Bountiful Baskets Organic Bananas Bread

It’s that time again, time to order Bountiful Baskets. I still haven’t used up most things from the last basket. I still have almost all of my plumbs from the plumby paradise pack. I plan on making:

Asian Plum Sauce

Plumb Tart

Plumb freezer jam (to use in jam thumbprints for Christmas cookies)

This week I’m going to make lettuce wraps and crab rangoons for dinner one night to serve with my homemade plumb sauce. Yum! That's about as far as I've gotten with meal planning so far. Check back tomorrow for the rest of the weeks meals plus ideas for the beautiful hatch chilies that the grocery stores are brimming with. Tonight I served an ultra intensive, gourmet meal...Tuna sandwiches on toasted buns.

For now, my organic bananas from the basket two weeks ago turned brown super fast, before we could eat them. (Which is a surprise considering how fast my monkeys go thru bananas!) So, I froze them for later.

Today I made ‘Bountiful Banana Bread.’

6-8 brown bananas (thawed if they were frozen)

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp nutmeg

½ cup butter

½ cup brown sugar

2 eggs

Topping:

1 cup oatmeal

2 tbsp flour

¼ cup butter (softened)

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Mix the bananas, vanilla, butter, sugar and eggs. Add in the flour, soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Mix until just combined. Don’t over mix once you add the flour in otherwise the final product is tough not tender. Pour into greased loaf pan, muffin pan or mini loaf pans until ¾ full.

Mix (hand are best) the topping ingredients until combined. Sprinkle on top of the uncooked batter, pressing in only slightly to help it stick.

Bake in 350 degree oven.

Regular loaf pan – 45-50 min’s

Muffins – 25-30 min’s

Mini loaf pans 30-35 min’s

Till tooth pick inserted in the center* comes out clean.

*Last week was our best friends birthday. That particular day she happened to be working a double shift and her husband was in night school so we were babysitting her kids for the evening. Well, Brad was babysitting I was out for the night. Her oldest, my beautiful niece Alana, wanted to make a birthday cake for her mom to eat when she got home. Alana mixed up everything on her own and got it into the oven. The details from there are a bit sketchy. I’m not sure if a timer was set, for how long or if it was just ignored. Alana claims Brad said he checked the cake, Brad claims he told Alana to check it. Regardless, after blowing out the candles and cutting into the cake at 9 at night after a double shift, it was soup in the middle! Alana was so disappointed. It turned into a laughable forever memory as they picked out the cooked edges of the cake but I’m not sure Alana will bake a cake with Brad again.

What can I say, the man is married to Betty Crocker, he doesn’t have to be Betty. J

Bountiful baskets tropical pack

Have you joined Bountiful Baskets yet? Really it's simple, worth it and a great experience in food! You order on Monday, pick up on Saturdays. It usually only takes me 30 min.'s round trip on Saturday mornings.
Here's everyone lined up:





Here is a picture of the baskets waiting to be claimed. (the $3 first time basket charge pays for the white baskets to store your produce until you pick it up)





This is a bad picture but cut me some slack, it was early, I only had 1/2 of my coffee and was on auto pilot. These are ready for me to pick up. One fruit and one veggie white basket equals one order. Make sense? I had two orders.





This weeks basket offered a tropical pack for the first time. I'm so excited about it!






The tropical pack included:
1 pineapple
1 coconut
3 mangos
1 lime
2 lemons
1 star fruit
2 fresh vanilla pods
Large bag of fresh mint

The last time I bought vanilla pods they were jarred from McCormak and I think I paid $8 for two pods. They were dry and yielded very little pulp. The tropical pack with everything above was $10.50 and the vanilla is wet, soft and so fragrant! The mint alone is probably another $8-10.

This is the tropical pack and regular basket combined:






The basket this week had:
1 bunch celery
1 large crown broccoli
2 bags carrots
6 small cucumbers
1 yellow onion
3 organic romain lettuces
3 small bags radishes
1 bunch banana
1 cantaloupe
1 clamshell strawberries
7 apples
6 mangos


I think we're going to have a tropical feast tonight!

Mango mint mojitos
Brown sugar grilled pork tenderloin with mango pineapple salsa
Jasmine lime and cilantro rice
Tropical green salad with star fruit and lemon lime balsamic vinaigrette
Coconut tres leches cake with caramelized bananas

Yum!

Bountiful Baskets and Mexican feast recipes

The bountiful baskets today were big! Plus I got the Mexican pack and the Tortilla pack.

2 heads romaine lettuce

4 zucchini

3 mexican grey squash

3 bunches asparagus

2 green peppers

2 jalapeños

5 poblano peppers

3 banana peppers

1 bunch green onions

1 bunch cilantro

2 yellow onions

2 bulbs garlic

1 watermelon (the ½ is from my mom’s basket)

5 oranges

4 apples

5 bananas

4 mangos

I’m making a Mexican feast for us tonight! Chile Rellenos (in a casserole type dish instead of fried since they tend to fall apart on me) Calabicitas and Green Chile chicken in tortillas.

Oh, forgot the most important part, watermelon margaritas!

Who’s coming for dinner?

I'll upload pictures after I get started cooking.

Chile Rellenos Recipe

5  poblano peppers

Cotija cheese (if you can’t find this you can use any other cheese you prefer)

Chedar Jack cheese

1 box jiffy corn bread mix

2 can rotell

2 tbsp oregano

Roast the poblano’s in the broiler or the grill until blackened and blistered. Place in a plastic bag to cool down. The steem will help remove the skins. Once cool, cut a small slit into the side and remove the stems and ribs. Mix the cheese together and stuff the peppers.

Puree the rotell and add 1 cup to the bottom of a casserole dish. Add the poblanos, be sure to lay them cut side up so the cheese doesn’t run out. Mix up the corn bread mix and add extra milk until the batter is very thin. Pour a ½ inch layer over the peppers. Bake until golden bubbly and brown.

Calabacitas

4-6 zucchini squash (I usually prefer a mix of yellow and green)

1 onion

3 cloves garlic

1 bag frozen corn (canned works but fresh is best!)

1 can creamed corn (add’s that sweetness)

1 large can fire roasted green chiles

2 cups chicken broth

1 bunch cilantro

1-2 jalapeños (Optional)

2 cups cheddar jack cheese

You can either throw all the ingredients (chopped), except the cheese and ½ the cilantro into your crock pot and let it go for 4-6 hours on high, 6-8 on low. I sometimes throw the jalapeños in whole just to add that smoky flavor and a little heat, that way the kids still eat it.

Add the cheese in the crock pot just before serving. Serve with fresh cilantro, sour cream and more cheese. I prefer the mexican cotija cheese on the top but any cheese will do. Pepper jack is nice too.

Tonight since I have them, I’ll be using the mexican grey squash as well.

Green Chile Chicken

4-6 large chicken breasts

1 bunch cilantro

1 onion

1 bulb garlic

1 jar green salsa

2 fresh tomatoes

Dump it all, except the tomatoes, into your crock pot and cook on low 4-6 hours, remove the chicken, cut into pieces and toss back in till ready to serve. I add the tomatoes, diced, at the end to keep the color and brightness.

Since I have the banana peppers I’ll probably put those in as well.

Bountiful Basket

Wow, what a basket this week! We were warned that due to the hard freeze on most of the US that the crops were low thus our baskets may be small. It was missing some of the standards but it made up for it in the curious extras.
7 Apples
5 Bananas
5 Mangos
1 Cantaloupe
1 Clamshell of Strawberries
8 Mini-pears
3 Yellow Squash
2 Heads of Cabbage
1 Yellow Bell Pepper
1 Bunch Spinach
12 Small Sweet Potatoes
15 Sunchokes or Jerusalem Artichokes

And I ordered an extra case of Strawberries as well as 12 dozen tortillas.

I have no idea what a Sunchoke is but I look forward to figuring it out! Here's what they look like:

Look at these pears, aren't the the cutest thing EVER!

Bountiful Baskets

Did you get your basket yet this week? If not, hurry up and go order! I got my normal 2 baskets (one is my for my parents) and this week I thought I'd try the Tortilla pack. I've only heard raves about it so I thought I'd try them. It's 7 dozen tortillas for $10. I also got the 8 lb box of strawberries since my kids love them and they freeze great for smoothies later.
Go now and order your basket!
Bountiful Baskets

Bountiful Baskets

Have you heard of Bountiful Baskets? If not, you HAVE to check it out. It's co-op for fruits and veggies. I go onto the website and order every two weeks and for $15 I get a laundry basket full of fruits and veggies. This week I got:

2 Romain lettus's
1 Red Kale
4 Cucumbers
2 Bunches Asparagus
5 Roma tomatoes
7 Banannas
3 Ruby Red Grapefruits
4 Asian pears
5 Apples
1 Pineapple

I also got an "extra" order this week of 11 lbs. of Asparagus for $18. I plan on blanching and freezing them for side dishes later in the month.

Check it out, there are pick up sites everywhere! Bountiful Baskets