Banana Nut Bread Anti-Recipe

I would like to begin by congratulating myself. Believe it or not, I've actually persevered long enough to write my first official blog entry. 368 days ago I opened this blog and it wasn't until yesterday that I actually posted something- and the fact that I now have 2 entries to add to my less than extensive collection?? I am proud. 

So today I wanted to begin by doing the thing I love most in the world- cooking. Due to the fact that I still live with my parents and am a college student lacking in sufficient funds to prepare prime rib or fois gras, I decided to use what I had- 6 disgusting bananas. My dad discovered one day that if you place ripe bananas in the refrigerator, the peel will continue to darken while the flesh of the banana says perfectly white, while ripening with sweetness (perfect for ripening bananas for baking, lets say... banana bread). So here I am with 6 black bananas and nothing to show for it... until I decided to make banana bread. 

Here's a little tid-bit about me, and every single person I know who knows me will attest to this fact as well, I am completely incapable of following directions or doing what I'm told under almost any circumstance. Yeah, for an aspiring chef that's not exactly the best quality to have but it works for me and adds a little pizazz to everything I do. See, I have this complex about being told what to do- "Rebecca, don't touch that music box."- and BAM! a four-year-old me has just broken an antler off of one of Santa's reindeer on my mother's prized Christmas decoration.

So, I looked up a recipe for banana nut bread and low and behold, it soon becomes what my sister so ingeniously coined an anti-recipe by the third ingredient. Everything I cook is a reflection of me, and the fact that everything in this recipe is contrary to my original plan is practically a mirror image of my life. Yes, I used self-rising flour instead of all-purpose. Yes, I added twice the recommended amount of vanilla. Yes, I nixed the ground ginger all together. And yes, I added crushed pineapple. 

"Pineapple?" you ask. Yes, pineapple. This fruit is the panacea for all dry and flavorless cakes and breads. Its texture provides support for the structural integrity of the bread while its sugar and juices add a moistness that the majority of people are finding through adding instant vanilla pudding mix (an abomination, if you ask me). Yes, pudding mix has its place in the world- it belongs with 4-year-olds, not in my banana nut bread. 

So for all you cooks out there looking for a little slice of heaven on a cold day, here's my anti-recipe for Banana Nut Bread. Enjoy!

Dry Ingredients:
3 cups Self-Rising Flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/4 nutmeg
2 cups white sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts

Wet Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup vegetable oil (or another mild flavored oil)
1 cup (or an 8oz can) of crushed pineapple- WITH JUICES
1 1/2 tsp vanilla (or 2 tsp if you prefer)
2 cups mashed very ripe bananas

• Mix together the dry ingredients (if it makes you feel better, you may sift)
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients
• Stir the mixtures only until well-blended 
• Pour into 2 greased loaf pans and bake at 350 for 65 minutes
• If the loaves begin to get too dark, cover with aluminum foil and bake for 15 minutes... if not, forget about the aluminum foil and keep on bakin'

(Photos- I used my sister's new Olympus Pen. Enjoy them now because when the Christmas break is over, its back to my little point-and-shoot)

After this... I'm going to need a large cup of coffee

Looking at a time where the news is monopolized by stock market crashes, celebrity divorces, and warnings of "Orange level terrorist threats," I think its about time that we stop. Stop and look and the mess we've made. We think we are all LIVING when we wake up at 5:00 am, buy a $4 cup of coffee from the local Starbucks, work our fat tushies off at some job we don't even like, then come home to a suburban 3-bedroom to "rest"... before we do it all again. Since when is this LIVING? Has the word lost its meaning? and who told us that this is the way we are supposed to live our lives?! It is obvious to me now why there are statistically more obese Americans than healthy ones and how we get so stressed out that we have to pay $200 an hour to talk to some woman who thinks conversation can solve all our problems.

By no means am I saying that I am the perfect human being. Far from it. All I am saying is that maybe it's time that we all let go of what we now call a "life" and to begin living. I need change. I need a life. And for once, I need to finish something I actually begin.

So, there we go. A thesis/New Year's resolution. Every person is given a life and I don't believe that every person lives up to their own potential and opportunity- until now. A great philosopher once "philosophized" in a time when conformity was to be appreciated, that "potential and new discovery cannot be reached without creativity and the ability to stray away from the path that was previously paved by some idiot who thought he knew everything." Not anymore. Let's change things up a bit. Who said that I can't live vivaciously and spontaneously in a world that is run by Miley Cyrus and credit scores??? I guess a lot of people. But no one can ever prove that living by the rules is always right. America's founding fathers broke all the rules and look where we would be today if someone hadn't decided to live creatively? (Looking at us now... possibly better off. But that is a whole can of political insanity I dare not to open).

My creative outlet? Food. and always food. "The butter to my bread, and the breath to my life."

Me: A Well behaved college student by day, newly-rebellious future chef and vivacious 20 year old by night. Can she do it? We'll see.

365ish days. 365ish recipies (give or take). 356ish stories to tell-

Life is about the journey, isn't it? So lets begin...