Church Bake Sale and Peanut Butter Banana Date Bread

   I love to bake. I really enjoying cooking, always have, but I love to bake. I especially like it when someone enjoys what I have made. It makes whatever it took to get that baked worth it. Not to mention how much cheaper and more rewarding and fulfilling it is than therapy. :-) When I can bake to help further the Kingdom of God, all the better the blessing. Our Women's Ministry at church periodically will raise money for things like the school we have and missions. The Sunday before Thanksgiving after church we had a bake sale. I pulled out some card stock tags, ink and some stamps and got started.

These are the stamps used for tags on each item to sell.

Happy Thanksgiving 

Blessings

Happy Thanksgiving with autumn leaves

Give Thanks

Tags done~ quick, easy and fun.

   Now it is on to baking. I am going to make No~Bake Cookies, Banana Oatmeal Muffins of which half will be topped with Maple Buttercream frosting and Peanut Butter Banana Date Bread.


   I do appreciate the money I can save shopping at Aldi's and I do like their products. Most of their products are as good and some better than high priced and name brand products at the traditional groceries. I have mentioned I do not like their soap or cleaning products, household or personal hygiene items. I have found another product I will not purchase again and threw out the entire can after I took the 1/3 cup out for the cookies and met the result with complete disaster. See that canister of "Baker's Corner Baking Cocoa"? I highly recommend you skip that one at Aldi's. The recipe for these cookies you will see on blue spiral tablet paper is from a project I did in fourth grade. I have used this recipe ever since and have made it the same way every time. For the last 15 years or so I have made them in the same pot. I have never had a batch turn out badly. I do not work in a cocoa kitchen of any kind but based on the outcome of the batch of cookies this baking cocoa produced they either pressed far too much of  the fat out of the cacao beans or added far too much alkalizing agent to it. My guess is they did both. I do enjoy Aldi's oatmeal almost everyday for breakfast and use it for all my recipes that call for oats or oatmeal. When I went to the grocery to get Hershey's Cocoa I also bought some Quaker Oats. That was probably not necessary but I had things to do on the Saturday I was baking and buying Quaker Oats just gave me a little peace of mind.

Aldi's Oats and Baking Cocoa

Tried and true Quaker Oats and Hershey's Cocoa.

This recipe I use was one I made in 4th grade for a class project.

That was back in the day where I folded everything :-)

No Bake Cookies

2 cups sugar

1/3 cup cocoa

1 stick real butter

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups oats

Put first four ingredients in saucepan and bring to a medium boil for 4 minutes, 5 minutes is too much so take the pan off of the heat before 5 minutes. I usually let it boil for about 4 minutes.

Add vanilla.

Stir in oats until they are evenly distributed and drop on wax paper.

Enjoy!

Let them cool while the other two recipes are made.

 Pale in color, dry, crumbly and slightly more tasty than artificially flavored cardboard. For comparison, these are from the batch made from the Aldi's cocoa which quickly made their way to the trash.

    Whip up two more items for the bake sale and I can package them up. Both recipes will call for ripened banana's and I had two that would work. I am making a double batch of both recipes which will call for a total of 10 bananas. So the eight that needed a little ripening are headed for some manufactured accelerated ripening.

These are just not ripe enough so in the oven they go for about 5-8 minutes on 350°.

They look like a mess, but they were perfect. I buy banana's, Jon eats them. So this is what I do. 

