The BEST Banana Cake Everrrrrrrrr

 On the blog that I took this from (Thanks Sally), this is entitled

"The best Banana cake I've ever had"

she aint' wrong.

I have no notes, it's bomb, just need to remember this recipe!

The Best Banana Cake Ever

Ingredients

Banana Cake

• 1 and 1/2 cups (345g) mashed bananas (about 4 medium or 3 large bananas)
• 3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 and 1/2 cups (360ml) buttermilk, at room temperature*

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 ounces (224g) full-fat block cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 3 cups (360g) confectioners’ sugar, plus an extra 1/4 cup if needed
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and grease a 9×13-inch pan.
2. Make the cake: Mash the bananas. I usually just use my mixer for this! Set mashed bananas aside.
3. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together. Set aside.
4. Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until smooth and creamy – about 1 minute. Add both sugars and beat on high speed for 2 minutes until creamed together. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the eggs and the vanilla. Beat on medium-high speed until combined, then beat in the mashed bananas. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl as needed. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the buttermilk and mixing each addition just until incorporated. Do not overmix. The batter will be slightly thick and a few lumps is OK.
5. Spread batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45–50 minutes. Baking times vary, so keep an eye on yours. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If you find the top of the cake is browning too quickly in the oven, loosely cover it with aluminum foil.
6. Remove the cake from the oven and set on a wire rack. Allow to cool completely. After about 45 minutes, I usually place it in the refrigerator to speed things up.
7. Make the frosting: In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter together on high speed until smooth and creamy. Add 3 cups confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, and salt. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then switch to high speed and beat for 2 minutes. If you want the frosting a little thicker, add the extra 1/4 cup of confectioners sugar (I add it). Spread the frosting on the cooled cake. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving. This helps sets the frosting and makes cutting easier.
8. Cover leftover cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for 5 days.

Pork Roast with Crackle

 I'm always down for crackle, so I've been trying to perfect making Pork roasts.  I figured I better record it since I keep forgetting all my 'lessons learned' and every attempt ends up being "oh that's right, I was meant to..." smh.

Anyways, I made this perfectly ONCE ... and then got botz and tried to do things based on my memory and yep, a couple more imperfect Roasts...but I still think this one is the winner so here it is, REMEMBER YOUR NOTES SUI!!

(Original recipe can be found here)

Pork Roast with Crackle

INGREDIENTS

• 4 pound (2 kg) boneless pork shoulder or butt, rind on 
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Salt

INSTRUCTIONS

• Remove all plastic wrap from the pork. Lay it out flat in a tray, rind-side up and uncovered. Allow to dry completely in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, or overnight if time allows. (I add salt coz that's what Marion Grasby says to do lol)
• Remove pork from the refrigerator for 1-2 hours before roasting to allow it to come to room temperature. (I should probably do this)
• Preheat oven to 460°F (240°C) (230 degrees fan bake...and the actual fan bake, not the grill on the top fan bake setting)
• Use a sharp knife to score the rind in 1-inch intervals. Thoroughly pat the skin dry with paper towels. (I suck at scoring, I found that if I cut right through the skin that my crackle is guaranteed to crackle, does that still count as scoring? Also, don't score so thin, coz then you'll burn the crackle before the pork is ready)
• Turn pork skin-side down. Rub garlic powder and about 1 teaspoon of salt into the meat underneath. Drizzle the olive oil over the pork rind and the meat, rubbing it in with your fingers for best results (if you need more oil, add more). Season the rind with a generous amount of sea salt (about 1 tablespoon).
• Transfer pork to a roasting dish and roast for 50 minutes, or until the rind crackles. (The rind starts crackling way earlier than 50mins, but I think I need to play around with this time, 50mins seems too long, 30ish mins I think may be good?) Reduce temperature to 350°F (180°C) and continue roasting for 1 - 1 1/2 hours, depending on how well done you like your roast. 
• Increase the oven temperature back up to 440°F (230°C). Roast for 10 minutes until the rind has turned into an amazing golden crackling and the pork is cooked through. 

  (To check if the pork is cooked, pierce the thickest part of the meat with a knife. If the juices run clear, the pork is cooked. Alternatively, pork is cooked when the thermometer shows 160°F (71°C).
• Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 15 minutes before carving.

I can't wait to get this recipe down, so that my crackle is consistently crackly lol

Sticky Date Pudding

Auriiiteeeee!

