Author: ajeanneinthekitchen

We have a time share in Playa del Carmen, Mexico and one our favorite treats to get when there is a Nutella banana crepe. There is something magical about the combination of rich creamy Nutella and bananas, mixed together with chocolate. In a word, fantistico! But Nutella and bananas also go very well when cooked together as brownies too. I made those as one of my treats for this morning’s coffee cart, and as you would expect, they were a huge hit. They all disappeared very quickly.

It is always a very rewarding and satisfying feeling when you make something and it all disappears.

Nutella Banana Brownies

Once again, I cheated and used my Ghirardelli Brownie mix, but I will give you the full recipe. I love the Ghirardelli Brownies. They have been completely perfected, so why reinvent the wheel, right?!

When baking with bananas, you want them freckled or even better, brown. That makes them nice and soft and flavorful and much easier to work with too.

Preheat the oven to 350* F or 180* C.

Spray cooking spray in a 9×13 baking pan.

3/4 cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

7 ounces dark chocolate, chopped

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 ripe bananas, mashed or sliced

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

2 TBSP cocoa powder

1/2 cup Nutella spread

1/2 cup chocolate chips

If you are making it from scratch, combine all your dry ingredients together and set aside.

Melt the butter, brown sugar and chocolate together until smooth and creamy. Once it is all melted together, add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add to the chocolate flour mixture and add the bananas and chocolate chips. Gently fold together and spread evenly into the prepared baking pan.

I eliminated most of that though, t because since I cheated and used a mix. It was already done for me. As I have said many times before, if you have a good, reliable mix, there is nothing wrong with using that. You don’t always have to make everything from scratch all the time.

Once the batter is spread evenly in the baking pan, drop spoonfulls of the Nutella on top of the mix. Then take a a knife and swirl it into the mixture.

I just happened to have some chocolate with hazelnuts too, so I broke off small pieces and scattered them around on top of the brownies. This made them even more scrumptious.

Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until they are set and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow the brownies to cool completely before removing from the pan and slicing to share with friends.

I heard so many comments of “YUMMY” and “SCRUMPTIOUS” today. They definitely brought a big smile to my face as I was watching everyone enjoy their brownies and lick their fingers clean. I even heard people say that normally they were not Nutella fans, but they loved these. My job here is done for the day. I left very content indeed. 🙂

Have a great day Everyone. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

The other night, our friend Bryan was dining with us. He is very easy to cook for since he is open to trying everything and loves everything he tries. But he does have his favorites too, so I try to make those for him when he specifically requests something. This time he requested scallops, chorizo and spinach over angel hair pasta, so of course, that is what he got. 🙂 Angel Hair Pasta with Scallops and Chorizo He was just as pleased with it this time as he has been in the past too; always a good thing.

The boys, Larry and Bryan, topped their meals with fresh shaved Parmigiano cheese

As you can see, there is all kinds of fresh goodness in this dish. I love it, but then it has some of my favorites too – scallops, pasta, sausage, veggies. How can you go wrong, right?!

Cook the scallops in olive oil first, cooking them about 2-3 minutes per side, then remove them and set them aside for later.

Next comes the suasage.

Then deglaze the pan with the white wine, shallots, garlic and red pepper flakes.

Add the spinach and mushrooms. Mix everything together and allow to cook for about 5-7 minutes, stirring constantly, to cook the spinach and mushrooms.

Add the chicken broth, tomatoes and seasonings. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook for about 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently.

Re-add the scallops and mix together well.

Finish with a dash of either lemon juice or lemon balsamic vinegar and serve over cooked angel hair pasta. If you like your sauce a little thicker, you can add a little flour to the mix and cook it down too. You definitely want the flour to cook. No one wants to get a mouthful of raw flour.

Serve with warmed bread of your choice and, of course, wine. I served it with chardonnay, but a light red would go nicely too. You want the bread to help soak up the flavors or the sauce. You do not want to let any of this delicious sauce go to waste. This dish is layered with goodness and full of flavor. You’re going to love it!

Have a great day Everyone. Stays safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

One of the first things we think of when someone mentions France is the baguette. Baguettes are long baton-like sticks of bread.  By French law, a baguette must be made with only flour, salt, water, and yeast.  The baguette was included on a list of France’s intangible cultural heritage in November 2018. Even though baguettes are associated with France and iconic French food, it appears they were actually created by Vienna-born baker named August Zang in 1839. Zang was the first baker to introduce steam into the baking process, which allowed for breads to be crispy on the outside while remaining fluffy and soft on the inside.

Baguettes are long, thin, wand or baton-like loaves of bread. Their long, thin shape dates back to 1920 when a law was passed preventing bakers from working between 10pm and 4am. This made it impossible to make the traditional larger bread loaf in time for customers’ breakfasts. Baguettes are traditional French breakfast foods. The longer, thinner baguette solved the problem because it could be prepared and baked more rapidly. There are even different kinds of baguettes. There is the regular baguette and then there is the French baguette, even though both are iconic French breads. Like with many foods though, the differences are very subtle, but they are different enough to recognized by the French government and baking regulatory standards. The French, as well as many other European food and beverage regulatory agencies, take their foods and beverages very seriously and there is no room for exception. French bread is wider and longer than a baguette, with a much softer crust. It doesn’t require any special equipment to make and it’s just as versatile as a baguette, but its soft outside makes it perfect for toast or garlic bread. The Italians have a very close relative to the baguette, which they call filone. The only difference between the two is the Italians add olive oil to the dough.

Even though the French are very particular about the ingredients that can be used to make their traditional French baguette, they do allow for some variations in shape. One of the allowed variations is to make the pain d’epi, or “ears of wheat” bread. Pain d’epi are baguettes that have been cut at the sides to form bread sticks that resemble wheat stalks. These are easy to pull apart to make more individual portions without having to slice the bread.

I love baguettes, but then again, I love all breads. There is something unique about the baguettes to me though, that really give them a special place in my heart, as well as my taste buds. Many moons ago, when I lived in San Francisco, I was poor; so poor that I took the bus into work everyday rather than the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and walked about 1-1 1/2 miles to and from work from the bus station because the tickets were about 1/4 of the price of the tickets for BART. Every morning, en route to work, I would stop in at Boudoin’s Bakery and get a mini baguette for breakfast. I had it timed just perfectly, so when I walked into my building, I was just finishing my last bite.

I ventured into the world of baguette making yesterday, something I really hadn’t done since my culinary school days, and I made some pain d’epi. Mine however, didn’t exactly look like wheat stalks they were supposed to represent, but they sure did taste good, especially smeared with rich, creamy butter. I guess I am a bit rusty on this particular rustic bread and need more practice. This is a challenge I readily accept. 🙂

Even though my form was a bit off, I stuck with the French baking tradition, however, when it came to the ingredients. The only ingredients I used were flour, water, salt and yeast.

Baguettes or Pain D’Epi

2 1/2 tsp dry active yeast

1 2/3 cup lukewarm water

3 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

Combine the yeast and the water together and let rest for about 5-10 minutes, or until it becomes frothy.

Combine the flour and salt together then make a well in the center. Pour the yeast mixture into the center of the well and draw in as much of the flour as needed to make a soft paste. Cover and let rise for about 20 minutes to make your sponge. This is rise #1. There are 4 rises for this bread.

After the first rise and the sponge is ready, gradually bring in the rest of the flour and form the dough into a soft, sticky dough. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes until a soft dough ball has been formed. Place the dough in a large bowl and cover to let rise again for about 1 1/2 hours, or until it has doubled in size. This is rise #2.

Punch down the dough and recover to once again let it rise and double in size yet again, for about 45 minutes. Rise #3.

When the dough is ready, divide it half and shape into long, thin baguettes, about 12 inches long. Everything is the same up to this point for the pain d’epi, but now, cut the dough with sharp scissors. Cut at an angle and cut down to about 3/4 of the way through the dough. This is where I screwed up. I actually cut them completely then reattached them to the dough.

Place the dough logs onto a baking sheet dusted with flour and let rise again for the final rise, for about 50 minutes, or until they double in size once again.

Preheat the oven to 475*F of 240* C.

Slash the tops of the loaves or pain d’epi with a sharp serrated knife. Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until they are golden brown and hollow when tapped on the bottom. Allow the bread to cool for a few minutes before eating, then smear with butter and Bon Appetit!

Have a great day Everyone. Stay warm, stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

We have had snow on the ground all throughout December and all of January so far. And we have had quite a few big storms in that time from as well. This is pretty unusual for us. Usually it snows and then it melts fairly quickly. But I love it; as long as I don’t HAVE TO drive in the middle of a storm. It is gorgeous to look at. It is also perfect weather for soups, stews, chowders, and of course lots of baking. I have been doing a lot of baking these days, and I also made a huge pot of a delicious Southwestern turkey chowder to go along with my olive and tomato bread. Rustic Olive and Tomato Bread They paired perfectly with each other as well as a glass or two of chardonnay.

Southwestern Turkey Chowder

This chowder was filled with all kinds of hearty goodness and tons of vegetables. When I make soups and chowders, I just throw in all kinds of stuff and never bother to measure anything. I stop when my pot is full.

5-6 bacon, cut into pieces and cooked

3-4 celery ribs, diced

1 onion, diced

2 cups corn

1 red bell pepper, diced

2 TBSP garlic

2 potatoes, diced

3-4 roasted Hatch chilies, diced

3 lbs cooked turkey breast, cubed

6-8 cups turkey stock

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 cup flour

olive oil and lime olive oil (optional)

salt & pepper to taste

red pepper flakes to taste

2 TBSP fresh oregano and thyme chopped fine

2 TBSP fresh cilantro, chopped fine

Cook the bacon with a little olive oil until it is to your desired doneness.

Add more olive oil and/or butter, then add the onions, potatoes, corn, peppers, celery, garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for about 5-7 minutes, or until they are tender and the onions are translucent. Add the flour, mix in well and continue to cook for an additional 5-7 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add the turkey and stock and seasonings. Combine well, cover and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook for about 30-40 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the cream and mix in well. Adjust the seasonings as needed. Bring to a boil once again, then reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook for about 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the fresh herbs towards the end of the cooking process.

When the chowder is ready, ladle it up and enjoy. Larry topped his with some shredded cheddar cheese too. It just melted into the soup like velvet.

If you live in cold country like I do, stay warm from the inside out. There is nothing better than a hot chowder to help warm you up too. Stay warm, stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

Both yesterday and today are very good days for baking. We are in the midst of what the weather forecasters are calling another “snowmageddon”, though the last time they predicted this, it turned out to be a big nothing burger. However, today, it seems to be pretty true. We’ve already had about 5 inches of snow, and it is still snowing and the winds are beginning to blow too. When the winds blow, it often creates white-out conditions and the visibility gets pretty bad. It is definitely a good day to stay indoors. At the moment, we are blanketed in a thick layer of white snow. We are currently under a weather advisory to stay indoors if possible.

Yesterday’s baking was a rounded loaf of a rustic bread filled with olives, sun-dried tomatoes, onions and garlic. YUM! I served it alongside a delicious Southwestern turkey chowder.

This delicious bread was filled with all kinds of goodness. I used a bunch of mixed olives, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh oregano and garlic and red onions. It’s almost a meal all by itself. i could easily eat the whole thing in one sitting. 🙂

Rustic Olive and Tomato Bread

3 1/2 tsp dry yeast

2/3 cup lukewarm water

3 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp salt

1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, chopped fine

1 cup olives, sliced

1/2 red onion, diced fine

2 TBSP garlic, minced

1 tsp red pepper flakes

3 tsp fresh oregano, chopped fine

olive oil for the bowl

This bread needs a starter sponge. To make the starter, combine the yeast and water and let stand for about 5-10 minutes. Add about 1/2-1 cup of flour to make a thick paste, then cover and let rise for about 1 hour.

While the starter sponge is rising, cook the onions, tomatoes, garlic and olives in olive oil for about 5-7 minutes, or until the onions are soft and translucent. Add the chopped oregano and mix well. Then add to the sponge.

