Anyone have some recipes they'd like to share?

I'm a horrible cook, but would like some easy dishes to make, so that I can stop filling my body with greasey junk.

I looooove cooking. I'm not particularly fantastic at it but that's not the point.

One of my favourites which is really easy to make is:

Spinach and Ricotta Canelloni

Ingredients

1 packet of frozen spinach
200g of Ricotta
Fresh lasagna sheets
Handful of pinenuts
1 Onion
Tomato puree (puree not paste)
Mozarella cheese

Method

Pre-heat oven to 180C.

Dry roast the pinenuts in a fry pan until they are golden brown. Defrost the spinach in the microwave. Finely chop the onmion and gently fry in a tablespoon of olive oil until soft and translucent. At the last minute add the spinach in with the onion and seperate it out a bit. Let the spinach and onion mix cool a little bit and then mix in a bowl with the ricotta and pinenuts. Season with lots of salt and pepper.

Pour enough tomato paste into a baking dish to cover the base. Cut the lasagna sheet into pieces large enough to roll into tubes, the size is entirely up to you. Roll the spinach and ricotta mix into the pasta sheets and place next to each other in the baking dish. Cover with tomato puree and top with slices of the mozarella.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

Eat with some nice crust bread, a green salad and a bottle of Chianti Classico.

Serves 2 hungry people.


Please note that I'm making this up competely from memory.

Here's an easy sandwich to make that tastes delicious, Veda. Take a skinless, boneless chicken breast, salt and pepper it to taste and then grill it (using an indoor grill like George Foreman or a grill pan that you use on the stove). Let the chicken breasts sit for a few minutes (in case you didn't know, always let meat stand for a few minutes after the cooking is done, cutting into the meat right off the fire releases all the juices and dries out the meat). Slice the chicken breast not too thinly, just make them manageable. Then, mix mayonnaise with some tarragon and a little lemon juice and spread it on a sourdough roll, add the sliced chicken. Add lettuce and tomato and you've got yourself a quick, easy, delicious sandwich.

One of the easiest, tastiest pastas I make is to just thinly slice some garlic, sautee it in some olive oil, add some sliced black olives and then mix it with angel hair pasta. Top it off with some grated parmesan cheese.

Another way to cook chicken is to put 4 chicken breasts into a covered frying pan, sear them on both sides and and then add a can of cream of mushroom soup (do not add water) to cover the chicken breasts. Cook over medium heat for about half an hour, until the chicken is done. While the chicken is cooking make some rice or pasta. If you have a pot large enough, in the last five minutes of the rice or pasta is cooking, put some asparagus tips in a colander and add them so that they are above the boiling water and cover the pot. The asparagus will be done at the same time as the pasta. Plate it so that the chicken and some of the soup is over the pasta. It's a complete meal in approximately 30 minutes, with very little prep time.

If you have left-over fried chicken, you can make a very nice salad the next day for lunch. Add the sliced up fried chicken to greens, red onions, cucumber and tomato and canned corn (do I need to tell you to drain the corn?) and mix with some ranch dressing. It is delicious.

Fish is also relatively easy to make. Take a white fish (orange roughy, bass, etc.), sprinkle it with salt, pepper, garlic powder and place it in an aluminum pouch (each piece of fish should be in it's own separate pouch). Add a little lemon juice, a pat or two of butter and a little bit of white wine. Fold the aluminum pouch so that none of the liquids leak out, place it on your top rack in the oven at 350 degrees for about ten minutes (for each piece of fish). This would probably taste good with zucchini, julienned, sauteed with butter and a little lime and lemon zest and some sliced almonds. You can add a baked potato or some rice if you feel the need for starch. Or a small salad if you're watching those carbs.

Yum.

Another easy alternative to this is to sautee the garlic and then add lots of chopped up continental parsley and mix with spaghetti.

Alternative two is to do as above but add some finely chopped chili with the parsley (or olives if you are doing mj's recipe).

And remember, freshly grated parmesan is always a thousand times better than the Kraft pre-grated stuff.

Yeah, absolutely. I have relatively insensitive taste buds, but I just cannot eat the parmesan-in-a-jar. The pre-grated kind you get in the refrigerated section is fine for me, though, and avoids the whole grating issue.

