Greek Yogurt, Grapefruit, Honeycomb

Greek Yogurt, Grapefruit, and Honeycomb

We discovered this dish at a restaurant called Revel's during our visit to Seattle.   They kindly shared their recipe and now it is a favorite for breakfast at out house.

We use 0% Greek Yogurt which is so packed with protein and goodness.  Cut a grapefruit in half and use a knife to cut around the outside edge of the fruit and between the individual sections.  After cutting, the sections will easily pop out with a spoon.   Top 1/2 to 1 cup of yogurt with the the sections from one-half grapefruit and crumble with chunks of honeycomb.

We had to buy a candy thermometer to get the honeycomb right.  We tried three times without a thermometer.  The first time we burnt the honeycomb.   Then, gun shy, we undercooked the next two batches.  Using a thermometer and removing the syrup from the heat at 290 degrees works perfectly.  Go ahead and buy a thermometer if you don't have one.  It's well worth it.  Although perfect for breakfast, you will find yourself craving this yogurt dish at all times, day and night

How to make Honecomb

• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 tablespoons honey
• 4 tablespoons water
• 2 teaspoons baking soda

1. Line a jelly roll pan or baking sheet with an edge with parchment paper.  Grease the parchment with a small amount of canola or vegetable oil.
2. Add the sugar, honey, and water to a saucepan. You can stir the mixture, but it isn't necessary.
3. Cook the ingredients over high heat, without stirring, until the mixture reaches 290°F. The sugar will melt, small bubbles will form, the bubbles will become larger, then the sugar will start to carmelize to an amber color.
4. When the temperature reaches 290°F, remove the pan from heat and whisk the baking soda into the hot syrup. This will cause the syrup to foam up.
5. Stir just enough to mix the ingredients, then dump the mixture onto the greased baking sheet. Don't spread out the candy, as this would pop your bubbles.
6. Allow the candy to cool, then break or cut it into pieces.
7. Store the honeycomb candy in an airtight container.

Ewe!

Someone brought a 4-day-old lamb to the dog show

Deep Acres Loco Por Lola, aka Lola, took her first Major on Sunday on the road to her championship. To earn the title of champion, you have to accumulate 15 points including two major wins. Their were lots of Tibetan Terriers at Sunday's show so it was a Major.

Grace was more impressed by the 4-day-old baby lamb that was running around its owner's van in the parking lot.  We were told this little ewe's mother rejected her and her owner didn't want to leave her home alone.

Deep Acres Loco Por Lola sur l'herbe at Deep Acres Farm today

The Best Banana Cake Recipe Ever - REALLY!

Bottom round frosted and topped with sliced bananas

We've been baking a lot lately.  Linda McCartney's Lemon Drizzle Cake.  Lemon Upside Down Cake.  Today we made our FAMOUS DATE BARS.   But our favorite new sweet recipe is for Double Banana Cake.  It's from Baked Expectations in Winnipeg, Canada.  According to the Winnipeg Free Press, "Baked Expectations is the place to be for those who want to have their cake and eat it too”

Our love affair with Double Banana Cake began when we came across the recipe in the RSVP column in Bon Appetit. RSVP is where Bon Appetit's editors share recipes they have sought out at the request of readers who covet an unforgettable restaurant (or bakery) dish and just have to have the recipe.

Well, Double Banana Cake is our new favorite.  We first made it last week and polished if off in record time.  We plan to make another tomorrow.   That's how good it is. And it's really simple to make.

Double Banana Cake

Cake Ingredients

1½ sticks butter, room temperature
1½ plus 1/3 cups all-purpose flour,
¾ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp sea salt
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1½ cups coarsely mashed very ripe bananas (3 large)
3 oz 0% Greek yogurt

Make the Cake
Preheat oven to 325°. Butter 1 8” round pan. Line bottoms of pan with parchment paper. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Using a stand mixer beat 1½ sticks butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 2–3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time beat for 1-2 until fully incorporated, scrape down sides and bottom to make sure everything is combined. With mixer on low, gradually beat in flour mixture, scraping sides of bowl. Add in bananas and yogurt, beat for 30 seconds until combined. Pour batter into pan.

Bake cake until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 45 -55 minutes. Let cool for 20 minutes in pans on wire racks.

Invert cake onto wire rack and remove parchment; let cool completely.

Frosting Ingredients

2 sticks butter, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup skim milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 generous pinches of sea salt
2-3 ripe but not mushy bananas cut crosswise into 1/8” slices

Make the Frosting
Using a stand mixer beat first 5 ingredients in a large bowl until light and fluffy, 6–7 minutes. (if too thin add more powdered sugar 1 tbs at a time. If too thick add milk 1 tsp at a time)
With a serrated knife cut cake in half horizontally. Place 1 half of cake into a cake plate. Spread a layer of frosting over. Arrange banana slices on top of the frosting. Top with other half of cake, cut side down. Spread a thin layer of frosting over top and sides of cake.

This cake is fabulous. It is lighter than banana bread and loaded with banana flavor. The frosting, for being so simple, adds just the right amount of sweetness and the layer of bananas in the center is genius.

