Banana Coconut Upside Down Cake

Ingredients

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 3 whole eggs
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup water
• 6 bananas sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 1 1/2 cups shredded coconut
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray 2 (8 inch) round cake pans with cooking spray.
2. With an electric mixer, beat cake mix, eggs, oil, water, and sour cream on low until combined. Beat on high for 2 minutes.
3. Place banana slices evenly on the bottom of the two cake pans.
4. In a small saucepan melt butter. Add brown sugar and lemon juice and heat until dissolved. Pour half of the brown sugar mixture into each of the 2 round cake pans over the bananas. Sprinkle coconut over brown sugar sauce.
5. Pour cake batter on top of the coconut into the two pans, dividing equally.
6. Bake 35-40 minutes or until toothpick in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes. Invert onto serving dishes. Slice to serve.
   
   

The Famous Heston's Christmas Pudding

I dragged two of Heston's Orange in the Middle Christmas Puddings all the way from Waitrose in Caversham to Chez Dana and John here in sunny Florida.  Last year I bought a small one and everyone loved it.  So this year I got two!  It was worth the effort because the recipe looks like a lot of work.

Zucchini...Use It or Lose It

After Charleston and Savannah, I swore I'd never eat again.  I lied.  Today I had two fairly small pathetic-looking Zucchini (es?) (Courgettes to you over the pond) and one small yellow crooked neck squash ready to be used or tossed,  I do not throw out food.  What to do?? 

Zucchini Fritters

1 or 2 or 3 Smallish Zucchini or a mixture of Zucchini and Yellow Squash shredded on large holes of box grater or in food processor

1 jumbo or large egg

2 Tablespoons Cornstarch

1/3 Cup flour

salt and pepper

3 Spring onions diced

Place shredded Zucchini in large bowl.  Sprinkle with salt.  Let sit 10 minutes.   Blot with paper towels until dry.

Combine all ingredients.  Drop by spoonful into hot oil and flatten like pancake.

Turn once when bottom is browned

Drain on paper towel

Serve with sour cream and more onions

Topping

Sour Cream

Sliced Spring Onions

Sunday Morning Market

Leek, Asparagus and Mushroom Lasagna

A few days ago my April issue of Bon Appetit Magazine arrived here at the travel trailer. It featured recipes highlighting Spring vegetables. One of the recipes that caught my attention was for a vegetable lasagna. I still had a package of fresh pasta egg roll wrappers sitting in the refrigerator. I still had my fresh pasta lasagna mojo going. The magazine recipe called for making four individual lasagnas in small round pans. It also called for ridiculously expensive difficult -to -find here -in- ruralish- west -coast- Florida Morel mushrooms. I used on sale Baby Bella mushrooms and made a large one pan lasagna. This is a very easy to make vegetable lasagna using the bounty of Springtime goodness. We both really loved it.

 Leek, Asparagus and Mushroom Egg Roll Wrapper Lasagna

 Ingredients:

1 package fresh pasta egg roll sheets (usually found in produce section of grocery store)

2 large leeks

1 lb fresh asparagus spears

8 oz (small box) fresh mushrooms (I used pre-cleaned and sliced Baby Bellas)

1 ½ cups heavy cream

3 cups chicken broth

3 Tablespoons Flour

2 Tsp nutmeg

2 bay leaves

 ½ stick butter, divided

 Salt & Pepper to taste

12 oz shredded fresh mozzarella cheese

12 oz shredded romano or parmesan cheese

How To Make This Recipe

Clean Leeks by cutting off dark green tops and root end. Slice in half lengthwise. Run under cold water to remove any dirt lurking in layers. Slice thinly.

Sautee’ Leeks in 2 T butter slowly until translucent in large pan

Clean asparagus and slice diagonally into 1 inch pieces

Clean and slice mushrooms

Remove Leeks from pan to large bowl.

Add more butter to pan and sautee’ asparagus and mushrooms until asparagus is tender crisp.

 Add all to bowl with Leeks and gently stir to evenly combine.

Add 3 ½ cups chicken broth to pan

Add 1 ½ cup heavy cream

Add 2 small Bay Leaves

Add salt and pepper to taste

Cook stirring over medium heat until mixture slightly thickens.

Sprinkle with 3T blending flour and cook, stirring constantly until sauce thickens.

Stir in 2 tsp Nutmeg.

Remove from heat.

Assemble Lasagna

Lightly spray 9x13” pan. Spoon in a very thin layer of white sauce (Bechamel). Cover with layer of egg roll pasta sheets. Add dollops of vegetable mix. Hand sprinkle with mozzarella and romano cheeses. Dollop on Bechamel. Continue layers, ending with layer of Bechamel topped with cheese. Bake Cover pan tightly with foil. Place on baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes until hot and bubbly. Remove foil and bake 10-15 minutes until top is lightly browned and bubbled. Remove from oven and let sit 10 minutes before cutting and serving.