Coconut Banana Bread

We love this banana bread recipe! It is one of the moistest banana breads I have ever had. The coconut is also a nice touch. Since Holli will only eat bananas when they are green we end up freezing a lot of bananas when they get too ripe which I am ok with since they turn into this! This recipe is brought to you by Holli's Mom's Blog Lovin' from the Oven! I just ate the last of ours for breakfast today!

Photo by Holli Coats

Pão de Queijo (Brazilian cheese bread)

I'm going to let you in on a little secret about something delicious! I mean a secret so good you will name you next child after me! It's Brazilian cheese bread. It's called Pão de Queijo( pronounced pow jee kay-show). Holli and I are addicted. I used to eat these things all the time on my mission in southern Brazil and now that I know how to make them...this could be a problem...a wonderful delicious problem. Also a bonus, they are Gluten free. I have a co-worker who has celiac disease and still comes by my office a month latter thanking me after giving her this recipe. She said that it is the closest thing to bread she can eat. Gluten free bread tends to be really crumbly and dry. This recipe is a must try if you are on a gluten-free diet! Another bonus is you put all the ingredients in a blender and pour them in a muffin tin and voila you’re done! It's so easy Charly can make it. The only down side is it uses tapioca flour. It can be found at any grocery store and isn't too expensive, but trust me once you have these you will buy a giant bucket full at Costco!




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Egg-in-a-hole

Hi everyone, my name is Matt and I’m an egg-aholic. I have been trying to cut back, but it’s just too hard and this morning I had a hardcore relapse. I decided to write this post just minutes after I finished my breakfast so I can capture the emotion of my food high! I always have my eye on a ton of recipes that I want to make, but I just never make them. I am an ambitious lazy cook. I know it sounds like an oxymoron, but it’s true. I get excited to make all these cool things, but never do. This morning I decided to do something about it.   

Picture by Holli Coats

Bacon, egg, and Toast Cups

Saw this in Martha Stewart Everyday Food (Don’t judge me). It was super easy to make and had normal breakfast ingredients that we already had. It made for a nice Sunday breakfast! It was a fancy spin on a normal everyday breakfast or brunch. I may try to make a hollandaise sauce to drizzle over next time and Holli wants to try it with sausage. You can even do different variations in the same muffin tin. There are so many things you can do with this! Try getting this at a Waffle House!

Bacon, Egg, and Toast Cups

Total Cook Time: about 35 minutes

3 Tablespoons Unsalted butter, melted

8 Slices of White or Whole-Wheat Sandwich Bread

6 Slices of Bacon

6 Large Eggs

Corse salt and Ground Pepper

Preheat the oven to 375. Lightly butter six standard muffin cups. With a rolling pin, flatten bread slightly and, with a 4 ¼ - inch cookie cutter, cut into 8 rounds. Cut each round in half, then press 2 halves into each muffin cup, overlapping slightly making sure that bread comes up to the edge of the cup. Use extra bread to patch any gaps. Brush bread with remaining butter.

In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium, until almost crisp, 4 min, flipping once. (It will continue to cook in the oven.) Lay 1 slice of bacon in each bread cup and crack an egg over each. Season with salt and pepper. Bake until egg whites are just set, 20-25 minutes. Run a small knife around cups to loosen toast. Serve immediately.

Try cook crumbled sausage in place of bacon or make a vegetarian dish with sautéed spinach.

Cold Soup on a Hot Day

Cold soup has never sat well with me. I have been intrigued by gazpachos for a long time, but never brave enough to try one. Last week I ran across this recipe on one of my favorite food blogs and decided to give it a go. All the Gazpachos I have seen were tomato based and this one was just calling to me. I have a few suggestions after making this: 1) this soup is better as an appetizer or side and not a main course. 2) I added some homemade croutons on top and added in some sliced grapes and it was awesome. 3) Holli bought me an immersion blender for Father's Day and it was way easier and faster than using a blender or food processor, so if you have one use it. 4) If you are using almonds that have the skin on, they need to be blanched to remove the skin. If you don't know how check this link out http://gourmet.lovetoknow.com/How_to_Blanch_Almonds.

I really liked this soup and making it didn't heat up the house. If you are brave enough to try a cold soup this one is a winner in my book. Enjoy!

White Gazpacho Recipe

INGREDIENTS

2 cups of crustless stale bread, broken into pieces

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock (use vegetable stock for vegetarian version)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 cup slivered blanched almonds (must be blanched, the skins are bitter)

2 cups green seedless grapes, sliced in half

2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and chopped

1-3 chopped garlic cloves (depending on how garlicky you want the result to be)

2-3 Tbsp sherry vinegar or cider vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

Chives for garnish

METHOD

1 Heat the stock until it's steamy. Turn off the heat and add to the stock the broken up pieces of stale bread. Let cool.

2 Put the almonds, salt and garlic in a food processor and pulse until the almonds are pulverized. Add the soaked bread and any stock that was not absorbed by the bread into the food processor, then add the grapes and cucumbers. Pulse until the mixture is a rough purée.

3 Add 2 tablespoons of the vinegar and pulse a few seconds to combine. Taste and add the other tablespoon if it needs it – grapes can sometimes be acidic enough to leave out the final tablespoon of vinegar.

4 With the motor running, drizzle in the olive oil. Turn off the motor and taste the gazpacho. Add more salt if needed.

Chill before serving, garnish with chopped chives.

Serves 6-8.