friday links

Happy Friday kids!

It's 70 degrees, sunny and the humidity is low here on cape cod.
As I type this, I have my office window open and the breeze is cool and refreshing.
I never thought we'd get to this weather during those weeks (months?) of blizzards/storms this winter.
I am so thankful spring is here, and summer is right around the corner.
Been a little guilty of playing hookey this week and heading to the beach.

A big thank you to Sante Nuts for sending me a nice little care package of nuts to try.
Have you tried these?  They are sold at Whole Foods and a few other places, which you can find here.
They have these cardamom cashews, wow, they were good!
My favorite was the roasted salted pecans. They are so crisp, and have just the right amount of salt.
Really good nuts, high quality, great tasting.
I have a request Sante Nuts!  If all your nuts taste this good, you have to make a kicked up peanut version!
Maybe if you all leave a comment we can get Sante Nuts to do a giveaway?
How about it? Let's convince them.

The Powerball will be up to almost 300 million this Saturday?
Will you play?

Remember my "extra" crunchy broccoli salad?
Well I made a new version.  A new sauce, made with mayo, chipotle tabasco, and honey.
So good.  If you want to try it, just follow the recipe above, and instead of the sauce in the recipe, just mix mayo, chipotle tabasco sauce, and honey--all to taste.
That chipotle tabasco is so good!  I cannot get enough of it.

Any idea how much I want one of these? Found at Schoolhouse Ice Cream Harwich Port.

Dedicated plagues on benches, boardwalks, posts, etc.. are fairly common here on many cape cod beaches.  I found one that I loved and had to share it with you.  Isn't it beautiful?

Tis the season for dipped cones. It's supposed to be butterscotch, but I swear it tastes like orange.

Gorgeous right?  I love the beauty of cape cod and her ocean. Nauset Lighthouse Beach.

I love how there are now signs up.  As if people didn't already know there are sharks in the ocean.

This past winter and all the storms made us realize how much and how many trees we have to take down.  I saw a lot of damage done to houses near us.  Made me think it's time to get rid of some trees just in case.  So far we had two taken down and have about two more.  The latter are bigger trees and will cost a lot more, sadly.  I wanted to share this photo with you because it was so fascinating to me, to watch this tree guy climb up the tree, like a monkey WITH a chainsaw in hand!
He's really skilled at what he does (duh), and in really good shape too.  lol

One of my favorite photos taken this week. Early morning walk, I got to see one of the fish boats heading out.  (chatham fish pier).

around the web:
5 primal meals in 35 minutes from marks daily apple
man survives entire year w/out internet.  (LOL, yes a real story) from designtaxi
possible cure for grey hair? from youbeauty
calisthenics vs. weight-lifting from fitness republic
cicadas are coming to the east coast (a lot of them!) from io9.com
hackers indicted for withdrawing 45 million from ATM's from elitedaily
triple berry curd from some the wiser
quick & easy strawberry shortcake from just a taste
chocolate "pop tart" pie (bookmarked!) from the knead for speed
abercrombie & fitch CEO explains why he hates fat chicks (what an asshole!) from elitedaily
I really want this double infusion iced tea pitcher (BPA free) from republic of tea
one of the most powerful antioxidants from mindbodygreen
it's national arthritis month Do you know the facts & myths of arthritis? from health.com
buckeye pie from serious eats
10 reasons to keep lemons on hand from yoganonymous
"woofie" pies (whoopie pies) for dogs from bittersweetblog
homemade nutella 'magic shell' for ice cream from view from the great island
going gluten free: 24 resources to do it right from greatist
hazelnut-chocolate torte w/ espresso ganache from serious eats
honey-sriracha roasted pecans from cafe sucre farine
increase serotonin w/ these 21 foods from organic authority
love this "oversized" art installation from yatzer
homemade mallomar bars from serious eats
a dream home for cats from designtaxi
chocolate crepes from a kitchen muse
homemade ice cream "drumsticks"! from thekitchn (bookmarked)
pressure cooker pork vindaloo from the bitten word
top problem solvers aka top finalists in presidents challenge from harvard gazette
new app: Noom Weight Loss Coach from greatist
10-minute core blasting Pilates  (NOTE: I love this and do it. But doing it on the hard floor or even a yoga mat killed my back. So now I do these poses in bed. And that has made all the difference in supporting my back.) from greatist

Have a wonderful weekend!
Happy Mothers Day!

banana-butterscotch skillet cake + Kohl's Gift Card Giveaway

Kohl's asked me to test out a few items from their Bobby Flay Cookware line.
How could I say no?

