Cooking day . . .

[Professor (not guest)]

It's how I usually spend my Sunday afternoons -- in the kitchen, and enjoying every minute of it. I love to cook.

Got a deabags full l on bananas the other day -- grocery bag full for $1, so I bought two and I'm drying them. Such a good portable snack. They're not at all like the banana chips in the store (which are deep-fried, in case you didn't know!). I peel the bananas and then when you stick your finger in the end of them, they separate into 3 long segments. I place them on cookie sheets (lined with parchment paper), and put them in a 250 oven, flip them after an hour or so, cook til nice a dry. They get eaten pretyt quickly, but if there are any to store, put them in the fridge in a large ziploc bag. THey're quite chewy and sweet -- very nice! Hard to stop eating them though!

Oh, someone was talking about chocolate dipping on another thread. I dip LOTS of stuff in chocolate -- and I can't do dairy, so I buy the Lindt brand, which I've never had a problem with (GF-DF!). It's a white and black wrapper and says 70% cocoa on the front of the wrapper. I melt it in the microwave (be careful with this type -- it can burn quickly). I break it up into a bowl, and every 30 seconds give it a stir. Depending on how much you are melting, it only takes about a minute or two to be ready, and let the dipping begin! I put my dipped goodies on a plate or tray covered with parchment paper, then into the fridge to harden (this kind of chocolate hardens quickly). Enjoy!

Also, I'm making spring rolls today -- just finished the rolling. You can use any filling recipe (I use garlic, bok choy, ground pork or ground turkey, shredded carrots, and bean threads, and a dash of fish sauce at the end). Then I soak the tapioca spring roll wrappers in water 2 or 3 at a time, for about a minute or two (until they're soft and ready to work with), and roll them up. I don't like to deep-fry them, so I put them into a 9" x 12" baking pan, with a coating of oil on the bottom, then flip the rolls over so that they're coated in oil (I just use canola oil), and then bake them for about 15 minutes at 400. Mmmm. (I freeze the remaining ones, unbaked, until I want them. Cook for a bit longer if they're frozen, obviously.)

Finally, I was reading a thread about Chinese Potstickers the other day on here -- my daughter makes them and loves them. I don't know all that's in them, but I know it's lots of ginger, cabbage, ground pork, green onions -- I'm sure the filling recipe can be found using Google. ANyway, since we have a GF household, my daughter uses the same tapioca wrappers I use for the spring rolls, uses them "two-thick" to make them sturdier when handling, and then puts them in the oven in a pan with a bit of oil, like I do the spring rolls. She has also done them on the stove, too, and they worked out pretty well (traditional method).

OK, I'm all typed out, and need to get back to the oven (batch of spring rolls coming out in a minute!).

Have a good day, all,

Lexi

[Professor again]

[Jeannine1]

Wow, thanks for posting that hint on making dried bananas, I am going to try that - it sounds a lot better than the banana chips !!!!

[Professor]

Very easy to do -- they take time, but that's just sitting there in the oven drying. No real effort. Let me know how they turn out!

Lexi