basketball and banana bread

Last night we went to a basketball game. And ate take out fried chicken at 11pm. What? It was game night, fried chicken was mandatory, the only thing I was missing was a beer. Needless to say that being up this morning to cook was not exactly my most favorite thing to do. Nevertheless 7am saw me prepping a make your own salad bar for 62 people. Might I suggest that cooking a meal with so many different components after no sleep and while having a cold gets to be a little confusing. Oh. And did I mention that I was up to 2am baking banana bread after said basketball game. Right…… You get the picture. It’s a good thing I love lists. It was very satisfying to put a check by each of the many many ingredients once I was done prepping them. OR better yet to cross them right off. It was also the only thing that saved me this morning from cooking my left pinky and some shopping bags instead of the tomatoes and radishes. So my post today is dedicated to my dear OCD friend, the list.

Below I share my recipe for awesomely yummy banana bread I thought I would share a per-emptive word about bananas. Yes, they are shipped thousands of miles in refrigerated containers, and are a total monoculture that is completely not sustainable and could be wiped out by a single blight. But. I love them.

In my most idealized version of self I would eat only locally sourced sustainably produced organic in season produce, cheese and meats. Yes I did say meats. But. This is NYC in the middle of winter. The above guidelines would make me, and my taste buds, mighty sad. So in winter I expand and play with my definitions and borders to find something that works for me, but that is a story for another time. And even in my idealized version of self, who realistically might not exist anywhere outside my own head, I have the foods that are “grandfathered in”. That is to say in deference to being real and not driving myself crazy, I say, self, you get a yotzei min haklal, an exception to the rule, or 5 actually. Coconut water, bananas, avocados, chocolate, and coffee the nectar of the gods at whose alter I worship. The things I have decided I can’t live with it. Correction, don’t want to live without because then I would be so sad nobody would want to hang out with me anymore except maybe goats. The point being it is great to have ideals, it is great to strive for your ideals, but at the end of the day get on with it and eat.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread:

Mix in bowl 1-

2/3 cup whole wheat flour

2/3 cup white flour

¾ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

Beat together in bowl 2-

1/3 cup canola oil or softened butter

2/3 cup raw sugar or ½ cup honey or agave

2 eggs

1 tablespoon lemon juice and/or the zest of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon vanilla

Add bowl 1 to bowl 2

Mash up and add in 4 ripe bananas

Grease a loaf pan (but don’t flour it) pour in batter and bake at 350 for between 1 hour to 1 hour 20 minutes til golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Give it a minute, then unmold, let cool mostly but not totally, then wrap in plastic wrap before fully cool.

Happy Eating!