Stainless steel bowls with a non-skid bottom?
What a dream these are!
I'm never going back to plastic mixing bowls!
These are some of the best bowls I've used, and trust me I've owned a lot of mixing bowls, most of them plastic--which never last long, and tend to wilt, stain, and crack.
Never really thought of stainless steel used in a mixing bowl, but now I see why.
Good thinking Bobby Flay. When he created these, he had durability in mind.
The cast iron pan from Kohl's is my favorite.
First off it's square and holds a lot more.
Second it's a lot lighter than your traditional cast iron pan.
And thirdly, it has a handle on both sides for easy removal from the oven--love that.
You know cast iron just isn't for grilling?
You can make a banana bread with it too.
AND chocolate chip cookies.
A kicked up banana bread.
I think I prefer making my banana bread in a cast iron skillet. It bakes up moist with a nice crust to it.
I call it a cake, a bread, not sure what it is really, more of a cake as it's not as heavy as a banana bread.

You need to get the Bobby Flay Cast Iron Pan. So much easier to move, use, grill and take out of a hot oven.  Square size just holds more too. Plus it comes pre-seasoned!

Stainless steel. Just those two words had me sold. We all know stainless steel will last a lot longer and is less likely to scratch, dent and warp over time.

The Bobby Flay stoneware line is stunning. You should see the other colors!
I'm partial to the yellow color.  And this 3 1/2 quart stoneware casserole dish has a whole other stoneware line that goes with it: the cutest 4-piece ramekin set, ceramic square baking dish, and a ceramic lasagna pan.

Have you made a cake use cast iron pan?
It's really quite simple--almost one-bowl easy too.


Just mix the batter, pour into greased cast iron pan, and bake!


Kohl's was kind enough to giveaway a $25.00 gift card to any Kohl's store.
All you have to do to enter is tell us what YOU think Bobby Flay Cookware line should come up with next?
What kitchen item should be Bobby Flay's next cooking/baking idea?
Have a good idea?  Tell us.
Need some inspiration?
Visit Bobby Flay's Kohl's line and have a look around...
Please leave ONE comment, and have a valid email address in your signature line.
All anonymous comments will be deleted.
Drawing will be done May 15, 2013.
USA residents only.

CONTEST CLOSED

nutty banana-butterscotch skillet cake

print recipe

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½  TB baking powder

1 ts baking soda

¼ ts salt

1 ts ground cinnamon

½ cup shortening

½ cup sour cream

½ cup buttermilk

4 ounces unsalted butter, at room temp

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs, + 1 egg yolk

3 very ripe bananas, mashed

½ cup butterscotch chips, optional

½ - ¾ cup of pecans or walnuts, chopped, optional

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease with non-stick spray your cast iron skillet.

In a small bowl, mix all the dry ingredients, set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer, mix the shortening, butter, sour cream, buttermilk, and sugar. Add in the eggs, mix, then add in the eggs, and mix.  Then by hand, mix in the mashed bananas.

Doing in batches, add in half the dry mixture to the wet mixture, mix till just combined, then add in the other half of the dry mixture and mix till just combined.  Please don’t over mix.

Gently fold in butterscotch chips, if using.

Pour the batter into prepared skillet pan. Top the batter with the chopped nuts.

Bake in oven for about 30-35 minutes.

Look for golden brown edges and non-jiggly middle. 

You can also use a cake tester to see if cake is done.

My cake was done right at the 30-minute mark.

It’s a delicate cake so it can go from done to overdone in literally a couple minutes.

Remember the cast iron heats up a lot faster and holds the heat better than a metal pan, so this cake bakes up fast.

strawberry-lime ice cream (no cook)

One of the best things I love about food blogging is learning about new food trends.
Last year (or maybe earlier)  I saw the quick emergence of no cook ice cream.
I had my doubts of course, how can this taste good without a nice creamy custard base?
Just try it and see what happens.
Because in all reality, when it's summer, and it's 90 degrees out with 100% humidity on cape cod, all you can imagine eating is ice cream. And the last thing you want to do is stand over a hot stove constantly stirring a custard base for ice cream.
You want ice cream now and fast, AND you, if you're like me, want to have ice cream done your way with your own add ins and flavors.
I have no idea who started this wonderful trend, but I'm thankful for it.
It tastes just as good as regular custard base ice cream.
And it's fast--it's one bowl fast.
So keep this recipe handy for the summer.
It's adaptable to almost any type of fruit preserves, juices, coulis, etc.. should you not want to use strawberry-lime.

