Buttermilk Banana Bread (best recipe ever!)

 

BUTTERMILK BANANA BREAD

yield: 12 SERVINGS (1 LARGE LOAF)

 

prep time: 20MINUTES MINS

cook time: 50MINUTES MINS

total time: 1HOUR HR 10MINUTES MINS

Source: melskitchencafe.com

INGREDIENTS

• ½ cup (113 g) butter, softened
• 1 to 1 ½ cups (318 g) sugar (see note)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 to 1 ½ cups (about 226 g) mashed bananas (about 3 medium bananas) - (see note)
• ¼ cup buttermilk (see note)
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 1 ¾ cups (249 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ⅛ teaspoon baking soda

INSTRUCTIONS 

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9X5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside. 
• In a large bowl, with a handheld electric mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, cream butter and sugar together until light and creamy, 1 to 2 minutes. 
• Add the eggs, bananas, buttermilk and vanilla and mix until well-combined. 
• Add the flour, baking powder, salt and soda. Mix until no dry streaks remain; it's ok if the batter is slightly lumpy. Don't over mix. 
• Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan and bake bake for 55 to 60 minutes, until the top lightly springs back to the touch and a thin knife or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Add time as needed until the bread is baked fully. Or for muffins, divide evenly between 12 liners and bake for 20 minutes.
• Turn the bread out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Thai Yellow Curry

 Source: https://maddysavenue.com

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

• 8 tbsp yellow curry paste
• 2 Tbsp coconut oil
• 4 15-ounce cans of coconut milk (high quality, see notes)
• 2 or 4 cup chicken stock
• 8 carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/4” rounds
• 8 medium-size potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
• 2 yellow onion, sliced into wedges, then halved
• 4 chicken breasts, very thinly sliced
• 3 tsp fish sauce, plus more to taste
• 1 1/2 tsp salt, plus more to taste
• 3 tsp sugar, plus more to taste
• cilantro, for garnish
• lime wedges, for garnish
• serve with jasmine rice

Instructions

1. In a large pot, heat the coconut oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add the curry paste to the oil, and stir-fry until fragrant, about two minutes. Take care to scrape any bits that stick to the bottom of the pot with your spoon.
3. Spoon in the coconut solids from the top of the can first, and allow it to fry with the paste for a minute. Stir in the rest of the coconut milk (or coconut cream) and 1 cup of chicken stock. If you would like the curry to be thinner/soupier, then you can add 1 more cup of stock. Bring to a low boil, then turn the stove down to a simmer.
4. Stir in the potatoes. When the potatoes are about halfway cooked through, stir in the carrots and onions.
5. Once the carrots are almost fork-tender, add in the thinly sliced chicken and cook for two or three minutes, until the chicken is just cooked through and tender. Pay attention not to overcook the chicken, this process doesn’t take long.
6. Remove the pot from the heat. Stir in the fish sauce, salt, and sugar, adjusting each to suit your tastes.
7. Serve the curry in bowls, over jasmine rice. Garnish with cilantro and lime wedges.

Notes

• The quality of coconut milk brands varies widely. When you’re shopping, look at the ingredients list to find the product with the highest coconut solids to water ratio, ideally with no extra additives. You may need to trial and error a few different brands to find the one you prefer. Low-quality coconut milk will result in a more “soupy” or “runny” curry.
• Traditional Thai curries should be on the soupier side, but not too thin either. If you prefer a thicker curry, substitute one or two cans of coconut milk for coconut cream. And again, the same rules apply. Look at the ingredients list. See if you can find cans of 100% coconut kernel extract, with no extra water, thickeners, or other additives listed on the label.
• If your curry still ends up “soupy” or “runny,” you can thicken it with a slurry of corn starch and water.
• Make sure to purchase this yellow curry pastefrom Amazon. While you might be able to find other yellow curry pastes at the grocery store, none of them are as authentic as this one, which comes straight from Thailand!
• If you don’t have virgin coconut oil, you can also use vegetable oil.
• You can make this recipe vegetarian/vegan by simply omitting the chicken and fish sauce. Use soy sauce or vegan fish sauce instead, to taste.
• We used a mandoline to cut all of the carrots equally and to give them the fun, ridged texture you’d see in a restaurant.

Healthier Chicken Salad

 Heathier Chicken Salad

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 lb cooked chicken breast, cooled and chopped

1/2 cup grapes, quartered

1.5 oz toasted pecans, chopped

2 celery stalks, diced

1 cup nonfat greek yogurt

1tsp dijon mustard

2 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp parsley

Salt & pepper to taste

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, mix.

Enjoy alone or on a wrap, croissant, or salad.

Sandwich Bread

 

THE BEST WHITE SANDWICH BREAD

yield: 20 SLICES (2 LOAVES)

prep time: 2HOURS HRS 30MINUTES MINS

cook time: 30MINUTES MINS

total time: 3HOURS HRS

INGREDIENTS

• 6 ½ to 7 ½ cups (923-1065 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 ½ teaspoons salt
• 1 ½ tablespoons instant yeast
• ¼ cup sugar or honey
• 2 ¾ cups very warm water
• ¼ cup neutral-flavored oil, like grapeseed, canola, vegetable, avocado
• Butter for top of loaves, optional

INSTRUCTIONS 

• In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the dough hook (or in a large bowl, if making the dough by hand), combine THREE cups of the flour, salt, yeast and sugar.
• Add the water and oil and mix until combined. The mixture will be thinner than bread dough.
• Cover the bowl and let the batter rest for 10 minutes; it will be slightly bubbly at the end.
• With the mixer running (or stirring by hand), gradually add another 3 to 4 cups of flour, until the dough comes together in a cohesive ball that clears the bottom and sides of the bowl and doesn't leave a lot of doughy residue on your fingers when touched while still being just slightly tacky (not overfloured and dense).
• Knead for about 2 minutes until the dough is smooth and supple.
• Lightly grease a large bowl. Transfer the dough to the prepared bowl, cover with greased plastic wrap or a light kitchen towel, and let rise until doubled, about an hour or so, depending on the warmth of your kitchen.
• Lightly punch down the dough and divide it into two equal pieces.
• Grease two 8 1/2-inch by 4 1/2-inch bread pans.
• Press each piece of dough into a thick rectangle about 8-inches long; roll it up, pressing on the seams, and pinching the final seam together.
• Place the dough loaves into the prepared pans.
• Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap or thin kitchen towels and let rise until doubled and the dough has risen about 1-inch above the top rim of the pan, about an hour or so, depending on the warmth of your kitchen.
• While the dough rises, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Bake the bread for 30-32 minutes until golden and baked through.
• Remove from the oven and turn the bread out onto a wire rack. Immediately brush the tops of the loaves with melted butter (or use a stick of butter, peeling the paper back and rubbing it on the top of the hot bread).
• Let the bread cool completely.
• The bread can be stored at room temperature, covered in a bread bag, for a couple days, or frozen for up to a month or so.

French Bread Rolls

 

FRENCH BREAD ROLLS

yield: 12 ROLLS

prep time: 2HOURS HRS 25MINUTES MINS

cook time: 20MINUTES MINS

total time: 2HOURS HRS 45MINUTES MINS

INGREDIENTS

• 1 ½ cups warm water
• 1 tablespoon instant or active dry yeast (see note)
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar or honey
• 2 tablespoons canola oil, vegetable oil or other neutral-flavored oil (olive oil will work, too)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 ½ to 4 cups (497 to 569 g) all-purpose or bread flour, more or less (see note)

INSTRUCTIONS 

• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook or in a large bowl by hand, combine the warm water, instant yeast, sugar, oil, salt and 2 cups of the flour. 
• Begin mixing, and continue to add the rest of the flour gradually until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl. Begin kneading the dough for 4-5 minutes in a stand mixer (7-9 minutes by hand).
• The dough should be soft and smooth but still slightly tacky to the touch. After a few minutes of kneading, stop the mixer and grab a small piece of dough to test if it needs more flour or not. It might leave a little bit of sticky residue on your fingers, but if you can roll it into a small ball without it sticking all over to your hands, it is good to go. If not, gradually add a bit more flour as needed.
• Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover. Let the dough rise until doubled, 1-2 hours.
• Lightly punch down the dough and turn it out onto a lightly greased countertop.
• Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces (about 2.75 ounces each, more or less), and form the dough into round balls (video tutorial here right at minute marker 2:20).
• Place the rolls in a lightly greased 9X13-inch pan or on a large, rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment or lightly greased. Space the rolls about 1/2- to 1-inch apart.
• Cover the rolls with lightly greased plastic wrap taking care not to pin the plastic wrap under the baking sheet or else the rolls will flatten while rising. Let the plastic wrap gently hang over the sides of the pan to fully cover the rolls but not press them down.
• Let the rolls rise until very puffy and doubled, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 15-17 minutes until lightly browned and cooked through.
• Immediately out of the oven, brush with butter.