Banana Bread

For some reason I decided Thursday was the perfect day to make a ton of banana bread.  Don't ask me why, maybe it was because it'd been a frustrating day at work and S. was out of town and I love banana bread, but either way I soon found 8 disgustingly soggy defrosting ripe bananas on my kitchen table.

So I had to move quick.  We were out of eggs but from my search on egg replacers a day earlier I knew my plain yogurt should be a good replacement so I searched for some recipes and came across this!  My mom also gave me her delicious Banana Snack Cake recipe so I decided to try and make an egg-less version of that as well.  Finally my plan was to make these because I had a weird idea that I needed to use up all the bananas RIGHT NOW!

I put P!NK on repeat, started singing and began baking.  It was actually one of my cleaner baking experiences.  I used two bowls, one for the dry ingredients and one for melting the butter and for the wet ingredients and then reused them from recipe to recipe!  I think I'm finally learning.  I did forget to take pictures though, so that's a slow process.

First I made the Eggless Banana Bread subbing out plain non-fat yogurt for the applesauce, doubling the vanilla extract and with dried cranberries!  Into the oven that went.

Next up was my mom's Banana Snack Cake (see below).  Yogurt for eggs and with chocolate chips and crushed walnuts.  I failed to read that I should press the nuts on top and instead mixed them in with everything.

I then realized that I didn't have enough oats for Sally's Peanut Butter Banana Oat Bars.  Let's be honest, it's a good thing.  I put the remaining 2 bananas back in the freezer.

Unfortunately I think our oven might be broken because both recipes took forever to bake and I ended up turning it up to 400 since it didn't feel hot.

After a while a toothpick came out clean and I went to bed!  Who wants banana bread?

Banana Snack Cake

Eggless Banana Bread with Cranberries

---

Banana Snack Cake

(Mom’s Recipe)

Ingredients

            1 cup softened margarine or butter

            1 cup sugar

            2 eggs

            1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk with 1 Tbs vinegar)

            4 mashed medium bananas

            1 tsp vanilla extract

            2 cups flour

            1 cup quick-rolled oats

            1 1/2 tsp baking soda

            1/2 tsp salt

            6 oz. chocolate chips

            1/2 cups chopped pecans (or a different type of nut)

Directions

            1. Preheat oven to 350⁰F

            2. In a large mixing bowl cream butter and sugar together with a mixer until fluffy.

            3. Mix in eggs

            4. Stir in buttermilk and vanilla, mixing well

            5. In a separate bowl, stir flour, oats, soda and salt to mix

            6. Gradually stir flour mixture into butter mixture; mix well

            7. Stir in bananas

            8. Spread in a greased 9” x 13” baking pan

            9. Sprinkle nuts on top and press lightly

            10. Bake for 30-35 minutes

Mini Quiche!

Day off!  Today I decided to go to the annual meeting of the Boston Area Gleaners, an AWESOME organization I interned for in 2011-2012.  They were having a potluck so I spent some time thinking about what I should bring.  Originally I was planning on making Peanut Rice, this rice/peanut butter/veggies/hoisin sauce thing I made for our last potluck but I didn't make it to the store to get the necessary veggies.  I'm also running low on peanut butter.

Then I thought I'd just beef up the chickpea salad I have in the fridge.  But I thought that was kinda weird, giving people something I'd made a while ago and just dumped another can of chickpeas into.

Then I thought a baked good.  And then I decided a quiche!  I do have plenty of eggs after all.  But I realized I'm biking there, how will I carry a pie pan without putting it vertically?  Luckily the internet exists and I soon learned about these.

The above describes basically how my mind works.

Alas, no crescent rolls in the house and no time to make a crust!  Luckily we are 5 minutes away from a grocery store so I picked up a refrigerated crust and got to work.

Unfortunately my roommate and her boyfriend we're having a romantic omelet breakfast in the kitchen so I had to cook on the stove.  In the process I slightly melted my egg container from the heat of the oven.  But life goes on.

I made one muffin pan and 4 mini pie pans of quiche!  But I don't know how to tell if quiche is done so I had to get S. out of bed to help me.  She was not happy.  I gave her a quiche.

Overall I thought they were pretty tasty although I failed to follow the recipe (I was only half following it anyway) and didn't put any cheese on top, and omitted the mushrooms, and no feta...

An Interview with N.

We are too lazy to leave our house, so we decided to stay inside and interview each other! Here are some fun facts about N.

What does your dream house look like?
I used to think a log cabin but now...probably a cute little old house.  The exterior doesn't matter that much to me but I know I'd have a colorful front door and a porch!  Wood floors everywhere, decorative molding painted white and lots of windows!  Actually I really love my aunt's house in Denver, my dream would be really similar to that.