So, I've finally attempted and found a good copy cat recipe of Lonestars sticky date pudding! Yum!

I've made it like 4 times now...tweaking here and there and taking into account the feedback I've received (mostly from Talmage and Chu) and it's sooo delicious, especially with vanilla ice cream!  So here is the winning formula for us!



STICKY DATE PUDDING

250g pitted dates roughly chopped
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 c boiling water
125g butter softened
1 c brown sugar (packed)
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
1 3/4 c self rising flour (or just normal flour and then add 1 3/4 tsp of baking powder)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg (this is optional.  Chu prefers without this)

Butterscotch Sauce
1 c brown sugar packed
300ml of cream
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
60g butter


Method
1. Preheat your oven at 180 degrees celsius.
2. Put dates in a small pot/bowl. Sprinkle baking soda over and then add the boiling water.  Let it sit for at least 10 minutes.  Mash it up a bit using a potato masher.  (You can use an electric hand mixer to get it really smooth, but the boys like the pudding with some date chunks so to each their own...also, if you do mix it til smooth, the pudding ends up feeling more like a puligi).
3. In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar.  Then add vanilla esessnce.  Add eggs one at a time and mix well.  Then sift in dry ingredients.
4. Fold in date mixture and mix well.
5. Put mixture into baking pan (7cm deep pan, 22cm pan apparently).  Bake for about 35-40 minutes or til you know its ready lol.
6. While the cake is baking, add all ingredients for the butterscotch sauce and bring to the boil.  Simmer for a bit then turn it off.  (The sauce thickens as it cools).
7.  Once cake is out, pierce it with a knife all over and pour about a third or half of the sauce all over the cake.  Let it stand for at least 10 minutes.
8.  Cut up and serve with vanilla ice cream and more butterscotch.  It's the bomb!

Seafood Mornay

This is one of our family favs! Like, since we were little, we loved going to the So'olefai's house for koga'i coz she would make it lol, now that we're older, we've learned! Yay, such a yummy side dish to have with a main meat...and with rice of course...or faalifu kalo! I'm just making myself hunnnnngggrrryyyy!!! lol, so easy to make! Here it is before I forget,


Ingredients
1 kg surimi (imitation crab)
1 liter cream
1 1/2 - 2 sachets of Seafood soup mix
Grated cheese

Method
On medium heat, heat up the cream, then add the sachet(s) and stir til dissolved. (I usually salt, pepper, paprika it too)
Break up the suirmi (I half the pieces) and place into into a baking dish.  Then pour over cream and soup mixture. Sprinkle cheese on top (some people like to slice tomatoes on top too...but I never bother) and bake under the oven til cheese is melted and a golden brown :)

(I'm pretty sure it'd still be bomb with more seafood if you have any :) It's one of those nice recipes where you can just add whatever you want :)

Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bars

Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bars

These are so good. I made very minor changes and it still came out yummmmmmm.

Original recipe found here.

Ingredients

2 C flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 1/2 C old fashioned oats

1 1/2 C brown sugar

1 1/4 C butter, melted

2 eggs Substitute with 2 Tb Flaxseeds mixed with 6 Tbs water. Let it sit while you do the other stuff. 

1 Tb vanilla

2 1/2 C milk chocolate chips

Mix dry (yellow) ingredients in one bowl. Mix wet (blue) ingredients in another. Mix together and pour into a greased baking dish. I used a 8.5 X 12 glass dish and da buggah was cherreh!

Bake 350 degrees F for 15 minutes. Enjoy with ice cream or a glass of milk. So. good.

Aunty Delsa's Fry Bread

Eeeevery time fry bread is mentioned...Chu goes on about THE BEST fry bread he's had was Aunty Delsa Moe's.  So since it came up again on Sunday and I finally realized that I'd be listening to this same ol' story for the rest of my life...I decided to ask her for her recipe...and here it is!! SO BOMB!! Not gonna lie, He was totally right!!

