Aggie's Kitchen » Quick Breads

Sneaking it in…

Aggies Kitchen — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 10:27:15 +0000

Hi everyone, it’s Tina from Mommy’s Kitchen guest posting for Aggie today while she is in Utah. First off I want to thank Aggie for asking me to be a guest blogger here at Aggie’s Kitchen. I was tickled pink when she asked. The first time I met Aggie was back in February. We both attended the same Bush’s Beans Blogging Event in Napa Valley, California.

When my trip began all I remember was being scared to death. I was going so far away from home all myself not knowing anyone or what to expect. Talk about nervous. All the bloggers that attended the event were so nice and Aggie and I hit it off right from the start. We even got to cook together in the Culinary Institute of America Kitchen and it was so awesome. Aggie is such a great person but if you’re a reader of Aggie’s Kitchen then I am sure you already know that.

While we were in Napa we learned so many things about the power of beans. We learned how to incorporate them into different dishes and just how nutritious beans are. All that bean talk really got me excited about trying new recipes at home. I knew this was going to be a big challenge for me, because my youngest son Carson is the pickiest eater. Especially when it comes to eating beans and vegetables, so I knew had my work cut out for me. I was going to have to find a way to try and disguise them as best as I could if I wanted him to eat them.

My little guy loves muffins and quick breads so I thought maybe I could add beans to some baked goods and he just might eat them. Well I am happy to say it worked!!! So today I want to share with you two recipes that are a huge hit in our house. The first one is Homemade Black Bean Brownies made with pureed black beans

and the second is a recipe for Mini White Bean Banana Nut Breads

made with pureed White Cannellini Beans.

I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as we do. If you like family favorite recipes and old fashioned classics then I hope you can pop over and visit Mommy’s Kitchen, because I would sure love to have you.

Gratefully, Tina

Chili Cook Off Contest…and some Cornbread

Aggies Kitchen — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 13:14:33 +0000

Remember this yummy cornbread that my friends and I enjoyed during our cooking trip in Napa? Well, I made it at home not long ago to enjoy alongside some White Bean Chile Verde…it turned out delicious.

I made it using my cast iron skillet, this was a first for me. I loved how crisp the edges turned out, and I loved having them cut into moist wedges. I served the cornbread with some hot pepper jelly I had in the pantry and it was a delicious combination!

Before I share the cornbread recipe I want to tell you about an exciting giveaway we’re having. Bush’s Beans has put together a great gift basket for a lucky reader that includes:

A Sonoma Diet Cookbook signed by Connie Gutterson, RD
Napa Valley specialty items including: olive oil, candle and chili spices
Culinary Institute of America items including: towel, wooden spoon and decorative spoon rest
Bush’s Beans items including: Bush’s Beans apron, bean strainer, assorted Bush’s Beans

To be eligible to win this great gift basket all you have to do is share your favorite chili recipe! It could be yours, your mother’s or come from your favorite magazine, cookbook or website. To enter the contest, leave a comment including the link to the recipe or type out the recipe to share (with it’s source please).

If it’s your recipe and you have a blog, please leave a comment with a link to your post (it can be an already posted recipe). As a bonus, I will be posting a round up of blogger chili recipes (with links) to share with all my readers so please email me a photo and link to your recipe post at aggiedgoodman (at) gmail.com if you want to be included in the roundup.

After you enter your chili recipe into the contest, you have two chances for additional entries!

1. Become a fan of Aggie’s Kitchen on Facebook. If you are already a fan, share my page with your foodie friends! Come back and leave a comment saying you did and that comment will be your additional entry.

2. Spread the word! Post about this contest on your blog, Facebook or Twitter and come back and leave a comment saying you did for an additional entry.

Contest ends Saturday, April 3 at midnight, EST. Winner will be chosen randomly and announced shortly after.

Oh and before I forget…here’s that cornbread recipe!

Black Bean Buttermilk Cornbread

Recipe from Culinary Institute of America

(printable recipe)

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup black beans Bush, rinsed
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 whole eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup rice oil (I would use veg oil)
4 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted
salt and pepper

1 Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9 inch cast iron pan or oven proof individual serving crocks and heat in the oven until very hot about 20 minutes. Mix together flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder and salt.

2 In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, buttermilk, oil and melted butter until blended add black beans. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and combine until well mixed.