Outside I'd have a big garden full of veggies I have miraculously learned how to grow and a swing from a tree!

If you could be an expert at something, what would it be?
Gosh.  No idea.  I guess languages, that's definitely something I currently lack and would make life pretty interesting.

What is your favorite joke?
If you are American outside the outhouse what are you inside?
Eur-o-pean!!!

I die each time.

What is the worst fashion choice you remember making?
In 5th and 6th grade I refused to wear anything but T-shirts (grey or navy blue, must have something on them but it has to be real, no fake Old Navy Concert 1977 crap) and khaki carpenter pants.  No other fashion choice has haunted me so much throughout my life as many in my family seem to still think I dress like that.

Would you rather wear a tutu to work everyday or wear a tutu to bed every night? Explain.
I think work!  I can't imagine my sleep would be very restful if I had itchy tulle on.  At least at work I wouldn't be leaning on it all the time.  I would want to wear pants though, tights are pretty annoying and don't provide much warmth/protection!

Interview: S.

S. and I decided to interview each other.  Here's what I asked!

Where did your love of pancakes originate?

Who doesn't love pancakes?? It really started though when I was on co-op in Florida, and I was wandering around Epcot one night with some friends and I bought a little cookbook with about 100 pancakes, crepe, and waffle recipes, I think from the Germany pavilion. I kept it for a while without looking at it until I saw the movie Julie & Julia, and decided to do the same with pancakes. Also I was in college and had a lot of free time, and have always aspired to be internet famous. 

If you did travel to Mars what would you do there?

Everything! Hopefully grow plants. Someday there will be giant greenhouses on Mars and it will be sick. Maybe ride a space bicycle? Or invent a space bicycle. Geologize a bit. 

Describe one childhood memory that stands out in your life.

I have a lot of great childhood memories (thanks Mom!) but there is one I was thinking about today. In the winter, tons of ladybugs used to get into our house and they would be all over the windowsills. I used to collect the dead ones and keep them in the lid from a Barrel of Monkeys which I hid in my dollhouse. When I went away to camp one summer, my mom vacuumed them all up and I was sad. 

Now I work with insects for a living, so I guess I started at an early age! I remembered this today as I was biking home on my bike with a ladybug shaped bell, wearing a t-shirt with a butterfly on it and earrings shaped like spiders. 

What is your dream trip?  Unlimited budget and time!

I want to go to northwestern Canada and study wolves like Farley Mowat. Then I would go someplace warm to unfreeze my bones. Probably the south of France where I would get some ponies to ride, and some beehives, and a vineyard. And stay there forever, but vacation at a lake in New Hampshire during the summers. 

If you could only drink one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Wine. JK, I don't want to die. WATER duh. Maybe with a splash of apple cider vinegar for flavor and health. 

3/13 De Facto Roommate Day

Another Wednesday off for me and S.!  We agreed to go for a lovely walk to Franklin Park rather than go to yoga.  Save $10 and get Vitamin D?  Sign me up.

From our studies of Google Maps we knew that Franklin Park was not far from our house, yet despite this knowledge we'd never gone there!  Today was a day of change.

On the walk we saw two abandoned shoes and a cool looking tree covered with crocheted mushrooms.  Once in the park we randomly chose a path, started walking and ended up stumbling upon a seemingly abandoned stone building.  Here we practiced our Parkour, did some sun salutations, talked about life and climbed a boulder.

We also 'muploaded' a few pics.  A new term that S. learned from her friend, supposedly it is short-hand for 'mobile upload.'  I have my doubts that it will catch on but nevertheless instagramed the following of S.

After we returned home S. made some of the best waffles ever and we headed off to Harvard Square.  There we visited a shoe store and Follow the Honey, a cute honey store on Mass Ave!  The kind lady there gave us samples from all over the world including a white honey from Hawaii that was amazing.  If I wanted to spend $32 on a small jar of honey that would be my choice.

A beautiful bike ride across the Mass Ave. bridge back into Boston completed our wonderful day!

Potluck

We had the idea to do a +1 Potluck party, where everyone is supposed to bring a friend who has never been to our house before. That way we get to meet new people and eat delicious food! 

We didn't think it through though, and ended up having the potluck during spring break and right after a big snowstorm, so a bunch of people unfortunately had to cancel. 

Even so, we had 7 guests, plus me and N.

C. made sushi in the living room. 

We forgot to take a picture of the table but it was full of delights. Potato balls (aka Savoury Squirrel Bakes), pasta, bread, rice with peanut sauce, cookies, and more! Mostly starches.
We succeeded in using up most of the odds and ends from our liquor cabinet, which was accomplished by serving everyone "mystery drinks."

The original idea was to also make it a craft night, but people didn't seem too enthused about crafting. So I set up a friendship bracelet station! Only a few people made them, but I still think it was a brilliant idea.

Z. wore his hat, as he must always do when he enters our house.

After we ate we went outside to enjoy the snow! We went sledding, buried each other in snow, ran around, walked to the pond, practiced tackling each other, built a jump, spun in circles, and somersaulted downhill. It was a fantastic evening.

Then came back and ate more food!

What is happening here?

2 Ingredient Cookies!

I found this recipe, on Pinterest or something random, and it just seemed too good to be true. 

There are really only 2 ingredients!!!!

2 ripe bananas, and 1 cup of oats. Mash them together. Form cookies and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. 

 The best part was that I got to use up these oats that I got from the bulk bins at the grocery store. There was nothing wrong with them, but I realized that we use the exact same plastic containers at work, also filled with oats, to store the mealworms that we feed to the diving beetles and other insects. So that kind of ruined my appetite for them.

I also added chocolate chips to some, so technically 3 ingredients. 

And it WORKED! I liked the ones with the chocolate chips better than plain, but both kinds reminded me of banana bread. I even made another batch for a potluck and they all got eaten!

The easiest recipe ever. You should totally try it.

3/6 De Facto Roommate Night

S. and I are now both off on Wednesdays!  I really love having a weekday off because I can do things that require normal business hours, plus it breaks up my work week.

We both woke up pretty early and did some computer work/reading before heading to yoga at the Blissful Monkey for their $10 lunchtime yoga.  Now it has been about 9 months since I last did yoga and I was fairly nervous to fall from downward dog or something, but it ended up being just fine!

Next I dragged S. with me to the library and then Polka Dog Bakery for a cat treat.  I love that I can complete all my errands by walking here in JP!

After eating lunch we headed out by bike to Trader Joe's.  Unfortunately it decided to start raining midway but luckily it was more of a refreshing sprinkle rather than a drenching downpour.  We parked, picked up our ceramic creations and then commenced grocery shopping!

The 'quiche pan' that I painted at the Clayroom!

If you have ever been shopping with S. and I you know it is a fairly long process, and when the wealth of Trader Joe's is in front of us it is even longer.  Plus you have to figure in we are carrying everything by bicycle.  Thus we made a couple rounds in the store, picking things up and dropping them off, contemplating organic or not and in general figuring what we need to live off of for the next week.  Eventually we checked out and departed!

Unfortunately S. had gotten a flat tire somewhere on our journey and with no tools on us we decided to walk our bikes to Landry's and get it fixed.  Everyone there was really nice and we were soon on our way, with a new ladybug bell for S.'s bike Francine!

I also downloaded the app Runtastic Roadbike in an effort to track my cycling journeys!  I actually haven't biked since Wednesday due to the snow, but I was pretty impressed by how well it worked on our return journey!

Despite our plans for a lazy night due to such a productive day, Z. managed to convince us to join him for dinner.  We ate at the Miami Restaurant in Hyde Square.  S. and I weren't really hungry so she got fried plantains and I had rice and beans.  Z. got goat stew which came with fried green plantains, rice and beans.  So much food!  The rice and beans was really good and I'm sad we forgot the leftovers!

Convincing us to leave the house took some work.

Mmmmm plantains!  (Maduros)

Z. enjoyed his goat tremendously.

This may look bad but it was delicious.
So delicious I have a suspicion that chicken
broth was used in the rice...

Sally's Soft-Baked Peanut Butter Chocolate Swirl Cookies

I made these cookies as a gift!  I needed something to give to my friend J. who was helping me create a bike, and Sally (S.'s new blog obsession) put this recipe up.  So I figured it was fate.

I don't have any pictures from the first batch except this one that was sent to me by J. in his request for more cookies.  I'm pretty pleased that must mean they were liked!

So, on Wednesday I settled into our kitchen and started making another batch!  For these cookies you have to make 2 separate doughs, one peanut butter and one chocolate and then both of them go in the fridge before forming the cookies.

I've decided the quality of chocolate really makes a difference, so I splurged for Ghirardelli's unsweetened (they were out of Dark) which is pretty darn tasty.

After the fridge time you form small balls out of each dough and then roll the two together.  I have learned that it's best to really squish and intermingle the doughs to ensure the cookies don't fall apart when baked.

Here are some of the unbaked cookies.  You can see how they are yin-yang-y in shape, I think it helps them meld together!  I also suggest smashing them down slightly before baking since I prefer cookies that spread rather than stay vertical.

