Junque Food - Banana Bread with a twist!

We have a TON of dehydrated bananas that are sitting on our food shelves, for the simple reason that DaHusband-Man went crazy and bought several dozen bunches of, specifically for dehydrating and storing.

Actually, that's not entirely true.  We love banana chips, and figured that they were the same as dehydrated chips. 

OH.

NO.

THEY.

WEREN'T.

come to find out, banana chips are deep fried, usually in coconut or palm oil. Not exactly healthy for you.

So we have all these jars of banana chips, that are CHEWY as all get out. We tried lots of things to make them palatable. We did the lemon wash so they wouldn't completely turn brown during dehydration.  We sprinkled cinnamon on them (He liked those, I didn't).  We were figuring it was a bust for the snacking dept, but they were something that could sit on our shelves, and we'd have them if we needed. 

So they sat.

For a year. and then another year. 

Until I couldn't stand it anymore, and decided to try to re-hydrate a few of them. I was in the mood for banana bread, but I didn't have any fresh (or over-ripe) on hand.

So I took a loose cup full of them and ran just enough water to cover them. and I let them sit for about an hour.  They soaked up the water, and were instant banana mush. Perfect for bread!

Banana Bread - this is the exact same recipe I used, but I found it already typed in Food and Garden Dailies. Thank you for saving me the time typing from out of my cookbook!

(Better Homes & Gardens, I got it in 1988)

In a large mixing bowl combine:

     1 cup all purpose flour
     2/3 cup sugar
     2 tsp baking powder
    1/2 tsp baking soda
    1/4 tsp salt

Add to the bowl and mix:
     1 cup mashed bananas (2-3 medium)
     1/3 cup shortening, margarine, or butter
     2 TB milk

Add to the bowl and mix:
     3/4 cup flour
     2 eggs

Stir in:
     1/4 cup chopped nuts

I actually skipped the nuts, but put in a cup of butterscotch chips....'cause that's how I roll.

Pour batter into a greased 8 x 4 x 2" loaf pan.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack.  Remove from pan and cool thoroughly on a wire rack.  Makes one loaf (16 slices).

Oh my.  it was good.  The only reason that I knew this bread was made with dehydrated bananas was that the bread had SUPER BANANA FLAVOR (complete with echo).

It was definitely a success, and now I know I can make banana bread anytime I want. We have tons of banana chips just waiting.....

Junque Food

On Saturday, I made my weekly sojourn to the Farmer's Market. Oh how I love looking at the bright flowers and veggies all lined up for sale. Unfortunately, the pickings were a little more sparse this week. I believe it was due to a combination of use getting there an hour before it closed, hence, most of the stuff was sold already, and probably due the fact that this is the time of the growing season where there's a slight lull.  The cold weather crops, such as lettuces, spinach, rhubarb, and sugar snap peas are winding down as the weather warms up, and the hot weather crops, such as tomatoes, peppers, plus everything else that takes 90 days or more to grow isn't ready for harvest yet.

I had read about a local artisan breadmaker in a local newsblog. I was hoping for a chance to speak with her, as the article as about her flax seed bread that she makes with no sugar. NO SUGAR? You heard me. No sugar. I had to ask her how she did it, because I was always under the impression that yeast needs fuel to rise. Here's a little secret about me: I'm shy. I hate walking up to people I don't know and engaging in conversation. Well, hate is wee bit strong, but I definitely get heart palpitations. But I really was curious, so I sucked it up and went to go speak to this woman. I really shouldn't have worried. She was bright and welcoming, and instantly offered a sample of her bread - a standard ice breaker. And it was wonderful! crusty on the outside, soft and chewy (but not in the over-processed way of commercial breads) on the inside. I mentioned that I'd seen the write up on her in the local newsblog, and she beamed, and bubbled, and said that she'd gotten quite a response from it.. And so our conversation took off.

