Banana Pecan Bread

I love banana bread!  It's sweet like cake, but all the bananas make me feel less guilty for eating it.  Don't you agree?!  Not only that, my mom gave it to me for breakfast when I was little, so I can trick myself into believing it's not dessert... though really it is!
So here you go, skip the box, it's really easy to make fresh!

5 bananas ripe and mashed (wet ingredient)
6 oz of crushed pecans
1 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 cup of light brown sugar
1 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1/2 cup of shortening
1 tsp of salt
2 eggs
2 cups of flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In one bowl combine wet ingredients and whisk.
In another bowl mix dry ingredients.
Combine the two.
Stir in crushed nuts.
Grease the bread pan or muffin pans.
Bake for abour 1 hour.... I usually do the toothpick test to see if it's done.  Stick in the toothpick, when you pull it out clean, it's done!

Enjoy!

Cauliflower au Gratin

Saturday, Sean and I went to the farmers market in Winter Park.  I love open air markets, the veggies are sooo fresh and much cheaper than the grocery store!  Not only that, I feel like I'm back in
France "au marche" (sorry no accent marks on this keyboard).  My favorite markets in France were in Arles and Rennes.  In Arles, I'll never forget the barrels of spices and grains!  The smell of the spices were intoxicating!  In Rennes, I'll always remember the gorgeous sunflowers and the seafood! Crabs galore!  Anyway, though Winter Park is in Florida, the market is wonderful, so if you haven't been there yet, I do suggest going! 

After the market, we walked down Park Avenue.  I wondered into The Spices and Tea Exchange.  I got to talking to the owner, and I told him I was a French teacher.  He gave me a free sample of a spice called "Quatre Epices" which in French means four spices.  The spices are white pepper, ginger, nutmeg and cloves.  To me, this meant I had to make a white sauce!   

I should have been born French because j'adore le FROMAGE! (maybe this is not so much a French thing... more of a woman thing!)  There is nothing in the world that's better than cheese... Do you agree?  Well image eating cauliflower, "chou-fleur" en francais, and enjoying it as much as mac and cheese.  Cauliflower, smothered in a cheesy cream sauce, is just heavenly!  (It's a good thing I had bought a head of cauliflower at the market!)

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!!

• 1 head of cauliflower
• 2 tbls of unsalted butter
• 2 cups of whole milk (we aren't dieting here!)
• 3 tbls of flour
• about 1 cup of shredded Gruyere cheese... swiss would work too.
• 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper
• a pinch of quatre epices (optional)    
• Bread crumbs (optional for a crunchy top)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Chop and boil cauliflower until you can easily poke it with a fork, but you don't want it to become mushy.
3. In another medium size pot, make a roux!  (over low to medium heat, melt 2 tbls of butter with the flour, stirring continuously until smooth.)
4. Heat the milk for 1 minute in the microwave.
5. Stir the milk into the roux and stir/whisk until thickened.
6. Remove from the heat, season the sauce with salt, pepper and quatre epices (optional). 
7. Stir in the parmesan cheese and half of the other cheese you are using.
8. Drain cauliflower.
9. In a baking dish, combine the sauce and the cauliflower, top with the extra 1/2 cup of cheese.
10. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

(I have also done this with spinach... it too was amazing!  I used 1 pound of frozen chopped spinach, boiled, drained and squeezed dried--- Combine it with the sauce above and get ready for the flavor because it's out of this world!)

I'm still eating I swear!

I promise I'm still cooking and definitely eating!  I just haven't been posting... I'm blaming it on the FCAT!  School has been crazy.  I'll get back to posting ASAP, but in the mean time, help me out!  Send me those wonderful recipes!