Last night after watching Glee, I decided to forego my usual “stay up late for no good reason” habit and go to bed early. I thought to myself, “huh, this is nice – almost like I’m forgetting something…I can’t believe I don’t go to bed this early every night!” Well, obviously I forgot to blog. But it was nice to lay in bed awhile without feeling guilty that it was already after 2am. AND I forgot to watch South Park – I saw on the commercials that they’d be parodying Ghost Hunters, and I really wanted to see it since I’m a fan of both! Grr.
Yesterday morning I had that breakfast I hinted at – it’s a good “prep-ahead” meal, because you can mix all the dry stuff together beforehand, and then all you need is a banana to mash into the dry ingredients. My great-aunt Alice had a GIANT cook book full of recipes from back in the day when she first started doing Weight Watchers. I’m not sure if she made this one up or if she got it from somewhere else, but here it is. (I searched the WW website to make sure it’s not one of theirs!)
Aunt Allie’s Oatmeal Banana Cake
I made up four bags of the dry ingredients for Mom and me for the rest of the week. Pardon the mess. Each bag contains:
I cut mine up so it’s easier to incorporate. Then you use a fork to mash the banana into the dry ingredients.
You’re going to think “how on earth is this banana going to be enough moisture?” Just keep mashing.
After a minute or two, that’s what it’ll look like. Pour it into a greased loaf pan and put it into a 375° oven. The recipe calls for 20 minutes, but ours were done after 15 minutes, so check it then. When I was in graduate school, I’d sometimes cook it a little long so it’d get a tad over-done, then I’d be able to cut it in half and carry it in the car like two cookies. Just know that it won’t get hard exactly like a cookie, it’ll still be somewhat soft in the middle, but yesterday when I baked it for 15 minutes, it was moist and gooey inside…something you couldn’t take to go.
Ooh terrible photo. There it is about to make its way into the oven.
And there it is dumped out onto a plate with chai and milk on the side!
Speaking of that plate, much like with my blue bowl, I dragged this one out of a storage box because I just couldn’t handle the 70s-era dishes anymore. This was marketed as a holiday plate last year at Target, but I’d use it every day, and from now on, I’m going to!
Here’s my pretty silver-and-white plate again with my lunch of leftover cheese DiGiorno pizza and low fat ranch:
Yesterday afternoon I re-attempted a recipe I tried a few weeks ago. Again, it totally failed. The recipe is for Caramel Apple Cookies from Craft Magazine, and I mucked it up once again. Last time I made a mistake and thought I fixed it this time, but this time I added more apples than it called for which (I think/hope) made the dough runny. Both times, the cookies stuck to the parchment paper in parts and fell apart in other parts. I’ll give this recipe ONE MORE shot later and only put in as many apples as it calls for, maybe even fewer, but I’m perturbed.
They look sweet and innocent now, right? I was too sticky and angry to take a picture of them all torn up. Next time, I’ll get it right.
I did, however, manage to have two un-broken onesalongside a bunch more broken ones.
Later in the afternoon I got all gussied up to go to the grocery store (ha!), and as I was drying off from the shower, I noticed someone had come through a crack along the frame of my open window…
I tried to pick him up so I could take him back outside, so I looked pretty silly in just a towel, one hand holding my towel, the other hand chasing this little lizard. He finally found his way out the way he came in, though, sparing me a trip outside in a towel.
Snack a little while after I got home from the store was some wine and almonds…
Dinner was some sushi…
nd pasta and asparagus…at least I didn’t have a HUGE amount of pasta. I did pay close attention to my portion! (PS – the great thing about this plate is that it’s “salad” size, much smaller than my parents’ dinner plates I’ve been using! The bad thing is, I can’t use it in the microwave because of the pretty silver designs…boo.)
Dessert was a Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich:
So today’s already begun, and I’ve done something good for myself; I tried a kiwi for the first time in a LONG time…I don’t remember the last time I ever had one! It accompanied my egg-onion-cheese sandwich:
I ate the skin, too – I know a couple of people in the blogosphere do that, but is that the “socially acceptable” way to eat them? I don’t know kiwi etiquette.
So for today, I’m working on a project for Mom’s birthday (it’s SUNDAY!!!) and going to her hospital for a drop-in for a former co-worker of mine (if, during my internship, I can claim to have had “co-workers”) who’s leaving for another job. While I’m downtown, I’m going to EARTHFARE!!! and Strictly Running so Mom can get some new shoes and I can ask about my heels rubbing.
