Banana Bread Tale
So, here's the story of the making of the banana bread.
I had two bananas that I let get too ripe. So, I got a wild hair and decided to make bread with them. I make an awesome loaf. Very moist and not too dense.
There were only a few obstacles in my way.
Obstacle One was that I had none of the building materials except for the bananas. So, it was a trip to the grocery store. I got flour, sugar, butter, milk, eggs, oil, brown sugar, cream of tarter, baking soda, walnuts, frosting and sprinkles. Too much for just banana bread, I know.
Some time during the shopping binge, I decided to make sugar cookies, too. Again, I make awesome sugar cookies. Soft, thick and I put cake frosting on them which is creamy good.
Obstacle Two was that I couldn't find my banana bread recipe when I got home. I'm pretty sure it's in my recipe box. I have no idea where my recipe box is. I looked through all of the kitchen cupboards and the dining room shelves with no success. Since my sugar cookie recipe is in there, too, I really need to find that box.
So, I started flipping through my many cookbooks to find a recipe that resembled what I recalled from my recipe. I finally found one and started assembling the ingredients.
Obstacle Three was that I forgot to buy baking powder. See, I was in the midst of looking for it when a woman asked me where the Jelly was. I was able to tell her which made me feel good because last week I confused my two regular grocery stores and sent someone down a completely wrong aisle when she was looking for butter. That made me feel bad. And wonder why people ask me since my cart usually only holds Diet Pepsi, frozen waffles and organic peanut butter. Oh, and organic bananas that I don't eat.
Never one to let lack of one ingredient stop me (and already two glasses of wine into the evening so I didn't want to drive back to the store), I looked up substitutions for baking powder. The one I found said for 1 teaspoon of baking powder, you need 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda and 5/8 teaspoon of cream of tarter. I had that!
Only problem was I needed 1 1/4 teaspoons of baking powder. I didn't have The Rocket Scientist to do the math for me so I just guessed. I also just had a regular teaspoon so the whole process was a rough guess. I'm not afraid of that, though. I generally just eyeball the ingredients anyway.
Of course, after I dumped everything in the bowl the thought came to me, "You do own measuring spoons..." Sure enough, they were in the far back corner of the silverware drawer. I guess I'll use them next time.
Obstacles overcome, I mixed everything up. It didn't look wet enough so I put more milk in. The recipe called for cooking the bread for 60-65 minutes at 350. I cooked it only 55 minutes to try to keep it as moist as possible.
I should have cooked it at 325 (which is what Dawnie's Grandma does). While it came out tasty, it was too dry for me. I'm willing to live with it - it will still make good breakfast material for the next week.
Of course, I can't tell a story without mentioning my baby. George was either right at my feet while I was baking or she was taking advantage of my engaged state to jump on the dining room table and the kitchen counter. Not the counter I was working on, though. She's going to get locked in her room when I do the sugar cookies. I want no kitty contamination after I sterilize the counter for that job.
And, of course, I'm going to have to go to the store again. I didn't buy vanilla or peppermint (for the frosting) and I'll definitely need those for the cookies. Might as well get some baking powder, too. Wish they sold that in single use servings.
I had two bananas that I let get too ripe. So, I got a wild hair and decided to make bread with them. I make an awesome loaf. Very moist and not too dense.
There were only a few obstacles in my way.
Obstacle One was that I had none of the building materials except for the bananas. So, it was a trip to the grocery store. I got flour, sugar, butter, milk, eggs, oil, brown sugar, cream of tarter, baking soda, walnuts, frosting and sprinkles. Too much for just banana bread, I know.
Some time during the shopping binge, I decided to make sugar cookies, too. Again, I make awesome sugar cookies. Soft, thick and I put cake frosting on them which is creamy good.
Obstacle Two was that I couldn't find my banana bread recipe when I got home. I'm pretty sure it's in my recipe box. I have no idea where my recipe box is. I looked through all of the kitchen cupboards and the dining room shelves with no success. Since my sugar cookie recipe is in there, too, I really need to find that box.
So, I started flipping through my many cookbooks to find a recipe that resembled what I recalled from my recipe. I finally found one and started assembling the ingredients.
Obstacle Three was that I forgot to buy baking powder. See, I was in the midst of looking for it when a woman asked me where the Jelly was. I was able to tell her which made me feel good because last week I confused my two regular grocery stores and sent someone down a completely wrong aisle when she was looking for butter. That made me feel bad. And wonder why people ask me since my cart usually only holds Diet Pepsi, frozen waffles and organic peanut butter. Oh, and organic bananas that I don't eat.
Never one to let lack of one ingredient stop me (and already two glasses of wine into the evening so I didn't want to drive back to the store), I looked up substitutions for baking powder. The one I found said for 1 teaspoon of baking powder, you need 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda and 5/8 teaspoon of cream of tarter. I had that!
Only problem was I needed 1 1/4 teaspoons of baking powder. I didn't have The Rocket Scientist to do the math for me so I just guessed. I also just had a regular teaspoon so the whole process was a rough guess. I'm not afraid of that, though. I generally just eyeball the ingredients anyway.
Of course, after I dumped everything in the bowl the thought came to me, "You do own measuring spoons..." Sure enough, they were in the far back corner of the silverware drawer. I guess I'll use them next time.
Obstacles overcome, I mixed everything up. It didn't look wet enough so I put more milk in. The recipe called for cooking the bread for 60-65 minutes at 350. I cooked it only 55 minutes to try to keep it as moist as possible.
I should have cooked it at 325 (which is what Dawnie's Grandma does). While it came out tasty, it was too dry for me. I'm willing to live with it - it will still make good breakfast material for the next week.
Of course, I can't tell a story without mentioning my baby. George was either right at my feet while I was baking or she was taking advantage of my engaged state to jump on the dining room table and the kitchen counter. Not the counter I was working on, though. She's going to get locked in her room when I do the sugar cookies. I want no kitty contamination after I sterilize the counter for that job.
And, of course, I'm going to have to go to the store again. I didn't buy vanilla or peppermint (for the frosting) and I'll definitely need those for the cookies. Might as well get some baking powder, too. Wish they sold that in single use servings.
