Now on sale . . . Muffins & Mayhem: Recipes for a Happy (if Disorderly) Life by Suzanne Beecher, and when you purchase it, request a free autographed bookplate, by visiting: http://tinyurl.com/Muffins-MayhemPO
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Dear Reader,
If you have "three limp, scary, brown bananas" sitting on your kitchen counter, book club reader Chris Harris knows what to do with them. Enjoy her "Whoops!" baking story.
"Hi Suzanne--just had to share this with you, because it seemed such a Suzanne-like thing (i.e. off-the-wall and fun). Since I work full-time and don't have a lot of time during the week for cooking, I try to cook on the weekend. I was busy making a hearty soup this morning and noticed three limp, scary, brown bananas gazing dolefully at me from the fruit bowl. So after I [finished] my soup I thought, 'Hmmm--Suzanne's Whoops Banana Bread' and reached for my copy of Muffins and Mayhem." I found the recipe on page 84 and started in.
The three sad bananas made exactly 1-1/4 cups mashed bananas (just the amount I needed), so I was feeling pretty smug, but--Whoops!--only one cup of all-purpose white flour in the canister. But I had a full bag of organic whole wheat, so--what would Suzanne do? She'd just make up the other cup and a half with that. So in it went. Sugars--check--plenty of both (actually I used Splenda for the white to assuage my conscience ever so slightly). Eggs--check. Baking powder, salt, soda--check. Whoops!--no vegetable shortening. Ok--butter--1/4 cup of it softened and a glop of vegetable shortening for good measure. I mean--that's what Suzanne would do, isn't it? Buttermilk--Whoops! When have I ever kept buttermilk??? But, I had a big carton of plain goat's milk yogurt, so channeling Suzanne, I measured out a cup of that, added 1/4 cup of plain milk and dumped it in. Whoops again--not a nut or a chocolate chip to be unearthed in my pantry. Oh well, Mom (94 and living with my husband and me, can't chew the nuts anyway, and we probably don't need the chocolate chips). So my Double-Whoops mixture went into the oven bereft of adornment.
Long story short, it took about 65 minutes to get done (probably the whole wheat flour), but out came the most gorgeous, brown, delectable-looking, yummy-smelling loaf of banana bread I'd ever made in my entire life. I loosened it and dutifully plopped it on a wire rack, feeling oh so virtuous as I started to leave it there to cool while I tidied up the cooking mess. But a tendril of aromatic steam rose seductively up around my face, and I crumpled like a cheap suit, grabbed a knife and cut off the end.
Whoops! Hot! But divine. Simply divine."
Cheers!
Chris Harris
If you'd like to give a unique holiday gift to family, friends or co-workers this year, book club reader Kathy Fletcher has a creative idea. And I'll send you an autographed bookplate, bookmark and letter and 30 recipes (included in Muffins and Mayhem) to go along with it. Read about Kathy's idea, go to:
http://www.muffinsandmayhem.com:80/node/17092
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Warmest regards,
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.muffinsandmayhem.com
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