Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting | Evil Shenanigans - Baking & Cooking Blog

I had some left over dark bananas and found this recipe. very good.

Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting | Evil Shenanigans - Baking & Cooking Blog

Montana Harvest Bread

There is a certain whole grain bread I love, and since I do not live in a town, but on the ranch, I rarely get in on the right day to get it. So being a bread maker and baker I decided to make my own version of it. I think it tastes pretty close to the one I like. I use mostly local products, with the exception of the oil, sea salt, and molasses. Sometimes I use honey and it is from a local source. Any way with a bread maker and some patience most people should be able to make this bread. It is very dense,very whole grain, and very good for you.

Montana Harvest Bread

In a small bowel combine the following ingredients:

1/4 C whole grain cereal (I like Cream of the West or Red River)

1/4 C millet seed

1/4 C cracked wheat 

1/4 C of cracked rye 

Combine and wet with just enough water to moisten. Set aside for about 10 min and prepare the rest of the bread.

 In a bread maker pan:

11/3 C warm water

1/4 C +1tsp canola oil

1/4 C of either honey or molasses

1 C unbleached white flour
3 C whole wheat flour

1/3 C powdered milk

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 slightly heaping Tb yeast

1/4 C sunflower seeds

Make a little well in the flour for the yeast, and then add the sunflower seeds. Just before mixing add the cracked grain mixture to pan. 

On dough cycle mix until a firm smooth dough forms. About 10 mins. If the dough is not forming into a nice ball add 1 Tbs of warm water at a time until it firm up and is nice and smooth.  I like my bread in a traditional shape, and find that the bread maker over-kneads whole wheat breads until they are dried out. I raise the loaf in a oil coated bowl in the microwave where it is free from drafts, and is a little warmer space. Once it is raised double once, knead and shape into a loaf pan.  Let raise again until it is still firm to the touch, but indents a little when you touch it. Over raising will cause air pockets in the loaf.  Bake at 365^ for about 30 minutes. Make sure the bottom is done before you remove it from the oven. It usually browns up last. My grandmother said that if you can wet your finger, and quickly touch it to the bottom of the pan; it should make a sizzling sound. If it does not it is not done on the bottom. I know it sounds crazy, but I have never burnt my finger doing this, and it is always done on the bottom with this test.

Mary Beth's Italian Nachos made from the recipe.

Italian Nachos

I had a request for these. They are similar to the ones you get at Old Chicago or Carino's Italian Grill. They are great appetizers for any get together and if you drain the chips well after frying they hold up surprisingly well.

1-2 pkg wonton skins
2qts of canola or peanut oil for frying

In a deep electric skillet or deep fat fryer bring the oil to about 350^ temp. Make sure your oil is good and hot before you start frying the chips. Cut the wonton skins diagonally. Add about 10-12 at at a time to the hot oil. Fry to a golden brown turning over until both sides are browned.  Remove from oil and shake off any excess oil over fryer.  If you are going to serve immediately blot on a large cookie sheet lined with paper towel.  If you are going to serve later, after all chips are fried, stick pan in oven heated to 375^ for about 5 minutes.

1 pkg of Turkey Sweet Italian sausage crumbed and browned in fry pan.  To remove excess oil run under hot water in colander for about 30 seconds. Draining well to remove excess water.
1 pkg of Italian 5 Cheese shreds
1 jar of Peperoncini sliced
Black olives
Italian spice blend
Jar of Alfredo sauce
Red Pepper flakes
On a baking stone or pizza pan, layer 1/2 the chips and top with 1/2 of the sausage. If you like the Alfredo sauce on the nachos you can mix the sausage with about a cup or more of the Alfredo sauce before adding the sausage. Top with a generous sprinkle of the spices. If you don't like it too hot omit the pepper flakes. Add 1/3 of the cheese, a layer of Peperoncini, and black olives. 
Add another layer of chips, the other half of the sausage, and repeat the layering process. Top off with the remaining cheese. Heat in 375^ oven for about 8-10 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and melted.  
If you are using 2 pkgs of Wonton's, double the meat and cheese amounts and make two pans of nacho's. You can use regular Italian sausage or Jimmy Deans hot Italian sausage works well too. I like the sweet flavor of the turkey sausage in contrast to the hot spices, but you can use the pork sausage in these as well.

Trail Mix Scones

This is a great recipe for scones. basically you can add your favorite dried fruits and nuts to it in the amounts given for this recipe. I love lots of varied fruits in mine. I especially like the Tidbits dried fruit mix that you can get. The blueberry Cranraisins are great too.

2 C flour
1/4 C sugar
11/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tbsp COLD butter
1/2 C buttermilk
1 egg beaten
1/2 C dried fruit bits
1/2 C nuts or mix of nuts and coconut

Cut the butter into flour, salt, and sugar.  Add soda to buttermilk and mix with beaten egg. Add fruit bits and nuts to flour mix. Slowly add buttermilk to flour mix, until you have a nice smooth dough. Do not over mix, it makes the dough tough. Roll dough out to 3/4 inch thickness. Cut with round cookie cutter. Place on cookie sheet sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Preheat oven to375^. Bake for about 10 min. Brush with milk mixed with a little sugar. Bake for about 5 min more until golden brown.

Smoking in a gas oven

I wanted to smoke some pork shoulders for the Family camp I cooked at last week, but didn't have time to try and do it in the BQ pit that is out side the dinning room. So I decided to try to smoke them in the large gas ovens they have at the camp. I made a foil bed for the coals, and then found some great assorted hard woods left over from a craft in the storage area. I think there was cedar, redwood, and maybe some mahogany. 
I got them started with fire on top of the grill. (For a safe place to let them burn, the grill was not on.) Then I put out the flame and left them smoldering. 
I put the foil bed with the coals on the bottom of the oven and then turned the oven on to 275^. I used a Cowboy rub on one of the pork shoulders, and a Sweet and Sassy rub, (both from Grillmates), on the other. I slow cooked them for about 7 hours.  I think if I was to do it again I would cook them just a bit longer, they pulled apart, but were just at the edge of being able to pull and not. 
Anyway, on the whole I was happy with the whole experience. I am not sure how it would work in an electric oven, but I think I want to try to build a smoker and try to get that good smoked flavor more permeated in the meat.

Harvest Grain Waffle Mix

Well it has been awhile since I posted a new recipe. I thought since I get a lot of requests for this one I would post it. It makes a large batch of mix, it is low sugar, low fat, and low sodium. And even though it tastes good, it is really a good whole grain mix that is good for you too. I have never had complaints about how it tastes.

7 3/4 C of unbleached flour
1 1/2 C quick cooking oats (blend 3/4 C of them to flour in blender)
1 1/2 C of whole wheat flour
2 C of corn meal
1 C of wheat or oat bran
3/4 C of sugar
1/2 C of ground flax seed
1 1/2 C of chopped pecans
5 3/4 Tbs of baking powder
2 1/2 tsp of baking soda
2 1/3 Tbs of dry malt
1 3/4 tsp salt


Mix all of the above ingredients in a large bowl. Store in tupperware type container that seals tight. When you are ready to make waffles or pancakes use the following recipe.


2 C of the Harvest Grain Mix
1 3/4 C of buttermilk
2 large eggs
2 tsp of vanilla
6 Tbs of melted butter or oil
 1/4 C of water
 Mix well, if the mixture appears too thick, add a little more water. Makes about 6-8 pancakes or waffles.