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Category Archives: Picnic Fare

Father’s Day Brunch, Part 3: Having Your Cake and Eating Banana Bread, Too

Okay, after posting most of the meal that we had for Father’s Day Brunch, here are the dessert-like items that I made. I made a blueberry coffee cake, banana bread and a fruit salad. None of these are hard to make and they all tasted really good!

Blueberry Coffee Cake

Topping

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon butter, melted and cooled

Cake

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups buttermilk or plain yogurt

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

7 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, rinsed and dried

For the topping: Mix the brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon and melted butter together in a medium bowl until the mixture resembles wet sand. Set aside.

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously coat a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

For the cake: Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together in a large bowl. Whisk the buttermilk, brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs and melted butter together in a separate bowl until smooth. Gently fold the egg mixture into the flour mixture with a rubber spatula and stir until the batter looks smooth and well combined. Stir the blueberries into the finished batter.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the batter. Bake until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few crumbs attached. about 40 to 45 minutes. Let the cake cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes before serving.

You could also substitute dried apricots, dried cherries or dried cranberries for the blueberries if you prefer. The cake comes out perfectly and tastes great even the next day or two later with your morning coffee.

The banana bread is just as easy to make. I’ve tried a few recipes and this one, from Tyler Florence, seems to work out the best with the best banana flavor.

Banana Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 overripe bananas

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted and cooled

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Confectioner’s sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan. in a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. Mash 2 of the bananas with a fork in a small bowl so they still have a bit of texture. With an electric mixer, whip the remaining bananas and sugar together for 3 minutes; you want a light and fluffy banana cream. Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla; beat well and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated; no need to over blend. Fold in the mashed bananas with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Give the pan a good rap on the counter to get any air bubbles out.

Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool the bread in the pan for 10 minutes or so, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.Dust with confectioner’s sugar and serve.

You could add some nuts to the bread when you mix the mashed bananas in if you like the nuts. Pecans or walnuts would work pretty well. My family doesn’t care for the nuts, so I left them out. You could also toast the slices lightly in a buttered skillet over medium heat if you want to give them some crunch when serving.

Finally, I also made a fruit salad to go with the brunch. You can pretty much do what you want with fruit salads, that’s one of the great things about them. Add more of the fruit you like, change out some fruit, add some fresh mint, do what you want.

Fruit Salad

1/2 seedless watermelon

1 mango, peeled and diced

1 fresh pineapple, peeled and diced

1 pint fresh strawberries, halved

1 pint raspberries

1 pint blueberries

1 can mandarin oranges, drained

Using a melon baller, hollow out the watermelon and set the balled watermelon aside. With a knife, cut away any excess in the watermelon shell, and, if necessary, flatten out the bottom of the outside of the shell so it rests comfortably on a flat surface. Add the watermelon, mango,pineapple,strawberries,raspberries,blueberries and oranges, arranging the fruit in layers. Serve immediately or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until serving.

You can add any fruit you like. I often top it with a sliced banana, or add some plums, peaches or apples, whatever happens to be in season.

Tomorrow I will post the recipe I made on Monday for an oven roasted trout and potatoes, and I am planning to make a flank steak with salsa verde on Friday, so check back for that one as well. That’s all for tonight. Enjoy your evening and enjoy your meal!

1 Comment

Posted by MikeG on June 20, 2012 in Breads, Breakfast, Cooking, Dessert, Picnic Fare, Salad

Tags: banana bread, blueberry coffee cake, fruit salad

Next Week’s Dinners and a Picnic Of a Question

25 May

I did most of my shopping earlier today, although I do still need to go out and get a few things still for next week’s meals. We discussed what we want to eat, but we haven’t picked days for anything yet, so it will kind of be hit or miss to see what day gets which meal. I can tell you that I am planning to cook:

Greek Lamb Kebobs, Rice Pilaf and Tomatoes

Popcorn Shrimp

Pork Chops Agrodolce with Herbed Bean Salad

Sicilian Steak

I also have a whole chicken and some ribs but have not yet figured out what I want to do with any of it yet. If you didn’t see the recipe from last night, I can tell you that we loved it and we’ll be cooking it again if you want to check that one out.

On another note, since it is a long weekend for most people and the start of the summer season, a lot of people will be grilling and picnicking now. I have re-blogged a few articles over the fast few days referring to picnics and grilling of you want to check them out. On my other blog, The Office of Iguana Flats, I just posed a question to my readers today that fits well with this cooking blog as well, so I thought I would ask it here as well to give you a chance to answer. The question is:

Since the summer season is upon us, if you were going on a picnic and could go anywhere you wanted, where would you go and what would you bring?

Let’s assume you could go any place you want and bring anything you want. There are lots of places to choose from: beaches, parks, the mountains, a deserted island, your rooftop, the Eiffel Tower, it could be any place. Somewhere that you can relax and enjoy your picnic with whomever you want, or by yourself if you choose. Think about what you would want to bring – it can be anything as decadent or as light as you like, a nice bottle of wine, some fine cheese, or just some sandwiches or hot dogs, whatever makes you happy. Think about it and let me know. You can answer on here, or on Facebook or Twitter. I’ll also ask some people on Twitter and see if they respond. I’ll post my answer tomorrow.

I know it’s a short blog post today, but we’re just having leftovers tonight from the past week and I’ll be cooking again tomorrow, so check back then and see what I can come up with to eat. I have some good stuff to choose from, so I’ll see which recipe is going to be good for tomorrow (I am leaning towards the Sicilian Steak). Until then, enjoy your evening and enjoy your meal!