I topped mine with toasted coconut.


Lots of fresh lime zest!



Adding the fruit by hand ensures fruit bits in every bite!

strawberry-lime ice cream

adapted from a ton of recipes on the Internet

print recipe

ice cream base:

14oz. sweetened condensed milk

3 – 3 ½ cups of half & half

pinch of salt

strawberry-lime:

¾ - 1 pound fresh strawberries, chopped small or large

2 TB sugar

juice of 2 limes

zest of 1-2 limes (depending on how much you like the taste of lime)

In a medium bowl, mix together the chopped strawberries, sugar, lime juice & zest.

Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours over longer.

When ready to make ice cream using a colander drain off the juices if there is a lot.  Keep the liquids. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the sweetened condensed milk, half & half, salt, and the strawberry-lime juices.

Mix until thoroughly combined.

Pour mixture into ice cream maker and follow manufactures directions.

Right before the ice cream is done churning add in half the strawberries.

You’ll add the other half when you place the mixture into a bowl.

I do it this way so it won’t overcrowd the ice cream maker and spill onto the sides.

Working fast, pour a little bit of ice cream into freezer safe bowl or container, add in some strawberries, add on more ice cream then strawberries. Repeat this till its all in the bowl.

Freeze mixture until it is set up, usually a couple hours.

Should make 2 quarts? (I never really measured).

friday links

Happy Friday!

Happy to see the weekend is here.
And our weather is finally nice.
We have a nice long stretch of nothing but pure sun.
You have no idea how great this feels--we had a horrid winter.  Remember all those storms?


Looks tropical doesn't it?

What do you do when you're stuck in traffic on the Sagamore Bridge?
Take a photo of course.

Ben & Jerry's Greek Frozen yogurt is really good!
This is the peanut butter & banana. Loaded with peanut butter chunks.

Do you like my buddha? Found him at Lowes Depot--that scary hardware place that I hate.
I had to buy him, I mean come on, look at him.
Finding just the right spot for him in the garden--I'll let you know.

My "go to" snack for the car and office.
One bag each of trader joes: sweet & spicy pecans, smoked almonds, roasted coconut chips,
lightly sweet walnuts, and peanuts.

My latest obsession? Coconut Bliss Dark Chocolate Bars. Man those are good!

Google reader is closing down in june or july.
What readers are you moving to?
I heard Feedly is good.
Here are some easy tips for making the transition smooth from your old reader to Feedly.
Eating organic on a food stamp budget from bon appetit
Invisible plugs: recessed outlets (very clever) from remodelista
Why we struggle to lose weight from greatist
Peanut butter crunch coffee cake from food librarian
84 signs you have celiac disease from mindbodygreen
Carrot cake scones from savory sweet life
102 chakras: how our asana practice relates to chakras from yoganonymous
peach cobbler cookies from foods for the soul
How to make energy bars from america's test kitchen
How & why meditation works from positively positive
Has science discovered the answer to eternal youth? from intentblog
Cheater Korean Beef from girl who ate everything
DIY vintage duck toy cookies (stunning!) from sweet adventures of sugar belle
Make your own kombucha from the yellow house
PB & J twinkies from domestic rebel
The rise of the tick (very informative) from outside magazine
4 natural detox programs from yoganonymous
Get fitter, faster, stronger w/ quality sleep from marks daily apple
Giant rubber duck sails into hong kong harbour from the telegraph
DIY homemade root beer from america's test kitchen
Banana cupcakes w/ chocolate-pb frosting from the hungry housewife
Carrot cake pancakes w/ maple-cream cheese syrup from baker bettie
Gluten free rosemary-cheddar & black pepper crackers from 84th & 3rd
How to make gyoza from adora's box
Avocado fritters! from a beautiful bite
How to prevent diabetes with everyday foods from natural news
Freezing nerves may relieve chronic pain (for good) from everyday health
And last, but not least, I give you, "seeing eye guide for the text obsessed idiots" (not kidding!)