I essentially learned to cook by buying cookbooks and working my way through them - I only repeat recipes if I have company or if I'm looking for comfort food. (Macaroni and cheese with tuna. Mmm!) There are some good beginner cookbooks out there - my first one was called "Help, My Apartment Has A Kitchen!" and was very user-friendly. Any of the big how-to-cook-everything books will probably work too.

Here's my favorite recent recipe. It does require a lot of chopping, so it's probably best for a weekend, but once you've done all of that it's essentially "put in skillet and cook." Also makes good leftovers - I don't know what I'd do without leftovers, honestly!

Eggplant Pasta
4 servings

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small eggplant, peeled, chopped (about 3 cups)
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 red bell pepper, cut into matchstick-sized strips
6 large mushrooms, sliced
1 tablespoon fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1/3 cup dry red wine
1 large tomato, chopped
1/2 cup chopped pitted black olives
12 ounces freshly cooked penne or other tubular pasta
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
Grated Romano or Parmesan

Heat olive oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add eggplant and garlic. Cover mixture and cook until eggplant is just tender, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Mix in red bell pepper, mushrooms, oregano and dried crushed red pepper and saute until mushrooms are tender, about 4 minutes. (Note because I'm not sure how much cooking you've done - "saute" means "cook while occasionally stirring.") Add wine and cook until mixture is almost dry, about 2 minutes. Stir in tomato and olives and cook until mixture is just heated through. Transfer sauce to large bowl. Add pasta and pine nuts; toss well. Serve, passing grated cheese separately.

Veda - your wish is my command. I've got 2 superhealthy vege stir-fries that I make all the time. The first is from rebeccabarnard.com and the second is a variation I came up with to bump up my immune system when it's run down. They are both very very easy and seriously yummy.


Tofu and Eggplant Stirfry

small tablespoon peanut oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
skinny eggplant, thinly sliced
firm tofu, sliced (just use as much eggplant and tofu as you think you will need to feed however many people you'll need to)

1-2 tbsp chopped fresh aromatic herb like cilantro/coriander, basil or vietnamese mint (a bit less if it's the mint)

sauce:
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp palm sugar
1/3 tps minced chilli (from a jar - so much easier)

Mix together the sauce ingredients first and set aside.

Heat wok, add oil, then add garlic, stir fry til golden. Add eggplant and stir fry til it starts to go brown. Add tofu and stir fry a few minutes more. Add sauce and stir through. Throw in herbs and stir through. Serve with rice.

===

Immunity Stir-fry

1 tbsp peanut oil
clove garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp minced ginger (use the jar stuff)

small head broccoli, cut into bite size bits
Half a red pepper/capsicum, cut into diamonds
1-2 cups mushrooms, sliced

roasted cashews (as much as you want)
1-2 tsp sesame oil

sauce:
v heaped tsp brown sugar
1/2 heaped tsp cornflour
small tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp lemon juice
1/3 tsp minced chilli

Mix the sauce together first (in order given - mixing the sugar and cornflour together while dry will stop lumps forming) and set aside.

Heat wok, add oil, stir-fry garlic and ginger together until aromatic and golden. Add broccoli, turn wok down a bit so the garlic won't burn and cook broccoli til it starts to soften a bit (just grab bits from the wok to test it), around 5-6 min. Add mushrooms and stir-fry til they start to give up some liquid. Add the capsicum, stir-fry a minute or two, then stir through sauce and cashews. Drizzle the sesame oil over the veges and stir through. Servce with rice.

My favorite cookbook for quick and easy Italian is called Cucina Rapida. It's really a cut above: the recipes each have no more than five ingredients, are very simple, and turn out wonderful stuff. A dish I make a lot, slightly improvised from one in there, involves boiling pasta, throwing some frozen peas into the water toward the end so they'll both end up cooked at the same time. Meanwhile, sautee some bread crumbs (store bought is fine) in olive oil. Then you mix everything together on the plate. At some point I started actually tossing the pasta and peas into the sautee pan and sauteeing them for a few minutes before eating. Apparently, this was a mistake, but I love it. Tastes fried and greasy, but isn't.

I make a really nice home made pesto, which is just fresh basil, pine nuts, minced garlic and olive oil. Mix it all up and put in a jar in the fridge. Mix in with pasta and top with shaved pecarino cheese (like parmesean but not as sharp).

