Save a Buck, Conserve Resources and Eat Well!

So you all know I’m married to a miser, right?

Which means I have to make the most of EVERYTHING. Especially in the kitchen because my miser is extremely sensitive about how much we spend on groceries. I’m not sure why this is, but I suspect it has to do with the fact that groceries are my gig, as opposed to his.

Any food that goes to waste has my miser calculating how much that needlessly cost us? Buying fresh produce then becomes very tricky, especially when I have to consider the ever-variant appetites of two growing kids. Sometimes, my son will sit at the table after school and put away an entire pineapple. Other times, the pineapple — peeled, cored and cubed – sits in a Tupperware neglected.

Buy a bunch of bananas one week and they’re gone in a couple of days. The next week, I have a fruit basket of black bananas. No problem. I just make banana bread! I toss them in the freezer as soon as they turn black, until I’m ready to make the bread. Sometimes I make a double, or a triple, batch and freeze the bread. It defrosts wonderfully.

But what to do when a defrosted loaf sits around for too long?

Normally, this doesn’t happen. But for whatever reason, this week’s banana bread failed to entice the kids enough.

I could toss it out, and risk the endless discussion of dollars that went into the garbage with it, or I could make banana bread French toast. The old world solution to all old breads. Why not banana bread?

Which is what I did this morning and the kids… loved it.

How could they not? Sweet, dense banana bread, dipped in custard, fried, and then topped with butter and syrup is a high-energy kid’s dream breakfast. Who needs Fruit Loops when you got this stuff going on?

And I didn’t have to throw the bread out… MISER BONUS for me.

My Recipe for Banana Bread

1 cup flour

¾ cups brown sugar

¾ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

3 or 4 very ripe bananas – as in mushy, black and disgusting. The more disgusting the better.

6 Tb melted and cooled butter

2 large eggs

¼ cup whole vanilla yogurt or whole buttermilk

2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 9×5 bread pan.

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. In a mixer, blend the remaining ingredients. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, mix in the flour, just until combined. Don’t mix it too much or the bread will be tough. Scrape into the buttered pan and bake for about 55 minutes on the lower middle rack.

Note: I use dark brown sugar for a very moist, dense, and rich bread. You can use white sugar, if you like the loaf to be lighter, or you can use a combination. Plain yogurt will do, instead of the vanilla, and if you have neither buttermilk nor yogurt, put 1/4 tsp of lemon juice in a 1/4 cup of whole milk and let stand for five minutes. Viola – you got buttermilk!

My Banana Bread French Toast

¾ cup of whole milk

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp of vanilla extract

8 Slices of banana bread

Butter

Syrup

Beat the first 3 ingredients together. Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Grease the skillet with butter. Dip the bread in the batter. If it isn’t very stale, a simple dip will do. If it’s staler, let it soak a little longer. Fry it up, flipping when it’s golden brown. Serve with butter and syrup or whipped cream and bananas or strawberries. If you’re feeling very decadent, shave some chocolate over it!

Note: To prevent the bread from getting too soggy and falling apart, you can slice it the night before and let it stand, covered loosely. Or you can let it fall apart and toss it on the grill anyhow. The batter will hold it together when it cooks.