The Best Banana Bread Ever. Really.

I got a weird batch of bananas a few weeks ago. They were green for days and then overnight developed brown spots while still green. When I peeled one open, it was mush inside. Solution for 7 mushy bananas? Banana bread. I found this recipe for Flour's Famous Banana Bread, mashed the bananas, sifted the dry ingredients, and went to the fridge to grab eggs and realized I only had one egg. Quick search online suggested I could use 1/3 cup of canned pumpkin to replace an egg in muffins or quick breads... so instead of the remaining 3 eggs, I used 1 cup pumpkin. The darn loaves took nearly 2 hours to bake, but seriously, the result was really, really, good. Flavorful, not too sweet, a soft and creamy crumb that's not soggy at all. I mean this is the-best-banana-bread-I've-ever-eaten good. I know that's a tremendous claim and I'm setting myself up for people to try the recipe and possibly be disappointed, but I love it. Dylan and my family loved it. Friends have loved it. 


Each time I've made this I've doubled it, and made a slight alteration--I've tried half Splenda and half sugar, I've forgotten to add the sour cream, I've skipped nuts, and I've used only 6 bananas instead of 7. Still amazing. I haven't made the original, but I can't imagine it would be more delicious that the recipe below. So here it is:


Pumpkin Banana Bread
(makes 2 loaves or 1 loaf and 12 muffins)


3 1/3 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
2 c. sugar (or 1 sugar, 1 Splenda)
1 egg
1 cup pureed pumpkin
1 c. oil
6-7 ripe bananas, mashed
4 Tb. sour cream (or not, if you forget)
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c. chopped pecans (or not)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 loaf pans with parchment paper-do not grease sides. I used parchment liners when I made muffins.
Sift flour, soda, cinnamon, salt several times.  In another bowl, whisk sugar, egg, and pumpkin on medium speed for a couple minutes. Drizzle in oil while whisking. Then add bananas, sour cream, and vanilla. Fold in dry ingredients and pecan--I also reserved a handful of pecans for the top. Split between loaf pans, top with nuts, and put in the lower middle of the oven. Bake for a LONG TIME. For me, the loaves have taken anywhere from 1 1/2 - 2 hours. The muffins took about 25 minutes. Test, test, test, and then enjoy the heck out of this bread. 


(The original recipe said bake 45 minutes to an hour. I've found the top will look done after 45 minutes, but the middle is complete soup for another hour or so. The first time, I laid a piece of foil over the top after about an hour, because I was worried about the pecans burning. They were okay. Without the pecans, there was no need for foil.)

Cake 2: Almond Chocolate

Or almond cake with dark chocolate ganache and vanilla "buttercream". #2 is just a baby, a single layer that I sliced into two. More details to come.

What I learned about cake: Reflections on #1

Yesterday I finished my second cake! In comparing the process of making my first and second, I realized I learned a lot.

Here are a few notes on my first cake.

It was a lemon cake, made from scratch using a recipe I found on epicurious here. The batter was pretty time intensive, and I followed the recipe exactly, except I made one layer with cake flour, as the recipe suggested, and the second with all-purpose flour, just to see. (In the picture above, the right side is cake flour, left side is all-purpose) I filled the layers with homemade strawberry curd instead of using lemon curd and raspberries, made the lemon syrup to help keep the layers moist, and whipped up lemon meringue buttercream frosting. From curd-making to frosting, the entire process took about 6 hours.

And now, onto the the mistakes I made and the most important lessons learned:

• Use enough batter in the pan. This recipe was supposed to fill a 10" round cake pan. I didn't change a thing and poured it into a 12" round. Too little batter meant skinny layers. They were hard to slice evenly, broke as I tried to stack them, and the cake wasn't as tall as I hoped it would be. Next time I'd alter the recipe using my 6th grade math teacher skills.
• Concave layers are no good. I used 2" deep pans, but because I didn't use enough batter, the cake layers only rose up 1" around the edge of the pans. They were taller in the middle, and I didn't totally trim off the curved top to get perfectly even, cylindrical layers. I wish I had. As I was assembling the layers, the strawberry curd ran out the edges, the cake was difficult to frost, and the sliced pieces just weren't as pretty.
• Create a dam along the circumference before filling. Like I said above, the curd spilled out the edges of the layers. I wish I'd piped a thin ring of frosting around the edge to prevent that.
• Have all the ingredients you need before you bake. This is an embarrassing and silly one, but I ran out of butter, eggs, and flour. It just didn't register that I would be making two batches of batter and need SO MUCH BUTTER for the buttercream!
• I don't really like buttercream. At least this buttercream. Much too rich and buttery for my taste. I used Trader Joe's Lemon Curd instead of making my own. It was easier than I anticipated, but just didn't taste as delicious as I'd hoped. I did not read the reviews before moving ahead with it, but it sounds like I could have gotten away with adding less butter. Oh well.
• Cake flour=not a big deal. There was definitely a finer crumb and more delicate texture on the half with cake flour. It was delicious. But I don't think I care, and neither does the bride. So all-purpose flour, here we come.

So, in the end, my first cake was a tremendous learning experience. I loved the experience, I love baking, and I'm SO, SO glad I'm giving myself the time to learn and get this right. I have 3 more months to find some great recipes and to perfect my decorating skills!

Cake 1: Lemon Strawberry

Or: Lemon Cake with Strawberry Curd and Lemon Buttercream Frosting

Details soon.

Commence Cake Adventure!

One of my very best friends, Britany, is getting married in June, and asked if I would be interested in baking her wedding cake(s). Yes, yes, yes!

The past month or so I've been doing cursory research and adding photos to a pinterest board here. I've been reserving library books and studying blogs and websites. I've been trying to learn just how one goes about baking a 16", 14", or 12" cake without gooey centers or burnt edges, trying to find which recipes will hold up under what conditions, and attempting to figure how one stores enough cake for about 200 people without filling the fridge with 7 lbs of butter and 12 dozen eggs and more cakes than will fit.

I think I've only decided one thing. I won't be making a single 3 or 4 tier cake. The storage of 16" layers, inner support system, transportation, assembly, and unstacking/cutting of such a cake would be beyond my ability. So, my initial plan: make four beautiful, delicious, 12" round cakes.

I'm starting my recipe-testing today. At this point, I've decided stop reading and planning and just dive in to see what happens. Yesterday I purchased 2 lbs of butter, 2 dozen eggs, two 12" round cake pans, a cake leveler, meringue powder, and a rotating cake stand. Today, I'm making strawberry curd, lemon cake, and lemon buttercream.

Details and pictures to come!!

Home

We're home.
And have been for over a month now! Summer life has been anything but lazy. Our house (we still can't believe it's our house!!) was on the market for over two years and the sellers were forced to do a short sale. Ultimately that means a lot of delayed maintenance. Landscaping, gutters, trees, cleaning... it's a lot. There's an infinitely long to-do list as we continue to settle in. On top of cleaning up the house and yard, we still have unpacking and decorating to do. There's a shrinking mountain of boxes and furniture in the garage, homey details are popping up, and regular maintenance eats up hours each weekend. On top of the move and adjusting to home-ownership I'm nannying nearly full time for a 10-year-old girl and planning for my second year of full-time teaching. I'm moving from 6th grade math to 5th grade social studies and language arts, and school starts again in 3 weeks!! The summer has been exhausting, but we love this house.
Matilda is also in love. She has a HUGE yard to patrol, a BBQ and picnic tables to summit, one orange tabby cat to torment, dozens of neighborhood dogs to greet as they walk past, and hundreds of squirrels, bugs, rabbits, and birds to watch. We had our first real gathering on Saturday to celebrate Dylan's birthday. More on that later, but it forced us to get a few things in order. We finally found fabric we loved (Dwell Studio "Botany Floral") for curtains and cut panels for the four windows in our living room. We also bought and hung curtain rods, and moved some boxes and clutter to the basement and garage. It was wonderful to have the space to comfortably entertain a dozen friends.

I have the day off and there's tons to do-- I'm hosting a small teacher gathering Sunday and want to hang some curtains and pictures in the dining room! More updates and photos soon!

Packing

Right now I'm trying to find the motivation to keep packing. We start moving tomorrow! The biggest stuff is done. What's left is the unorganized, random clutter I promised not to bring into our new house. Stacks of old health insurance notifications and bills, dead batteries, travel-sized shampoo bottles, old cellphones+chargers, buttons, tiny stones from vacations, hoodie drawstrings... I struggle with this stuff. We don't need most of it. But I hate being wasteful. I don't want to fill the landfill with it. I want to file and hold onto important papers, I want to organize each and every button and put every paperclip with the other paperclips. I want to use up that tiny bit of shampoo. But we're moving in 30 hours and I want to start cleaning! So I'm stuck.
I got online to check email, then found myself looking at other houses for sale in the neighborhood, and stopped myself mid-click. Why on earth am I looking at listings when we just bought a house and move tomorrow???
The plan was to clean today. In my mind, our bedroom would be empty except for a suitcase and mattress on the floor, the second bedroom would be sparkling clean, the bathroom would only have the bare essentials in a travel bag, we'd be eating out of the only two bowls we hadn't packed...
In reality, our bedroom still has a lot of stuff minus two suitcases of clothes and our dressers. The second bedroom is in better shape--no furniture but it's littered with the random junk I wish would just disappear. Our living and dining rooms are a maze of boxes and furniture.... kitchen hasn't been touched, etc. We have a lot of stuff. I'll be looking for ideas to manage our "stuff" as we settle in!

We're just so ready to be out of here and into our home. Updates and pictures as I make progress. Let's go, Laura!

Home

Meet Garden:(thanks google street view)
Garden is our soon-to-be new home. We move Thursday and have big dreams for this house. Dylan's brainstorming blog names today. Our plan is to start a new site where we'll document some of those dreams. Unfortunately "meisterhaus" is taken at wordpress (Sorry blogger, Dylan just loves wordpress) so we're still thinking. Until then, I'll update here. First, a little background on our search.

Since Dylan and I met, we've dreamt of omelets Saturday mornings, woodworking in the garage, a huge garden, cold nights snuggled in front of a fire, and room for a puppy to play. We've always wanted a real home together. A house.
In the middle of my long-term teaching assignment last year, we finally had a steady income, and with the $8k tax credit we thought we might finally be able to buy a house. I started searching online on this site. Constantly. I knew every home for sale in Columbus and the surrounding 30 mile radius that met our initial criteria: 3 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, a fireplace, and a 0.25 acre lot.
Then this September I found the perfect house. "Schoolcraft".
It met our generic criteria, plus it had a privacy fence and a gorgeous, huge covered front porch. We signed up for more information, and a realtor, Erik Hiss, got in touch with us. When we went to look at it in person, I expected fireworks. But we just weren't that excited. We just kind of looked at each other like "is this what it should feel like?" I could imagine us living there. It had everything we were looking for, and the front of the house was beautiful, but we didn't know if it felt like home. So we kept looking.
Erik was great. He looked at dozens of houses with us and listened as we arranged and rearranged our list of priorities (location, yard, fireplace, school district, square footage, price) and helped us determine what we were truly looking for. In the middle of all this we found a really unique, beautiful house and decided to make an offer. "Glen" was a split-level with a wide open floor plan--think open kitchen/dining/living rooms with continuous, gorgeous hardwood floors. The back of the house was mostly glass and doors and overlooked a fenced, wooded lot. I deleted all our pictures of Glen when things didn't work out. As gorgeous as it was, we would have needed to spend a good amount to update the house. Already at the top of our price range, when the seller wouldn't budge much on the price, we let it go and kept looking.
We spent fall and winter going to open houses and continued to develop our priorities. We limited our search to Clintonville and Beechwold, neighboring communities in the heart of Columbus. And then in January I found Garden. And Garden is the one. More on Garden this afternoon. I have packing to do!