Have a wonderful weekend!

banana cream crumb cake

Painfully obvious how much I adore crumb cakes.
Kicked up crumb cake actually.
I make a LOT of crumb cakes on the blog.
Fell in love with them when I first went to NYC (oh a long time ago)
I saw this cake to crumb ratio what was literally 40% cake and 60% crumb; instantly I was in love.
Who was the brilliant creator of such a masterpiece?
With a small amount of research crumb cake aka coffee cake evolved.
Back then crumb cake and coffee were pretty much the same, now a days they have distinct meanings.
Like most food genres they do evolve or are a cross-breed of one thing or another by accident or by lack of one ingredients swapped out for another.
Interesting timeline I found on food cake evolution.
I've always had on my "to bake" list a banana crumb cake--it was time to cross that one off.
There is a hint of rum in here; how can you not bake or cook with bananas and not add in a touch of rum?


A little bit of prep work, but once that's all done the assembly is quite fun.
I love layers of flavors, don't you?

Sautee bananas with butter and a bit of rum. Don't skip this step, it's worth it I promise!

Use a spoon to layer or like I do just use your hands.

Gently flatten the banana layer down a bit.

Cream cheese layer in between the banana layers.

Mile high crumb. Crumb is the best part isn't it? I like my crumb a nice giant pinch of salt.



Since there is banana in the crumb cake, I like to store these in the fridge, especially in warmer weather.

banana cream crumb cake

print recipe

Cooks notes:  this is a thin cake batter; it’s more of a NYC style crumb cake.  

It will seem very thin when you put it in a 9x13 inch pan, but it does rise about ½ an inch.  

This is also a sticky batter, so use wet hands to smooth it out in pan. 

If the dough it too dry and crumbly, just add in a splash or two of half & half. 

Please keep this in the fridge, covered for best freshness.

cake:

¼ cup canola oil, plus more for pan  

½ stick unsalted butter, melted & cooled

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan  

½ cup + 2 TB granulated white sugar  

1 ts baking powder  

½ ts coarse salt  

1 large egg  

¼ cup half & half (might need a splash more, can use whole milk)

1 ts pure vanilla extract  

crumb topping:

1 cup flour

1 cup packed light brown sugar

¾ ts coarse salt

1 stick unsalted butter, melted & cooled

for the crumb topping:

In a medium bowl, combine all dry ingredients, pour melted butter over mixture, and toss with a rubber spatula until large crumbs form. Set aside.

banana-rum mixture:

2 large bananas, not overly ripe

2 TB granulated sugar, or to taste

2 TB butter

1-2 giant dashes of rum (I used Morgans Spiced rum)

for the banana-rum mixture:

Chop up the bananas into half inch pieces. Over medium heat, heat up the 2 TB of butter, Sautee the bananas until they get a little brown; then add in a dash or two of rum.  If you’re comfortable with flambé then go ahead and do so, if not, then just cook the rum out about 3-4 minutes.  Take off heat.

cream cheese mixture:

8 ounces cream cheese, room temp.

1 large egg yolk

1 ts vanilla extract

2 TB white sugar

for the cream cheese mixture:

Mix all in a bowl (really well) until ready to use. Set aside.

for cake:

Place rack in center of oven, and heat oven to 350°.

Lightly butter a 9 x 13 baking pan and dust with flour, and tap to remove excess. (I’ve also used the Pam with Flour and it worked just fine). Set aside.

In a medium bowl, sift together 2 ¼ cups flour, add in the granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a second bowl, whisk together egg, butter, half & half, canola oil, and vanilla.

Using a rubber spatula, fold dry ingredients into egg mixture.   It’s a sticky dough, if the dough is not moist enough (looks/feel very dry and crumbly) you can add a few dashes of half & half in.

Keep in mind this dough is not pourable, not very liquid, more of a dough-like batter.

Spread batter evenly into prepared pan (to keep batter from sticking to your hand or spoon, just wet or oil your fingers or a spoon and spread evenly throughout pan). 

The batter should be about half an inch high, it will cook/rise to an inch thick. (Don’t worry if the batter is very thin and hard to get into the corners, it does spread out as it’s cooking).

Next put on the cream cheese mixture; I did this in vertical lines in the pan. And on the other sides of these lines I added on the banana mixture.  If you want swirls and no lines then apply the topping/ mixtures however you desire.  Next add on the crumbs, making sure to cover the whole top.

Bake for 14 minutes, rotate pan.

Then cook another 5-10 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

It is hard to tell when cake is done, but look for golden brown edges.  Remember the cake part is thin and does bake up fast. 

You have to let this set up at least an hour before slicing.

Using a serrated knife or bench scraper, cut into 3-inch squares.

Store in an airtight container for up to 2-3 days in the fridge