Posted in baking, Food, Uncategorized

Banana Bread

Posted on by carrienotcary

I’m late to the banana bread party that happened early this Spring but this stuff is good. Really good. My family will eat it for breakfast, lunch, an after school snack, or even dessert. So now you too can make this easy recipe and wow your family and friends.

Banana bread starts with you guessed it, bananas. When the bananas are past their prime I don’t always have the time to make banana bread. So I freeze them. Yes, I put them directly into the freezer brown spots and all and after a while when they are good and frozen the bananas will look a lot like this.

When I decide to make banana bread I usually double the recipe so I can make one loaf to eat right away and another loaf to either give to someone else or freeze for another day. So the following recipe will make two loaves but you can divide it in half and just make one if you so choose.

The process is not pretty. Frozen bananas are ugly and slimy but oh so necessary for banana bread. Take the 6 bananas out of the freezer and let them defrost for an hour or so in a bowl. Put them in a bowl or they will eventually leak all over your counter. You’re welcome for that small tip.

Cut open the bananas. I use a pair of scissors for this. As you peel the skin off the banana hold it over the bowl you want to mix it in. They are a squishy mess at this point and will likely fall into the bowl. If Obviously throw the empty skins away. I’m sure there is something out there telling us what can be done with banana skins but this is not that blog. Once you have peeled all your bananas mix them well. I use a Kitchen aid mixer with the paddle attachment.

When the bananas are well mixed add 2 cups of granulated sugar, mix again until combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl and the paddle, mix again briefly and then add 1 cup of oil. I use coconut oil but canola or another neutral oil will work as well. Mix again until the oil is mixed in and not floating on the top.

Add 4 eggs and mix well. Scrape the sides of the bowl and paddle and mix again before adding 6 TBSP of milk and 1 tsp of vanilla extract. I don’t think it’s important which type of milk is used. Regular, 1%, almond milk, whatever type of milk you have in the fridge will work. If someone tries buttermilk in this recipe let me know how it goes. Mix again.

Add 2 tsp of baking soda, 1 tsp of baking powder, 1 tsp of salt, and 4 cups of all purpose flour. Mix again. If up to this point you have ignored my advice to scrape the sides of the bowl and paddle attachment right now is when you should listen to me. Scrape the sides of the bowl and the paddle, making sure that you get all the way down to the bottom of the bowl because you want everything to combine together.

Use a non-stick spray to coat the insides of two loaf pans before you evenly pour the batter into the pans.

Bake on the middle rack of an oven preheated to 350 for an hour.

Check to see if it is done by using a long toothpick and poking it in the center of the bread on the top. If the toothpick comes out dry you are good to go. Otherwise if it is still gooey bake for an additional 5-10 minutes and then check again.

Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack for about 10-15 minutes before you slice it. These freeze really well and can be made in smaller mini loaf pans. If you use a smaller loaf pan start checking to see if the bread is done after 40 minutes.

Posted in backyard, gardening, seeds, Uncategorized

Digging indoors

Posted on by carrienotcary

These empty egg containers filled with dirt and seeds were the beginning of this year’s garden. When the Covid hit the fan back in March I thought I would see what I could grow. Big disclaimer here, I am NOT a gardener. However, March being as weird as it was, I thought I would try.

Two weeks later I had signs of life. So I kept at it.

By the end of April some of it was getting tall! Still it had to stay indoors. Early Spring in Indiana is not friendly to planting. It is now mid-May and last week we still had occasional frosty nights. But I’m going to have to move this soon!

In just over ten days, I’ve gone from sprouts to plants.

I did replant some of the Roma tomatoes into their own much larger pots.

I’m sure that the four smaller pots are not nearly large enough, but hopefully they will buy me some time to keep these tiny plants alive long enough to find larger pots or the right spot to plant them in our yard. I even purchased the funky tomato cages in the event that I am able to keep these tomato plants alive long enough for them to require support. I was so hopeful that I purchased a few other items for my rapidly growing peas, green beans, yellow squash, spaghetti squash, and one lone zucchini plant.

