The bananas were looking a bit pekid yesterday so I decided to make some banana bread. I think this is probably my best batch ever and I may never try a new banana bread recipe again. It vanished almost immediately which I'll take as a positive review.
Julie's Banana Bread
1/2 cup softened unsalted butter
3/4 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large bananas, peeled and cut into chunks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking spice (from Penzey's)
1 cup chopped pecans (freshly shelled paper shell ones in my case)
1 cup mini chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until well mixed. Add bananas and vanilla and mix thoroughly. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking spice, baking powder and baking soda then add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and beat just until mixed. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts. Transfer to a 9 x 9 baking pan and bake at 350 F for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer bread to a cooling rack and cool completely.
With all the chaos that spring and a high school graduation bring I've been sticking to simple quick suppers. This week we have pasta with broccoli rabe and hot Italian sausage (some onion and garlic thrown in as well). The broccoli rabe can just go in for the last 5 minutes with the pasta and the onions and sausage brown in the pan together nicely with garlic added the last 60 seconds. Drain pasta and broccoli rabe and toss together with the meat mixture in a large bowl. Dinner in about 20 minutes, you can't beat that.
Here is the last of my Sock Madness secrets. This is Fire on the Mountain, a sock pattern I created for a swap I was in last fall and then adapted for Sock Madness competition. The red ones are the gift socks and those were knit for feet larger than mine so I wanted a cast on that would be loose enough. I used a tubular cast on that leaves a little side vent so I've got a bit of insurance that they won't be too tight going on. (That worked by the way, they were not too tight on the cuff.) My pal likes things hot and spicy and while searching for yarn for her I ran across Rock Creek Yarn's Kilauea and was smitten. I pulled out every one of my stitch dictionaries but found just what I wanted in Latvian Dreams. At the top of the cuff there is a chart that looks a bit like little mountains or volcanoes to me and then around the leg and down the top of the foot is another chart that is a bit like flowing lava. The charts are done stranded and the heel and toe are done in solid since the stranded section uses a bit less of the stranded yarn. I knit the black sock in March as a double check on my numbers for the medium sized sock and I have to say it's my favorite. Just a few more rounds on Lucky Diamond's heel and then I can get busy on FotM #2 for a pair of my very own. Once Sock Madness is over and done I'll release FotM for sale on Ravlery if anyone should be so inclined.
