So this week, the Sunday Funday group is posting recipes using almonds. Camilla of Culinary Cam is our hostess this week, and here's what she said 'February 16th is National Almond Day. Let's share any recipes you like with whole almonds, sliced almonds, almond meal, or even almond butter. Sweets, savories? Bring it on. Hosted by Camilla.
h I shared a recipe for what I think is the best Banana Bread I've ever had last week; it had almond flour in it. But, for some reason, I've got a bit of a sweet tooth going, and it's still Banana Month, so I thought I'd have some fun and play with some ripe bananas and some almond flour. This is actually a remake of a post I did a few years ago about Banana Pancakes, but I've remade it, hopefully a touch healthier, or not, but it's still delicious.
I love substituting almond flour wherever I can. I just love the taste, and while it's nutritionally more dense, as in more calories than regular flour, it's perfect for those people who are celiac, avoiding gluten, or are sensitive to gluten.
And I usually have bananas on hand, ripening way faster than I can eat them. Which is why I currently have a few bananas in the freezer, ready to be made into Banana Bread. But this recipe actually calls for a fresh, ripe banana.
I don't know about you, but I buy bananas at a certain stage and end up not eating them. They get overripe, at least to my taste, so then I place them in the freezer. OK, so I'm picky.
I like bananas, but they have to be almost totally ripe, still a touch green on the skin, and very firm. More than that, they go into the freezer for the next batch of banana bread. As soon as those dark spots start forming on the peel, they're too ripe. I know, fussy, fussy, fussy. But I like what I like. I also like adding some coconut and chopped pecans when I make the pancakes.
And you know, they're really kinda healthy, so long as you don't add a bunch of syrup and butter.
Here's the recipe:
Banana Pancakes
Yield: 2
Author: Sid's Sea Palm Cooking - Adapted from many recipes
Bananas, eggs and almond flour makes for a great pancake.
Ingredients
1 ripe banana - mashed
1 egg
4 tablespoons almond flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons each of coconut and chopped pecans - optional. Add to the batter, before cooking, if desired.
Instructions
Mix the mashed banana, egg, almond flour, and baking powder together. If using the coconut and chopped pecans, you can add them here.
Spray a frying pan with some non-stick vegetable oil, heat over medium heat.
Dollop 1/4 of the mixture into the pan, and cook until set. These do not act like regular pancakes; you'll need to lift a corner of the pancake with a spatula to check for color and flip them when they reach a nice golden color. There is no gluten, and the pancake will not act like a regular pancake.
A friend shared this recipe with me. It was one she'd cut out of a magazine. It immediately piqued my interest for a few reasons: the minimal amount of oil and sugar per loaf. And it was also gluten-free.
It's also Avocado and Banana month, and I honored the Avocado with my Spicy Avocado Deviled Eggs earlier this week, and now we get to the other part of the month, the Banana.
I've been making a good banana bread for years, but honestly, I wasn't crazy about how much oil the recipe called for, so when my friend, Lisa, shared this recipe, I sat up and took note. It's still really delicious, and for those of us who seek a little less sugar and oil in our diets, well, all I can say is this, WOOHOO!!!!
My only quibble when I read the recipe was that I didn't have any oat flour on hand. And when I raised that little quibble to my friend, she told me she'd made her own oat flour from some oatmeal she had on hand. I fixed that little issue, though. I took some of the oats I'd purchased, threw them into my blender, and whizzed them into flour. Best part, it costs about .05/oz., versus .34/oz. for the processed oat flour, and I don't know about you, but that is a pretty significant saving. And I do like to save, where possible.
I also used up the frozen bananas I had. I buy bananas a lot, but usually don't eat them quickly enough, and they get overripe. At which point I consign them to the freezer, in their original packaging. When I want to bake banana bread, I usually have enough for a couple of loaves of banana bread.
Hint: I take the bananas out about a half hour or so before I'm ready to bake. I then cut off one end of the frozen banana, squeeze out the innards into a bowl, and set it aside as I gather the rest of the ingredients. I also like to lay a banana slice lengthwise on top of the bread and use the natural division in the banana to separate it into thirds.
