Monday Magic - Widney Banana Bread

I could win a prize for my banana bread.
My first posting for this recipe in August 2008 was a straight copy from Betty Crocker's recipe. I've since put my own touches to enhance the moistness and flavor. My family LOVES this recipe.

For you, I share my recipe.

WIDNEY BANANA BREAD

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 eggs

6 mashed ripe bananas

(ripe as in, if you don't use today, they are gone)

1/2 cup buttermilk

(I make my own w/1/2 cup 2% milk & 1 tsp lemon juice, let stand 5-10 min.)

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups white flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

(Optional: Nuts. I don't but you can)

Note: You can make this healthier but it won't taste as good so don't tell people it is my recipe.

Pre-heat & Pan Info

Place oven rack in lowest position.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray Pam on 2 loaf pans.

Use either 2-8" pans or 2-9" pans

What to Do

Mix sugar and butter in a large bowl.

Stir in eggs until well blended.

Add bananas, buttermilk, and vanilla.

Beat until smooth.

Stir in remaining ingredients until just moistened.

If you are going to add nuts, here is your chance.

Pour into pans.

Baking Info

Bake 8-inch loaves about 1 hour or 9-inch loaves about 1 1/4 hours.

Or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. 

Cool 5 minutes.

Loosen sides of loaves from pans

Remove from pans.

Let it cool as long as you can stand waiting before slicing. 

Storage

Wrap tightly with Saran Wrap.

Store at room temperature for up to 4 days.

Store in refrigerator for up to 10 days.

Calories

2-12 slice loaves (24 slices); 85 calories each. 

In real life, more calories per slice than that.

Using the Recipe
I don't mind if you use this recipe.
Just keep the name and link back here, please.
It's a matter of courtesy. Thank you.


Original Recipe

This recipe is adapted from Betty Crocker's 40th Anniversary Edition Cookbook, Prentice Hall, (c) 1991. I didn't follow some of their directions and added my own but most of the credit goes to them.

Discontinued Dishes - A Gift to Myself

When we got married, my mother-in-law gave all 3 of us girls a full set of 10 place dinner settings in the color of our choice from Gerald Henn Workshops. J and I chose the cream colored dishes. We have a few Longaberger pieces mixed in and serving dishes as well.

These are my every day dishes even though they are not cheap. The quality is amazing and they are extremely durable. My white Ikea dishes are the cheap ones that I use on special occasions.

Henn Workshops went out of business! AND, our Longaberger creamware dishes have been discontinued! I just found this out recently.

I've been trying to come to terms with not being able to replace my dishes in the future. Deep breath in. I tell myself that I have a set of 10 now. If 2 break, that's okay. Breathe out. We can still have 8 people eat on the good dishes. Deep cleansing breath in. Really, there are only 4 of us so we only need 4. And breathe out.

For that last few weeks, I have been buying replacements like crazy! Off eBay. Replacements.com does not have our creamware dishes.

I got very excited when I found a set of 2 Henn dinner plates for only $16. Normally, I would have paid at least $25 each. Score!

Just snagged a set of 3 Henn bowls for $13.

That's almost stealing!

And I found a replacement Longaberger cereal bowl for $12.

I even got creative and picked up these herb pots to hold knives, forks and spoons at the end of the buffet bar. J doesn't care for them.

Do you have extras of your good dishes?

If not, check out replacements.com, the manufactorer's site, and eBay.com.

Be sure to use your good dishes. Life is too unpredictable!

This is LAZINESS!!

I found this at the grocery store:

Seriously, People? Come on!!

You can't mix up a few ingredients?

You have to get it pre-packaged?

I suck at cooking and even I can mix

this stuff up without help.

Lazy. Lazy. Lazy.

My Review of Easy Reach Steamer

I don't know how this happened. 

When I was looking online for a graphic for yesterday's post, I decided to do a review of my new favorite healthy eating cookbook. When I hit the finalize button, I realized I had reviewed a steamer I didn't even SEE on the page! Hahahaha! 

Please enjoy my steamer review...

Shop Taste of Home

Place the stainless steel steamer basket in any pot. It unfolds to fit the pot, and the post extends to 6-1/2" to keep the cool-touch handle within reach. The 1-1/2" legs keep foods above the boiling water and in the steam to lock in vitamins. 9"D basket folds and post unscrews for ...

Easy Reach Steamer

Guilt Free Cookbook is AWESOME!!

