Joan's PERFECT Banana Bread Recipe

We were talking LUNCH on Between You and Me last week...Deb called in and remembered her elementary school lunch in Park Rapids and the perfect banana bread they served.  She's been trying to replicate it ever since!  Joan Downham was pretty sure SHE could help, and sent in this recipe:

Here is the recipe of Shelly's superior banana bread. I think it is similar to the type that the gal described on Between You and Me today.

Cream 3/4 cup butter
Add and blend in 1 1/2 cup sugar and 3-4 mashed bananas (3-4), 2 eggs , 1tsp vanilla
sift 2 cups flour and add 1 tsp soda and 1tsp salt.
...Alernate adding the flour mixture and 1/2 cup buttermilk(I use the powdered butterilk in a can) to the butter/sugar mixture just until well combined.
fold in 1/2 walnuts.
pour in 9x5" greased and parchment lined bottom bread pan and bake 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hour. You can put it in two smaller bread pans and bake for 1 hour
ENJOY!

Brandon Chase's Grandma's Tavern Burgers

by Heidi Holtan

KAXE volunteer Brandon Chase dropped by on Between You and Me last week to tell us about his grandma, Mary Helen Hoffoss' TAVERN BURGERS.  People couldn't get enough of them, and it's still a recipe requested all the time at Brandon's house.  I tried it for dinner at our house, and it was GREAT!

TAVERN BURGERS
1 lb hamburger
medium onion chopped
1 cup ketchup
3 Tbsp Worchestershire sauce
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp - 2 Tbsp mustard
splash of vinegar
brown sugar to taste (about 1 Tbsp)

Brown hamburger and onion together.  Mix other ingredients together and pour into pan.  Simmer and sprinkle with brown sugar.

Last Minute Thanksgiving recipe

by Heidi Holtan

A couple of weeks ago on Between You and Me I talked about an easy recipe for a corn casserole.  So easy in fact, that's it's a little embarrassing.  One caller said they call it "redneck corn casserole" in their family.  Whatever you call it, it's really really good.  So good that I'm always asked to bring it.  Mine is cooling on the counter right now, and even though it might be a little late for Thanksgiving for you, this might just be the thing to liven up the leftovers.

CORN CASSEROLE

1 can whole kernel corn (frozen works just as well)
1 can creamed corn
1 stick margarine (I use butter - NEVER margarine!)
1 c. sour cream
1 box corn muffin mix

1 egg
crushed up saltine crackers for the top

Mix all ingredients together in greased 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. Crush saltines on the top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  Feel free to doctor this with pepper jack cheese, peppers, or anything to your liking.

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Last Friday morning John Bauer and Heidi Holtan talked to Nancie McDermott about her latest cookbook, "Southern Pies:  A Gracious Plenty of Pie Recipes, from Lemon Chess to Chocolate Pecan".  One of the many tips Nancie gave was that she doesn't believe people should worry about a crust.  "It's the filling that matters", she said.  Our crack group of reporters say that this interview caused many people to eat more pie over the weekend.

"Frankly, we're a little worried.  On the one hand it may just be too much pie eating in the KAXE listening area.  On the other, what if people are pie-d out by Thanksgiving?"

Hopefully, KAXE caused no pie difficulties in your life.  Here's the recipe for Chocolate Pecan Pie.  Make at your own risk.

CHOCOLATE-PECAN PIE from Southern Pies by Nancie McDermott.  Published by Chornicle Books
Simply luscious and rich, but not hard to make at all, this pie is a modern favorite.  It's a good choice when you need a make-ahead, take-along dessert.  Let it come to room temperature before serving if it has been refrigerated for more than two hours.

Pastry for a 9-inch single-crust pie
1/2 c. butter
3 squares (3 oz) unsweetened chocolate
1 c. sugar
3/4 c. dark or light corn syrup
4 eggs, beaten well
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups (6 oz) coarsely chopped pecans

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a 9-inch pie pan with crust and then crimp the edges decoratively.

In a medium saucepan, combine the butter and chocolate over medium heat.  Cook, stirring often, until the chocolate and butter melt and you can stir them together into a smooth sauce, 5-7 minutes.

Remove from the heat and add the sugar and corn syrup.  Stir and combine well.  Add the eggs, vanilla, and and salt, and stir to mix everything together into a thick, smooth chocolate filling.  Add the pecans, stir well, and pour the filling into the piecrust.

Place the pie on the bottom rack of the oven.  Bake until the filling puffs up and is fairly firm in the middle, 30-40 minutes.

Place the pie on a cooling rack or a folded kitchen towel, and let cool to room temperature.

