Banana Bread

My daughter isn't bad, or intentionally not listening or making me crazy. She's like a puppy; she needs a job or else she's going to terrorize the house. I love that she jumps excitedly off the couch because it's "her turn" to use the vacuum; that she's eager to help with the laundry, reveling in the satisfaction of the spin. I know the days are limited that housework is yet another adventure in her day, and I do want to encourage that desire to be a helpful and useful person.

Do you know an even more fun job than cleaning the house though? (Everything!) Baking! And for some reason, it's one of the few messy activities that don't make my fussy side silently scream. The messier the better when it comes to baking. Flour-covered clothes are battle scars worn with pride. Batter-splattered walls are just part of the experience. Baking is methodical and precise with a margin for creativity and critical thinking, it insists you get your hands dirty, and gives you something wonderful to show for it in the end. It's kind of my perfect thing.

So when I see a bunch of bananas in my fruit bowl turning brown, and my daughter seems like she needs a job to do, it must be baking day! Simply Recipes says this banana bread has been their most popular recipe for over a decade. It's a perfect project for a kid helper too. It's one bowl, no electric mixer. We made it on the floor.

She smashed the bananas with a potato masher while I prepared the other ingredients. She stirred in the butter and salt, then delicately and expertly sprinkled the baking soda across the top of the batter. The entire 1/2 cup of brown sugar unfortunately went on the floor NEXT to the bowl. Meh, learning experiences, right? Plus, cleaning up the sugar turned out to be a very happy surprise, as she licked her sugar coated hand. We just put it all back in the cup and repeated that step, in the bowl this time.

She poured in the beaten egg and mixed it with the vanilla. We tried out the measuring cups again with the flour and had (a little) better success. Can't say there isn't some flour off the floor in that bowl  too though! (If you're ever at my house and squeamish about eating food off the floor, you should ask if Lena helped.)

We smelled and named all the spices before adding them and then I made sure everything was well mixed. We tasted the batter (yum) and poured it in the pan. And then she backed waaaaay up while Mommy put it in the oven.

She did such a great job on her first real helping-from-start-to-finish cooking project. Baking is great for learning all sorts of things: where food comes from, what kinds of things - like the oven - are just for grown-ups, hand-eye coordination, combining flavors, following instructions, cleaning up, and of course, being silly and having fun!

A 13 year-old I know looked at me like I was speaking Russian when I quizzed her on 1/2 minus 1/4, so also, yeah, measuring cups are awesome for those basic math skills that may or may not be getting taught in our schools.
         

For our project, I used 3 and a half (smaller) very ripe bananas, because that is what was sitting on my counter. I'm not sure whether the original recipe is calling for salted or unsalted butter but I used unsalted so just a pinch of salt seemed a little sparse. I poured some in my hand, probably closer to 1/8 tsp. I went with the lower end of the sugar measurement spectrum, but used light brown sugar for extra character. I don't think it needs to be sweeter. I also added a few shakes of cinnamon and cardamom, and some freshly grated nutmeg, plus a handful of chopped pecans. It is fall, after all. I tested it at 50 min in the oven and it was still a bit under, so I left it in for the full hour. I probably should have split the difference, but with some cream cheese on top and a cup of coffee, you won't hear me complaining. It's delicious.

3-4 small-medium very ripe bananas
1/3 cup melted unsalted butter
1 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 c light brown sugar
1 large egg, beaten
1 tsp high quality vanilla extract, such as Simply Organic Madagascar Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cardamom
1/8 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 c chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 325F and butter a loaf pan.

Peel bananas and mash into a large bowl. Stir in melted butter.

Stir in baking soda and salt. Mix in sugar, egg and vanilla. Stir in flour and spices until well blended. Mix in pecans.

Spoon batter into pan. Bake 55 min or until top is slightly browned and tester inserted into center comes out clean.

Waiting is hard but it's a great time to clean up (and lick the bowl)!

Remove from oven and cool. Turn out onto board. Slice and serve.

Lena's taking her one nap for the week and my coffee is ready. Shoot! I'm hungry.

I'm Full

When I was pregnant with my daughter in 2014, of course I thought about how my life would change. What would it be like to be at home instead of at work or looking for a job for the first time in my adult life? How would I spend all that inevitable free time? Exactly how long should my list of #supermom #goals be? I envisioned that this blog would organically transform into a mom-life musing and tip-sharing forum of brilliant homemade baby gourmet and fun photo shoots I would sneak in while my little person napped soundly for hours on end. 

I’ll pause while we all wipe our tears of laughter at my wishful naivety.  

For the record, we did make a lot of our own baby food and I did quickly photograph exactly ONE such brilliant baby puree, capturing it’s glorious green swirl with mommy pride. 

Puree of apple, spinach and...

I can’t remember now what it was... but I can guarantee she loved it. This girl is definitely our child. She has eaten everything that’s crossed her path since she first started on solids. We skipped baby rice because of the arsenic concerns, and did only oats and ancient grains, swirled with various fruits and sprinkled with spices like cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg. We made purees of fruits with orange and green vegetables to make sure she got all her vitamins. Apples and pears can make almost anything taste good! I continued drinking the smoothies my husband made me every single morning of my pregnancy until I finished breastfeeding, and started sharing them with her – plain yogurt, frozen berries, bananas, peanut butter, coconut oil, fish oil, and vitamin D drops. I once described them to my mother-in-law, glowing with gratitude at the good care her son took of me, and her response was “Ew.” I promise they’re way more delicious than they sound. And sometimes they had chocolate chips.

I credit four things for Lena’s food love: a varied pregnancy diet of world cuisine complete with all the traditional spices; our mostly whole food and zero fast food philosophy; a chef for a father; and either good genes or luck. Whatever the reason, I’m grateful. I hear stories of children who won’t eat vegetables or try anything new, whereas two of my daughter’s first words were "brocci" and salmon. If you give her chicken fingers, she will pick off the fried breading and eat only the meat. Her favorite summer snacks are blueberries and raw peas out of the shell. She loves Japanese, Indian, and anything you wrap in a tortilla and call a taco, especially if it includes avocado and beans. If it's on your plate, she would like a bite, please (aka I hope you were finished with that). And, like her mama, her favorite foods are always whatever Daddy makes her. In fact, I say it was Daddy's cooking that enticed her to come into the world! 

We thought for sure she would come early but as her due date came closer, I woke up morning after morning with no baby. We started trying a different ethnicity each night to test the theory of certain foods being catalysts for labor. For my mom, it was Mexican, which is one of my favorites, so of course I tried that. The next night was Thai. I guarantee there was Italian in there. But I should've known it would be my husband's homemade Indian food that would do it. I woke up at 6am the next morning with the beginnings of labor pains.

Lena at 8 months, the day of the green puree

I never imagined how full my life would be with my daughter in it – not just full of love but completely lacking free time or the energy to fill it on the rare occasions it appears out of the tornado that is my two-year old. I never imagined I would have the world’s most active child, although the abundance of movement in the womb, in hindsight, should have been a clue. I do think we had some foresight when we made her middle name Pepper! I wish she would sleep more but given the choice between having a great sleeper and a great eater, I would choose the latter. This little girl’s boundless energy, curiosity and zest for life are (exhausting) things to be admired. I can’t wait to see how her life unfolds and who she grows to be. But I know that our time together will be earmarked by time spent in the kitchen and around the dinner table. There will never be negotiations over vegetables or threats of no dessert until she tastes what's on her plate. And as I sit reflecting and writing for the first time in two years, drinking cappuccino and eating avocado toast drizzled with honey, I’m actually full.

Small Victory (this post, AND the name of the coffee shop)