Adventures in the kitchen...

Since I've been home from work, the girls and I have spent a lot of time in the kitchen together.
I have enjoyed finding jobs for them to do (really, I have!), and they have really enjoyed doing them.

Some of their new responsibilities include:

* washing grapes and picking them off the stem on shopping day (per Rachel Ray's instructions), * unloading the dishwasher (Soren handles the kid dishes, Rory handles everything else that's not sharp),
* various stirring, adding, mixing, & cleaning up tasks while we cook something yummy,
* and of course, LICKING THE BOWL!!!


Here they are, honing their kitchen skills:





One of our new favorite things to make is Crock Pot Banana Bread. I generally make banana bread pretty often, and everyone at our house loves it. BUT, my own personal kryptonite is any sort of excess HEAT (I know at times it appears my kryptonite is the cold, but I like to keep you guessing!), so turning on the oven in July is not happening! I was so excited to find this recipe and try it out. It tasted really good, but got a bit dry around the edges. Now that I think about it, I think every banana bread I've ever made is a bit dry around the edges. Might have to work on that....

Here's the recipe:

Crock Pot Banana Bread

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup chopped pecans (I did not put these in)

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

4 small, ripe bananas, mashed

2 Tbs. + 2 tsp. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

*Turn crock pot on high. Grease and flour the insert. (I wasn't sure if you were supposed to turn it on high with the insert in or out. I just sprayed the insert with nonstick spray, and let it "preheat" while I mixed everything up.)

*Mix flour, soda, and salt in medium bowl. Add nuts and set aside. In another bowl, cream butter with sugar. Add eggs, one at a time. Add milk and vanilla. Mix completely. Stir in bananas until well mixed. Gradually add flour mixture. Stir until just combined.

*Place insert in crockpot. (If you recall, I did this at the beginning- it worked fine- just a tiny sizzle when I poured the batter in!)

Carefully add batter. Cover with lid. Bake 2-3 hours until done. (Ours was done after 2 hours and 15 minutes.)

*It is VERY IMPORTANT that you do NOT remove the lid during the first 2 hours of cooking!!