Redemption Bread (two recipes)

Yesterday I accomplished the following:

• confirmed with my neighbor that she would be the perfect tutor for Haley, whose pre-calc teacher is just not cutting it
• put in a massive Lands End order  (they had a great deal on their flannel sheets and it snowballed from there)
• drove the carpool to school
• returned extraneous Legos to Target
• worked at the library
• went to the gym
• got weighed for our "biggest looser" competition at work (gained 1 pound)
• went home, ate lunch, wrapped six Christmas presents
• ran to the grocery store
• went to the fabric store
• picked Haley up from school
• took her through the McDonald's drive through because she was starving
• corrected the grammar of the boy working at the McDonald's drive through (I'm so ashamed!) (but my inner snark (I.S.) took over when he said "frozen strawberry lemonade? We don't got that anymore?" "You mean you don't have that anymore?" slipped right out of my mouth while I.S. was in control.)
• ran to the mall to return some things
• bought two tree-scented candles at Bath & Bodyworks
• picked up the carpool
• balanced the checkbook
• went to Costco with Kendell
• fixed dinner
• went to Haley's choir concert

Note that nowhere in that list did I actually tell Haley that she needed to go to the tutor's house. Sometime while I was balancing the checkbook, she (my neighbor) ran over to my house---leaving her two little boys home by themselves for a second---to check on Haley. I feel awful that she was sitting at home, waiting for Haley to show up.

I hate it when I don't manage to keep aloft all the balls I'm juggling.

Tonight I made two loaves of banana bread, one for my neighbor and one for us. I'm thinking of it as redemption bread: an offering to show my regret at being a complete and utter loser of a friend. Making it, I remembered that I've never shared this recipe on my blog, and it is a good one. The addition of buttermilk to the standard banana bread recipe makes the loaf delicately delicious. And! for good measure, I'm sharing another recipe, this one for lemon bread which is what I originally set out to make. I couldn't, though, because that trip I took yesterday? to the grocery store? Well. I did write a shopping list, and on that list was "lemon extract."

I just left the list in the car.

 

Buttermilk Banana Bread
1/2 cup butter, softened 1 1/2 cups sugar 2 eggs, well beaten 1 cup mashed bananas (about 3 average sized bananas) 4 tablespoons buttermilk	1 3/4 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon vanilla dash baking soda 1/4 tsp nutmeg
Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs, bananas, buttermilk and vanilla. In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to banana mixture. Mix until combined. Divide batter into greased and floured bread pans and bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. This recipe makes about one large loaf of banana bread, but I always double it.

Lemon Bread
3 1/2 cups flour 2 1/2 tsp baking powder 3/4 tsp baking soda 3/4 tsp salt 3 sticks butter, softened	3 1/2 cups sugar 6 eggs 3 tsp grated lemon peel 3 tsp lemon extract 3 cups sour cream
Butter and sugar 2 bread pans. Zest two or three lemons. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping the sides down between each one. Beat in the lemon zest and extract. Add the dry ingredients, alternating with the sour cream. Bake at 350 for about 50 minutes, or until toothpick comes out with crumbs instead of batter. After cooling, you can glaze the bread by mixing 1 cup of powdered sugar with about 2 T of lemon juice until smooth. Spoon over the top of the bread so it drips down the sides a bit. From the book Sweet Gratitude: bake a thank you

 

Comments

[Amy So]

Testing out the comment password.

[Melanie Bell]

I'm going to have to try these recipes! Probably won't happen soon, though. Christmas is such a busy time!

BTW, I HATE it when I leave my list in the car! I always have kids with me, and by the time I've dragged them all inside, there's no way I'm going back to the car for the list. There's also nooo way I'm going to remember everything on that carefully prepared list!