Ahoy there blogmates!
You may be asking yourself, why is Julie blogging about food? Is she done with her horrible sounding cleanse? The answer is, sadly, NO. I'm still on the cleanse and I chose to live right on the edge by baking today.
I am on week 4 of my delightful colon/body cleansing. Week 4 is the "hardcore phase". That means, NO FOOD, dear readers. None. Nada. The only things I'm allowed to consume are water, fiber/clay shakes (can be made with water and fruit juice), and icky herbal supplements. That's it. I never thought in a million years that someone like me (that would be someone who enjoys eating food) would ever be able to pull something like this off. Well, I'm on day five already of this final week and I haven't touched a single piece of food. Seriously. I can't believe it myself. After this week I'm done but am supposed to "ease back" into food. The cleanse's definition of easing back in would be to consume only fruits and vegetables for another week. I doubt I'll be doing that. Maybe the first couple days.
So anyway, back to the baking. Since I have a whole produce section worth of fruit and veg up in here from the previous weeks I also have some things that are starting to go off. There happened to be four blackish bananas hanging around and since I needed a little gift for someone that means banana bread! This certain someone is Dave, husband to Sara who owns the dog store downtown. This is the store I often frequent, sometimes helping out, but mostly just loitering and (I hope) keeping Sara company on the slow days. Dave happens to make a living by roofing, a good friend to have. We sprung a leak in our back porch and he kindly came over the other day and spread what he calls "monkey sh*t" on it to seal it up. I don't know the technical term for this "monkey sh*t". Maybe that is the technical term. Anyway, it seems to have worked like a charm and I hope the banana bread is a worthy enough thank you for a huge favor.
Now I know that everyone and their mother has a banana bread recipe. I'm not trying to change the world here. This one is adapted from a recipe by Nigella Lawson, one of my favorite foodie tv people. The nice twist in this one is the raisins soaked in rum (mmmmmmm). I think it adds a little somethin' special.
Here's what you need:
First thing you need to do is tackle the raisins. Put 3 tablespoons of rum into a little pan. Light, dark, whatever. Mine was called "gold". You could use bourbon, whiskey or even orange juice if you are a teetotaler. Plunk your raisins in the pan and bring it to a boil. Then just switch off the heat and in about five minute you'll see that the raisins have slurped up all of the booze and are now acting quite belligerent. Just kidding.
You'll need to melt some butter and throw it in with the sugar.
(I could have stuck my face in this bowl)
Beat, add eggs, add nuts, raisins and gradually beat in the dry ingredients. And here's what you've got:
(no lickies!)
Pour the batter into some loaf pans. You could make a big giant loaf I supposed but I don't mind these smaller, slightly squatter loaves. Much better for sharing with roofers and still having some for yourself (or not if you are on a @#*%-ing cleanse).
About 35-40 minutes later and VOILA!
They came out beautifully. Since I could not do a taste-test I had Pip try some for me. He approved although he doesn't have the most discerning palate.
(dat's pretty good. i try more to be sure.)
Oh, I could eat this entire loaf.
And this one, too.
Byeeeeee!
Banana Nut Bread
Adapted from Nigella Lawson’s How to be a Domestic Goddess, p.33. I converted her metric measurements to American measures so they may seem like odd proportions but they worked for me.
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 1/3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 stick plus 1 tbs salted butter, melted
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, light or dark
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
4 bananas, mashed (My bananas were on the small side. You can use three larger bananas.)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1. Bring rum and raisins to a boil. Turn off heat, cover, and lit sit for at least 5 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 325°.
3. Put the flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl, and combine well.
4. In another bowl, mix the melted butter and sugar and beat until blended.
5. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add in the mashed bananas and vanilla.
6. Stir in the walnuts and drained raisins.
7. Add the flour mixture, a third at a time, stirring well after each addition.
8. Pour into a 23 x 13 x 7cm greased loaf tin, and bake for 60-75mins. I made two smaller loaves in standard loaf pans. Came out smaller and flatter but nice for smaller pieces. Bake for about 35-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean from the center.
