When life hands you brown bananas
Hello, Fridge Magnet faithfuls. This is Nona, the Happy Wag pet blogger, standing in for Lindsey today while she is buried in deadlines and digging herself out of the stuff that piles up when you spend a whole day in training, as she did yesterday.
This guest blog is a way of handing her a shovel of friendship.
Even though it’s not even lunch time yet, I am very much looking forward to dinner, because it’s clean-out-the-fridge night at my house.
At least once a week my husband and I go through and get all the leftovers out of the refrigerator and feast on them. It’s amazing how odd combinations of food can work together and how a few scraps of this and that can combine into new, delicious dishes.
And there is nothing more frugal than using leftovers and not wasting food — and thus money.
My favorite recyclable ingredient has to be bananas. My husband and I are not fans of spotty, brown bananas but we love us some nana puddin’ and banana nut bread, and that is what this sad bunch will transform into tonight or tomorrow morning.
Here is my all-time favorite, OMG-this-is-too-good-for-words banana nut bread recipe, shamelessly lifted from hottie Tyler Florence of the Food Network. Click here for his version but you can see my slightly modified recipe by clicking the “read more” thingy below.
I will post my version of this recipe on the PlateUp recipe database tomorrow when I have a photo of the finished loaf of yummy goodness to add.
I will need action photography to get that shot because my husband will likely score the first slice before it’s even cooled.
What’s your favorite way to transform your leftovers or almost-unusable food into something fresh and tasty?
Banana Nut Bread
Ingredients
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 4 overripe bananas
* 1 cup sugar
* 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
* 2 large eggs
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1/2 cup Macadamia nuts, halved or whole
* Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
Mash 2 of the bananas with a fork in a small bowl so they still have a bit of texture. With an electric mixer fitted with a wire whisk, whip the remaining bananas and sugar together for a good 3 minutes; you want a light and fluffy banana cream.
Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla; beat well and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated; no need to overly blend. Fold in the nuts and the mashed bananas with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Give the pan a good rap on the counter to get any air bubbles out.
Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.
Don’t get nervous if the banana bread develops a crack down the center of the loaf; that’s no mistake, it’s typical. Rotate the pan periodically to ensure even browning.
Cool the bread in the pan for 10 minutes or so, and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.
Dust with confectioners’ sugar, and serve.
August 20, 2010 - 10:25 AM
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Scraps night – YUMMM!! At least that’s what it is called at our house! And, funny, because it will be just that tonight!! Ha!
Give it to the dogs.
I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m really intrigued by this recipe for banana soft serve.
http://cooklikeyourgrandmother.com/2010/07/worlds-easiest-ice-cream-recipe/
Hey, Nona!
Great to have a ‘substitute teacher’ on this Friday! Your idea of Macadamia nuts was an obvious one that I had never considered.
I just finished off some zucchini bread, so it’s about time for banana nut bread. I’ll try your recipe and see how it goes. nothing better than that on a Saturday morning with some strong coffee…
Susan: We have a dog that LOVES bananas. He gets a bite of the fresh ones, too.
abdnva: I like the way you think. Coffee and banana nut bread…I’m getting hungry already.
My grandparents called leftovers “orts” and Saturday night was the night.
I have a goat who will knock you flat for a banana, ANY kind of banana. Others, not so much. The dogs, naturally, will eat most anything, UNLIKE goats who are VERY picky.
That does sound good. I’ve always used pecans, but I love macadamia nuts. I’ll have to give that a try.
My usual way of using up leftovers is throw everything together for some type of casserole or in a pot and add broth to make soup. There’s not much out there that you can’t make some kind of soup out of.
We call it “tupperware reclamation night” at our house, and it’s tonight!! In the summer, I like to combine all the leftover veggies (with whatever is fresh from the garden) with some basic red sauce to make a vegetarian primavera of sorts… and serve it over pasta or rice. We do lots of stir-fry that way, as well. In the winter, it’s soup.
I just tend to dress it up with herbs, spices, and/or hot sauce if all else fails. We really try to avoid food getting to an unusable state to avoid tossing anything though.
On a totally unrelated note, I was simply amazed and heartened by a dining experience at the Christiansburg Ruby Tuesday near I-81. We went there Saturday night for a meal, thinking we could find a few gluten-safe food items to order. Our server Natalie was extremely helpful with that, and the manager Stephanie went above and beyond in helping too. Turns out they have a nice-sized document detailing all the various food allergens and what dishes are safe for people with those issues. When my wife’s steak plate came out with breaded onion straws, our server and the manager apologized profusely and completely re-made her meal, including using a freshly cleaned part of the grill to avoid cross-contamination. Turns out the manager has a good friend with Celiac’s so she was very careful in making sure that things were prepared safely for us. It was kind of funny, she mentioned the food allergy article from back in June too, saying that her friend loved the cookie recipe from it. Anyway, we will be dining there as one of our few safe places, given that they have a well-developed set of guidelines for their food. The manager also mentioned that Red Lobster and Olive Garden have something similar in place, though we’re not terribly fond of their food. But we might have to give them a try again now that we know.
What a great story of someone going above and beyond with customer service, John. Thanks for sharing. Others with food allergies now know of another place they can go.
Lindsey, I was very happy with their efforts, and it gave me hopes that more places might follow suit.
In regards to another issue I’ve had, we finally found some chicken that is truly safe. Turns out that Tyson, Holly Farms, Kroger, and Great Valu chicken gets a broth bath, and I always react to those brands of chicken. I cannot find anywhere that says that the broth contains wheat or gluten, but I always react. Well, Perfue chicken is Gluten-Free…and I’ve not reacted to any Perdue products I’ve had.
http://www.perdue.com/products/gluten_free_products.html
http://www.perdue.com/util/Perdue-Gluten_Free_List_062408.pdf
I’m quite thankful that they have published the list, it will help us greatly in our endeavors. And Wal-Mart is vastly increasing their GF offerings too…and more companies are labeling their GF items…like Hormel and Armour. It’s really helping to make our shopping better.
OJ,
While looking for something else, I found this gluten free recipe for crispy chicken drumsticks. http://projects.washingtonpost.com/recipes/2010/08/18/crispy-chicken-drumsticks