Hummingbird Cake

I made a most delicious cake this weekend. I had 3 bananas sitting in my freezer waiting to be used in some sort of baked treat, so I decided this cake would be the one. Oh...I left out the nuts...not a fan.

Unsalted butter, for greasing

2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

3 ripe bananas, chopped

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh pineapple

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1-1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1-3/4 cups granulated sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

For the frosting:

2 pkgs. cream cheese (8 oz. each), at room temperature

12 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed, at room temperature

2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 tbsp. finely grated lemon zest

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 8-inch round cake pans (I used 9-inch) and line with parchment paper. Butter the parchment and dust with flour.

Toss together the bananas, pineapple and 1/2 cup flour in a small bowl.

Whisk the remaining 2-1/4 cups flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Beat the eggs and granulated sugar in a separate bowl with a mixer on high speed until thick and light, 5 minutes. Gradually beat in the vegetable oil.

Sprinkle the flour mixture over the egg mixture, then gently fold to make a thick batter. Fold in the fruit mixture, then transfer the batter to the prepared pans. Bake until the cakes are firm and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, 50-55 minutes (45 minutes for my 9-inch pans). Cool in the pans on a rack, 25 minutes, then invert the cakes onto the rack to cool completely.

Make the frosting: Beat the cream cheese in a large bowl with a mixer until fluffy, then gradually beat in the butter until combined. Sift the confectioners' sugar over the cream cheese mixture and beat until smooth. Add the lemon zest and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy.

Place one cake layer on a serving plate. Spread about half of the frosting on top, then cover with the other cake layer. Spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides of the cake. Enjoy!

Blueberry Crumb Cake

Once again I was in a baking mood, but I didn't want anything really super sweet. We had a bunch of blueberries and I came across this recipe on the Food Network and thought it was perfect. It's really good too!

For the streusel:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour

For the cake:
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature (3/4 stick)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest
2/3 cup sour cream
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 cup fresh blueberries
Confectioners' sugar for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9-inch round baking pan.

For the streusel:
Combine the granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl. Stir in the melted butter and then the flour. Mix well and set aside.

For the cake:
Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on high speed for 4 to 5 minutes, until light. Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla, lemon zest, and sour cream. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the batter until just combined. Fold in the blueberries and stir with a spatula to be sure the batter is completely mixed.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread it out with a knife. With your fingers, crumble the topping evenly over the batter. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely and serve sprinkled with confectioners' sugar.

Pasta with Pumpkin and Sausage

It was Jim's turn to come up with dinner. We had already taken some Jennie-O hot Italian turkey sausages out of the freezer so that's what he had to work with. Well he found this recipe and it turned out really good! The recipe actually calls for sweet sausage and we used hot, so I would like to try this out with the sweet sausage next time. And the recipe also calls for heavy cream but Jim decided to use Half & Half instead...it worked fine.

1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon
1 pound bulk sweet Italian sausage - we used hot in links but we just removed the casings
4 cloves garlic, cracked and chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
4 to 6 sprigs sage leaves, cut into chiffonade, about 2 tablespoons
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup chicken stock, canned or paper container
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup (3 turns around the pan) heavy cream - we used Half & Half
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg, ground or freshly grated
Coarse salt and black pepper
1 pound penne rigate, cooked to al dente
Romano or Parmigiano, for grating

Heat a large, deep nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and brown the sausage in it. Transfer sausage to paper towel lined plate. Drain fat from skillet and return pan to the stove. Add the remaining tablespoon oil, and then the garlic and onion. Saute 3 to 5 minutes until the onions are tender. Add bay leaf, sage, and wine to the pan. Reduce wine by half, about 2 minutes. Add stock and pumpkin and stir to combine, stirring sauce until it comes to a bubble. Return sausage to pan, reduce heat, and stir in cream. Season the sauce with the cinnamon and nutmeg, and salt and pepper, to taste. Simmer mixture 5 to 10 minutes to thicken sauce. Return drained pasta to the pot you cooked it in. Remove the bay leaf from sauce and pour the sausage pumpkin sauce over pasta. Combine sauce and pasta and toss over low heat for 1 minute. Garnish the pasta with lots of shaved cheese and sage leaves.

Caramel Apple Pork Chops

Jim found this recipe. We had to change things up as we went along, but the end result was SO GOOD!

4 (3/4 inch) thick pork chops
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 large Granny Smith apple - peeled, cored and sliced

Combine cider vinegar, salt and pepper in a Ziploc bag and add in pork chops. Let marinate for about 15 minutes. In a medium skillet, saute 2 small onions in butter and olive oil until really soft and tender. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, salt and pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg. In the meantime, in another medium skillet, cook the pork chops, browning on both sides. Add another tablespoon of butter to the pan with the onions, then add in the brown sugar mixture and the apples. Cover and cook until the apples are tender. At this point I removed the onions and apples, added in about 1/2 cup of apple juice and a little cornstarch to thicken the sauce. Once it had thickened, I added the apple mixture back to the pan.

We served these pork chops with, you guessed it, roasted asparagus, and brown rice.