   The next recipe is Banana Oatmeal Muffins. Spark Recipes is full of fun and delicious healthy recipes. It is a cite worth perusing. Because their byline and purpose is to provide healthy recipes I was a little surprised to find one there that had 1/2 cup of shortening in its list of ingredients. This recipe in its original form does call for just that and you will see that if you opt to go to the original recipe. Originally this also called for chocolate chips and chopped walnuts. I only keep shortening around if I am doing a decorated cake that I must have pure white frosting for and can not use a pure buttercream which has a cream colored cast to it. So, I used 1/2 cup of butter instead of the shortening and I do not use the chocolate chips or walnuts in this particular banana muffin recipe. I like both individually or together in banana muffins, but the simple and wonderful flavor of this muffin is just too good to goober it up with other layers of flavor. Using oats in a recipe is a great way to add incredible texture and to bind and hold the ingredients together. When I discovered this recipe an entirely new world opened up for me in the world of baking. Pre~cooked oatmeal offers so much to this recipe. I would not put it in meatballs, but anywhere the oats are not needed for binding other ingredients together I am experimenting with pre~cooked oatmeal. Here is the original Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins on Spark Recipes.

   Below the photos is my rendition of that recipe and I call them just:   Banana Oatmeal Muffins.

Simple ingredients you most likely have at a any given time.

In recipes like this that add mashed banana's I use one bowl. I love to bake, not clean unnecessary dishes.

This recipe calls for sifting. I sift for all recipes with rare exception. Aerating the flour gives a nicer end result.

These are amazingly moist, rich and so full of simple flavor.

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

Preheat oven to 350. Grease or line muffin pan.

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp Vanilla extract

2 ripe bananas

1 cup Cooked Oatmeal  (which is 1/2 cup of oats cooked in 1 cup water)

2 cups all~purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

If you are not using leftover oatmeal and are making it for this recipe; make the oatmeal first so it can cool before adding to batter.

In a large bowl cream together butter, sugar, egg and vanilla. Add banana’s and mash them, then add cooked and cooled oatmeal. Stir all together until nicely blended. Sift in flour, baking soda and salt. Stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.  Spoon batter into prepared muffins cups filling to about 2/3 full. 

Bake 22-25 minutes, or until done. They will be golden around the edges and paler on top.

Cool on a wire rack for a few minutes then remove muffins from pan placing them back on cooling rack. Good served warm or cold.

   The next recipe will be a double batch of Peanut Butter Banana Date Bread.

Pampered Chef Measure~All® Cup

   Since there is no creaming of the ingredients in the Peanut Butter Banana Date Bread I have mashed bananas in advance rather than mashing them with the whole of the other ingredients. I don't want to overwork the quick bread dough by mashing them in the batter. I pause to show you this because this Pampered Chef Measure~All® Cup is great for butter, bananas, peanut butter, or any solid ingredient. If you turn the tool around and flip it over you will see that it measures liquid from the opposite end. I love NOT scraping food out of a measuring cup. You simply press the whole of the ingredient measured out with one gentle push. Happiness! 

   My father was a great cook, and if it were bread of some kind he loved to bake. He made the best Pepperoni Bread. It seemed to take forever with the rising time, but well worth the wait! Below is a cookbooklet published spring of 1985 and that is when I bought it. Thumbing through it I happened onto the Peanut Butter Banana Date Bread recipe. It was a quick bread and not a yeast bread, but because of the three mentioned ingredients I just knew dad would want to try it when I showed it to him. I knew being made with a mix wouldn't hinder his wanting to give it a go because quick breads, thought not the boxed ones, were really his thing. I made a mental note to put the cookbooklet in my purse so I would have it with me after church Sunday as the girls and I usually went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Sunday dinner. Then it occurred to me ~ he's gone Teresa, he is not there. Dad died just a few months earlier in January that year. If you have ever lost someone you had very regular contact with, and loved as one does a parent, you understand I was not crazy for not remembering at that moment so soon after his passing that he was in fact, gone. So, suffice it to say this particular cookbooklet brings a tinge to my heart, a churn to my stomach and brief moment of heat to my eyes. That is why I like to use if for fun things, and I thought to bake a loaf or two of that bread for the church bake sale just seemed right.

The tag says, "tried & true".

Simple ingredients.

I do not want a full loaf sitting about the house so I made a little individual serving to split with Jon.

This would be where Emeril Lagasse's "smellavision" would be nice. Delightful aroma!

Once cool these little darlings can be wrapped for the bake sale.

Ours however are going to be eaten warm. 