Another recipe from Between You and Me

by Heidi Holtan

Last Saturday on Between You and Me KAXE listeners told stories and shared recipes to get ready for Thanksgiving. Among my favorites - sisters who each called in to tell me about their tradition of wrestling for a piece of pie after the meal.  Also,  a science teacher called in to tell us how to make PERFECT mashed potatoes.  I tried it last night, and she IS right.  Here's the gist of what she told us on the air:

Peel and cube potatoes.

soak cubed potatoes in cold water.

Boil a pot of water with a strainer basket in it.

Steam cubed potatoes until they are about 1/2 way done.

Take them out until they are cold - then steam them again.  (I might have messed up on this step - I put them back in cold water to make them cold)

Rice potatoes.

Whip them by hand or with a mixer with your favorite ingredients - butter, buttermilk, sour cream, garlic, bacon, peanut butter.  No one is judging here.

WA-LA!  Best mashed potatoes EVER.

Check out Jennifer Poenix's recipe for crockpot stuffing here.

The Only Stuffing Recipe You'll Ever Need

By Jennifer Poenix

Last Saturday on Between You and Me, I called in and talked about my favorite part of Thanksgiving: Stuffing. Not just any stuffing, but this recipe:

Crock Pot Stuffing

1 c. butter or margarine
2 c. chopped onion
2 c. chopped celery
1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley
1 4 oz. jar mushroom slices
12-13 c. unseasoned bread croutons (I find these in the bakery section of the grocery store.)
1 tsp. poultry seasoning
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. thyme
1 1/2 tsp. sage
1/2 tsp. pepper
3-4 c. chicken broth
2 beaten eggs

Layer in order given in crock pot. Cook on HIGH for 45 minutes, and then on LOW for 4-6 hours. Stir a few times while cooking. You can also add more croutons as it cooks down, and you may need to add more broth as well.

You'll never eat Stove Top again!

Homemade Marshmallows.... really?

A couple of weeks ago on Between You and Me our topic was homemade/handmade. Lisa called in and said that she knew it sounded strange, but homemade marshmallows were really, really, good.

Have you ever tried them?

From Better Than Store Bought by Helen Witty and Elizabeth Schneider Colchie

Marshmallows

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

1/3 cup water

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

pinch salt

1 tsp vanilla extract ( use more!!)

1. Sift cornstarch with the powdered sugar into a bowl. Grease 8x8 pan and sprinkle with 1 Tbsp cornstarch/sugar mixture, tilting to coat evenly. Leave excess in pan.

2. Sprinkle gelatin into the water in a small saucepan and let soak 5 minutes. Add granulated sugar and stir over moderately low heat until sugar and gelatin dissolve.

3. In a large bowl of an electric mixer, combine gelatin mix, corn syrup, salt and vanilla and beat for 15 minutes on high until peaks form.

4. Spread the fluffy mixture into the pan and smooth the top. Leave to set for 2 hours.

5. With a wet knife, cut the marshmallow mixture into quarters and loosen from pan. Sprinkle remaining cornstarch/sugar mix on baking sheet and roll the marshmallows onto it. Cut each quarter into 9 pieces and roll to coat.

6. Let the dry on a cake rack overnight, then store airtight for a month, if they last that long.

For a real treat, use them for rice krispie bars. Mmmmmm.

Bread recipe from KAXE's mini Empty Bowls

Last Saturday's Empty Bowls at KAXE was a great success! Thanks to Joan from Brewed Awakenings for the borscht, Karla from Grand Organic Market for the chili, Frieda Hall for the pumpkin soup, Gail Otteson for the Split pea soup and Sarah MacRostie for the chicken noodle. Another big thanks to Ross Williams for providing his homemade bread!

The big events to support Second Harvest North Central Food Bank and the Community Cafe are happening this week. Wednesday night from 5-7pm is the CELEBRITY BOWL RECEPTION at the MacRostie Art Center. It is a silent auction of professionally made bowls and a preview of one of a kind bowls. Thursday is the main event. EMPTY BOWLS is at the Timberlake Lodge in Grand Rapids. Tickets are $15 and include soup/bread and a handcrafted bowl.

Every contribution you make to Empty Bowls goes directly to serve the people facing hunger in northern Minnesota.

Here are Ross's bread recipes!

No-Knead Bread

Published in New York Times: November 8, 2006
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours' rising
The Minimalist: The Secret of Great Bread: Let Time Do the Work (November 8, 2006)

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
1 5/8 cups water (use 1 1/2 cups for easier to handle dough if measuring flour using scoop and level method)
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.