Of layer capsicum/pepper (red), slice of eggplant/aubergine, zucchini and red onion. Start with the onion, spread the pesto, and layer and spread. Bake in the oven until cooked and is very yummy served.

Or beat a chicken breast until easily rolled in a ball. Spread some Tomato paste (lightly) over one side, a little garlic (minced) then lay proscuito or bacon, roll up the chicken breast with bacon on the outside and bake until done. Serve with, whatever.

I hate cooking, but love cookbooks.

This isn't exactly an "easy" receipe, but its darn darn good eating and its worth the preperation.

Nanna's Chicken Celebration Dish

Ingredients:

1 chicken, boiled in water with 2 chicken stock cubes, a diced onion and some sliced celery.
1 cup rice
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tin cream of chicken soup
1 tin cream of mushroom soup (or celery, asparagus)
2 stalks chopped celery
1 onion, diced
1 small capsicum, diced
2 tablespoons lemon joice
Croutons

Method:

Chicken should take about 3/4 hour to cook. Remove from stock, cool chicken and break up the meat into bite-sized pieces.

Cook rice in boiling salted water for approx 10 minutes. Drain.
Combine all ingredients, leave vegetables raw.
If you don't have any croutons, dice a couple slices of bread and fry in butter in a pan.
Place mixture into dish/es and put croutons on top.
Heat through in a moderate oven.

Can be served hot or cold and is okay to freeze.

Ooh. That does sound nice. Must give it a go at some point. Actually the same could be said about all the recipies on here.


Just happens to be what I had last night. Although there was nearly an icident when making the cheese sauce. Mum yelled as I was adding flour to the butter and I put rather a lot in. Managed to rescue it though and even more suprisingly had no lumps.


One of my favourites isn't too difficult although it is a little time consuming, is Risotto.

Ingredients:
1 box (500g Or 750g - will check this when I get home) Rissotto rice
3 pints of Stock - whatever kind you like - I use vegetable as my mum's vegetarian
Garlic (chopped)
Onions - red or White (chopped as roughly or finely as you like)
Selection of vegetables chopped/sliced - I use things like Babycorn, mangetout, Sugar snap peas, peppers, mushrooms etc
herbs to taste - usually use dried mix herbs, Basil Oregano.
Little bit of olive oil
Couple of handfuls of grated cheese, again whatever you would like to use, although I think traditional reciepes use parmasan, I use a strong cheddar.

Method.

Soften the onions & Garlic in a large pan (big enoough to hold all the veg & rice later!). I usually start it off with the oil, and then add a bit of water to carry on with - just alittle. Add the herbs at this point.

Once the onions are softened add the rest of the veg and carry on on cooking them for a couple of minutes before stirring in the rice. My dad added a little wine at this point the last time I cooked it, which was rather scrummy!. Stir the rice to ensure that it is coated, then slowly add a little stick - just enough so that there is a little liquid in the pan after the inital absorbtion. Carry on adding stock little by little as it is absorbs until the rice is soft & cooked, and there is still a little bit of liquid in the pan, (depending on the heat I've used I don't always use up all the stock. I'll figure it out eventually)

Then add the cheese, stir through until melted and serve.

It serves 3, if you like huge portions or probably four normal sizes. You can adjust the herbs, or stock or vegetable according to what you like or what you have in the kitchen - I once made a really nice one with leftover roast chicken, chicken stock and coriander as well as the veg. Find combinations that you like.

I made the most excellent ratatouille as a meal to take to a woman in my parish who was undergoing chemotherapy a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if I would classify it as easy and quick to make, but it is relatively difficult to screw up and was still fantastic the third time I reheated the leftovers I kept.

I got the recipe online, so here it is.

I also make a really tasty potpie out of frozen veggies, canned soup, poached chicken breasts and crescent rolls. I make a lot of dishes very well, and I'm actually a good cook, but my family invariably likes my simplest dish best.

Yeah, I like ratatouille, but all that chopping!



Pre-made macaroni and cheese mix, baby. It's faboo. And the tuna cuts the bizarre taste of the powdered cheese!

I like the instant Mac & Cheese - Kraft, bright ornage stuff isn't it? I'd never have thought of adding tuna. Used to regularly mix some cooked onions and mushrooms through mine.

Nothing beats real cheese sauce though - I can't stand the packet stuff you can get

I love tuna with ratatouille type dishes. I use it pretty much like Quorn, but remember it doesn't need much cooking, just toss it in near the end. I also eat the vegetarian shepherd's pie around once a week: serve the ratatouille (with or without tuna, or perhaps some baked beans) in a bowl, pack in mashed potato on top and smooth over, grate cheese on top and then stick under the grill for a minute till it melts. Yum yum yum.

However, not American cheese. That stuff is rank.

My current favourite meal ever:

Chorizo thingy

3 chorizo sausages cut into chunks (preferably raw ones, but if you can't get that, deli slicing chorizo in a chunk will do)
Potatoes - probably around 1lb? Small ones, or chopped into small chunks
2 cans chopped tomatoes
1 red onion - sliced
fresh basil
garlic
a little olive oil

and a loaf of crunchy bread - serves 3- 4. Fabby.

Put the tatties in water to par-boil.
In a large bottomed pan (as in, big surface area - a casserole that can sit on the range is perfect), put enough oil in to slowly sautee the onion.
Add the chopped chorizo, and just drool as the paprika comes out and colours everything.
Add the par-boiled potatoes and turn up the heat a little, so they get slightly browned. And golden from the paprika. Mmm... paprika...
Add the tomatoes, and let cook down for a while, till the potatoes are fully soft - usually about 20 - 30 minutes.
Add plenty of chopped basil just as you're about to put the dish on the table. Serve with chunks of crusty bread.

if you want to add other vegetables (such as peppers, mushrooms, or sweetcorn), do so after you've added the tomatoes. I also often add actual chopped-in-two-cherry tomatoes for extra texture

Tonight's dinner, easy-peasy:

Cottage Fried Potatoes

3 tablespoons margarine or butter
3 medium potatoes (1 pound), thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 small onion, thinly sliced and separated into rings

In a large skillet melt margarine or butter. (If necessary, add additional margarine during cooking.) Layer potatoes into skillet. Sprinkle with salt, garlic powder, and pepper. Cook, covered, over medium heat for 8 minutes. Add onion rings. Cook, uncovered, for 8 to 10 minutes more or till potatoes are tender and browned, turning frequently. Makes 4 servings.

This thread makes me hungry. I love potatoes so much, it's the only thing reminds me of my Irish ancestry. Does anyone know how to make those Dauphinoise ones, I never get it quite right?


I can testify that Ginni has every size of saucepan known to man, woman and Jamie Oliver. I, on the other hand, have a random selection, none of which have lids that fit properly and some which have black bits glued to the bottom.

QUOTE (Pandrea @ Today at 9:48 am)

