"B" is for bake with me

I received an e-mail recently as I often do, with a request for some baking help for my daughter’s school. This time it was a specific request for a few hundred butter cookies in the shape of a letter B, decorated in school spirit colors, blue and yellow. I noticed that my friend Christina was also on the e-mail so before responding I sent her a note suggesting we bake and then decorate together. It’s just so much easier and enjoyable to volunteer with a friend. Christina agreed and we accepted the job.

Although I will occasionally bake something simple like a batch of chocolate chip cookies or banana bread alone for a school event, giving many hours of time to create hundreds of decorated cookies is a whole different story, one I’d much rather do with a friend. The cooking with friends’ way of life offers a simple way to give back to the community in a fun and rewarding way. In this case, Christina and I had both been busy and hadn’t really gotten together to cook or bake in a while anyway. This opportunity offered up some necessary catch up time.

And, for those of you interested in the logistics of our baking date, here they are:

Last Tuesday was the second day of spring and I awoke to a front yard covered with snow and no heat. Needless to say, I was a bit down (not the best way to start the day) and had to wait around for the heating guy while Christina got things started. She had the dough nicely chilled and some letters already cut and ready-to-bake when I arrived. We cut, baked and made icing together and then before we started with the decorating, I suggested we make banana bread as well – a bonus for our time together. She readily agreed and pulled 8 overripe bananas from her freezer. I ran home to get more bananas and some other ingredients. I hurriedly mixed a few batches of banana bread while she got things ready for the decorating phase of our cookie making.

Later, while we sat on stools facing one another methodically outlining cookies with icing and dipping them in sugar, our banana breads baked while we chatted away about life and our kids. Christina even whipped up a quick falafel pita sandwich lunch for us to eat. With a whopping 220 sparkling blue and yellow cookies, several loaves of banana bread, our three hours together, was a huge success.
It was a modern and efficient way to spend time and lunch with a friend. And although my day started out gloomy, it ended with a smile and a sense of accomplishment: girl time + volunteer time = an excellent day.

Big Batch Bonus Banana Bread
Makes 2 large loaves, 8 mini loaves or 48 mini muffins

1 stick of butter, softened
4 eggs
7 very ripe bananas
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup apple sauce
1 cup white sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
1 cup white whole wheat flour
½ cup wheat germ
2 ½ cups white flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
½ cup milk
2 cups mini chocolate chips (optional)

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat together the butter, sugars, apple sauce and bananas. Add the eggs and vanilla extract. Beat well. Gradually add the flour, baking soda, powder and wheat germ and blend well. Mix in the milk, fold in the chips and transfer to loaf or muffin pans sprayed with baking spray. If baking mini loaves, you’ll need approximately 40 minutes. If making mini muffins, bake for less time and of course large loaves will take longer – approximately and hour.

A Little Bit Irish and a lot of Tradition

Amidst our busy schedules, my friend Jackie and I snuck in a little Irish on St. Patrick’s Day. It was our third year in a row baking Irish soda bread together, officially coining a tradition. I had a corned beef simmering on the stove and a hunk of cabbage ready for a quick sauté for dinner (ok, so the non-Irish in me took some liberties here and rejected boiling cabbage) and was all set and pre-measured when she arrived. All I needed to complete the meal was the soda bread. With the gorgeous spring weather peeking through on a late winter day, I pre-measured the dry ingredients so our kitchen time would be brief and we could enjoy a bit of sunshine on my front porch while our muffins baked.

Jackie measured the wet ingredients while I whisked the dry ones. And as I measured the currants into my batter she stopped me before I threw some in hers. She announced that she’d be making hers with mini chocolate chips instead. She knew her kids would like them better, even though her husband would chide her for not using the dried fruit. (Jackie is known to enhance many foods with chocolate -- banana bread, pear and bran muffins! Who wouldn’t?) After I promised not to disclose her secret to her husband, she agreed to trade some of hers with mine. It was a nice arrangement since I knew my kids would prefer her chocolate ones and her husband would be pleased with the more traditional Irish taste.

Below is our recipe, which turned out more like petit scones than muffins. I am sure the chocolate chips didn’t hurt! Neither one of us likes caraway seeds, so our recipe isn’t faithful to the original Irish. Forgive us for taking liberties to create a delicious St. Patrick’s Day treat which can be enjoyed any day of the year as a plain old breakfast muffin.

A Tad Irish Muffins
Makes 12 large or 30 mini muffins

Hold the caraway seeds and substitute chocolate chips for the currants and you’ve got a scone like breakfast muffin. Although it hardly resembles Irish soda bread, it’s delicious none-the-less.

2 ¼ cups unbleached white flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup sugar
1 ½ cups mini chocolate chips (or currants)
1 egg
1 cup sour cream
6 tablespoons melted butter
Course sugar for sprinkling on the tops (optional)

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar and chocolate chips. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, sour cream and butter. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry.

