Tag: recipe

Banana Black Pepper Muffins

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This experiment was inspired by aromas. I really love the smell of black pepper. I find it so complex and full of twists and turns. Bananas too have an intestong aroma that evolves wih the ripeness of the fruit. The best bananas for breads and muffins are the ones that almost squish out of the dark peel; a banana rarely eaten in the same way that a bright yellow banana is eaten. The result of my current curiosity sounds like something from a spell book. Grab the squishy brown bananas, and black pepper and take these charming muffins to a Halloween party. If you want to creep people out a little, up the amount of black pepper by a smidge.

Yields 12 standard size muffins. You’ll need a muffin tin and muffin cups if desired.

Banana Black Pepper Muffins

  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
  • 3/4 c cane sugar
  • 2 T brown sugar
  • 3 ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1/3 cup oil
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • kosher salt and more cane sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. If not using muffins cups, spray muffin tin with cooking spray. Measure dry ingredients (flour-black pepper) into a medium bowl, and whisk to combine. In another bowl, combine sugars through vanilla and whisk together. Add banana mixture to the flour mixture and gently fold until combined. Scoop batter into muffin cups. Sprinkle a little kosher salt and cane sugar ontop of muffins, then bake. Check muffins after 20 minutes. When you can really smell the muffins and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, remove them from the oven and allow to cool.

Spicy Sausage Soup

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Easy, quick, and warm. Wonderful warming flavors of fennel, coriander, and crushed red pepper along with a hearty dose of cabbage will activate the internal detoxifying processes. As the weather starts to really cool down, this soup can help keep things moving on the inside, when all you might want to do is crawl under a blanket.

Spicy Sausage Soup

  • 1 lb Spicy pork sausage
  • 1-2 T butter
  • 1-2 T olive oil
  • 2 tsp fennel seeds
  • 2 tsp coriander seeds
  • 1 T chili flakes (less if you’d like)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 2 T tomato paste
  • 2 T minced garlic
  • 1 medium white onion, small dice
  • 3 c diced fennel bulb
  • 2 c diced carrot
  • 4-6 c chopped green cabbage
  • 1 1/2 -2 quarts veg stock
  • 1/2 c chopped parsley

Feeds 6. Takes about 1 hour cooking time. Gluten Free

Start by chopping and dicing all your veg so they’re ready to go. In a medium/large pot, brown the sausage. Remove cooked sausage from the pot, leaving any rendered fat. To the pork fat, add olive oil and butter. The amount you add will depend on how much fat was released from the sausage and your own desire. To the pot, add the tomato paste, fennel, coriander, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Cook on med/low, allowing the spices to bloom and become arromatic but being careful not to burn the tomato paste. Add the garlic and onion, stirring and allowing onion to soften, again being careful not to burn the garlic or tomato paste. Next, add the fennel, cabbage, and carrot. Stir to coat the veg with the spicy tomato mixture. As the cabbage starts to whilt, add the stock. Allow 10-15 min for the veg to cook down, then add the cooked sausage back to the pot. Taste broth and add salt if needed. Simmer soup until carrots are tender. Stir in chopped parsley just before serving.

Spring Barley Salad

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A combination of a whole grain, light flavorful vinegarette, and lots of spring vegetables makes for a high protein, high fiber, vegetarian salad, side dish, or one bowl meal. Great as a side for Easter Ham or Lamb. Come on in Spring.

Feeds 8-10 as a side dish. Feeds 4-5 as base to a main course. Takes roughly 45 minutes to make.

  • 1 cup of dried Barley, rinsed
  • 2 cups of chopped, celery
  • 1 small bunch of radish, cleaned and cut into matchsticks
  • 5-6 green onions, sliced on the bias
  • Dill, 1/2 cup chopped
  • Dill pickles, 1/2 cup chopped
  • 1 can of white beans, drained and rinsed
  • Dressing
  • 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
  • 2 T olive oil
  • 2 T dijon mustard
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1 T agave syrup
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • generous cranks of black pepper

Boil water and cook barley according to package directions. Set aside to cool. To make dressing combine vinegar-black pepper and blend or whisk together until combined. Prepare all vegetables. When barley has cooled to room temp, add dressing and veg. Fold together to combine. Taste for salt and pepper, add if needed. If serving later you may add oil if salad seems to dry for you liking.