Sunny winter SaturDAY eats
Toasted Banana Walnut tea loaf w/Peanut Butter & Beach Plum Jam
Making It (on) Your Own
What I find so much fun and liberating about cooking is reviewing recipes, seeing what ingredients are called for and then working with what I have, making recipes my own.
I had that all to familiar over ripe banana on my kitchen table for way too long. I started looking up banana bread recipes when I remembered a fabulous moist ‘tea loaf’ I had during the holidays when I began searching recipes for a banana tea loaf which I thought would be moister than your standard banana bread. The recipe I chose to work with was English. The measurements were in metrics and from the git go I knew I didn’t have enough butter. The recipe called for 3 oz of butter which translates in my mind to 3 Tablespoons – of butter. I had about two Tablespoons of butter – I added a tablespoon of oil.
You’re suppose to ‘cream the castor,(fine sugar) and butter ‘till fluffy. I only have an old hand mixer and used organic Turbinado sugar. Nothing looked fluffy or creamy about my sugar and butter when I added the two eggs which were meant to be beaten before adding them to the creamed butter and sugar. Next mash the bananas – which becomes a liquid to be added to the dry ingredients: 8 oz of flour a pinch of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda. sugar & butter, alternating between the liquid of creamed butter, sugar and the eggs and then the mashed bananas.
I had an aluminum loaf pan I didn’t even prep, meaning I didn’t butter or flour coat the inside. I simply poured the batter into the unprepared, virgin aluminum loaf pan. I got that into a preheated 350 degree oven. – Wait – maybe the oven wasn’t preheated enough. Maybe that could effect the loaf’s density and moistness? Oh right, I remembered I had walnuts in the -fridge and combed them them through the batter in the loaf pan.
As far as I’m concerned this loaf was almost a flop. I was disappointed with the texture, moistness,(or lack there of) and density but I don’t believe it’s because of the few adjustments I made. If it is – I’m livin’ with it & lov’n it actually thanks to the mighty TOASTER.
It’s a beautiful sunny winter Saturday. I went to the Tompkins’ Square library to put a number of books on hold. I got hungry on the short walk over there and all I was envisioning was sitting down to a hot cappuccino & a good croissant. Luckily the perfect place isn’t between my place and the library – SMILE
I came home and whipped that banana walnut loaf out of the freezer.I cut two nice slab like slices w/a serrated knife and into the toaster they went. 
Toasting is a prescription I can see getting addicted to.

I liberally spread good organic peanut butter onto the two toasted banana walnut loaf slices and topped each with a tablespoon of East Hampton beach plum jam – a delicacy item I cherish and savor and a steaming cup of Yogi Black Chai tea.
As I sat down and dug into my toasted banana walnut loaf slice, PB & J and took a good long sip of that tea I had a laugh as I heard the voice of an old mate/friend in my head saying, “PB & J on toast, that’s the “Breakfast of Champions”. I must say I’m feel’n like a Hero as I sit here perfectly satiated, happily writing this piece.







breads, flower wreaths and cutting boards. The tents lined one edge of the farm’s ‘center field’ where a small stage was platform to a number of folk acts that played the last few hours of the weekend’s festivities.

breads, flower wreaths and cutting boards. The tents lined one edge of the farm’s ‘center field’ where a small stage was platform to a number of folk acts that played the last few hours of the weekend’s festivities.















Recent Comments