This month’s Taste & Create inspired me to tweak my Best Walnut Banana Bread recipe just a bit, thanks to Tamy and Always Eat On the Good China. It took me a few tries to perfect my own banana bread recipe, and now I’m ready to start creating a few new variations. Here is a new one for me.

I immediately went to my Best Banana Walnut Bread Recipe. Then I realized I was out of some ingredients. Good planning on my part (smile). So I altered the flour in my recipe as follows: 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup unbleached white flour, and 1/2 cup crushed rolled oats.

Other than the flour substitutions, I followed my banana walnut bread recipe and added some great ideas from Tamy, such as 1/3 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened), 2 teaspoons granulated ginger, 2 crushed cloves, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and zest from one large navel orange. I added some chocolate chips to half of my batch to mix it up a little.

I baked muffins. I just now realized that I baked Aussie bites (also muffins) for last month’s Taste & Create. What’s up with me and muffins lately? Are all of my Vita-Mix smoothies making me crave muffins?

There is, in my and many locals’ opinion, nothing better than a Hazel Dell mushroom. They are quite simply the best mushrooms you can buy around here. They really make a meal.

Now, I don’t eat red meat, so the entire meal was actually a grilled steak topped with a mushroom saute, hon tsai tai, and freshly baked bread with Camembert cheese. I just ate the side dishes…

I sautéed some shiitake and cremini mushrooms in 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. I added a little white wine and let them cook a little before adding a tablespoon or so of dehydrated chopped shallots from Savory Spice Shop. Everything is better when Savory Spice Shop is involved!

And my dinner was: bread and cheese, mushrooms, and greens… but it was perfect for me.

I must give my thanks to Mark at Ollin Farms for introducing me to Hon Tsai Tai. Since I joined Ollin Farms’ CSA, I have a feeling this summer is going to be one of culinary experimentation with whatever they give me in my weekly share of organic veggies. I’m definitely up for the challenge.

Hon Tsai Tai, however, wasn’t really a challenge. I treated it like broccoli rabe and was pleased with the result. It also went well with some Hazel Dell mushrooms.

I chopped the hon tsai tai into reasonably sized pieces and sautéed them in a little olive oil and chopped garlic for just a few minutes until they softened and turned deep green. Then sprinkled it with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper. This was really simple and really good.

This is the best time of year because fresh produce is finally growing in Colorado. I have a basil plant at home, so now I can start making fresh pesto in a pinch.

I put a cup of walnuts, a cup of basil, 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese, some sea salt, crushed black pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil in my food processor, and in a minute had pesto. Perfecto!