STEW FOR A CHILLY WEEKEND!

Have to admit this dish was made a couple of weekends ago when it was really cold, Beef Stew with Herbed Dumplings. I had made this some years ago and lost the recipe then came across it by chance recently, tucked into a cooking book! It was a little more trouble than I thought it was going to be, but worth every minute, it was really excellent. Did enough for 2 meals, of course, as usual it was even better the second time around. Couple of tips for the second meal, the dumplings did not re-heat well, do enough to eat with the first meal only. Make sure the portion you keep to re-heat has a bit more juices/gravy than you would normally have as it does seem to disappear.

BANANA BREAD

This has been a family favourite for a while. Had a glut of bananas recently (Alan and I really should talk to each other when we both food shop!) and decided to try a different recipe. Leelee had mentioned that she had made Banana Bread and it was fantastic and I always think mine is pretty good, not fantastic! So, went to my usual source, Epicurious.com and found this recipe with rave reviews. Sorry Aunty Elaine who supplied the passed down, family recipe, I think I am going to be making this new one from now on!

UPDATE: Having made this many times now I have a few notes:

• It is really important to have really ripe bananas and to mash them, not just chop them.  I have learned the hard way!  I found it affects the cooking time a lot if the bananas are not ripe enough, the less ripe the bananas are the less cooking time you need. Once I realised this is seems pretty logical as the riper they are the moister they are.

• Even if you have overripe bananas, you need to cook it for less time than the recipe says.  Hard to say exactly how much less as my 2 loaf pans are both a different size from what this calls for, but probably at least 15 minutes before the given time I would take it out and check it.

• the order of the recipe annoys me.  First, turn on the oven, immediately put the walnuts in to roast.  Then whisk the eggs and sugar which takes 10 minutes,  during which time you can be sifting the flour etc.
• I added an improvement by accident one day!  I had mashed the bananas in 2 bowls, I think Joseph was helping when he was little.  Anyway, once I had put the mixture into the loaf pans I spotted the bowl with half of the bananas that I had not yet added.  Improvising, I added them at that point, scattered them across the top of the loaf and used a knife to mix them in as best I could.  The whole family LOVED these loaves, they had extra gooey bits of banana through the middle and that's how I have made them ever since.  I have often wondered how many wonderful dishes have been created or improved by accidents.

Apart from that it is still my go-to banana bread recipe!

BEFORE THE CAKE......

Harlan's party was at lunchtime and I made 2 chillis, meat and pinto bean. They were fine, I asked Dave to do a salad to go with and he came up with this spectacular and delicious one which was devoured pretty quickly.

ROAST BEETROOT SALAD, WITH APPLES, ARUGULA, GOAT CHEESE AND SPICED PECANS.

We roasted the beets the night before in a little orange juice. Peeled, cored and sliced the apples then did this fancy trick: bring pan of water to the boil, add a pinch of saffron, it will turn water bright yellow. Cool water right down then marinate apple slices for about half an hour. Does not affect flavour much but turns them a gorgeous light yellow and stops them from turning brown between making and serving the salad, genius! He roasted the pecans in honey, 350 degrees for about 12 mins (watch them, they burn easily!), prepared a largish bowl with some sugar and cayenne pepper to put nuts into immediately when they came out of the oven. Tossed them in the sugar and pepper. The dressing was simple too, olive oil, white balsamic, little honey and salt and pepper. It was so good I did a version of it 4 days later on Christmas Eve........

HARLAN'S FIRST BIRTHDAY!

Pros and cons to everything: having Harlan's birthday on the 23rd Dec means that they were visiting for Christmas and we could celebrate together. Chelsey did a great job with a 'Were the Wild Things Are' theme. She found a cake on a party website that was easy enough and I offered to make it. Have to admit I used Duncan Hines mix, Devils food cake, I think. Have been using this for years, started when I asked a friend and excellent caterer for a chocolate cake recipe (I found that the English cake recipes I had seemed not to work so well over here????!!!!). Anyway, knowing it was for Joseph's 5th birthday party she recommended Duncan Hines and I have used them many times since. His birthday is a couple of days after Christmas, another excuse for using a shortcut! The frosting (icing to me!) is the recipe my mother used when I was little, start with soft butter and beat in confectioners sugar til it tastes right, add flavouring and colouring as desired. I was pretty happy with how it turned out and Harlan seemed to enjoy his first birthday cake.