Here is the recipe.

Peanut Butter Banana Date Bread

1 box Pillsbury Date or Nut Bread Mix  (I always use date.)
1 cup mashed bananas
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons oil
1 egg
1 tablespoon wheat germ

Heat oven to 350°F. Using solid shortening grease and flour bottom only of 8X4 or 9X5 inch loaf pan. In large bowl, combine all ingredients except wheat germ; stir 50 to 75 strokes until dry particles are moistened. Pour into prepared pan; sprinkle with wheat germ.

Bake at 350°F for 45 to 55 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan. Cool completely before slicing. Wrap tightly and store in refrigerator. Makes 1 loaf.

You can use creamy or crunchy peanut butter, I use creamy for this bread. Like the photo suggests, I do spread peanut butter on this when I snack on it, I like and use the crunchy then. Fig preserves and orange marmalade age good choices, too. I use canola oil for the oil in the recipe. I rarely use shortening but I do to grease and flour this bread. This may not be tofu on spinach with a balsamic vinaigrette but I did give it the Healthy Eating label because overall for a snack it is not so bad, particularly if you are comparing it to "snack cakes", especially the store bought varieties.

The wrapping and packaging begins.

The flavor in these is rustic and simple, and they are so moist.  They are  perfect for Autumn.

3 cookies to a cup.

Done!

   I hope your Thanksgiving was full of all the people and things you are thankful for!

Light the fire, food fast and a movie.

  This is from a dinner we had a while back and I just never posted it. Jon had the day off and we ran errands and got things done, but it took up most of the day. By the time we returned home it was late in the evening. It was a dark and stormy night, no kidding. Rain, thunder, and lightening, everything I love in a perfect autumn night. Hot creamy soup, you know the comfort kind you would never dream of eating in warmer weather?, and warm bread were just what we wanted. It was already supper time so after a quick assessment of the time I wanted to spend and the ingredients I had on hand, I made my way to the basement and grabbed this little cookbook. 

1998

I do not know how many of these little cookbooklets, is that a word???, I have but they take up nearly two feet of my cookbook shelf area. I have some amazing tried and truly great recipes in those pages. I am not swayed by just any of these, I really have picked and chosen a select few it's just that I have been at it for almost thirty years.  This one was published in, 1998.

1949

   This gem I bought at a yard sale a long time ago. This cookbooklet is a little taller and wider than its more contemporary companions, but has the same quality of recipes in its pages. It was published in 1949.

$50,000.00  winning recipe for the Pillsbury's Grand National Recipe and Baking Contest held at the Waldorf~Astoria Hotel in New York City, December 13, 1949.

   I enjoy vintage recipes so much. While those $50,000.00 Nut Rolls are tremendous, there are equally wonderful recipes in that book. There are recipes that feature ginger such as Danish Ginger Roll, Ginger Tea Bread and Ginger Cake Apple Fluff. Ginger is not something you see as the predominant flavor in baked goods today like it was years ago. Gingerbread and maybe the odd Ginger Snap cookie recipe, but that's pretty much it unless you live in the Britain where Scones and Oaties do get to sport ginger. I love ginger and have made it a part of my baking. The other recipes in this book are very interesting and delicious as well.

Creamy Bacon~Spinach Soup is the entrée for this evening's supper.

   Here is the photo of the recipe for this evening's repast.  Since it may be a little frustrating to work off of the photo I will set it out below in a more workable format. This soup is very good as well as fast and easy to prepare. The next selection from this cookbooklet will be this next week and I am thinking it will be the Creamy Reuben Soup on page 28... yumminess right there!!

Eight simple ingredients. The pre~sliced mushrooms and bottled minced garlic are my version of "fast food".

50% Whole Wheat One~Hour bread ingredients for the bread machine. I would like to make the Whole Wheat dinner rolls dough, let the dough rise and then bake but tonight is food fast so one~hour bread it is.

Bacon cut and sautéing.

Spinach squeezed.

The leftover bacon and mushroom will reappear in an omelet for lunch tomorrow.

Bacon nearly done so mushrooms and garlic added.

Broth added. Only need to whisk flour into milk and stir into soup, stirring until thickened.

Bread done. Cool for ten minutes while I ladle soup and Jon starts the fire... 

...and pops a movie in.

No need for place settings because the fire is going, the movie is in and paused where it begins and it is supper by the fire.

Here are the recipes for both the soup and bread.

Creamy Bacon~Spinach Soup

6   slices bacon, cut into 1~inch pieces

1 1/2   cups sliced fresh mushrooms

1/4    cup chopped onion

1   garlic clove, minced

2 (14.5 oz)   cans ready to serve chicken broth   

1 (9 oz)   package frozen spinach, thawed, squeezed to drain well

1 1/2   cups milk

6   tablespoons all purpose flour

In Dutch over, combine bacon, mushrooms, onion and garlic; cook over medium~high heat until bacon is cooked and vegetables are tender. Drain.

Add broth and spinach; simmer 5 minutes.

In small bowl, combine milk and flour; beat with wire whisk until well blended. Stir flour mixture into soup. Simmer until mixture boils and thickens, stirring constantly.

4 (1 1/2 cup) servings

50% Whole Wheat Bread

12 ounces, 1 1/2 cups   water, 115-125°

1 1/2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons butter

2 cups bread flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed

2 tablespoons dry milk

1 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons 

Add ingredients to bread pan in order listed, making well in center of dry ingredients for yeast. Program for one~hour bread setting. Turn on. When done, turn off, unlock pan and remove with oven mitts. Shake bread out and allow to cool on rack before slicing.

   Just a little word here. This will make a two pound loaf so if your machine will not make two pound loaves you could halve the recipe, no promises on outcome though. Do not let the salt and yeast touch, it will kill the yeast. Making that well for the yeast is important. If you are using a one~hour feature the water temperature is crucial; too cold you won’t activate the yeast properly, too hot you will kill it. Either way you will get flat bread and not the nice little round loaves we buy to make wraps and lovely pizza pies. If you are tempted to use 100% Whole Wheat flour you need to use your "Whole Wheat" setting. Whole wheat has the entire wheat kernel which means all of the germ and bran are there. This makes for heavier bread that needs more time to rise. Use exact increments. I am not a stickler for exactness in a recipe, in fact I like to go outside the box and customize recipes. In a bread machine you really are better off sticking with the ingredient list and their increments though.

With a little cheese added the mushrooms and bacon provided a delicious omelet, some leftover bread made great toast.

   I hope you are enjoying your autumn. Autumn is quickly giving way to winter so enjoy every minute of it as we welcome a time for Thanksgiving.

   I am an avid soup fan and would love to see your soup, chowder, bisque, stew and chili recipes. It would be fun to organize a Bloggers baking and or cooking cook book, choose a cause and donate proceeds toward it with the funds. Any takers?

Oh, deer!

   Earlier this week I grabbed my camera and set out for a section of a park and reservation area very close to my home. This park system covers a vast area of about 500 square miles I think. There are lakes, rivers, creeks, water falls, an array of beautiful wildlife, a zoo, and right now in particular there are trees with such splendid colors. I thought I would get some photos of the trees in the morning and then go out again in the afternoon and take photos of the same trees in afternoon light. It sounded like a great idea to me. I was however stopped in my tracks when I saw what you will see below in this first set of photos. I decided to spend my time in that morning sun just down the street from my house. We see deer often. I was just so taken by these. On the whole of our street there is only one real garden of sorts in a front yard. This garden was pretty this summer. It is just down from my house, and the deer love to stop there. 

Good morning!

Yes, I am still here but will not disturb your breakfast. Carry on.

Done eating this one.

Crossing may not be such a good idea just now.

Heading back for a minute, this traffic is not letting up.

Good idea. They were not as done as they thought.

Maybe the traffic will lighten up. I think she would like to get over there and back in the woods.