WidneyWoman Chicago 4/14/2009

 

5 5

Pros: Attractive Design, Durable, Easy To Assemble

Best Uses: Kitchen

Describe Yourself: Midrange Shopper

I Am A: Family Young Kids

Guilt Free Cookbook is so EASY to follow. And there are PICTURES!! Lots of pictures. Very important in a cookbook. I like to know what it is supposed to look before I make it. My family raves about every recipe I make from this book. I love how there is nutrition information for just about everything you might want to know about a recipe. It was the BEST investment I've made in this economy! I will be buying up all the copies I can find and giving as wedding presents and Christmas gifts this year.

......... Oh, um, just ignore that last part if you are someone I know who is getting married this year or getting a Christmas gift from me. That was grandstanding...

What's Cooking Wednesday - Trinidad Breakfast

Wow, Widney Woman!! It's Sunday, not Wednesday.

I know. 

But my faithful blog reader, and commenter, Jen of A2eatwrite asked to get the recipes for our traditional Trinidad breakfast. Only Wednesday will be crazy for her, so I am very happy to oblige by posting today!

Bake

1 tbl baking powder

4 cups flour

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

4 tbl butter

1 1/2 - 2 cups water

Feeds: 4 adults

Preheat oven to 350. Spray cookie tray with PAM. Mix it all up together. Don't knead it. Should be like a thick porridge. Spread out round (like a pizza) on pan. Bake approximately 30 minutes, or until lightly brown on top. Turn over for bottom to get brown (approx. 10-15 min).

To Serve

Cut in chunks, slice center and add butter, or jam, or anything you want.

Whatcha Do Different? 

I don't know if I put too much water in, as I modified the recipe down, so the dough was sticky and lumpy.  Bake is supposed to be smooth and soft, like pizza dough. The above picture (courtesy TriniGourmet.com) is what a whole wheat bake looks like - yeah, nothing like mine. 

That said, I LOVE it when bake is bumpy and harder (kinda crunchy). Mine came out with lots of ridges and not at all smooth. It was perfect for me but a true Trinidadian would be appalled, I'm sure.

I let bake for 25 minutes and checked on it. It was cooked perfectly. So, I brushed some butter on top to make it brown and put in back in for 5 minutes. I did not turn it over.

Chow Chow

Cauliflower (couple little flowers)

Carrots (1 or 2-ish)

White onions (about 1/4 of a large one)

Jalepeno peppers (optional - 1 small)

Red peppers (optional - 1/2)

Jar of pickles (any kind)

Pickle jar juice

Bottle of mustard (like French's)

Matouk's Pepper Sauce (optional)

Refrigerate. Lasts about a year

Chop up the veggies (including pickles) into tiny, tiny pieces. Pour into the pickle jar, with the pickle juice. Pour as much mustard as will fit. Shake it up, baby! This has a bit of an after kick. But if you like hot things, add a drop or two of Matouk's pepper sauce in to taste.

To Serve

Spread over ham. Eat on the side. Put it on ham sandwich. Add it to potato salad, basically, you can do all kinds of things with this. I've seen it in German stores almost exactly like this, so there may be German recipes with it - only I don't know what it is called in German.

(Jar with mixture before chopping)

Whatcha Do Different?

I bought a bottle of vegetable medley from the Italian section. I poured out some of the water, added the pickles and pickle juice and mustard. You can also find it in the Chinese section. The chunks of veggies were too big, so I chopped it fine in my trusty

 Pampered Chef Chopper.

Eggs

Eggs (2 per person)

Green onions

White onions

Tomato

Salt

Pepper

(milk optional)

Chop onions fine. Chop tomatoes small. Pour oil in pan. Put onions in pan for about 5 minutes. Break eggs, add salt and pepper. Add more salt because most people just don't salt enough. Whisk eggs well with tomatoes. Add to onions in pan. Leave in pan and when start to get hot, stir up like scrambled eggs. Put on plate when cooked.

Whatcha Do Different

It was 2 adults and 2 kids, so I made 6 eggs total. Used 2-3 green onion stalks, 1 small tomato, 1/4 white onion, and no milk. I didn't add enough salt, so we added on our own plates.

Ham

Cooked ham, with/without bone in

Slice thin. Put on plate and warm in oven for 5 minutes or so - long enough to take out the chill and to have serve warm.  Eat on bake, like a sandwich, or on the side. Your pick.

Salt Fish

I didn't get to do the salt fish this time, but it is one of my favorites. So hopefully you can make it to the fish counter before they close - I'm just sayin'!

