Depending on where you live, you may need to find a specialty food store to find some of the ingredients or order them on the internet. It’s possible you could simply substitute the butter for ghee (which the chef in the video says you can) and cake flour for maida (this I’m not sure of and I haven’t tested it myself yet).

Recipe for Banana Dosai

4 ripe bananas
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped cashews
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped raisins
Butter or ghee (a type of clarified butter)
1/4 cup maida (finely milled wheat flour – similar to cake flour in the West)
1/2 cup Rice flour
crushed cardamom seeds (optional)
Sugar to taste

Mash bananas. Add chopped raisins, cashews, rice flour, maida and a little sugar. Mix. Add a little crushed cardamom seeds if desired. It should be a pasty consistency.

Griddle should be at 325 F. Put spoonful of batter on griddle. Put a few drops of ghee on top of batter and let it cook until lightly brown on both sides.

Here you can watch it made…

I’d skip the spicy sauce that the chef in the video recommends, if you’re serving this to children!

This is a good dessert for the Indian Festival of Diwali!

You can find more Indian recipes at at Vahrehvah.com .

Enjoy!

Mama Lisa

This morning, I made a full cake pan of "bavarois aux fruits" (Bavarian Fruit) for this evening…  it’s an easy and cool recipe to make for the summer:

1 liter (4 cups) Fruit Juice of your choice (except pineapple, kiwi fruit, papayas, peaches, mangos, guavas, and figs because the gelatin won’t set due to certain enzymes in these juices.)

6 Gelatin Sheets (4 sheets equal the amount of gelatin in the 1/4-ounce packet of Knox powder gelatin found in the US – therefore in the US you’d need 1 1/2 -1 envelopes which should be 2 Tablespoonfuls.)

2 Egg Whites

20cl (7 ounces) Heavy Cream

150g Sugar (2/3 cup)

Vanilla-flavored Sugar (in France it’s in 7.5 grams poaches, but I think a couple of drops of Vanilla Extract should do) (Optional)

1) Dip the gelatine sheets in cold water if you’re using sheets.  Otherwise, if you’re using powder, mix the gelatin powder with the juice.  Warm the fruit juice on the stovetop on low. (If you’re using the gelatine sheets add them at this point into the tepid/warm fruit juice).  Do not boil the juice or it will ruin the consistency of the gelatin! Stir until gelatin is dissolved – this should take a few seconds.

2) Allow to cool then put in the fridge long enough for it to be half set.  When it is, beat the two eggs whites in a separate bowl until stiff, add the sugar.  Whip the cream in a separate bowl until foamy and stiff and add the vanilla extract. Gently add both mixtures to the half set mixture of juice/gelatin.  It’s better done with a whisk.  Pour the mixture into a glass pie dish.  My cake pan is 12" in diameter and about 3" high (7cm).  Put it in the fridge to set… and voila!

Beware, if you leave it too long outside at dessert time, it’ll somewhat melt,  it’ll look like a mess you’ll need to use a ladle!

Enjoy!

Monique

Note from Mama Lisa: I asked Monique about the consistency of the dessert and she said, "It’s less thick than Jell-O. It’s more or less the consistency of a mousse, but maybe a little more set. So you must serve it as soon as you take it out of the fridge. Then you can cut it and serve it with a cake server."

My sister, Gwen, makes this wonderful blueberry pie every summer.  This blueberry pie recipe leaves most of the blueberries uncooked.  What’s so great about that is that you get the plumpness of fresh blueberries in your pie.  (It doesn’t have the gooey feel of a baked blueberry pie – that might be more appropriate for the cooler weather).  My sister’s pie is a very refreshing treat in the hot weather!

Blueberry Pie Recipe

Ingredients:

6 cups of Blueberries (2 1/2 pints) washed & drained
1/4 – 1/2 cup Cold Water
5 Tbsp. Flour or Cornstarch (we use flour)
Pinch of Salt 
1/2 – 1 cup Sugar (depends tartness of berries)
1/2 cup Water
10 inch Pie Shell Baked (My sister uses frozen – I used a Graham Crust in the photo above.)

1)  Wash and drain berries thoroughly. Mix together 1/4 cup cold water, flour & salt to make a smooth paste (add more water as necessary to make a smooth paste).

2)  Mix 1 cup blueberries, sugar,  1/2 cup water and paste in saucepan. Bring to a boil and stir until mixture thickens. Remove from stovetop to cool.

3)  When mixture is cool add remaining berries and put into already baked pie shell.

4)  Optional – top with fresh whip cream. Mix 1 pint of heavy cream with 2 – 3 Tbsp. of confectionary sugar and whip with mixer.

Enjoy!

Many thanks to my sister, Gwen Eichler, for sharing her recipe with us!

Mama Lisa

It’s time to eat ice cream… with the warm weather here.  Why not make your own wet walnuts as a topping when there’s a special occasion?  I made some for tonight’s Father’s Day dessert:  Wet Walnuts over Vanilla Ice Cream…  My husband’s favorite!