Dear Suddie

Rachel, who lives with Roxie's daughter Sugar, sent the nicest letter and two beautiful ribbons for Grandma Suddie's hair.

Dear Suddie,

My new school is great.  I'm learning Spanish so I might teach Sugar some.  Yes, Sugar does walk to and from school with me.  It's hard to believe that Sugie is one-and-a-half.  We haven't taught her how to dance....yet.

LIST OF TRICKS THAT SUGIE CAN DO!

• She can jump through a hoop
• She can roll over
• She can play dead
• She can sit on command
• She can lay down on command

SINCERELY,
RACHEL
(P.S SUGIE WANTS TO SAY I LOVE YOU GRANDMA AND MOMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Twice-Baked Potatoes

Potatoes stuffed and ready for their 2nd bake.

We like goop.com, Gweneth Paltrow's website that is all about travel, fashion, and food.  And other stuff.  We like a lot of what she likes.   And we love this recipe for twice-baked potatoes we found on goop.

Double-bake with caramelized onions and gorgonzola. Super simple – after baking (for about an hour at 400 degrees for a large potato), carefully remove insides with a spoon (it's not as hard as we thought and the potato skins didn't fall apart - much), mix with a tablespoon of both gorgonzola and caramelized onion.  Salt & pepper to taste and place mixture back in potato. Place back in oven and bake for another 5 minutes, until the top browns.

Now, the question is, do you know how to caramelize onions?  We have to admit, we weren't quite sure.

How to Caramelize Onions

• Prep time: 10 minutes
• Cook time: 45 minutes

Quantities depend on how much caramelized onions you wish to make. In this example, 5 large raw onions yielded about 2 cups caramelized onions.

Add to shopping list

Ingredients

• Several medium or large onions, yellow, white, or red
• Olive oil
• Butter (optional)
• Salt
• Sugar (optional)

Method

1 Slice off the root and top ends of the onions, peel the onions. Cut the onions in half. Lay them cut side down and slice the onions lengthwise to desired thickness. If you want, you can cut a little wedge in the tough rootball end of the onions and discard that part, but we haven't found this to be necessary, as this part of the onion softens and cooks with the rest over the long cooking time.

2 Use a wide, thick-bottomed sauté pan for maximum pan contact with the onions. Coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil, or a mixture of olive oil and butter (about 1 teaspoon per onion). Heat the pan on medium high heat until the oil is shimmering. Add the onion slices and stir to coat the onions with the oil. Spread the onions out evenly over the pan and let cook, stirring occasionally. Depending on how strong your stovetop burner is you may need to reduce the heat to medium or medium low to prevent the onions from burning or drying out. After 10 minutes, sprinkle some salt over the onions, and if you want, you can add some sugar to help with the caramelization process. (I add only about a teaspoon of sugar for 5 onions, you can add more.) One trick, by the way, to keeping the onions from drying out as they cook is to add a little water to the pan.

3 Let cook for 30 minutes to an hour more, stirring every few minutes. As soon as the onions start sticking to the pan, let them stick a little and brown, but then stir them before they burn. The trick is to let them alone enough to brown (if you stir them too often, they won't brown), but not so long so that they burn. After the first 20 to 30 minutes you may want to lower the stove temperature a little, and add a little more oil, if you find the onions are verging on burning. A metal spatula will help you scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan as the caramelization proceeds. As the onions cook down, you may find you need to scrape the pan every minute, instead of every few minutes. Continue to cook and scrape, cook and scrape, until the onions are a rich, browned color. At the end of the cooking process you might want to add a little balsamic vinegar or wine to help deglaze the pan and bring some additional flavor to the onions.
Store refrigerated for several days in an air-tight container.

A Dog in A Window in Seattle

On our way to dinner the other night, we met this fine fellow.   We almost missed him.  He didn't make a peep.  He was just enjoying watching the street life and the cool evening air.  Just like us.

Edison, Washington - A Food Lover's Paradise

Iris of Breadfarm Bakery in Edison, Washington

We first read about Edison, Washington in Bon Appetit.  We read it's where all the cool kids in the valley have set up shop.  So we decided to make the hour plus drive from Seattle to check it out.  It's really just a bend in the road and if you blink, you might miss it.  But don't.

Plan to spend a few hours.   There are two places you really must visit.  Breadfarm Bakery with fantastic hearty breads and cookies and such.   We got three loaves to take back to Iowa  - Chuckanut Multigrain, Samish River Potato, and a fantastic Lemon Sour Cherry.   One of each of their shortbread cookies, a couple thumbprints and a fig cookie.  It's quite a lovely place.

The Goods at Breadfarm Bakery

Then it was down the road to Tweets where Chef Dave served up amazing polenta with roasted vegetables, Anaheim peppers and goat cheese.  And then a thoroughly satisfying strawberry sour cherry pie.  Oh my!

Great place.  Great People.  Great Food.

Edison, we love you.

Chef Dave whips it up at Tweets.

A tableau at Tweets.

The Pie.  Oh My!

Fresh flowers for sale outside Tweets.