Baked Pumpkin PEI: Banana Loaf

This is a staple in our house - the boys take it to school with their lunch - it keeps for a week and the flavour, if anything improves as the days go on!

Ingredients :-

1 ¾ cup flour
½ tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
¾ cup white sugar
1 egg (beaten)
¼ cup oil
1 cup mashed bananas
½ cup milk

I sometimes add walnuts to the top or Chocolate for a slightly different texture.

Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt & sugar into a bowl.
Combine the egg, oil, bananas and milk and add to the dry ingredients.
Stir until the mixture is well blended.
Put in a 9 x 5 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes.

Double up the mixture and put it in a loose bottom pan. After 60 minutes, turn the heat down to 200 degrees and bake for a further hour.

Enjoy!

Time Saving Tips - not just Baking!

Take it from me, any time saving tips you have, you pass on to other working mothers....so here goes

1. Easy Garlic
Buy the big bags of peeled garlic - whizz it through your food processor and put it in jars - the less you use garlic - the smaller the jar. Freez all but one of the jars & put the one remaining in the fridge. I find it lasts up to 3 weeks - ignore that it goes orange - it's fine. So, the next time you need garlic - just go in the fridge and get a teaspoonful.

2. Raw Onions
I hate cutting onions and I don't like the texture - so I have to cut them very fine. What I do to overcome this affliction is, once a week I chop up 3 onions in the food processor and put them in a jar. I keep the jar in the fridge and it lasts a full week - only one set of tears required!

3. Flour
I know most people don't use flour on a constant basis and, depending on the size of your family and the time of year, your flour may crawl out of the cupboard...solution - keep it in the freezer - it's perfect to use straight away.

4. Portions
We are a family of four and I always make certain dishes as if we were a family of eight and then freeze half.

5. Silicon trays
Whatever you are doing in your oven - this stops all manner of baking sticking to your metal pans - buy one and you will thank me for the lack of scrubbing and washing up!

6. Meat Roasts
Always buy a bigger roast or bird than you need - the meat goes into sandwiches and no waste.

7. Minced Beef dishes
Buy an extra large pack of beef and make lots of dishes at the same time - add chopped onion, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, oregano and basil and there's your basic dish for burgers, meatballs, and spaghetti bolognese. Divide up - add breadcrumbs (presoaked in milk) to the meatballs, fry off and freeze; paprika and chilli (peppers or powder) to the hamburgers, fry off and freeze; cook up the rest and just add tomato and a tsp sugar for bolognese, divide up to make chilli con carne with chilli powder added. Four dishes, set to go!

8. Tomato dishes
Make up twice the standard Tomato sauce and freeze half - ready for the next time. If you have too much canned tomato - make it into a Salsa.

9. Batter
Never waste remaining batter - if you've made onion rings, throw in some other veg - cauliflower, broccolli, peppers, mushrooms - then freeze them. Just bake off to re-heat.

10. Peeler
Buy a good veg peeler - nothing worse than spending precious time arguing with a bad one!

11. Mashing
When you are mashing anything hot - place a wet dishcloth underneath the pan - it stops the pan sliding about and frustration setting in.

12. Vegetables
Never let vegetables rot - if they are going over, parboil them, put them in zip-bags and store them in the freezer - you know you will use them on a day when the cupboards are empty.

13. Ground Flax & Wheatgerm
These are innocuous flavours that can be thrown into any dish and go unnoticed - however, they are good for you and so I put a tsp of ech in every baked dish - even pastry.

14. Condensed Milk
On a day when you are doing the laundry or otherwise occupied, submerge a couple of cans of condensed milk in simmering water for 3 hours. When they are cool, put them back in the cupboard - now you have instant toffee sauce, whenever you are inclined to indulge.

15. Zip Bags
They are more expensive than the regular plastic bags - but they are worth the investment. Ideal for marinating meat, piping and freezing - I have 2 sizes small and superlarge.
That's all for now...I'll no doubt add some more later!

Baked Pumpkin PEI

Banana Loaf

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