I’m a strong believer in adapting recipes to your family’s tastes, so feel free to leave out the cinnamon from the recipe below, or change the recipe in other ways that suit you best. I’ll include notes at the end about possible adaptations.  We love cinnamon and found the little hint of it to be a nice addition to the wet walnut recipe below.

Ingredients

1 cup Walnuts
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/8 cup corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Chop up the walnuts…

3. Bake the walnuts in the oven on a cookie sheet or baking pan for about 12 minutes.

4. Mix together maple syrup, corn syrup and cinnamon.  Add in the walnuts once they’re done cooking.  Stir and voila!  You’re ready to eat!  Serve over ice cream.

Notes on adapting the recipe:  The corn syrup is optional.  It lightens the flavor of the maple syrup.  I mixed pure maple syrup with "pancake" syrup.  This gave it a lighter flavor too.  Some people add in a little ginger powder for a different flavor. You could also use less syrup if you want to be conscious of calories.  I’d say you could get away with using a total amount of 1/2 cup of syrup.  In that case your walnuts won’t be as syrupy.  However you adapt it, if you use these general guidelines above, it’s hard to go wrong with wet walnuts. You’re basically mixing walnuts and sweet syrup.  What can be bad about that?!

Enjoy!

Mama Lisa

Yuta, Yoji and Miki made this awesome “sushi” for a school birthday party. It’s made out of homemade rice crispy treats, gummy fish and fruit roll-ups. How cute and cool!

The one question everyone’s asking is: How did they get the rice crispy treats to be soooo pure white? Any ideas? If so, please let us know in the comments below! (I also wonder where you get the faux lacquer boxes?)

Thanks!

Mama Lisa

What you will need:
25 Hershey Kisses (Plain)
50 Snyder’s of Hanover Pretzel Snaps (they are little 3 square x 4 square rectangular pretzels)
1 large sheet pan
Aluminum Foil or Parchment Paper (to cover the sheet pan… who wants to clean? LOL)

Math: You will need 2 unbroken pretzel snaps for every 1 kiss. You will probably want to make more. (This is good for the kiddies, they can count out the kisses and double the amount of pretzels per kiss).

What to do:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Unwrap the kisses. Foil is not tasty.
Place parchment paper or aluminum foil on the sheet pan.
Place pretzel snaps on the sheet pan.
Place a Hershey Kiss in the center of each snap. (See Photo 1)
Put kiss/pretzel in the oven for only TWO MINUTES… NO MORE!  Remove from oven.
Place a Pretzel snap on top of melted kiss, push down slightly to make a sandwich. (See Photo 2)
Allow Grids to cool… or place in the refrigerator for quick cooling.

Getting ready for their quick melt in the oven.  (They will retain there kiss shape but will be soft).

Voila! These are soo good… perfect for those salty/sweet moments!

Corrine wrote, “I must thank my wonderful sister-in-law, Jenny for bringing this recipe into our lives… Enjoy! xo xo”

Here are some variations to the recipe given by Corrine’s friends:

Cindy Roter wrote:  “How clever! I can so see topping those little babies with peanut butter… Thanks for the share. Cindy”

Chelle Baldwin wrote: “I can top this one! Same idea but different ingredients. Get the pretzels, top with a rolo.  Heat on low in the oven for a few minutes, then take it out and smoosh the rolo down with either a pecan or another pretzel. Super yummy!”

Susan Leonard Evans wrote:  “Hahhaa, AWESOME! Thanks for sharing, I’m definitely going to try these. Also, I’ve had similar treats using "pastel-colored" chocolate wafers. Someone made them around Easter – they were yummy AND festive! Just an option :) Thanks again – xo xo xo xo”

Thanks to all of you for the great, yummy ideas!

Mama Lisa

Check out the Cupcake Tree photo I posted the other day.

Many thanks to Monique of Mama Lisa’s World en français for sharing this photo with us.

-Mama Lisa

Corrine Lewack made this wonderful cupcake Christmas tree – that you can see in the photo above – for a party. Here’s what she wrote about it:

“Here’s the cupcake tree.. not as easy as I thought… well it was easy… but had no patience tonight to space the cupcakes properly.. but… I wouldn’t have had enough.. this is 47 cupcakes.. :ahem, I don’t know WHAT could have happened with one of them: lol… probably could have used another 20ish cupcakes to make it more “tight”… and it was messy… maybe next time make cupcakes with a hardened glaze frosting on top? Not sure.. the cupcakes are “stuck” onto an aluminum-foil-wrapped 12″ Styrofoam cone with toothpicks… suggest using the “flat” toothpicks.. cuz those suckers are POINTY…

All suggestions will be gladly accepted… :) .. p.s. dontcha love my dairy cow salt and pepper shakers? xoxo”

I asked Corrine if she used the whipped icing that you can buy in the stores, because that would be softer. She said, “it WAS the whipped type of frosting… never again, lol.” I’d suggest instead using regular icing (i.e. not whipped) so it doesn’t drip off. If anyone has any other suggestions, please let us know in the comments below.

Thanks!

Mama Lisa

This recipe is from Monique from France. She gave two versions: one for a dinner tart, the other, a dessert tart.

