There used to be a big old family restaurant on the Main Street where I lived a good part of my childhood called Eisner's Restaurant. It was a family run place and "THE" place to go if you wanted a nice place to take the family for special dinners, or to meet up with your friends or social groups for nights out and celebrations.
They served great food! Going there was a real treat. One of the most popular items on their menu was the "Seafood Platter" which had lobster, shrimps, clams, scallops, fried fish, coleslaw and chips. It was a huge platter and meant only for the heartiest of appetites. Luckily you could also buy a "Half Seafood Platter!
Every Tuesday night they had Banana Split nights. You could get a Banana Split for half price. My mom and her friend Marlene used to go and treat themselves to a Banana Split every Tuesday night. It was a great night out for them! My parents also used to go there regularly for coffee.
They shut down the Town Cinema and turned that into a family type restaurant and pub with music and Karaoke, and then Tim Horton's got built just two doors down from Eisner's and so it was only a matter of time before they ended up closing the restaurant, which was kind of sad I thought. It was like they were shutting down a town institution . . .
I was thinking about my mom and how much she enjoyed those Banana Splits the other day. I had seen a recipe on line for Mini Cinnamon Sugar Churro Bowls on Tablespoon. They were created using the smaller tortilla boats and were filled with a variety of mousses.
I thought to myself that this simple idea would work also for creating Churro Banana Split Boats, except you would have to use the larger tortilla boats, because well . . . banana splits are large!
They were a very simple make. I simply brushed each tortilla boat with some melted butter and sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar, baking them in a moderately hot oven until crisp and golden.
Then I made my candied flakes almonds to sprinkle on top. Oh boy but these are some good and they, too, are a very easy make. I could just munch on them. You could also sprinkle them with sugar to continue the churro theme if you wanted to.
Into each baked churro boat went one banana sliced in half lengthwise . . .
On top of the sliced banana went three small scoops of a good vanilla ice cream. I used Cornish Clotted Cream Ice cream . . . yum!!
Each ball got their own drizzle of sauce . . . chocolate fudge . . . strawberry and toffee . . .
Then some softly whipped cream got dolloped on top of the ice cream . . .
Finally I sprinkled on the candied almonds, which I broke up and crumbled a bit, leaving a few whole . . . toasty and crunchy and scrumptiously nutty.
Really they should have been topped with a maraschino cherry (with a stem) to finish them off perfectly, but I didn't have any on this particular day. These were simple, delicious and very easy to make and then went down a real treat. I remembered my mom and how much she enjoyed her banana splits with every mouthful
Churro Banana Split Boats
Yield: 4
Simple and delicious. Your family will love this quick and easy dessert!
ingredients:
For the Churro Boats:
- 4 Stand and Stuff soft Tortilla boats
- 4 TBS butter, melted
- 2 TBS granulated sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
For the Candied Almonds:
- 50g of toasted flaked almonds (generous half cup)
- 100g caster sugar (1/2 cup)
You will also need:
- Vanilla ice cream for scooping (3 small scoops in each boat)
- 4 small bananas
- chocolate, strawberry and caramel sauce
- whipped cream
- maraschino cherries (optional)
instructions:
How to cook Churro Banana Split Boats
- First make the churro boats. Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Line a small baking tray with baking paper. Whisk together the sugar and cinnamon. Brush the insides of each tortilla boat with some melted butter. Shake on some of the cinnamon sugar, shaking off any excess. Brush more butter on the outsides of the tortilla boats and sprinkle with the remainder of the cinnamon sugar. Place onto the paper lined tray. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until crisp and golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
- To make the candied almonds, have ready a lightly buttered baking sheet. Toast the almonds carefully in a skillet, over medium heat, stirring constantly. Tip out into a bowl. Add the sugar to the skillet and let it sit, undisturbed until it begins to melt. Swirl every now and again until it is completely liquid and turns a golden caramel colour. Don't be tempted to rush this process as you will end up with burnt sugar. Medium heat is sufficient. Remove from the heat. Tip in the almonds, stirring to coat. Pour onto the prepared baking sheet and tear them apart with two forks while they are still hot, breaking them up into little clumps. Allow to cool completely. Remember hot sugar is HOT. Don't touch.
- Place a tortilla boat onto one each of four dessert plates. Peel and slice the bananas in half. Place two halves in each boat. Top each with 3 small scoops of ice dream. Drizzle the syrups onto the ice cream balls, making sure each boat has one drizzled with caramel, one with chocolate and one with strawberry. Top with the whipped cream, sprinkle with the candied almonds and cherries ( if using.) Serve immediately.
You could do a Churro Banana Split bar for children's parties if you wanted to, making up the churro tortilla boats ahead of time and then just providing the other makings for kids to make them up themselves. In that case I would also add some dandy sprinkles, M&M's etc. Kids would really love this idea!
If you are a Vegetarian or a Vegan, you might want to look away now.
What follows isn't going to be pretty for you, however tasty it might seem to the rest of us. Sorry about that!
When I was a child I used to love it when my mom made us Egg in a Hat (or Egg in a Hole) for breakfast. It was a real treat.
A lovely runny egg, cooked into a piece of golden brown buttery toast. Oh boy was it ever yummy.
I've been thinking about that sandwich all week long and pondering how I could make it even better . . . in a way that has never been done before.
I think I might have cracked it! (No pun intended! Seriously!)
As you know at the weekend I like to pull out the stops a bit and give my husband a bit of a treat for breakfast on at least one of the mornings.
When I first moved over here we would pop into town and go to one of the shops and have a fry up at their café. We haven't done that in a long time now.
Grilled cheese sandwiches are something which we are quite fond of . . . we are also quite fond of bacon sandwiches . . . a really rare treat . . .
Today I have combined our favourite grilled cheese . . . using a really good strong cheddar, sliced (no plastic cheese here) . . .
with some grilled back bacon . . . you could use streaky . . . its up to you.
I have been using the nitrate-free, free range bacon from the people at Naked Bacon. So its not quite as bad for you as regular bacon.
Add to that a perfectly cooked large free range rspca approved egg with a runny yolk, cooked "in a hat" style . . . with that crisp buttery hat perched on top . . .
And I do believe you have a pretty darned near perfect breakfast sandwich!
I did use a good whole wheat bread . . . and I always use real butter . . .
My husband thought he had died and gone to heaven . . . he is a cheddar man all the way . . .
We like brown sauce with ours . . . some people like red sauce (ketchup) . . . we are brown sauce people . . .
That egg was perfectly cooked . . . not too runny, but just enough of a gorgeous rich goo to sink your teeth into with pleasure . . .
Likewise the cheese . . . melted just perfectly . . . along with that salty bacon and that crisp buttery bread . . . which is kind of like fried bread when you really think about it.
It went down a real treat, let me tell you . . . a REAL treat!
Grilled Egg in a Hat Breakfast Sandwich
Yield: 1
Egg in a hole, a fried egg, fried into a hold cut in a slice of bread, sandwiched together with some grilled bacon and cheddar cheese and another slice of bread, toasted in a skillet until golden brown all over. Quantities and instructions are given for only one sandwich. If you want more, multiply everything by the numbers you want. Its really only possible to make one at a time anyways. This is a knife and a fork sandwich.
ingredients:
- 2 slices of your favourite bread (pick a sturdy one)
- 1 large free range egg
- salt and black pepper
- 4 slices of grilled streaky bacon, or two sliced of grilled back bacon
- 1 1/2 slices of strong cheddar cheese
- softened butter for spreading
instructions:
How to cook Grilled Egg in a Hat Breakfast Sandwich
- Make sure you have your bacon all grilled before you begin, and your cheese sliced. (I sometimes buy strong cheddar already cut in slices and that is what I used today.)
- Butter one slice of bread on both sides and one slice of bread on one side only.. Cut a shape out of one that has been buttered on both sides with a cookie cutter. Today I used a flower. A heart is nice and so is a circle. Just go with your own inspiration.
- Place the piece of bread with the cut out into a large skillet, placed over moderate heat. Drop a tiny knob of butter into the centre of it. Crack your egg into the hole as soon as the butter begins to foam. Cook until set on the bottom. Add the cutout to the pan over on the side so that you can toast that also. Flip the toast with the egg in the centre over and cook just until you have the egg done to your liking. (We like them a bit runny.) Season to taste with some salt and black pepper. Remove and keep warm for a few minutes, while put in the other piece of bread. Flip over the cutout. (I hope you've been keeping an eye on it. If it is done, take it out and keep it warm)
- Add the other slice of bread, buttered side down to the skillet. Top with the cheese and then the bacon. Finally pop on the egg bread, egg side down. Cook and toast over moderate heat until the cheese melts and the sandwich is heated through. Pop that little toasty cut out on top and serve to one very lucky person. We like brown sauce with ours.
I largely abstained from this myself . . . I don't need the extra calories in all truth. I did have a tiny nibble from the edge. My husband didn't mind. He is used to eating food that has been sitting long enough to have photos taken of it, and nibbles missing. LOL Such is the life of the husband of a food writer! Happy Mother's Day to all you North American ladies out there! I hope you are treated really special today. You deserve it.
When you are young, you tend to take a lot of things for granted. Things like good health and a strong body.
You think things are always going to work the way they do now.
Its not until you are older that you realise this isn't exactly the case. Things start to break down and don't work quite so well anymore.
The sad truth is that this process starts to accelerate after you hit sixty!
Or maybe even before. Maybe I am lucky to have made it as old as I am (63 1/2) before things start to go really downhill digestion wise.
Ahem . . .'nuff said!
Without getting too descriptive just let me say that I now think about getting enough fibre into my gut every single day, almost to the point of obsession.
Prune juice, Metamucil and bran have become a part of my daily life.
I am quite grateful however for having made it this far in life, as I am well aware that it is a privilege which is denied to many.
Even if things don't always work the way they used to!!!
I try to have something with bran in it every day. Some days it is bran cereal . . . others it might be one of my bran muffins.
Some days it is one of these delicious Big Bran Breakfast Cookies! A yummy, Big Bran Breakfast Cookie!
They are loaded with fibre and go down really well with your morning cuppa!
Or with a cold glass of milk. A glass of cold juice. They just go down really well!!.
They make a nice change from your morning oats or wheat cereals . . .
The recipe makes 16 lovely, breakfast sized cookies. They also freeze well, so you can bake them up, wrap and freeze, ready to take out when you are ready to eat.
Just a few minutes at room temperature works fine.
They are perfect for a breakfast on the go as well. And kids love them.
They are totally unaware that you are feeding them something filled with goodness . . .
They are half unbleached (I only use unbleached) flour and half whole wheat flour, with a mix of white and brown sugars.
I always use muscovado sugar, which is less refined.
Then there are bran flakes . . . I crumble them up a bit . . . easier to eat that way. My teeth are getting old too.
And a hefty portion of dried fruit goes in as well. You can use raisins, sultanas, chopped dates, apricots, chopped prunes, cranberries, or a mixture of some of each.
All work well. You can even add chopped toasted nuts if you are really keen.
The fact is this is a very tasty way in order to get some of your daily fibre intake and a darned delicious way to start your day!
Big Bran Breakfast Cookies
Yield: 16
These breakfast cookies are loaded with fibre and taste! The whole family is sure to love them!
ingredients:
- 75g of bran flakes, crushed to 2/3 the amount (2 cups)
- 140g whole wheat flour (1 cup)
- 140g plain flour (1 cup)
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- pinch salt
- 180g butter, at room temperature
- 140g granulated sugar (2/3 cup)
- 100g soft light brown sugar (1/2 cup, packed)
- 2 large free range eggs
- 150g dried fruit (1 cup) (raisins, chopped dates, cranberries, etc.)
instructions:
How to cook Big Bran Breakfast Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 170*C/325*F/ gas mark 3. Line several baking sheets with baking paper. Set aside.
- Whisk both flours, the crushed bran flakes, soda and salt together. Set aside.
- Cream together the butter and both sugars until light. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the flour mixture. Combine well. Stir in the dried fruit.
- Drop by 1/4 cup fulls onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving plenty of space between. You should get about six per sheet, which means you will fill 2 sheets and then have a final bake with only 4 on it.
- Bake for 15 minutes or so until risen, dry on top, set and golden brown around the edges. Let stand on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before scooping out onto a wire rack to cool.
- Store in an airtight container.
Delicious with a nice cup of tea, a hot cup of java, fruit juice, or a cold glass of milk. You are sure to love these!
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