Alternative Fast No-Knead Bread
3 cups flour
1 5/8 cup very warm, almost hot water
¼ teaspoon yeast
1 ¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon red wine vinegar

will raise much faster

Pane Integrale (Whole-Wheat Bread)
(NYT adapted from Jim Lahey,'s My Bread)
2 1/4 cups (300 grams) bread flour
3/4 cup (100 grams) wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons (8 grams) table salt
1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) instant or dry active yeast
1 1/4 cups (300 grams) cool water (55 to 65 degrees)
Wheat bran, cornmeal or flour, for dusting

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

Sour Dough
3/2008

Sponge:
1 cup starter
1 cup water
1 cup flour

Dough:
Put starter above in bread machine, add:
2 cups flour
1.5 teaspoons salt
1-2 T rye flour

Mix on dough or pizza cycle

Remove and place on board heavily floured with semolina flour
Leave over night to raise on board covered with wet towell ( you may have to rewet towel to get it off)
fold over and let rise
put pan in oven and heat to 450 degrees
slash top and slid bread into heated pan
cover and put in oven

Sour Dough Alternative 2
1 cup starter
1 cup water
3 cups flour
1.5 teaspoons of salt

Mix in bowl
Let raise at least overnight
Line a basket with a floured towell
place loaf in basket
Let rise until doubled
Put in basket and cut top with scissors
Bake as above


Rosemary Pepper Bread
adapted from "Bread Machine Baking" by Lorie Brody and Millie Apter

1 ½ T (generous T) fresh rosemary (or 1 T dried)
1 ½ T honey
1 ½ T vegetable oil
¾ C water + 1 T water
1/3 C quick cooking oats (used non-quick)
3 T cornmeal
2 ½ C unbleached white flour (used bread flour)
1 t salt
3 T nonfat dried milk (used instant)
1 t coarsely ground black pepper
2 t yeast
Note: This is made by adding all the ingredients to a bread machine which will mix and bake it. I just use the bread machine to make the dough and then form it and bake it in the oven. You could do everything by hand. You will need to mix and knead it, let it rise, punch it down and let it rise again.Then punch it down and form it into loaf. Let rise until doubled and bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes or until internal temperature is between 190 and 200 degrees. The loaf will sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Soup's On!

Tomorrow morning, Friday April 9th, Joan Foster from Brewed Awakenings coffeehouse will be in cooking one of her specialty soups. Well, that's not true, because ALL of Joan's soups are special. Word is she's making her borscht.

Joan is part of the generous community that comes together this time of year to support Itasca Empty Bowls. Empty Bowls is a benefit for the Second Harvest North Central Food Bank & Community Cafe....where all of the money raised is used in our communities. In Minnesota 1 in 8 children are at risk of hunger. 40% of the Grand Rapids Food Shelf clients are children....KAXE is holding a pre-event this Saturday April 10th from 11am-1pm where you can come enjoy a bowl of homemade soup ($5) and purchase a handmade bowl ($15 with soup). A gift of even $10 can provide as much as 60 lbs of nutritious food for our friends and neighbors. The main event of Empty Bowls is next Thursday April 15th at the Timberlake Lodge in Grand Rapids.

Joan Foster will be in the KAXE kitchen between 8-9am if you'd like to join us for a very special borscht breakfast! Here's a sneak peek!

Garden Borscht

4 cups (560g)thinly sliced onions

6 cups (680g)thinly sliced cabbage

4 cups (680g) sliced & quartered

potato

4 cup (560g) sliced & quartered

beets

4 medium carrots, sliced

4 stalks celery, thinly sliced

¼ cup olive oil

2 Tbsp. caraway seed

2 Tbsp. salt

½ cup Frontier brand vegetarian broth powder : or,

1 Tbsp. chopped fresh garlic

1 Tbsp. basil

1 Tbsp. celery seed

1 tsp. turmeric

2 bay leaves

1 Tbsp. tomato paste

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

2 tsp. dill weed

1/3 cup cider vinegar

¼ cup honey

2 tsp. pepper

Recipe from the kitchen of

Brewed Awakenings Coffeehouse

www.brewedawakenings.biz

To prepare the veggies, wash, peel, and slice with the food processor. Slice the cabbage and onions, with the thin slicer on the food processor. Slice the potatoes, carrots, and beets with the thicker slicer.

Heat oil in the bottom of 11 quart soup kettle. Sauté the onions with the caraway seeds and salt.

When the onions are beginning to become translucent, add the celery, carrots, and cabbage and cook until the cabbage is wilted.

Add the potatoes, beets, water to fill pot and vegetarian broth powder. Simmer until everything is just tender.

Add the dill, honey, vinegar, and pepper.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream or unflavored whole milk yogurt on top.