banana bread

There is something so deeply nostalgic for me about banana bread. The minute I smell it, it takes me back to warm memories of my childhood, my grand parents and school lunch boxes.

I remember eating it in the holidays at my grandparent’s house after digging in the garden for worms with my grandfather. A great cup of sweet tea and loads of butter always accompanied it. Shortly afterwards we would go fishing with the worms we caught in his strawberry patch.

I was never short of a sandwich trade when ever I opened my lunch box and the wonderfully sweet smell of the banana bread would float out and kiss the noses of my friends. They would all lunge at the opportunity of grabbing a bite or a trade!

This banana bread is great because I have kicked it up a notch with a rich cream cheese frosting, which is silky smooth. You can always leave it off and just have it with butter. Plain or not this banana bread is quick to make and stays beautifully in the fridge for any occasion.

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

•   3 ripe bananas, smashed - don't have ripe bananas? Put them in the oven at 100 degree Celsius for 30 minutes

•   1/3 cup melted butter

•   3/4 cup sugar

•   1 egg, beaten

•   1 teaspoon vanilla extract

•   1 teaspoon baking soda

•   Pinch of salt

•   1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

•   1/2 cup pecan nuts, chopped

•   1/4 cup desiccated coconut

•   250g cream cheese

•   1 tsp. vanilla extract

•   1/3 cup icing sugar

•   1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Pecan nuts for decoration

instructions:

Preheat the oven to 180°c

Grease your bread loaf tin a 4x8 inch or 10 x 20cm

In a large bowl using an electronic mixer mix the butter and the mashed bananas.

Next mix in the sugar, egg and vanilla.

Next add the baking soda and salt and mix it into the batter

Add the flour to the batter and mix it in, careful to not over beat the batter.

Lastly add in the pecan nuts and coconut. Mix again just until all the ingredients are evenly combined.

Add your mixture to your baking tin and bake for 1 hour.

Allow to cool on your cooling rack in the tin for 15 minutes and then let it cool further out of the tin.

Now lets get started with the cream cheese frosting:

Sieve your icing sugar into your mixing bowl.

Add all the remaining ingredients and mix. Do not over mix the cream cheese or it will go too soft.

Ice your banana bread and top with pecan nuts for decoration.

Enjoy!

-Melissa

rustic tomato soup

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Every body loves a fresh and delicious Caprese salad. Everyone except me. It’s no secret that I am not a fan of the common tomato. I've tried but my taste buds simply do not agree. I recall being a young girl and my father even offering me money to eat a slice. Needless to say he kept his money and his tomatoes. Now that I am older I often wonder what it would be like to snack of cherry tomatoes. They seem like the perfect treat and they are so healthy. Unfortunately they along with many other tomatoes simply do not go down well. Then I discovered this soup. It’s simple, cheap and cheerful but bursting with flavour. It’s bold and sweet all at the same time! Its a winter warmer that I really recommend. On this day I decided to share the recipe with a good friend of mine who happens to be a health coach. I was rather proud when Nikita from Zesty Mannequin gave it the seal of approval on not only being simply delicious but also a winner in the eating healthy department. I have put a slight twist on the soup serving it with a pesto mozzarella toasties. These flavours sing of a warm Caprese salad and the twist allow me to enjoy the flavours I lose out on with the cold fresh version. 

 

serves: 4

ingredients:

  • 12 large tomatoes
  • 2 red onions 
  • 1 garlic bulb
  • 4 twigs of rosemary 
  • 2 tsp brown sugar 
  • olive oil 
  • mozzarella
  • pesto 
  • slices of your bread of choice-mine is brown seeded loaf

instructions:

Preheat your oven to 170°c

Give your tomatoes a good wash and place them into your roasting tray. Remove the rosemary from the twigs and put it in with the tomatoes. 

Peel and slice your onions in half. Place them in the roasting tray with the rest of the ingredients. Pour your olive oil over all the ingredients and mix it together with your hands, making sure everything is covered in oil before roasting. 

Sprinkle your sugar over all the ingredients, cover the tray with foil and pop the roasting tray into the oven for 40 minutes or until the onions and tomatoes and soft.

In the mean time we can get cracking on the pesto and mozzarella toasties. 

Place your bread on a roasting tray and drizzle olive oil over your slices. we are going to toast the bread in the oven.

When the tomatoes are ready take them out of the oven and pop your bread in. your bread will only need 1-2 minutes each side until its golden brown and just toasted. 

While they are toasting take all your ingredients and put them in a blender. Yes its that simple! Make sure you don't leave any juices behind! 

Blend it all up until it becomes a delicious thick tomato soup. Add the soup to a pot and put it on a low heat. i usually add two to three cups of water at the stage and salt and pepper to taste. 