I asked her about the no-sugar thing, and she explained that yeast doesn't *need* the sugar for fuel, but sugar does help in making the bread rise faster. She told me how long she lets her bread rise (first rise usually overnight in the fridge), how she prefers to cook it open on a baking stone, and much more. I was in baker heaven.


As you might remember from a previous blog, I make my own bread, but due to time constraints, and the fact that I have a bum wing,, I now make it in a bread machine. I'm seriously contemplating ditching the machine, and going back to the old fashioned way. I've also had very dim success with incorporating wheat and other grains into the bread. Could it be something so simple as hurrying my dough too fast, that led to less than desireable results? Quite possibly. This is stunning to my brain. I can slow it down, and have a better result! I am all about slow! I constantly think I must have been a turtle in a past life. I can do slow! Why don't they tell you these things in the cookbooks???

Da Hubster and discussed the bread making process on the way home from the farmer's market. He and I came up with the conclusion that the addition of sugar (or honey, or whatever is *needed* to feed the yeast) was added in during the course of time to speed things up, and it might possibly be another link in the "make it fast & plentiful* part of society that has contributed to our overweight society. It's certainly feasible. I made a small joke about sugar making the bread diabetic, and he gave a small chuckle, but seriously, folks. It's a metaphor for life...slow things can be better for you. I'm certainly going to continue to plod along, and let the slow food movement continue the right the wrongs I've done to my body over the years.

If you want to know about this wonderful lady I met on Saturday, you can look her up at www.thetravelingchef.org. Or find her on FaceBook at The Traveling Chef.  And if you local to me, you can find Lizz at the Downtown Racine Farmer's Market on Saturdays.

P.S.I also bought about a pound of sugar snap peas. I'm going to try that pickled sugar snap pea recipe I talked about in the last blog post! I'll keep you posted!

Musings from the Junque Pile

Good Morning!   The weather might cooperate today. It is supposed to be 60 and mostly sunny. Not quite shorts weather, but after the insanity that comprised of this past week, I'll take it.  We had 3 days of almost 100 degree weather earlier in the week, then temps plummeted to the 50's with lots of fog and rain. My poor tomatoes have no idea what do with themselves. My peppers are growing, though not as fast as I would like.

The rains damaged some of my strawberry blossoms, and I'm hoping they were already visited by the bee fairies and were already fertilized. I will be checking on them later today to see if there are any burgeoning berries. If I don't, I will lop off the damaged blossoms and see if I can coax the plants to re-bloom. These strawberries are heavy producers, and I can usually get them to bloom 2 to 3 times during their month of production.

The bin of potatoes that was constructed by DaMan has sprouted! I am so excited about this as it is our first time growing potatoes.

I am serious need of hacking back some of the more over-zealous herbs. The oregano, as usual is dominating the sage. I need to take it down a peg or twelve.

This year I planted borage, a lessor known herb. I want to see what it does, and it is purported to bring in bees and butterflies to our yard. We get a pretty heavy traffic of butterflies, which are always a joy to watch.

I need to get off my duff and plant the rest of my containers. I want to put chamomile in one, dill in another, and loofa in another.  That's right, I said LOOFAH!  LOL. Those sponges that you scrub yourself in the shower with?  Those! I saw a packet of seeds at the store earlier this spring, and I amazed. I never gave a thought to loofah, or if I did, I thought it was a sea sponge. But no, it's a squash!  You can even eat it. The packet says that if you pick it early, it can be sliced and sauteed like a zucchini. Or you can let it mature on the vine, and dry it for your very own personal scrubby.  How amazing is that? Anyway, I can't wait to try it. And report back to you, of course.  :)

I also need to get my booty to the nursery for a couple of flats of marigolds. DaMan and I like to plant them in between the veggies we are growing as a deterrent to rodents and some insects. Since we are not usually overrun by either, we want to keep up the tradition. Plus, it's a little bit of flowery colorfulness in and amongst the veggies. They have a strong menthol smell to them, which, I believe is part of the deterrent.