Two more are now considering the jaunt across the street.

Fawn figures if they leave she will go, too.

Breakfast in that little garden is now over. See you soon.

   Later that afternoon I sort of stayed with my original plan. I grabbed my camera and headed for the wood nearby. It all came together quite nicely because I started out to take piccies of the sun on the leaves in the early morning in comparison to the sun on the leaves in the late afternoon. I got to see lovely deer in the morning and in the afternoon I came across this beautiful buck.

Well, hello there handsome!

Do you know how magnificently your Creator created you?

We are not through here. I fully intend to follow you deeper into this wood.

His antler's blend like branches. He completely blends in at a distance. God protects, period.

So regal.

  I could have spent the whole of the afternoon into evening in that wood with that buck. However, things at home needed tending to. As I was posting this it occurred to me that I had no real purpose for this post except to share the photos of those lovely creatures. I never get tired of seeing them. And then it occurred to me there is a book I have been meaning to share with you, and this is just the post for it. So I ran up to my bedroom, took it out of my bedside table and took this photo of it. 

   That is the hard copy of Hinds' Feet on High Places my husband gave me for Christmas, in 1996. My original paperback copy proudly displayed the love shown to her with much fraying of pages and falling apart in general. I loved opening this that year. 

   Since elementary school I have battled a fear. This fear would be triggered by a certain environment and was paralyzing, emotionally and physically. Sometimes, often, my physical response would be flight. Initially I would be unable to move, sometimes not breath, but then would be in high flight mode. This fear still tries to dominate and destroy me. I sought counseling, and still...fear. After decades of hell, and I choose that word rightly, I realized it was a spiritual matter. Only God was my answer. In the last couple of years I have made the issue a matter of conversation between God and I. The Holy Spirit has shown me things and through my time in the Word of God and time fellowshipping with God, I have learned some things. Life changing things. I have pressed in, become more honest and transparent and real in my time with God. My relationship with Him is stronger than ever and so my trust and faith have grown deeper. I have gone higher with God that I ever knew possible. As I have grown and changed in my heart, my life has changed and fear no longer has its devastating and debilitating grip on me. I can do stupid stuff to usher fear right back in, but I have no desire to do so whatsoever. That which got me into such a bondage of fear was really innocent on the part of this young elementary school girl. A girl who believed a Girl Scout leader. It was not until a Sunday School teacher took the time to ask me about a comment I made in her class that I was shown how deceived I was. I love the story of David and Nathan where the instant David's eyes are opened he repents. He loved God and when shown the error of his way, he changed. That is what repentance does. When I saw what Mrs. Mucci was saying to me was true; I immediately stopped doing what I was doing. I loved Jesus so much as a kid that when I saw this deception for what it really was that I was grieved ~ deeply. It was nothing to walk away and never look back once I saw and understood the truth. However, I would battle the effects of that for decades to come.

   When first I read Hinds' Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard, I was in my twenties. I could not put this book down because I so related to the main character, Much Afraid. When she was in her paralyzed mode, and when she wanted to run, I could vicariously felt her fear so deeply I felt my own heart beat speed up, and at that moment in time I would forget I was reading a book. The ending was so beautiful and gave me hope. That is why I read it so many times. I was looking to be free of that fear. I have not read this book for some time because I have grown in the knowledge of Who God is and how deeply and unconditionally He loves me. I may read it again someday. I do keep it in my night table by my bed. If I do, it will only be to see how marvelous God is and to remind me from where He redeemed me from. Though a good book, it is not the Word of God. God's Word and developing our relationship with Him is where our deliverance comes. 

   This brilliantly woven allegory is about the matchless, unconditional and everlasting love of God toward us, and the frustration, destructive crippling and the futility of living in the faithless state of fear. I have lost count of the times I have read it, but my first go round with it was in the early 1980’s ~ it has never lost its beauty for me.

The Lord God is my strength,

And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet,
And makes me walk on my high places.

