The Tasty Thank You

I come from a family of thank-you note writers. It is not optional in this family, and everyone pretty much complies. We are all a little more lenient on the college kids (ahem) whose parents aren't nagging them to get them out. But we all know, no matter your age, the Grands (that's Grandma and Grandpa) expect them. Recently I was at the Grand's home in Florida with a few teenage girls for the Harry Potter excursion. One of these sweet girls got violently ill. Now it takes a lot to scare me, but 10 straight hours of vomiting will do it. I was at a loss, and remembered the terrific "geriatric" pediatrician who lives next door. We call her that because A. she is so good to my aging parents and they ask her for advice and B. she has a great sense of humor.

I'm not sure she was thrilled to hear from the neighbors/daughter/from out of town, early on a Sunday morning, but I was one desperate mom. She couldn't have been nicer. She called in some "No More Puking Pills" and gave me the low down on introducing fluids and food. It took a good day, but Jessica was back in the world of the living and off to Busch Gardens with us in a day. So I decided that I needed a special thank you. So I baked Doctor Cookies. Now they have a bit of refining to be done, but I think it is a good start. I had to sort of improvise with other cookie cutters and my icing was too wet. But I made prescription pads, a pill bottle and the white coat. Thanks Dr. Lori, you are the best!!!!Since I was at it, I decided to make a few for my future favorite doctor. My niece Anna started medical school this week at the University of Iowa, and I am as proud of her as her own momma. She is an amazing athlete, beautiful, and so dang smart. I am praying for a Plastic Surgeon, but I think she has higher aspirations than her aging aunts. Shoot. Oh well, Good Luck Anna, we all know you will be an amazing physician.
Kinda makes ya want to do something I can thank YOU for huh? Hee Hee.

Too Tasty to Not Repeat!

So, we are preparing for a volleyball tourney in Huntsville this weekend. The volleyball world is an interesting one. The teams, about 16, check in at the gym and are required to stay on premises the entire day. If matches go quicker than scheduled, everything gets moved up. So the prospect of 10 hour stretches in a gym are a little overwhelming. Many teams have wizened up. We pack coolers of good food to keep everyone nourished and happy, parents too. School concession stands are okay, but you don't get much energy from Nachos and Cheese Sauce!
I have been travelling with Christina for a few years now, and my banana bread has earned a reputation. It's a great snack, nutritious, and easy to travel with. So yesterday with the relentless rain, I baked.
For the occasional baker, banana bread can be a problem. Grocery store bananas are usually too green, and when mine are perfectly ripe at home, the mood just isn't there. My solution is the freezer. I toss perfect banana bread bananas right into the freezer, skin on. When your ready to bake, pull them out and let them sit at room temp for about 15 minutes. I am not going to lie to you, they are a little gross. They get black skins,mushy and wet, but when they are still a tiny bit firm, cut the stem off, peel them and cut them up. When they are totally thawed they'll be perfectly mushy!
The recipe is always the dilemna. I've made a bunch and they all seem the same. Most old fashioned banana breads call for vegetable oil instead of butter. It makes it a snap, but vegetable oil is pretty flavorless. I was going through my tub file yesterday,( I know most people have recipe boxes), and I went through the quick bread file looking for something different. And there it was. A low fat banana bread. Dated 2004. Unfortunately, I have no idea where it came from, but I must have liked it by the looks of the recipe so I baked up 2 fabulous loaves. One studded with bittersweet chocolate. They rose beautifully in the oven, and cooked all the way through, no goopy middle. I cooled them in the loaf pans and wrapped them in them overnight. When I sliced them today to freeze they were soft and moist and pretty damn good!
Here's the recipe, make it often! Happy Baking!

Banana Bread

3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas, smashed up
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 Tablespoon canola oil
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1 3/4 c flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 oz. chopped bittersweet chocolate

Preheat oven to 325 degrees, I use convection bake. Spray a loaf pan with BaKlene or Baker's Joy. Beat eggs and sugar until it is pale yellow and light. Mix in bananas, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Add all dry ingredients through a sifter and mix well with a rubber spatula. Do not overmix. Pour into loaf pan.
Bake about an hour. Cool in loaf pan. Yum!
Makes 1 loaf, Do not double, make it twice if you want 2!

Happy Birthday To Me!

Yes, I am well aware my birthday has come and gone. I share my special day with Christina, and this year she was away at Senior Retreat, Nic was in Colorado and so it was Scott and I. We had ice cream cake early to celebrate Christina's birthday, but an ice cream cake doesn't qualify for my birthday cake. So I baked my own cake, then got caught up in the day, and ended up freezing it, and never even got a taste or a glob of frosting on it. Now I have had flourless chocolate cakes, ganaches, vanilla bean genoise, I have baked or tasted it all. So what do I want when I want cake? The humble angel food cake with sticky frosting. Straight from my childhood.

Many years ago, I sold Duncan Hines Cake Mix. Proudly the only layer cake mix on the market at that time without beef tallow (a nice name for cow fat) or lard (that would be pig fat). Blech! Duncan Hines taught me to be a label reader. Nowadays, the trans fat cops do a lot of the work for you. Also back in the old days, Duncan Hines made a two-step angel food cake mix, and it was divine. But no, the American housewife felt like two steps was a step too many. So the new and improved mix hit the market and the little old ladies were, quite frankly, a little pissed. At least in Iowa. The new mix didn't really taste home made to them, I wouldn't know. But alas, even I would agree it is a LOT easier than home made. I love egg whites, I love beating them into glossy peaks, baking the meringue, folding them in batters, but I have never baked an angel food cake from scratch. Sue me. There are some things I shortcut, not many. Maybe on that day when I have a dozen eggs begging for a job to do, I'll whip one up, maybe someday soon. But on my birthday, time was of the essence and I made a Duncan Hines Angel Food Cake, and still didn't have time to frost or eat it.

So on this brutally hot August day, my belly declared it was tired of all the raw veggies and vinegar I seem to be eating so much of. I need a sugar fix. So I defrosted the cake and made Seven Minute Icing . Honestly, I could put this stuff on rice cakes. I could eat the entire fluffy bowl of goodness. So I piled it on to high heaven. Plugged up the hole in the middle of the cake, and plopped a candle for the lonely little birthday that came and went. Don't be feeling sorry for me. You should be very jealous. This is heavenly!