In other news, I spent a couple of hours trimming up our dog, Muffett, yesterday. The poor old girl had lots of winter coat that needed to be shed. She's got a very Wooky like coat, but her undercarriage and legs grow silky hair that doesn't take well to being buzzed with the electric clippers. So we sat outside yesterday afternoon, and she let me attack her fur with the scissors. She looks pretty good. Now, I need to clip her nails. She is NOT going to like that at all.

I also spent a good portion of yesterday cooking for the week.  I made a hugs vat of spaghetti sauce, that will also do double duty as pizza sauce. A loaf of bread was made, as well as a double batch of chicken curry salad for sandwiches.  We will be eating well on the micro-mini ranch this week!

Junque Food - Put a little spice in your life

I used to be a mail order catalog Ho. Yes, I said HO. Back in the day, you could see me at any time perusing catalogs for clothes, housewares, etc. I would look and look and wishfully fantasize about all the stuff I could get. Occasionally, I would buy something, and pace in front of the door waiting for it to arrive, gleefully tear off the packing tape, and rip through the packaging peanuts when it finally did.

Those days are over. Economics and a little bit of maturity have caused me to give up the majority of my catalogs. It is too depressing to constantly look at shiny pages of items I can't afford. Besides, my  life has gone in a different direction, and I constantly tell myself that I'm trying to downsize my "stuff" not add to to it.

But there is one catalog that I get and still relish. Penzey's spices. What a great catalog this is! And no, they aren't paying me to say it (but they could if they wanted!) They work hard at making it more than just a catalog in that they invite readers to share stores about their families, and the cooking that they do, using (of course) Penzey's Spices. Some of the most heartfelt stories are published in their catalog. People reminiscing about growing up in their mother's kitchens, learning to cook, their father's time honored recipes for batter frying fish caught on a lazy weekend. I get choked up a lot. It's not uncommon to see my blowing my nose while reading this catalog. How amazing is that?


What kinds of memories does cooking bring back for me? I thought about it, and I have to say not so many of my youth. I had no interest in learning to cook as a child. My grandmother did most of the cooking for special occasions, and mostly, I was just interested in eating, than I was about the prep for it. It took me many years of trial and error before I learned to enjoy cooking and baking. Now, smells coming from the kitchen mean more to me than they did as a child. Coming home from work, and smelling a curry that DaMan has created that afternoon will positively make me swoon as I come in the door. Baking a loaf of bread overnight will give me sweet dreams, and a happy wake up call in the morning.

Does spices affect your lives? Is there a smell or a taste that brings back fond memories? Tell me about it.  And go sign up for that catalog.. You will love it. I know I do!

Penzey's Catalog Request Page

Junque Pile

The holiday weekend has been nice, with a few bumps in the road, but that's to be expected, right?  Saturday started out with a trip to the local farmer's market, where we bought some of the tomato and pepper plants. We have a favorite vendor there, a life-long multi-generation farmer woman who always takes the time to talk to us, and give up hints and tips on growing. She also sells lots of heirloom variety plants, and we have had great luck with her plants. She's friendly, knowledgeable, and a hoot to chat with.  I believe she's got a secret crush on the Hubster, and it's reciprocated, even though he won't admit it.

It's not normally too early in the season to plant the warm weather veggies, but the spring has been so cloudy and cold, most of the tomatoes and peppers aren't as robust looking as they normally are. But we make do, right?

picture borrowed from www.plantertomato.com

We like to buy farm eggs at the market when we can, but the ultra-premium price they go for here is not conducive to our family budget. At least some of the time. This past Saturday we decided to splurge when we say another vendor was selling duck eggs. Never having had them, we chatted the seller up on the difference between duck and chicken eggs. They are larger, richer, with a bigger and more vibrant yolk. If you've had farm fresh eggs vs. store bought commercially laid chicken eggs, you know the yolks are more vibrant in and of themselves. Duck eggs go way beyond!  We brought them home, lovingly cradled in my arms, and I set to work frying up a couple for us. Delicious! The whole meal was.  I felt all down home. Bacon, a fried duck egg, and toast made of home made bread. It was almost a religious experience. If the city I live in won't give in and let the residents keep chickens (a cause I've helped lobby in the past), I'm going to smuggle a couple of ducks in here, I swear it.  :)

The weather precluded us from planting a lot, though the Hubster did construct a cage for growing potatoes. We were originally going to grow them in a set of leftover tires from our car, but after researching on the net, he decided that a cage of landscaper's cloth filled with straw would be more to his liking. He planted a good 4 lbs worth of potato eyes, while I attempted to weed the herb garden and the poor pitiful strawberry garden.

