A Cooking Frenzy

It's the first of September, and the dog days of summer are rapidly coming to an end. This week the temperatures outside have been cooler. I am relishing the fact that I can once again turn on my oven without the entire house becoming a sauna.

Earlier this week I came home with a stack of new cookbooks from the library. I spent several evenings reading through recipes, marking the interesting ones with sticky tabs. (Yesterday my toddler methodically went through one of my books and gleefully removed all the tabs, but that's another story.) I compiled a huge grocery list. Yesterday I took the children to Superstore and we returned home with a van full of supplies.

This afternoon I spent several hours cooking and baking, making food to fill our freezer. My three-year-old loves to "help" me in the kitchen, and he's actually getting to an age where he can make himself useful. He stirred the banana bread dough and tried to lick the spoon I had used to make meatballs. (Uggg.)

Here are three of the recipes we made today. The banana bread is a tried-and-true favourite, and the other two I cooked for the first time.


Best-Ever Banana Bread

1 C. butter
2 C. sugar
3 C. mashed bananas (6 bananas)
4 eggs, well beaten
2 1/2 C. whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add bananas and eggs and beat until well mixed. Mix dry ingredients and blend with banana mixture, but do not overmix.

Pour into 2 lightly greased loaf pans or a bundt pan. Bake 60 minutes. Test for doneness (toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean) and cool on rack for 10 minutes before removing from pans. Freezes beautifully.


Chicken & Broccoli Divan

2 C. cubed chicken
3 C. hot cooked broccoli spears
1 can half-fat cream of broccoli soup
1/3 C. milk
1/2 C. shredded cheddar cheese
3 tbsp. bread crumbs
1 tbsp. melted margarine

Combine chicken and vegetables in a shallow 2-qt. baking dish. Stir in soup and milk. Combine bread crumbs with melted margarine. Sprinkle with cheese then crumb topping. Bake at 425 degrees F for 20 minutes or until bubbly hot. Serves 4.


Basic Meatballs

4 eggs
1 C. fine bread crumbs
1 C. milk
1/2 C. finely chopped onion
1/4 C. finely chopped fresh parsley
2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. dry mustard
4 lbs. lean ground beef

In large bowl, beat eggs; stir in bread crumbs until well combined. Stir in milk, onion, parsley, salt and mustard. Add meat and knead with wet hands until well blended.

Pat meat into 15x10 inch jelly roll pan or into rectangle about 1 inch thick. Cut into 1 inch squares. With wet hands, form each square into ball.

Place meatballs into large shallow baking pans; bake in 400 degree F oven for about 25 minutes or until browned and no longer pink inside. With slotted spoon, transfer meatballs to trays or baking sheets, leaving space between each. Let cool, than freeze until firm. Transfer to heavy plastic bags and store in freezer for up to 4 months. Makes 150 meatballs.