This ish is Bananas.....

To say that I'm particular with bananas is a bit of an understatement. In fact, there is a pretty small window of time in which I LOVE bananas, a little bigger window in which I tolerate them and a gaping swath of time in which, unless used in something else, they gross me out. The gaping swath starts when the first spot appears on the banana. Soon thereafter, they're going to start to smell like bananas and their skin gets all papery. Sick. Anytime after the banana is able to be peeled, I'm in. Bring on the green bananas.

That being said, I end up with a lot of bananas that cross the line before I can eat them. The husband loves the spotted bananas because he mashes them up in his oatmeal in the morning. My only use for this stage of banana was either (a) make a small batch of muffins or (b) cut and freeze for use in protein shakes. Turns out, when I'm on path (b) with frozen bananas, there is something else I can make with them. Something magical.

Behold, what becomes of bananas, once gross and spotty, then chopped up, frozen, then blended.
Magical indeed.

It actually tastes like pretty sweet ice cream. Hoo-boy. This ish is bananas.

From the lovely www.thekitchn.com who fills my Reader with more posts than I can generally get through in a day. And yes, we have tried a batch with an added dash of peanut butter. A good decision as well.

Enjoy!

Asian Chicken Salad, Modified

The original version of this salad, the one I have had pretty regularly throughout my life, has ramen noodles and the accompanying packets of chicken flavored MSG. I modified my original recipe and nixed the noodles altogether (although in the future I may mix in some rice for bulk) and used some Chicken "Better than Bouillon" in the dressing to make up for the lack of poultry flavor. The ingredients:

Salad:

One head cabbage (or a bag of shredded)

1 T Sesame Oil

3 T Sesame Seeds

6 T Sliced Almonds

3 Chicken Breasts, Cooked and Cubed (I only had two, le sigh)

Dressing:

3/4 cup Vegetable Oil

6 T Rice Vinegar

4 T Sugar

1 tsp Pepper

Better than Bouillon to taste - maybe 2 tsp?

To make:

Shred the whole cabbage:

Toast the almonds in the sesame oil, adding the sesame seeds after the almonds have a little color:

Mix sesame seeds, almonds and chicken into shredded cabbage. Mix dressing together (it takes a bit of whisking to work the bouillon into the dressing) and stir into cabbage mixture.

Mix all well and you're done!

Bullion ... Veggie, Not Gold.

Soup Monday. I've been on a recent trend of cooking soup every Monday. At first it was by chance and then it just seemed like a nice trend to keep up. Gluten-free broth is sometimes hard to find and frankly, broth is expensive for what it really is. I've had Heidi Swanson's Homemade Bullion {{http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/homemade-bouillon-recipe.html}} on my to-make list since I first saw it on 101cookbooks and realized it was a great chance to save some money (it makes a lot!) and also control what was going into the base of my soups.

I had a lot of veggies on hand from that week's CSA delivery (shout out to farmfreshtoyou.com) so I added a few things from the store and ended up with this lot:
What's that thing on the right that looks like it belongs in a Harry Potter potion you ask? Well that's celeraic, or celery root. And its just that. The root from the stalks of celery. And it tastes like, well, celery, but in more of a jicima texture. A closer look:
Admittedly I've never used it before and clearly I'm not the only one. The clerk at the grocery store check out said, "Ew, what is this?" when it came across the belt. Nice.

The final product looked a lot like Heidi's and has been successfully used in many soup recipes. I keep it in the freezer and since it has salt in it (although we halved the salt amount in order to be able to add it to each recipe as needed), it doesn't freeze solid and it is very easy to pull a few teaspoons out for each recipe.

I used approximate measurements given what I had on hand. My sun-dried tomatoes were not fresh and didn't grind up as well as they should have. Lessons learned.

Wow.

So I wouldn't say "consistency" was one of my blogging assets. In my defense I moved this winter and had a SIGNIFICANT delay getting internet at the new abode, so yeah, I have no excuse. Nevertheless, I've been thinking about where I spend most of my time online (see exhibit A, the blog roll to the right) and what I look forward to doing most each night when I get home from work and the answer is quite clear: cooking. I love cooking (thank you Gran!) and I have a husband who is willing to try anything I attempt. I have recently discovered that I am gluten sensitive and have been eating a gluten free diet for about a month. Given that the universe has an on-going love affair with gluten, I have found myself cooking at home more than normal as of late. I will probably have pretty crappy light during the time that I actually cook, but my goal (!) is to take pics of the recipes I make (because there is nothing I hate more than cookbooks without pictures.... am I right or am I right???) and, essentially, what we have for dinner. I could only dream to be as awesome as www.lastnightsdinner.net, but a girl has to start somewhere, right?

So, yeah, that's the goal. Here's to a new path of consistency.

This is Why I Was a Midfielder.

My friend just sent me this link of a pretty nasty women's soccer match from last night. I played a fair bit of soccer in my younger days, but I never saw anything like this.



The ponytail take-down makes me cringe every time.

Poor Little Bunny

After spending the weekend with my toddler-aged niece and nephew, I have reinforced the notion that I don't have the immune system for children. I feel like ish. My wall-shaking cough has given way to the runniest of all runny noses. I haven't been sick as far back as I can remember, so needless to say, I've done a fair share of whining about my condition over the last few days. To which my husband says... Poor.Little.Bunny.

A Horse is a Horse

A little tid-bit from the Schott's Miscellany daily calendar my now-Mother-in-Law got me for Christmas last year:



A horse will live 25 days on water without solid food, 17 days without eating or drinking, but only 5 days on solid food without drinking.

-- Burroughs' Encyclopaedia of Astounding Facts and Useful Information, 1889

Two things struck me about this:
(1) Doesn't it sound strikingly like a logic problem where you're going to be asked how little you could feed and water the horse over a period of 30 days without it dying?
(2) Who in the world tested these theories??? Maybe in 1889 it was trial by error.

Affinity for Fonts

I love fonts. I don't generally like sans serif fonts. What I do LOVE is the idea of making a font with my own handwriting!! www.fontcapture.com makes that dream a reality in like 2.5 seconds. Print off the sheet (I rec more than one because, well, if you're anything like me, you suck at following directions), write out your letters, numbers and symbols (I used a fine-point Sharpie pen) and then scan it to yourself (I did mine at 400 dpi just to be sure it came out clean). After submitting it, the next page shows your font, which you can sample and download! Simple as that!

Geek heaven.

www.fontcapture.com

Innovation At Its Finest

Although the first USC home game was missed on account of traditional holiday weekend camping obligations, I honestly cannot wait to get back into the Coliseum, decked out in our Cardinal and Gold. When I do get there, I'm thinking I'm going to need a new cushion. Not for my arse, but more for enhancement of beverages:



It's the Sippin’ Seat Flask Stadium Seat Cushion! OMG. Get yours today! http://www.kegworks.com/product.php?productid=21705&cat=1176&page=1

Non sequitur: Stoked to see the USC/OSU game Live in 3D this weekend at the Galen Center-- Something ESPN is trying out!

::Salivating::

As Labor Day approaches, I'm planning what to bring for a camping trip with friends. I love to cook for a crowd, so I take my dinner responsibilities very seriously. I think the man is going to whip up some of my great aunt's taverns (sloppy joes, white castles, depending on your location in Iowa) to serve. He does a pretty great job on them, so I'll allow it. Our recipe involves a can of Campbell's chicken gumbo (random, I know), and I'll post it some time if I think you deserve it.

I'm also going to whip up some crispy caramel marshmallows for snacking. My mother in law makes these as part of her holiday cookie spread (again, ::salivating::) and they are always something that I tend to go for first.

Behold:



Recipe and photo credit can be found here: http://www.bigredkitchen.com/2009/08/crispy-caramel-marshmallows.html (still having linkage problems, which kinda makes me cold sweat)

Also looking ahead towards the SC football tailgates this fall, I'm looking for something to have for the non-Homecoming games (as that one is the blow-out shin dig) and again went back to my midwestern roots for-Taco-In-A-Bag. This was served at just about every sporting event my brother and I were ever part of. It's easy. It's delish. And it's a crowd pleaser. A friend just came across a blog detailing it:


Info and photo credit at: http://www.suburbanbliss.net/suburbanbliss/2009/08/did-they-eat-it-walking-tacos.html#more

Yum! Can't wait for the season to begin!

If You Don't Watch Tosh.0

You might as well be supporting terrorism. This has got to be the best show on TV. We just saw Daniel's stand-up last week and we were not let down. Shows get cancelled way too quick these days, so do your part people. Watch Tosh.0 on Comedy Central. If you don't laugh, we shouldn't be friends anyway.

For a sneak peek of why its so great:

http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/toshpt0/index.jhtml

So I'm new around these Blogger parts and cannot for the life of me get that address to become a link. ::sigh::

You Might As Well Find Out Early On...

I am a pretty gigantic fan of the University of Southern California. I may or may not have orchestrated an informal campaign for Pete Carroll to be president in 2008. I may or may not count down the days until the opening game. You'll never know.

I think it is important that you know this because there is a slight (read: substantial) chance that you will see a lot of USC links this fall as the Trojans march to Pasadena and I wanted you to know why.

That being said, this is a great video and demonstrates why if some kid says he doesn't want to play for USC football, it's not because he doesn't want to; it is because he hasn't been invited. This is straight fun and with a great message to boot!

A Slow Start Indeed

Not exactly a running start on the ol' blog, but I think of a lot of things away from the computer, so I'm going to have to start updating from my BB.

One of my favorite things to have up as a gchat status message is an online typing test. I spend 8+ hours per day behind a computer and consider myself a fairly efficient typer. We all do. That is why it is impossible for someone to NOT take the exam and then want to compare notes. Alas, this is my go-to because it offers multiple tests and gives scores for wpm and for accuracy (you can go back and change mistakes as you go if you'd like).

Right now you're dying to see how well you'd do, right? I know you are. I want to see how good I can do.

www.typingtest.com

Have at it.

Here Goes Nothing...

So I have a penchant for useless information. I also have the insatiable urge to back up every fact with a web site link. Just because I can. Google can always find the answer. I have faith. I'm always stumbling across a great link or fact or recipe and was looking for an outlet to keep them all together. And here we are. As an aside, I think nearly every name is currently in use by blogger. I tried to shorten the name of this blog, to no avail. Glad you could make it- even if you did have to type a lot of characters.