Dead Banana Day

Do you celebrate dead banana day like me? Every time I grocery shop I tend to buy a bundle of banana's, partly because of the price and partly because of the routine of getting banana's weekly from childhood. Interestingly enough, I don't really like raw banana's.

Given your cupboard is stocked with flour, sugar etc making a loaf of banana bread is cost effective, healthy and super tasty. I've put together a basic recipe. Below I've also added some interesting ingredients to add some spice and additional flavour to the bread!


Ingredients:

3 Bananas
4 oz. Butter (room temperature)
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
1.5 cups Sifted Flour
1 tsp. Baking Soda (or Dry Yeast)
2 Eggs
Pinch of Salt
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract (optional)
Additional Flour and Butter for baking dish

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 375°F
1. Using a wooden spoon, work the sugar and butter in a bowl until smooth.
2. Add the eggs, one at a time, and stir until the batter is completely smooth.
3. In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Then, slowly incorporate the flour into the batter. Stir until smooth, you may want to use your hands to knead the dough so that bumps do not appear.
4. In another bowl, mush bananas completely with a fork. Add vanilla extract if you want and stir.
5. Slowly incorporate the bananas into the dough and stir well until smooth.
6. Butter and flour your baking dish. Pour the batter into the dish and put in the oven for about 55 minutes. The banana bread recipe is cooked when the tip of a knife comes out clean and dry.
7. Let cool off for about ten minutes and then remove from baking dish. You can serve this warm or room temperature.
Voilà!

Variations:
For super moist cake try one of these ideas:
* keep some liquid on hand. I usually use milk but orange juice tastes great as well!
* if your batter is still pretty stiff, add in jam. Apricot is ideal because it doesn't change the flavor of the bread but if you want to alter the taste try strawberry jam!

To add some bite:
*Chocolate chips are classic but what about nuts? I really like adding in walnuts, almonds or pecans! Make sure to only add about 1/2 a cup.
*Dried cranberries are a great addition and add some sour bite to the bread with works really well with the sweetness from the bananas
*Citrus zest cooks down, adds colour as well as adds a fresh flavour. Don't worry, you don't get major bites of citrus.

To add something different and creative:
*what about Peanut Butter? Melt about 1/2-1 cup of peanut butter. The taste is subtle but resembles a good Peanut Butter and Banana sandwich!
*add some other fruit in it. I've added everything from berries to apples. Again, the end result is sublte but it adds tons of moisture to the bread and a natural sweetness!

Home Made Curry!

Curry is delicious but can be daunting to make. Today I created a simple but wonderful curry dish. All together it will serve an army, and the dish itself only cost about $1.00 per serving!

You will need:
1 can of coconut milk
2-3 tbsp of curry
1.5 tsp of cumin
1 tbsp pepper (cracked)
salt to taste
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp garlic powder
6-8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, or the equivalent in another cut of chicken
1 white onion diced
1 green pepper diced
1 red pepper diced
1 cup baby carrots

Method
In a bowl whisk together the coconut milk and all of the spices. Taste to see if it is spicy enough. *remember the mixture will taste stronger in the bowl as no vegetables or meat have been added*
Put the coconut milk mixture, vegetables and chicken in a large pot and simmer on medium.
Simmer until chicken is cooked through and the milk has reduced about an inch.

Serve with rice


Notes:
- this recipe was spicy, so if you don't like spicy food as much i would recommed reducing the curry, and cayenne by about 1/4
- cooking chicken in coconut milk makes the meat incredibly tender! It also makes the chicken taste incredible. Although coconut milk is more expensive it is worth it every once in a while.
- curries taste great with many different additions. Why don't you try adding diced potatoes, mushrooms, or fresh tomatoes!