This is a treat! If you have bananas that get over ripe... don't throw them out! Send them to me!!! Or, put them in the freezer for up to 6 months and wait for that day when you want some banana bread. (You can do the same with zucchini if you shred it first).
So, you want to make bread, and have some (at least 3) frozen bananas? Thaw the bananas in a mixing bowl. After they thaw, dump out any banana juice from the bowl (sometimes it makes too much liquid). Peel the bananas and smash them well in the bowl. Decide how many batches you want to make. I usually do a double recipe.
One cup of mashed bananas makes one batch and fits well into two 4 by 9 bread pans or twelve muffin cups if you want to do that instead.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 Cup Flour (all purpose is fine)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda (have you switched to aluminum free yet?)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (yeah, I don't measure this part... I know I probably double this)
1 egg (my favorite eggs are from my family's hens, or buy humane labeled if you can find it)
1/4 cup oil (I always use olive oil for baking)
1 cup mashed bananas (previously frozen are sweetest)
3/4 cup sugar (I actually use 1/2 cup, especially if I use frozen bananas)
Juice of one lemon, or about 2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon butter (real butter works best, not margarine, sorry ma)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional, but you loose that roasty flavor)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional, but not really cause it's chocolate)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Add the chopped walnuts to an 8 x 8 pan and flatten them to a single layer, place them in the oven until they start to brown (about 15 to 20 minutes). Remove them and put the butter on to coat the nuts well.
In a small mixing bowl (bigger if you do a double batch) combine the mashed bananas, egg, oil, sugar and lemon juice. Set aside.
In a larger mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon (want some nutmeg, add that too).
Make a well in the center of the dry mixture. Add the wet ingredients and blend just until it's combined. Add the toasty nuts and chocolate chips til combined. You should be able to stand a spoon up in the batter easily.
Spoon batter into two buttered bread pans (If you don't have stoneware pans, and you like to bake bread, definitely put them on your list! I don't make them for sale yet, but I will. I made the ones you see in the photo). Or you can make muffins if you like.
Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, testing with a toothpick (or wooden skewer like I do) every 5 minutes. Bread is done when the stick comes out clean (assuming you don't stab a chocolate chip...) In the case of muffins, start testing at about 30 minutes.
Enjoy!!!
We are both a little nuts. Should I tell her this could be copyright infringement?
See the full line of TP jewelry at my online store. If you need some TP jewelry now, go into the bathroom and make your own. They could be great for those times when the public restroom is out of TP... or maybe if you prefer a nice two ply quilted to the single ply public restroom TP that is less generous than even cheap brown paper towels. 
Maggie enjoys the new sittable window sills. She doesn't usually allow me to photograph her, so she must really like them. Another thing we want to do to this room is add large saltillo tiles after installing radiant floor heat. That project may take a while. Ultimetly we want new flooring and radiant heat housewide.
In the meantime, it has been snowing outside. We took a snowy 5 mile walk back and forth to the grocery store for something other than canned food. I am looking forward to a salad. Its been 3 weeks since we had been to the store. We got as much as we could carry and when we got home, cleaned the snow off the greenhouse. I was suprized at how much weight it could handle, but didn't want to continue to test it.
They are forecasting more snow, but we hope that it clears well enough by Sunday to have family over for the delayed Christmas party. I'll keep you posted of course.
I checked my e-mail to see if I would need to ship anything that was not already packed up and made a note in my account that there will be no special shipping due to plumbing. Sorry all, but if you waited this long here is the lesson for next year. I guess I am mean that way anyway, but we will blame the weather.
We are in the middle of a project anyway, and capable of doing what we need to do to repair plumbing. The hard part is doing so with "stock on hand", seeing as how driving in the ice and snow is not an option for us hill dwellers.
It's not a lot of activity for some, but I feel really disorganized, and I hate that. You see, I am the one the family calls "Martha". I'm in no way, shape or form Martha. It seems that whomever in each family is even remotely domestic and knows how to bake and make things is that families "Martha". I haven't even done my Christmas cards or neighborly goodies myself yet! I don't even have stamps!!!! I can mail a package to Australia no problem, but I cannot seem to get a nice stamp to mail a simple Christmas card. Cards which are quickly becoming New Year cards.
This is so far what we have done this week. We are not done and the plaster on the walls is not dry yet. It will look different when it is dry. Then we add another coat including mica. Um, and Maggie says hello, I would like to be in the photo, but only if I am blurry.
The frames are done and the walls are primed with sanded primer for the American Clay Plaster. The cedar windowsills have been stained a dark rich brown and set into the deep window frame. They really look wonderful, and I will have color photos as soon as I can take a respectable one. :)
So step one was taping up the wall and ceiling.
So that's what is completed for now. The hardest part is remaining patient while we wait for things to dry during certain steps in the process. It's on it's way though! Stay tuned!
Tricyrtis Hirta "Miyazaki" (ToadLily) taken from our garden.
Learn how to navigate the controls on the camera and mess around with the settings to see what they do. There are some important settings that I use every day, and some that I rarely even bother with. An important one is the MACRO setting. Using the camera in this mode will allow you to place the camera very closely to the subject so that you can get more detail.
This photo was taken using direct sunlight as a light source (with the camera set on sunlight setting). It gives the camera plenty of light but I dislike the harsh shadows and glare that show up. I think they detract from the item itself.
The third photo uses the same sunlight (and setting) behind a white sheer curtain. It cuts the glare and harsh shadows and I think it shows the item best. Another option I would use would to place a white paper behind the subject to catch the light and reflect it... but that is a little more detailed than I want to go into...
In any case, it's a great first step, even if it means working with numb fingers in the winter. And we have a stump (actually 2) to remove...