Experimental Banana Bread

Three loaves of banana bread baking in the oven... I'm nervous and excited. I think it might be really amazing. Or sort-of-okay or just plain gross. Sometimes I crave a dense, chewy loaf, but this morning I want something light and sweet. We had TONS of organic bananas that went from green-to-spotty in 2 days and buttermilk to use up from scones last Sunday. I based this batch on the Better Homes and Garden recipe, but made a few substitutions. I'm still trying to wrap my head around which substitutions really work and which change the flavor and texture too much. Here's what I did:
- unbleached multigrain flour instead of all-purpose white
-1 c oat bran for 1 of 4 cups of flour
-1 c splenda + 1 c sugar instead of 2 c sugar
-1/2 buttermilk + 1/2 oil instead of 1 cup oil

And here's the doubled recipe (which made 3 loaves):
3 c flour
1 c oat bran
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

12!! bananas (we had so many!)/ 3 cups when smashed
4 eggs
1 c Splenda
1 c sugar
1/2 c canola oil
1/2 c buttermilk

Photos and samples for everyone if it's delicious!

Mother's Day

I had the privilege of hosting mother's day brunch last weekend for my mom and dad, mother and father-in-law, Dylan's brother and sister-in-law, and a good friend, Jen. It is incredible to have such a gracious, loving family (thanks to amazing moms). It makes being together and entertaining such a joy. Not many people can say the perfect Sunday morning is spent with parents and in-laws.

Sunday morning was a blur of cleaning, cooking, and baking. Dylan and Jen were the best side-kicks and prepped and cleaned as I made a mess. I'd never cooked bacon before, and my mom stepped in to save the day sure it crisped <3

Here's the menu (thanks, Martha Stewart) and recipes for things that are worth making again:

• salad with salmon, goat cheese, heirloom tomatoes, & champagne vinaigrette
• asparagus and leek/spinach and feta quiche (substituted a 1/2 cup 1% milk to lighten the quiche a little. I could not tell a difference.)
  
• fresh raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries
• brown sugar-glazed apple-smoked bacon
• raspberry scones (added a tsp of lemon zest and a lemon glaze)
• white sangria, iced tea, OJ, coffee

Overall, it was a wonderful morning. Just before my parents headed back to Cincinnati, we walked along the Walhalla ravine, which is a beautiful, wooded oasis in the middle of Clintonville. It's Matilda's favorite walk with lots of squirrels, a creek, and gorgeous houses. Fingers crossed my parents might someday make Columbus home-base :)

Ice Day 2

Okay. Another day off school because of ice and buildings without power. Yesterday I got the shelves dusted, books and other stuff thinned and reorganized. Today I took pictures. I still don't feel like it's as balanced or beautiful as I want, but an improvement. Any ideas? (JessPress??)

Ice Day!

First "snow" day of the year! So far: I slept in 'til 8, had two cups of coffee, browsed facebook updates, and played fetch out back with Matilda. Still to do?
Organize these messy bookshelves:

























Right now they're holding books, camera stuff, board games, office supplies, a manatee I made in 6th grade, diabetes stuff and more... 5 more minutes of browsing apartment therapy for inspiration then I'm getting to work.

Also to do: grade quizzes, photos of icy branches at the park, sweep, ironing, maybe clean a closet or two!

I'll post a photo this afternoon of newly, more beautifully organized bookshelves!

Quick Update

A dozen blog drafts never completed-- documenting Thanksgiving, Christmas, redecorating, and more. I'm still working through rarely finishing what I begin; a habit that's plagued me since second grade. Working on that.

