Category Archives: Kitchen

Preparations and Recipes

Plantain Bread

Health, Kitchen, ,

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This recipes makes two 5″ X  9″ loaves, or 4 small aluminum loaf pans about 3 1/2″ X  7 1/2″ .  It is very goo heated up in a toaster or even a microwave oven with butter.  Adapted from Shelley Albehuhn’s Banana Banana Bread on allrecipes.com.

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups unbromated, unbleached bread flour
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup butter, melted in the microwave for one minute
  • 2 cups (1 pound) dark brown sugar
  • 5 egs well beaten
  • 5 cups mashed yellow to black plantains
  • 2 cups chopped pecans

Procedure:

Prepare the pans you want to use by spraying with butter flavored PAM, and coating with flour.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Set aside.

In a larger bowl, mix the melted butter and brown sugar.  Stir in the eggs well.  Stir in the mashed plantains.  Stir in the dry ingredients mixture. Stir in the chopped nuts.   Distribute into two 9″ X 5″ pans or four of the smaller pans.

Bake the larger loaves for 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out cleanly.  Bake the smaller loaves for one hour and 5 minutes.  Rest for 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack after removing from the oven.   Run a knife around the edge of each loaf.  Turn out onto a wire rack before the loaves cool completely.  Serve warm.

After cooling completely, put any extra loaves away wrapping in parchment paper secured with a rubber band, and slipped into a 1 gallon ZipLoc for placement into the refrigerator or freezer.

 

 

 

 

 

5th Week of My Garden

Garden, Kitchen,

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After looking at elephant ears and plantains, this garden is doing very poorly.  It is now the fifth week after planting, and regular watering, plus fertilizer have only helped my radishes get a bit greener (shown).  This did not help my lettuce, though.

Of course, long term I’ll amend the soil.  It is still possible that there is not enough light, because two years ago I had fewer elephant ears, less tall plantains, and lower neighboring trees.   It may be that some things will begin to flourish in the new year as the days get longer again.  Some of that happened two years ago.

A major difference is our soil, lead free in the garden, but maybe largely nutrient-free as well.  Our soil in the rest of the yard tested very fertile, with virtually no recommendations for amendment.  What we had planted seemed to have grown better.  True, we did start with some partially grown plants in places of our garden.

Right now it looks like we may get at least some parsley, dill, cilantro, sage, radishes, cabbage, broccoli, beets, carrots.  The jury is out on our chives, onions, lettuce, mesclun, sorrel, basil, oregano, and marjoram.  Next stop is the garden store to get already started plants that grew well two years ago.

I’ll keep watching and learning.

 

Thyroid Healthy Unbromated Loaf of Bread Made at Home

Health, Kitchen, , ,

Unbromated Bread Recipe #1, Made a tasty enough, but a collapsed loaf.

Adapted for my bread machine from an all purpose flour package.  This goes for a single light loaf, maximum flour 3 cups for my bread machine, 16 servings:

Prepare liquid ingredients first:

  • 1 1/8 cup water warmed in microwave for one minute (120 to 130 degrees Fahrenheit)
  • 1 tablespoon butter warmed in the water
  • 1 beaten egg mixed in slowly

Prepare dry ingredients:

  • 3 cups unbromated, unbleached bread flour
  • 1/2 tablespoon salt
  • 1  1/2 tablespoons sugar

Have ready one package Fleischmann’s Rapid Rise Yeast.

Have the breadmaker set at the proper setting.

  • Put the liquid mixture into the breadmaker.
  • Add the dry ingredients to the top.
  • Empty the package of yeast onto the very top.
  • Turn on the breadmaker.

Prep time:  15 minutes max.

Bread machine time to a finished loaf. about 2 hours and 40 minutes.

This bread will not damage your thyroid.