Poached Eggs Julia Child Style

I'm not the egg's biggest fan by any means. I don't mind them fried, but scrambled is out of the question. I do however, LOVE them poached. There is a recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. If you have seen the movie Julie and Julia, you might remember the scene where Julie tirelessly tries to poach an egg. I  was really intimidated by egg poaching after watching this movie and as such avoided the poached egg for years. I made them tonight though...I must have needed a challenge?!?! I don't know. It wasn't a challenge at all actually. It was really easy and they are deeeelish with some fresh grated parmesan, salt and pepper.

Try it out and let me know what you think!

Pour 2 inches of water into a skillet, add 1 Tbsp of vinegar and bring to a simmer

Crack the egg and pour into a saucer or shallow cereal bowl. Bring an edge of the bowl to the surface of the water so that you can just slide the egg into the water. Right away use a wooden spoon to fold  egg whites around and on top of the yolk.

Let the egg simmer on low for 4 minutes. Lift the egg out of the skillet with a ladle.

Julia Child does mention that the eggs should be very fresh. The carton that my eggs came from had been in my fridge for at least a week and a half. It probably gets more difficult to poach an egg as it gets older.

I like to eat them plain with salt and pepper as a post yoga or workout snack. I'm sure that they would be extra nice served on toast...or even better a toasted English muffin!! 

Now that my confidence is up on Julia Child Recipe's I'm thinking about trying out  boeuf bourguignon!

Best Banana Bread

I have spent a few years trying out different banana bread recipes. Most are too fluffy, some turn out too crunchy. I prefer a somewhat heavy, but very moist banana bread. My mom makes some of the best banana bread, but when I make her recipe it just isn't the same as when she makes it. By far, the best banana bread that I have ever come across was from a hut on the side of the road in Maui. I'm pretty sure that I asked the lady there for the recipe but she wouldn't give it.

In any case, I have found a banana bread recipe that I'm confident I will be loyal to for a very long time. There is a surprise ingredient that I would have NEVER thought to toss into a banana bread recipe. A few months ago I had a carton of sour cream that needed a purpose, so I googled 'recipes with sour cream' and came across this.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup butter
• 3 cups white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 6 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons baking soda
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease four 7x3 inch loaf pans. In a small bowl, stir together 1/4 cup white sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Dust pans lightly with cinnamon and sugar mixture.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and 3 cups sugar. Mix in eggs, mashed bananas, sour cream, vanilla and cinnamon. Mix in salt, baking soda and flour. Stir in nuts. Divide into prepared pans.
3. Bake for 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

I found it here: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/banana-sour-cream-bread/Detail.aspx

I didn't use the 4 7x3 loaf pans, but used two normal loaf pans instead. Works just the same...either way you are getting a ton of banana bread!!  Enjoy :)

Here we go!!

I have finally found it. The 20 minutes that I need to crank out my inaugural blog post.  Truly, I feel as though I could use at least another 5 hours in every day. While I wait for the 29 hour day to come around I will make time to do the things in life that bring me great joy. Spending time with my loved ones and friends tops that list, but being creative and adventurous with food is a very close second. If you know me well, you know that I have a great affinity for cookbooks, cooking shows, and cooking websites. When I find a gem of a recipe, I have to share it.

So here I am to share my favorite recipes, test some new ones and cry about the ones that result in disaster!