So, a quick update. The biggest news? Dylan and I have been house hunting for a few months. It's been quite the journey figuring out what we need and want right now. We thought this was our dream house, made an offer in October, but it wasn't accepted. And it's a blessing. After exploring huge farmhouses near Marysville, 2 bedroom cape cods in Clintonville, and cheap fix-me-ups in shadier parts, we fell in love with a house on Garden Road in Beechwold a few weeks ago. Our offer was accepted by the seller, but it's short sale which basically means the bank is taking a loss to avoid foreclosure, so not only does the seller have to accept our offer, but the bank and any other parties who might be entitled to money ALSO have to accept it. It could be months before we know anything. In the mean time we're dreaming about a fenced 0.29 acre yard, two car attached garage, 1.5 bathrooms, and wood-burning fireplace. Also having too much fun playing with Ikea's Kitchen Planner website and daydreaming an Ikea kitchen remodel:



More to come!

White Bean and Garlic with Greens

Last year my big sister Jess gave me a copy of the book Love Soup for Christmas. It's a vegetarian soup and story book and I absolutely LOVE IT. I tried 5-6 so recipes last year. This year I want to document and share my favorites, which will probably be everything we try--Dylan and I adore soup. The first recipe I've made this year is the White Bean and Garlic with Greens. A good friend Adam gave us some some broccoli rabe, (among other organic goodies from the Wayward Seed farm) so I shredded that and used it as my green. Both Dylan and I were starving, but we were content after a bowl. It was delicious, flavorful, and smooth. I'm taking leftovers for lunch tomorrow :).
Here's my lazy (but DELICIOUS) interpretation of Anna Thomas's recipe.

White Bean and Garlic with Greens Soup

1 medium sweet onion, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, pressed
2-3 TB olive oil
2 cans drained, rinsed white beans (I used white kidney or Cannellini)
2 tsp sage
fresh ground pepper
4 cups water + 2-3 tsp veggie bouillon OR 4 cups of vegetable broth.
2 cups(ish) of a shredded green, like kale, spinach, broccoli rabe, etc.
1 tsp lemon juice
olive oil
parmesan

Over medium heat, soften the onions and garlic in olive oil for 10-15 minutes. Add the beans, sage, and pepper and stir. Add a bit of the water or broth then blend using an immersion blender or regular blender. Add the additional water and 2-3 tsp of vegetable bouillon or remaining broth and stir to desired consistency. Add greens and simmer until tender, 5-10 more minutes. Remove from heat, add lemon juice, additional salt/pepper if needed, and serve with freshly grated parmesan and olive oil.

1 Can of Pumpkin...

two really delicious things. The first was for a staff meeting. I don't know what to call it... Pumpkin Cream Dip? I don't like the way that sounds. Inspired by this and this. Dylan said it's the best thing he's ever eaten. Here's the recipe:

8 oz cream cheese, softened and beaten
2 c powdered sugar, added slowly to the cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup pumpkin puree

Combine everything above with an electric mixer, then fold into 8 oz freshly whipped cream.

Eat with Trader Joe's Triple Ginger Snaps, TJ's Old Fashioned Cinnamon Grahams, Granny Smith apples, and everything else for a week, because it makes a LOT.

The second thing I made with that can of pumpkin was a loaf of pumpkin banana bread. Inspired by my mom's easiest-ever Pumpkin Cake recipe.

1 cup pumpkin (I had a scant cup left, and compensated with a banana)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 c oil
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Mix, pour into loaf pan, bake 55-65 minutes at 350 F. Delicious with leftover pumpkin cream dip.

Northstar challenge. Round 2.

Second attempt at re-creating the Northstar veggie burger? Not a complete fail-- it was a pretty good burger, but far from Northstar's.

The Kitchn posted a recipe (and the picture below) a year or so ago, and I finally got around to trying it July 4th for a family cookout in Cincinnati.

I made some changes to the initial recipe because in a conversation with an employee I found out they add chipotle peppers. There didn't appear to be anything smoky about the original kitchn recipe.