If the weather cooperates I will put the carrots and broccoli in the ground this week. The red peppers I think I will try to grow some in containers and some in the ground. The basil, oregano, and parsley will go into a container also. My flowers? I have some zinnia that sprouted, the marigolds and impatiens are struggling, and the petunias are a definite no show.

The many strawberries and two blueberry bushes that I purchased back in March? Also looking rough. I tried the laundry hamper method of growing strawberries that I saw on You Tube as a last ditch effort to see if any strawberry plants would come back. It’s not looking promising.

One surviving blueberry bush and a very sad container of would be strawberries.

Did I mention that in the middle of this my yard gave me poison ivy? Yup, that was not what I was expecting. I think it came from pulling weeds sans gloves in this spot.

I’ve learned my lesson again and will wear the gloves from here on out. Maybe in a month or so these plants will start to produce a crop. We’ll see. I’m amazed they’ve come this far just from egg containers. Next garden report in four to six weeks.

Posted in Food, friends and family

Happy Mother’s Day a little early

Posted on by carrienotcary

Look what I found on my doorstep yesterday! On Monday I placed my order from Fresco Spice Blends and by Thursday afternoon it had arrived. Speedy!

Originally I was just planning on replacing my Fresco Ranch seasoning that I purchased ages ago at the Fort Wayne Farmer’s Market. Then I realized that I had to share what I had discovered. So I went online and ordered one for me and one for my mom, then added a few more blends that looked too good to resist.

Last night I roasted cut up sweet potatoes and russet potatoes tossed with olive oil and Fresco Spice Signature Blend. So very good! I used about 1/2 a tablespoon of seasoning and some olive oil poured over the potatoes in a bowl. Mixed it together then spread them out on a rimmed baking sheet and baked/roasted them on the center rack of my oven at 450 for 15 minutes. I took the pan out and flipped the potatoes over then put them back in for 10 minutes on the same rack. I like crispy potatoes so I finished them for 5 more minutes on the top rack of the oven.

This container is the Coast to Coast blend.

The seasoned potatoes went really well with grilled chicken. Again, I just mixed spice and olive oil.

In one bag I used olive oil and one tablespoon of the Coast to Coast seasoning and in the other bag I used a tablespoon of Penney’s Little Italy. Very easy and delicious! Today we can enjoy the chicken again sliced on a salad, in a tortilla wrap, or maybe just dipped in hummus for a snack.

The other half tablespoon of Signature seasoning from the potatoes? That was put with olive oil into a quart size freezer bag of smaller chicken pieces. Now I have seasoned chicken that I can defrost and cook another night.

Did you actually think that my freezer was organized? Um no, I’m lucky if the kids remember to reseal the bag of chocolate chips!

Mom, if you’re reading this, sorry to spoil your surprise! Happy Mother’s Day a little early!

Posted in baking, Food, friends and family, Uncategorized

Pizza Night

Posted on by carrienotcary

Friday night is pizza night. These mini pizzas are just a few of the ways you can personalize your own pizza using this versatile French bread recipe.

Pizza, cheesy stromboli, or a crusty loaf of bread. These are only a few ideas.

Ingredients

3 cups unbleached flour ( I use King Arthur’s bread flour)

1/2 tsp salt (kosher or regular iodized is fine)

1 cup warm water

1 package of rapid rise yeast (or 1 TBSP of instant dry yeast, either will work)

1 1/2 tsp of sugar or honey

I bake quite a bit so I purchase larger quantities of instant dry yeast. Once a package is opened I store it in a resealable plastic bag in the refrigerator.

Put the yeast, warm water *important only warm not hot*, and sugar ( or honey) in a mixing bowl. I use a Kitchen aid mixer. Use the dough hook attachment to briefly mix the ingredients, maybe 30 seconds or so. You could also use a wooden spoon at this point but I just use the dough hook.

Very high tech here, just a kitchen towel to cover it once you’ve mixed it.

After you’ve briefly mixed it, stop the mixer and use a kitchen towel to cover the bowl. I leave the dough hook attached because it will be used again in 20 minutes. This break allows the yeast, sugar, and water mixture to bubble.

After 20 minutes the mixture will be bubbly and a bit thicker. At this point remove the towel and add the salt. Then mix for just 10 seconds or so.

Add the 3 cups of flour to the bowl and begin mixing it on a low speed still using the dough hook attachment.

Notice that the dough is a little bit dry.
After adding some water, not quite a half cup, the dough becomes stickier.

After maybe 30 seconds or so increase the speed to 2 and add water to the measuring cup already used for water earlier. Tap water is fine, it doesn’t need to be warm. Pour the water a little bit at a time into the bowl of dough while it is mixing. The goal is to make the dough a little bit wetter without leaving any residual water at the bottom of the bowl. So you most likely will add about 1/2 a cup of water total before the dough is the consistency that you want.

So what kind of consistency do we want? Sticky yet starting to clean the sides of the bowl at the top. If you’ve made other dough from scratch like those for cinnamon rolls, this dough is not going to feel or look smooth and elastic like that type. Mix it for 2-3 minutes max at level 2 speed going no higher than 4. While it is mixing get a large bowl and coat the inside with olive oil.

I call this nested collection of bowls my cooking show bowls. The largest bowl is the one I put the dough in to let it rise.

After you have tilted the bowl in all directions to distribute the olive oil up the sides of the bowl there will still be a puddle of oil at the bottom of the bowl. I have not measured how much olive oil I pour in but I will guess that it is less than 1/4 a cup.

Turn off the mixer, use a plastic scraper to scrape back into the mixer the dough clinging to the hook. Scrape the dough out of the bowl directly into the oiled bowl. You can use your hands or use the scraper to flip the dough completely over in the bowl so that it comes in contact with the oil on each side.

Remember that towel? Briefly get it wet, just ball it up and wave it underneath warm water from the faucet. Not dripping wet just a little damp. Now use it to cover the bowl with the dough. Let the bowl sit covered for about an hour to let the dough rise.

After an hour the dough should fill the bowl and may be touching the bottom of the towel that is draped over it. Take off the towel and the dough is ready to use.

If you are making pizza preheat the oven to 450, if you are baking bread preheat the oven to 400. While the oven is preheating sprinkle some all purpose flour on the clean surface that you will use to roll out the dough. The countertop that I use is quartz and does not require alot of flour to keep the dough from sticking to the counter as I roll it out. In our old kitchen with the laminate countertops, I needed to use more flour on the surface to keep it from sticking. Start by using part of a 1/4 cup of flour and see how much of it you need.

If you are making pizza or loaves of bread spray your pans with a non stick spray and set aside.

My family has gotten spoiled with mini pizzas. Everyone can choose their own toppings and everyone is happy. Grab a handful of dough from the bowl and put the lump of dough on the floured surface. Using a marble rolling pin or a floured wooden rolling pin start rolling the dough out into a circular shape. I have a double sided hand held mini roller that I bought years ago from Pampered Chef and this tool is very useful making the mini pizzas. Once you have the dough in the size and shape that you want place it onto the prepared pan and it is ready to be topped however you like. Repeat until you use up the dough.

In the beginning it’s kind of hit or miss in terms of judging the size of dough ball to roll out. You might end up with a thicker or thinner crust depending on how much dough is used and how thin or thick you roll it out. No worries! It all bakes the same, start by setting the timer for 12 minutes if your pizzas are especially thin. In general we bake ours for 12-15 minutes depending on their thickness.

Enjoy!


If you decided to bake bread instead, make your bread into the shape that you want and let it rise in the pan for 20 minutes covered with the same towel that you used before. Uncover and bake at 400 for 25 minutes and presto, you have freshly baked bread.

I typically double the recipe so that I can get either two full size loaves of bread, 10-12 mini pizzas, or a combination of these options. The dough can also be used to make stromboli, mini calzones, or a sausage roll. I bake the sausage roll or stromboli using the directions for the bread and the calzones I bake for 15-20 minutes at 400.

Give it a try and you will be surprised at how easy it is. Happy baking!

Posted in baking, Food, Uncategorized

How to make even better Buttermilk Biscuits

Posted on by carrienotcary

Look at that! I bet you want to know how my biscuit looks that beautiful. No secrets here. I just followed my Grandpa Oliver’s advice, if you can read you can cook.

I got the best biscuit advice from two different sources, Chrissy Teigen and Reese Witherspoon.

Chrissy’s contribution was the emphasis on cold butter. Not just butter that was cold, then cut up and left on the counter. Not good enough. Put that cut up butter back in the fridge until it is COLD and you are ready to use it within seconds. I tried it this way and combined with the advice from Reese, I’d say we have a winner.

I’m not sure why I hadn’t thought of this but to have layers in your biscuit you need to make layers in your dough. Thanks Reese! Roll out the dough so it is about an inch thick, then fold the dough in half and roll it out again. Repeat this rolling and folding. I probably did it four times. The last time you roll the dough out, roll it so it is about half an inch thick.

Cut the biscuits out in a straight up and down motion. Don’t twist the biscuit cutter!

Place the biscuits on a baking sheet right next to the edge of the pan and right next to each other so they are touching. I had not ever heard of this but it makes sense. The biscuits will rise taller instead of spreading out wider if they don’t have room on the sides to expand. Apparently biscuits are very supportive of each other.

Keep gathering the scraps of dough and re rolling until there really isn’t enough dough to make another biscuit. Here is the last piece of advice …use that little bit of leftover dough to roll with your hands into a snake shape. Put that bit of dough next to the biscuits on the pan that don’t have any other biscuit friends to support them on their sides.

I didn’t have time to get a photo of the freshly baked pan of biscuits before they were devoured. The only proof I have is the photo of these remaining three biscuits.

Posted in Uncategorized

Good catch Lord…Thankful Thursday #2

Posted on by carrienotcary
Still in one piece!

This dish almost flew out of my soapy hand and smashed in the sink. It didn’t. As I started to lose my grip of this little plate I had visions of it shattering into a zillion pieces in the sink and slicing my hand in the process. But no, it didn’t. I regained control of the plate and said, ” Good catch Lord”. Then I realized how many times I don’t even recognize when God has caught me. The times I have been saved from myself and my foolish choices, all of these moments of peril that I was completely unaware existed.

So today I am re-igniting Thankful Thursday. I am so thankful for God’s grace. The prayer today is that we can notice more of the seemingly small moments in which we have been held in God’s hand and the moments where we have been dragged back from danger much a like a parent hauling their screaming toddler over their shoulder after they nearly ran onto a busy street. Thank you God.

Posted in Uncategorized

Dutch Oven Beef Stew

Posted on by carrienotcary

Unless you’ve been in a well insulated cave, you know that a good chunk of the United States has had way below normal temperatures in the past few weeks. Cold weather = comfort food and one of my favorites is beef stew.

In years past I would have just thrown the ingredients along with the contents of a seasoning packet into a slow cooker and walked away for a few hours. The results were always so so; warm but not exactly satisfying .

This season I have upped my game and started using a dutch oven for the beef stew. The prep is mostly the same as before but the results are amazing.

Ingredients:

2 lbs stew beef, cubed

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves minced

1/2 onion chopped finely, not quite minced but small pieces

2 cups red potatoes, quartered

4 large carrots peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch chunks or smaller

4 large celery stalks trimmed and sliced into 1/2 inch chunks or smaller

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

4 cups beef broth

1/4 cup corn starch

1/4 -1/2 cup water

1/2 cup red wine

Ready to go!

Alright, here is where you spend a bit of time getting things ready. I think the French call it mise en place or something like that. The point is to spend the time chopping and measuring your ingredients so that when you start making the the recipe you can add them exactly when they are called for. Things like carrots and celery can definitely be chopped ahead of time, hours or even a day or two!

