Winter Comforts

We had several days of rain and some snow this week.  I know that we didn’t have as much snow as many of our family but it still makes one want to prepare to hibernate for the winter.  To me this brings around thoughts of comfort food (as if I didn’t have enough fat to last the winter!).  Yesterday I made a hot hamburger, vegetable and barley soup and some wheat bread in our new bread machine.  YUM!  It was so good and made us all so happy.

For the last week I’ve had some bananas going black on the cupboard and I kept thinking that I needed to make banana bread.  Since I haven’t been feeling good my cooking involves lots of small spurts of activity.  When I made my soup I put the hamburger, onions and garlic in to cook.  Laid down for awhile, with the timer on.  Next cut up some veggies, laid down.  Added the broth and veggies, laid down, etc.

Finally today I got around to the bananas.  My banana bread has always been good but a few years ago I found this recipe by Tyler Florence for Banana Bread with Pecans.   This recipe is divine! 

If you love banana bread you definitely need to try it.  If you don’t like nuts in your fruit bread, well….you are on your own and I feel so sad that you are missing out. 

This recipe has you take two bananas and lightly mash them with a fork and keep them on the side for a while.  Then when the bread is all mixed in you fold these bananas and the pecans in.  When you taste the bread the texture is so moist and there are very small pockets of banana in the bread.  

Bob was so funny because he kept asking if the bread was done.  “Bob, I’ll let you know when the bread is done,”  Bob, “I think we should take it out now,”  Me (having flashbacks of raising young boys), “It’s OK, Bob you can have all you want when it is done.” 

I should be careful what I say because when the bread came out and the smell had permeated the entire house.  

Bob had some very substantial slices of bread.  Then he kept saying that we should have made more.  I had doubled the recipe!  It was so funny to listen to him but very satisfying to see him so happy.  Ahhh, small pleasures.  Winter can come now because we have our own coping skill to deal with the cold dark days.

 Note to self:  Buy more bananas!

Note to Ben:  Sorry but you live too far away.  I know how much you love Banana Bread but next time you come visit I’ll make some for you…you just have to share with Bob. 

Question:  What do you do to cope with the dark cold days of winter?  You know those days that are dreary and dark and not good for going out and playing in the snow.

Smell-a-vision & Taste-a-vision?

Today while Bob was working on my laptop I turned on the TV and watched Next Iron Chef on the Food Network.    For those of you who don’t know what it is, see below in Today’s Favorites.  Bob had mentioned that he wouldn’t want to eat a lot of the things the chefs make in the challenges.  Not me!  I told Bob that I wanted smell-a-vision and taste-a-vision so that I could taste almost all of the creations. 

Since Bob is our computer guru, I asked him to see what he could do about making my requests happen.  He just laughed at me.  You see the problem is that I have become so spoiled, with Bob being able to fix or create whatever we need with technology, that I just assume he can do anything. 

I have to admit that wanting to taste many of  the creations the contestant Chefs cook is quite adventurous.  Some of the ingredients that they give the Chef’s to cook with I have never heard of or are way out of my comfort zone.  This week they are down to the final three contestants.  Ten years ago I would have thought that I would love to watch Food Network but here I am and I’m enjoying it.

 

TODAY’S FAVORITES: 

Next Iron Chef on Food Network

World-class chefs battle for the supreme culinary title, Iron Chef.

          

Host Alton Brown (Also created Good Eats)       Contestants of Next Iron Chef

The Chairman Mark Dacascos (Nephew of the Chairman on Iron Chef Japan)  Mark is also currently on Dancing With the Stars.  His facial expressions are so entertaining!

Test of Live Writer…

For some reason Windows Live Writer isn’t working for me so Bob and I are trying to make it work!

Build Yourself a Foundation On Christ

Stake Conference is today and the theme is “Build Yourself a Foundation On Christ.”  I wasn’t able to go but Bob said that it was very good.  It was a long conference, about 2 1/2 hours.  I really miss going to Church but by the time I shower and get there I’m exhausted and very shaky.  Also my immune system isn’t working too well and there are a lot of virus’s going around right now.   My Mom brings home plenty of germs from work.  By working with the public she is exposed to a lot.  They keep antibacterial sanitizer on the counters and use it frequently but money is covered in germs.  Also people just don’t stay home when they are sick so it just keeps spreading. 

TODAY’S FAVORITES:

Podcasts of General Conference, the Ensign and much more.  We can even download MP3’s of the scriptures.  I love that they are so available to everyone.  I can listen while scrapbooking, cooking or driving.  There are several talks that I listen to several times because I don’t always catch everything the first time.  IPOD even has General Conference and the Ensign podcasts.

I used to feel a bit dim because I needed to rehear things several times but then I heard a lesson about Joseph Smith and some of the visions he had.  Each vision was usually repeated throughout the night.  It finally hit me, even the Prophet needed repetition.  As I read through the scriptures there are many accounts of important lessons being repeated.  I also realized that at different times in my life I was more prepared to hear and learn things that I wouldn’t have noticed before.