Team Espinoza

And we happened on a car show!

I love the Banana Chocolate Chip muffins at Broadway Daily Bread in Alamo Heights. I have not been able to find that same type of muffin anywhere else in San Antonio. I decided to make some of my own since I needed to bring a bread/pastry item to Bible study this week.

Here is the recipe I used to make them: Moist Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins at the Curious Foodie

The Broadway Daily Bread version has small chunks of banana in addition to the chocolate chips. So I added some of the mushed banana to the dry ingredients and used the rest to mix the wet ingredients. Overall, I think they turned out well. I also baked them for a shorter time than the recipe called for. I think that is part of baking – getting close to the end of time and watching for that perfect moment to pull out the baked item from the oven.

I reserved at least 4 muffins for myself and took the rest to Bible study. I had to be somewhere that afternoon and when I got home I found out that Daniel had fed the muffins to the kids. So since I only ate about 2.5 of them, I will be making these again!

The MM Sandwich

When I meal plan for the week I check the grocery store ad and my favorite food websites. The Pioneer Woman had a recipe that called for cube steak and cube steak was on sale earlier this week. Also, for whatever reason I had a ton of cooking sherry in the pantry. Done deal. These were being made.

I followed this recipe for MM Sandwiches. Oh my gosh, they were divine! The meat, veggies, and melted provolone also worked wonderfully on flour tortillas as leftover tacos heated in the microwave. They only thing I did differently was use 1 red bell pepper and 1 green bell pepper, instead of 2 each. There was more than enough bell pepper for our taste. Make this for your husband and I can guarantee you a happy man.

* P.S. I usually take photos of food with my phone, since it is probably in my pocket or near me right before I consume my food. Therefore, I don’t take pretty, in focus, arty photos of my food. I can’t wait to eat whatever I made!

Good article about the difficulty of having too many choices.

One of the bonuses of living in a hot climate is that it’s a clear 64 degrees in January and you can enjoy lunch outside. 

We enjoyed lunch at The Boardwalk on Bulverde today with the kids and some friends.

“‘Away in the Manger’ is stuck in the computer…” At least that is what I think she was singing.

Last week I was craving biscotti and I wanted to make some as a gift for a friend that enjoys coffee. Also, I remembered Breanna baking some after she first got her Kitchen Aid Mixer. So I thought why not help break in my new mixer with some biscotti as well!

I had never made it before last week. Here are a few things I learned in my biscotti discovery:

• Biscotti is an Italian cookie and it means twice baked. Baked once as a log, then as slices. It is meant to be a hard cookie and it can be dunked in coffee or wine.

• True biscotti is not made with butter. Butter makes it fall apart while dunking.

• Should be hard enough to withstand dunking, but not too hard that it will crack your teeth while eating it dry.

• It takes over an hour to make them.

• When rolling out the very sticky dough, lightly flour the rolling service. Roll into 1 or 2 logs, depending on your cookie sheet. Then, flatten with your hand or roll a plastic cup over the top.

• A good serrated knife is helpful when slicing the loaf.

• Great as gifts, because they are very easy to transport. Also, they can last anywhere from 2 weeks to a few months in an air tight container.

I made three different types. The titles are linked to their recipes.

1. Traditional Anisse Biscotti Dipped in Chocolate

The anisse extract gives these a licorice flavor. I didn’t love the flavor, so I dipped them in some chocolate bark I had. I let them cool on wax paper and they turned out beautifully. Next time I would like to dip them in a higher quality chocolate.

2. Almond Biscotti

My husband loved these! This recipe doesn’t make a whole bunch. The process takes a while, because you need to toast the almonds before chopping them. They were really good and tasted exactly like an almond biscotti should taste like.

3. Chocolate Biscotti

These were my favorite! They almost didn’t get baked a second time, because I wanted to eat them all while I was slicing them. I used Ghiradelli chocolate chips and Hershey’s Dark Chocolate cocoa. After reading David Lebowitz’s blog post I really want to try these with a higher quality cocoa powder. I do believe that quality of the cocoa will greatly impact the flavor. They turned pretty hard within a day or two, but still tasted wonderful with my coffee. I will definitely be baking these again!

Have you made biscotti? Do you have a favorite flavor?