Kitchen Adventures 1.1

I decided to take my love of cooking and baking online. If you're my friend on Facebook you probably know that already. :) So, I've decided to share the recipes I'm making since I have several people ask for them. Here is the first installment of this experiment.

Peas and Cheese Tortellini

Ingredients:
1 pound frozen cheese tortellini
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
2 tablespoons butter
5 scallions, white and green parts thinly sliced separately
2 tablespoons flour
1 2/3 cups milk
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for sprinkling

Directions:
1. In a large saucepan of boiling salted water, cook the tortellini until al dente; drain.

2. Meanwhile, add the peas, butter, and scallion whites to another large saucepan and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes. Whisk in the flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in the milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Stir in the scallion greens and season with salt and pepper.

3. Stir the tortellini and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese into the sauce. Sprinkle with more cheese when serving.
--From "Every Day with Rachael Ray" magazine, May 2008 issue


Banana Cake with Nutella Whip

Ingredients:
Cake:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 T. baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour milk (buttermilk, or 1/2 cup fresh milk with 1 1/2 teaspoons vinegar also work)
2 cups mashed bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Nutella Whip:
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 cups Nutella

Directions:
For the cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Butter and flour 2 9” round cake pans.

Mix together oil and sugar. Beat in the eggs, sour milk, mashed banana, and vanilla.

Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir the flour mixture into banana mixture just until moistened. Stir in the chocolate chips. Bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a moist crumb, about 30 minutes.

Let cool on racks for 10 minutes, then remove from pans.

Cool completely.

For the icing:

Whip the cream until soft peaks form. Fold in the Nutella. Ice the cake .

Store the cake in the refrigerator.

Makes 1 two-layer 9” cake.

From MixingBowl.com

Here is a picture of the finished product: