Things that 13yr olds do quickly (this will be short)
1.  Eat
2.  Brush teeth
3.  Prepare lunch for school (doesn't really matter... refer to #1)
4.  Washing dishes (or any other chore that you've asked them to do... and you will probably have to redo it once they are 'done')

Things that take 13yr olds and excruciatingly long time to accomplish
1.  Getting out of bed
2.  Showering
3.  Getting dressed
4.  School projects
5.  Collecting clothes for laundry
6.  Getting information to a friend (now called texting and apparently it takes about 50 texts to get some simple homework information)
7.  Making themselves understood - because apparently that string of words (I'm pretty sure it was english but not positive) you just pelted towards me was supposed to have some meaning for me personally but it's going to take another 15 minutes of painstaking effort to break it down so that it becomes fully understood.
8.  Cleaning their room
I will end here because this list could go ad infinitum.

Kid #2 has been cleaning her room for a total of 1 1/2 weeks now.  She has thrown out as much garbage in that week and a half as our entire household would in 3 months.  The house reno has  included some work in her room and we decided to paint while we were at it (why not, right?)  This has upset her entire universe.  It meant cleaning up first and foremost.  Who would think that cleaning up a small room could take so long.  The books still have not make their way back to their shelf.  She has no room for anything (her words) but doesn't seem to understand that a closet could potentially be used to hang clothing in and not just piling things on the floor - this would help create more room elsewhere, right?  'Things fall off when I put them on the hanger'.  Yeah - probably because you are not using a hanger properly.
I don't understand why you still need to keep the broken (yes - broken) snow globe from 8 years ago.  Take a picture.
I don't understand why you are keeping the packaging from something you received as a gift 5 years ago.  It's packaging.
At the end of the day, I've decided that I really don't understand the 13yr old brain at all.  


Some things are simply not for me to understand.  What made total sense to me however was that I needed to get food into this 13 yr old belly very quickly because a low blood sugar meltdown was about to ensue.  This recipe comes together fast, tastes good and they don't have to chew it very much (refer to #1 in the 'quickly' list - digestion can be an issue).


Asparagus, red pepper and ground meat strata adapted from 'Pretty Yummy Foods'
serves 6 - 8

1/2 cup onion, diced
two bunches of asparagus, ends removed and cut into about 1 1/2 inch strips
1 cup red pepper, medium slices
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 lb ground meat (I used a mix of beef, pork and lamb)
1 1/2 boullion cubes
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
3 tbsp honey
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp marjoram
1 tbsp chives
1 1/2 tsp salt
water
4 thick slices of bread, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
1 1/2 cups cheddar (I used old cheddar) shredded
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk

Preheat oven to 350° F.
Butter a 9x13 baking dish and set aside.
Heat a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium heat.
Turn the heat down to medium/low and add about 2 tbsp of olive oil. Add in the onion.  Cook for a couple of minutes and add the red pepper, garlic and ground meat.  Cook together for about 8 minutes or until the ground meat is almost cooked through (you will need to stir regularly to break up the ground meat).
Add in the asparagus strips and mix well.  Cook for another 4 minutes.
Add in the bouillon cubes, worcestershire sauce, honey, oregano, marjoram, chives and salt.  Mix well and add just enough water (about 3 - 4 tbsp) to keep everything from sticking and pull anything off of the bottom of the pot.  Check for taste and adjust if necessary then turn the heat off under the pot and set aside.
In the baking dish add the cubed bread and 1 cup of the shredded cheese.  Toss to mix.
In another bowl whisk together the eggs and milk.
Add the egg mixture to the bread.  Mix well.
Add the asparagus mixture to the egg/bread stuff.  Mix well.
Sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the top.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until the middle of the pan isn't liquid and the edges and top are golden brown.