I know this because I had intended on making beef stew the day before I was actually able to make it. Yours truly didn’t carefully read the recipe over and realized, after chopping the carrots and celery, that I didn’t have enough time to make the stew before dinner time. I was also missing key ingredients like potatoes! <Face palm>

So that being said, once you have everything prepped get your dutch oven or other pot or pan on the stove. Add the olive oil and turn the heat on to medium high. When the olive oil is hot add as many pieces of the stew beef that will fit comfortably in the dutch oven with out touching. Brown them on each side and then remove them to a plate while you continue browning the rest of the stew beef repeating the process until they are all browned. This takes maybe a couple minutes for each side, the point is to brown them not cook them through. One tip: when you first place the stew beef in the oil don’t move it! Let it sit there for a couple minutes so that it will develop a nice brown crust of sorts. Then after a couple minutes flip it over and then remove it once the other side is browned.

Some people meticulously brown all sides of the beef, I tend to just brown the front and back and call it good.

When you have browned all the beef, keep your pan on the stove over the same medium to high heat and add the garlic and onion and stir this around for about 2-3 minutes. Then add the half cup of red wine and use a wooden spoon or other non stick utensil to scrape the bottom of the pan to get all the browned bits of beef, onion, and garlic off so that they are in the wine rather than stuck to the bottom. This is called deglazing and it makes the stew amazing. Yeah, I know I rhymed there but if it helps anyone to remember this crucial step my work is done.

I have switched this part of the recipe up in these photos. So you are seeing the onions and garlic added after the wine. The results were good doing it this way too. As I explained above this can be reversed. So feel free to experiment with what works for you.

Now add the beef, potatoes, carrots, celery, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, and beef broth. Turn heat down to medium low and bring the ingredients to a low simmer. Cover with a lid and let simmer at this heat for 2 hours.

After 2 hours has elapsed open the lid. Looks good, right? Maybe just a little watery? Here is where the cornstarch comes in. Measure 1/4 cup cornstarch and place in a bowl. Pour 1/4 cup of cold water into the cornstarch a little bit at a time as you mix it. Then take this mixture and pour it a little bit at a time into the stew making sure that you stir the stew well after each addition of the cornstarch/water mixture. When it is all added and stirred together let the stew come back up to a simmer and it should then be at a good thickness. At this point it is ready to serve with a nice loaf of french bread! Enjoy!

Posted in cleaning, cocktails, Food, Uncategorized

So long summer…

Posted on by carrienotcary

Okay, I may have overplayed my hand trying to hype myself up for Fall and all things pumpkin spice. It was time today to switch out my warm weather clothes for the cool and cold weather collection.

Sigh….I’m not quite ready. I thought I was! But now, putting away my tank tops and shorts until next Spring and Summer is just depressing.

It doesn’t help seeing my neighbor’s sign the other day.

However well intentioned she is, this sign stresses me out each and every year! I start off seeing her count down thinking to myself, ” I’ve got this! 99 days, no biggie. I can certainly plan better this season.” Apparently I am very good at lying to myself. A few days ago I saw this sign again and wondered where on Earth did 33 days go?

So to bring back my summer vibe, if only for a moment, I made myself a cocktail tonight to toast the end of summer.

What should I name this creation?

The ingredients are approximates because I was a little reckless in the measuring department tonight.

3 oz strawberry daquiri mix

3 oz lemonade

2 oz rum

Pour into a glass of crushed ice and add unflavored seltzer water to top it off

Maybe listen to Memories by Maroon 5 and you have yourself an end of summer pity party. Nah. I won’t be down for long. I’m already wondering about adding cranberry juice to this for the holidays.

Cheers!

Posted in kitchen remodel, Uncategorized

Choices and more choices

Posted on by carrienotcary

Let’s go back to the renovation. It’s actually exhausting looking back realizing all the different decisions that had to be made at various times during the project. The choices began even before the reno was underway. Mid-November 2017 we received the new kitchen plans from Brad Faurote of Cabinet Concepts. We loved his ideas and went with him as the designer and provider of cabinets and counter tops.

Very close to the final design. I won’t bore you all with the multiple revisions!

First off we had to pick out the cabinetry itself. It’s apparently not enough to say I’d like some creamy off-white cabinets and call it good. No ma’am. My husband and I went to the Cabinet Concepts showroom and decided on the basic style of our cabinets and countertops so that we could get a quote. At this point we decided on raised panel Holiday cabinets and Cambria quartz countertops. That was the first stop and from there we would have to later decide which quartz and which style of cabinets.

We were also picking out new flooring for not just the kitchen. The dining room had wall to wall carpet that had seen much better days. Our entry foyer had cracked ceramic tile. The family room next to the kitchen had the remains of wall to wall berber that was unraveling in multiple locations. Our back hall way and half bath also were in need of an upgrade as they had the same dingy white linoleum as the kitchen. So I tried my best to figure out how these areas would all tie together. At one point I had samples of about 15 carpet , 6-7 luxury vinyl plank (lvp), and other vinyl floor swatches spread all over our family room. I spent hours rearranging them under a sunny slider window, in a darkened corner of the room, and next to our brick fireplace to see which shades played nicely together. We finally settled on using luxury vinyl plank for the majority of the spaces and a neutral grey wall to wall for the remaining two thirds of the family room.

As for the cabinets, I was not fully aware of the multitude of shades of white and off white there would be to choose from. Brad brought us samples of about 5 different types in which I had expressed interest. To be honest, we kept it simple and did not consider getting a glazed finish on them. I couldn’t imagine adding that to the mix. Although my neighbor did glaze her cabinets and they look great! But that is another story.

I brought home slabs of quartz of all different shades and styles. In the showroom we really leaned toward a creamy speckled off white color. After going to see it newly installed in a kitchen I nixed the idea because the pattern looked like coffee stains to me. That definitely underscored the importance of seeing the choices in other settings besides a showroom. Different lighting makes a world of difference! By the New Year we had finalized our quartz and flooring choices.

In mid-January we went back to Cabinet Concepts and spent almost three hours deciding on the specific style of raised panel cabinets that we wanted. I was entirely ignorant that you could choose so many specific details. We opted for the cabinets to be ceiling height to give us maximum storage, so also had to pick out the size and style of crown molding for the top of the cabinets. The Rev-a-shelf pull outs that we were able to include were definitely some of my favorite additions to the kitchen.

In the middle of all this we were also choosing appliances that would coordinate with our fairly new slate gray GE side by side refrigerator. We ended up ordering from JC Penney’s of all places. They had the slate gray double oven and slate gray dishwasher. Although a gas cook top is a culinary dream, we opted to go with a 5 burner electric ceramic cook top. One reason was the effort required at that point to figure out an alternative vent hood due to a gas cook top’s need for a higher CFI vent than the one already selected through Cabinet Concepts. The other reason was that I had terrifying visions of our kids starting a fire in our kitchen! So the choice was electric. A new microwave was also ordered to be installed above the coffee counter. As luck would have it , the matching slate gray microwave seemed much smaller than our previous microwave that we had mounted over our oven range. So we chose a Frigidaire microwave that seemed to coordinate the best. This has been the disappointment of the kitchen because our entire family is annoyed by the sound it makes to signal the end of a cooking cycle.

Once those decisions were made, it was then count down to tear out.

Posted in Uncategorized

Almost Fall

Posted on by carrienotcary

Soon our yard will be entirely covered in leaves. I have mixed feelings about Fall. On one hand, that is alot to rake! But on the other, can you say football food? I love that stuff!

Hoodies, jeans, and bon fires, yes please!!

But right now summer is hanging on by a thread here in the Midwest. I’m posting in shorts and a tee-shirt, but I know that it’s just a week or so away when I can say.

And Fall will finally arrive.