The soil has been to wet to mess with the strawberries, and as a result, the grass has started to take over the patch. But when I saw that they were struggling to put out their pretty little blossoms, I knew I had to do something. So Sunday, I was delicately weeding in and amongst the strawberry crowns, trying not to disturb them, while ripping out the grass. Thankfully, Hubster was smart and got a couple of extra bales of straw, as we hear it makes for great mulch, and weed suppressor.

When it was storming too much, or the fog was too thick, we'd come inside and do the normal weekend things every body does, cook, clean, etc. I attempted to make some home made hamburger and hot dog buns, with a 50% success rate. I made the buns too small, anticapating that they would grow larger after the last rise.  Not so much, unfortunately. Next time I will try not to be so frugal and squeeze more buns out of the batch. Either that or we will have to have teeny tiny burgers.  LOL.  Check out the recipe I used here: Belle's Hamburger Bun recipe on Allrecipes.com.

On a sad note, my microwave died on Sunday.  It was a quick and most likely a painless death for the poor overworked thing. It was a gift from one of Hubster's cousins, and we'd had it for most of the time we've been co-habbing (about 8 years). I was heating something up, and it just shut down. I thought that the circuit breaker blew, as it occasionally does. The fridge and the microwave are on the same circuit, and they occasionally fight each other for current (it's an older house).  But no, the circuit didnt need to be reset, and the fridge was still running. I guess the fridge won that little battle.

I breifly contemplated running and experiment where we see how long we can go without a microwave before Mr and Mrs Junque kill each other, then I slapped myself upside the said and told myself to get real. I may be all for "Living the Simple Life," but there's simple, and then there's simple.  Right?

Today, the weather god's have promised sunshine and warm temps. I'm holding them to their promise, and we will get those tomatoes and peppers planted.  We will also get the cukes, zuke, and loofa seeds in their appointed spots and make the appropriate genuflections to the above named gods that the weather becomes summer like, and the seeds germinate.  I draw the line at ritual killings, but do you think they would take an offering of some misshapen hamburger buns??

Junque Food

"Isn't she lovely? Isn't she wonderful?" I have to say, DaMan and I are contenders in the home made pizza arena. We've got it down to a science, but it's kind of fun, too.

I make the pizza dough in batches of four, and freeze them. I make the sauce ahead of time and freeze it too. The toppings are always what we have on hand. Now that summer's coming, the variety will change, as veggies will be plucked from our garden and thrown on a whim.

This pizza was topped with pepperoni, cheese, pickled banana peppers, and fresh spinach from the garden. And it was heavenly. Now, I'm not saying that I will never order for pizza delivery again, but I tell you, when you can make it so easily, it's hard to justify dialing up Domino's.

My online friend, Cherry, gave me her recipe for pizza dough.  She said she found it online long enough ago that she doesn't remember where, but has tweaked the recipe enough that it probably doesn't matter.


Pizza Crust

1 package yeast (or 2 1/4 tablespoons if you buy your yeast in bulk)
1 tsp sugar
1 c very warm water
2 1/2 c bread flour
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp italian seasoning ( I just used powdered garlic and crushed basil)

Combine the water, yeast and sugar. Let it rest til the yeast starts to bubble (about 10 minutes). Add half the flour, the oil, salt, and Italian seasoning, Gradually add as much flour as needed to make a soft dough, Dump onto floured surface and knead for 5 to 6 minutes. Let rest for 20 to 30 minutes. Divide into 2 equal portions. Roll out to desired thickness/size. I usually prebake the crust for 6 to 7 minutes at 400, top, and bake another 6 to 7 minutes. Of course, the baking times will vary with how thick or thin you roll your crust.