You only bake them a short while and then let them cool on the pan.  We have a limited number of pans so this is the hardest part for me because I really want to move them so I can finish baking them all!  But you shouldn't move them.  I also somehow made this batch really large so they are a bit more fragile than the first round.

Overall these are not my favorite cookies, but they are ADDICTING.  The peanut flavor isn't that strong, and I think I preferred round one when I used crunchy peanut butter but they are good.  The chocolate is quite rich which is good, although I think the two doughs are best together since when I had excess of one dough (PB for batch one and chocolate for round two) they were not as good independently!

Roomie Night 3/4

N. and I had some grand roomie night plans for this week. Unfortunately, they involved biking around the city and when we got off work it was snowing, windy, and cold.

So like any sane person would do, we cancelled our plans and went to McDonalds instead.
Because it is Shamrock Shake season!!
Warning: If you plan to eat a shamrock shake, take care NOT to look at the calorie count. It will make you sad.
We drank them with joy while listening to the crazy and homeless population of the city yell and get into fights around us.

Then we headed home and got dinner on the way back. I had to resist the lure of New York Pizza (the best pizza ever anywhere). We passed both of the locations on the way home, but I held out until we got to Acapulco.

We had never been before, but we greatly enjoyed the decor. We were cold from biking in the snow, and I considered asking to borrow a mexican hat and a poncho from the wall to wear.

This painting of a bullfight was great.

Up close, the people look like skeletons. 

There were only a few other people there, and only one waiter. And free chips and salsa! We didn't have to wait too long, which was good because we were cold and we had other important things to do that night (aka blogging and watching TV).

I got nachos with refried beans and cheese and N. got a enchilada/tortilla combo. They were both pretty good, but not spectacular. We agreed that they were lacking in flavor. We have the theory that you could order anything off the menu and it would taste pretty much the same, but who knows.

The best part of the meal was when N. whipped out her jar to put the leftovers in.

And then some tupperware to bring the rest of the chips home!

\

(The waiter was occupied and the other diners didn't notice, so we got no strange looks. A first for us!)

When paying the bill, N. wrote the most beautiful "3" she has ever written. She would not let me take a picture of it.

N: It was a beautiful 3.  And here's Sadie!  We are definitely becoming pro-bloggers.

Whoopie Pies

 What N. failed to mention in her last post is that S. and I made carrot cake whoopie pies that we ate before watching Star Wars! We used this recipe. I got to use my wonderful whoopie pie pan, which is always a thrill.

 I recently learned that you can make your own confectioner's sugar by putting normal sugar in the blender! Who knew?! It worked pretty well.

 The cake part turned out ok, but the carrot flavor was a bit overpowered by all the spices, especially the nutmeg.

I was going to roll the sides in coconut flakes and pecans, like the recipe says, but I forgot.

The frosting was amazing though. It had sugar, cream cheese, and real maple syrup in it. S. and I ate a lot of it by the spoonful. Then later, G. licked the hand beater clean while the rest of us ate real dinner. 

Watch out, this one has a face!

Yum.

Star Wars

So I guess I've never really seen Star Wars.  There is a helpful Wikipedia link for all of you in the same boat, I've heard it's a small boat.

Anyway, on day 3 of our Blizzard Party this fact was discovered and since our roommate happens to own all of the movies we decided to watch!  S., G., & Z. spent some time discussing what order we should watch them in but ultimately decided to start with #4, evidently this is the order that they were made in.  I was already a bit concerned since the world I live in generally starts with #1 and there is no discussion on where to start.  I decided to continue anyway.

All 4 of us sat on one couch because our charming/coughing roommate and her boyfriend decided to watch with us.  Our other roommate would come in and stand in the corner for certain parts of the movie.  I guess it was kind of a TRUE roomie party!

Surprisingly the movie seemed pretty decent although there are definitely some plot holes that I cannot remember at this time.  We powered through some peanut M&Ms and lots of popcorn and decided to watch the next one.  After that I think I couldn't stand it anymore and we decided to stop there.

______________

3 weeks later!

Star Wars time again!  We ate some of Z.'s pasta and some bread, cracked a bottle and headed to the living room!  After struggling with our electronics for a while S. got the movie playing.  I had semi-forgotten what had happened but luckily they scroll a big intro message at the beginning of these movies.

This time I was feeling a bit better about my Star Wars knowledge, especially after I got Natalie Portman's character and Princess Leia all squared out.  After a lot of flying, epic teddy bear battles and swishing light sabers I had officially finished the original trilogy!

Thus we decided to go to Galway House cause I was definitely going to fall asleep if we watched another one.  3 more to go + Special Features...

G. got and enjoyed some garlic bread