Strawberry Mascarpone Toast

Ingredients:

fresh strawberries, sliced
mascarpone cheese
bread

Directions:
toast bread. spread mascarpone on toasted bread. top with sliced strawberries.

* Inspired from a dish i saw in a movie, this recipe sounds simple, but I'm working out some of the details to make the flavors mesh well. A few things... mascarpone is a cheese, but is often used in place of butter. It has a mild flavor and can be flavored easily. Very spreadable, like a soft cream cheese, just not as strong of a flavor. Honey makes a good flavoring. With that in mind, initially i chose to use a "sweet honey wheat" bread. I used a "fancier" bread, not the cheap $1 loaves. This kind of bread is a little denser, but I found that while I was looking for a honey note in the bread, the dark wheat-ness flavor took over. So, next time I might try a honey-white, or a lighter grain bread. An oat-berry bread might go well also. But overall, I recommend a lighter-flavored bread. And as far as the strawberries go, I currently got mine out of season, so they weren't as ripe, and were a little tart, which I actually liked. But I could imagine some really fresh and ripe strawberries being very flavorful. And a final note about the toasting of the bread: i'd recommend letting the toast cool a bit so that you can get a better layer of mascarpone without it melting on still-hot toast.

Goes great for breakfast or a snack! Either way, delicious!

UPDATE: so yes, i bought and tried a honey wheat berry bread. much lighter in color and flavor, so it doesn't overtake the other flavors. and i did aim for something with honey to give the dish a little extra touch of sweetness.

Cocoa-Cashew Banana Bread

Ingredients:

2 c flour
3/4 c sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c chopped cashews
3 very ripe bananas
1/4 c vanilla yogurt
2 large eggs
6 tablespoons butter, melted & cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 tablespoons cocoa powder


Pre-heat oven to 350. Grease loaf pan or even 9x9 glass dish.

Combine and wisk all dry ingredients. Set aside.

In mixing bowl, hand mix (or use kitchen mixer on low) to combine wet ingredients. Slightly lumpy is ok.

Combine wet & dry ingredients, folding until just mixed. Do not over mix. Put batter into your pan/dish.

Bake for 45-50 minutes. Err on the side of slightly less to avoid drying out the bread. Remove from oven, let cool 5 minutes and then transfer to wire rack.

Enjoy!

* recipe adapted from "the best cookbook ever" p 391