Whoo, what a crazy-long post! I hope everyone’s having a great day, and I hope you all try my Aunt Allie’s oatmeal cake recipe! It’s so good!
Yesterday morning I had that breakfast I hinted at – it’s a good “prep-ahead” meal, because you can mix all the dry stuff together beforehand, and then all you need is a banana to mash into the dry ingredients. My great-aunt Alice had a GIANT cook book full of recipes from back in the day when she first started doing Weight Watchers. I’m not sure if she made this one up or if she got it from somewhere else, but here it is. (I searched the WW website to make sure it’s not one of theirs!)
Aunt Allie’s Oatmeal Banana Cake
I made up four bags of the dry ingredients for Mom and me for the rest of the week. Pardon the mess. Each bag contains:
- ¾ cup uncooked oats (old-fashioned, not quick-cook)
- 3 Tbls brown sugar replacement (I used brown sugar Splenda)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ⅓ cup nonfat dry milk powder
- ½ tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
I cut mine up so it’s easier to incorporate. Then you use a fork to mash the banana into the dry ingredients.
You’re going to think “how on earth is this banana going to be enough moisture?” Just keep mashing.
After a minute or two, that’s what it’ll look like. Pour it into a greased loaf pan and put it into a 375° oven. The recipe calls for 20 minutes, but ours were done after 15 minutes, so check it then. When I was in graduate school, I’d sometimes cook it a little long so it’d get a tad over-done, then I’d be able to cut it in half and carry it in the car like two cookies. Just know that it won’t get hard exactly like a cookie, it’ll still be somewhat soft in the middle, but yesterday when I baked it for 15 minutes, it was moist and gooey inside…something you couldn’t take to go.
Ooh terrible photo. There it is about to make its way into the oven.
And there it is dumped out onto a plate with chai and milk on the side!
Speaking of that plate, much like with my blue bowl, I dragged this one out of a storage box because I just couldn’t handle the 70s-era dishes anymore. This was marketed as a holiday plate last year at Target, but I’d use it every day, and from now on, I’m going to!
Here’s my pretty silver-and-white plate again with my lunch of leftover cheese DiGiorno pizza and low fat ranch:
Yesterday afternoon I re-attempted a recipe I tried a few weeks ago. Again, it totally failed. The recipe is for Caramel Apple Cookies from Craft Magazine, and I mucked it up once again. Last time I made a mistake and thought I fixed it this time, but this time I added more apples than it called for which (I think/hope) made the dough runny. Both times, the cookies stuck to the parchment paper in parts and fell apart in other parts. I’ll give this recipe ONE MORE shot later and only put in as many apples as it calls for, maybe even fewer, but I’m perturbed.
They look sweet and innocent now, right? I was too sticky and angry to take a picture of them all torn up. Next time, I’ll get it right.
I did, however, manage to have two un-broken ones
Later in the afternoon I got all gussied up to go to the grocery store (ha!), and as I was drying off from the shower, I noticed someone had come through a crack along the frame of my open window…
I tried to pick him up so I could take him back outside, so I looked pretty silly in just a towel, one hand holding my towel, the other hand chasing this little lizard. He finally found his way out the way he came in, though, sparing me a trip outside in a towel.
Snack a little while after I got home from the store was some wine and almonds…
Dinner was some sushi…
nd pasta and asparagus…at least I didn’t have a HUGE amount of pasta. I did pay close attention to my portion! (PS – the great thing about this plate is that it’s “salad” size, much smaller than my parents’ dinner plates I’ve been using! The bad thing is, I can’t use it in the microwave because of the pretty silver designs…boo.)
Dessert was a Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich:
So today’s already begun, and I’ve done something good for myself; I tried a kiwi for the first time in a LONG time…I don’t remember the last time I ever had one! It accompanied my egg-onion-cheese sandwich:
I ate the skin, too – I know a couple of people in the blogosphere do that, but is that the “socially acceptable” way to eat them? I don’t know kiwi etiquette.
So for today, I’m working on a project for Mom’s birthday (it’s SUNDAY!!!) and going to her hospital for a drop-in for a former co-worker of mine (if, during my internship, I can claim to have had “co-workers”) who’s leaving for another job. While I’m downtown, I’m going to EARTHFARE!!! and Strictly Running so Mom can get some new shoes and I can ask about my heels rubbing.
Whoo, what a crazy-long post! I hope everyone’s having a great day, and I hope you all try my Aunt Allie’s oatmeal cake recipe! It’s so good!
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