Granola Bars

2 1/2 cups (230 grams) old fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cup (80 grams) whole nuts, coarsely chopped

1/3 cup (113 grams) honey

1/4 cup (56 grams) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/4 cup (50 grams) packed light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup (60 grams) dried fruit, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (67 grams) white chocolate chips

2 bananas 

Method

Prepare Oven and Pan

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line bottom and sides of a 8-inch or 9- square pan with aluminum foil. Then lightly oil or spray with cooking spray.

Combine ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well. 

Press the mixture into pan make sure it is tightly packed and even in one layer. 

Bake 30 minutes until they it has lightly toasted. 

Remove from the oven and let cool before cutting into bars. Then refrigerate to set.  

The Story of Cheese

In the beginning God created the cow, and He saw that the cow was good, and He gave the cow to man. He said " take this cow for she gives milk. It will sustain you."

Man was very pleased and took the cow and the milk. Man enjoyed the fresh milk and declared it good. 

But soon man was not pleased, for the milk soured. He wanted his milk to be portable as he traveled through out the land, and he asked God how can he make the milk portable and keep it from souring? 

God told man in order to make the milk portable and not sour he needed to make the milk solid. 

Man was so excited by this, but yet puzzled. "How Lord do we make the milk solid?  Surely only you can do this". And God smiled. 

"Take the rennet from the sheep's stomach and add it to the milk. Mix it well, and that will make the milk solid." 

So man went off excited. He found a way to extract the rennet and added it to the milk. 

Man mixed and stirred the milk. And lo the milk started to separate and solids formed. Man was in awe. He took the solids and ate of them and declared them good. 

Then man said to God "what should call this wonderful treasure?"And God said "you shall call it cheese. And it will be good and portable and won't sour."

And man took his cheese with him though out the land and it was good. 

Cheese Soufflé, a short story

Peggy stood at the stove looking  at a lumpy gooey pale yellow puddle in her cassarole dish. She blew her bangs out of her face and sighed. 

"I''m never going to get this right". She picked up the dish and and scraped the contents down the garbage disposal.
Another attempt down the tubes. She looked at her recipe again. No one understood. No one would ever understand he obsession to make the ultimate cheese soufflé.  

She had a signed photo of Martha Stewart hanging over the stove and "The Art of French Cooking" prominently displayed on the counter. Her friends thought she was a fanatic. They couldn't figure out why she idolized celebrity chefs. 

She wanted something different for this party. Something other than hot dogs and cheese whiz with crackers. 

She looked at her ingredients again...Egg whites, flour, gruyere, butter, Parmesan.... where did it all go wrong...

Butterscotch pie

4 tbls butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
3 egg yolks
2 cups milk
2 tsp vanilla
.... And a mound of whipped cream


 in saucepan, Melt butter until a light brown.  Add brown sugar and flour, Mix untill well blended. In a small bowl blend milk,  egg yolks and vanilla. Add milk beaten eggs and vanilla. Add egg mixture a little at a time so The eggs dont currdle  Continue cooking until thick and bubbly. Pour into a pre-baked pie shell and cool. When ready to serve top with whipped cream.

Banana Cake

Well it's pot luck time again. At work we seem to do this about once a month. 

I discovered the jalapeño cream corn. For this one I made a banana cake.   

3 mashed bananas

2 1/4 cups flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

 1 1 1/2 baking powder

1/2 cup butter

1 cup butter milk

1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Frosting

In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients.

In a second bowl melt the butter in the microwave for 1 minute. 

Add the buttermilk, vanilla, and eggs to the melted butter. 

Add the dry ingredients to the butter egg mixture. Add the bananas and chocolate chips. 

Mix well. 

Pour into a 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes, or a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean. 

Frost with your favorite frosting.