Chocolate Banana Bread Puddin

A few days ago I made some super easy Artisan bread, it's going stale now and it's perfect for bread pudding. I made Banana Carob because I love Carob but chocolate would have worked just as good. This recipe doesn't take long it's super easy and your friends and family will be over the moon about it.

Here's what you need.

Some stale bread preferably white about 6 slices
2 eggs
1 cup milk
2 Bananas
Chocolate chips or Carob chips
Butter
2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Vanilla
2 tbsp Brown Sugar

how to make it happen

Crack 2 eggs into a large bowl add 1 cup of milk 1 tsp salt 2 tbsp brown sugar 2 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp vanilla. Using a wisk or fork combine well. Cut your bread into 1 inch cubes (they don't have to he perfect) add them to your milk and egg mixture and allow them to soak up as much liquid as they can take. If there are some pieces that don't get nice and soaked just add a couple tablespoons more milk. Butter a baking dish pie pan or for individual servings use a muffin tin. Press a layer of bread then some sliced bananas and some chocolate chips then cover with another layer of your bread mixture. Preheat your oven to 350 and bake for 25 to 30 min. Remove and serve with maple syrup.

Just a side note whenever your serving something sweet I find its nice to contrast with something a bit sour and fresh like strawberries or raspberries. Enjoy!! Please comment I love hearing from people and share as much as you can!

Easiest No Knead Artisan Bread Recipe

This could start a bread revolution! With this recipe there is no reason to eat the sub par bread, filled with additives you find at your super market. This bread is seriously turning me into a carb addict. It's so easy and quick to make, you will be impressing your friends and family with your perfect crusty, chewy artisan bread. who doesn't love freshly baked bread. And if you manage not to eat all of it down to the crumbs, you can make the rest i to bread pudding.

let's get started.

1 large bowl (this will double in size as ot ferments)
5 cups of all purpose white flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp yeast
3 cups lukewarm water

How to

In your bowl combine all dry ingredients, mix them together well. Add your water and mix until you get a nice ball of dough or until there's no lumps of dry flour. Cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel then let it ferment for 24 hours. You should have a big bowl of bubbly dough when you unwrap it the next day. Sprinkle with semolina or flour especially around the edges so that when you push your hand down the side to separate the dough from the bowl the sides are coated with the semolina. Gently go around the bowl as shown in the pictures. Once you get the dough unstuck gently tuck the sides under just a couple tike to make it a kind of soft ball (see photos) cover and allow it to rise for another two hours. 1 hour into your second rise place your dutch oven inside your oven and preheat at 440 degrees that way by the time your dough is finished rising the pot will be hot and ready to go. Gently pour or slide your dough I to your pot place the lid on and bake for 35 minutes then remove the lid and bake for a other 5 min to brown the crust. Remove from the pot and allow it to cool. It should be on a cooling rack or a few chop sticks.

Delicious home made lemon goat cheese ravioli

If you have never had home made pasta this recipe will change your life! There's no going back after you have it for the first time, the dried up stuff from the grocery store will never due again and the best part is that it's not that hard to make. it can however be time consuming but I promise it's worth the effort. 

The dough recipe needs to be put through a pasta roller if you want to roll it with a rolling pin (or an empty wine bottle) you will need to add a little more water to get the dough a bit softer and easier to handle. It's much easier to make this in a food processor but if you dont have one, a mixing bowl or the counter will due. If you are making it on the counter make your flour into a pile, then press a hole into the top and add your wet ingredients. Using a fork mix the flour in slowly until it's combined enough to use your hands.

For the pasta dough you will need

2 cups of white all purpose flour
1/4 cup olive oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup of water
1 tsp salt

Blend everything in your food processor. Put the dough in a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap and allow it to sit for around 30 minutes. Cut dough into 4 balls and with a pasta roller or by hand roll as thin as possible. Make 2 sheets one for the bottom and one for the top, place your filling on the bottom sheet of pasta with a spoon about 2 inches apart, wet your fingers and make squares around the filling so that the pasta gets a good seal when you put the top on. Place your second sheet over your filling and press the top to seal packages. Use a knife or ravioli cutter to make squares. Bring water to a boil then gently drop in your ravioli into the boiling water and allow them to cook for 30  seconds to one min. Transfer to a bowl with cold water until your ready to add your sauce.

For the filling you will need

300 grams of goat cheese
1/4 cup cooked and drained spinach
1 egg
1/4 cup grated fresh parmesan cheese
The zest of 2 lemons
The juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/tsp salt
1 tsp cracked black pepper
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
1 clove garlic chopped fine

Mix all of the ingredients well then place in fridge. The cheese will be easier to work with if it's chilled. You can leave it in the freezer for a bit as well but don't overdue it or you will have to wait until it thaws.

I don't like to make things complicated I have learned that simple is usually better so for the sauce I used some booze and lots of butter.

Here's what you need

1/4 cup butter
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup good gin
Optional 2 tomatoes diced (i didn't use tomatoes in mine.

What to do with all that stuff

Melt the butter on medium heat. Add garlic and wait maybe 30 seconds add everything else and allow to cook down for about 2 min add your pasta and serve.

A twist on vegetarian sushi

I'm not really going to post a recipe because you could really do anything with vegitarian sushi, Im hoping this will inspire you to come uo woth some of your own creations. 

remember it's pretty much just a salad rolled in seaweed and rice. I think most sushi is kind of boring, don't get me wrong I love sushi, I could eat it 7 days a week but every time I order a few different rolls they all pretty much taste the same, I think to myself this would be amazing if there was a tangy or acidic and so on.

 So instead of going out to one of my favorite sushi places ( http://zipang.ca or http://www.hanasushi.ca ) I decided to give it a go myself, and I have to say it turned out pretty amazing. Because it's not easy to find sushi grade fish in Calgary and I'm hobbling around on crutches with a broken ankle right now, I decided to go with vegitarian sushi, Here's what I did.

So what do you need?
You need roasted  Nori, this can be found at an Asian market such as T & T Market in Calgary http://www.tnt-supermarket.com/en/ or you could also order it online. I would make sure it's roasted as the roasting process takes away some of the fishy flavor seaweed tends to have. You need a sticky rice I used red rice because I wanted healthy sushi and red rice is a full grain complex carb full of fiber but you could use a starchy brown rice or of course sushi rice is always fantastic. I would say you should get a bamboo rolling matt if you want to have nice tight rolls with a good shape (remember making things look yummy is half the battle) and most importantly you are going to need some veggies to fill it up with!! To make your rolls a little different I suggest instead of using plain old boring mayonnaise you could add dill and lemon to your mayonnaise or take the mayo out and substitute it with yogurt. I have a collection of some really intresting flavored olive oils and balsamic vinager so for one roll I mixed 

1 tsp white coconut balsamic vinager
1 tsp white pinapple balsamic vinager
2 tsp sorrano chili olive oil 

I soaked some Alf alfa sprouts in this mixture. The roll from first layer to last was 1 full sheet of Nori red rice mango cucumber avacado and the alfalfa mixture. 

The second sauce I made was 

1 tsp pinapple balsamic vinager
2 tsp roaster sesame olive oil
1 tsp honey
1 tsp organic soy sauce

I wrapped the roll with the same things inside Nori mango cucumber red rice and the alfalfa. I also did some with shredded carrots, beets, red peppers, and lettuce. The point is get inspired ! Don't he afraid to experiment and have fun :)

Sate peanut sauce

This sauce can be used as a delicious dip or put on any protein as a glaze.

Your going to need -

4 tbsp peanut butter
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice wine vinager
2 cloves of minced garlic
1 tbsp molasses
1 tbsp hot water
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp to 1 tbsp of Sriracha chili sauce depending how hot you like it

Whisk your ingredients together and enjoy !

Simple vegetarian salad rolls

Salad rolls are a fresh light side great with any meal !

You will need-
Rice noodles
Rice wrappers
Cucumber
Thai basil or regular basil
Lettuce 
1 plate with warm water to dip your rice  wrappers in
1 clean cutting board

Start by boiling your rice noodles it won't take long as soon as they are soft they are done (don't be afraid to take one out and try it if your not sure)
When they are cooked rinse in cold water and allow them to drain

Slice your cucumber into thin slices
Shred lettuce
Tear basil leaves from stock

Dip your wrapper in the warm water (it will still be stiff when you put it on your cutting board or counter put some rice noodles cucumber and basil on one side of the wrapper leave about an inch from the back and an inch on each side. Fold the back over your filling once then fold the sides in and continue to roll until you have a roll! I know say roll one more time right ! Take a look at the pics I took to make it a little more clear. 

Click the link for a fantastic dipping sauce!

Sate peanut sauce  http://ezrasfamilyrecipes.blogspot.com/2015/02/sate-peanut-sauce.html