I have to start this post by stating that I have decided to experiment with using only 1 space after a period. This decision has been made in an attempt at hiding my age.
Looking back over my last few posts I have realised that there are only baked goods and sweets showing up here. It's given me pause to think about why that might be. Obviously we have cooked more than our fair share of meals and we have not been eating cookies and ice cream for dinner every night. Not any night in fact. I think that recently I have felt completely uninspired at best and disengaged at worst. The odd thing is that I have made some really good stuff. In the fall I let myself experiment with lamb by making a roast leg of lamb which turned out beautifully. A pork dish seasoned with a generous marinate of worcestershire and soy sauce, garlic, ginger and pepper sauce. Rave review. Recently I threw together some leftover roast chicken and slow cooked vegetables to make a pasta sauce. Beautiful. So why do I feel uninspired and apathetic about what I have churned out? And why don't I post about them even when they turn out well. Here are some of my ideas:
1. I don't feel like the pictures will turn out well. It is kinda hard to take an inspiring shot of sauce on pasta (am I wrong here?) or a hunk of meat on a plate... or in a roast pan. Perhaps I need to expand my photographic horizons or just start taking pictures of vegetables and leave it at that
2. I'm tired from making all the damn food (I don't actually think this is true) but I am tired
3. I don't even feel like eating the food myself (this is true unfortunately. Hummus and toast usually wins... and have I told any of you about my new obsession with grapes and cherry tomatoes?)
4. I am feeling uninspired and apathetic about life and I can't even blame winter for that one - although it certainly is not helping
5. My kids are using the computer too much. Perhaps I need to have my very own computer - one of these will do fine, thanks for asking
6. There is not enough room in my brain. I need an upgrade to get more space... or something needs to go to clear some space... no kids... no job... just tossing around some ideas. In truth, I think that this is probably the best answer so far.  It's not that there is no down time it's that the down time is still parenting and all the taxiing to this, that and the other in addition to the chores that need to get done - well that's not really head clearing time is it

These are some classy ass measuring cups that my Mom got me for Christmas.  Awesomest.

So there it is.  Mystery solved. Here is the funniest part - my kids don't even really like the stuff I'm baking. At least they are not terribly interested in eating it. I think they've grown totally accustomed to it and would much rather have a snickers bar than home baked cookies. I had to send about 80% of this snacking cake to school with kid #1. Her friends at school probably think that home baked stuff is a novelty and that it tastes much better than the orea cookies my kids are constantly begging for. She is 14 so after sharing with all of her friends I have some new love interests and someone else wants to make me a superhero costume... my super power being doing shit with bananas and chocolate - meh, could be worse.
For the record - I had to go back through this post and erase an extra space after almost every single period. Including the one in the first paragraph.


This was my original post idea... then I discovered that every single solitary photo I took blew huge chunks.
Banana oat snacking cake adapted form Bon Appetit
makes 1 8x8 square cake

1 1/2 cups oats (I used a combo of quick and classic rolled oats)
1 cup unbleached, all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
dash nutmeg

1 1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs (I used 1 egg and 2 egg whites)
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
3 ripe bananas, peeled and coarsely chopped
5 oz dark chocolate, coarsely chopped (or use chips)

Grease and flour an 8x8 square baking dish. Set aside
Preheat the oven to 350°F
Combine the oats, flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together.  Mix until combined and set aside.
In a large bowl beat together the brown sugar and eggs until they are a creamy caramel colour and smooth.  About 2 minutes.
Add in the melted butter and beat together for another minutes.
Fold in the flour mixture just until all the ingredients are wet.
Gently fold in the chopped banana and chocolate.  Fold in just until mixed.
Pour into the prepared pan and spread evenly.
Bake for about 35 minutes, turning half way through baking.
Cool in pan for about 15 minutes before removing.  Cool a little longer before eating or don't... eat it warm... with ice cream... thank me later.

This is the recipe that goes with the photos you are seeing...
Pretzel, milk chocolate brownies adapted from Alice Medrich via Sassy Radish

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
pinch of cayenne and a larger pinch of cinnamon
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp dark cocoa
2 lg eggs cold
1 cup large chunks of milk chocolate
3/4 cup (or so) broken bits of pretzels

Preheat oven to 325°F
Line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment or butter and flour it and set it aside.
Combine the flour, salt and cinnamon together and set aside
Combine the butter, sugar and cocoa together in a heat proof bowl. Place over lightly simmering water and stir until butter is melted and everything is combined. It shouldn't be too hot and will be gritty looking.
Add the eggs one at a time whisking well after each addition. Once the mixture looks silky add in the flour mixture and whisk just until it's mixed in and you can't see flour anymore.
Poor the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the chocolate chunks and the pretzels on top of the batter.
Bake for about 28 - 33 minutes (mine was done around 28 minutes) depending on how gooey you want your brownies.
Cool before removing from the pan - unless you think it's cool that they break apart like mine did.

It's interesting to note what inspires people and how inspiration and motivation can often be interpreted as one and the same thing.  Maybe they are the same thing.  In reality at least.  I think that adversity and/or the negative experiences we go through tend to inspire and motivate me more than the positive ones.  Sad but true.  I would venture to say that this is the case for more of us than we would care to admit.
The western world has been motivated to assemble in unity against terrorism and for freedom from censorship.  I had the odd experience of all of this outcry not quite sitting right with me.  Not being sure exactly why I felt odd about it, I started to let myself dwell on the situation and the issues that have arisen around the Paris incident.  Rolling it around, here is where my thoughts have gone up to now:
 - Is freedom from censorship the same thing as freedom of speech?
 - We talk about how powerful words are all of the time.  Our words affect people and can illicit a strong response - sometimes we can determine that outcome and sometimes we can't.  When does what we say become translated as hate?
 - We censor ourselves all of the time - every single day.  Journalists, artists, writers, researchers... you name it.  That censorship is based on the acceptable social norms currently in existence.  There are certain people groups and religious groups that I would never even consider writing negatively about.  However, that might not have been the case 75 short years ago.
 - No one should have to die for the things that those in the Charlie Hebdo offices died for.  Full stop.

I started to articulate what I was thinking to D.  I thought that maybe I was crazy to even be thinking this way.  Turns out that D, while not asking exactly the same questions, was definitely rolling things around as well.  He forwarded this article to me from The Intercept.  As I was reading it, I found myself feeling so thankful that I wasn't alone in feeling odd about this whole thing, I wasn't crazy either and that someone out there had managed to articulate their thoughts in a much more logical and concise way than I could have.  I'm not done stewing about this for sure but there are other things that are just as concerning... what about these guys?  Shall we march?


Look, cookies certainly are not at the top of the news food chain.  World crisis will not be widely affected by the baking of two more dozen cookies.  Still I make cookies.  Maybe I bake cookies for the same reason others watch reality tv or awards shows - for the record, I can't even force myself to sit through either one.  We do it to feel normal.  We do it because it helps us lose ourselves in something else.
Full disclosure:  I found that the cookies I made were a little too clementine overwhelmed.  The maple will be subtle no matter what (sometimes I wonder why I use maple syrup at all when I'm baking) but mine just turned into clementine cookies with a couple of weird bacon sprinkles on the top.  I have adjusted the amount of zest accordingly... feel free to add vanilla as well to round it out more.


Clementine, bacon and maple (?!) sugar cookies adapted from here
makes about 2 dozen

2 cups icing sugar
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 lg egg
1 tsp grated clementine or orange zest (no more than that!)
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
dash of nutmeg
2 tbsp maple syrup

1 egg white
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 tsp maple syrup
3 strips bacon - cooked until very crisp, drained and broken into small pieces

Combine the flour, salt and nutmeg together and set aside.
In a large bowl combine the icing sugar and butter.  Beat together until creamy.
Add the egg and clementine zest and continue to beat until light and fluffy.
Continue to beat on low and slowly add the flour mixture.  Beat only until combined.
Divide the dough into two portions.  Roll each portion into 3 inch round logs.  Cover each in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 12 hours.
Preheat oven to 370°F
Line a cookie sheet with parchment or a silicon liner.
Slice each log into 1/4 inch discs.  Place the discs on the lined cookie sheet leaving some room between each for spreading while baking.
Bake for about 7 - 8 minutes.
Remove cookies to a wire rack to cool.

Icing:
Beat together the egg white, icing sugar and maple syrup until creamy.
Pour about a tsp of icing on top of each cookie and immediately sprinkle with a little of the bacon (might want to press the bacon down just a little to wedge it into the icing)
Leave cookies for a while to let the icing get solid.

We are looking down the barrel of U.S. thanksgiving which is really not a thing at all here in Canada. It's just something we are aware of... and maybe do a little black friday shopping on Amazon.   We are in the dead of winter as far as weather is concerned.  Biking has been off the table this week and temperatures have dipped way below what we are used to.  I'm working really hard at not letting this affect my mood greatly.  I am looking at weeks of crazy christmas concerts and events and things that I have to plan and attend and still get organized for January work... and my family is currently checking out the 2015 potato calendar.  It's a real thing.
Here are some things that I thought were noteworthy over the last month:
1.  The Oatmeal's take on Net Neutrality
2.  Thanks to a Canadian quasi-celebrity we have all been talking a whole lot more about sexual abuse and harassment.  Let's hope that this talking continues and turns into a real change in the way society views the women in it.
3.  I've been geeking out to this song
4.  If I don't make this and this soon I just don't know what I'm going to do.
5.  This blogger beautifully summed up a lot of the food lies that women believe about other women. You know all of those food shots where an incredibly beautiful and thin woman about to eat something big and crazy.


I made this ice cream a good while ago and, in the spirit of not spreading food lies, I didn't eat very much of it.  I tested it and it was good.  Truth is I'm not much of an ice cream person.  In fact, lately food and I haven't been close but that's another story for another time.  Kid #2 won't go near this kind of ice cream if it were the last thing on earth to eat.  D basically won't touch ice cream unless it's chocolate or good quality vanilla (I totally get behind that).  So that left Kid #1.  She dutifully had a bowl or two but let out a sigh of relief when we had guests over because we served this ice cream with apple crisp.  It's pretty rich stuff and the texture and tastes worked well together.  Feel free to adjust the caramel to apple ratio if you think it might be too sweet for your liking.



Caramel Apple Ice Cream
makes 1 litre (or so)

1 1/2 cups whipping cream (the heavy stuff)
1 cup milk
4 egg yolks, whisked together in a bowl
1 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla or vanilla paste

Caramel Apple Sauce

3 - 4 sm/med apples - peeled, cored and diced
2 tbsp brown sugar (optional - depending on the sweetness of the caramel that you are using)
pinch of salt and cinnamon
1/2 cup caramel sauce (I made my own from here but you could even melt in some kraft caramels if it came down to it)

Add the diced apples to a heavy bottomed pan and heat over med/low heat.  As the apples start to cook you might want to add a dash or so of water to prevent sticking.  Add in the brown sugar, salt and cinnamon.  Cook until the apples have gotten all mushy and soft and the liquid has cooked down (I simmered mine for about 10 minutes to dry it out a bit)  Remove from the heat, add in the caramel and mix well.  Set aside.

Ice cream:
In a heavy bottomed saucepan, heat the sugar gently over med/low heat for just a minute.  Add in a little of the cream and mix well to dissolve the sugar.  Once dissolved, add in the rest of the cream and all of the milk.  Continue to heat until it almost comes to a boil, turn the heat down to about a half of what you started at and add a little of the hot cream mixture to the egg yolks, stirring constantly.  Continue to add the hot cream to the egg yolks in a very small, steady stream until the yolks are warmed up (about a half a cup of the hot cream).  Pour the egg yolk mixture back into the hot cream. Place it back onto the stove and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture heats up enough to coat the wooden spoon (you should be able to run your finger over the back of the spoon and have the mixture remain in place without running).
Remove from heat and run it through a sieve and into a bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap (press down so it is right on the warm custard mixture all the way around and even stuck to the sides of the bowl) and cool completely to room temperature.  Place in the fridge overnight.
Once refrigerator cold, pour into an ice cream maker and run for about a half hour or until the mixture reaches a soft serve consistency.  Pour everything into a freezer container and stir in the caramel apple mixture.
Freeze.
Soften for a few minutes before serving.

It seems fitting that on this last day of summer I post these muffins.  There is just something right about it.  Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg... it's screams 'Fall'.  Otherwise, there isn't a whole lot out there screaming Fall just yet... unless you count the Christmas crap all over the stores.
This weekend happened like many others - me having no plan whatsoever for what I want to accomplish.  I thought about painting a room... didn't happen.  I considered cleaning out the junk drawer... nope.  I did (fortunately) clean some clothes and get the floors swept a couple of times.  We also managed to throw in a play date.  Kid #2 has changed schools and now attends the same school where I teach/work - yes, that is just a little crazy.  Even though his old school is right across the street from us we haven't been able - for one reason or another - to get together with any of his old friends.  This past weekend though he got on the horn and had a friend over for a play date.  Play date sounds weird and formal.  They hung out together.  I don't particularly like play dates.  Mostly because it involves kids.  I don't hate kids or anything, I just don't particularly like them.  When I'm tired and it's been a long week it's even worse.  Kids are loud and messy and sometimes I just can't.  This weekend happened to be one of those times when I just couldn't.  Being a superlative Mom though means that you just suck it up once in a while and take one for the team.  As it turns out, indoor play dates can be wonderful motivation for me to get some much needed yard work done.  I happily spent a couple of hours of said play date outside while they yelled and had fun inside (so long as nothing gets broken I'm cool).  Two bags of clippings later and the yard looks great.  I suspect that if they had come outside my motivation might have disappeared.  It's possible that a mop and bucket might have looked tempting at that point - god knows, I wouldn't be able to turn on a tv screen without the couch magically filling up with kids.


I made these muffins before the play date.  Kid #1 knows now not to make a face when they ask what I'm baking and the answer is something involving fruit.  She knows because she has experienced my response on more than one occasion and she knows because she has tasted the results.  You can't always judge a book by it's humble, fruity cover.  Sometimes it tastes good.  Not every single thing has to have chocolate in it or on it.  She also knows that one bite will usually shut me up if I'm gotten all hissy about it.  Kid #2 - not so smart yet.  Doesn't even try to hide the face.  Won't even give that fruity thing a single bite.  Incurs the wrath of Mom every time.  The plate of muffins stayed on the table for the duration of the play date untouched.  Apparently mine aren't the only kids who believe that anything made without chocolate is probably not edible.  Comforting.


He ate a half a muffin before bed (couldn't stand the Mom attitude any more).  The entire half.



Apple Crumb Muffins adapted from Pip & Ebby

2 cups unbleached, all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp nutmeg

2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
2 eggs
1/4 cup (generous) milk or cream
1 1/2 cups (1 lg) apple, cored and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

Topping

1/2 cup unbleached, all purpose flour
1/2 cup oats (I used quick oats for this one)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 350°F
Line a dozen (or so) muffin cups with liners and set aside.
Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg together.  Mix and set aside.
Combine the brown sugar, sugar and butter in a large bowl.  Beat (or mix) together until light and fluffy.  Add in the eggs and continue to beat until well incorporated and fluffy.  Add the milk or cream and mix well.
Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture.  Using a mixer or a large whisk continue mixing until the flour is completely incorporated and the mixture is thoroughly wet.
Add in the apples and fold until well mixed.
Fill muffin cups just to the upper edge.
Sprinkle each with about 1 1/2 tbsp (I used large spoonfuls) of topping and press it down just a little.
Bake for about 25 - 30 minutes or until a tester comes out of the middle muffins clean.
Cool before removing

Topping:
Mix the flour, oats and brown sugar together.
Add the melted butter and mix until it forms little clumps.  Set aside to use on the muffins.

We did not go away anywhere over the summer.  We didn't even attempt to make plans to do anything.  We were renovating and painting and sanding and everything that goes along with that - including waiting much longer than expected for jobs to finish.  We are not bitter.  We understand and it's ok.
I did however, have the opportunity to go away for 24 hrs with my bestest friend KT.  KT is one of those people who are just so amazing that you don't know what to do with her.  Except she is so amazing that she helps you figure even that out.  She is a beautiful person both inside and out.  I have no idea why she is friends with me really.  I'm pretty grouchy, kinda nonchalant, a bad gift giver (negligent) and I'm not even rich to make up for all of that.  KT has recently (coming up on 3 yrs in a few months) started foster parenting babies.  Again, she is amazing at it.  It's a thankless job in many ways but she loves those babies... except for the sleep.  Or lack thereof.  Imagine, if you can, parenting new-borns over and over for 3 years straight.  We don't get to see each other as much as we would like because I am working during the day and she is not coherent after about 7:30 pm.  This made our 24 hr getaway even more special.
Given my last year and a half and her 2 1/2 year sleep deprivation experiment, we were both pretty tired.  I thought that you might find it exciting affirming alarming amusing to have a look at what we did for our 24hrs.
1:00pm - get in car
2:40pm - arrive at destination
3:00pm - sit in hotel room, contemplate a walk
3:15pm - walk around the village (this takes about 7 minutes if you walk very slowly)
3:30pm - order snack/lunch
4:15pm - return to hotel room, put bath robes on over our clothes and watch tv
6:00pm - walk down to pool, sit on loungers and watch people in pool
7:00pm - return to hotel room
7:30pm - walk to village for snacks and magazines
8:00pm - find a place with absolutely no children in it and have drinks
9:15pm - walk back to hotel room
9:30pm - settle into bed with magazines
SLEEP
9:00am - get up
9:45am - get breakfast
11:00am - check out
11:45am - get pedicure
1:00pm - get in car and drive home

For 24 hrs no other human being determined what had to be done, told us what they needed, had to be seen to or otherwise entertained... and that is what we decided to do with the time.  Are either one of us disappointed that we didn't go mountain biking or hiking or kayaking?  Hell no.  Are you kidding.
And that was my summer vacation.


Here is banana cake, blondies that I have made.  It sounds like it shouldn't work because there is no leavening agent in it but somehow it works and the kids loved it.  The Kids.



Banana Blondies adapted from Food52
makes 1 pan of brownies

2 ripe bananas, mashed
2/3 cup melted butter
2 lg eggs,  lightly whisked to break the yolks
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup unbleached, all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
generous 1/2 cup dark chocolate (about 72%) coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350°F
Grease and flour (or line with parchment) an 8x8 baking dish and set aside.
In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour and salt.  Set aside.
In  large bowl mix the mashed bananas and melted butter.  Once combined add the eggs and mix well.  Add both sugars and mix well.
Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture.  Stir to thoroughly mix.
Add the chopped chocolate and stir just until mixed.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for about 45 - 50 minutes or until just browning at the edges and a toothpick comes out mostly clean from the centre.
Cool before cutting.

And then the World Cup.
I did not grow up in a place that recognized the World Cup.  In my little town about an hour outside of Toronto, soccer was a thing you played after school when the hockey season was over.  Filler I guess.  When I moved to Montreal the World Cup was a thing that was recognized for sure but I was a broke student in the music faculty.  I didn't really give a crap about team sports generally and had no money to go to the pub with my friends to socialize... and watch the game.  Hence, this soccer thing was not at all on my radar.
My subsequent move to Trinidad served to school me in the 'joys' of cricket more than anything else. I thought that all of these people must be talking about croquet.  Never heard of cricket and therefor it can't be that important.  After, I've been around and would have heard about it if it were a big thing.  Yup - it's a big thing... not croquet after all... turns out most of the world knows about a lot of things that I didn't even know existed...imagine.  Cricket and all of it's test match weeks and day long games are huge... HUGE.  Who knew.


We took a trip to London a few years ago.  We wanted to reconnect with some of D's family and to spend time in a place that I had heard so much about.  Our trip just happened to coincide with the World Cup.  Of course this meant nothing to me until I attempted to navigate around Piccadilly Square during an England match (god help us all).  You couldn't so much as buy a cookie that didn't have the white flag with the red cross on it.  I think even vegetables were branded with it.  Tv ads and even a music video - so ghastly that I shudder a bit even remembering it - marketing how well the England team would do.  Of course being the England team (I'm sorry - I really am) meant that they didn't get too far into the tournament.  Imagine my shock when the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, gave a televised statement viewed across the UK expressing his deep disappointment (expressed by him as 'devastation' as I recall) that the team would not be bringing home the cup.  What... the Prime Minister... what's going on here.  I'm sure that all of the cakes and cookies stamped with the flag went on sale the next day.

A very dark picture of two members of my family watching a game.

For D this was a relief because finally I get it.  I understand just how important this world cup thing was.  I understand that this is something entire countries get behind in a way they never do in the Olympics.  I understand that even if you aren't from Brazil you can support them and that you'd better hope if you are in the pub that you aren't the only Brazil supporter present.  I understand that even if you've lived in Canada your entire life that when it comes to the world cup you absolutely become Italian.  I get that it's almost impossible to work at your desk during a game... and why fight it.  I know now that doing something, anything on a day when there are 3 or 4 games happening will be done by me by myself unless it happens in the 60 minutes in between game times.
I understand and I'm ok with it now.  I made rhubarb cake so that I could serve it to the construction guys in our house during the game.  'Cause I know now that they won't be working.


Rhubarb Lemon Cake adapted slightly from 'honey & jam'

And here we are... at the start of it all.  The first rhubarb recipe of the season.  I wish that I could tell you that it came freshly picked from my garden but I can't.  It didn't come from my garden.  It came from my freezer.  From last year.  How embarrassing.  How un-food-blogger of me.
The truth is that life has lately gone into end of school year mode.  Lots of papers to sign, dates to book, grad dress to shop for, uniform stuff to take care of for september - it's kept all of us hopping.  Coupled with that, every spare second has involved, ripping things out of our house, cleaning up the back yard, cleaning and bagging things for donation, painting, drilling holes and hanging important things... I can't even think clearly anymore.  Our neighbours are pretty happy with us though.  In the course of one week we have put 1 chest of drawers, 1 bookshelf, 2 chairs, 1 table, 1 large basket and 2 8lb weights on the front boulevard.  All of them were gone within a couple of hours.  I think the neighbours are now keeping watch on our front sidewalk to make sure they get first dibs.  Our kids are wondering exactly when we are going to stop and whether there will be any furniture left in the house when we do.

Please note the large power tool in the lower right corner.

To be honest I have no problem getting rid of things.  None.  I could live with very little quite happily.  I form very few attachments to stuff.  Not always a good thing but it does come in handy when you are going through your house with the purpose of getting rid of stuff.  It can be hard to stop once you've started though.  I'm at that point right now and I know that this means I have to be careful.  I can get out of control.  I can justify almost any toss out.  I'd love to say that I would regret it later but I wouldn't.  I might feel bad that someone else feels bad about it but I wouldn't miss the thing I tossed... like I said, not always a good thing.
All of this toss talk ties in nicely to the rhubarb... and I love a good tie in.  The rhubarb is in the freezer.  The freezer and fridge that it's connected to will be donated very soon to make way for the new-to-me appliances that my BFF is handing over.  I don't even want to talk about how excited I am about it... it's awesome and I have an awesome BFF.  So knowing that my freezer/fridge is on it's way out, I'm using this as an opportunity to clear through a lot of that stuff too.  Seeing as there is still another bag of rhubarb in the freezer you can look forward to another rhubarb recipe or two coming soon.


Blubarb Crumb Bars adapted from 'Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy'

Quick Blubarb Jam makes about 3 cups

4 generous cups chopped rhubarb
4 generous cups blueberries
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey


Crumb Stuff

1 cup oat flour (blitz old fashioned oats in a blender until it's a flour like consistency)
1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
pinch of cinnamon
1 cup cold, unsalted butter, cubed
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350°F
Line a 9x13 baking dish or pan with foil and butter it.
In a bowl combine all of the flours, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together.  Mix well.
Add the cubed butter and using two forks or a pastry cutter begin to cut the butter into the mixture.  Once it becomes fairly crumbly looking add in the egg and continue to cut everything together until the mixture is wet and crumbly.
Pat half of the flour mixture into the bottom of the prepared baking dish.  Pat down firmly
Spoon about 2 1/4 cup of blubarb jam over the bottom layer.
Evenly sprinkle the rest of the flour mixture over the blubarb layer.  Do not press this layer down.
Bake for about 40 min or until the top is light, golden brown.
Cool completely before cutting the bars (this gives the jam stuff time to firm up again)

It's been a while... a long while.  I've had this recipe sitting unpublished for a long time.  Truth is that things just got really busy.  This sounds lame I realize but it's the truth.  Another truth is that my kids have been using the computer a lot and once they are done using the computer it's late (or it feels like it) and my brain has nothing left in it (sad face).  Also, I've been away on tour with the crazy school I work for.  It's a concert tour of course, so while I'm chaperoning half of the grade 9 class I am also the designated stage manager for all concerts... easy right?  Then there's that other thing where my kitchen is getting slowly ripped out.  This is a good thing of course but it takes a long time and it's messy and although I'm really excited about what it's going to look like once it's done, it hasn't added to my kitchen malaise.  This brings me to yet another truth - my kitchen malaise.


I don't know what to do.  I don't care about eating or cooking or baking.  I'm phoning it in.  Going through the motions.  Looking after the bare necessities.  Reality is though that I have not even the remotest interest in getting creative.  I am being driven by pure need and nothing else.  The only redeeming moment was when I finally and (hopefully) forever jumped over the hurdle that is 'Trinidad Pelau'.  I think that I've got it... and yes, I will share eventually.  It is totally worth sharing.
Here I am sitting in my ripped up house, trying to feel happy that it's spring (I think... I hope) finally, hearing about garlic scapes and stinging nettle and whatever else is popping up out of the newly thawed earth and none of it is doing anything for me.  Not peaking my interest in the slightest.


I am equal parts hand wringing and apathetic.
I haven't even made ice cream.  This should give you some idea as to how serious the problem is.
I'm sure that this all will pass.  It will.  Meanwhile, about a month ago the banana convention in the freezer started to get rowdy again and I had to drum up something to do with them.  The freezer party happened to coincide beautifully with a popcorn blitz that kid #1 was experiencing.  I remembered reading a recipe that combined both with chocolate and managed to gather enough energy and inspiration to throw this cookie recipe together.

Who can resist a face like this?  I will admit to being inspired by it just a little.

Banana, Oatmeal, Chocolate Chunk, Popcorn Cookies adapted from 'Supernatural Everyday'
makes about 2 1/2 doz medium sized cookies

1 1/2 cups oats
1 1/2 cups unbleached, all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt

3 overripe bananas
1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 egg
3/4 cups sugar
1 tbsp vanilla

1 cup chocolate chunks (dark chocolate - about 70% cocoa solids)
2 cups (approx) popped corn

Combine the oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together.  Mix well and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment or a silicon liner.
Mix together (I used a hand mixer) the bananas and butter for about 1 minute or until the butter is completely combined with the banana.  Add in the egg and sugar and continue to mix until completely combined.  Add the vanilla and stir to mix.
Add the oat/flour mixture and mix together by hand until completely incorporated together.
Add in the chocolate and mix well.
Gently fold in the popcorn little by little until the batter can't take any more.
Drop onto the prepared cookie sheet in about 2 tbsp heaps leaving about 1 1/2 inches in between each mound.
Bake for about 14 minutes or until the cookies are turning golden at the edges.
Cool and store in an airtight container.

The banana convention in my freezer is slowly but surely coming to a close.  This banana thing is starting to feel a little bit like the thanksgiving turkey episode... the never ending story.  The one difference between banana's and turkey being that with banana's you can add chocolate and/or icing.  This difference means that it will most definitely get eaten as opposed to the maybe it might get eaten but I'm not really sure.
I'm hoping that there are a few of you out there who are glad and maybe even grateful for the banana recipes.  For the rest of you (us - 'cause I'm kinda sick of them too) I would like to take a moment to explain why I do what I do here.
Sometimes (ie. almost never) I plan a recipe specifically for this blog.  The other 99% of the time what I post on this blog happens to be what I was inspired to make based on what needs to get cooked or baked or some kind of special occasion.  I guess that still makes this a food blog but not a 'special' food blog - or maybe it is.  You get what we eat.  I'm not fancying things up for the blog, sometimes we get fancy and sometimes we don't.  I like to think, in my more optimistic moments, that simple and homey is great and maybe even what people want.  They want to see what you are eating and that's why they check the blog out. In my more pessimistic moments, I feel a little depressed because I have so little time to put things for this blog together.  I wonder who eats everything that other bloggers post (every day/every other day!!) and how they find time to make it, take the pictures and write something coherent before sending it out into the big wide web world.  Sometimes getting one post out feels like I had to bank time for an entire week and even then I'm juggling lego being shoved into my face and a 13 yr old constantly asking for something that inevitably involves money and going somewhere.  So yeah, you see what we eat.  That being said, we have eaten more than banana bread and birthday cake around here - although nothing would make my kids happier.  I haven't gotten around to taking pictures (especially when it's dark by 4:45) and writing down recipes.


Back to bananas:
Now that the freezer convention has been whittled down to 4 from the previous 15 this recipe should mark the close of the banana marathon for a while at least.  I'm saying 'should' which gives me an out because you never know.  Kid #1 has completed her high school auditions and has gotten into her first choice for the music program.  This may mean that some kind of celebration is in order and the celebration may mean cake.  If there is some way to throw those last few bananas into cake then I'll go for it.  Then there is the dinner we are invited to next weekend where they said not to bring anything but who really means that?  Of course you have to bring something.  It could include wine but it could also include something involving bananas.


Double Chocolate Banana Loaf adapted from Martha Stewart
makes 1 loaf

1 2/3 cup less 3 tbsp unbleached, all purpose flour
3 tbsp dark cocoa powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup egg whites or two eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
3 med, overripe bananas, peeled and mashed
2 tbsp whipping cream or sour cream
5 oz dark chocolate, chopped


Preheat oven to 350°F
Grease and flour a loaf pan and set aside.
Combine the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder together and set aside.
Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy - about 3 minutes or so. Add in the egg and continue to beat for another 2 minutes.
Add the vanilla and banana and beat together for another minute or until everything is completely incorporated.
Fold in the cream until incorporated.
Add the flour mixture and whisk in by hand until completely incorporated together.
Fold in the chopped chocolate just until evenly distributed.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.  Do a little drop onto the counter top to get out the air bubbles.
Bake for about 50 minutes or until a cake tester comes out of the middle clean.
Cool for about 15 minutes in the pan before removing to cool on a rack.

Reasons that you can thank me for not posting recently:

1.  You have been spared the 'My best posts of 2013' blog post.

2.  And also the 'My favourite posts of 2013' blog post.

3. As well as the 'Winter is so depressing that I'm having trouble functioning let alone writing a blog post' blog post.

4.  And don't forget the sucky 'Winter Cleanse because that's what we all need to do in January' blog post.

5.  Then there's the 'Here are some awesome pictures of snow because I have nothing else for you' blog post.

That's as much as I'm going to say about it... and we move on.

Audition season has begun with gusto.  Kid #2 has completed one of her two auditions for grade 9 (I could write a whole paragraph on how it's a travesty that I'm a parent of a thirteen year old and how you would probably never guess that I was the parent of a teenager as long as you didn't see her standing beside me... but I won't)  Kid #2 has completed his vocal audition (with flying colours - huge sigh of relief) and has moved on to academic testing (cue more internal hand wringing).  I have also been helping a handful of other hopefuls prepare for their auditions.  This has made January not quite a slow as I had hoped.
This means that the bananas have gone straight to the freezer once overripe and not into a cake or cookie or pancake or the like.  It also means that I've cued a bunch of things but haven't moved beyond the cue.  The good news is that I have a cue... right?  The freezer is starting to feel a little over crowded with all of the bananas getting stuffed in there.  I've been thinking that I've got to get serious about working down the numbers.


This recipe worked perfectly for me because:
 - it used up 2 bananas
 - it made enough waffles to make two kids happy on a Sunday afternoon and gave them breakfast the next day
 - it used buckwheat flour
 - it could have worked beautifully as a dessert with just a dollop of vanilla ice cream and a little bit of maple syrup

I will, of course, also make some kind of obligatory banana cake but I'm thinking something cocoa'y'.  After that though, I'm all out of ideas and it's back to the drawing board.  I think that I'll work on borrowing my way through January first though.


Banana Brown Butter Waffles adapted from 'Two Peas and their Pod'
makes 8 - 9 waffles

2/3 cup unbleached all purpose flour
2/3 cup buckwheat or whole wheat flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
6 tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/3 cup milk or buttermilk
2 eggs separated
2 medium sized overripe bananas, mashed
1 tsp vanilla

Heat a heavy bottomed saucepan over med heat.  Add in the butter and turn the heat down to low.  Let the butter brown for a few minutes (and some water will cook out too).  Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature.
Combine the flours together along with the brown sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  Set aside.
Combine the milk, egg yolks, mashed banana and vanilla.  Mix well.

Start preheating the waffle iron.

Whisk or beat the egg whites until peaked and stiff but not dry.  Set aside.
Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and mix to combine.  Add the browned butter and combine well.  Fold in the egg whites just until combined.

Spoon about 1/3 cup of the batter onto the heated waffle iron and heat to specifications until you use up all of the batter.

I hope that you've had a wonderful Christmas if you celebrate that.  I hope that you've had a wonderful rest otherwise.  My rest is truly beginning now that all of the Christmas obligations are done.  Christmas itself was wonderful - lots of food, lots of laughs, lots of family.  Exactly what it should be I guess.  The kids are happy, we haven't had any returns to make, we had power outside of the 36 hrs that we didn't and in general we are thankful and content.  My uniform for the next week will be yoga pants and tee shirt - when I choose to change out of my pj's.
I made my traditional 'Cappuccino Flats' for the holidays which we hoard selfishly as a family because they are amazing.  I decided to make peanut butter balls with rice crispies, icing sugar and chocolate... nasty.  Nobody wanted to eat them.  Totally disgusting.  They are going in the bin and I won't be sorry about it.


Then I made these cookies.  I made them really because they are the only thing that I remember my Grandma making.  Well, she also made christmas pudding.  I can't tell you exactly what it was because I never ate it.  As a kid it sounded disgusting.  It was brown, it was steamed, it had carrot in it.  Probably contained dates and molasses too.  Either way, as a kid not even caramel sauce could entice me to eat it.  So I didn't ever eat any of it.  The honest truth is that I never ate these cookies either.  Maybe a couple.  They weren't my favourite because they didn't contain chocolate.  I don't know why kids are so hooked on chocolate.  It's weird.  I'm sure that if only she had thrown in 3 tbsp of cocoa powder I would have downed them like there was no tomorrow.  So I had a few cookies and left the rest to my brother and sister to eat.  Each year my Grandma made them.  Always at Christmas.  Sometimes she used green cherries and sometimes red - sometimes both.  They look 'festive'


So after making these cookies in honour of my Grandma and just because I felt nostalgic, I realized that I had no interest in eating them.  Seems that I'm a stickler for tradition after all.  This left me relying on the other three people living in the house. D? Nope.  He's about as interested in sweets as I am.  The kids?... ummm, where's the chocolate?  Not touching them.  I should have known.  Fortunately, I was able to take them to our Christmas dinners (we did have more than one).
As a result, I can't tell you whether the cookies taste good but they sure do look festive.


Shortbread Cookies with Cherries and Pecans adapted from my Grandma and Kuntal's Kitchen
makes about 2 dozen medium sized cookies

1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup icing sugar
2 cups unbleached, all purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup maraschino cherries, quartered
1/2 cup toasted pecans, coarsely chopped

Combine the flour and salt and set aside.
In a large bowl beat or mix the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy (I used a hand mixer here).  Add the vanilla and mix until well combined.
By hand, add the flour mixture and mix until fully incorporated.
Add the cherries and pecans and mix.
Form two logs (about 3 inches round each) cover each log with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350°F
Line a cookie sheet with parchment or a silicon liner
Remove the logs from the fridge.
Slice one log into about 12 cookie rounds and place on the cookie sheet - leave a little space for them to spread.
Bake for about 10 minutes or until the edges are just barely turning brown.
Remove and cool on a wire rack.

The reason that you are getting a third banana recipe in a row is two fold.  Please understand that I am not offering these reasons as an apology but merely as an explanation.  No apology for cake should ever be offered - ever.  The first reason is that I had just about a bakers dozen overripe bananas in the freezer.  I now have a total of two.  That's better.  The second reason is that I forgot to take pictures of the fifth leftover turkey dish (with roasted butternut squash no less) and now that it's dark pictures will have to wait until tomorrow.  I am not going to number the banana recipes because I'm already doing it with the leftover turkey madness and more than one number system at a time feels kinda lame.
There is nothing especially spectacular about this cake which is probably why it feels so approachable.  It comes together fast and looks big but it has a short, simple ingredients list.  It does use egg whites instead of yolks.  This is something that suits me just fine because I use truckloads of egg yolks in my ice cream.
Speaking of ice cream, I believe that I have recently perfected chocolate ice cream.  This elevates my chocolate ice cream to a level that I believe could be used for leveraging.  Things I could possibly leverage with my ice cream:
 - marriage proposals (a little late there)
 - purchasing property
 - keeping my kids in line (you won't get any ice cream if you keep on....)
 - work promotions
You get the idea.  What was my problem with chocolate ice cream you ask?  Well, I had problems getting the graininess out of the cocoa powder and sugar first.  I learned that slow, low heat whisking can solve that problem.  The second problem was then getting the graininess out of the chocolate when adding it to the custard.  The first thing I tried was pre-melting the chocolate.  That achieved a degree of success but I had to be careful when adding it to the warm custard as it could easily seize up.  Once I got that figured out, I had to make sure that the chocolate didn't become little chocolate shards in the ice cream... solution: cool it slowly and on refrigerate once completely room temperature.  The last thing I did was add a little salt and a little instant coffee powder to the whole thing.  Result:  Perfection.  Smooth.  Chocolatey.  Bliss.


Compared to 'Smooth. Chocolately. Bliss' this cake is a bit underwhelming but these things can often just be a matter of expectations.  Banana cake is great thing to have with tea or something.  I wouldn't make it for someone's birthday or anything but if someone showed up at my door unexpectedly (like that ever happens) I could throw this together quickly and easily.  Fortunately, I found some leftover vanilla buttercream icing in the freezer that I thawed and added some more vanilla and cream to.  I spread it over half of the cake and Kid #2 nearly died.  Icing.



Banana, Chocolate Chip Cake adapted from 'Simply in Season'
makes 1 9x9 cake

2 1/4 cups unbleached, all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
pinch cardamom and nutmeg

3 overripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
4 egg whites
2/3 - 3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

3 oz dark chocolate chips or chunks

Preheat the oven to 350°F
Butter and flour a 9x9 inch baking pan.  Set aside.
Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cardamom and nutmeg together.  Mix to combine and set aside.
In another bowl beat together the butter and bananas until combined.  Add the egg whites and beat for about 2 minutes.  Add 2/3 cup of milk (reserve the rest) and the vanilla and beat together for another minute.
Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and fold until flour is completely mixed in.  Add the remaining milk if the batter is too thick to spread easily.  Stir to combine.
Fold in the chocolate chips until incorporated.
Pour into the prepared pan.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean from the middle.
Cool for about 15 minutes before removing from the pan.

The level of un-inspired today is epic.  Oh it's not that I haven't done what's needed to be done.  It's just that it got done without any emotional connection.  I guess it's what you call 'going through the motions'.  I discovered that it's possible to laugh during small talk and then 15 seconds later forget that your facial muscles even moved.  It's the kind of day where you forget whether you had breakfast and absentmindedly drink 3 coffee's.  It's the kind of day where I know that I'm supposed to say something intelligent and inspired but nothing comes out or that question that you asked me really needs to have an answer with a little more detail than 'ummm - I'll check'.
Kid #1 is cleaning her room - an epic manoeuvre in and of itself.  She has currently been working for 30 minutes at putting sheets on her bed and cleaning the floor under it.  Good thing she's not responsible for cleaning the whole house.  I haven't heard movement in about 12 minutes so I'm guessing that she either forgot what she was supposed to do or she fell asleep.  Kid #2 is at karate hopefully undergoing grading for his yellow belt.  I have to say hopefully because it's hard to get a straight answer out of him sometimes even when the questions are yes or no answers - Did you hand in your form for grading?  So I'm going to keep my fingers crossed and try not to think about what might happen if he doesn't get graded.
The good news is that for almost two days I can forget that I am approaching the worst 5 weeks of the year.  I can turn off my alarm and snuggle under the covers until I decide that I don't want to anymore.  I can make a morning coffee and sit down at the table with the newspaper, taking my time to read it.  Even the 'life' section.  I can roll out the yoga mat whenever I want and do it for a whole 1 1/2 hrs if I like.  I can see D - maybe even go out with him.  We might be able to have a coherent conversation that lasts for more than 15 minutes.  It might even be a conversation that doesn't include information about scheduling. It almost makes you giddy or it would if I could feel my soul right now.  I'm sure that by about 2:20 tomorrow afternoon I will be able to sense where it is.


Then there are brownies.  I'm sure you must be wondering why the two banana recipes in a row.  The bananas were just there.  Sitting on the counter and I really couldn't be bothered to put them in the freezer with the 6 lbs of turkey from thanksgiving and the other 9 overripe bananas in there.  It seemed a little less soul destroying to just go ahead and use them in some baking one time.  Then there is the stick-something-healthy-into-something-that-normally-isn't thing. So, when kid #2 pushes the green and red stuff around on his plate but gulps these down like there's no tomorrow then I feel a little less worried and also like I won the Sneaky Mom award (it's not a real thing BTW).  I suppose this means that I'm one step away from making chocolate cake with beets in it or quinoa cookies or something.  Somehow though, banana just doesn't feel as granola as all that.
I don't know what things are like around your place on friday night and fingers crossed that it's wonderful and you feel profoundly fulfilled.  If that is the case then you might just want to cap off that beautiful feeling with the deeply comforting smell of brownies baking in the oven.  If your friday night is a little more like mine - the socks you are wearing don't match and your yoga pants are a little dirty and you can't hear your phone ring because the lego is making too much noise - then you might need this easy to make ending to kick start you into the land of weekend.... with my blessings.



Banana Brownies adapted from Taste of Home
makes 1 square pan of brownies

1/2 cup unbleached, all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/8 tsp nutmeg
3 overripe banana's, mashed
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 oz dark chocolate, chopped
1 scant cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350° F
Grease and flour a square 9x9 baking dish and set aside.
Add the chopped chocolate to the melted butter and set aside while the chocolate melts.
Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cocoa powder and nutmeg together.  Mix to combine and set aside.
Add the sugar to the butter, chocolate mixture and mix well.
Add the eggs and whisk until incorporated.
Add the vanilla and mix well.
Add the flour to the chocolate mixture.  Mix or whisk until combined and there is no dry flour left.
Pour into the prepared pan and distribute evenly.
Bake for about 30 minutes (they should still be just a little gooey when tested in the middle... every so slightly gooey)

Cool completely before cutting.