Cravings

Okay...so, being pregnant for the first time...cravings are killing me. They're weird, too. Not weird, like pickles and ice cream weird, but weird in that I want EVERYTHING I had as a kid...Spaghettios, ramen, beef stew, hamburger helper...the list goes on and on. There's only one craving, however, that I had to have RIGHT AWAY. Watermelon with salt on it. I have no idea why...but I did. I'm currently staring down the ingredients to two things: Banana bread and crab rangoons.

No, I am not eating them together.

My workplace provides fresh fruit...and I take the brown bananas home and reincarnate them into delicious banana bread and take that back to work. I am attempting to turn Grandma's banana bread recipe into muffins. The last attempt was rather a bit of a fail. Discovered the hard way I couldn't bake two pans of muffins at the same time in my oven. Also, they are distinctly MUCH more dry than the loaves of bread...and the moistness of the bread is the reason I like it so much...so I'm exploring options for making the bread into muffins without losing the moistness (which apparently most people dislike...weirdos).

Alright...so now for the fun part...the wonderfulness that is my grandma's banana bread recipe:

2 bananas (mashed fine)
1c sugar
2 eggs (beaten thoroughly)
1/4t salt
2c flour
3T sweet milk
1t vanilla
1/2t baking soda
1/2t baking powder
1/2c butter (melted)
1/2c walnuts (optional)

1. Gradually add sugar to melted butter.
2. Mix in eggs
3. Add bananas
4. Sift in dry ingredients
5. Add milk, nuts, and vanilla
6. Bake in a greased and floured pan at 350 for approximately one hour.


Yup, that's it...for banana bread that will have people drooling.

ETA: I have just discovered a way to convert this into muffins (because usually bread recipes wind up dry...bleh)...Add 2 bananas and an extra T of sweet milk for more moist muffins with a wonderful sugary crust

The crab rangoons, there is no recipe for. Just get some wonton wrappers, cream cheese, krab or crab, green onions. mix the chopped green onions, crab and cream cheese until you like the mix. Fill the wontons, freeze, and then fry when you're ready. They're amazing.

As I have more cravings, I'll add the recipes. I have found that indulging your cravings doesn't necessarily need to be expensive or unhealthy...as long as you do it in moderation and make it at home.

ETA: I have a coworker who is allergic to eggs...so in looking for substitutions, I found out that you can exchange bananas for eggs in recipes like this one. So I tried it. It was the egg that was actually making the muffin a little less thick than I wanted it. By removing the eggs and replacing them with bananas (so 4 bananas instead of two), I have actually achieved the consistency of muffin that I wanted. Who knew?!