Sara Lisa's Iced Banana Cake

This cake is to be a knock off of Sara Lee's Iced Banana Cake. Since making this cake, I can't get Sara Lee's slogan out of my head "Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee", although I thought it was "Nobody does it like Sara Lee", until I did an online search. Truth be told, I have not had the Sara Lee version so I cannot make a true comparison. I mean, I have had a Sara Lee cake, just not the banana flavour in particular.

This cake was very easy to make. I liked the fact that it had very little "fat" added, although the lack of fat was made up for the huge amounts of sugar. For this challenge, my hubby helped me out, I had him run down the street to borrow a lemon from my neighbour as I had left it off my shopping list. A true hero.

The icing called for 3 1/2 cups of icing sugar, and wow it was sweet. Too sweet. In fact, if I make this cake again, I will most likely omit the icing as the cake itself is super moist and delicious. I would even add some walnuts to the cake batter. The buttermilk was a wonderful addition.

So, in keeping with my theme, here are the results from my family. This week I have two guest judges my mother-in-law Wanda and her partner David.

Jerry: "Very good, but the icing is too sweet"

Truman: Didn't say a word, ate the entire (huge) piece, and asked for a second helping

Oliver: Was fast asleep when I served dessert. No comment

Wanda: "Out of this world"

David: "Very good"

Michele: "Yummy, but the icing is too sweet"

I'm very excited for the next recipe!

The Larry TLT Salad

Just delicious. Yummy and so easy to make! To date, I have made several of the salad's from this book, and all have been amazing. I did omit the turkey bacon and will add it the next time I make the salad, but it is not needed if you want to make this a vegetarian dish. The dressing was so good and I thought it would make an excellent accompaniment for a turkey sandwich. Yum!

The croutons were an instant hit with the kids and I'm surprised I even managed to keep a few for my salad. Unfortunately, I was the only one who ate the salad, so there won't be a report from my family this time. My poor hubby had just undergone dental surgery and neither of my kids would have eaten the salad. Will definitely make this salad again.

Falafel Burgers

So again, I am posting late. I just can't seem to get on the computer these days to blog. I have to say, I was very excited to try these "burgers", I love falafels and who doesn't like ones that are better for you, since they are baked and not deep fried. I also liked the fact that I could hide a few veggies in there too. The falafels were easy to make, the hardest part was getting my food processor out of my cupboard! For whatever reason, my batch only made seven burgers, which was fine, as I was kind of tired of them after a few days. I loved the sauce and thought it was a nice addition. Would I make these again? Probably not. They were OK, but compared to the other recipes in the book, I would say there are other things I would rather eat.

So, like last time, my family will also be evaluating the food. Here are their thoughts:

Jerry: I can't eat this, it is too mushy and tastes like mushrooms (aside: my hubby hates mushrooms, I shouldn't have told him they were in the burger, and he would have eaten it, I am sure)
Truman: YUCK! (he proceeded to spit his mouthful in the sink and ate a plain pita)
Oliver: again he can't talk, but gobbled half burger one night and the other half for lunch the next day
Me: Good. Really enjoy the minty sauce

Tardy Tortilla Crusted Chicken

I have no excuse. I'm a day late posting. I could say it was for this reason or that, but I will chalk it up to bad timing and a little bit of forgetfulness, plus it's summer. Despite my tardiness, I am excited to start cooking, blogging and eating from our new book "Bite Me". So excited in fact, that I have already made several of the dishes in the book. So far, I have not been disappointed by any of the recipes. In fact, each and every one of them have been yummy, perfectly delicious! I really like, that I can make these dishes for my family, so they too are going to judge (when applicable).

No, that is not a picture of lasagna, it is the tortilla crusted chicken. Just delightful. Yum. It tasted better than this picture looks. I promise. I probably could use a better camera, but that's a whole other story. I digress. My favourite part of making this dish was hammering the hell out of the pieces of chicken. I was taking some of my daily frustrations out on these poor birds, but man oh man did it feel good. My only worry was that I was going to wake up my young son with all the noise I was making.

So, I think I mentioned my forgetfulness? While I was at the store picking up ingredients, I forgot panko breadcrumbs, so I substituted regular breadcrumbs and the result was still delicious. I also didn't have any garlic powder in the house (not sure why exactly), and it didn't impact the taste at all.

So what did my family think of the chicken?

Jerry: "So yummy" (he had his warmed up in the microwave)
Truman: "Mommy, don't ever make this meat again. I don't like it, it's too spicy" (and I made it without the jalapenos).
Oliver: he can't talk, but he ate all of Truman's chicken, and he's the picky eater!
Michele: "Unbelievably yummy"

I promise to improve my tardiness for the next post!

Summer Vegetable Tart

So this week's challenge for me should be called Baking with Oliver (and right now blogging with Oliver). I made most of this recipe with Olie either in the kitchen or in the carrier with me. It was one of those days, but I was determined to participate in this weeks challenge. Don't worry I put him down when the stove or oven was involved - I didn't want to add any injuries to the mix.

I have to say I quite enjoy Julia's savory dishes, especially with all the butter she uses in her recipes and this one was no exception. I clarified the butter even though I was tempted just to melt the butter in the microwave. To be honest I am not sure what a difference it made - maybe Tina can enlighten me. I didn't use close to 1/2 cup, so I have some clarified butter to use another time.

This was a very easy tart to make, the only problem (which is not really a problem) is that I am the only person in my household who likes mushrooms, so I will be eating the entire tart. I was hoping to entice my son, but he wasn't interested. Julia suggests serving it warm, but I have had it now at room temperature as well as from the fridge and both times I thought it was delightful. I doubt I will make this dish again since I am the only taker, as well this was not the prettiest dish to serve - flakes were everywhere!

I am looking forward to next weeks challenge. Until then, happy baking!

Berry Galette

I apologize for not participating as often in the challenges. I had a baby about six weeks ago and he has been getting all of my attention. However, once Oliver has more of a schedule it will leave some time for me to bake during the day. I am looking forward to doing some more baking. I did manage to go see Julie & Julia at a Movies for Mommies event. Julia is such an inspiration.

I made the Berry Galette one week before my due date and took it for dessert for our annual Shakespeare in the Park picnic. It got rave reviews so I made it again. I love making galettes period.

I thought I had already downloaded the pictures....I will have to upload them later this week as I have an infant attached to my arm. Tina and Misty however can attest that I made it!

Until next time happy baking!

French Strawberry Cake

Our baking challenge this week was a French Strawberry Tart. The cake is a genoise which is the most important cake a french pastry chef learns to make. When I read about it - I felt the pressure. Is this something that I could do? The recipe seemed reasonable, but I was still anxious about how fragile the batter seemed to be.

According to Julia, the eggs and sugar should take about 5 - 6 minutes until the batter is complete (when a ribbon of batter stays on top for about 10 seconds). My mixture took almost 10 minutes to get to that point. Unfortunately, I don't have a whip attachment for my mixer which is why I think it took so long. For the majority of Julia's recipes I have had to extend my baking time, but not for this one - I baked the batter for 25 minutes exactly.

The whipped cream was easy and simply delicious. I did not need all the whipped crean, so that I can use it for my left over strawberries. I only cut the cake in two layers, as I was not confident enough to cut it into three.

I brought the cake for Baba's birthday party tonight, and the cake seemed to be a hit, as there were no pieces left. This only means that I have to make another cake soon as the family went strawberry picking today and I have so many strawberries that need to be eaten.

On a side note, I wanted to let my fellow bakers know that I have made at least three batches of the cantuccini - my husband can't get enough of them. I think he ate at least 6 tonight!

Until next time beauties, happy baking.