Banana and Blueberry Bread

While I was able to get off work earlier on Friday as a surprise mini Summer-Friday, I decided to bake this banana/blueberry bread for my husband’s birthday.

One of our very good friend was planning to bring one of her amazing cake at the party that evening and my cake would be just the perfect thing to wake up to after the big party.

Some cakes are perfect as “birthday-celebrating-blowing candles on” cakes and some others are perfect as “post-celebration-breakfast” cakes.

I had never baked banana bread and since I love it and had some left overs, it was the perfect occasion. And I decided to add the rest of my blueberries before they would turn bad.

Banana bread is a typically American thing for me. I don’t really know why but I never grew up with it around me and associated it with the U.S.

In my quest for the perfect recipe, I also discovered an interesting explanation on why Americans use cups for measurements. I always wondered why, sometimes slightly annoyed at it since I am used to see recipes with grams and milliliters.

I read online that it is meant to make measuring for recipes easier because you don’t have to weight anything. While this silly European person has probably no idea of what we are talking about, here is a more interesting explanation: Back in the days, the average American farmer’s wife had very low chances to own a precise weighting system in her ranch and cups became an acceptable system.

Needless to say that it was the perfect breakfast treat paired with a cup of black tea and cherries.

 

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg powder – optional

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder – optional

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 ripe bananas, mashed

1 cup fresh blueberries

 

Directions

1. Mix flour, baking powder, nutmeg and cinnamon in a medium bowl.

2. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl for about 5 min until light and fluffy. The color should be noticeably lighter. Add 1 egg and allow to blend into the mixture before adding the second egg with the vanilla extract. Beat mashed banana thoroughly into the mixture.

3. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F (175 Celsius). Grease your loaf pan.

4. Mix the blueberries into the flour mixture and add then into the butter/banana one until combined into a thick batter.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for about 40 to 45 min until a toothpick or knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Radishes with Butter and Salt

Still in the mood to re-create what I enjoyed during my childhood, here is another simple one: radishes with salt and butter.

It doesn’t need to be big, just few radishes for each person in order to get the diner/lunch started.

Ingredients

1 or 2 bunch of radishes.

Unsalted butter at room temperature.

Salt.

Preparation 

Trim the radishes and cut off the leafy greens by leaving a half inch intact, just so that it is easier to hold the radishes while dipping.

Serve on a platter with the radishes, butter and salt.

Slice the radish almost through the leafy greens but not completely. The radish should not be cut into two but slightly open so that you can put some butter into the opening.

Dip in the salt and take a bite. This step can be repeated as long as you still have some of the radish left!

Most importantly: enjoy!