In my first attempt, I added about 3-4 Tb of adobo sauce, caramelized the onions and canned beets for 30 minutes, threw in pureed dried dates for sweetness, and 1/4 cup or so of oats to help them bind. The final product was beautiful, but a little too spicy, a little too sweet, not quite enough salty, and definitely not enough umami. We used a cast iron grill pan over a gas flame to cook them- 6-8 minutes on each side, and they were good.

My second attempt yesterday was different, but probably equally successful (or not?). Dylan thought they were better than the first. I think the texture improved, but not the flavor. I used a 3-grain blend (rice, spelt, barley) from Trader Joe's instead of short-grain brown rice, and also used a package of their refrigerated cooked beats and shredded them instead of chopped canned (or fresh). I still added adobo sauce, just a bit less; about 2 Tb of unsweetened applesauce instead of the dates; LOTS of ground black pepper; and more sea salt. And some soy sauce. And Kitchen Bouquet. And... a little bit of everything else in the kitchen. I added more rolled oats, and let them sit in the fridge few hours before grilling them, on a real grill. We brushed them with oil, and probably grilled them a total of 15 minutes or so on each side. They were the right sweet, smoky, spicy, and salty. The outside was charred and crispy from the grill, but the inside wasn't bright enough, and it was still missing the depth and richness from umami. I'm not sure what I'll try next time. It's been at least 6 months since I've had the real thing, so maybe I should go to Northstar and then brainstorm.

Here are a few ideas for the next batch
1. Cook rice/grains in a mushroom veggie broth + beet juice for more flavor and color
2. Mince and caramelize portobellos with the beets and onions
3. Experiment with other soy sauces
4. Balsamic vinegar instead of cider
5. MSG MSG MSG :)

Any suggestions?

Nassau

Current favorite Way Yes song shot with our newish camera:

Drumroll...

Going into school to see my classroom for the first time!

After a long, disappointing, job-hunting-summer, I had a last minute interview yesterday morning and was offered a 6th grade language arts and math position! I tearfully accepted and celebrated by buying school supplies :D

School starts in one week!

1-Year Anniversary/Father's Day 2010/Matilda's Birthday!

Today is a big day--

It's Dylan and my one year anniversary!
Time is a funny thing. I can't believe the wedding was 365 days ago, but at the same time, it feels like we've been married forever. Our life and love doesn't feel much different than it did 3 1/2 years ago when we started dating. We still stare at one another, asking "is this real?" Things that have changed: we don't play Othello as much, Dylan has a "real job," we're dealing with a perpetual health insurance nightmare, we have a puppy who we love and adore. Married life could not be better, and I couldn't imagine a more perfect husband than Dylan.

Father's Day!




I'm cooking up a storm today! I offered to make dinner for Father's Day with my in-laws.
Here's the menu:

Roasted Vegetable Lasagne
Tomato Salad with Red Onion and Fresh Herbs
Spinach salad with feta and strawberries
French Baguette
Lemon Blueberry Cream Puffs

Last night I went to Trader Joe's and had the most efficient trip ever. I stuck to the grocery list with the exception of two bottles of wine: Green Fin White Table Wine and Ruggero di Tasso’s Nero d’Avola. Both were under $5, but both came recommended, so we'll see!

The eggplant, peppers, and zucchini are roasted, the lemon curd is cooling, I'm just about to add fontina and basil to finish the béchamel. After I assemble the lasagne, I'll make the blueberry sauce and cream puff shells, then I'm going to have some play time with Matilda on the rug I bought last night:

It's soft and pretty and makes our living room feel like a room. And Matilda can't stop rolling around on it. Which brings me to the third landmark today:





Matilda's Birthday!
Pets Without Parents didn't know exactly how old Matilda was when we adopted her last October, but they listed her birthday as sometime the first week of June. We decided to celebrate June 20. She gives me and Dylan immeasurable love and joy, and we can't imagine a better puppy.

Wedding Album!

We received our albums last week in time for Mother's Day! Our moms seemed to love them, and overall Dylan and I are happy with their quality and price. It's been a lot of fun have one around to flip through and smile about :). Here's a link: