

john was that for me. he took all my fears and worries and whatever-s, and bottled them up, tied them to a balloon and let them float away. with him i'd learned a whole new kind of happy. 

love comes in all different forms. for some it comes young, for some it comes as a second chance and for others, and perhaps for most, it finds us when we least expect to find it. like when you're walking to the fire pits on the beach and someone comes walking up beside you and says "hello, you going to this thing too?"

happy two year anniversary love. 

{my favorite photographers one love photo did a little blurb about us on their blog. it left me feeling all sorts of happy. xo}

toasted lemon meringue pie

picture 5 people lined up perfectly on lounge chairs in a row, each with their face lost in harry potter 7. as ridiculous as it was, each one of us in my family (mom and dad included) HAD to have their own copy of the last book of the famous series - and luckily the last one came out right before our family vacation - this time to hawaii {!} you better believe we lugged those huge hardbacks all the way there. our dedication to finishing and inability to share cracked me up.
we definitely got some funny looks from fellow vacationers...

 did anyone else out there participate in the harry potter craze? if you did, you are welcome here. even if you didn't you are welcome here too - but let me set this up for you:

in the first harry potter book, harry and his cousin go to the zoo for his cousin's birthday. his cousin gets a towering chocolate ice cream cone and he (harry) is left with a small lemon Popsicle. 

if i remember the story correctly, harry didn't even get to choose the flavor of the cold treat, it was chosen for him in a rush - and no doubt chosen for him by his rotten uncle because lemon is a bummer flavor for a child. 

why is that?

i feel like it takes some growing up in order to appreciate lemon... right? so, as much as i like to refuse that i'm an adult, i do love lemon now. as a child, well, let's just say that the lemon and grape otter-pops were always left at the bottom of the box.

but here and now, lemon is our hero!

and lemon sings of spring! particularly meyer lemons (which my sweet husband refers to as oranges because their color is saturated and orange compared regular lemons!) 

specifically, toasted lemon meringue pie. 

this lemon dessert is divine, with it's mouth-puckering creamy filling and buttery graham cracker crust, and lush cloud-like topping. it turns "oh, no thanks i'm not really a lemon person", into a "yes please, i'll have another slice." 

the secret is the meringue. 

can we talk about meringue real quick? 

meringue is heaven. it is folds of pillow-y, sticky soft white that tastes of marshmallow. i have yet to meet a person who refuses such a delight. 

the best part is, this dessert is piled high with it. 

it is marshmallow clouds a top a tangy yellow cream. 

i'm STILL talking about it.

that's how wonderful meringue is. honestly if i could i would slap meringue on everything. it's so effortless and beautiful... did i mention that part about marshmallow? i think it might be the key to turn a child onto this lemon-y dessert. 

i'm in love. 

you will be too no doubt. 

spring or no spring, this pie is quickly becoming my go-to dessert. it's totally one that you can brag to your friends about and say "oh it was nothing!" when, really, it was nothing! 

i LOVE those kind of truthful desserts! 

i can't deny it's lemony-ness is perfect to jump-start us into spring. the meyer lemons that are available right now are a perfect fit. i use both regular and meyer lemons to make this pie reach perfection.

make this for easter next weekend will you?  {or passover... i think this pie qualifies for passover... (scratches head) i'll need to look into that.}

i wanna do a dance about this pie but i wont, i'll leave that up to your imagination.

one bite and you'll see what i mean. 

happy eating.