Pie Month: Papaya Pie

In honor of Thanksgiving, I'll be rerunning my old pie posts. This one is just for my friends in the tropics, in case you want to make a harvesty pie but don't have pumpkin or sweet potatoes. Originally run Nov. 13, 2008.

This is not my recipe! You can find it here

I did change it a little bit. About 2/3 cup brown sugar, no white sugar. No salt, since with the humidity here salt tends to clump up. I also added 1/8 t ginger, and used a regular crust instead of a graham cracker crust (which, if you had it, would be very good).
What a wonderful recipe for November in the tropics. It tastes harvest-y, like pumpkin or sweet potato pie, not at all like ripe papaya (which I don't really care for). And I got the fruit free from my housekeeper.

Greek Style Pork

This one is unaltered right out of Better Homes & Gardens, but it’s too good not to share. The acidity of the tomatoes contrasts nicely with the savory of the oregano and the sweet of the cinnamon and raisins. And it’s simple to make.

Ingredients
1 lb boneless pork sirloin (or 2 – 4 pork chops)
1 T cooking oil
½ of a medium onion, cut into wedges
1 14 ½ oz. can diced tomatoes
½ cup raisins
½ t dried oregano, crushed
½ t ground cinnamon

Method
Trim fat from meat. Cut meat into ½ inch cubes. In a large skillet with a lid, brown meat and onions. You may need to brown the meat half at a time, depending on how much meat you have and the size of your skillet. Drain off fat.
Stir in undrained tomatoes, raisins, oregano and cinnamon. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat and cover. Simmer for 20 to 25 minutes or till meat is tender. If desired, serve atop hot cooked rice. Serves 4.

More Banana Bread

This recipe, found on the Taste of Home web site, yields a moister banana bread than the one I posted previously. It's closer to the kind I remember my Dutch-American Grandma making. The secret is the buttermilk.

My changes:
used 1 cup wheat flour and 3/4 cup white, instead of all white
reduced sugar to 1 cup
added 1 t cinnamon
increased bananas to three
used plain yoghurt instead of buttermilk
instead of walnuts, stirred in 1 cup each raisins & chocolate chips
It still came out great.

Autumn Produce

apples & celery!
(I'm still perfecting the dip ... look for a recipe some day!)

Somewhat Chocolate Bread Pudding

My husband likes to bring home those bakery-fresh French bread loaves that supermarkets sell. Problem is, they are usually too much for our small family to finish before they go stale. Also, through our work we get a lot of day-old bread.

So what’s the solution? French toast, of course! Or try this bread pudding. I adapted it from Better Homes & Gardens to make it chocolately and doubled it to accommodate how much bread we had.

I originally tossed 1/3 cup of chocolate chips with the oatmeal and bread cubes, but they sank to the bottom during cooking, creating a delicious but hard-to-clean crust.

Ingredients
6 beaten eggs
3 ½ cups milk
½ cup sugar
3 T cocoa powder
8 cups stale or oven-dried French bread cubes
1/3 cup dry oatmeal

Method
Preheat oven 350 F. In a bowl beat together eggs, milk, sugar and cocoa powder. (I had a hard time getting the cocoa powder to stop rising to the top of the mixture. It might help to mix it thoroughly with the sugar before adding both to the eggs and milk.) In a large baking dish, casserole dish or Pyrex bowl, toss together bread crumbs and oatmeal. Pour egg mixture evenly over bread mixture.

Bake at 350 F for 90 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. If desired, after an hour of cooking, sprinkle the top of the pudding lightly with chocolate chips and additional oatmeal. Cool slightly; serve warm. Store leftovers in the fridge for an instant breakfast.

Chocolate-Oatmeal Muffins

Adapted from the basic Better Homes & Gardens muffin recipe.

Ingredients
2/3 cup white flour
1/3 cup wheat flour
¾ cup rolled oats
1/3 cup sugar
3 T cocoa powder
2 t baking powder
1/8 t salt
1 beaten egg
¾ cup milk
¼ cup cooking oil
½ cup chocolate chips

Method
Preheat oven 400 F.
Grease or line with paper liners 12 standard-sized muffin cups.
In a medium mixing bowl combine the flours, oats, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Mix well, make a well in the middle of the mixture, set aside.
In another mixing bowl, beat egg. Add milk and oil, beat again, and add wet mixture all at once to dry mixture. Stir till just moistened (batter should be lumpy). Fold in chocolate chips.
Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake at 400 F 20 minutes or till a toothpick comes out clean (except for the chocolate chips it will hit on its trip through). Cool in muffin cups on a rack for five minutes. Remove from muffin cups. Because of the oats, these muffins are best served warm. Later they will tend to stiffen up.