Monique used a banana squash pumpkin in France.

In the US, I’d recommend using a small pie pumpkin for this recipe. (Or if you’re tight for time you can use a can of plain pumpkin puree.)

First you have to cut, cook and peel the pumpkin to get it in a cooked pureed form.

You cut off the top of the pumpkin and then cut it in half vertically. Then you scoop out the seeds and pulp. (You can keep the seeds and bake them at a low temperature later to make roasted pumpkin seeds.)

Then you can cook it in a steamer on the stovetop until it’s soft. Or you can cook it in the microwave in a covered dish in about two inches of water – until soft – about 15 to 30 minutes. (It’s okay if you need to slice up the pumpkin a bit to fit into the pot.)

Once the pumpkin is soft, allow it to drain. Then you can peel it and puree it.

Add three eggs and ½ to 1 cup of a dairy product – Monique used Greek yogurt but you can use cream or milk (though milk makes the result more watery).

At this point, the recipe varies, depending upon whether you’re making a dessert tart or a dinner tart. Here are instructions for both.

For a Dessert Tart: Add sugar to taste (or any sweetener that can resist heat), a large handful of raisins and powdered ginger, cinnamon or Chinese five-spice powder.

Monique lines a tart pan with a ready-to-use pie crust. Optionally, you can spread a couple of tablespoonfuls of prune or chestnut spread over the crust. Then she pours in the pumpkin mixture and bakes it for half an hour or so in a 400°F oven. Allow to cool.

For a Dinner Tart: Monique adds two cloves of crushed garlic, salt and pepper. She lines a tart pan with a layer of ready-for-use crust and pours in the pumpkin mixture. Then she sprinkles with Swiss cheese on top before baking. You can also make dinner tarts with butternut squash instead of pumpkin. Bake at 400°F for about 30 minutes.

Many thanks to Monique from Mama Lisa’s World en français for sharing this recipe with us!

-Lisa

UPDATE: I made the dessert version of this tart the other day. I didn’t use the prune or chestnut spread (since they’re hard to find in the US). I did use canned pumpkin, milk, eggs, cinnamon, sugar and raisins, following the directions for the dessert tart above.

We liked it better chilled – it tasted a lot like a pumpkin pie – but thinner and subtler. -Lisa

One treat we make after apple picking is home-made apple pie with vanilla ice cream. Last year I posted a recipe for a delicious recipe for apple pie that had lots of cinnamon. This year we made a light pie, with less sugar. This recipe has more of a lemon flavor, which we surprisingly liked a lot! The same night we had the pie, my son’s friend ate over. His friend can’t eat gluten. So I made for him a baked apple with cinnamon sugar. I’ll post both recipes below.

Apple Pie Recipe

2 Frozen Pie Crusts
8-10 small to medium Apples (7-8 cups sliced)
2 1/2 t. Lemon Juice
1/4 t. Grated Lemon Rind
1/3 c. Sugar
1/4 t. Salt

Mix to Sprinkle on Top
2 t. Sugar
1/8 t. Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Take out the 2 frozen pie crusts. Turn one of the pie crusts out of its pan and onto wax paper. Leave the other in its pan. Let sit for 10-15 minutes.

Peel, core and cut the apples into 1/4 inch slices. You should have 7 to 8 cups of apple slices. Then mix the apples with the sugar, lemon juice, lemon rind and salt.

Pour apple mixture into the pie crust that’s in the pan. Wet the rim of the crust with a little water. Gently place the second crust over the pie, trying to match up the ends of the bottom crust and the top crust. With a fork, press down around the ends of the crust, pressing the 2 crusts together. Make four neat slits on the top crust to allow the steam to escape. Sprinkle mixture of 2 t. sugar and 1/8 t. cinnamon on top of pie.

Place a cookie sheet, covered with aluminum foil, under the pie. Bake for 15 minutes at 425°F.

Reduce oven heat to 375°F and cook for about 45 more minutes. The pie is done when the apples feel tender when poked with a butter knife.

If the crust is starting to get too dark at any point during baking, you can put aluminum foil loosely around the edges of the pie crust to prevent it from burning.

To reheat the pie later on: After the pie has cooled you can reheat it in a 325°F oven for about 15 minutes.

Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

*****

This baked apple was extremely easy to make. My son’s friend loved it. Though I have a confession to make: it’s filled with sugar and cinnamon.

Gluten Free Baked Apple

2 Apples
1/8 cup Brown Sugar
1/8 cup White Granulated Sugar
1/2 – 1 t. Cinnamon (to taste depending on who’s eating it)

-Mix the brown sugar, the white sugar and the cinnamon.
-Horizontally cut off the top 3/4″ of the top of the apple and set to the side (this top you can put back on for cooking).
-Core the apple.
-Put the sugar mixture into the apples and then cover with the apple tops.
-Wrap the apples in aluminum foil and bake on 375F for about 20-25 minutes, until soft.

Take off tops and serve in bowls with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

If there’s any sugar mixture left over you can use it for the top of the apple pie.