I, on the other hand, have a random selection, none of which have lids that fit properly and some which have black bits glued to the bottom.[/quote] This is me. 4 saucepans, 2 lids, of which only one matches a saucepan. No large-bottoms (excepting my own), no heavy duty nothin'. I actually tried to buy a casserole dish at tescos the other day and got it home to find that despite looking for all the world like a big casserole dish with a lid, it was in fact a "stock pot", meaning, apparently, that it's handles melt if you put it in the oven. Useful. I am, however, going to try several of these recipes. i might even try HB's risotto this weekend when she comes to stay (i.e. have her on hand to steer me right when I'm getting it all horribly wrong!). BJC Oct 2 2002, 05:01 AM QUOTE I love potatoes so much, it's the only thing reminds me of my Irish ancestry. Oooo, me too. My ex's parents used to say I was the easiest person in the world to feed. Bread and potatoes. That's me. Heatherbelle Oct 2 2002, 07:53 AM QUOTE (trifling_matter @ Today at 10:32 am) I actually tried to buy a casserole dish at tescos the other day and got it home to find that despite looking for all the world like a big casserole dish with a lid, it was in fact a "stock pot", meaning, apparently, that it's handles melt if you put it in the oven. Useful. I am, however, going to try several of these recipes. i might even try HB's risotto this weekend when she comes to stay (i.e. have her on hand to steer me right when I'm getting it all horribly wrong!).[/quote] That stock pot should be great for the risotto. I'll have a look when I'm down. And I'm more than happy to help - I love cooking, Not faboulous at it, but enjoy it. And the risotto sounds more complicated than it actually is. And I love potato's and Bread too! Mmm. mashed pototato. trifling_matter Oct 2 2002, 09:08 AM QUOTE (Heatherbelle @ Today at 1:53 pm) That stock pot should be great for the risotto. I'll have a look when I'm down. [/quote] Shame I took it back to Tesco's when I found out the handles melted... Maybe I should go and buy it again! And mashed potato is the one thing I absolutely rock at. Butter, cream, nutmeg, mash-mash-mash till creamy. Mmmmmm. I made veggie-bangers and mash for Mr T_M and self the other day and he laughed at me because I stuck the bangers into the mash a la the Beano. but that's how you're supposed to serve it. Ginni Oct 2 2002, 09:22 AM Dude - I don't have THAT many pans. Okay - I'm a pan whore. A kitchen whore. A kitchen equipment whore. I have some very good recipes, but I'm not so much with the measurements. They're mostly things that I've picked up from my brother (a chef), and since he's all about "a handful of this" and "chuck in a bit of ", it sometimes doesn't quite work the way that he makes it. Chicken Casserole: (this is DEAD easy, but tastes really good, and it looks like you spent AGES on it. Heh - the secret to most of my cooking) 4 chicken breasts 1 can asparagus spears 1 can Campbell's Chicken in White Wine soup 1 onion 2 slices bread grated a hunk of cheese grated Sautee the onion While that's happening, put the asparagus in the bottom of a lidded casserole, and place the chicken on top. Pour the onions over the chicken, and pour the soup on top Mix the cheese and breadcrumbs, and pour them to be a crust on the dish Put a lid on (or foil, I guess will do) and shove in a 150 (300F) oven for 45 minutes Take the lid off, and let the breadcrumbs get browned for 15 minutes or so. Mmm... serve with potatoes. Mmm.... Heatherbelle Oct 2 2002, 10:10 AM QUOTE (trifling_matter @ Today at 3:08 pm) [quote=Heatherbelle,Today at 1:53 pm]That stock pot should be great for the risotto.  I'll have a look when I'm down. [/quote] Shame I took it back to Tesco's when I found out the handles melted... Maybe I should go and buy it again! [/quote] Nah, any big-arse pot will do. I'll rummage till I find one. I do like the sound of the Mash. Pure comfort food. Ginni: [quote]Okay - I'm a pan whore. A kitchen whore. A kitchen equipment whore.[/quote] It's so very true. She looked so upset when I said we'd got rid of out Le Creuset pans (to a good home!) when we got the kitchen redone. Ginni Oct 2 2002, 11:20 AM Pan: Potatoes Dauphinoise But really? Just slice them thin, make sure you butter the dish well because they turn into cement. Layer them up with whatever you want: Mushrooms, cheese, ham, whatever you find floating around your fridge, and then pour on the egg/cream/stock mixture and press down on the tops of the tatties. Mmm.... I'm really hungry now. *runs to cupboard* Damn. *runs to chippy downstairs* scully Oct 2 2002, 03:05 PM Ooh! Your new flat has a chippy downstairs? Oooh! Must. visit. soon. Hmm. I guess I should make a contribution as well... Um, I'm not sure if my family's just being nice, but I've been told I make a mean omelette. I've found that the trick for fluffy goodness is to make sure you beat the eggs properly, add a splash of milk and cook it at a fairly low temperature (for those of you who have numbers that range from 0 to 9, I usually put it between 3 and 4). As well, add whatever herbs you prefer (I'm a tarragon whore, myself) to the mix before moving on to anything else so that it can really absorb the flavour. I usually like to fry up little cubes of potatoes (half a centimeter thick, pre-boiled) and ham (and/or bacon) before adding the egg mix. I'm not a fan of limp pork in my omelettes. As for the snack/side-dish I love making the most, potatoes are my definite obsession. I usually boil them first 'cause I find that frying them so that they're nice and soft in middle but not burnt to a crisp on the outside takes too much time for my limited patience. I'll often chop them up, then lay them on some foil covered in butter slices, olive oil and whatever herb tickles my fancy that day (always at the very least tarragon and garlic/onion powder), wrap up the foil and let the butter melt and the taters absorb the flavours for at least 15 minutes. For my 'triple-grease taters' (folks who want to live beyond the next five years please abstain), I'll fry some bacon while the potatoes sit, then cook them in the resulting grease and then sprinkle the resulting heart-attack with the chopped bacon. And finally, the only recipe wherein I try to be mature and patient... No pre-boiling. Slice up into quarters enough nugget potatoes (so tiny! so cute!) to cover the bottom of your porcelain baking pan. Chop up some large garlic slices and spread them around so that every piece of potato touches at least one bit. Sprinkle just a wee bit of onion and garlice powder. Add some fresh ground pepper, a bit of freshly grated nutmeg and some thyme (fresh or dry, just as tasty) as well. Strategically place a bunch of fresh tarragon and chive twigs on top. Sprinkle with olive oil. Last, but not least, cover well with thin (or not so thin) slices of butter. Cover pan with aluminium foil and place on lowest rack in oven. (Pre-heat oven at 325F.) Cook for about an hour (depends on your favourite colour, but make sure it's nice and soft when you poke it with a fork), flipping stuff around at halftime, perhaps even adding a bit more butter as well. Besides my family, eej was quite fond of this recipe as well (unless she lied.. Lied!!). Veda Oct 2 2002, 03:09 PM QUOTE (Ginni @ Today at 10:22 am) Okay - I'm a pan whore. A kitchen whore. A kitchen equipment whore.[/quote] I thought you were an electronics whore... Is there anything you don't have large collections of? scully Oct 2 2002, 03:38 PM No. mjforty Oct 2 2002, 05:01 PM I have an egg dish that everyone raves about and it's simple. Just scramble some eggs in a bowl. Cut up some french bread into cubes. Mix the egg mixture and bread cubes in a pan and just as the eggs are starting to lose the liquidy texture add some brie cheese. Sometimes I add a little tomato. Everyone I know loves it. Also, if you're looking for something to do with any left-over ratatouille, that goes well mixed with scrambled eggs as well. Ginni Oct 2 2002, 06:40 PM Bite me, whore. MJ: That sounds nice. I'm on a Brie kick at the minute. Mmm... edited because it just occurs to me that Veda had a golden shot of calling me a whore, and didn't take it. Damn - you're WAY too nice. Pandrea Oct 3 2002, 04:43 AM Oh God, I am so bloody hungry now. They all sound fantastic and I'm definitely going to try them. Mmm omlettes and potatoes and eggy things ... My French toast isn't bad. I like to add nutmeg to the mixture and mixed herbs. Ananda Oct 9 2002, 01:31 AM Hey, this is not a recipe, but it is a recipe question. I'm pretty amateurish in my culinary skills; when i make something it tends to turn out edible, but I rarely cook, so I'm unchallenged. Here's my question. I'm looking to make some (yummy) banana muffins for myself and some friends (prezzies rock). I have a sort of bare-bones recipe for it, but it includes nuts, which I don't like. Does anyone know, when baking, if you remove something like nuts, do you have to change anything else about the recipe? Temperatures, or ingredient amounts? Or does it basically make no difference? Also, I should use bananas that are already a bit soft, right? If anyone has any (yummy) banana muffin recipe suggestions (or baking suggestions in general), they would be appreciated. ejg25 Oct 9 2002, 01:44 AM Nope, you can remove nuts and not change anything else about the recipe. I think people use mushy bananas for baking because it's one of the few good uses for mushy bananas, but there's no specific reason that muffins should be made with them. mjforty Oct 9 2002, 04:34 AM It's okay to remove the nuts from the recipe, it won't change anything. However, your bananas should be more than a "bit soft", the should be very soft. The skin of the bananas should be black. You're going to need a good five days for the bananas to get to the proper ripeness. My grandfather used to put fruit in a paper bag to speed up the ripening process but I could never get the timing down. The fruit was never ripe enough or past the point of edibility. Here's a good banana muffin recipe: BANANA MUFFINS 1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 1/4 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 large) 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted 1/4 cup milk 1 large egg Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease twelve muffin cups or line with muffin papers. Sift first 4 ingredients into large bowl. Combine bananas, both sugars, butter, milk and egg in medium bowl. Mix into dry ingredients. Divide batter among prepared muffin cups. Bake until muffins are golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Transfer muffins to rack and cool. Makes 12. Pandrea Oct 9 2002, 04:40 AM I don't know that it works in reverse, but if you store bananas next to other fruit, the other fruit goes off quicker. I can't remember why, but that's the rationale behind having those banana tree holder thingies. Incidentally, I made MJ's egg thing at the weekend, as I happened to have some slightly staleish French bread and thought I'd try it. It was nice, actually very filling, but I think I should have toasted the bread first though as it got a bit soggy and the egg bit was ready well before the bread bit. I didn't have any Brie so I used cheddar, but that worked okay. I'm going to get round to trying some of the other recipes too! Boliver Oct 9 2002, 08:55 AM Ripening fruits release ethylene, a simple hydrocarbon gas (H2C=CH2). If one fruit that is releasing ethylene (and bananas do this in abundance) is placed next to another, say, in a paper bag, to concentrate the gas, it will prompt the other fruits to ripen as well. Putting fruits like tomatos, mangos, and bananas in the fridge not only stops the taste-ripening process for a bit, but it can halt it altogether, so these fruits will rot eventually, but not ripen when in the fridge. By the way, I highly recommend Alton Brown's book "I'm Just here for the Food," in which the "Good Eats" (Food Network) host covers the science of cooking along with the recipes. And he's funny. And cute. ejg25 Oct 9 2002, 10:35 AM Behold the collective culinary knowledge; I'm impressed. I do want to intervene with a message from Chiquita Banana: You should never, ever put bananas in the fridge. It ruins them. Bananas have to ripen in a special way. underwater_desert Oct 9 2002, 04:10 PM I like mushy bananas much better than the other kind. I tried to post two recipes the other night, but the computer killed my posts. But they were only for much less impressive things than other people have been giving - fajitas, and tuna or salmon fillets with baby boiled potatoes and veggies. So I'll give a recipe for home-made tomato soup instead, because its what I made for dinner and it was yummy. Tomato soup About 12 tomatoes 2 onions 2 cloves of garlic (thanks for the right word, Heatherbelle!) Herbs - basil particularly, but any mixed or Italian packets will do fine 1pint strong chicken stock (you can use vegetable for veggies, but chicken's miles better!) salt and pepper Boil some water, put little nicks in the surface of the tomatoes with a knife, drop them in for 1 minute then take them out and peel them. Leave the skins in the water to make it a bit stock-like. Finely chop the garlic and onions, and fry lightly in olive oil in the bottom of a great big pot. Roughly chop the tomatoes and fling them in, along with the herbs, salt and pepper. Cook for a while so everything's gone soft, then make the chicken stock up using the tomatoey-water (do remove the skins before you do that) and some boiling water. Add that, and let it all simmer. you can eat it straight away, but if you can leave it sitting for a few hours or even overnight, its much better. Eat with nice bread and butter. (Thank you to my girlie, cos this is her recipe!) Heatherbelle Oct 9 2002, 04:29 PM That does sound scrummy. Glad I could supply the correct words, even if it took me a while to get there! I'm going to have to try it soon. And now it's starting to get the right weather for it. I love yummy home-made soups when it's cold outside. I've thought of another recipie that my best friend loves. Again, it may sound complicted, but actually is fairly simple, which are known in my family as Cheesy Baked Potatoes. You bake a jacket potato per person until it's nice an soft inside (microwaving to this point is fine). Cut a 'lid' off the top (you can eat it - you won't need it) and scoop out the inside of the potato into a bowl. Mash the potato with a little butter and some grated cheese (up to you much you want to add, depending how much you like cheese!). You can also mix through sweetcorn - which I do for me, but not for my best friend, as he's doen't like 'em! Then spoon back the mixture into the skins, top with some more grated cheese and put into the oven to melt thorough until the cheese is bubbling and golden. Any left over mixture in the bowl once you've stuffed the potatoes you can eat - it's the cook's perogative. Piranha Oct 9 2002, 09:29 PM Ooh, HB, I do a variation on that on with the spuds. To the mashed potato mix, I had any and all of the following: Chopped ham/bacon, sauteed onions, garlic, salmon & tartare sauce, sour cream and chives, sun-dried tomatoes, minced leftover cold meats (corned beef, pastrami, chicken etc) and anything else I can find. BJC Oct 10 2002, 05:00 AM I've just made my favourite easy dinner receipe and thought I might share it. It may only apply to the Aussies though because it uses a product I only saw in Aus. Its called "Rice'a'Riso" and its basically just a rice and packet flavour mix. I add chopped up celery, corn and chopped up Strasburg to it at the stage when the water is boiling before you turn it down to simmer. Yummy!! Before I left and now that I'm back I have it once a week, it does me for dinner and lunch the next day. Pandrea Oct 10 2002, 05:51 AM Oh no, u_d, do do do, I love fajitas and if you've got a different version, I wanna try them! I do the baked potato pots too, only it's marg/butter and chopped up beetroot that I put in with the mix. Believe it or not I got that recipe first from reading Chitty Chitty Bang Bang when I was a little girl. It took forever to make in the days before microwaves. trifling_matter Oct 11 2002, 03:25 AM Finally coming by to say that HB's risotto recipe rocks. She helped me make it at the weekend and then I did it all on my own for Mr T_M and myself last night. I halved the quantities (ie 250g risotto rice & about 1.5 pints stock) and it was still enough to feed about 4 people, though! It's creamy goodness, but it's very filling! Warm chcoloate cake recipe from memory (to be checked & refined when I remember to bring it to work): 225g good dark chocolate (Green & Blacks 70% cocoa is good) 100g caster sugar 100g butter 3 eggs (separated) 25g (yes, honestly) plain flour You basically melt the chocolate, mix in the butter and sugar, add the egg yolks, then the sifted flour. Whisk the egg whites, fold about a third of them gently into the chocolatey mix, then add the rest and stir. When it's all combined, pour it into a 8" cake tin and bake for 30mins at gas mark 2 (I think, but let me check...). Let it sit for 10 mins when it's out of the oven and then eat while warm with thick cream or ice-cream (& optional marzipan birthday teddy-bears). Heatherbelle Oct 11 2002, 04:00 AM I'm glad you managed to do it on your own. Isn't it fabulous in the winter weather? The Chocolate cake recipe she's just posted? Pure chocolately goodness. Very, very rich, but so, so nice. T_m had to then deal with me being hyper, but if she will feed me chocolate and sugar... Veda Oct 11 2002, 08:40 AM If you're like me, you need this. Measurment Converter Vanishing Point Oct 11 2002, 09:28 AM I just made this for the first time and it was so good I had to post. The recipe is absolutely foolproof, easy to do and there is hardly any washing up, perfect really. The flavours and smell is to die for - I love hot and sour soups but this is the first time I've made one at home and I was amazed by how well it turned out. If you don't like hot things (as in chilli hot) then I'd skip to the next recipe. It comes from Real Food by Nigel Slater which is probably my favourite cookbook. Tom Yam Gai Serves 2 1 Chicken breast, skinned 1 litre of chicken stock 4 spring onions, finely chopped 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped 1 stalk of lemongrass, chopped into 2.5cm lengths and slightly cruched 3 small red chillis 4 lime leaves 1 tablespoon of fish sauce 1 teaspoon of sugar 1 tablespoon of fresh lime juice 1 tablespoon of chopped coriander leaves Bring the chicken breast to the boil in the stock, then turn the heat down to a simmer. Cook until the chickin is tender, about 10 minutes. Remove and cut into thin shreads, set aside. Add the spring onions, garlic, lemongrass, chilis and lime leaves to the broth and simmer for another 10 minutes. Add the fish sauce, sugar and chicken and simmer for another 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the lime juice and season to taste. Finally stir in the coriander and serve. Yum. underwater_desert Oct 14 2002, 11:30 AM Oooh! I made almost exactly that soup last week, except with added prawns. I lifted mine from "The Return of the Naked Chef" by Jamie Olliver - can't stand the man, but some of his recipes are pretty damn fantastic. Pandrea Oct 14 2002, 03:32 PM Not a recipe as such, but has anyone tried piri-piri sauce? I think it's African. It's hothotHOT but delicious - just made a great turkey stir-fry with it. And I must say Jamie's fish and spinach pie is very good, not too difficult either. Vanishing Point Oct 14 2002, 06:51 PM We've got both The Naked Chef and The Return of the Naked Chef but it is definitely becoming harder and harder to watch his television shows. The first one was good but it didn't take long for his Essex boy "charm" to start grating. libbylou Oct 14 2002, 07:15 PM I just want to be Nigella Lawson when I grow up. I've got the second of the Naked Chef books and made a really nice eggplant, tomato, olive and pasta dish out of it. Mmmmm Yum. Piranha Oct 14 2002, 07:17 PM Toby likes Nigella Lawson. This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. 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