Hospitality

So my husband called a few minutes ago and among other things, asked if I had updated my blog. When?! I am TOO busy I said. Doing what? Well, if you must know, raising the girls. One wants to nap, one wants to stay up. Then they reverse. Then they are both up and my time is gone, because I have to keep up with both of them. AND do my chores. I told him the house wasn't getting cleaned this way. You know what he said? "I don't care as long as it gets done!" HAH. Very funny guy, that man o'mine.

Instead of cleaning the kitchen, though, I am in the midst of making banana bread and thinking on my feet. Thought I'd share it with you. Has nothing to do with house cleaning, though.

My neighbor brought us a dish of delicious meatballs the other night. They were chock full of fresh garlic and onions. I ate every single one of them over the course of three days. They were SOOO good. I haven't had a problem with gnats or mosquitoes since!

Anyways, the banana bread is for her. There's a tradition that you don't return a dish to a friend empty, and my kitchen is a wreck anyways, so a-baking I will go! Whenever our bananas start to look a little dark for fresh-peeled, I toss them in the back of the freezer. I am actually pretty good about not just collecting brown frozen bananas, and I make banana bread with them once I get 3 or 4. So, I pulled them out before naptime (?!) so they could thaw.

I was out of walnuts, so I lightly toasted a cup of oatmeal to take their place. I also added a handful of whole flax seeds. After I measured, mixed, folded and preheated, I went to pull out my mini-loaf pan. Apparently it had taken up with the library books and is on the lam. I was going to pull out my regular loaf pans (generously donated to me by my aunt), but then I spied my mini Bundt pan. Instead of making just a regular (and boring) banana bread loaf, I spiced it up a bit by baking mini banana cakes. A very light dusting of powdered sugar makes them look like tiny castles populating her glass casserole dish. I also tossed in the rest of the brown sugar at the bottom of the bag I found in the pantry (maybe 3 tbs. worth) which gives the bread a fuller flavor and a little extra sweetness. They really are little cakes and not just a breakfast treat. The best part is, there are some left over for us girls!

Oh, well, party time is over. Hope you got some ideas for the next time you make a treat for a friend! I'm putting the baby in the backpack and I'm going to make a full court press to get the house done.

Feel free to leave me a comment!

P.S. Thank goodness for spell check! I just wrote this whole post spelling the afore-mentioned-fruit "bananna"...and me an English major!!!