Grease the muffin tins with butter or baking spray and fill halfway with batter. Sprinkle the tops with sugar and bake for approximately 18 minutes.

Inspiration Comes Full Circle

While Suzy and I were making pot pies together last week, the “what’s for dinner” conversation happened, as it often will. I suggested she try the simple apricot curry pork I made the night before and showed her our leftovers. She asked for the recipe, remarking how delicious it looked. As I took her through the simple steps – a quick sear and seasoning, a deglazing of the pan and a 30 or so minute bake in the oven – I remembered that it was in fact her curry pork dish that first inspired me. We were in her kitchen quite a ways back, baking a batch of biscotti together, when she raved about her grilled curry pork tenderloin served with apricot chutney and its popularity with the family. I couldn’t resist the sweet and savory flavor combination of curry and apricot and proceeded to create my own recipe, which was entirely new and different. (So dissimilar that Suzy didn’t even recognize her own pork dish as the influence.) I’m always motivated by friends and marvel at how sneaky inspiration can be sometimes.
Here’s my simple curried apricot pork recipe. It’s an easy yet impressive weekday dinner that can be whipped up in no time.
Curried Apricot Pork Tenderloin
Serves 4

Simple yet delicious, this pork dish is a perfect weekday dinner when you’re short on time and want something easy.

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 2-pound tenderloin of pork
¾ teaspoon Madras (or other) curry powder
½ teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
1 medium onion, diced
4 ounces apricot preserves
¾ cup chicken stock

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the pork loin and season with half the curry powder, salt and pepper. After a few minutes, flip and season the other side. Cook for another few minutes. Add the onions to the skillet and cook for a few more minutes. Meanwhile, coat the pork with the apricot preserves and transfer to a baking dish. Next you’ll want to deglaze the pan, mixing in the stock and scraping up the pan drippings. Pour the stock from the skillet over the pork and bake for approximately 45 minutes until tender and cooked all the way through. Spoon the sauce and onions over the pork and serve with a steamed vegetable and rice.

Cooking With Friends: Chronicles of a Postage Stamp Gardener

Cooking With Friends: Chronicles of a Postage Stamp Gardener: "I’m excited to let you know that I’m starting a new section to my blog which will appear frequently. I’ve thought a lot about where my new ..."

Cooking With Friends: Chronicles of a Postage Stamp Gardener

Cooking With Friends: Chronicles of a Postage Stamp Gardener: "I’m excited to let you know that I’m starting a new section to my blog which will appear frequently. I’ve thought a lot about where my new ..."

Chronicles of a Postage Stamp Gardener

I’m excited to let you know that I’m starting a new section to my blog which will appear frequently. I’ve thought a lot about where my new blog should go, whether or not I should find it a home somewhere out in the blogosphere or keep it right here in the comfy home of CWF. Well, as Dorothy famously exclaimed, there’s no place like home. After all, my garden will be planned with the help of friends, my vegetables will be tended in the company of friends (and sometimes, like when I’m away, by my friends) and of course, there should Hopefully (with a capital H) be many vegetables to cook endless meals with friends from my very own garden.

I’ve never had a green thumb. In fact, it’s kind of on the brown side. Although I grow my own herbs and a handful of vegetables, I’ll admit that I’ve never been great at it and am perpetually envious of other people’s thriving and productive gardens. Let’s just say, in the gardening department, the grass has always been greener on the other side.

Granted, I’ve had some gardening obstacles over the years. My biggest issues involve sun and soil, which from what I understand, are two fairly critical success factors to gardening. The front of my house faces the sunny south, which is great for hanging out on the front porch and lawn, but leaves the backyard lacking in direct sun. Therefore, the more traditional garden carved out of a large patch of sun drenched land has always been out of the question for me. So, I am a skill-challenged gardener with some less than ideal conditions but with the heart and soul to do it.

The title of my new blog, “Chronicles of a Postage Stamp Gardener” will record my escapades (which I can assure you will be plenty!) while attempting to grow a hearty and healthy garden. I’ve chosen Duane Newcomb as my gardening prophet and his book, The Postage Stamp Gardening Book, as my bible. If you’ve never heard of it, don’t panic, you haven’t missed the latest and greatest book in gardening. (Or maybe you have but give me a few months to give it a go!) The book was published in 1975 and I’m in possession of a very worn and tattered copy; a birthday gift from my Mom and Dad, both of whom are well aware of my determination to succeed at gardening.

Apparently, my childhood garden, which graced the front lawn of my cookie cutter suburban split level home, was designed and sustained with the guidance of this very book. Although the neighbors weren’t happy with the taboo front yard garden, my parents were proud growers and credit The Postage Stamp Gardening book for much of their success.

So, if you’ve ever had an interest in growing your own food, tune in to my new blog and if you’re adventurous, grab a spade and rake and join in – we can garden virtually together! I’d love some company.