For the choir director, on my stringed instruments.
Habakkuk 3:19 (NASB)

   I really do not want to put this on here, but must. Though I do recommend Hind's Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard, I do not recommend her other writings. I praise God for this book as I believe He inspired her to pen it. Her other works do not align with scripture and some vary off considerably. Please check here for a really well written and though brief a quite good biography of Hannah Hurnard. You will need to click on the bright pink book that says "Look Inside" and then scroll down a few pages to where it will read "Author Biography". The brief biography will begin there.

The lame will leap like a deer,

    and those who cannot speak will sing for joy!
Springs will gush forth in the wilderness,

   and streams will water the wasteland.  
Isaiah 35:6 (NLT)

Cherry Pie Bars

   If I ask my husband what he wants for dessert he will inevitably say "Something red." That translates to something cherry. He likes strawberry and raspberry, but cherry is his favorite. Jon also likes the flavor of amaretto so I figured with the almond extract in these Cherry Pie Bars they would be a hit with him. Tonight when I should have run my bath and settled in for the night and headed for a chair with the book I am enjoying right now; I got the urge to bake. Nothing new, I know.
   I remember when I had no desire to get involved in Pinterest. The women at work were constantly talking about it, and honestly it was starting to annoy me. One of my co~workers and friends asked if I was on this Pinterest. I told her I wasn't and she said she was surprised. I asked her why and she proceeded to tell me that she saw my Scottie Cake on there. I was a little confused since I had no idea what all the "pinning" was about. She said to come to her desk once I had my coffee and she would show me. As the reader here I am certain you know what happened. Pinning came from everywhere including blogs. That Scottie cake on my blog had been pinned, A LOT. It was almost two years after that before I even got on Pinterest myself. I was looking to make something and thought that might be a good resource. Was it ever!!! I then realized I could have boards that would keep things organized, all in one place and I could access them so easily. When I realized there was an APP for Pinterest and I could look at my recipes, craft ideas and everything I had "pinned" while out and away from my computer, I decided to try it. Please just know, I am SO NOT an APP person. I keep my iPhone clean and with only what will rest on one screen. I should confess right here that I access my Pinterest page, A LOT. I use it for shopping and used it while at my daughters house because I had deliberately saved recipes to try for her family. Okay, here we go. I love Pinterest. I should tell my friend that. She knows I use it now because she follows one of my boards :-).  Anyway, this is one of the recipes I pinned to my Sweet Treats board with the idea of making it for Jon. That happened tonight.
   I cut this recipe in half and prepared and baked it in an 11 X 7 inch glass baking dish. Since this original recipe was designed to be baked in a Jelly~Roll pan, and they are typically between 10 X 15 and 13 X 18 inches, my pie bars were a little thicker than the photo of the batch shown on Pinterest. They are very good and I am excited about Jon having one when he gets home tonight. I will be baking these again during the Christmas season. Since they will be served to more than Jon and I, I will use my Jelly~Roll pan.

Here is the original recipe I found on Pinterest.

Cherry Pie Bars

Ingredients

1 c. butter, softened

2 c. sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract

3 c. flour

1 tsp salt

2 cans (21 ounce) cherry pie filling

Glaze

1 c. powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

2 Tbsp milk

Instructions

Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs, beating after each addition. Mix in extracts. Add flour and salt. Mix until well combined.

Spread 3 cups of the batter in a greased jelly roll pan. Spread pie filling on top of dough. Drop remaining dough by tablespoonfuls on top of cherry pie topping.

Baked at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool.

Combine glaze ingredients and drizzle over bars. If serving the next day wait and do this before serving or the bars will be a bit soggy!

   Here is the blog this recipe was pinned from.  Here is the page on Julie's blog for  these Cherry Pie Bars. I plan to follow this blog, Julie's Eats & Treats. She has plenty of wonderful recipes, for instance her recipe today is Overnight Pumpkin Cheesecake French Toast Casserole. HELLO!! Thank you Julie, for such a lovely blog.