Pesto

This is a recipe I've been making for a while. My cousin gave it to me when I lived in Australia. It changes everytime I make it but here's the jist of it...

Ingredients:

1 10oz Bag Baby Spinach

1/4 cup Pine Nuts (Optional)

1/2 Cup Basil chopped

4 Cloves of Garlic

2 TBSP Parsley

4 TBSP Olive Oil

1/4 cup Pine Nuts (Optional)

Cubed Feta Cheese (Up to one cup)

Directions:

Pick stems off spinach leaves. Wash spinach in strainer until damp. Cook spinach in low - medium heated non-stick pan for a couple minutes, doesn't take long to cook.

Put the cooked spinach, basil, the first measured pine nuts, garlic and parsley into a food processor, stream in olive oil to loosen. You may need more or less depending on your ingredients. More often than not, I use feta in place of the nuts.

Mix with cooked pasta in a wide pan with cubed feta till coated and cheese is softened slightly. 

Pulled Pork & Buns

On the weekend I bought a pork shoulder for $5, it was 2 pounds. This recipe said that it would make 8 servings of pulled pork. I was pretty skeptical about the root beer idea so I seared the pork first and rubbed it with a BBQ rub before I put it in the slow cooker with the root beer. I also added a small amount of the bbq sauce to it just to keep the flavour in it. I cooked it on high for 3 hours for the first section.

Once the pork was in I started the buns. They were pretty easy to start, I used buttermilk instead of milk because I had it and was hoping it would work fine. Also I accidentally added the melted butter to the dough. It didn't seem to cause any problems. The buns are really easy if you have enough time to let them rise 2 or 3 times. I let them rise in the oven that I had pre-heated and turned off.

At the last rise in the bowl I split them into bun size and put them in the baking sheet to rise for the last time. I shredded the pork and drained it at this time. I also added BBQ sauce, there's no way I used 18oz, I probably used 1/4 cup, maybe 1/3. It didnt shred too easily so I cooked it for another hour on low and shredded it some more. Then I cooked it some more for another hour, stirred it and set it to warm while I cooked the buns. They took 15 minutes to cook. If you want bigger buns it won't make the full amount. Most of mine were fairly small except for a couple.

All in all the meal was a bit sweet tasting. The bbq sauce was sweet and the root beer made the pork sweet and the buns were a bit sweet. It was really good but could have used some pepper probably.
Here are the links and picture!

Pulled Pork & Buns

Vanilla St Patricks Day Cup Cakes

Where better to get a cupcake recipe then from the cake boss. They looked awesome on TV so I had to find a way to use them. I followed the recipe exactly except for vanilla bean in the icing. It took about 23 minutes to cook in my over but they came out really good. Probably the best cake batter I've ever made. I tinted the icing green so they would actually be St  Patrick's Day looking. Here's the link and the pictures!

Vanilla Cup Cakes

Deluxe Waffles

Today I thought I would have a real breakfast, that I didn't have to pay for. I had all the ingredients easily, but you'll need a waffle maker. I didn't add anything, but I should have added some vanilla and maybe a little bit more oil.. Chocolate chips would also make these even better. The recipe says 6, it just made 6 and the last 2 were mutant waffles but now I can freeze them and have real breakfast a few more times!

Deluxe Waffles

Banana Bread

I buy banana's for the sole use of using them in banana bread. I will look at them on the banana hanger for a week until they are the nicest shade of brown and then its time for banana bread! I chose this recipe because it had so many bananas in it. A lot of recipes I had found before only used a couple of banana's, but I want so many in there you wonder how it stays together. I added some extra spices to the original recipe just to add some warmth to the bread. I recommend a metal masher for bananas, especially if they're not quite brown yet.


Banana Bread
(Adapted Slightly from Here)

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Vanilla extract
2 1/3 cups overripe bananas - about 5-6 bananas

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly grease a loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

In another bowl, mash your bananas! I recommend a metal masher.

In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs, vanilla and mashed bananas until well blended.

Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. If you leave anything un-hydrated if will stay that was after baking. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 55 to 65 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

I topped the one below with walnuts about half way through baking.

Baked Shells

Today I decided I needed to start using random things in my fridge. Most perishable = cheese, spinach. I have kilos of cheese in my fridge, freezer and garage. Seriously. The recipe I chose has alot of cheese in it;

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, divided

1 ball of fresh mozzarella cheese (1/2 pound).

I didn't have mozza in a ball but I had grated mozza so I used that. And I have a parm-gouda blend cheese that I used instead of the regular parm. Its not quite as strong. I changed a few things to fit with what I have in the kitchen. Another thing I changed was it wanted me to make my own tomato sauce, I had one in the pantry so I used it. I have never in my life used frozen spinach, I also always use baby spinach.

Not going to lie, it smelt a bit funky after I poured the tomato sauce on top but it was really good and I made it be 6 servings so I could freeze some. I used Antico Roasted Garlic Sauce, how it tastes could depend on what sauce is used. Its not even that cheesy tasting for the amount that's in it.

Here are pictures and the link. Its not the best looking dish, but it was really really good.

Baked Shells

Mac & Cheese

I make this all the time, probably at least once a week. Its really easy and I make the white sauce in the microwave instead of on the stove because it's much faster. I also use cracker crumbs on the top. Sometimes bread if I have it. This recipe is probably pretty standard and its from my Mom so I don't have a link to it. You'll just have to guess. Or maybe I'll tell you. No promises.