Don’t forget to keep checking up on your toasties. Once they are golden brown, slice your mozzarella and place it onto the toast. Put your oven onto grill and put them under the grill for 4 minutes or until the cheese has melted to your satisfaction. Once out of the oven smear the pesto onto the cheese and slice into soldiers. 

While you are busy with this your soup should be blipping away over the heat. 

Serve your soup with your toasties-nice and hot and ready to delight!

-Melissa

irish soda bread

For as long as I can remember I have loved cooking shows. I remember sitting in front of the television mesmerized as a child and loving how each little bowl in front of the chef had the right amount in it for the recipe. It always looked so organized and perfect. I used to scribble down the notes, run to the kitchen put all the right amounts into a bowl, making sure everything was perfect and then pretending I had a cooking show. Then cooking or baking away. Never mind that every single bowl in the house was dirty after a simple chocolate cake.

Over the years its been a constant to sit down and enjoy a great cooking show. Picking up tips and tricks as well as great recipes. Trying them out and then adapting them to become my own.

This recipe is one of those. I was watching the Barefoot Contessa and simply loved the sound of this bread as it requires no kneading and is very little fuss, yet it is delicious and very more some bread. So true to my childhood I jotted it down and rushed into the kitchen. The only thing that has changed is that I use less bowls now!

serves: 6

ingredients: 

  • 4 cups of flour
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 55g butter
  • 1 3/4 buttermilk
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tsp orange zest
  • 1 cup dried raisins

Instructions:

Preheat your oven at 190°c

Grease a flat baking tray and leave aside ready for dough.

Sieve the dry ingredients into your mixing bowl.

Add the butter and mix when electronic mixer using the whisk attachment. Once the better is the size of peas, stop mixing.

Add your orange zest and wet ingredients and mix using your dough hook. Don’t over mix the dough.

Once everything is mixed add the cup of raisins and beat again. Don’t ever beat. Stop when the raisins are evenly mixed into the dough.

The dough will be a very wet dough.

Empty the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pull in together, the flip it over so that you are left with a neat round ball.

Take a sharp knife and make a cross on top of the dough.

Place the dough on the baking tray.

Bake for 45-55 minutes or until you tap the top of the bread and it sounds hallow.

wild mushroom soup

They say time you enjoy wasting, is not wasted time. I have to agree.

Winter is starting to come around for its yearly visit and I can't say I am much impressed. I truly could of done with another month of summer. I suppose the best I can do in light of my disgruntled view of winter is embrace in my cooking and all that comes with it.

I must admit no one is grumpy at the thought of a piping hot chocolate or soup in front of a fireplace, wrapped in a blanket and playing board games with a loved one.

If the thought of lazy days cuddled under a blanket and a good book appeal to you, then so will this recipe. Nothing as good as the earthiness of mushrooms coupled with the taste explosion that is truffle oil.

Take your time building the flavours of this wholesome soup. Have a glass of wine while staying warm in front of your stovetop and definitely above all else, share it with loved ones.

serves: 4

ingredients:

  • 2 brown onions
  • olive oil
  • 3 tsp crushed garlic
  • 5 twigs thyme
  • 350g wild mushrooms (variety)
  • 3 potatoes
  • 1 sweet potato
  • 2 vegetable stock concentrate sachets or roast chicken stock sachets
  • boiling water to top up
  • salt pepper
  • 2 Tbsp truffle oil
  • 250ml cream

instructions:

To start boil the kettle.

Dice your onions and put them in a pot with your olive oil over a medium heat.

Sweat your onions down and add your garlic. Make sure to stir continuously as you don't want it to burn and give a bitter taste in your soup

Wipe down our mushrooms and chop them into chunky large pieces. Don’t make them too small or else when you cook them they will shrink into nothing.

Add them to your onions and turn up the heat slightly. Keep stirring.

At this stage take your thyme off the twigs and add it to the pot. I enjoy fresh herbs so you can even add extra to taste-depending on what you love.

Peel and dice the potatoes. I dice them small, as I want them to cook into the soup and not remain chunky.

Add the potatoes to the pot.

Add the vegetable stock to the soup. If you want you can use roast chicken stock concentrate depending on if you are serving to vegetarians.

Add your boiling water until you fill the pot to the top. Bring to boil and leave to boil checking every 20 minutes. As it reduces top up again with more boiling water.

Never add cold water to something that is boiling. i repeat for about two hours letting all the flavours develop.

Once you have reached the two-hour mark and the pot is 3/4 full with the mushroom soup add 250ml of cream and your salt and pepper to taste.

Let simmer for a further 20 minutes.

Just before serving fold in the truffle oil. 2 Tbsp. is usually a great starting point but again, do this to your palette, as you taste your soup along the way.

Serve with croutons and while its hot.

-Melissa