Category: Bread

Quest for the Best Banana Bread – Sprinkled to Perfection

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This past weekend we made a trip to our old home in Minnesota. It was our first trip back since we moved and it came with some mixed emotions. I knew it was going to be hard to see our old house. We have so many memories there – three years of little Mr. N, many great friends, weekend adventures, tons of wildlife and of course, bringing home baby Miss A. It was very hard for me to leave the very first place I truly felt at home as an adult with my new family. (Not to mention my old kitchen – gosh, do I miss that room. 😉 ) 

That said it is a beautiful part of the world and my sadness didn’t last long. It was quickly ushered out when we saw a buck standing outside our old house, hiked to the top of a bluff with our good friends, enjoyed a play date with Mr. N’s old friends at our favorite park, watched a bald eagle soaring overhead as we kayaked, and ate several meals at our favorite sandwich place. Continue reading →

Quest for the Best Banana Bread – Ontario Style

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Like the Falls, our quest keeps on going.

It’s back! Our quest for the best banana bread. This is our sixth installment and we still have a few more recipes to go.  Tonight’s Canadian version was sent to us by A_Boleyn and adapted from Edna Staebler’s Food That Really Schmecks. Edna Staebler is a Canadian author, known for a series of cookbooks which are based on Mennonite home cooking from the Waterloo region of Ontario. It only seemed fitting to include this recipe while we’re on our Ontario cooking adventure.

The recipe began in a familiar way. We creamed the shortening, eggs and sugar in a bowl.

My little sous chef was on hand as usual for the banana bread. She’ll be able to make this stuff in her sleep soon! Continue reading →

Any Way You Want It

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I doubt that Journey was referring to Cornbread in their 1980 hit. 

Just look at that hair! I love it! LOL.

But back to cornbread. Cornbread is one of those dishes that you can easily customize to suit your own tastes. Personally Mike and I prefer it spicy and cheesy, but the kids aren’t big fans of heat. So while we were in Maine we created a version that they would find more appetizing.

This recipe is a blend between one that Greg over at Rufus’ Food and Spirits Guide created a few weeks back, and a the version that Mr. N and I made at his cooking class back in June. We started by mixing all the dry ingredients in one bowl – corn meal, flour, sea salt and baking powder. Then we mixed all the wet ingredients in another bowl – honey, eggs and buttermilk. Next we made a well in the dry ingredients, poured the wet ingredients into the well and combined.

For our “custom” ingredients we used what we had on hand, frozen corn kernels, Vermont two-year aged Cheddar cheese and chives.  Continue reading →

Quest for the Best Banana Bread – Tropical Twist

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A few weeks ago, when we were cooking our “tropical” recipes from Florida and Bermuda, we decided to try a tropical twist version of banana bread. This version is very different from any of those we tried before and when I saw it on Katerina’s blog, Diethood, I knew we had to add it to our quest.

Miss A, my banana bread assistant chef, was at the ready with her pastry blender to sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Continue reading →

Three Going on Twenty Three

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Birth Day 2008

We’ve got another reason to celebrate in our house – Miss A’s third birthday! Our little baby girl is growing up and way too fast for our liking. Some days it certainly seems like she’s three going on twenty three. Take her birthday meal request for instance. Here’s how the conversation went: “What do you want for your birthday dinner?” Miss A responded without hesitation, “Cookies.”

“Yes, honey, but what do you want to eat before the cookies.”

“Cookies.” (Gotta love her determination.)

“You have to eat dinner before the cookies – your special birthday dinner. You can pick any dinner you want.”

“Um. Something hard. A hard recipe. And balsamic.”

“Balsamic? You want me to make something that’s hard to make and use balsamic?”

“Yep.”

Continue reading →

Quest for the Best Banana Bread Numero Cuatro

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A few months back we started our quest for the best banana bread. In large part it was due to this recipe. Several years ago when we lived in Minnesota, a good friend brought over her banana bread. At the time it had been years since I had actually had any banana bread. I knew I liked banana bread, but since making it with my dad I had never really been wowed by it. That is until I took a bite of Doree’s banana bread. I was hooked – we were all hooked.

I kept telling Doree that she should sell this stuff to the local coffee shops. It is that good. Throughout our years in Minnesota Doree kept us supplied with this wonderful treat (It came in particularly handy when I was pregnant with Miss A!). After several months away from Minnesota and in our new hometown, I began craving this bread. I was so honored when Doree shared this recipe with us and so excited when it turned out just as good as her’s.

Doree’s banana bread is loaded with bananas, four or five to be exact. We combined the bananas with the other wet ingredients in a large mixing bowl and beat them together. The wet ingredients include eggs, vegetable oil, buttermilk and vanilla. Continue reading →