Cod Fish

Small White Onion

Tomato

Put cod fish in container with boiling water

Let settle. Drain.

Repeat to get salt out

Strip into pieces (shred)

Dice tomatoes and onions

Put oil in pan

Add fish

Add tomatoes and onions

Mix around in pot (stew around)

Takes 5-6 min to cook

To Serve

Serve with eggs and bake. Can also mixup (cook) with eggs if you want.

I like to put it on top of my bake, like an open-faced sandwich. Sometimes, I break a piece of my bake off, and put it on top, like when you eat Indian food. Or, sometimes I put the fish and eggs inside the bake, like a sandwich. And sometimes I do all of these things in one sitting.

Watcha Do Different

The picture of salt fish above, is from the Internet. It appears they used green peppers. We don't. You can. It's a matter of choice. You can have with rice for lunch or dinner. It's pretty versatile. If you do an Internet search, you will find recipes for Saltfish Bujole. Similar. Not the same. Equally good.

Tales of the Fairy Blog Mother is home to What's Cooking Wednesday, where you can check out lots of tried and worked recipes!

Christmas Traditions

My Bloggy Friend, Whittaker Woman, posted this and I thought it was fun. She didn't do tagging, instead opting for an opt-in. I thought it was fun!!

 

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? 

Gift bags won out before we had kids. Now it is ... Wrap, wrap, wrap! 

2. Real tree or Artificial? 

Artificial. J loads our trees with too many lights for a real tree. 

3. When do you put up the tree? 

Between church and his parents' home, J usually has so many trees and locations to decorate, if we don't get it up a week or two before Thanksgiving, it doesn't happen until Christmas Eve.

4. When do you take the tree down? 

My family waits until January 7th. However, it is up in the air with us. One time, J's parents tree stayed up until March and that was only because our friends were getting married in their foyer!!

 

5. Do you like eggnog? 

Kind of. In my family, we make Punch de Creme. It is similar to eggnog, but thicker. And loaded with rum.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? 

Maybe my Easy Bake Oven!

 

8. Easiest person to buy for? 

Me. My sister and I used to buy ourselves gifts, wrap them, address them, and open with surprise and wonder. Then hug and kiss ourselves. She's 45 and still does it. I love her!

 

9. Do You have a nativity scene? 

Absolutely!! We bought it our 2nd Christmas together when we went to Canada to Christmas with my family. I am looking at it on our windowsill, right now.

 

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? 

Both. Plus hand deliver. This year we skipped cards - too much on our mind!

 

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? 

Not so sure about that. I've been blessed. I can tell you we were given a peach bath mat for a wedding present. It didn't even have the cardboard from the store on it so we could return it. And one year, my ex-sister-in-law gave my mother a pink, cushioned toilet seat.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? 

Don't have one. But my family always gathers around to watch Sound of Music every year. And as we got older, we started going to the movie theatre on Christmas night.

  

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? 

Usually December. Sometimes late November. But NEVER the day after Thanksgiving. 

 

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? 

Absolutely. One mans junk is another mans treasure.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? 

Grandma Barbara's desserts. 

She's going to Florida for Christmas this year!!

16. Lights on the tree? 

Usually enough to read by is sufficient.

17. Favorite Christmas song? 

Harry Connick Jr's - Happy Ho Ho Ho

 

18. Travel for Christmas or stay home?  

This is only the 2nd year ever I've traveled home - Home was with J's family until April this year. We did travel to Canada 1 time to Christmas with my family.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers?  

Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Donner, Vixon, Dixon, Blitzen, Cupid, Comet. 

Did I get 'em all?

 

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? 

Angel this year.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? 

We are traveling this year, so I am going to fix a traditional Trinidad breakfast Saturday morning and have Christmas with our kids. We'll take Santa's gift with us to open Christmas morning in Tulsa, with J's family.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? 

The traffic and the crowds and the long lines.

 

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?  

Jewel tone: burgundy, green, purple, gold 

24. Favorite Christmas dinner? 

Mashed potatoes, brown gravy, turkey, dressing

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? 

A sewing machine

OK... I want to read yours... 

Do one on your blog and comment back here so I can read them. I haven't mastered Mr. Linky yet and 'tis not the season to have time to do so! Falalalalalala!

I Cooked The Turkey Upside Down

And that's not all...........!

My friend gave me a turkey. I thought it was frozen, but it was already in the process of thawing, so I had to cook it. It's for nibbling, dinners and lunches this week.

