The Father's Day menu was Dad's London broil.
We also picked up a couple of pints of fresh strawberries at a farm on the way home from the ride yesterday. Fresh strawberries would be a really good dessert for the London broil, but my dad doesn't eat strawberries...something about the time when he was a kid and ate a couple of pints all by himself, then broke out in huge hives.
After I got home yesterday I realized that two pints may have been a bit overdoing it. As it happened, though, I had a couple of overripe bananas from last week, so I chopped a bunch of the strawberries for inclusion into my phenomenally easy banana bread.
I know banana bread is a quick bread, and phenomenally simple to make. I still had to simplify it further, though, because that is how phenomenally lazy I am. I have it narrowed down to one measuring cup and five ingredients:
2 overly-ripe bananas
1 1/2 cups Bisquick
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup applesauce, pureed plum, or oil
2 eggs or 1/2 cup of egg substitute
(The trick with the one measuring cup is to only use the 1/4 cup. Of course, that means six scoops of Bisquick and three of sugar, but you only need to wash one thing. That makes it feel easier to me, anyway.)
In a large bowl, mash the bananas a bit with a fork.
Dump in everything else.
(You know those recipes where you sift dry ingredients in one bowl, and mix wet ingredients in another, a dirty yet a third bowl putting them together? I have no patience for such recipes.)
If your fork is substantial enough, you can even use that to mix everything together...why get a spoon dirty too?
Now, you can add cinnamon, or cloves, or nutmeg, or whatever spices you like, but I have found that it isn't necessary. The bread tastes like bananas without them. 'Tis a gift to be simple, y'know?
On the other hand, you can also add a handful of nuts, raisins, blueberries, chocolate chips, or (say you went a bit overboard at a farm at then end of strawberry season) chopped strawberries.
Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 55 minutes, or make muffins (about 15 minutes at 400 degrees.) Use the insert-toothpick method of testing for doneness...an under-baked banana bread makes a heckuva mess when inverted from a loaf pan. (Not that I'm admitting anything by saying that.)
I whipped up a batch of the muffins while I was waiting for the Bordelaise sauce to reduce, and now I have breakfast for the week.
Posted by Nic at June 19, 2005 09:23 PM