Yay Me.  I think that this may be the first week in many many many where I have managed to get two posts out.  I'm feeling a little self congratulatory about it and may even make up some kind of award for myself.  On second thought, maybe I will wait until my track record starts to become consistently better before going the award route.  And with that, off we go on what promises to be one of my most scattered posts to date.
 For mother's day/anniversary (which happened on the same day this year) D gave me a new camera lense which I love and am getting used to whenever I have time to play around with it.  I'm looking forward to some hikes, portraits and lots of food shots with this lens.  I have gotten a little time to play though and done a couple of head shots for D who was doing a show this week that required such things.
In other news:
1.  Our house is all over the place right now.  We have finally organized ourselves enough to fund a reno and fix project and have taken the plunge.  What this means is that I have 50% of a kitchen (which will probably become 0% very soon), that our front stairs have no flooring on them and that our backyard space is a combination of rotting deck (that is soon to get ripped out), drywall and dead cabinets.  We are purging like crazy (easy to do) and trying not to get frustrated (hard to do).


2.  Our kids have applied, auditioned, gotten letters, been put on waiting lists and finally have both gotten into schools of their first choice.  The relief I feel about this is palpable and when they were on waiting lists for one reason or another I felt a real sense of failure as a parent.  My reaction surprised me and I haven't taken time to pull it apart yet.
3.  D is having a crazy May.  I am having a crazy May and it just fuels my i-hate-december-and-may thing.  The problem is that this crazy that's been going on doesn't exactly look like it's letting up any time soon.  TIRED.  Silver lining - refer to #, sentence 2.  $$$

This has to be my worst photo on this blog... and who would do this to a cake BTW?  A seven year old apparently.

4.  I haven't baked in a long time - except for today when I was asked by kid #2 for a cake to celebrate his school acceptance (please refer to item #1).  I haven't calculated how long exactly but it's a long time for me - over a month for sure.  Feels weird... when I have time to think about it.  I also haven't gotten my bike out yet.  This is very very weird and it has to end.  I took my bike in for the annual tune up today.
5.  I had an interesting conversation with a colleague about how I am doing (or not doing) and what some strategies might be to feel better about myself.  My non-work life is angst ridden and changing all the time which is guess is normal and healthy.  Parenting is stressing me out... I'm learning to deal with it.
6.  It's a good thing that I remembered to pull this out of the fridge, heat a bowl up and take some pictures of it the day after I made it because very very shortly after that it was gone.  Of course that's a good thing because it means that it tasted good.  Even better is that this is good for you (I'm going to studiously avoid using 'healthy').  There is meat in here but you could definitely leave it out and add in more beans without losing much.  I get more buy in with kids when the meat is present.  If the meat doesn't buy you anything then go for a meatless version.

Playing with the new lens and nailing the background focus totally.

7.  You may be wondering why you haven't seen these wonderful, life changing pictures of the fiddlehead ragu.  Turns out, after all of my self congratulation, that my sd card got compromised.  So I have some lovely reno shots, a shot of basil and some of the cake that kid #2 asked for (refer to item #2).  Well that's funny.  After going back to bed and crying into my pillow for a while, D suggested I post the recipe anyway because it was so good.  The flattery worked and even though you are seeing tools, basil and a cake this is a really good recipe that you should try and if you think to take pictures send them to me please.

Fiddleheads, Sausage and Bean ragu
serves 6 - 8

1/2 cup onion, diced
2 med carrots, coarsely sliced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 lb sausage, uncooked and cut into slices
1 1/2 boullion cubes
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried basil
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
2 1/2 (approx) cups fiddleheads, stem tips removed
2 - 3 cups spinach, stems remove and coarsely chopped
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp salt
400 ml (1 small can) cannellini beans, half drained
1/3 cup water (optional)
1/2 tsp pepper sauce (optional)

Heat a heavy bottomed dutch oven or pot (I used a caste iron thing) over medium heat.
Once heated, turn the heat down to med/low and add about 2 tbsp of oil or fat.
Add in the onion and carrot.  Cook for about 7 min or until the onion is starting to caramelize.
Add in the garlic and sausage and cook together for another 5 minutes.
Add in the bouillon cubes, oregano, basil, soy sauce, ketchup and worcestershire sauce.  Mix and cook together for another 5 minutes to let the flavours mingle.
Add in the fiddleheads, cumin and salt.  Mix well
Add the half drained cannellini beans and the spinach.  Mix well and cover, turning down the heat to low.  Uncover after about 20 minutes.  If it looks a little dry add in some of the water.
Simmer uncovered for about 30 minutes more.
Check the tastes and adjust if necessary.  Add a little pepper sauce.

Serve with mashed potato or rice.

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.

It's taken me so long to get this post out that I've forgotten what I took pictures of.  After having checked the pictures I'll be honest with you, I'm still not a hundred percent.  Nevertheless, I'm not one to let a little thing like bad memory get in my way, so I forge ahead.  The pictures look good.  I think that this was vegetarian.  Not super sure but pretty sure and since vegetarian is a thing that most of us are happy to have more of I'm gonna run with it.  If you see something that looks suspiciously like meat don't worry, it's just large chunks of mushrooms (or something).

As I look back over my last few posts I'm a little distressed at the lack of savoury food and also simply the small number of posts.  Yikes - where have the last two months gone?  I'm home today with a sick 7 year old.  Since he is running around and playing energetically with lego, I'm wondering if I wasn't conned.  However, heavy eyes, a slight fever and some whimpering this morning convinced me that staying home was a good idea.  This has given me time to get a post out.  It has also given me time to catch up on work emails, have a pleasant morning coffee at home and sift through the photos for this post... and find these photos as well.


I guess that kid #2 enjoys not just watching the stuff on the computer but feels compelled to document the occasion with pictures as well.  I should just be happy that he is doing it all in french and shut up.

It's amazing how full your brain can be and yet you can have absolutely nothing to say.  That is how I've been feeling lately.  Quiet.  Possibly even uninspired.  I am working on inspiration but it can be a hard thing to drum up.  I've been scouring pinterest for ideas (it's not really working though), pouring over some of my tried and true cookbooks (nothing yet) and... well that's it really.  Maybe inspiration will come with better weather.  Maybe my paradigm is changing.  Who knows.  The thought of subsisting on beer (craft beer though - come on) and chips for the rest of my life doesn't sound to me like the worst fate.   That should give you some idea of where I am at the moment.
Fortunately this malaise hasn't affected my cooking ability.  In fact, when I do cook everybody tells me it's amazingly delicious, etc.  Even better than usual (that's what you call a back handed compliment I think).  I churned these suckers out because I had feta cheese in the fridge that was going to start giving way to the bacteria that was threatening to turn it fuzzy and blue.  I'm told that the suckers were good.


Now I am going to do something with bananas (my freezer has gifted me with a lifetime supply) and possibly make some soup for the sick conman(kid) who says he is craving see-through soup.  Wish me luck.


Veggie Pinwheels
makes about 9 medium sized pinwheels

Dough:
2 cups unbleached, all purpose flour
2 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric
1/3 cup shortening (I think that I used half lard and half cold butter, cubed)
3/4 cup milk

Filling:
3/4 cup onion, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 lg bunch (about 4 - 5 cups) greens (kale, collard, chard - I used chard) finely chopped
1 cup mushrooms, stems removed and finely chopped
2 tsp salt
1 boullion cube (I used a low salt, veggie one)
1 tbsp each, basil, oregano, parsley
dash or two of Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp tomato sauce
1 tsp dijon
dash of pepper sauce (optional)
2 tbsp water if needed
3/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup cheddar (havarti or brick would also do), shredded

Dough:
Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and turmeric.  Mix together. Cut in the shortening (or lard and/or butter) with a pastry cutter or two forks until the mixture looks crumbly.  Add enough milk to the mixture for it to form a ball but not be too wet.
Set aside.

Filling:
Heat a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat.
Add in about 3 tbsp of oil.
Add in the onion and celery and turn the heat down to med/low.  Cook for about 5 minutes or until the onion is wilted and beginning to caramelize.
Add in the garlic and bouillon cube (crumble it with your fingers).  Cook together for about 2 more minutes.
Add in all of the other ingredients except for the feta and cheddar.
Cook together until the greens are wilted (add a little extra water if the mixture gets too dry).
Add in the feta and mix well.
Set aside to cool slightly.

Putting it together:
Preheat the oven to 400°F
Line a cookie sheet with parchment or a silicon liner and set aside.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough in a rectangular shape about 1/2 an inch thick.
Spoon the filling onto the dough and spread it out evenly.
Sprinkle the cheddar over the filling and roll everything up along the long side of the rectangle.  Cut the tube into pieces of about two fingers thickness and place flat side down on the cookie sheet - leave some room in between each one for expansion.
THIS WILL GET MESSY.
Bake for about 20 minutes or until the edges of each roll are turning golden.
Remove from oven and cool for about 10 minutes before serving.

This winter has kicked my butt.  Like kicked it clear across the province or maybe even the country.  It's kicked me to the curb.  It's slapped me up one side of the head and down the other.  I think you get the idea.
As I claw my way through the last of it, still afraid to dwell on how it might end some day, it seems hard to remember that warm used to be a thing that described more than just huge sweaters and crazy thick socks.  It feels like I'm drowning in an ocean of clothing and I haven't seen my body in months.
Right now I am sitting in front of the computer in multiple layers and the thickest socks I could find... and slippers.  Fortunately, I am on March break at the moment which means that I can at the very least be sitting in front of the computer covered in so many layers that my arms can barely move in the middle of the day with the sun shining instead of 5:30pm in the dark (well not quite dark, I exaggerate just a little).
Before the break, I was about to run out and grab a coffee when I bumped into a colleague.  My colleague invited me to grab a coffee offered at a major fast food chain that was being offered for free that week.  Ummm Nope.  My colleague berated me for refusing the offer and accused me of being a coffee snob.  I decided that I'm ok with being a coffee snob and it drove home a thought that I've been mulling for a while now.
We are obsessed with wanting.  We want _________  (fill in the blank).  It's bred in us, male and female, from a young age.  We are constantly told what we want.  Every ad, every newspaper, magazine, website whatever, billboard tells us what it is we want.  Obviously, very few of us truly NEED anything.  What would happen if we all decided that we would only purchase what we needed as opposed to what we wanted?  Yikes - disaster.  My real problem with this wanting thing is that it's often indiscriminate.  I want chocolate.  Any chocolate will do as long as I can get chocolate... or just candy... or maybe just some form of sugar.  I want clothes so I will go to the mall and get some.  I don't need anything specific but I want clothes.  In fact, I just want.  I've decided that I'm ok with being picky and if that makes me a snob then I'm ok with that too.  I don't just want a coffee, any coffee, thank you very much.  If I can't have my own home ground, delicious coffee then there are only two places that I will ever get coffee from and if I can't get that coffee then I will skip coffee.  If I can't get the specific kind of chocolate that I am craving then I won't just buy anything to fill the void.  I will skip it altogether.  I know what I like, I know what I want and I know what I need... I don't care if that fast food chain is offering free coffee to me for the rest of my life.


Of course, this has nothing to do with these cookies.  I'm ok with that too.  I didn't eat any of these cookies unfortunately but my kids did.  They ate a lot.  I took a good solid dozen and a half to our friends place and still had plenty (about two dozen) leftover for home.  I don't know if you'll get that much out of this recipe, maybe my cookies were just exceptionally small.   They looked good, made a nice host gift and made my kids happy for a good few days.
Trust me, you WANT these cookies.


Triple Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies adapted from Kitchen Treaty
makes about 3 dozen med/small cookies

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1 lg egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder (I used dark 'Cocoa Camino')
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp espresso powder
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup dark chocolate chunks or chips
1/3 cup white chocolate chips

Combine the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and espresso powder together and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 350° F
Line a cookie sheet with parchment or a silicon liner and set aside.
Mix together (I used a hand mixer) the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2 1/2 minutes).  Add in the egg and vanilla and mix for another minute.
Gently add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and mix until combined.
Add the rolled oats and stir together until well mixed.
Add in both the white and dark chocolate and mix until evenly distributed.
Spoon onto the prepared cookie sheet using about 1 1/2 tbsp of cookie dough.  Leave a little room for the cookies to spread.
Bake for about 10 minutes or just until the outer edge of the cookies are beginning to brown but the middle is still kind of gooey.
Gently remove the cookies to a cooling rack.

True Story:
I had a small epiphany at work the other day.  It was a personal epiphany as opposed to a work related epiphany.  I'm not even sure that's a thing.  Sometimes I think about things other than work while at work... it's a bad habit and I'm working on it.  So, I have a colleague who loves to come to my office about 10 minutes before I'm planning to leave.  He comes in, plops himself down and sets in for a nice ole chat.  Since he's probably the sweetest person on the planet, I tell myself that it's ok.  Even though I'm super busy trying to wrap things up and get out the door so that I can pick my kid up from school.  It's ok - keep chatting.  Tell me more... I'm changing my shoes under my desk where he won't see.  I'm trying really hard not to check my phone every 15 seconds to see what the time is.  I'm working even harder to quell the rising tide of panic in my chest.  I smile back at him but I'm only thinking about how to slow down my breathing.  When he finally makes his way back to his own office, I wait to hear his door close and then bolt.  Bolt to the subway station.  It's not until I'm on the train that I finally feel calmness restored.
In speaking to another colleague about it, how conflicted I feel because he's so sweet and how weird I feel inside when it's happening, I realized something kinda cool.  When I was a kid I took skating lessons.  I loved skating and still do.  I only stopped skating lessons because when I was about ten the demands just got too intense and none of us (Mom and Dad and me) were willing to commit the kind of time and effort that it demanded.  When I started doing lessons I was about seven - still have the super cute pictures of me in my little skating suit with the top hat for my first end of year skating show.  My skating class was at a time when the zamboni was scheduled to come on after and clear the ice - or maybe the zamboni does it's thing after every class... whatever.  It was coming on.  So even though my skating class was clear across the rink, far away from the exit off the ice and my teacher was still talking and/or showing us some super cool move once I sensed movement from behind the zamboni gates I was moving.  Can't explain it really.  I wanted to yell that it was time to end, tell everybody to start getting themselves off the ice - yep, the gates are opening now, he's ready and he's coming - why is the teacher still talking - we have to go - he's started the engine now and my teacher is still telling us about our ankles(!) - ok that's it... and Wanda is backwards skating away from her class, across the rink, towards the exit.  Wanda's teacher is calling her back but she ignores it because she is getting away from that zamboni damn it.  You all can stay but I'm leaving... Wanda out.  Panic.  I was having an anxiety attack at seven.  Almost everyday at work at about the same time I have a little mini I-have-to-get-out-of-here-now anxiety attack.
And now I know.


The moral of this story is: When experiencing daily anxiety attacks (or not) it helps to make cookies. You can eat them if you choose but you don't have to (I usually don't).

BTW - this song is haunting me.



Peanut Butter, Chocolate and Sugar Cookies adapted from 'Averie Cooks'
makes about 2 dozen med/small cookies

1 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 lg egg
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
4 oz dark chocolate chunks
2 oz milk chocolate chunks

Line a cookie sheet with a silicon liner or parchment and set aside.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a large bowl mix together the peanut butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until light and fluffy and no longer grainy.  I used a hand mixer for about two minutes but be careful not to over beat because then the oil will start to separate from the peanut butter... gross - not the end of the world as it won't ruin the recipe, it's just oily.
Once mixed until light and fluffy then fold in the chocolate until reasonably mixed (there should be lots of chocolate)
Spoon about 1 1/2 tbsp full into your hand and form a ball.
Place balls on cookie sheet, leaving a little space between each.
Bake for about 8 minutes or until the cookie edges are just beginning to brown.
Remove cookies carefully (they'll be gooey) and cool on wire racks.

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.