Banana Bread

We had some wonderfully dark brown bananas begging to be baked into something tasty today. I thought I'd try out a new recipe from King Arthur that I haven't tasted yet. So, here goes banana bread!

This is something that many bakers make, but I've had a hard time finding a recipe that I just love. Well, I tweaked the one from King Arthur. Give it a whirl and see what you think -- I was pretty happy with the results. Here's my version:

Banana Bread
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at cool room temperature
2/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas
1 tablespoon orange juice (optional)
1/4 cup honey
2 large eggs
2 1/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 5" loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine the butter, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, beating till smooth.
3. Add the mashed bananas, jam, honey, and eggs, again beating until smooth.
4. Add the flour, then the walnuts, stirring just until smooth.
5. Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pan, smoothing the top. Let it rest at room temperature for 10 minutes.
6. Bake the bread for 45 minutes, then gently lay a piece of aluminum foil across the top, to prevent over-browning.
7. Bake for an additional 25 minutes. Remove the bread from the oven; a long toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center should come out clean, with at most a few wet crumbs clinging to it. The tester shouldn't show any sign of uncooked batter. If it does, bake the bread an additional 5 minutes, or until it tests done.
8. Allow the bread to cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Remove it from the pan, and cool it completely on a rack.

Day 26 -- Early Release

Maddie was released from school three hours early today because of another snow storm. Usually, she'll get a little bored at home all day. But today, she and John really started playing together. Really playing. Sharing toys, laughing at each other, just enjoying being together. It was so sweet. I put John in the Octagon so that I could do the dishes, and Maddie jumped right in with him. They were playing with the letters for this picture.

Day 25 -- Bread Bowls

Today I set out to learn how to make bread bowls and copy Panera's wonderful Broccoli Cheddar soup. I used a baguette recipe, but instead of shaping it into three baguettes as directed in the recipe, I shaped it into four balls and cut an 'X' in the top of each one. I couldn't believe how big they got! It was actually astonishing to pull them out of the oven. I wish I would have taken a 'before' picture, they were just tiny 3" round balls of dough. They rose before they went into the oven, and then almost another 25% when they were baking. The recipe has a great crumbly, crunchie crust. Maddie was quick to tell me that I got the bread right. We gobbled up a loaf in about 2 minutes flat. The bread was a huge success -- now on to the soup.

It's not very often that I completely fail at cooking -- even my mistakes are usually tolerable. The soup was awful. Disgusting. Terrible. I was so angry about the soup I was snapping at everyone and I refused to eat it. I wouldn't even let them make the bread into bowls.

Maddie and I ate bread and cheese. Jared ate some of the soup. We threw the rest away. I can't believe how awful it was. I don't even know if I'm going to try to copy the soup again. It was expensive to try -- one pound of cheese, one pound of broccoli, julienned carrots, half and half, chicken stock, etc. It probably cost around $11. If I would have had 3 dinners out of it, I would have been OK. Now, nada. UGH!

My only consolation is that I now know I can make some kickin' artisan loaves, bread bowls or baguettes.

Day 24 -- SuperBowl

I really love the SuperBowl. I'm not a gigantic football fan, but I do enjoy a good game. And, the game snacks are also a bonus. We had a fun night together as a family hanging out in the basement, watching the game. Pictured here are obviously our 3-D glasses(generously donated by a friend). Also, in case you haven't seen it, this was one of our Christmas presents this year -- my wonderful new couch!

Day 23 -- Pancake Breakfast

We had a great church acivity -- a pancake breakfast. It was such a fun event. Everyone pitched in and did a great job pulling it together. The hardest worke was Carlin -- she flipped pancakes for over an hour. Way to go! Jared and John were on hand to help out too.

Day 22 -- Homework

Kindergarten is so great! Maddie doesn't often have homework, but when she does it is usually an art project. She was asked to decorate a heart to hang in the halls at school for "LUVVV Month" as she keeps calling it. She used paint and glitter glue to make her creation.

Day 21 -- Cheese Bread

Today, a friend called to say she's had the stomach flu, and the only thing that sounded good to eat was my cheese bread. How flattering! So, of course I whipped up a batch and ran it right over. For those of you curious about the recipe, it can be found here. The only thing I change is the cheese -- I use a Mexican blend rather than the expensive stuff.

Day 20 -- Whole Wheat Bread

I've been trying to master the art of whole wheat bread. Little John loves the Bosch! He likes to watch every second that the bread is kneading. He even likes to keep his hand, nose or tongue on the top of the lid to see what it feels like -- don't worry, I keep this completely sanitary! It's quite funny to watch him try to figure all this out though.

Day 19 -- Financial Freedom

Today was John's last taste of formula. At $34 per week, this will be a gigantic savings! Pictured here is the very last can of formula.

Day 18 -- Clean House

Today, my house was so clean, I actually had time to clean out the vacuum as well! YAHOO for a clean house!

Day 17 -- New Teeth

Yesterday at the lab party, we let John stay up way too late. He was about two hours late getting to bed, but we had to get up on time for church today. He's getting four new teeth. Tired, cranky and teeth do not go well together. Even Tylenol hasn't taken the edge off today. He walked around church whining, crying and just general malaise. He'd periodically throw his head back and just start to cry. It was so sad! He's usually the happiest kid on the planet.

When we got home from church, I fed him a good solid lunch. You know the average meal for a one year old -- one hot dog, one ounce of cheese, 3 pieces of broccoli, 8 to 10 crackers, 15 grapes all cut up so he won't choke, and 1/2 a chocolate chip cookie.

After all that, he ran around for about 15 minutes and was ready to go to sleep. I put him down at 2:30. At 6:15 I heard sounds coming from his room, so I ran up the stairs to get him. He must have been talking in his sleep -- UGH! When I opened the door, he woke up and just started screaming. I had to rock him for a while to get him to calm down again. Poor guy! He's had a bad day! So, today's picture is John whining.

Day 16 -- The Lab Party

Jared's lab came to our house on Saturday for a party. It was really a nice time -- good food, getting to know Jared's co-workers better, and some wii tennis were highlights of the event.

Here's the appetizers that we provided:

The cookies and cheese puffs didn't make it into the picture. Other people brought salad, chicken parmesean, chocolate cake, key lime pie, drinks, and other side dishes that escape my mind. By the end of the evening it looked like my kitchen had exploded! But, we're all cleaned up now. Our kids had such a great time! It was fun to see Maddie making a new friend.

Day 14 & Day15

I forgot to take pictures. The guilt is overwhelming.

But, I got my hair cut and highlighted, we cleaned the house, and I finally cleaned out my hall closet.

Those things were worth missing a couple of days of pictures I guess. :)

Day 13 -- Friends

Maddie got to play with her good friend Holly after school today. They were outside in the snow, then came in to have orange juice snow cones. Good times for all!

Day 12 -- Inauguration

John and I watched the inauguration together on TV. I fought to keep him awake for this picture. He was so tired he was falling over and bumping into things. But, for the sake of history, he witnessed it and even has a picture to prove it.

Day 11 -- The snow

This is my favorite picture for today -- Jared and Maddie working together to clear the driveway. Good quality time.

We got John dressed for the occasion, at first he was a little hesitant, but the he sensed freedom and headed straight for the open road. Maddie was close on his heels to keep him safe.
After he fell into the snow, he'd stick his tongue out to lick it off his coat.

Happy Maddie.

Happy John.

Maddie and Jared spent time gathering all the snow from the lawn and built a snow cave.

Day 10 -- My Snowman

We've had so much snow this year! It seems like Jared is out shovelling every other night. I've taken pity and started to help sometimes. It's quite a job because our driveway is so long. The neighbors all pay to have a plow come, but we're just to thrifty to pay money for something we can do ourselves. It has become a competition to see if we can get ours cleaned up before the plow gets here. I should say that no one else knows about our little contest, it's just a motivational tool on our part.

Day 9 -- The Very Hungry Boy

John is our very hungry caterpillar. For breakfast yesterday he ate one hot dog, half of a waffle, a handful of cereal, two fruit leathers and he was still hungry. It's amazing to watch. Well, above is a small glimpse of how he forces it in. (note: his sister is not eating -- this is also typical)

Day 8 -- It's All About the Stairs

I don't know how much of John's day is wishing he could play on the stairs, but it sure seems like most of our free time is spent making sure he doesn't tumble down like some people we know. We have gates, but are trying to slowly wean him off of his addiction.

Day 7 -- Fun with Dad

The two were playing acrobatic tricks together. So cute!

Day 6 -- Sippy Success!

After 40 minutes of kicking, screaming and a cup throwing or two yesterday, John decided to accept the sippy cup today. YAHOO!!!!! Here's the first one he was willing to drink without putting up a fight first.

Day 5 -- The Final Bottle

Three days ago, John started disassembling his bottles when he was finished. OK, it was cute at first, we thought it was very intelligent of him to figure it out. Yeah, as you can guess, it's just not so cute anymore. Sunday, he dumped one all over his crib. I just washed everything, no biggie.

My mom recalled that she had to duct tape my brother's bottles so he wouldn't do the same thing. Well, we thought that through, but it wouldn't work in this case. He pushes the nipple in first, then uses the leverage to untwist the ring. We did give him a sippy cup in his crib with duct tape last night -- we weren't taking chances. Funny enough, he won't drink his milk through the sippy cup. He just looks at it in disgust and throws it. UGH!