I also poke the crust with a fork several times just before putting it in the oven for the blind bake so that it doesn't puff up any more. We like our crust thin here at the micro mini-ranch.

As I said, I double this recipe, and make 4 crusts at a time. I ball the unbaked crust into ziplock baggies and freeze what I won't use in a week. Cherry has said that she rolls out her crusts and does the first bake, then freezes them. If I had more space in my freezer, I would probably do the same thing, as it would be quicker to throw the end product together at night after I get home from work, but I don't.  The frozen dough takes about 2 hours to thaw, or is thawed if I take it out in the morning and put it in the fridge before work.  It's a little wet and sticky, but that is handled by tossing on a bit of flour and doing a quick knead prior to rolling out.  The dough also stays fresh in the fridge for about a week.

I challenge you all to make a fresh pizza from the ground up. Tell me what fresh veggies you use, odd combos that work for you and your family. Making something from scratch is so satisfying, isn't it?

Junque Food

In an effort to try to live a little more economically, to eat somewhat more wholesomely, Da Hubster and I have been making our bread for a good year now. This is not a very original idea, seeing as people have made their own bread since the invention of fire. Hey, if I could make little loaves on hot stones in the back yard, I would be all over that! Imagine what a conversation starter that would be when you have people over for dinner! But I digress…

We used to make by hand, with all the kneading and letting it rise, etc. the various recipes we tried called for, but there are times when time is just not on our side. So we set out to find a cheap yet durable bread machine. We checked out local garage sales, the second-hand stores were a bust, and retail outlets in our area only sold brands or models that did not get great online reviews. We thought about buying a more expensive model online, but paying for shipping chaffed our budget. And then a co-worker mentioned that she had one and wanted to get rid of it. SCORE! I actually ended up trading her a discontinued crafting die-cutter kit that I never used for the bread machine. DOUBLE SCORE! Cleaned out some clutter AND got something in return that pulls it's weight around here. *glares at lazy cats*

So, it still takes 4 hours to make a loaf of bread, but I don’t have to knead it. We usually set it to run overnight, and let me tell you, the smell of fresh baked bread when you wake up in the morning is PHENOM (A NOM NOM).

Here is the simplest and most often used recipe in our house. Please make sure to read the manufacturer's instructions for your particular bread machine. Dump these ingredients into the machine in the order they are listed:

• 1 cup hot water
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast (this is equal to one packet)

Close the lid and wait 10 minutes. After 10 minutes or so, peek in and make sure there is bubbling. If so, you are good to go! Proceed by adding:

• ¼ cup veggie oil
• 3 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt

Close lid and press button for the first cycle or "Basic" (however it reads on your machine). Go about your business. 3 ½ hours later, your home is going to smell so freaking wonderful, you will have to sit on your hands to keep from ripping the undercooked loaf of bread out of your machine and gnawing on it. Try to restrain yourself.  :)

Now, if someone could only teach me how to slice bread evenly, I'd be IN!


Here’s an extra tip. Because there are no preservatives in your newly made bread, it doesn’t last as long as a store bought loaf. We’ve eaten the bread up to a week after making it, having sealed it in a plastic baggie, but it does tend to lose some of its awesome flavor after a few days. It’s not bad, so if you can finish the loaf, great, but what I’ve been doing is taking the leftover heels and stuff, and freezing them. When I’m making a salad, I’ll take a heel of bread – cube it, toss with a little olive oil, garlic, and seasonings, and toast them on a cookie sheet in the oven at around 400f. ***CROUTONS! And soooo much better than store bought. Any left over croutons do best in a ziplock baggy with a small square of paper towel to soak up any extra oil, or any moisture that might not have baked out of bread. But there probably won’t be any leftovers. They are that good.

(picture from www.mydish.co.uk )