3 Remove the pan from the oven and pour batter into prepared pan and bake approximately 30 minutes until the surface is golden brown and a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and serve in wedges with spicy red pepper jam and butter.

(PS…to keep things on the up and up, my trip to Napa was paid for by Bush’s Beans, but Bush’s Beans is not paying me to say nice things about them. Any opinions shared on this blog are my own. Thanks!)

Cranberry Orange Quickbread

Aggies Kitchen — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:01:00 +0000

I know I’ve mentioned my addiction to Facebook on this blog several times. I almost think I can dedicate a whole category to “Facebook Inspired” recipes and creations…this one being one of them.

I saw this recipe posted on Facebook last week on Food Network’s fan page and I immediately bookmarked it. I thought a festive sweet bread like this would make a nice addition to our Thanksgiving meal, and I was right. The flavor combination of orange and cranberry is just perfect…and it couldn’t have been easier to bake up at almost the last minute – which is why I’m a huge fan of quickbreads.

When I first saw the recipe I didn’t realize that I would need a food processor to make this bread. It wasn’t until after I got all my ingredients in order that I hit a road block. I don’t have a food processor! Actually, I have a mini one (that I purchased a couple of years ago when I was really into making purees)…but the mini one just doesn’t do the job for most recipes that call for a food processor. So it’s official. I am asking Santa for a food processor this year. What kind should I get? Help!

So how did I get past the “crap, I don’t have a food processor moment”? Well, I improvised by using my hands. Isn’t that what they probably did back in the day? I basically used my fingers to cut up the cold butter and blend it with the flour. Ann Burrell mentions in the recipe that the mixture should resemble “grated cheese”…and that’s the result I got as I was mixing with my hands so I went with it. And it worked!

But I still want my food processor.

Cranberry Orange Quickbread

Recipe from Anne Burrell, Food Network

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for loaf pan
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick cold butter, cut into pea size pieces, plus extra for loaf pan
1 orange, zested
3/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 orange, peeled, sections removed and diced
1 egg
1 cup dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a food processor combine the flour, sugars, salt, baking soda and butter. Pulse, pulse, pulse until the mixture resembles finely grated cheese. Add the orange zest, juice and the egg. Pulse, pulse, pulse until the mixture is just combined. Remove to a bowl and stir in the diced orange and cranberries.

Grease and flour the loaf pan and add the batter. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Rotate the pan halfway through the cooking time to insure even cooking.

When done let cool for about 20 minutes and remove from loaf pan. Let cool completely before cutting.

The Perfect Meal…

Aggies Kitchen — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:51:00 +0000

…at least in my book.

Our Easter lunch (well, late lunch) was at my house this past Sunday. My grandfather was bringing his lasagna, and I was going to make some dessert along with a few other things.

Now, I know my Nonno’s lasagna and we really didn’t need much else to go with the meal. I figured a light salad and a vegetable would be plenty. I decided on a salad I saw in one of Giada De Laurentiis’s cookbooks, her Italian Caesar Salad. I am in love with this salad. I love everything about it…the dressing, the sundried tomatoes, the pine nuts…heaven. I have never made the polenta croutons but I can only imagine what that would add to an already delicious salad.

My family’s lasagna is a classic. I’m really not sure who started making it this way, but it’s the same lasagna we’ve been eating for as far back as I can remember. Now, normally, we eat lasagna on Christmas, well at least for the last several years…but this past year, my family had an unusual holiday, lots of illness – nothing serious – but enough to make it a very quiet holiday with no visiting. I know my grandfather could not wait to make this for Easter since we missed out on it in December.

(you may not be able to tell by the picture, but this lasagna had to be at least 30lbs, maybe more. I’m not kidding…my cute grandpa likes to make sure we are fed well so he used a very large roasting pan to make his lasagna…it took at least 2 hours to cook!! And I have lots of leftovers in the freezer!)

The lasagna is made like most traditional lasagnas…layers of noodles, ricotta, parmesan, ground beef and sauce. But added to the layers in our family lasagna are peas and chopped hard boiled eggs. It may sound unusual, but it is absolutely delicious.

As far as I am concerned, you can’t have pasta and salad without good bread. I finally got the courage to try making my own bread using the famous Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day Master Recipe. Wow, I am not only proud of myself for slowly getting over my fear of working with yeast, but am so shocked at how wonderfully easy this was to make!! If I can do it…anyone can do it.