Today I thought I'd give the bottle one more try. Not very smart. It was all over the carpet. Not cute at all. Say goodbye to bottles John!

Day 4 -- The Big Girl

She's so excited about loosing her tooth, she's letting me do her hair so that she looks like a big girl!

Jared the Puppeteer

Puppets fascinate small children. When Jared is the mastermind behind the puppet, children flock to see him serve as the puppeteer. He has this puppet named 'Mopley' that is the mangiest thing you've ever seen. Jared can make it seem very much alive. Kids just love it, for about 2 minutes, then they usually try to attack Mopley.

A neighbor gave us a hand puppet a couple of months ago, and Jared has been making it talk for John. The funny thing is that as soon as Jared puts it on one hand, John quickly backs away from the puppet and wants Jared to hold him. I think it's the preliminary '2 minutes' of warming up. Soon John will go on the attack.

Day 3 -- Now it's gone

This morning, snowed in yet again, we didn't have to go to church. For those of you keeping track, I think this is the 6th or 7th time we've missed church since November. Our ward should use this as a missionary tool -- be a Mormon, only go to church every other week!

Because we didn't have church, we slept in and ate a very indulgent breakfast -- chocolate filled aebleskivers with chocolate syrup. In case you aren't familiar with these little gems, they are a traditional Danish pancake cooked in a pan with wells to make them round.

While eating her breakfast, Maddie started to get upset because her VERY loose tooth was hurting when she ate. Jared asked if he could take a look. He said he simply "lifted" the tooth out of her mouth. That tooth was clinging for dear lift right up until it met the breakfast of indulgence.

Maddie is so excited! She has been wanting to loose that tooth for so long! It's been wiggly since November, it just took it's own sweet time. So, here is today's picture for 365:

Day 2 -- The Tooth

It's still stuck there. It's been holding on for months and months and months. But soon.....

365 -- a photo a day -- Day 1

So, I saw a post about 365 -- taking a photo a day for a year. I'm terrible about writing in my journal since having the kids. This would be a great way to keep a record of our lives, hopefully without too much time involvement. So, in an oh, so wishy-washy way, I think I'm going to do it.

Here's today's pict:

John has refused to nap this week. He's cranky, tired and unhappy all day. I decided today he was staying in the crib because I needed a break, even if he didn't need a nap. After two hours of hoping he would fall asleep, this is how I found him, happy as could be.

Helping with Housework

Little John is not famous right now for helping to do the housework. In fact, he actually generates most of it. He's into pulling all the pots and pans out of the drawer. Moving all the snacks -- fruit leather, pudding, raisins, spoons, etc. out of the snack drawer. His favorite is to pull out a drawer full of kids dishes until it snaps out of the railings, then he'll just walk off to a new task. I'm sure most of you know a toddler with similar fascinations.

His curiosity and new found "dump and fill" skills bring much more work for the rest of us. Throughout the day, I'm picking up toys constantly. It's vital to move these items out of the way before one of us does a 'banana peel' type fall over a toy car. But, at the end of the day when we're ready to clean, John does do his part -- he checks the vacuum hose to make sure it still tastes the same:

Jewlery designers????

I'm terribly allergic to most jewelry on the market. It's disgusting when I wear it -- my skin gets itchy, red, slimy and then starts to peel off. YUCK!

But, I recently bought some hand made jewelry and it seems to be OK. I don't really want to keep paying someone else to make something I think I can do myself. I know what to buy for supplies so that I won't start to itch, but now I just need some advice on how to get started. And maybe a tutorial or two.

Anybody?????

Why is work always HARD work?

I have a friend who asks me to do odd jobs every once in a while for extra cash. I'd really like a new TV and entertainment center, so when he called a couple of weeks ago I jumped at the chance to do a little work on the side.

Last night, after working about 8 hours to make three signs, I begged Jared to help me finish. He noted, "Why do Dirk's projects always sound so great in the beginning?"

We both agree that in the end, they turn out to be a huge pain in the *$&%^(%. I'm still not finished with the job -- four more signs to go. I have to say I'm grateful for the chance to earn a little money, it always comes in handy. It's also a great teaching tool for my kids -- Maddie keeps asking if I've done enough work to earn what I want to buy. She's even offered some of her money to help :). I think in the long run that might be the best benefit of my taking odd jobs.....

But someday, when I've saved up enough $$ from my blood(yes blood -- you obviously don't sew if you don't believe I bleed when I work), sweat and tears, hopefully I won't have to work too much in front of our new TV.

Who knows when we'll get the TV, but I'm still hoping! And working.