Add everything to the remainder of the flour and knead for about 8-10 minutes until everything is combined and you have a soft, sticky dough. Form it into a ball, lightly coat a large bowl with olive oil and add the dough. Cover it and let it rise for about 1 hour, or until it doubles in size.

Punch it down and shape it into a ball, which is known as chafing the dough. Cover it and proof it once more, for about 45 minutes, or until it doubles in size once again.

Preheat the oven to 400*F or 200*C.

Spread a thin coating of olive oil onto a baking sheet and place the dough on the pan. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until it is hollow when tapped on the bottom. You can add some steam every so often too if you like. Let it cool for about 5-10 minutes before slicing it. Then mangia! Enjoy!

On a day like today, if you don’t have to go out, don’t. Stay warm, stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Sometimes life is hard and gets way too stressful. Sometimes we all need a break and we just need to step back and have a good laugh at life in general. Laughter is the best medicine after all, and today, it seems like with so many other things, laughter is in short supply. So hopefully some of these food funnies will bring a smile or two and help you lighten your loads a bit.

Who doesn’t love pizza, right?

Truer words were never spoken.

I can most definitely relate to this one.

Have a great day Everyone. Stay safe, stay well, and have a few laughs along the way. ‘Til next time.

As you know I am always trying out new, delicious recipes for my church coffee cart. Anything goes, as long as it is delicious. Since our services are in the mornings, I like breakfast type foods and or cookies. Just something light that people can pick up an munch on within a couple of bites or so. This week, we had some cookies (no I didn’t make those this time), chocolate chip banana bread Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, some gluten free cupcakes that were donated by a friend of a friend and my raspberry orange muffins. I did not get a chance to try the cupcakes, but they all disappeared within a blink of an eye, as did everything else. Always a good sign. 🙂

Raspberry Orange Muffins

The Muffins

2 cups flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cardamom

1.2 cup or 1 stick melted butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp orange extract

1/2 cup yogurt

1/2 cup milk

2 TBSP orange zest

Preheat the oven to 350* F or 190* C.

Spray muffin tins with cooking spray and/or use paper muffin cups inserted into the pans.

2 cups raspberries, cut in 1/2 and mixed with about 1/2 cup of flour. Gently coat the raspberries with the flour and set aside. Make the streusel topping and set aside as well.

Streusel Topping

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup sugar

1 cup flour

dash of salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cardamon

6 TBSP melted butter

Mix everything together until crumbly.

Mix all the dry ingredients together and set aside.

Combine the butter and sugar together until creamy, then add the eggs, one at a time, mixing in between each addition. Add the orange extract and mix. Add 1/2 the flour mixture and mix, then 1/2 of the milk and mix, and repeat until everyhing is all combined together.

Once the batter is made, gently fold in the raspberries and the orange zest. You do not want to go to fast or you will break the raspberries and they will “bleed” into the batter.

Fill the muffin cups to about 3/4 full, then top with the streusel topping.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until they are golden brown and a toothpick that is inserted in the middle comes out clean.

I love the combination of raspberry and orange. Delicious. The only complaint, and it is the same complaint I often have with recipes in general, is that the recipe was supposed to make about 2 dozen muffins, and I only got 18 out of mine. Other than that, they were a huge hit and everyone loved them.

Have a beautiful and great day Everyone. Say well and stay safe. ‘Til next time.

I can’t deny it. I love presents and gifts. The unexpected ones are the ones I like best too. Today, I got not one, but two fabulous gifts from two different friends. One is a belated Christmas gift from my best friend Andrea, out in CA, and the other one was a fabulously fun gift from my friend Katelyn. Both are so very much appreciated and will definitely be put to deliciously good use. 🙂

My dear friend Andrea and I go way, way, way back and have known each other our whole lives. We have been through it all together; lots and lots of good times, and unfortunately a few sad times as well, but we have always been there to support each other and that will never change. This morning, as I was leaving for church, I noticed a big box out on the front porch. I brought it in and then had to run. I didn’t get a chance to open it until after I returned home. When I did open the box, I was totally amazed at what was inside. There were four absolutely gorgeous, iridescent champagne flutes. I can’t wait to properly try them out and initiate them with some good bubbly to celebrate more good times.

