double dark chocolate banana loaf

3 Comments

we saw this loaf (well, not this one but a nice looking one at the market.)  We wanted to get it but I said, ‘well, we have frozen bananas in the freezer at home.’ Z said, ‘I’ll just make it at home then.’  Z made this chocolate banana loaf with dark chocolate chips on Sunday.  There are several great things about this.

  • people in his office think I made it
  • it has the word loaf in the name
  • he bakes
  • chocolate
  • he is an awesome baker
  • it is a good way to use random bananas I throw in the freezer when they get squashy

There is one bad thing.

  • this photo 🙂

1 stick butter, softened to room temp
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
2 large overripe bananas (mashed)
1 t. vanilla
1 cup flour
2 T baking soda
2 T cocoa powder
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup of chocolate chips (we used dark)

preheat oven to 350.  Lightly grease a 9 X 5 loaf pan (we used three mini’s).  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar.  Stir in egg, squashy banana, sour cream, and vanilla until well mixed.  Add baking soda, cocoa and flour and mix a couple of minutes with mixer (kitchenaid or hand blender). Add chcocolate chips and give a quick stir.
Pour bater into pans and bake for 45-50 minutes.  I don’t know what sea vs mtns does to this but ours took 45 minutes.  We checked at 30 and 40 minutes with a bamboo skewer for gooey ness.  Remove from oven and cool on a rack for 10 or 15 minutes before turning out.   Share.

Z found the original recipe on savorysweetlife.com

meatloaf, pickled mustard seed and tomato relish

1 Comment

 

last night we had a couple of friends over for dinner.  We found some amazing looking ciabatta at the Fresh Market and found this ‘wichcraft sandwich to pile it into.  Tom Collichio’s meatloaf with a slow cooked tomato curry relish and bloomed pickled mustard seeds with cheddar and bacon.  It ain’t your mom’s meatloaf!  The monsoon let loose right before they arrived and the lights went out for a moment.  The Florida rainy season doesn’t stop us!  We finished off the night with slices of homemade chocolate banana bread with dark chocolate chips.

croissant gourmet

1 Comment

It was nuclearly hot today-94 with a heat index of 106 which isn’t for the faint hearted and we had to wait for a short train to cross the tracks to the Winter Park Farmers Market today as I was taken on a lunch date to Croissant Gourmet today where I had a lovely warm flaky buttery (do you need more?) french ham and swiss cheese filled croissant with bechamel (think Croque Monsieur.)  It wasn’t dampy or limp like I expect from humidity.  We sat and watched the people walk past the window and cooled down while we ate lunch and passed the time.  A lovely Saturday.

not strictly food

Leave a comment

 

Z spent two Saturdays building Walter a tower.  I was rather skeptical.  I like it ok but design it is not.  Note the dwarfed dining room chair at left and my arm at right.  It is very tall, and as his mom says, elaborate.   Walter loves it.

picadillo

Leave a comment

there have been quite a few things to steal my cooking and adventuring thunder lately.  Namely the heat and humidity of summer and a deeply rooted tiredness that comes with hard work.  Most of my energies have been expended in reviewing and updating a warehouse, reviewing new point of sale software and cross training and blending a staff while I learn the ins and outs of numerous inventory systems, printing and publishing books and keeping up with an astonishing staff of volunteers, long time missionaries and new ones.
Recently on Facebook I saw that someone I work with had noticed she had taken something of a blog break this summer and I can see where I have done the same.  I think this is life in a nutshell; to have ups and downs alongside times of busyness punctuated by slowdowns or at least the brief distractions of rest.  I am hoping the weather cools soon although it being July in Florida that is a vague dream.  I am hoping my internal fires get stirred up for cuisine and cooking a bit more than they have been.
We made a slow cooked picadillo last night which is a sweet Cuban chili type dish served with arroz amarillo.  Not Z’s favorite with it’s sweet undertones of raisins and salty hits of pimiento stuffed olives but I can see where it is a pantry cleaning comfort dish when topped with a fried egg (a cabello-on horseback).  It takes me back to a rice dish I had in Spain of rice that had been shaped in a mold and filled with an egg and lightly sauced with red sauce that I remember as a revelation which fills me with hope that things will be looking up as long as I am.