Banana Bread

... or, as my son calls it, "Cake!"

Adapted from the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. This recipe contains 1/3 of the sugar.

Banana bread always reminds me of my Dutch grandmother. Supper at her house often consisted of cold cuts and cheese; carrots, celery, and olives; and banana or zucchini bread served with real butter that was soft from sitting out.

Ingredients
1 cup white flour
½ cup wheat flour
1 ½ t baking powder
¼ t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1 cup mashed bananas (3 medium)
¼ cup sugar
1 egg
¼ cup apple juice plus 1 – 2 T cooking oil
1 t finely shredded lemon peel (optional)
½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
(for the loaf in the photo above, I used raisins instead)

Method
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease bottom and ½ inch up the sides of an 8x4x2-inch loaf pan.
In a medium mixing bowl combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Make a well in the center of the dry mixture.
Slice bananas into another mixing bowl. Add sugar and mash with a potato masher. If the bananas are nearly overripe, this method will work well. Beat the egg with a fork in a measuring cup and add to the banana mixture; in the same measuring cup, measure apple juice and oil, and add to the banana mixture. Add lemon peel if desired, and stir the banana mixture thoroughly.
Add banana mixture all at once to dry mixture. Stir till just moistened (batter should be lumpy). Fold in the nuts.
Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350 F 50 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack. Remove loaf from pan; cool on rack. Wrap and store overnight.

Broccoli Salad

Broccoli is supposed to be one of those “super foods” that has so many nutrients in it that we should eat it every day.

This is a family recipe from my husband’s side. I didn’t know about it until this summer, but it’s easy and tasty. I hope they will forgive me if I get it wrong. The purple of the red onion makes a beautiful color combination with green broccoli. Even my baby son likes this salad. He eats the raisins and does his level best with the broccoli before giving up and spitting it out.

The optimum time to make this salad is said to be 2 hours before serving. It can keep in the fridge a day or two, but after that is not so good.

Ingredients
2 heads of fresh broccoli
¼ to ½ of a red onion
¼ cup raisins
¼ cup sunflower seeds, or chopped pecans or walnuts
¼ to ½ cup slaw dressing, mayo, or Miracle Whip

Method
Wash the broccoli and chop into bite-sized florets, reserving stems for another use if desired. Thinly slice and, if desired, rinse and drain the red onion. Toss the broccoli, onion, raisins, and seeds or nuts in a large serving bowl. (Alternatively, seeds or nuts may be added as a garnish, or served on the side.) Add the dressing and mix thoroughly. Store in the fridge until serving. Serves four to six.

Easiest Side Dish in the Kitchen

String beans are called "boonchees" in Indonesia, and "half-runners" in Ohio. What's your local name for them?

Ingredients
1/2 lb string beans, fresh or frozen
2 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon lemon-pepper seasoning

Method
Wash and string the beans, if necessary, and cut to desired length. Ten minutes before serving time, put them in a saucepan with an inch of water. Bring to the boil, cover, and simmer ten minutes. Meanwhile, place butter and lemon-pepper seasoning in the bottom of the serving bowl. When the beans are crisp-tender, drain them and dump them, still hot from the colander, into the serving bowl. Stir until the butter and lemon-pepper seasoning are evenly distributed, and serve. Serves two to four.

Cucumber-Mint Salad

I got this recipe from a “how to cook Indonesian” cookbook years ago, and re-made it from memory the other day, to go with the sate-style chicken below. The freshness complements the chicken’s heavy flavors.
(To be honest, I never had a real Indonesian serve me a salad like this. They would usually serve diced cucumber, shallots and bird's-eye peppers floating in 20%-acetic-acid vinegar with no sugar added.)

Ingredients
4 cucumbers
¼ red onion, minced (optional)
¼ cup fresh mint leaves
¼ cup white vinegar (5% acetic acid)
3 T brown sugar or palm sugar

Method
For each cucumber, peel, cut in half crosswise, then lengthwise. Stand the cucumber quarters on end and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds. Discard seeds; slice the cucumbers thinly. You should get little crescent-shaped pieces. Place in a large bowl.
Mince the onion and add to the cucumber.
Wash the mint leaves, pat dry, and chop. Mix with the cucumber. (Shown)
Measure the vinegar into a measuring cup. Add the 3 T brown sugar and stir until dissolved. Pour over the cucumber and mint; stir. Cover and store in the fridge, stirring periodically so that all the cucumber gets a chance to marinade.