Monday In The Kitchen, And More Chickens!

This afternoon I finally made time to:
1- turn the over-ripe bananas into banana bread
2-transform 16 apricots into preserves
We usually end up with a few over-ripe bananas each week so banana bread is pretty much a staple. DH likes it with yoghurt and coffee at breakfast and DS#4 usually gets some too! He likes it with choc. chips, DH likes it with dried cranberries and I like the crunch and additional nutrition of walnuts so I call it "Loaded banana Bread". It is very good so I will add the recipe at the bottom of the post. I have adapted the recipe over time, taking ideas from other recipes and adding my own!

 The Boy enjoys helping, the minute he see the big KitchenAid mixer appear he runs to the pantry and carries out the stool to climb up and "help". I only did this one time a couple of years ago to help him deal with the scary noise of the big mixer and from that time on he has always wanted to join me. He will turn it off for me but doesn't want to turn it on, probably a good thing!

 He also likes to sneak choc. chips every chance he gets! You can tell from the color that this mixer is an oldie but goodie, I received it for Christmas in 1974 and never expect to buy another. It has travelled around the world with me, suffered through major Youth Group cookie making fund raising events, forty years of Christmas , Thanksgiving baking, as well as many great yeast rolls and breads. Kitchen Aid are the work horses of mixers.  

 The apricots produced four half pint and one pint jar, and it is delicious, still a bit soft but I refrigerate it and the jelling time can take as long as two weeks to set up. We will not wait for full set to eat some though!

A little sewing project, more of the quaint chicken pincushions to take to the retreat. I gave the first one to my friend C who spends a lot of time at their home in San Miguel Mexico- it kind of looked like a Mexican chicken to me!

Tomorrow evening I hope to work on them some more, maybe finish up so I can get back to my lonely longarm! It's to be a busy day, the gym in the morning, The Boy's last swim class after lunch then a trek to Mesa to buy a new clothes dryer.

Oh,  and the Banana Bread recipe!
3-4 very ripe bananas
half cup coconut oil [you could use another oil or butter]
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all purpose [plain] flour [I use 1cup whole wheat, 1 cup white]
1tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1tsp. vanilla
2 -3 tblsp. plain yoghurt, I use Greek
3/4 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup choc chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom of a loaf pan and oil the sides.

Beat sugar, oil and eggs till well mixed then beat in mashed bananas.
Mix in vanilla and yoghurt
Measure in flours, baking soda, salt, then dried cranberries, walnuts and choc. chips on top and barely mix until combined. The less you beat at this point the more tender the loaf.
Pour into loaf pan and bake one hour to an hour 15 minutes in center of the oven until tooth pick inserted at the center comes out clean.  I start checking at about the 45 minute mark and if it seems to be getting a bit dark I cover with aluminum foil for the remainder of baking.
We usually cannot wait until it's cooled to eat, the aroma is much too enticing! I slice, then store in zip lock bag, and if you live in a humid climate or need to keep it more than a day or two, store in refrigerator because it's very moist.