Ingredients:
2 C Luke warm water
2 T yeast
2 T sugar
2 T oil
2 t salt
4 C Flour (and extra for kneading)

note: just don't add too much flour when kneading. Let it stay a little sticky, otherwise it doesn't turn out as light and fluffy
note 2: works too with pastry flour...it becomes super light and airy...but I think using high grade flour is best

Method:
Combine water, yeast, sugar, oil and salt. Stir it gently about 3 times then let it sit 10 min for yeast to bubble. Add in 4 cups flour a little at a time and knead well. If dough is still sticky sprinkle in a little more flour and knead. Let it rise about 30-45 min till double in bulk.
Oil a flat surface and roll out half the dough with a rolling pin so it's about half inch thick or little less then cut into pieces with a pizza cutter or oiled knife. Separate pieces and let rise about 10 min while you heat up a pan of oil to deep fry them in. Fry both sides till golden brown and drizzle with butter, honey or golden syrup.

She said that it may take a few times to master...buuuut our first batch was OSUM!! So even if that was the junk batch...dang this is a good recipe :)

Enjoy!!

Moist Chocolate Cake

This chocolate cake is my 'go to' recipe now since Petra introduced it to me.  It's super easy and quick to make.  The original recipe (that you can find here) calls for coffee but it's easily substituted with boiling water :) It's a runny mixture so don't think you're doing it wrong if it seems waaay runny...

(A baker friend of mine said that the recipes that are the most moist...are quite runny and call for boiling water...so that made me feel like almost a legit baker with this recipe lol).

Here's my edited version of the recipe, enjoy!

• 35minCook Time
• 15minPrep Time
• 12Servings

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

• 2 cups granulated white sugar

• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• 2 large eggs

• 1 cup buttermilk (or substitute by putting 1 tbsp white vinegar in a cup then filling the rest up with milk; let stand 5 minutes until thickened)

• 1/2 cup butter, melted

• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

• 1 cup boiling water

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees/180 degrees celsius. Grease and flour two 9-inch baking pans (or line with parchment paper circles) and set aside. Or just grease A pan, easier lol.
2. In the large bowl of a standing mixer, stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Add eggs, buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla extract and beat until smooth (about 3 minutes). Remove bowl from mixer and stir in boiling water Batter will be very runny.
3. Pour batter evenly between the two pans and bake on middle rack of oven for about 35 minutes, until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean with just a few moist crumbs attached. If you're just making one cake, it'll take longer to bake, at least an extra 10mins...I just keep checking on it to see when it's ready.
4. Allow to cool 15 minutes in pans, then run a butter knife around the edges of each cake. Place a wire cooling rack over top of each pan. Wearing oven mitts, use both hands to hold the racks in place while flipping the cakes over onto the racks. Set the racks down and gently thump on the bottom of the pans until the cakes release. Just get the cakes out of the pans lol. Cool completely before handling or frosting.

Coleslaw dressing

Simple Coleslaw Dressing

1/2 Cup Mayo
2 T white sugar
1 1/2 T lemon juice
1 T white vinegar
1/2 t Black pepper
1 t salt

Mix it all up and add to your coleslaw! Easy as that!

Spinach Bread Bowl Dip

Spinach Bread Bowl Dip

1 cup cream cheese

1 cup grated cheese

1 cup mayonnaise

1/4 onion finely chopped

1 tsp Dill

4 Handfuls of baby spinach chopped up (or as much as you like)

Mix it all up.  Get your loaf of bread, cut the top off (like a lid), pull out the middle of the bread (to make a bowl like the picture below).  Fill the bowl with the dip, then bake in the oven for an hour at 150 degrees celsius :)

Serve with breads to dip :) Mmmmmm

Chicken Katsu

Simple but yums.  I've made this with pork, chicken breast, and chicken thighs- they all are equally tasty. 

Ingredients

Chicken (de-boned thigh or breast)

panko breadcrumbs

flour

egg

salt/pepper

oil

Take your chicken breast or thigh and pound it out. I use the back of my knife and pound it out until it is a quarter inch thick. I'm guessing a meat tenderizer type thing would work great but I don't have one. When using chicken breast, I like to slice the chicken into thinner slices to speed up the process. Set aside.

Put some oil in a skillet over medium high heat. While the oil is heating up, set up three separate dishes for coating the chicken. First dish- flour, salt, pepper. Second dish- beaten eggs. Third dish- panko bread crumbs.

Now work the assembly line. Coat the chicken in the flour, then dip into the eggs, then into the bread crumbs, and then pop it into the pan. Fry on one side until golden brown and then flip it over and brown the other side.

