Coconut Cinnamon Sour Cream Coffee Cake: Page 125, A Taste of Aloha

I put together a meal for a friend who just had a baby this week, and having been the recipient of such meals earlier this year, I have a new model for what I include in the delivery.  The best home delivery I received had two homemade dinners, one for that night and one to freeze, a bag of salad, and a dessert (homemade ice cream cake).  Now, that’s ambitious, since I’m a working mom, but I wanted to include at least one dinner, as well as a dessert or sweet bread to tempt the tired new mommy’s tummy.  The Coconut Cinnamon Sour Cream Coffee Cake, on page 125, A Taste of Aloha, in the Breads section, seemed perfect for her, since she absolutely loves her Keurig coffee maker.

This bread was delicious – rich but light, just as coffee cake should be, with hints of coconut and cinnamon.  The muffin I made for me and my husband disappeared in two bites, leaving us wishing we could steal a bit of the bread (luckily I made a loaf for her)!  I pictured her making her coffee and inhaling a piece of bread for energy with her three little ones running around, and it made me smile.  Make your family smile today with this tasty treat!

Golden and crispy on the outside, light and fluffy on the inside – perfect coffee cake!

Coconut Cinnamon Sour Cream Coffee Cake

BREAD Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups flaked coconut

SPICE FILLING Ingredients:

• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 3 – 4 teaspoons cinnamon
• 6 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 – 3/4 cups flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease bundt pan.  Cream butter and sugar.  Sift dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture, alternating with eggs.  Stir in vanilla, sour cream and coconut.  In a separate bowl, combine filling ingredients.  Pout half of the batter into bundt pan, then add half of the filling mixture.  Add remaining batter and sprinkle balance of filling on top.  Bake for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours.

Serves 10-12.

Buy the cookbook at www.juniorleagueofhonolulu.org (click the eStore tab).  All proceeds go to support our charitable work in Honolulu, Hawai’i.

Thai Beef Salad: Page 203, Aloha Days Hula Nights

I love Thai food – something about the perfect balance of salty, sweet, and sour in Thai dishes makes me crave them, but I usually can’t afford to go out and get it.  With its complex flavors, I never though Thai food could be easy to put together, but the Thai Beef Salad on page 203 of Aloha Days Hula Nights, in the Entrees – Beef section, changed my mind!  The piping hot steak, cool salad greens, and spicy-sweet citrus dressing tasted as good as any dish I’ve had in an actual Thai restaurant.  This recipe will quickly become a weekly meal in my house!

The dressing is a delicious and simple blend of lime juice, brown sugar, fish sauce, garlic, chili paste, and lemongrass, which is poured over the salad greens and the seared steak, then topped with fresh cilantro and mint.  I had no idea Thai cooking could be so easy!  I want to keep a bottle of this dressing in my fridge at all times – it was refreshing and light.

I substituted my favorite garlic paste and my bottled Sriracha, which is a Thai hot chili sauce (often used by big-name chefs as a secret ingredient).  I also used my local Da Kine meat rub, which has big chunks of salt, pepper, ginger, and garlic, and is so ono (delicious).  I even used my refrigerated tubes of lemongrass and cilantro, which I keep on hand instead of fresh herbs because they keep so much longer.  All the substitutions, and it still tasted great!  You will love this salad, and feel good about making take-out at home!

Delicious and healthy, and another cuisine under my belt!

Thai Beef Salad

DRESSING Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 2 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon chili paste
• 1 stalk lemongrass

SALAD Ingredients:

• 1 pound flank steak
• Salt and black pepper
• 1 head romaine lettuce
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh mint
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Combine lime juice, sugar, water, fish sauce, garlic, and chili paste in a bowl with a whisk, blending well.  Thinly slice lemongrass and stir into dressing.  Set aside.

Prepare grill or broiler.  Sprinkle both side of steak with a little salt and pepper.  Place on hot grill rack.  Cook 6 minutes per side.  Remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes.

Wash and pat dry lettuce.  Tear into bite-sized pieces.  Place in a large salad bowl.  Add tomatoes.  Separate onion slices into rings and scatter across salad.  Cut steak diagonally across the grain into thin slices.  Cut slices into 2-inch pieces and add to salad.  Sprinkle with mint and cilantro.  Add to dressing, toss to coat, and serve.

To make ahead, prepare dressing; cook and slice meat; wash and pat dry lettuce; halve tomatoes; slice onion; chop herbs; but store everything separately.  Assemble just before serving.

Serves 4.

Buy the cookbook at www.juniorleagueofhonolulu.org (click the eStore tab).  All proceeds go to support our charitable work in Honolulu, Hawai’i.

Pacific Island Grill: Page 176, Another Taste of Aloha

Who loves affordable, healthy, quick and delicious weeknight dinners? Everyone!  Flank steak is an inexpensive cut of meat, and for years I passed it by.  But when Iron Chef Michael Symon told me that it has way more flavor than the pricier cuts, and all you need to do is cook it carefully and slice it thinly against the grain, I took his advice and started picking it up in the grocery store.  He was right!  It holds up well to marinades, cooks through easily on my stovetop cast iron grill, has a delicious beefy flavor, and keeps my grocery bill in check.  Now I put it in my cart every time I’m at the grocery store, and the Pacific Island Grill on page 176 of Another Taste of Aloha, in the Entrees – Meats section, is a great way to use it.

Here’s another one I like to pop into a marinade as soon as I get home from the grocery store, and I pull it out on a night when I just want a fast and tasty meal.  The marinade gives the meat a tangy, salty-sweet flavor along the lines of a teriyaki, and really brought out the beefy flavor.  Paired with a salad or other veggie, it is a great grillin’ meal. Give it a try!

Perfectly cooked, tender, juicy, and flavorful

Pacific Island Grill

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup sesame seeds
• 1/4 cup green onion, thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons sesame or salad oil
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/2 pounds flank steak

In a medium skillet, stir sesame seeds over low heat until golden, about 2 to 3 minutes.  Crush in a mortar and pestle, blender, or food processor.  Combine with green onions, soy sauce, oil, vinegar, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, mustard and Worcestershire.  Place flank steak in a 9 x 13-inch baking pan and coat with marinade.  Cover and chill, turning occasionally, for at least 4 hours or overnight.  Grill the steak 4 inches above the hot coals, basting frequently with marinade, about 5 to 6 minutes on each side.  Slice steak thinly on the diagonal and serve.

Serves 4.

Buy the cookbook at www.juniorleagueofhonolulu.org (click the eStore tab).  All proceeds go to support our charitable work in Honolulu, Hawai’i.

Blueberry Bread Pudding: Page 369, Aloha Days Hula Nights

I wanted to make something special to celebrate a friend’s last day of work before moving to the mainland, and I wanted to use up the leftover sourdough bread in my fridge.  (Yes, we keep bread in the fridge in beautiful, humid Hawaii.  Oh, you were asking about leftover sourdough bread?  Yes, that is a real thing – especially when you’re on a diet like I am).  So I knew that leftover bread + dessert equaled bread pudding, but I had no idea what a treat I was in for with the Blueberry Bread Pudding on page 369 of Aloha Days Hula Nights, in the Desserts – Puddings section.

Oh.  My.  Goodness.  This was out-of-this-world delicious.  I love sourdough bread, but I had no idea it could be elevated to such heights with cream, blueberries, and chocolate! (I used semisweet chocolate chips, since I don’t like white chocolate much.  I also used frozen blueberries, which were perfect). I didn’t dare make the Amaretto cream (first because I ran out of cream, but mostly because I knew I would eat it, and this dish is soooo not in my diet). Did I mention this recipe is super simple?  It is.

The bread on top was crunchy and buttery, the blueberries and chocolate chips burst in my mouth like little flavor explosions, and the creamy bread pudding under the top crust was divinely sweet and tangy from the sourdough.  I couldn’t resist eating a bowlful myself.  I even shared it with my son after he helped me bake it (he never gets dessert–he’s only 2!), and he liked it so much we had a five-minute conversation that consisted of: “Mmm! Mmm mmm mmm!”  In fact, when I carried it to the car to take to my friend’s office, he demanded bites of it while in his car seat.  My mouth is watering just looking at its picture again.  Make this bread pudding – you’ll be surprised what bread can do.

Crispy, gooey, sourdough-y, blueberry goodness…

Blueberry Bread Pudding

BREAD PUDDING Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups heavy or whipping cream
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 6 cups cubed day-old bread
• 6 ounces white chocolate chips
• 2 cups fresh or 1 cup dried blueberries
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted

AMARETTO CREAM Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup Amaretto
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

In a large bowl, beat eggs with a whisk until light and fluffy.  Beat in cream, milk, brown sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon.  Add bread, chocolate chips, and blueberries, stirring gently with spoon.  Drizzle with melted butter and stir to mix.  Let stand for 30 minutes for bread to absorb the egg mixture.

Heat oven to 350°F.  Butter a 10 x 14-inch baking dish.  Scrape in bread mixture, distributing evenly.  Bake about 1 hour until firm when pressed in the center.  Remove to wire rack and cool about 20 minutes until just warm.

In a small bowl, combine Amaretto and cornstarch with a whisk until smooth.  In a medium saucepan, bring cream to a boil over medium heat.  Add sugar and beat with a whisk until dissolved.  Add Amaretto, stirring constantly with whisk and return to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring until thickened.  Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Top individual servings of bread pudding with Amaretto Cream.

Serves 8.

Buy the cookbook at www.juniorleagueofhonolulu.org (click the eStore tab).  All proceeds go to support our charitable work in Honolulu, Hawai’i.