Celine Needs To Eat More

If being furloughed is a precursor to my retirement next year I am going to be in a boatload of trouble.  No, not a boatload – a shipload.  I am going to be in a shipload of trouble.  I am going to be in a sinking shipload of trouble.  I’m just not used to having all this time on my hands and I don’t quite know what to do with myself.  Sure, sleeping nine or 10 hours a night uses up some of the time, and chasing fur balls with a dustmop is fun for about … actually it’s not fun at all.  Reading in the middle of the afternoon, or watching Love It Or List It at 10 in the morning, or doing laundry on a weekday just doesn't have the same feeling of cunning triumph when I am pretty sure I am going to be able to do that the next day and the next and the next and the next.

What’s a furloughed girl to do?  Turns out I bake.  Yep.  Bake and bake and bake – banana bread, cinnamon rolls, sandwich bread, rice pudding – and then I eat and eat and eat…………………….and eat some more.

Before the weightiness of this furlough pushes me down into the oceanic depths though, I’m going to share a recipe in the hopes I will have company.  I got this from Abby and it’s awesome.  It’s very moist and very flavorful.  I followed the recipe exactly the first time I made it but if Congress doesn’t send me back to work soon I’m going to try it again with a little coconut added.  

Abby says it doesn’t taste nearly as good after about three days, however I cannot attest to that because mine didn’t last that long.  I also only let it cool for approximately one minute (not hour) before serving –– if hacking off a piece and shoving it into my mouth counts as serving.  And I don’t have a photo either because………….well, you figure it out.

 See you at the bottom!

Low-Fat Banana Bread

4 large ripe bananas

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

¾ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 ounces fat-free cream cheese, cut into 4 pieces and chilled

1.  Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake bananas on rimmed baking sheet until skins are completely black, about 20 minutes.  (Do not turn off oven).  Cool bananas completely, peel, and mash with potato masher until smooth.  Measure 1 ½ cups mashed bananas and discard any excess.

2.  Grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.  Whisk eggs and vanilla in small bowl.  With electric mixer on medium low speed, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl until combined.**  Add oil and cream cheese, one piece at a time, and mix until only pea-sized pieces of cream cheese remain, about 1 minute.  Slowly mix in egg mixture, then add mashed bananas and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds.

3.  Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake until golden brown and toothpick inserted into center comes out with a few crumbs attached.   50 to 60 minutes.  Cool for 10 minutes, then turn onto wire rack and let cool at least one hour.  Serve.  (Bread can be stored at room temperature for up to three days).

**Use a deep bowl if you have it.  It’s a little dry and chunks may fly out of the bowl with the mixer. 

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Celine Needs To Eat More