Serve with the "special sauce"...I don't know the name of it...it's just the sauce you get when you order chicken katsu at a local Hawaii restaurant lol. There are recipes out there but by the time all the katsu is ready I'm usually too lazy to make it from scratch and end up eating the katsu with ketchup, sweet chili sauce, or curry (mmmm yum). 

I've tried with just egg and bread crumbs but I like the flour-egg-panko trio a lot better. 

Toffee sauce

Mmmmmmmmm, so my brother made this apple cake last Sunday and served it up with toffee sauce and Hokey Pokey ice cream...you should've seen all of our faces when we took the first bite!  (And then we all scoffed it down and got seconds lol)...The combo is perfect, the not so sweet apple cake and the deelish toffee...and then the ice cream...Mmmmmmmm...perfect balance!  Okay here it is (only the toffee for now, coz I'm sure it doesn't matter what the apple cake is like :D)

125g butter
2 c brown sugar
1/3 c milk

Put the above into a saucepan, turn up the heat and boil for 3 minutes.
Pour over your piece of cake :D
Easy!

Cranberry Cheese ball

Mmmmm..so I don't really now what this is called, but its such a fancy yummy dip :)
This is my bishops wife's recipe and it's way yum :)

1 x 250g carton cream cheese 250g grated cheese 1/3 cup chopped dried cranberries 1/4 cup crushed pineapple (drain most of the juice) 1 tablespoon finely diced onion Salt and pepper Mix all together. Use glad wrap to roll into a ball or log. Chill til needed.

Serve with crackers...rice crackers is ono with it :)

Flour Tortillas

It's so much easier making tortillas with a recipe :) 
These are way better than the store bought 'wrap' type wannabe tortillas they have here in NZ.  These also taste like good ol' Fijian roti...(but they probably have a better recipe...this is as close as we could get).  The original recipe is here, but they have too many words so here's my version.

Ingredients
3 c flour
1 t baking powder
1 t salt
1/3 c vegetable oil (we use a little more than this, it makes it better and stretchier...but not quite 1/2 a cup)
1 c warm water

Sift/mix together dry ingredients well.  Then add the wet ingredients.  Ta da! So much easier than the ladies explanation.
Mix mix mix, then roll knead it a little with your hands on a lightly floured board/bench.  Cut it up into 16 pieces (12 is better I reckon).  Roll them into little balls and let rest for 15 minutes.
Roll em out into flat tortillas and cook em up!

The cooking part will make or break whether these turn out good too...make sure its on high heat (adjust heat if that aint working for ya)...fry for only like a minute or even less for each side.
Keep an eye on it, it'll bubble up, thats when you know its time to flip depending on how brown/cooked you want it...when it starts to smell like its burning...its burning!

And then make some yummy burritos or enchiladas or whatevs you want!!!

Arrrrrrriiibaaaa!!!!

Tartar Sauce

First time making this and definitely not the last :)
This recipe is way easy and is nice and fresh...you'll definitely taste the difference between store-bought sauce and this homemade recipe. (Original recipe is here)

Ingredients
1/2 cup of mayo
2 T of finely chopped pickles (sweet or sour)
1 T of finely chopped onion
1 t of freshly squeezed lemon juice
a pinch of salt


Mix it all up and refrigerate!
Waaaaaaayyy good!

Easy Beef Broccoli

Here's a simple recipe/guide for easy yet delicious beef broccoli. 

1. Marinate beef

I sliced my pork (had no beef)and coated it in a little (like maybe 2 tablespoons?) of soy sauce, added chopped garlic, and grated a tiny bit of ginger, cornstarch (maybe a teaspoon?) and added the secret ingredient>>>>> *baking soda* (like a teaspoon).

Let it marinade for at least a half hour. You'll hear the baking soda work it's magic. 

2.Prep the Broccoli 
Cut up your broccoli how ever way you like and then blanch it for a few minutes in hot water and then drop in an ice bath (I just poured out the hot water and added cold water since we don't have any ice).

3. Stir Fry Beef
Stir fry on high heat until meat is cooked (few minutes) and then add in the broccoli. 

You can add a splash of chicken broth (or stock or water....whatever you have on hand). 

The beef (or pork) will be velvety with a nice glaze on it. If you prefer to have a saucy beef broccoli then add in some sauce(a simple shoyu, water, cornstarch mix or whatever you like. But I liked it either way)

4. EAT!!!
mmm....with some rice or noodles...yessss

AND THATS IT!

SIMPLE YET DELISHHHHHIOssooooo!


Other things that would make it even more yum  yum.....
.
oyster sauce, rice wine or dry sherry, mushroom seasoning (in the marinade)

and maybe some a little bit of sesame oil at the end...

Puff Pastry

So today I really wanted to make Bacon and Egg pie and luckily, between my house and my parents'...we had all the ingredients! lol...However, I wasn't going to buy the pastry, so I decided to try making it from scratch.  This is the only recipe that I've tried, so there may be better, but I was REALLY happy with how it turned out!

You can find the original recipe here.

• 5 cups of bread flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons of salt
• 2 cups of water (you may use less, but I didn't)
• 2 cups of unsalted butter at room temperature (about 480g)

1. Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer that is fitted with a dough hook. Gradually stir in water until the dough holds together enough to clean the sides of the bowl. You may not need the full amount of water. Shape into a flat ball, and allow to rest for at least 10 minutes. (I don't have a stand mixer so my normal mixing bowl and fork/wooden spoon had to do).
2. Place the butter between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound into a flat disc using a rolling pin or other heavy object. Refrigerate until firm, about 20 minutes. (I didn't realize the butter had to be room temperature and because I didn't want to wait, I just sliced the butter about 1/2 an inch thick, lay the blocks side by side and rolled them together once they had the plastic wrap on top...it also wasn't a flat disc, more like a flat rectangle).
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a large rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. Place the disc of chilled butter in the center and fold the two ends over it so that it is completely encased in dough. Roll out the dough again, taking care not to let the butter break through the dough, to about 1/2 inch thickness. Fold into thirds. This is the first ''turn''. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and roll out into a rectangle again. Fold into thirds. By this time the butter is starting to warm up. Place the dough on a baking sheet and mark it with two pokes from your finger (two turns). Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
4. Repeat this rolling, folding and turning two more times, then refrigerate until firm. Repeat two more times for a total of 6 ''turns''. Wrap and refrigerate. The dough is now ready to roll out and use in any recipe calling for puff pastry. Roll the dough out as thin as 1/4 inch to make pastries. Bake in a preheated oven of at least 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) to get the maximum puff from your pastry.

Sorry, no picture...I couldn't be bothered trying to work my fail-phone lol.  But it looked awesome and was really good! :)

Eggs Benedict

So I've never actually had Eggs Benedict before so I'm not exactly sure whats good and whats really good...but this sauce that my sister made was yummy and definitely a keeper!

Eggs Benedict is simple, its just an English muffin (or I just made the Southern Biscuits that I've posted on here), bacon, a poached egg and the Hollandaise sauce on top! Easy Peasey! We also added veges we had in the fridge, it was super yummy!

So here's the recipefor the Hollandaise sauce we used. You can find the original recipe here.

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 3 egg yolks
• Salt
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• Juice of 1 lemon

Directions

1. Melt the butter over very low heat (or in the microwave). Skim the fat off the surface and set aside to cool slightly. (I'm pretty sure that skimming the fat isn't that important??)
2. Put the egg yolks in a heat-proof metal bowl and whisk until fully beaten.
3. Place the bowl so it fits over a small pot filled with about 1-inch of water.
4. Turn the burner to medium-low and whisk until the water is lightly simmering and the eggs are lightened in color, doubled in volume, and thick (do not allow the water to boil, and be careful not to scramble the yolks).
5. Lower the heat. While still whisking the yolks, add a few drops of the melted butter.
6. Once fully incorporated, continue adding the butter in a very, very slow stream while constantly whisking.
7. If you notice that the sauce begins to look grainy and slightly curdled, that is an indication that it is about to break. Immediately stop what you are doing and add a splash of cool water. Whisk vigorously until completely smooth. Resume adding butter.
8. Once the butter is fully incorporated, add a dash of salt and cayenne and whisk in 2 teaspoons of lemon juice.
9. Taste and add more salt, cayenne, and/or lemon juice (up to 8 teaspoons) as desired.
10. Remove from the heat and set aside while preparing the eggs. Whisk occasionally to prevent a skin from forming. Use within 1 hour.

This is what it looked like for us:

So I've never poached eggs before (and my sister made these ones)...but both she and Chu gave me some useful notes to help when I do:

1) Add some vinegar to the water, and

2) Swirl the water around then drop the egg in the middle of the pot/pan.  This will help to keep the edges look neat.