I have to admit to not really caring for Banana Bread that much, but if I'm going to eat it, I want some walnuts in it.
And since I made a second batch of bread and was feeling a touch lazy, I decided to use my gluten-free flour in it, instead of the oat flour. It did make a big difference. The oat flour seemed to make the bread very soft, whereas the gluten-free flour made it look more like traditional bread.
I also taste-tested both, and ummm, can I just say, they were both pretty darn tasty. I do think I prefer the one with the walnuts and gluten-free flour, though, but I wouldn't say no to the one made with the oat flour either. I also want to add I've made a lot of recipes using bananas. And while Banana Bread is not really high on my list of faves, I've made Oatmeal Banana Muffins, and I also love making these Banana Coconut Pecan Pancakes from time to time. A friend of ours always ordered the Banana Coconut Pancakes when we'd go out for breakfast. I can't remember if there were pecans on them as well, but I like pecans, so I usually add some. I also live in the south, and I'm not sure, but I think that everyone who lives here has to have a Banana Pudding recipe. I honestly do not know if it's still a requisite for living here, but just in case... I've also made a Banana Bundt Cake a few times. Talk about a sugar rush, this delivers it.
As you can see, I've celebrated Bananas a lot. And now for this edition of Banana Month.
Here's the recipe:
Banana Bread - gluten free
Yield: Makes 2 small loaves or 1 large one
Author: Sid's Sea Palm Cooking - Adapted from many recipes
Prep time: 10 MinTotal time: 10 Min
Love banana bread, but don't like all the oil in it? Try this method, it's a low-sugar, gluten-free loaf of deliciousness.
Ingredients
3 ripe bananas + 1 ripe banana, divided lengthwise into thirds, using the extra third for the batter.
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup Canola or vegetable oil
1 tsp. Vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups firmly packed almond flour
1 1/4 cups oat flour - made from quick oats or Gluten-free flour. The texture will be different with each one.
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. fine sea salt - I use extra fine Himalayan Salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 8x4 or 1 9x5 pan/s with nonstick spray, then set aside while the batter is made.
Mash bananas in a bowl until smooth, add the eggs, honey, oil, and vanilla, and mix well.
Divide a banana into thirds lengthwise, using the banana's natural divisions. Add one-third of a banana to the mashed bananas and set the other two pieces aside.
In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients and mix well.
Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, and mix until well combined.
Pour batter into the two pans, evenly, and place the 1/3 piece of banana on top, and press down lightly.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, checking after 35 minutes to see if the bread is browning too quickly, and test for doneness by inserting a toothpick; if it comes out clean, the bread is done. If the bread is not done, place a piece of aluminum foil over the top, and continue baking for another 10-15 minutes.
Cool the bread in the tins on a cooling rack for at least 20 minutes before removing the bread from the tins. Let cool completely before slicing and serving. Store in an airtight container.
This week on Sunday Funday we're celebrating Avocados since it's National Avocado Month, starting today. I had to participate since avocados are one of my favorite green veggies. BTW, it's also Banana Month as well, and I'll be sharing my Banana Bread recipe later on this week.
Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm suggested we have fun with Avocados this week. She's also our hostess for this event.
I made some Spicy Avocado Deviled Eggs with some Guacamole and Sambal Oelek.
I got hooked on Guacamole the first time I tried it, and I'll buy avocados and make Guacamole just cause. Why am I talking about Guacamole?
Well, it just so happens that this week on Sunday Funday, it's Avocado Month and
I'm sharing my recipe for Spicy Avocado Deviled Eggs, along with a shortcut. I'm sure we've all been there: picked the perfect avocado, taken it home, cut it open, and found it all brown inside. Or we've gotten some unripe ones, taken them home, let them ripen, cut them open, and YUCK. Big old brown spots, showing where they were bumped or ? during transportation.
Awhile ago, ok, so it was several years ago, I bought some premade, or rather processed, avocado in little tubs. These are by Wholly Avocado; some are guacamole, and some are just plain processed avocado. I like keeping them in my fridge for those avocado emergencies, cause I'm tired of chucking avocados, cause they have a habit of ripening and needing to be used TODAY by 2PM at the latest. You know what I mean. And now that you've suffered through my avocado lecture, let me bore you with my hints, or rather, my hard and fast rule when it comes to making hard-cooked eggs.
I'm quite frankly shite at figuring out how long to cook eggs to get them to the perfect doneness, so many years ago, I bought an Eggsact Egg Timer. You can get it here. I love my Timer and use it often because I love a soft-boiled egg, and this way I can cook it to my taste.
If I can plan ahead, when I make Deviled Eggs, I like to take the eggs out the day before and let them sit on the counter for at least 24 hours. Mainly because I buy super-fresh eggs, and they are notoriously hard to peel once they're hard-cooked.
I then cook them with my timer, the timer changes color and lets you know how cooked they are by where the color changes, and as soon as they're hard-cooked, I take the pot, drain the hot water, and shake the eggs inside, fracturing the shells.
I then fill the pot with cold water, let them sit for just a minute or so, pick off a little piece of shell, puncturing the membrane a little,
Place the egg back in the pot, and continue until I've done all the eggs. Then I peel them. The eggs will still be warm, but you can handle them easily. The cold water gets in under the membrane, and the shells peel away easily.
And if you should happen to find a stubborn egg, well, gosh, if you're making deviled eggs, just smoosh that egg white in with the rest of the yolks. You just get more filling that way. Or if making egg salad or potato salad, no one will know but you. I've been making my hard-cooked eggs this way most of my life, and it works. I buy very fresh eggs, which are notoriously hard to peel, so I let them sit on the counter for at least 24 hours before cooking them.
Now that we have those two things out of the way, let me show you how to make my spicy avocado deviled eggs. I made only 4 eggs this way, because while I love eggs, I can only eat so many per day. OK, so two is my usual limit.
I also want to say, that if you do my little trick of setting the eggs on the counter overnight, make sure they're sitting upright, as the yolk will migrate to the side of the egg, and that means a thinner side wall, as you can see here, getting the yolk out made me 'break' or tear that thin side wall.
I also have fun with my eggs. I don't just cut them lengthwise; I'll cut them in half, then cut a very thin slice off the bottom, so they sit nicely, before I cut them in half. Variety is the spice, they say.
You will also end up with way more filling than you need. I personally like piping them into the egg whites with a star tip,
but you do you. However, you get the filling in there, it's good. I like the leftover filling on crackers or tortilla chips as a nice little treat/snack.
Here goes the recipe, such as it is. I only made 4 eggs this time, but if you make more eggs, just increase the amounts as needed. I would suggest a dozen eggs, 2 avocado mini's, or a half cup of mashed avocado.
Check out the fun my fellow Sunday Funday bloggers had with Avocados.
Recipe for the Spicy Avocado Deviled Eggs follows:
Spicy Avocado Deviled Eggs
Yield: 2
Author: Sid's Sea Palm Cooking -
Deviled Eggs are so much fun to play with. You can add all kinds of deliciousness to them. I added Guacamole and Sambal Oelek to these eggs. Just double, triple, or quadruple the ingredients for your deviled egg extravaganza. I cooked 4 eggs for this recipe, but you can do more
Ingredients
4 hard-cooked eggs, cut lengthwise or in half.
1/4 cup prepared guacamole
1 heaping teaspoon Sambal Oelek, more or less to taste.
1 teaspoon mayonnaise if desired
Instructions
Mash up the egg yolks on a plate with a fork and, if need be, add any whites you massacred, breaking them up as well.
Place the mashed egg yolks and any whites into a small bowl.
Add the guacamole and the mayonnaise if needed, stir together.
Place the mixture into a piping bag, equipped with a star tip.
Pipe the mixture into the prepared egg whites. You can enjoy the leftover egg yolk mixture on crackers or tortilla chips, or make a fancy egg sandwich. Cause there will be leftovers, depending on how high you pipe the filling onto and into the egg whites.
I love cream of soups, but I'm watching not only my sodium these days, but I ended up on a soft foods diet for a few weeks, thanks to some dental work. So I decided to go ahead and make a cream soup base I could add various flavorings to. I used to make this many years ago, but my husband wanted the 'real' thing in the cans, so I stopped making it.
I'm the only one in this house whose opinion counts anymore, so I decided to whip up a batch to have on hand, and then started experimenting...
I had dehydrated some mushrooms the other day, and decided that they would be great in this soup. And, umm, they would have been great, but I added an Umami Mushroom Seasoning that had red pepper in it, and the red pepper hijacked the bowl. I ate it anyway. And discovered along the way that this soup works best if it's whisked into cold water before heating, cause otherwise, you get clumps. I'm not sure if it's potato or cornstarch clumps, but it does take away from the soup. I'd dehydrated some mushrooms, then chopped them up a bit, added the dried mushrooms to some water, and let them cook for a few minutes before adding the cream soup mix to it. There is absolutely no reason you can't use fresh mushrooms, just saute them first, or not, as you wish.
The chopped dried mushrooms in the pot, simmering away
And along the way, I experimented a lot. I made my base up and then added stuff, as in the featured recipe.
I even ordered some Tomato powder so I could try and recreate one of my faves, Cream of Tomato soup. And it worked, really well.
In fact, I'm enjoying my cup of soup as I write this. I can't say this is just like the Tomato soup in a can, but gosh dang, it's pretty close. I added a heaping tablespoon of tomato powder to the pot of soup, and in retrospect, should have added it to the dry mix before I added the water, as it did 'clump up' a bit. I also added a sprinkle of onion powder.
I do keep a can of mushrooms in the pantry for 'emergencies', using them when I get a craving for something mushroomy, and when I don't have fresh or frozen mushrooms on hand. So I decided to go ahead and make some more cream of mushroom soup using the canned mushrooms along with some mushroom powder I'd purchased. I'm not saying it's the same as the gloopy mushroom soup in a can, but it did/does taste good. And if you make it yourself, you know what the ingredients are. There is some sodium in the potatoes, as well as a bit of sodium in the mushrooms and ghee, but I don't think it translates out to too much overall.
I even made some 'cream' of celery soup: I added 1/2 teaspoon celery salt to the base, simmered the celery in a 1/2 cup of water for 10 minutes before adding it to the cooked soup, water and all. I think it could have done with a little more celery flavour, but my mouth was happy, so that's all that counts. 😋
Can you tell I had fun? It was a delicious sort of fun.
Another caveat: this is a milk-based soup, so it can scorch on the bottom, as I found out, and develop a 'skin' on top if left uncovered. I usually put the leftovers into a container, float some plastic wrap on top, as if you were making custard.
Check out the fun soups from the other Sunday Funday Bloggers:
Author: Sid's Sea Palm Cooking adapted from many recipes
Prep time: 5 MinCook time: 10 MinTotal time: 15 Min
Rather than opening a can of cream soup, make your own base from scratch and customize it to your taste.
Ingredients
6 oz. non-fat dried milk powder
4 oz. instant mashed potato flakes
3 tsp. chicken bouillon mix (I use Herb Ox, salt-free)
2 tsp. Salt-free Garlic Herb seasoning.
1/2 cup cornstarch + more if needed.
Seasonings
Mushroom Soup: Add 1 -2 teaspoons Mushroom Powder + 1/3 cup chopped dried mushrooms for Mushroom soup. You can also add either some chopped fresh mushrooms or a can of mushrooms.
Add more chicken bouillon for cream of chicken soup, along with 1 teaspoon dried parsley.
For cream of celery soup: Add finely chopped celery to the base mixture and cook for a minute or two. This is a good place to use up celery leaves and trimmings. You can also cook the celery in a couple of cups of water, let it cool, and add the strained celery water to the base mix.
If you're craving Tomato Soup, add a tablespoon of Tomato Powder to taste.
Have fun with the flavours, and customize it to your taste. I did.
Instructions
Mix together the base ingredients, place them in a jar or plastic container, and dip out as needed.
2 1/2 cups cold water to 3/4 cup mix for soup. Whisk into cold water and heat up. The cold water helps to keep it smooth. Let it cook for a couple of minutes, stirring often, season if desired, then serve and eat.
A few years ago, there was another great blogging group called the Secret Recipe Club. In that group, we were assigned a blog to find and make a recipe from. I found this recipe for a Pizza Dip and, sadly, have only made it a couple of times since, but I think it's well worth a repeat.
Especially since the Super Bowl is coming up, and a good dip is always a welcome addition. 😉 I'm not hosting Tapas once a month anymore, but have been known to go to a Super Bowl party, and you know you can't go empty-handed. Even though I just watch it for the commercials.
The theme this week for the Sunday Funday bloggers is Pizza.
Share your favorite homemade pizza or a twist on pizza using classic pizza ingredients in another dish!
I decided it was time to remake this Pizza Dip. It's a little bit much for a single person, so I cut it way down and enjoyed it as my dinner one night. And one of the best parts of this is that you can make it ahead of time, as in the day before, put a cover over it, and bake it the day of.
The first time I made it, I served it with some Naan. This time round, I ate and enjoyed it with some Ciabatta bread I'd made.
Now that I've got that out of the way. I also had a bit of a happy accident with the dip. I didn't have any small dishes that I could put in the oven, so I pulled out a small fry pan, all of 6 inches wide, and put my dip in it, then placed it into my little toaster oven to bake. AND YUM!!!! The cheese on the bottom of the dip, came out lovely and crusty and I'm now very happy with doing it this way. In other words, I'll probably bake it in a cast iron pan the next time I make it.
I was having some issues with my phone, well, with a couple of apps (Norton and TikTok, I'm looking at you), that had decided to Hijack my phone, and didn't get any pictures as I was mixing this up. However, after I applied some judicious 'thumping' to the phone, it finally decided that maybe it could behave, at least for a bit. I'll be stopping in at my provider soon to have them fix the issue, if they can.
I had some chopped peppers, onions and mushrooms in the freezer, so I pulled them out, mixed them in with some pepperoni
and topped the cream cheese mixture with it, and then dumped, added lots of cheese to the top and baked it. I don't measure cheese, usually, just eyeball it and dump. 😜
And there was just enough there for my dinner.
I'm not super fond of pizza, but I have to say that the balance of flavors here was pretty darn tasty.
My late husband would have loved it, one of his favorite meals was pizza. And I'm not sure but, I think that if you don't enjoy it on some bread, it may actually qualify as a Keto meal, ie: Pizza.
Pizza Dip
Yield: 8-10
Author: Sid's Sea Palm Cooking adapted from many recipes
Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 20 MinTotal time: 35 Min
This is a great dip for Super Bowl, or anytime you need to bring a dip to share.
Ingredients
8oz. package low fat cream cheese
6oz. container 0 % fat Greek Yoghurt
1/2 teaspoon Garlic powder
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese
1 cup prepared pizza sauce
1 cup shredded Italian style Cheese mix
1/2 cup chopped vegetables and/or cooked meats (I used a combo of Mushrooms, Green Pepper, and Black Olives, and some sliced Pepperoni)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a small bowl, combine cream cheese, sour cream, Parmesan cheese, garlic, and Italian seasoning using an electric mixer.
Top the cream cheese mixture with pizza sauce and spread evenly to cover.
Sprinkle Cheese evenly over both sides.
Sprinkle vegetables on one side and meats and veggies if using a divided dish. I used a combo of Mushrooms, onions and Peppers for the veggies, and some sliced pepperoni for the meat side. I added an additional 1/2 cup of so of cheese over the veggies and meat.
Bake 20 minutes or so, until the cheese is melted.
Posts
