Chemistry Kidz

My friend, Christian, is a brainiac and has a blog about chemistry...for kids. Chemistry Kidz teaches kids that chemistry can be fun and easy (adults, too). Make sure to check out his blog at www.chemistrykidz.blogspot.com

The Amazing Chocolate-Chip Banana Breadini (recipe)

It's like magic. I make this banana bread, and it disappears. This is one of the first things my mom let me make...the banana smooshing is really fun.

Here are my top 3 banana thoughts:

1. How is a banana on the street like music? If you don't C sharp, you'll B flat.

2. What is yellow and goes buzzzzzz? An electric banana.

3. Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like bananas.

CHOCOLATE-CHIP BANANA BREAD

Stuff You Need
3 super-ripe bananas (the mushier, the better)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
Dash of salt
1 egg
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Cooking spray

Equipment You Need
Loaf pan
Large bowl
Fork or potato masher
Small microwave safe bowl
Stirring spoon or spatula
Measuring cup
Measuring spoons


Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a loaf pan with cooking spray. (Here's a cooking spray tip: the drops from the spay will make the floor very, very slippery so always spray over the sink.)


Peel and mash the bananas in a large bowl. Add flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and egg.


Melt butter in microwave and add it to bowl. Stir all of the stuff together until it is mixed up.


Pour the batter in greased loaf pan and sprinkle on the chocolate chips. If you absolutely love chocolate like my sisters do, add a few more chips. Bake for 60-70 minutes until a toothpick put in the middle of the loaf comes out without any gunk on it.

My Hockey Buddy, Mitchell (recipes)

My buddy at school is an amazing hockey player. He is a goalie and I saw him play between periods at a San Jose Sharks game. Totally cool!! Mitchell likes to cook and gave me some of his recipes so I could share them on my blog.

GOAT CHEESE AND HERB CHEESEBURGERS

(serves 3 people)

Stuff You Need

2/3 pounds of ground chuck

1 tbsp chopped basil

1 tbsp chopped parsley

2 tbsp goat cheese

1 egg

1/2 tbsp olive oil

Equipment You Need

Bowl

Grill

Adult (to help you with the grill)

1. Throw all of the ingedients into a bowl and mush it together with you hands until everything is mixed up. Make into 3 patties.

2. Have adult start and heat up grill. When it's ready, put patties on grill. Cook them until you like them (we like our meet cooked until it's brown all the way through or the technical term "medium well").

3. Add cheese or gilled bacon to the burgers, if desired. Grill buns slightly.

4. Serve and enjoy!!

SCALLOPS WITH CARMELIZED ONIONS

(serves 3 people)

Stuff You Need

1 onion

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

6 scallops

Equipment You Need

Knife

Cutting Board

Frying Pan

Spatula

Slotted Spoon

1. Chop onion into chunks and place in frying pan with brwn sugar. Add balsamic vinegar and cook until onions are soft...5-7 minutes.

2. Using a spoon with holes (slotted spoon), scoop onions out of the pan leaving juice.

3. Cook scallops over medium heat until the vinegar soaks in and the scallops are cooked through. Don't cook too long or they will taste like hockey pucks!

4. Serve and enjoy!

FRIED BANANAS OVER ICE CREAM

(serves 3 people)

Stuff You Need

3 bananas

6 scoops of ice cream (your choice)

Caramel sauce

1 tbsp butter

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup brown sugar

Equipment You Need

Small bowl

Knife

Cutting Board

Frying Pan

Spatula

1. Put brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and mix up.

2. Chop bananas into "coins"...about 1/2 inch thick

3. Coat bananas with the cinnamon sugar mixture (dipping bananas in bowl).

4. Melt butter in pan over medium heat. Add bananas and cook until sugar mixture makes a hard crust.

5. Scoop ice cream into bowls and spoon bananas over the scoops. Drizzle caramel sauce over bananas.

6. Serve and enjoy!

Mango A Go Go (recipe)

Mangoes are my favorite fruit. I love the dried mango from Costco, the Mango A Go Go Jamba Juice, fresh mango, mango sorbet...you get the picture.

I did a twist on my mom's pineapple glaze for ham this year and added mango jam. Outrageous!

Mango-Pineapple Glaze

Stuff You Need

8.5 ounce jar of mango fruit spread

6 ounce can of pineapple juice (about 3/4 cup)

Equipment You Need

Saucepan

Spatula

Spoon

1. Pour fruit spread and juice into saucepan. Heat to slow boil and reduce heat to simmer (lowest setting on dial). This gives the chance for the stuff to "reduce" or as my Papa explained "lets the water evaporate from the sauce".

2. Cook about 10 minutes, stirring a lot, until the sauce is thick.

3. When the ham is about 15 minutes from being done, take it out of the oven and drizzle the sauce in all the layers of ham. Bake uncovered the last 10-15 minutes until the ham is done.

Cooking is Chemistry (scalloped potato recipe)

My Papa is a scientist...a biochemist: biology + chemistry = biochemist. He likes to cook and on all the holidays, he is in the kitchen with my mom. He always says "cooking is chemistry" but my mom just rolls her eyes. She's more of a give-it-a-try cook. My Papa is exact. For Easter, mom wanted scalloped potatoes, so Papa and I got to work. I was going to try to slice the potatoes with a knife until Papa showed me how to use a mandoline slicer. Very cool tool.

Papa's Exact Scalloped Potatoes

Stuff You Need

5 large Yukon Gold potatoes, skin on

1 medium onion, sliced in rings

3 tbsp butter

1/4 cup flour

1 /3/4 cup milk

Cooking spray

pinches of salt and sprinkles of pepper

Equipment You Need

2 1/2 quart baking dish

Mandoline slicer

Knife

Cutting board

Measuring cup

Measuring spoon

Aluminum foil

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease baking dish (I sprayed mine with that cooking spray stuff).

2. Peel onion and slice into thin rounds, separating out the rings.

3. Wash potatoes and pat dry. Figure out the mandoline tool (ask your Papa) and slice potatoes into disks. Slices should look like skinny hockey pucks.

4. Make a layer of potatoes covering the bottom of the pan. Layer over the onion slices. Add small chunks of the butter. Sprinkle over flour. Continue the layering until you reach 3/4 of the baking dish.

5. Pour the milk over the layers making sure the potatoes are covered with liquid. Use pinches of salt and sprinkle the pepper over the top.

6. Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until tender.

(*We cheated this Easter since we didn't have a lot of time. We covered dish with plastic wrap and put in the microwave for 10-15 minutes, until the potatoes were just soft. Then, took off the plastic, covered with foil, and baked for 30 minutes. We uncovered it for the last 10 minutes of baking. Turned out soooo good.)

Spice Is Nice When Added to Rice

I'm working on a spice tree. I'll let you know when I have it all figured out. The Indian spices are crazy...there's like a million of them.