MJ's Moderation

Banana Bread

This is for Lauren :-)

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening (I use part butter and part butter-flavored Crisco)
2 eggs
1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 - very ripe)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1-3/4 cups of flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans) optional

Sift dry ingredients into a separate bowl and set aside.
Cream sugar, butter, and vanilla.  Add eggs and beat just until well mixed.  Fold in mashed bananas.  Mix in dry ingredients -- but do not overmix.  (You can add up to 1/4 c. more flour if batter seems thin.)  Finally, stir in nuts.

Pour evenly into 2 greased loaf pans for short slices, or use 1 loaf pan for taller slices -- & let set for 15 minutes before baking. 

Bake at 350 degrees for approx. 35-40 minutes. Toothpick inserted in center and pulled out clean indicates done-ness.  Cool slightly before removing from pans.

You can also bake in an 8x8 pan & frost with cream cheese icing, if desired. (See photo.)

This is just wrong.

Fancy Feast Elegant Medleys:  "Restaurant-inspired cat food"??

Tempting florentines, delightful souffles, sumptuous shredded fare.  I'm sorry, but none of my personal restaurant inspirations have ever been shredded...except maybe that Bar-B-Que down in North Carolina, but that was the antithesis of elegant.

You know the world is going to hell in a handbasket when a single can of catfood is more expensive than a can of regular tuna.  Not to mention that it probably offers more nutritional value and is safer than much of the food residents in any third-world country have available on a daily basis. (Notwithstanding the recent pet food recall of tainted wheat product fillers in many canned petfoods.  Fortunately this recall did not include Phoebe's beloved Fancy Feast fodder.)

It all started when she was a kitten. We began buying her the standard canned 9-Lives to mix in her meds.  After awhile, we began to add a little dollop to her daily dose of Purina One dry cat-crunchies.  She naturally loved it.

But 9-Lives turned out to be the gateway substance leading to the more powerful draw of Fancy Feast. F2 is the least stinky brand that we've found of canned cat food, but stinky enough to evoke excitement to her mealtime. [One dramatic can of tuna/salmon blend actually offered up what appeared to be an eyeball. HELL-O!] The problem was that near the end of the can, even covered with foil in the fridge, it began to dry out and lose it's appeal. She would either refuse to eat it - or eat it and 20 minutes later hork up a big gullet-track. [aka Dog Snack!]

As an experiment we tried the pricier F2 "Elegant Medley" and found the contents stayed fresher and moister longer, hence we could use the whole can.  However, now she has begun to turn her nose up a the regular F2.  She's spoiled.  Or as Cesar Millan would say, WE have spoiled her. Whatever.

Anyhoo -- I've started to feel guilty for buying it when so many people in this world go hungry. To assuage my guilt, I've been buying extra PEOPLE food to put in the local food pantry collection barrel at our grocery store each week.  It's may not solve the problem, but every little bit helps.