Banana Cream Cheese Bread with Streusel Walnut Topping

I don't know why, but  we are in America addicted to banana breads. Every time I have bananas I have to try a new recipe. Here is one more recipe for my collection of banana breads.

Banana Cream Cheese Bread with Streusel Walnut Topping

2-1/4 cups  flour
1-1/2 tsp.  Baking Powder
1/2 tsp.  baking soda
1 pkg.  (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1/4 cup  butter, softened
1 cup  sugar
1 cup  mashed fully ripe bananas (about 3)
2 eggs
1 cup  chopped Walnuts
HEAT oven to 350°F.
Mix flour, baking powder and baking soda. Beat cream cheese, butter and sugar in large bowl with mixer until blended. Add bananas and eggs; mix well. Gradually add flour mixture, mixing well after each addition. Stir in nuts.
POUR into greased and floured 9x5-inch loaf pan.
BAKE 1 hour 10 min. or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 min.; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely.

Streusel Topping
Ingredients
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons butter (1 & 1/4 tablespoons butter)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions
In a small bowl combine brown sugar and flour. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in walnuts.

Basic recipe you will find on Kraft site.

My collection of banana breads

1. Banana bread from Martha Stewart
2. Peanut butter banana bread
3. Banana Bread from Gold Medal
4. Zabar's Banana bread
5. Black and white banana loaf
6. Banana bread with Amish Friendship batter
7. Simple banana bread
8. Banana Honey cake with Vodka glaze
9. Classic Banana bundt cake from Dorie Greenspan

3 Day Sun Pickles

3 Day Sun Pickles 

 Serves: a lot
Ingredients

    1 large onion, cut up
    1-3 garlic cloves, peeled
    3 quarts of water
    ¾ cup of pickling salt
    ¾ cup of vinegar
    1 bunch of fresh dill
    about 20 pickle cucumbers, this depends on how large the cucumbers are that you get. You'll need enough to fill your jar.
   Mix water, pickling salt and vinegar in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil and boil for five minutes.
    Set to the side and cool for about 5 minutes, or until lukewarm.
    In a large gallon sized jar, place dill, cut onion, peeled garlic and cucumbers. Place cucumber last, and fill the jar.
    Pour warm mixture into the jar and put the lid on.
    Set jar outside in the sun for 3 days.
    After three days, open the jar and test a pickle. If it is to your liking, place the jar in the fridge. This will keep the pickles crunchy.

Малосольные огурцы за 3 дня

Эта доза достaточна для большого количества гостей.

1 большая луковица, очистить и порезать на большие куски
1-3 зубца чеснока, очистить
12 чашек воды (3 литра)
3/4 чашки соли для соления
3/4 чашки уксуса
1 небольшой пучок свежего укропа
20 среднего размера огурцов.

Перемешать воду, соль и уксус в кастрюле. Довести до кипения и китятить 5 минут. Снать с огня и дать остыть. В большую банку положить нарезанный лук, укроп, чеснок и огурцы. Залить приготовленным теплым раствором и прикрыть крышкой. Поставить банку на солнце и держать 3 дня. После, открыть банку, попробывать. Если все в порядке, то поставить банку в холодильник.

Recipe from 3 days sun pickles recipe

Favorite Cookbooks

Many of you want to know how I learn, where I'm getting the recipes for my blog, and how I enhance my menu. Ok, it's not easy, but quite challenging process. As many of you know, I came from former Soviet Union, where I lived in quite, compare to America, small city of Zhitomir.

I brought a lot of recipes with me, and I learn in America all the time. It's not just words, it's THE actions. I already have favorite chefs, cuisines and, of course, cookbooks. I'm learning from great chefs by making their recipes and their favorite cookbooks. I'm buying their books, follow their blogs, sites and other social media presentations.

Today, I would like to present quite interesting site, which gives me a lot of good information. I hope, each of you will become a fan of such site, where we can find the excellent source of information about the latest and the greatest people and ideas in cooking.

For some of you, this site is familiar, for other- it will be first and the most important step, and first one must be a right one. So, I present one of the best bakers Dorie Greenspan. It's not just a name, it's how she became the greatest one. Please, read and learn!

Sardine spread

Quite easy, healthy and exceptionally tasty for people, who likes fish. By the way, I choose several recipes from David Lebovitz last cooking book and intend to make some of them. Here's a fist one.
Between us, I really like a nice schpil given by author with recipe in a book. It's quite unusual for many of us. Take the book and read!


Sardine spread

1/4 cup (110 g) cream cheese, at room temperature
3 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 (115g each) cans sardines
2 scallions, white and tender greens parts, minced (I used 1/4 medium size onion)
1 tablespoons capers, rinsed, squeezed dry, and chopped
1 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 teaspoons sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Crackers, baguette, thinly-sliced toasted county or rye bread to serve

Mash together the cream cheese and butter with fork until smooth. Drain sardines. Run your thumb lengthwise down the bottom of each and pluck out the bones. Add the filleted sardines to the cream cheese mixture, mashing them to combine.

Add the scallions to the sardine mixture along with capers, lemon juice, salt, a few grinds of black pepper, and the cayenne pepper. Taste and add more salt, if desired.

The rilettes can be refrigerated for up to 4 days. let come to room temperature before serving with crackers, a baguette or thin slices of toasted country bread.


Паштет из сардин

1/4 чашки (110 грамм) сливочного сыра комнатной температуры
3 столовых ложки сливочного масла, комнатной температуры
2 (115 грамм каждая) коробки сардин
2 веточки зеленого лука, очень мелко порезанного (Я взяла 1/4 средней луковицы)
1 столовая ложка каперсов, промытых и отжатых от воды, мелко порезанных
1 столовая ложка свежего лимонного сока
1/4  чайной ложки морской соли
черный перец по вкусу
1/8 чайной ложки карсного жгучего перца

 Крекеры, тонко нарезанный хлеб

Смешать вместе сливочный сыр и масло вилкой. Отцедить сардины и вынуть косточки. Добавить филе сардин к cливочному сыру и маслу. Еще раз перемешать. Добавить лук, каперсы, лимонный сок, соль и перец. Добавить жгучий перец. Все перемешать, попробывать и добавить соль если нужно.

Паштет может быть в холодильнике до 4 дней. Вынуть паштет заранее и подавать с крекерами или поджaренным хлебом.

Recipe comes from David Lebovitz "My Paris kitchen".

5-Minute Strawberry Sherbet in the Food Processor

5-Minute Strawberry Sherbet in the Food Processor

Serves 4.

1 pound frozen strawberries
1 (4- or 6-ounce) container strawberry yogurt (can use plain or vanilla yogurt)
2 tablespoons superfine granulated sugar (more if needed)
Water (if you need, I did not)

If using fresh strawberries, wash, dry, hull, slice them in half and place on a plate in the freezer, until frozen. When frozen, transfer berries to a zipper-top bag for freezer storage until you are ready to use.
To make sherbet, place frozen strawberries (I kept frozen strawberries for 4-5 hours just on refrigerator shelf. They should be unfrozen a little bit), yogurt, 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons water in bowl of food processor. Whirl until thick and creamy, a minute or two, stopping to scrape down the bowl. Don’t walk away or it may overprocess and liquefy. It will look like thick frosting. While processing, add another tablespoon or so of water if it needs help achieving the right consistency.
Taste and add another tablespoon or more of sugar if needed, to suit your palate.

Serve immediately (I place into freezer for 30-45 minutes before serving), or store in a tightly sealed container in the freezer.

Сорбет из клубники за 5 минут в кухонном комбайне

На 4 порции.

1/2 кг свежей клубники
1 (180грамм) баночка йогурта
2 столовые ложки сахара (если хотите послаще, добавьте больше сахара)
вода (если нужно, мне не понадобилось)

Почистить и помыть свежую клубнику, полижхить в пластиковый пакет и заморозить, Держать в морозилке до того момента, пока Вам не понадобится.
Вынуть клубнику из морозилка и подержать в холодильнике 4-5 часов. Клубника будет немного размороженная. Положить клубнику, йогурт, 2 столовые ложки сахара и 2 столовые ложки воды в чашку кухонного комбайна. Провернуть до образования кремоподобной пасты. Вынуть из комбайна в пластиковый контейнер и поставить в морозилка на 30-45 минут. Сорбет готов к подаче на стол.

Recipe came from http://www.shockinglydelicious.com/5-minute-strawberry-sherbet-in-the-food-processor\

Holidays are coming!... Cooking event

I want to come in, I want to taste, and I want to invite my friends.

Chocolate Cinnamon Babka

I can not miss the recipe I found in Star tribune. Of course, it's a chocolate babka. I don't promise to make today, but it's on my "to-do" list for fall Holidays. I hope, I will make it.

Don't make this recipe! It's not delicious.

Lemon-Cream Cheese Strudel

2 sheets (17-oz. package) frozen puff pastry, thawed
2 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese
1 large egg
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1. Unfold pastry on a lightly floured board. With a floured rolling pin, roll pastry into a neat 10- by 14-inch rectangle.
2. In a bowl, with a mixer, beat cream cheese, egg, powdered sugar, lemon peel, and lemon juice until well blended.

3. Spoon half of cream cheese mixture down center of longest dimension of pastry to within 1 inch of each end; spread evenly. Roll dough with filling like for roll cake. Pinch pastry ends to seal. With 2 wide spatulas, gently lift the roll and lay, seam down, on a lightly buttered 14- by 17-inch baking sheet. Repeat with second sheet of pastry dough.

4. Place baking sheet with pastries in refrigerator for 30-45 minutes (Alton brown's advice. It works.) Preheat ovent to 400F.

5.  With a sharp knife, make shallow slashes at 1-inch intervals across the pastry. Sprinkle pastry evenly with granulated sugar.

6. Bake in a 400° regular or convection oven until strudel is deep golden brown, 20-25 minutes.  Let cool on pan at least 5 minutes. Serve warm or cool. Cut each strudel into 6 to 8 equal slices and transfer to plates.

Лимонный струдель с сливочным сыром.

2 листа (1 пакет весом в 500грам) замороженного слоеного теста
2 пакета (240 грамм каждый) сливочного сыра (cream cheese)
1 яйцо
1/2 чашка сахарной пудры
1 чайная лозхла свежей лимонной цедры
1 столоцая ложка лимонного сока
1 столовая ложка сахара

1. Разморозить тесто. Раскатать каждый лист в прямоугольник со сторонами 25 см и 40 см.

2. В большой посуде миксером смешать сливочный сыр, яйцо, сахарную пудру, лимонную цедру и лимонный сок.

3. Выложить половины начинки на первый лист теста, Равномерно распределить начинку. Закатать тесто с начинкой, защипить концы. Осторожно положить на приготовленную дечку. Тоже повторить со вторуым листом теста и второй половиной теста.

4. Поставить дечку с струделем в холодильник на 30-45 минут. Нагреть духовку до 400Ф.

5. Вынуть дечку из холодильника, сделать надрезы на тесте и посыпать сахаром. Поставить в нагретую духовку на 20-25 минут. Вынуть из духовки, остудить, разрезать каждый струдель на 6-8 частей и подавать теплым.

Idea for recipe came from Yummly

I love experimenting with puff pastry. It's not a first recipe. Here's a list of my goodies using puff pastry dough. They're delicious.

1. Quick Apple Turnovers

2. Puff pastry pockets with fish filling

3. Puff pastry sticks

4. Sweet twists

5. Roasted Tomato and Garlic Tart

6. Sugar palmier

Today one more.