Blog lovin’

Sometimes, when I have a few minutes to spare I will pull out my ipad to catch with some of my favorite bloggers via bloglovin. It is

 

a great app that keeps a record of all your favorite bloggers and their latest posts.

 

 

 

Last week (when I was making dinner), Deb’s latest post for double chocolate banana bread caught my eye. Deb is one of my

 

favorite bloggers because she is adventurous while being a realist and though she is very well-known, she remains unpretentious.

 

She is a miracle worker in her teenie-tiny 42 square foot NYC kitchen.

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Before I knew it, my kitchen aid was creaming butter, sugar, and over-ripe bananas. {Hey, I had found a way to utilize them!} I

 

have loved everything that I have made from Deb’s website, so I am not sure why I was so impressed when I took my first bite of this

 

“bread.” Since my discovery of this banana bread, I have made it four different times and given it away to several people.

 

Everyone has, after their first bite, texted me requesting that I share the recipe. My own mother deemed it, “ridiculous!” I have

 

made it in both muffin and loaf form.  The muffin is perfect as a snack and the loaf is great as is or served as dessert with fresh

 

cream and berries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I always play around with the fat in recipes, because believe it or not— I do not prefer solely butter in quick breads or cakes. I

 

usually substitute part of the butter for oil, apple sauce, and/or yogurt for extra moisture. I have made this recipe to a T and played

 

around with the other three times. It is delicious any way and I suggest that you be your own chef! Choose your shape, your source

 

of fat, and even your mix ins! Try adding toasted pecans, dried cherries, or white chocolate chips to mix it up.

 

 

 

My 17 month old will take it any way that she can get it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you, Deb for this fabulous recipe and thank you, Blog lovin’ for allowing me to keep in touch with my favorite bloggers on my

 

own time.

 

 

Double Chocolate Banana Bread

By: Smitten Kitchen

3 medium-to-large very ripe bananas
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, optional
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chunks or chips

 

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×5-inch loaf pan with a nonstick baking spray.

 

Mash bananas in the bottom of a large bowl. (You’ll have a little over 1 cup mashed banana total.) Whisk in melted butter, then brown sugar, egg, and vanilla. Place baking soda, salt, cinnamon (if using), flour and cocoa powder in a sifter or fine-mesh strainer and sift over wet ingredients. Mix the dry and wet ingredients with a ntil just combined. Stir in chocolate chunks or chips.

 

Pour into prepared pan and bake 55 to 65 minutes, until a tester or toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out batter-free. (A melted chocolate chip smear is expected, however.) Cool in pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then run a knife around the edge and invert it out onto a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

 

 

 

One last photo of my tiny sous chef/taste tester

 

 

That one ingredient

I am the kind of person who can not stand to see anything in the kitchen go to waste. I will see that I have some tomatoes on their way out and will spend $30 on additional ingredients in efforts to prevent them from being tossed. This is not an attribute I admire. Don’t get me wrong, the end result is always delicious and gives me peace of mind that I saved the tomatoes. However, it’s just a tomato right?

I have another problem, in that if there is a recipe I have been wanting to try and I want to force myself to make it- I just purchase the ingredients and then my waste-phobia eventually kicks in and sooner or later that dish is crossed off my edible bucket list. This didn’t exactly work when two years ago I purchased these maple flakes from Williams-Sonoma. I thought to myself, “If I buy these, I can finally make THE panini I’ve been wanted to make for a year!”

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Fast forward to last week— I did it! {What the first paragraph explains} I bought all of the ingredients so that I could utilize my maple flakes and voila! Dinner was served.

My version

I will say that the Maple Flakes are not necessary to the recipe. I purchased them when we were DINKS and now see how much they cost $$$. As long as you follow the recipe using the maple syrup, I think that you will be ok. I also used chicken breasts because that is what I had in the freezer. I sliced the chicken before adding it to the panini for easier eating.

I am thankful for moments like this when I can poke fun at myself when I know that  in all actuality these are not legitimate problems. This blog just reveals the quirks of someone who is revealing a little bit of what it is like to have an infinite edible bucket list.

The original recipe can be found here at Williams-Sonoma.

Spring Has Sprung…

The wishful thinking of those all across the nation… That Snowmageddon will end and the cherry tree and tulips will spring forth. I am all for longer days and warmer temps, but I am still trying to sneak in a few more winter meals that I had yet to create this fall and winter. With T working crazy hours, I have 1-2 nights a week to scratch these experiments off of my edible bucket list. Over the past week, I made my first homemade lasagna (which is {hands down} the best one I have ever tasted!), a maple-black pepper chicken panini (that has been on my list for 3 years!) and chicken cassoulet (which I try to make at least once during the chillier months.)

This spring weather has brought back to life many things for me and my family. A desire to be more active, to purposefully live our lives, and {for me} to blog again.

Please bear with me as I re-aquaint myself with life on this side of the production line. I have big hopes for this little space, stay tuned as my thoughts are translated through my fingertips, to your computer screens, and {if I’ve done my part to inspire you} your kitchen table as well!

Bon Appeit!