!Te amo mucho Chica!

But the fun and excitement didn’t end there. Everyone knows how much I love to cook. No secrets there, right?! 🙂 My friend Katelyn gave me a delicious box of spices today too. There are great spices used for a lot of Indian and Middle Eastern foods, and I use them all the time. I think I see some more Indian and/or Middle Eastern foods coming my way in the very near future. WHOOOOO HOOOOO!!!!!

HMMMMM!!!! I think champagne and Indian foods go well together. But I just might have to do a little research to be sure. 🙂 Thank you both Andrea and Katelyn for your love, friendship and generosity. I am a very lucky girl indeed.

Make everyday special. Every day is a gift. And the gifts of love and friendship are the best gifts anyone can ever have. Stay safe and stay well Everyone. “Til next time.

Yesterday, Lauren and I had a girl’s day out. We strolled through the Denver Botanic Gardens. Even though there was still a ton of snow, the sun was shining brightly and it was a beautiful day. The outside gardens were hibernating for winter, but the inside gardens, and especially the orchids, were amazingly beautiful. We always have so much fun together, regardless of what we do.

Here is just a small sampling of some of the gorgeous plants and flowers we saw. As usual, I took a ton of pictures, so I won’t share them all with you.

There is a photo contest taking place for the orchids, since it is their annual orchid show. Photographers can submit up to three and three only pictures for the contest. Here are my submissions. We’ll see what they think. There were a lot of photographers out and about with really fancy cameras, so who knows how mine will rate. But I liked them, and that is really all that counts; that, and whether or not you like them too.

And a runner up that I thought about too, but if more than three were submitted, then all of them were DQed so it was not submitted. I was looking for things that maybe someone else might not have picked up on.

There were so many beautiful, exotic and interesting plans and flowers though. Needless to say, we had a great day together and saw so much beauty.

This Hibiscus was HUGE. By far, the largest one I have ever seen.

These were all taken inside. Here are some of the photos I captured outside.

Every season has its beauty.

After strolling through the gardens, we went out for a late lunch of small Greek tapas at Chef Zorba’s. A Golden Day

Enjoy all the beauty in your world and make everyday beautiful. Stay safe and stay well. “Til next time.

As usual, I am always busy baking towards the end of the week, getting things prepared for my Sunday morning coffee cart. I do my best to provide different goodies every week, so I am always on the lookout for new, tasty treats to make. I already have a couple of things prepared, including a loaf of chocolate chip banana bread. I topped it with a chocolate ganache because I just hate serving “naked foods”. To me, foods just aren’t complete unless they have some kind of sauce. 🙂

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

This is just a basic banana bread recipe with some chocolate chips mixed in. As you all know, I like stuff in my stuff.

Preheat the oven to 325* F or about 165* C.

Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and dust it with a little flour.

2 cups or 4 ripe bananas, mashed

2 cups flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp banana extract or vanilla

1/2 cup or 1 stick of softened butter,

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

about 1-1 1/2 cups chocolate chips,

Combine the dry ingredients together and mix well.

Mix the butter and sugars together, beating until creamy. Add the eggs and banana or vanilla extract, beating in between each addition. Add the mashed bananas and mix again. I used banana extract to really give it a good banana flavor.

Larry had eaten my ripe bananas that I was saving for making this bread. So since I didn’t have really ripe bananas on hand, I added a dash of cream to my bananas to help them mash a bit easier. Ordinarily, you want really ripe bananas that are soft and full of freckles.

Add the flour mixture, 1/2 at a time, mixing in between each addition. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Evenly spread the batter into your prepared loaf pan. Bake for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

You can easily serve it plain if you like. You can also add chopped nuts too. Allow the cake to cool completely before removing from the pan and slicing.

Since I added chocolate chips to the batter though, I decided to top it with a chocolate ganache as well. A chocolate ganache is super easy to make. It is just equal portions of heavy whipping cream and chocolate melted together until it is smooth and creamy. Stir constantly to prevent burning.

Have a great day Everyone. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.