BIZZY BAKES

I am proud of myself.  I selected this week's recipe for Eating with Ellie (EwE).  I loved this and it could not be easier.  Two minutes is really two minutes.  It is called  Two-Minute Mango Coconut Sorbet. The recipe has four simple ingredients, frozen mango (I am sure fresh mango can be used), honey, basil and coconut milk.  Into the blender and zap, you have a frosty refreshing scrumptious dessert, breakfast, snack or whatever you want whenever you want it.  I could sit down to these, particularly in the hot weather at any time. I made mine while the mango was still partially frozen so it came out icy cold but it can be frozen or it can be put in the refrigerator.  In my opinion, icy is better. I liked this more than I have liked any dessert in a long time and that includes chocolate.  I am sure, you could make this with any fruit if you are not a mango fan.  Peaches to blueberries should work. Only a little honey is used ...

Kayte chose Chicken Poached in Coconut Curry . I had thought about selecting this one also. I am a fan of chicken and coconut, only in certain forms. I do not like a cake with lots of coconut coating the frosting but I love using coconut milk in recipes or added shredded coconut to fruit salads. Chicken is good in almost any form with almost any seasonings. I did most of my cooking for Wednesdays with Donna Hay and Eating with Ellie ahead of time because of the oncoming Jewish holiday of Passover (Pesach). Ask any Jewish woman who keeps this holiday strictly how she feels the weeks before the holiday and I am betting , she will say, "Tired!!!!!!". I enjoy the work but I am exhausted and the blog has to take a backseat to other parts of my life. I did want to keep up as best as I could with the two groups mentioned ahead and I cooked whatever was possible ahead of time. I made this Chicken Poached in Coconut Curry, weeks ago and I don't remember the details bu...

When I saw the additions to the quinoa, in this recipe from All Recipes. Com, I knew I had to make it.  How could you go wrong with it?  Actually, I did goof, big time.  I must have put too much liquid in the quinoa and it was mushy.  Despite this, the added flavors made it worthy of eating and I would make it again, just with more care. Tropical Quinoa Ingredients: 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed 1 cup water 1/4 cup chopped dried pineapple 1/2 cup dried mango 1/2 cup cut-up apple 1/4 cup sweetened coconut flakes 1/4 cup nuts, chopped                Method: Mix the quinoa and water in a saucepan over medium heat, and bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat, and simmer until all the water is absorbed, 10 to 12 minutes.  Remove from heat, and stir in the dried pineapple, dried mango, coconut flakes,  nuts.     Eat and enjoy. Serve hot. Linked to  Full P...

This month, I joined the Bundt Bakers, a group that bakes bundt cakes monthly according to a theme.  I am thrilled to find myself there since hubby likes bundt cakes.  I have only met the leader of the group (online) Stacy from Food Lust People Love  who has been helpful and appears to be lovely.  I am looking forward to "meeting" the other bakers.  Join me in finding out about this group. I found out Saturday night late what the theme for this month is, Tropical Bundt Cakes.  Coincidentally, I had to make a cake for company, we are having today.  What could be more perfect so I did some investigating.  Strangely enough or maybe not so strangly, each link I clicked on belonged to a baker from this group with bundt cake recipes.  I didn't want to use any from the group since they were already in place so I kept looking until I found this site, Virtual Cities.  There hadt a recipe which appealed to me. The major problem is that ...

In our group, The Home Bakers (THB) we are presently baking a Morning Glory Breakfast cake which is chock full of goodies.   Lena from Frozen Wings chose this bake and it is a good pick.  We are a coffee cake family and I love the different toppings or fillings, we use in these cakes.  Go over to Lena for the recipe. I subbed in a gluten-free brown rice mixture for the whole wheat and the all purpose flour.  I was out of blueberries and used dried blueberries instead.  I used coconut yogurt which is dairy free in place of the low fat plain yogurt.  Instead of wheat bran, I used one of the crumbs, I make for my husband.  This one was from Chex cereal. The cake also had carrots and an apple so you can get a picture of the goodness of this cake.  It used molasses which I included but I don't really like it. Please visit Joyce who bakes likes a dream.  She started THB and can be found at  Kitchen Flavours .  We ...

I love Mark Bittman.  I have three of his cookbooks and without a doubt, I can find answers for all my cooking questions, in one of them.  I, also find the recipes, I want to make.  This time, I used The Food Matters Cookbook.   I had four mangoes, in the house, and nothing planned for them so I looked up mangoes in the book and there was a crisp, waiting to be made. I have made many types of crisps but never a mango crisp.  This was a happy recipe.  You can sub in other fruits in the recipe.  I am going to add blueberries to the mango, next time, I make it. Mango Crisp adapted from Mark Bittman’s The Food Matters Cook Book Ingredients: 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) margarine, softened, plus more for greasing the pan. 2 tablespoons Canola oil 1 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut 1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 cup gluten-free flour mixture 1/2 cup rolled oats (old fashioned, not quick cooking) pinch of...

I am thinking cookies for my new class.  It is interesting, I didn't mention my baking to this class and no one said anything until yesterday (third day of school).  Obviously, it is a given to the class that I bake for my classes. I asked them how they knew this and of course, the answer was, your other students, told us.  Should I be pleased or taken for granted?  Being the teacher who rewards has a positive payback.  It is easy to explain. Threatening kids with punishments leaves a sour taste in everyone's mouth, probably especially the teacher.  Earning something is much more promising that losing it.  Of course, in the end, the results are the same but the attitude is different. This year, is a little surprising.  I have had siblings of these children and for the first time, most of them are at the other end of the spectrum, from their brothers.  With the exception of two of the brothers, the others are different, not only in p...

Another week, another vegetable for our Power Food group, a bunch of women who strive for healthy eating with the most delicious dishes. Each blog is inspiration . Each week, we choose a recipe based on the power food which comes from the book, Power Foods, 150 delicious recipes with the 38 healthiest ingredients from the editors of Whole Living magazine. This week, kale is the next vegetable in the book. This is another vegetable, I have never made and I doubt that I have eaten. Why not? The answer may be found in an experience, my husband had, this week. I had forgotten all about the kale and when he called me, on his way home, from work, he asked if I wanted anything from the store. I was super thankful for this offer and told him, "kale." He went to the local store, made his way through produce, helplessly looking for kale. He pulled over some women customers and asked them which was kale. This led to a lively conversation but no kale. None of them knew what ka...

Coconut-Butterscotch Muffins  I like to bake, almost daily and it is important to me, to have variety.  I would not be happy making pies or cakes or muffins, everyday.  It may be a platitude but I think, variety in baking is the spice of life. I had a topping mix left from another recipe and did not want to keep it, taking up space.  My choices were muffins or a coffee cake.  Muffins won.  I had not eaten lunch and was hungry.  Muffins are done quickly and easily and for some reason, sounded acceptable for lunch while a coffee cake did not. I name the muffins after the topping, a blend of coconut, dried apples, butterscotch chips and chopped almonds.  With a small amount of canola oil, I had a nice streusel for the muffin. Coconut-Butterscotch Muffins  Ingredients - 2 cups AP flour 1/3 cup granulated sugar 1 tablespoon instant coffee 1 tablespoon baking powder  1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 cup Brownulated brown s...