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Time for fall!  I love the richness of this dish, and sweet potatoes always add a pretty orange touch to a fall table.  This is absolutely my favorite sweet potato recipe.  I never liked them much until I got some at the farmer’s market a few years ago and realized that fresh sweet potatoes were a completely different animal than store-bought.  Amazing the difference.  Mom’s organic market often carries a Japanese sweet potato with white flesh that is also quite tasty.

Anyway, I never have understood “sweet potato casserole” because it really seems to be more “sweet” than “sweet potato.”   But I love the caramelized onion sweetness in this dish, and I often add cayenne or crushed red pepper in place of the black pepper for a bit of heat.  The potatoes do tend to cool quickly, so make sure to use hot water and serve in a warmed dish.  The recipe can easily be doubled or tripled, though you may have to puree in batches.  If you try to make this for Thanksgiving you may get a few frowns – people do love their marshmallows – but they’ll come around.

Maple Sweet Potatoes with Caramelized Onion

• 2 large sweet potatoes
• 4 T maple syrup
• 2 T olive oil
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 T butter
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced

My green beans are making up for the past two years when I’ve gotten none!  I made pesto tonight and tossed it with green beans and pasta.  No picture-honestly, it wasn’t the most appealing -looking dish, but really yummy.  Bella had three servings!

I have found I like green beans best when they’re blanched and then cooked.  They seem to stay greener and crisper that way.

Cook in boiling salted water for 5-7 minutes then dunk in icewater to chill.  You can then refrigerate then for later, or go ahead and cook with them right away-they’ll need 2-4 more minutes of cooking time.

First off, I don’t like bananas – can’t stand ‘em.  Taste, texture, smell – nothing about them I like.  But I’ve always sort of liked banana bread.  My main complaint was that my Mom’s banana bread always ended up with a soggy, banana-y section on the top in the middle.  I guess it was too moist, or didn’t bake long enough, but the obvious banana element ruined it for me (sorry Mom!).  Anyway, I do buy bananas because the kids like them, and occasionally we end up with extra, over-ripe ones, and I can’t just throw them away!  So I found a recipe from Cook’s Illustrated, which does involve a few extra steps, but turns out to be well worth the trouble.  The following recipe is my version – I omitted an additional step that added fresh sliced bananas to the top.  I highly recommend adding the nuts – any nuts will do.  The bread is naturally very moist, and the nuts add some welcome texture. My favorite way to eat this bread is toasted (careful getting it out of the toaster – it will crumble), spread with unsalted butter, and topped with a sprinkle of sea salt.

Banana Bread

• 1 ¾ c flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4-5 large, very ripe bananas
• 8 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 2 large eggs
• ¾ c packed light brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ c walnuts , toasted and coarsely chopped (optional)

Heat oven to 350°. Spray 8½ by 4½-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together in large bowl.

Place bananas in microwave-safe bowl; cover with plastic wrap and cut several steam vents in plastic with paring knife. Microwave on high power until bananas are soft and have released liquid, about 5 minutes. Transfer bananas to fine-mesh strainer placed over medium bowl and allow to drain, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes (you should have ½ to ¾ cup liquid).  *If using frozen bananas, skip the microwave and put in the mesh strainer to thaw and drain.  Mash occasionally with a fork until completely thawed and proceed.

Transfer liquid to medium saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until reduced to ¼ cup, about 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat, stir reduced liquid into bananas, and mash with potato masher or fork until fairly smooth. Whisk in butter, eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla.

Pour banana mixture into flour mixture and stir until just combined with some streaks of flour remaining. Gently fold in walnuts, if using. Scrape batter into prepared pan.

Bake until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean, 55 to 65 minutes. Cool bread in pan on wire rack 15 minutes, then remove loaf from pan and continue to cool on wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

It has been so hot most things have dried up in the garden, and the squash bugs finally did in the zucchini.  I have one okra plant that came up and it has been a producer.  The other success story is the tomatoes, and I have high hopes for the second round of green beans.

Shawn reminded me of this salad we used to make at the cafe.  We have cherry tomatoes coming out our ears, and every time I go to my mom’s house she gives me another basketful.  I happened to have some feta in the fridge, so I whipped this up.

Very simple – halve cherry tomatoes, toss with feta, salt, pepper, olive oil, chopped parsley, and lemon juice.  Go easy on the salt at first in case your feta is salty.  I like to rinse the tomatoes after I slice them to get rid of some of the seeds.  It’s best fresh, but it will keep in the fridge.  Since olive oil solidifies when cold, you should bring it to room temperature before serving.

I’ve been wondering why the stink bugs haven’t begun devouring my tomatoes. And then I found them.  On the corn.  Next year I will plant a sacrificial row. 

Here are two cakes I’ve make recently.  The tree cake was for Bella’s preschool picnic, with the names of the students in the leaves.  The sandcastle cake was for Molly’s bridal shower.  I used a combination of graham crackers and vanilla wafers for the “sand,” plus a little edible glitter to make it sparkle.  The turrets are mini Lorna Dorne’s.

Yummy & easy!  Sugar cookies with cream cheese icing and sliced fruit.  Cut them into different shapes if you want.  Blot the fruit dry after you cut it to keep the cookies from getting soggy too fast.

If you didn’t know these were gluten free, you’d never guess.  Even if you did know they might be your favorite brownies ever.  The texture is the best I’ve seen from any gluten free baked good, and the flavor is rich and chocolaty.   They’ll sink a little in the middle after you take them out of the oven, but that’s ok.

I used a food processor to mix the brownies because I wanted to make sure they were very smooth, but as long as your almond butter is smooth-roasted, a regular mixer should do the trick.  I imagine these would not suffer from a substitution (or addition!) of peanut butter chips, or a swirl of cream cheese & peanut butter blended together.

Here’s the recipe, inspired by Elena’s Pantry:

• 1 (16) ounce jar almond butter, smooth roasted
• 2 eggs
• 1 ¼ cups agave nectar (this is slightly more than the smaller jars, but you can substitute honey for the remainder if you’re a little short)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt (or 1/2 tsp if your almond butter is salted)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Heat oven to 325°.  Spray a 13 x 9 baking dish (preferably glass) with baking spray.

Blend the almond butter in a food processor or mixer.  Blend in the eggs, then the agave nectar and vanilla until smooth.  Mix in the cocoa, salt, and baking soda.  Stir in chocolate chips by hand.  Pour into prepared pan and bake 35-40 minutes.