Banana Chocolate Cookies October 13, 2009

Banana by Jason Gulledge

I had two ripe bananas that nobody was gonna eat, but I didn’t want to make a banana bread again. I googled for some recipes, and came up with one for banana chocolate cookies. You’ll need 1/2 cup butter, 1 cup (or less if you’re not a big fan of sweet things) sugar, 1 egg, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence, 1 and 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon soda bicarbonate, 2 bananas, pinch of salt, chocolate (use as much as you want, depending on how strong you want the chocolate taste to be. You can use chocolate chips too).

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 350F.
2. Mix butter with sugar (your life will be considerably simplified if you leave the butter at room temperature for 30 minutes before you start working on it).
3. In a separate bowl, mix egg with vanilla. Then gradually incorporate it into the butter mixture.
4. Add flour, pinch of salt, soda (I always dissolve it with one teaspoon of lemon juice) and bananas.
5. If using chocolate chips, simply add them. I used 2 squares of a cooking chocolate bar, melted it in a small pan (you can do it on the stove or in the microwave). Incorporate melted chocolate into the mixture.
6. If you want (and  I would highly recommend it), add some raisins and a bit of rum.
7. Using a spoon, place small round cookies on two baking sheets. Bake for 10-15 minutes.

Photo credits: Jason Gulledge

Celery, Apple and Carrot Salad October 23, 2008

Since apples and celery root are fresh in fall, you can combine them in a very tasty salad. It’s easy to make too, which is always an advantage. This is what you’ll need:

1 (medium/ small) celery root (cut the skin, rub with a lemon slice)

1 apple (peeled)

2-3 carrots (peeled)

some raisins and nuts

1 tbs sour cream (or mayo)

All you have to do is just grate the celery root, the apple and the carrots (tip: if you want full flavor, use the finest grating option). Add raising and nuts, salt and pepper. Use a tablespoon of sour cream (or mayo) as a ’sauce’, and voila, your work is done! Good if kept in the fridge for 2-3 days.

Fruits to look for these days October 22, 2008

I try to eat my 7 fruits and veggies a day, but man, it’s hard… I buy most of my fruits in Superstore, Safeway or Coop, and while the last two are always better than the first, all three stores bring tasteless, plastic-tasting, heavily waxed fruits (hey, i have to scrub apples with detergent!!!).

If you wanna eat some good fruits these days, look for oranges (with very smooth, thin skin), kiwi (especially the golden one from New Zealand is quite tasty), pears and pineapple (look for the yellowish one which smells intensly). Some of the seedless grapes are quite sweet too.