Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Deadlines, Revisits and The End

I don't know about y'all but I'm loving these revisits. Not because they're easy, but because it's like a Best-of. The Who's Who of some of our favorite recipes. So while Jan and I succumb to deadline mania, you get to reap the rewards.

What do you do when your bananas look like this? 
Well, in my house, it calls for a batch of banana nut bread. Over the years I've tried lots of different recipes. Some good, some not so good. The recipe I'm going to share with you today is one of the best I've tried. Of course, it's courtesy of Martha Stewart, so what would you expect.

You're going to need:
  • 1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups flour (Martha says unbleached all-purpose; I used the better-for-bread variety)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan or four smaller pans (I opted for the smaller pans).

With an electric mixer (perhaps one named Edna), cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs and beat well.
Sift the dry ingredients together and combine with the butter mixture.


Blend well. Add the bananas, sour cream (the ingredient I think makes this recipe stand out), and vanilla. Stir well. (I used my electric mixer on the lowest speed)

Stir in the nuts.

Pour into prepared pan(s).

For one large pan, the instructions are to back for one hour, until a cake tester comes out clean. For my four small loaves, I found 40 minutes to be just right.
Turn baked loaves onto rack to cool.

I love keeping these little guys in the freezer so they're ready whenever I need them. Sometimes, I'll put them in a cellophane bag with a pretty ribbon and give them as gifts.
Of course, they also go perfect with cup of tea. I'm having a little one-on-one with some Cream Earl Green. He's so smooth, you know.

Tea's on, gang. Who's ready to join me?

Okay, even deadlines can't keep me from my tea. It's the fuel I need to keep my brain cells firing.
So I've got a Nov. 1st deadline. Yesterday I typed THE END on my rough draft. 
Okay, so my rough isn't that rough. Now it's on to the polishing. A little spit, some elbow grease and, Lord willing, that puppy will come out shining like a diamond. Or at least a CZ. 
And while THE END isn't really the end, there's something about getting the story out of your head and onto the page. Wouldn't you agree?
Now I can fix whatever's wrong. But the story is complete.
Of course, it's just a matter of time before the next characters come knocking.
And so goes the life of a writer.

10 comments:

  1. girl you must have one heck of a freezer all these goodies you tuck in there! I could eat one of these right now..hungry! gotta be to work a little early for safety meeting
    Susanna

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, I do have to clean it out to make room before I make these things, Susanna. Of course, this batch isn't near as big as the pumpkin bread.

      I'm hungry, too. :)

      Delete
  2. Blessings upon you, Jan and Ruthy. I need to set my own deadlines to get some requested submissions done. Or have someone hold a frozen banana to my head.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Julie, I've come to realize that I work well under deadline. It forces me to focus and get the job done. Now my goal is to get it turned in before the deadline. :)

      Delete
  3. I knew I should have saved that really ripe banana I tossed the other day! :)

    Congrats on typing The End! Hope the polishing goes smoothly!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You know, Missy, I've bought bananas specifically for the purpose of letting them ripen so I could make banana bread. But it's always better when you're mastering that whole waste not, want it mentality. But there's not much else overripe bananas are good for.

      Today was a good editing day. Lots of progress. I have a feeling that's about to slow considerably, though.

      Delete
  4. I can almost smell that banana bread baking. It sounds like a recipe I'm going to have to try out. Glad to hear you reached the end. That's always a wonderful milestone. Happy revising now!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It does smell wonderful, doesn't it, Carol? Wish I had a loaf to enjoy during the revision process. ;)

      Delete
  5. Mindy, I was at church two weeks back and one of our former parishioners was back in town and she told me she LOVED your apple chipotle cake!!! That was one that I meant to make and forgot.... but when you re-ran it, she made it and said it was amazing! So yes, revisits rock!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Whoo-hoo! I'm glad she liked it, Ruthy. Apparently she didn't save you a piece, though. ;)

      Delete