Here is the complete recipe for the salad, but I’ll tell ya, I made mine simply by tossing chopped romaine, sundried tomatoes, pine nuts, and dressing, then topping with the shaved Parmesan cheese.

Italian Caesar Salad with Polenta Croutons
Recipe from Giada De Laurentiis, Everyday Italian

Dressing:

3 garlic cloves
4 anchovy fillets, chopped
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Polenta Croutons:

1 teaspoon olive oil
2 cups Basic Polenta, recipe follows
Vegetable oil, for deep frying

Salad:

3 small heads (or2 large heads) romaine lettuce, halved lengthwise
1/2 cup drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, cut into thin strips
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
1 1/2 ounces shaved Parmesan

To make the dressing: Finely chop the garlic and anchovies in a food processor. Blend in the lemon juice and mustard. With the machine running, gradually blend in the oil. Season the dressing, to taste, with salt and pepper.

To make the croutons: Spread the olive oil over a small baking sheet. Transfer the hot polenta to the baking sheet, spreading evenly to form an 8 by 5 by 3/4-inch-thick rectangle. Cover and refrigerate until cold and firm, about 2 hours.

Cut the polenta into 3/4-inch cubes. Pat the polenta cubes dry with paper towels. Add enough vegetable oil to a heavy large frying pan to come 1-inch up the sides of the pan. Heat the oil over high heat. Working in batches of 10, carefully add the polenta cubes to the oil 1 at a time and fry until golden brown, stirring to keep the cubes separate, about 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the polenta croutons to a paper towel-lined plate to drain any excess oil.

(The dressing and polenta croutons can be prepared 1 day ahead up to this point. Cover the dressing and polenta croutons separately and refrigerate. Rewarm the polenta croutons on a baking sheet in a 350 degrees F oven before serving.)

To make the salad: Prepare the barbecue for high heat. Grill the lettuce until lightly charred, about 2 minutes per side. Cut the lettuce into bite-size pieces.

On a serving platter, mound the grilled chopped lettuce. Decoratively scatter the sun-dried tomatoes and pine nuts. Drizzle with enough dressing to evenly coat. Sprinkle Parmesan and scatter the warm polenta croutons over and serve immediately.

Basic Polenta:

3 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup yellow cornmeal

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Bring 3 cups of water to a boil in a heavy large saucepan. Add salt. Gradually whisk in the cornmeal. Reduce the heat to low and cook until the mixture thickens and the cornmeal is tender, stirring often, about 12 to 15 minutes. Turn off the heat. Add the butter, and stir until melted.

Lightly oil a half sheet pan. Transfer the hot polenta to the prepared baking dish, spreading evenly to 3/4-inch thick. Refrigerate until cold and firm, about 2 hours.

Enjoy your week!

(my sweet Nonna and Nonno with their great grandkids…)

Another Zucchini Bread recipe for you!

Aggies Kitchen — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 04:00:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago we were going to visit my grandparents and I wanted to bring my sweet grandmother some zucchini bread. I’ve seen some great zucchini bread recipes in blog land this summer and I was inspired particularly by recipes from Stephanie’s Kitchen and Prudence Pennywise. Zucchini bread is one of those foods that you want to feel good about eating (right?) so I wanted to lighten mine up a bit…everyone was happy with how it turned out so I will be making it again soon!

FYI…my pictures show one of the loaves with chopped nuts on top, that is because I forgot to add the nuts until it was too late…I added them while they were in the oven…it turned out pretty good! : )

Aggie’s Zucchini Bread

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg (I use whole nutmeg and grind it on microplane – so good!)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup applesauce
3 cups shredded unpeeled zucchini
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1 cup finely chopped pineapple (fresh or canned)
1/2 – 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Grease bottom and sides of 2 loaf pans.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine sugar, applesauce, egg, zucchini, pineapple and lemon zest. Mix until well combined.

Add zucchini mixture to the dry ingredients and stir just until moistened. Fold in walnuts or pecans. (Or layer them on top of loaf!)

Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Test if toothpick comes out clean. Let cool on rack for about 10 minutes before taking out of pan. Cool a bit longer before slicing.

Stephanie from Stephanie’s Kitchen sprinkles Cinnamon Sugar on hers…I just know my kids would love that so I am going to try that next time.

Enjoy!

P.S. I have this set to post while I’m on vacation…hope it worked! : )