I pulled up my handy 'How to Cook a Turkey' recipe, and took to washing the bird. I pulled out the neck and wondered where the gizzards and stuff were. Oh well, my last turkey didn't even have a neck inside, so maybe this one didn't have innards. 

Hmmmm...I realized there was another end when, after what I thought was a thorough washing, I discovered the buttocks. And the innards. Got that figured out and washed out. Whew!

Now, I couldn't find the weight of the bird anywhere. I searched and searched. No weight. I went to my digital scale and weighed myself (Dear God! I've got to lose weight!!). Then I held the turkey. I've never seen numbers that high on a scale, in my life!! I wish I could tell you it was a 45 lb turkey.

Back in the kitchen, I separated the skin and put butter and thyme in there. Added salt and pepper to the skin and put it in the oven at 475 for 20 minutes.

My in-laws are in town, so I set the timer - 250 for 300 minutes - and we went to tour Chicago!

Only I realized I didn't turn the oven down from 475 to 250!!!!

We headed back home, concerned the loft would be smokin'! It wasn't. I turned off the oven, pulled out the turkey, and found it black in some parts of the skin, but it was actually moist!! Wow!! This is an AWESOME recipe.

Later, when we all returned home, my husband, mother-in-law and I were leaning over the kitchen island, hand pulling pieces off the turkey (If you've never eaten a turkey this way, you should!). By this time, the turkey had dried up a bit but was still great. Lots of juice in the pan. 

I commented that there wasn't much meat on the bird. My mother-in-law said, "That's because the turkey is upside down." OMG! 

Food Association

Every time I see a pear, or eat one, I think of my father. About 10-11 years ago, I was (oh, maybe 18 years old) living with my parents in the home I grew up in. By this time, my dad had become an avid gardener. He had 4 vegetable gardens and several trees planted in our backyard. 

Each morning, Dad would bring a pear to my grandmother, my mother, and to me. They were so yummy!! By mid-afternoon, I would want another. Dad was a once-a-day kinda man, so I'd 'steal' one.

One evening, my sister, Optimus Prime, came over. She asked if I wanted to go get one of dad's pears. Naturally, I jumped at the idea. Out to the backyard we went. I went to the left side of the yard, to THE pear tree. Optimus Prime asked where I was going. She had gone to the right. What a delight to find Dad had not one pear tree, but two!! We were in pear heaven.

The other day, I went to the grocery store and purchased 4 peaches. One for each of us. I purchased this 1 pear for me. As a reminder of my father (he's alive and kicking in Canada). Above is a sliced pear. J sliced it. And ate it. He e-mailed me the picture of the pear so I would know he ate it. You aren't even suppose to slice a pear for true flavor. You should bite into it's soft goodness and savor the rich texture.

Home Food

What is 'home food' for you? Is it your mother's meatloaf? Your grandmother's blueberry topper? What food says 'home' to you?

For me, it is food from Trinidad. Trinidad is an island, next to Venezuela, with an eclectic mix of people and foods. Some of our 'home food' can be found in Chinatown, some in East Indian restaurants, others in the Spanish/Mexican part of town. Here and there, you might get lucky and find a roti shop that sells some of the beverages of the 'Islands'.  It is extremely hard to find a place that has it all.

I've never found a restaurant that serves food that tastes like my what granny made, or what I'd get at my aunt's house, or what my mom used to cook - before they opened a Thai restaurant and she stopped cooking. Please don't ask why MY family would open a Thai restaurant. But suffice it to say, J and I did find Baisi Thai in 900 N Michigan Ave that serves Thai food like my family's Thai fusion dishes. 

Well, we have found it!! Cafe Trinidad on 75th St in Chicago. They serve authentic Trinidadian dishes that you can only get from someone's kitchen - someone in my family's kitchen. We ate there TWICE last week. I swear, I could order everything on the menu.

Curried Roti

It's Not What it Looks Like

J came home from work while I was putting the finishing touches on dinner. Laying on the kitchen island, was the cooking book I use for most of my dinner recipes.

The Recipe Book Meal

I don't see a difference. Do you see a difference?

J was VERY disappointed when he saw the actual meal. I only used the recipe book for inspiration - we didn't have any of the colorful ingredients.

The Real Meal

- Minus the grilled chicken I added

It was a GOOD Day Today - 07/02/08

How many strollers does Mini Me need?

THREE.

1 ah-mazing stroller . 1 suburb stroller . 1 broken stroller

Our latest stroller broke on Michigan Ave on Friday. Notice the wheel on the far right. We use our stroller all the time. The city requires a rugged-wheeled stroller for long walks and uneven surfaces that can collapse easily for bus and train riding. After purchasing 2 reasonably priced strollers that just haven't managed to cut it in the city, we broke down and purchased a crazy expensive umbrella stroller. I can hardly wait to take it for a spin!!

After putting together the stroller, I ate a banana. I realized the bananas were getting old, so I baked my first banana bread. I've never made a bread from scratch. This baking adventure, I didn't forget or mess up anything! It's the best banana bread I've ever tasted. Yes, it is THAT good. I'm not being conceited. I'm surprised I didn't screw something up!

Rockstar Dogs

J was working late one night, and stumbled upon this cool hot dog establishment. Rock music BLASTs in this tiny, 5 ft wide restaurant. The hot dogs are named after rock stars and rock bands. Rockstar Dogs tattoos with each order. The kids loved it!Rockstar Photos on the Wall

Open 'till 4 am EVERY night

Divine Dining

Two nights in a row, I have SCORED!! J LOVED my Caribbean Chicken with Mango Salsa on a bed of Couscous. It was tasty! And, I even grilled the chicken myself. Normally, I get everything ready, and J grills it. But tonight, he taught me how to grill. Whoohoo!!

I should mention, the Pampered Chef cookbook told me to use their food chopper (which I did) to chop the mango. But it came out mushy. Maybe my mango was too ripe. I would have gotten a less mushy result if I had just done it with a knife. No biggie.

While I'm being honest...I don't know that I've ever eaten couscous. J isn't so sure he has either. Oh well, I have not only eaten it, but I made it.

J said he is starting to feel a bit...territorial about the kitchen. Cooking has always been his domain in our home. Now, I'm cooking, and this week, I made 2 dishes that could go head-to-head with his finery. Never, in almost 9 years of marriage would either of us have ever thought this day might come.

I Did It!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For the very first time, in many a moon - possibly ever, I made a dish that was up to J's standards. He said, "MMMMMMMM" Then, he proceeded to ask if I really made it. What an honor!!

I took a recipe out of a Pampered Chef healthy cooking book. It's a book I bought for J. That he has never used. It is actually a turkey picata recipe that I made using chicken. And, I got a chance to redeem myself from Monday's catastrophe. I zested a lemon and cut parsely into snips.

Chicken Picata

Lemon Zest

Parsely Snips

Culinary Contretemps

Sure, this dish of tabbouleh looks pretty and colorful. But it is jacked up!! Before I continue, let me just say, I have cooked more in the last month, than I have in the last 5 years, combined. Now, read on, please...

The recipe called for lemon 'zest'. I don't have a lemon zester, so the next best thing, I figured, was a potato peeler. I figured if I was light in my zespeeling, I'd be fairly close to a zest. Not so. See the BIG chunks of lemon rind? Yeah. When J got home, he said I should have used the grater. Duh!

Now, see the big, green things? That's parsely. The recipe said to 'snip' the parsley with kitchen shears. I got out my kitchen sheers and snipped. I snipped it from the long stem. When J got home, he said I should have 'cut' the parsley into small pieces. Well, why didn't they just say 'chop parsley into tiny pieces'. I could have done that.

Anyway, the tabbouleh tasted good. It tasted better after J added garlic powder and garlic salt. Which, the recipe did not call for. Maybe I should take a cooking class!

Baking Ooops - Installment #2

Motor Mouth says my homemade cake looks pretty. What a sweetie! He has no clue Mommy forgot to add the butter!

Memorial Day on Michigan Ave

Thank you to all the service men and women - past and present - and their families for their sacrifice. Because of their sacrifice, my family can enjoy a beautiful Memorial Day on Michigan Avenue, in Chicago, without fear.

Little Bow Peep!

Daddy did her hair.
Here comes the 'El'!!
First Dance at the Lego store. 

Dude - Your hand is too low!
First kiss at the Lego store.

High above Michigan Avenue

Common Grounds Cupcakes, located in the food court at Water Tower Place, has THE BEST CUPCAKES IN THE WORLD!!

Sculpture on Michigan Ave. This is entitled: Chicago Skyline.

Motor Mouth likes to point out where our loft is located, 

every time they walk by this sculpture.

Checking for the train, on the way home!!

Daddy grilled burgers on the patio. 

Motor Mouth is praying before we eat!!

Neighbors nearby