Posts Tagged "fall recipes"

Alton and Mom Make Bananas Foster

Dear Kid,

Sometimes blog inspiration arrives in a burst. Sometimes it arrives by carrier pigeon. Sometimes it doesn’t really arrive at all. And sometimes it arrives in the form of the word “magnanimous.”

Last night, when Pi and Tal got home, they (and by “they” I mean Pi) bellowed upstairs. “Hi, Mom!!! Tal and I were thinking that if you were feeling magnanimous, you might want to make us dessert.” “What kind of dessert?” “Whatever you feel like making.” “Be down in a minute.”

Tal asked, “What is this word ‘mag, maj, mananim’?”

Whereupon we set out to teach her the word “magnanimous” to much giggling. It’s a fun word to teach to someone who does not speak English as a first language. To her credit, she learned it really quickly.

Since I was feeling rather magnanimous, I decided to make bananas foster. My way, not the way it’s supposed to be made.

Here are both recipes for your edification.

Bananas Foster (version Mom and version Alton Brown)

Before I continue, let me point out that I think Alton Brown is the Chief Chef, the cherry on the sundae, the Most Amazing Food Person In Our Time. So obviously his version is Right. My version is just what gets made in our house.

Let me also point out that Minions Love Bananas. And doesn’t that just make my little heart happy?

Alton: Melt 2 tablespoons unsalted butter in a 10-inch heavy skillet over low heat.

Mom: Find non-stick pan. Move the drying pots off the stove so there is room to work. Turn up the heat to Reasonably High and melt a bunch of vegan butter (what with Pi not doing cow at the moment). Encourage the vegan butter to get on with melting. Put a tortilla in the pan to brown on both sides. Decide you’re not going to wait for any of this browning nonsense and settle for warming it up. Remove warm, buttery tortilla to a plate. Add more butter stuff to melt.

Bananas for Bananas Foster. Recipe from Alton and DearKidLoveMom.com (take your pick)Alton: Add 1/4 cup dark brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice, and 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg and stir until sugar dissolves.

Mom: Add about-that-much brown sugar and stir. After reading Alton’s recipe (we’re good friends, so I can call him by his first name) decide cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg might be a good addition next time. Laugh mightily at the idea of grinding fresh nutmeg.

Alton: Add 1 tablespoon banana liqueur and bring sauce to simmer. Add 2 under ripe bananas, sliced in half lengthwise and cook for 1 minute on each side, carefully spooning sauce over bananas as they are cooking.

Mom: Trip over the puppy trying to get the bananas. Giggle as puppy looks expectantly at the bananas. Giggle harder as puppy stares hard enough at the bananas to get them to jump out of their skins voluntarily. Peel and slice bananas into rounds (“coins” as Dad calls them). Share 2 pieces with a grateful dog. Put the bananas in the pan and stir. Laugh at the notion of being careful while doing this.

Alton: Remove bananas from pan to a serving dish. Bring sauce to a simmer and carefully add 1/4 cup dark rum. If the sauce is very hot, the alcohol will flame on its own. If not, using stick flame, carefully ignite and continue cooking until flame dies out, approximately 1 to 2 minutes. If sauce is too thin, cook for 1 to 2 minutes until it is syrupy in consistency. Add 1/2 teaspoon finely grated orange zest and stir to combine. Immediately spoon the sauce over bananas and serve. Serve with waffles, crepes, or ice cream.

Mom: Spoon most of the banana/brown sugar yumminess over half the tortilla. Fold tortilla over and spoon the rest on top. Cut in half if you are serving to two people (which you would only do if you don’t have enough ingredients to make two whole servings. Which reminds me, we need to get more tortillas, bananas, and brown sugar.).

NOTE: If you are me, do not even consider the whole “light on fire” thing since it would doubtless turn into a “light the entire kitchen on fire” thing. And while we do have a fire extinguisher (never used, I’m glad to point out), I don’t think foam is a good addition to this particular dessert.

Serve to incredibly happy teenagers.

Hope you have a sweet day, kiddo.

Love, Mom

 

Read More

Happy October | It’s Fall Here in Ohio

The Poky Little Puppy DearKidLoveMom

One of my all time favorites!

Dear Kid,

Happy October 1!

It’s the month of ghosts, goblins, and witches, Breast Cancer Awareness, and the best bagels of the year at Panera.

It’s Adopt a Shelter Dog month (woof), Cookie month (yum), and in honor of college students everywhere it’s National Pizza month and National Popcorn Popping month. In one of the coolest moves ever, it is Sarcastic month. I don’t know who gets to decide stuff like that, but I think they might be my favorite stranger of the day.

October 1 is the birthday of Yosemite National Park (established 1890), the day the Model T was unveiled (1908) [who even knew cars wore veils?], the day Johnny Carson debuted as the Tonight Show host (1962) [he was the host for a loooong time before Leno was], the day former President Jimmy Carter was born (1924), and the day Roger Maris broke the home run record (1961).

Scruffy The Tugboat DearKidLoveMomIt is also the day National Geographic was first published (1888) [forever changing the way teenage boys thought about tribal life], the day the first World Series game was played (1903), the anniversary of when Little Golden Books began publishing children’s books (1942) [I love those books], the first time “In God We Trust” appeared on US paper currency (1957), the day the Concorde 001 broke the sound barrier in a test flight (1969), the anniversary of  Disney World opening in Orlando (1971), the day the first games of the World Hockey Association were played (1972), and the day the Cartoon Cable Network launched (1992).

The Amazing Julie Andrews and Grete Waitz were both born on this day. Not in the same year. And it’s World Vegetarian Day (you can celebrate by smiling at a piece of lettuce).

A bunch of other good stuff happened too, so it’s a day for smiling. [Note: In all fairness, a bunch of bad stuff happened too, but I don’t feel at all obligated to discuss bad stuff here today. My blog, my rules.]

We all woke up this morning, which is another pretty darn good reason to be happy.

Since it’s October, it’s officially fall (please don’t bother me with what the calendar says–see “my blog, my rules” above).

The trees are starting to turn (I tell you this in case you have your nose buried in your books or your phone on the way to classes), the temperature is cool enough to make wearing a jacket early in  the morning a good idea, and Booker is starting to shed like crazy. Crazy being the operative word. I keep telling him I am not going to glue his fur back on and he might actually appreciate a warmer coat in a month or so, but he just wags his tail, asks me to keep scratching, and sheds like it’s his job.

Other signs of fall abound. Dad is buying cider like there is no tomorrow (and I certainly hope there is a tomorrow because I have the blog half written), Mr. D across the street is no longer mowing his lawn twice a day, and I am looking up recipes for things like stuffed acorn squash and interesting varieties of soup all of which I’m unlikely to ever get around to making.

We have harvested this year’s crop of cantaloupe: one melon is the size of a softball, one the size of a baseball, and one an enlarged golf ball. In another experiment, Dad planted watermelon this year. The total harvest is one slightly deflated kid size football. The fruit industry has nothing to fear from us.

Happy fall,

Love, Mom

 

Read More

Subscribe

Can't remember to check for new posts? No prob. I'll send it to you.

Online Marketing

Blogging Fusion Blog Directory

Blogarama - The Blog Directory

Blog Directory
%d bloggers like this: