Whole Wheat Banana Bread

A giant mug of freshly ground coffee + freshly baked banana bread = a perfect Saturday morning.

1/2 c butter (melted)
1 c sugar
2 eggs (slightly beaten) --- that's what she said.
2 med-large overly ripped bananas
1 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 c whole wheat flour
1/3 c hot water
1/2 package chocolate chips (optional, although I think a must!)

Melt butter. Blend with sugar. Mix in beaten eggs and mashed bananas until smooth. Add white flour, salt and soda. Stir in whole wheat flour and hot water, alternately. Stir in chocolate chips. Bake in 9 x 5 inch loaf pan 325 degrees 1 hour 10 mins.
Enjoy!

Quick Baked Beans

Living on a farm definitely has many perks - unlimited sweet corn being one of them. A few evenings ago my husband and I had a few of our wonderful friends over to help us chow down the 20 cobs we prepared. To provide a little variety, half were done on the BBQ and the others were boiled. I made a giant crock pot of baked beans to compliment the corn. They turned out very tasty! A great recipe for brunch too. Here is it - super simple.

8 slices bacon
1 sm. onion, chopped
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. white sugar
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 c. ketchup
3 can pork & beans (remove pork fat before adding to crock pot)
2 can romano beans, drained & rinsed
1 can kidney beans, drained & rinsed
Fry bacon crisp; drain and crumble. Mix all ingredients in crock pot and cook on high for 3 hours. Add about 1 tablespoon of bacon fat to crock pot. Stir occasionally. Remove lid for last hour to thicken. May also be baked at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Serves 10-12 side dishes.

Kitchen Must-haves

A dishwasher
 Seriously, how do people get by without one?
Dishwasher safe cutting boards
 I just purchased a few poly granite cutting boards from HomeSense. They are dishwasher safe, resistant to odors and non-porous. Sidenote: HomeSense is incredible for finding amazing quality kitchen items for very reasonable prices.
Good knives with knife block
 Make sure they are full tang and have triple rivets. They will cost more but will last you a life time. I have J.A. Henckels and I find them pretty good.
Knife sharpener
 When using place on top of a cutting board so you don’t dice up your countertops like my husband did a few evenings ago – you live and learn right?!
Rubber gloves
 For washing dishes – the hotter the better. If you are a freak like me you can also use a pair to handle raw meat.
Herbs & Spices
 And a lot of ‘em! I grab mine from the Bulk Barn so I can get exactly how much a need to fill my containers (I hate having extra packages of things – I need a pantry, badly!) I despise spice racks so here is a picture of what I came up with for an alternative. Magnetic containers on the side of my fridge.

Wine
 For drinking and cooking. Remember to cook with wines that you actually like to drink as those flavours will be infused into your food. Nothing beats the smell of garlic cooking in white wine…mmm…
Garlic press
 I couldn’t live without a garlic press. I put garlic in everything!
Pyrex set (with plastic lids)
 We recently purchased a set and love them for leftovers, fresh fruits and veggies, and office lunches. Out with the old PBA plastic containers and in with the new, safe and durable Pyrex set.
Food Processor
 I use mine for just about everything – chopping, pureeing, shredding. It saves a ton of time when making stews, soups and sauces (I hear it’s great for homemade baby food too!)
Crock Pot
 Although I should use mine more often, I am so thankful I have it when cooking large quantities.
Laptop
 Regardless of what I am cooking I have my laptop in the kitchen with me. It is a great tool when doing conversions, looking for substitutions or when you need a creative idea for a side dish to go with your entrée.

Triple F.

Welcome Fellow Foodie Friends (say that 10 times fast – or not). This blog is not an attempt to strengthen my pathetic writing abilities, but rather a chance for me to share with you some exciting, relatively easy recipes that I have created, altered or borrowed. As a teacher I have the luxury of having the beautiful summer months off to relax, regroup and overeat. I will be posting the good, the bad and the ugly as I take a stab at new recipes, while occasionally throwing in a few of my favs along the way. Enjoy! Cook, eat and be merry.