Photo Trailer for Peanut Butter Brownies

I noticed that I did not have any exclusive post in my Tameshk In Kitchen for our New Year, Norooz. So I decided to give you just a photo of these Heart Shaped Peanut Butter Brownies: designed by Little e, baked by Ada, delivered by my husband and eaten by me; well not all of them but I assure you that I contributed a good share in eating them. Although I am not a fan of peanut butter, I like the taste of these brownies. As soon as I get the recipe from Ada, I will post it here. For now please enjoy this photo-trailer. (like movie trailer ;D)

Heart Shaped Peanut Butter Brownies

More Than A Spice Dictionary:

Have you ever had any difficulties in finding spices' names in another language?

Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages is a superb website, introduced to me by our friend, Kia. Gernot Katzer’s Spice Page is more than a spice dictionary and offers answers to many of your questions about spices, like their origins, usage and botanical information.

To find out about most of spices that you know the names in other languages, for instance in Farsi: click on indices, click on Multilingual and then choose your language’s script, for instance Arabic script. You can find the name of your spice in Farsi and find more information on it in English. There are six lingual categories offered in that part.

“Be my guest take a look at it and you will go back there whenever you have spice questions” Says Kia.

Alpinia calcarata ripe fruits

A Simple Banana Cake

A Miracle Banana Cake:

Baking a cake is the hardest thing that can happen in my kitchen and for me every single time I bake a cake and it tastes good is a miracle. This Banana cake was the first cake I have baked. And it is a miracle that has never stopped from happening. It is easy to make for its ingredients are easy to find in every kitchen. Among my friends Dario loves this cake and I know another friend is waiting to examine this recipe.





Baking Time: 50 - 60 minutes
350° F and 5x9 in loaf pan






Ingredients:
3 Ripe Bananas: Tip: I have made this recipe with two or even one bananas. It still comes out perfect. So go with as much ripe banana you have ready at your kitchen.
1 ½ cups Flour
1cup White Sugar
¼ cup Canola Oil: you can use the same amount of butter instead of canola oil
1 tsp Vanilla Powder or Vanilla Sugar Powder
1tsp Baking Powder
½ tsp Baking Soda
1 Egg


Directions:
1- Preheat oven to 350° F. Use an aluminum foil to cover your loaf pan and spray your pan with canola oil nonstick spray or just grease it with a small amount of canola oil.

2- Mash the ripe bananas: I use a fork to smash the bananas. It is really easy; just put the bananas in a big plate crush them with the back of the fork.

3- Mix the bananas with the flour, baking soda and baking powder and oil. Then add the egg, vanilla and sugar. Mix well and pour into your baking dish.

4- Bake for 50 - 60 minutes. See if it is baked through. Check with a narrow stick or a toothpick.

A Bowl of Mixed Berries!

Mixed Berries for Breakfast:

Please note that this is not really a recipe. It is just what I put together and like its combination/mixture. I usually eat fruits for breakfast; eating a bowl of mixed, peeled & sliced apple, banana and orange with a cup of hot tea is my usual morning. The days that I really want to be a good girl I have the above fruits with my cereal. From time to time I make a change in my choice of fruits and recently I switched to berries. Not only I love berries, as you can read in the title of this blog, but also I find berries a less time-consuming choice: easy to wash and no need for slicing (except for huge strawberries). So once every couple of weeks, I make one bowl of Mixed Berries and I keep it in fridge. If we have it with our morning cereal it will last us for three days. I sometimes serve it as dessert, and even Alpez, my food critic friend, loves it. If you want to make it for dessert you can have it with whipped cream, ice cream or any kind of gelatin desserts, but I personally like it without any of these additions. The fruits for this mixture are all fresh and raw.

Ingredients:

1 ½ Cups Raspberries: rinsed. I use red raspberries.
1 Cup Blueberries: rinsed
2 Cups Strawberries: rinsed and sliced. I try to go with little strawberries, but usually they are huge, so I slice each in four pieces.
1 ½ Cups Blackberries: I switch between strawberries and blackberries. I usually don’t put them together, No reason at all.
No Sugar is needed.


Directions:

Mix the berries. (It is really confusing, I know!)

نوش جان

(Noushe Jan)
Bon Appetit!

Tips:
1- For a fancy presentation of this dish you can use some Vanilla-Sugar. I think you can guess I don't do it.
2- Keep the mixed berries in a lidded container for refrigerating.