Beer + Bread 4ever

Hello, dear friends!

Long has it been since I’ve written about the goings on in our kitchen, but upon perusing the interweb I found a recipe this afternoon that immediately made me jump for joy, run to the kitchen, bake, and blog.

Ladies and gentleman, I give to you what is sure to be a Morrell-Dunn-Rankin Family Favorite: Beer Bread.

Yes, yes, you heard right. Your favorite carbs can come together in one gloriously quick hour. AND you only need 5 ingredients!

3 1/2 cups self rising flour, 12oz beer (any kind), 3 TBS sugar, 1 beaten egg, and 3 TBS melted butter.

But, kids, if you’re like me and are without self rising flour, simply ADD: 1 TBS baking powder and 1 tsp of salt. Voila.

Add sugar to flour.

And then the beer (I used an old Christmas Ale) and the egg.

Mix well, and pop into a loaf pan (or a round cake pan if you are also like me in that you turned your rusty loaf pan into a flour pot this past summer).

Bake a 350 for 50 minutes…

When your hoppy bread comes out of the toasty oven, brush the melted butter on top, and pop back in the oven for 5-10 minutes.

…um…this is the melted butter. Later, for dinner, I added chopped garlic to this and brushed it over NAAN bread.

When your bread has cooled, lovingly cut yourself a slice.

Mmmmyummy

And if you’re goal in life is to emulate me entirely, you’re going to have to spread nutella on most of your bread-goods (or your Thin Mint cookies).

Nutella on beer bread? Absolutely!

And that’s all she wrote on beer bread. Life goes on as usual over here. CDR and I continue on our health kick (Nutella aside) and I’m happy to report we’ve been doing very well. I believe the current household weight loss count is at slightly over 11 pounds! Woohoo!

Another Nutella highlight from this past month: Banana Nutella Swirl muffins.

 

Don’t act like you’re not impressed!

And that’s all for now, and I do promise to write soon!

 

 

 

 

 

Ring, Ring, Ring BaNANA…Bread

There’s a drumming noise inside my head
That throws me to the ground
I swear that you should hear it
It makes such an all mighty sound
Louder than sirens
Louder than bells
Sweeter than heaven
And hotter than hell

Snap back to reality–OH! There goes gravity…

Just don’t even worry about the lyrics this time. Let me tell you all about the best batch of banana bread I ever made! I wanted to give you a picture of the loaf before it was sliced into, but my mom beat me to the punch. This photo will have to do.

BANANA BREAD!

This is a really simple recipe. The key is to have crazy over-ripe bananas…like, black bananas. In one bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 2 tsp of baking powder, 1/4 tsp of cinnamon and 1/8 tsp of salt. Make a well at the bottom of the bowl. In another bowl, mash up 3 medium over ripe bananas (four if they’re on the smaller side…size DOES matter, after all), one egg, 3/4 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of vegetable oil, and shhh…a teaspoon of rum (optional). I used Mount Gay Rum, because as previously stated by CDR–I really don’t fuck around with my rum. Mix the wet ingredients (batter will be a bit lumpy), and pour it into the well of the dry ingredients. Mix gently with a wooden spoon until just combined. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake at 350 for 50 minutes. Voila.

I discovered today that it only took me four months to go through ten pounds of flour. I opened the new ten pound bag today, so let’s see how quickly I go through it. At this rate–I should be done in just a few short weeks.

It’s been quite the catatonic few days. My eyes are even now glazing over the screen, trying to zero in on a point of focus.  I am all packed for my 24 hour getaway tomorrow, and I couldn’t need it more. Going to my closet to get my suitcase I discovered something. I hadn’t really unpacked from Canada. Maybe it’s time. Bare, raw, spinning, whirring, and aching–it’s time to unpack.

Your life, little girl, is an empty page–that men will want to write on.