Doggie Saturday!

Banana Bread

Last week Justin came down with the weirdest case of either food poisoning or a GI bug. Either way after trying to eat normal food for about 5 days, he caved and decided to stick to the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast). So of course I went about buying a ton of bananas, bread, rice, and apples for some homemade applesauce. And of course he never ended up eating half of the bananas. I ate a couple, but after a week of smelling nothing but bananas I got sick of them. Yesterday I noticed they were getting a little weird looking and pretty mushy, which is why I decided they were perfect for banana bread!

Normally banana bread is a treat for us because I always forget to buy bananas and if I do buy them I inevitably forget to use them before they grow mold. Which happens incredibly fast in New Orleans. I haven't quite figured out why things grow mold twice as fast here. Anyway, I had finally caught the bananas in their elusive perfect banana bread state. 

I decided to try a new recipe from Martha Stewart. She had just made them on a recent show (with Hugh Jackman!) and it looked amazing. They did not disappoint. It was so great to have a nice slice of banana bread for breakfast and I'm looking forward to eating it the rest of the week.

Banana Bread

From Martha Stewart

1/2 cup of butter at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup mashed bananas (about 3 bananas)

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 ˚F. Grease a 9x5x3 in loaf pan.

Cream the butter and sugar in an electric mixer with the paddle attachment. Add the eggs and beat until they are just mixed in.

In a medium bowl mix together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Add it to the butter mixture. Mix until combined. Add bananas, sour cream, and vanilla. Mix until just combined. Fold in the nuts.

Pour into the pan and bake for 1 hour. Let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then take the bread out to cool the rest of the way on a rack.

Doggie Saturday!

Bailey's Irish Cream Ice Cream with Brownies

It just started getting cold in New Orleans, but that didn't stop me from making a batch of Bailey's Irish Cream ice cream. It's just the right level of booze to prevent it from being overpowering. It's a fine balance too between getting the level of flavor and putting so much in your ice cream that it won't freeze. I also try to make sure it's not too boozey because Justin can't really handle much alcohol in his system.
I figured the best way to sample the Bailey's was to pair it with some delicious homemade brownies. I've been trying to make brownies from scratch for years, but most of the time they'd turn out dry or too fudgey. This past spring though I stumbled upon a recipe on Joy The Baker that seemed to delicious not to try. Justin took one bite of the brownies and decided they were his favorite dessert ever. It's become my go to recipe for brownies now.

Fudge Brownies with Walnuts
Adapted from Joy The Baker

1 2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup butter
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp espresso
1/2 cup walnuts
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 ˚F. Grease a 9 in square baking pan.
Combine the butter and cocoa in a double boiler. Stir until the butter is melted and incorporated with the cocoa.
In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together. Add the vanilla extract and stir until combined. Slowly stir in the chocolate mixture. Be careful to pour it in all at once because the eggs will be sensitive to the high heat.
Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and espresso. Stir until just combined. Fold in the nuts and chocolate chips. Pour the batter into the pan.
Bake for 16-23 minutes.
Cool in pan for 30 minutes before serving.

Doggie Saturday!

So I know this blog is supposed to be mostly about my adventures with cooking and baking. But I couldn't resist making at least one day a week dedicated to Oscar and Sammie. They are such a big part of our lives and they are just so cute!

I took this picture last week when Justin was getting the bath ready for them. Taking baths is probably their least favorite thing to do in the whole world. Normally they go hide in their respective crates, but for some reason this time they decided they were safer together in Sammie's crate. It's probably one of my favorite pictures of them ever.

Commander's Palace Brunch

Justin took me out to Commander's Palace to celebrate that I passed Step 2. It's one of my favorite places to go for brunch and it definitely didn't disappoint. I had the turtle soup as an appetizer, huckleberry pancakes with candied pecans, white chocolate, and syrup, and then the bread pudding soufflé as dessert. The waitress even wrote "Congratulations" around the soufflé! It made me feel really special.


Justin ended up having a crab quiche as an appetizer, the "sportsman's breakfast" which was duck topped with an egg on top of a sweet potato griddle cake, and then a creole cheesecake for dessert. He wasn't a big fan of the sportsman's breakfast because he felt like there was too little duck and too much egg. The crab quiche was so delicious though. I would definitely get that again. Anyway here are the pictures!

Red wine chocolate cake

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated! About three weeks ago I found out I passed step 2 of my medical boards and it's been super busy since then. I was also presenting for journal club last week so I was busy preparing for that.
After I found out that I passed I had some people over to sample a red wine chocolate cake. I also made a buttermilk version, but I think the red wine one was much better. It had much more flavor to it and had just the right level of chocolate flavor. I've been toying with the idea of making it for my relatives over Christmas but since we have a lot of younger cousins I'm not sure how well it would work. It really is a lovely cake but definitely too potent for children.
Justin also took me out to Commander's palace to celebrate! I took lots of pictures so the next blog post will be about that. I also just got a gift card to Melting Pot from my god-mother so I'll post pictures after we go there! I'm super excited to go back to Melting Pot since we haven't been in forever (and Justin proposed to me at one!). Anyway, on to the recipe:

Red Wine Chocolate Cake
Taken from Smitten Kitchen

For the cake:
6 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg and 1 large egg yolk at room temperature
3/4 cup red wine (I used cabernet)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup + 1 tbsp flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon

For the topping:
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 325˚F.
Line the bottom of a 8-inch round cake pan with parchment and butter and flour the rest of the pan.
In a large bowl, cream the butter until smooth. Add in the sugars and beat until they are fluffy. Add in the egg mixture and beat well.
Add in the red wine and vanilla and combine. The batter will look a little weird- this is normal.
Sift in the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt into the wet ingredient bowl. Mix until it is just combined and then use a rubber spatula to fold it until it is all combined.
Pour batter into baking pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes (or 25-30 minutes if using a 9-inch pan).
Cool in the pan on a baking rack for 10 minutes. Flip it out of the pan onto the baking rack. Cool until it is room temperature.
Optional: sift some powdered sugar over the cake.

For the topping: Whip the mascarpone, cream, sugar, and vanilla together until soft peaks form. Serve on the side of each cake slice.