Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (215g)

1 tsp baking soda (6g)

1 tsp salt (6g)

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (3g)

3/4 cup brown/granulated sugar (150g)

1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature (113g)

2 eggs

3 very ripe bananas mashed (430g)

1 tsp vanilla (5ml)

 

Why I chose to make Banana Bread

I chose to make Banana Bread because I was missing my Grandma’s baked goods back home. Usually my Grandma Linda drops Banana Bread once every month. I have to admit, she makes Banana Bread better than anyone I know. So I was quite nervous to make it because I knew it wasn’t going to be as good as her Banana Bread. I chose to follow a recipe that I found on Youtube. I wanted to switch it up from making a meal to make something to snack on here and there. I also wanted to try out a video because I feel like the learning would feel more interactive than just reading the recipe and instructions like I have been doing. Lastly I haven’t baked in so long I figured why not give it a shot and see how it goes. 

 

Things that I Learned well making Banana Bread

I didn’t realize that the bananas you use are ripe and I didn’t have couple of ripe bananas laying around. I have to admit I wasn’t too big of a fan of touching the mushy bananas but it was to make banana bread so I couldn’t complain too much. I learned a cool trick to get the bananas ripe. It is to put the bananas on the baking sheet and to cook at 350 for 10-12 minutes. This will get the Bananas ready to make Banana Bread. This will be a useful trick to have anytime I want to make Banana Bread in the future. The first mistake I think I made was over-mixing the batter. I think this because when I tried eating the Banana Bread it was kind of tough. The person I was listening to was saying it should be soft and tender so next time I bake I will be more careful with my mixing. It wasn’t the biggest deal though because I still found the Banana Bread I made to be good to eat. One small thing I caught was the baking time between me and the person who was giving the instructions was a little bit off. It wasn’t the biggest problem though because I checked to see what the inside was like with a toothpick. My Grandma told me it shouldn’t be gooey on the inside so I just let the Banana Bread bake for a few more minutes. The next time I bake anything I will need to consider that the time needed for the products to bake may vary a few minutes so I just need to be a little bit more cautious. Lastly but not to big of a deal is I need to invest in an apron because wow.. baking can be messy at times.

 

Results

Like I explained above I think I over-mixed the batter which caused the result to not be as good as it probably should’ve been. With that being said it wasn’t like it was bad. I think the next time I make Banana Bread I will add chocolate chips like my Grandma does. I think that was one of the key ingredients I was missing. I really like using Youtube because I felt it offered me a more interactive way to learn how to make Banana Bread than a recipe would. I also think it was beneficial for myself to try Baking. It was my first time doing this since Foods in high school (A class in High School I took). Overall I think my Grandma would be proud of me for making this even though it’s not nearly as good as hers. Any suggestions on my next adventure?

Ingredients

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• ¼ cup chopped onion
• ¼ cup chopped green bell pepper
• ¾ cup ketchup, or to taste
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon yellow mustard, or to taste
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 6 hamburger buns, split

Directions

1. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir lean ground beef in the hot skillet until some of the fat starts to render, 3 to 4 minutes. Add onion and bell pepper; continue to cook until vegetables have softened and beef is cooked through, 3 to 5 more minutes.
2. Stir in ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, and garlic powder; season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.
3. Divide meat mixture evenly among hamburger buns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before

Like my last meal I decided to make something quick and easy so I chose Sloppy Joes! I’ve been studying for a midterm so I wanted to make something that doesn’t take too long to cook, so I would have as much time to study as possible. I also took the peppers out just because I’m not a big fan of it. Sloppy Joe’s are something that I grew up eating so I knew I would like it. I also made this because it is easy to have for leftovers. I also added a cheese slice to each sloppy joe I would make.

 

During

I started the skillet on medium heat like the directions told me to. From here, I stirred the ground beef well it was cooking until I saw some of the juices from the meat. From here I added the onion, but I didn’t add the peppers due to personal preference. I let the beef and onions cook until the vegetables softened and the meat browned. When the vegetables were softened and the meat was browned I started adding other ingredients like the ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, garlic powder and the salt and pepper. After I did all of that I turned down the heat to low and I cooked for about 25 minutes, well stirring occasionally. From here it was ready to eat so I made myself a plate and enjoyed.

 

After

After eating this meal I’d say it turned out pretty good. Like the last meal it wasn’t anything special but it did the job. This meal was perfect for the time I had available with my studying, and I didn’t need to go to crazy to find the ingredients. Overall this is a meal that doesn’t take too much preparation but still is really good. I will say this, DO NOT WHERE A WHITE SHIRT WHEN EATING … this is a very messy meal. If you have any suggestions in what I should make next leave a comment below. Thanks!

Before

The first meal I decided to make for myself was spaghetti and meat sauce.  Like I explained in a previous post I wanted to start out nice and easy. I’m not a big fan of tomatoes or peppers so I took those ingredients out of the Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with Ground Beef.  I also made quite a bit so I would be able to have this meal for left overs, and to be able to freeze it for the future. This is a meal that is easy, and you can’t really go wrong with Spaghetti. I’ve never made a spaghetti sauce before so I was excited to add that into my own cookbook.

 

During

To begin I got all the ingredients ready on the table and started going to work. The first thing I did was start making the sauce. To do this I got the ground beef and broke it up and added the onion and garlic, I also added a bit of salt and pepper well it cooked on medium. I had to facetime my mom a few times to make sure I wasn’t messing up. As a colourblind person I struggled with seeing it turn brown. I also wasn’t exactly sure what the recipe was trying to say when it said “vegetables are tender” so I just assumed it meant when the vegetables are soft. Anyways, well I was waiting on the sauce to be done I stirred it around basically continuously because I did not want it to burn. The next step I took was putting the tomato sauce and tomato paste in a pan and started letting it cook. As I stirred I added the oregano, basil and salt. I let this cook for about 30 minutes and I stirred every now and then.

 

As all of this was going on I was also making the spaghetti which was pretty simple. I let the water start boiling then I added butter, salt and the spaghetti. Well that was cooking I gave it a few stirs. When it was ready I drained the water out and put a teaspoon of butter in. After this I made myself a plate and enjoyed.

 

After

Now that I have finished making this meal, I can say it went pretty well. This definitely isn’t the best spaghetti sauce I have had but it was still good. It was quite the experience to be able to do this for the first time. I’m glad I started with something simple to build up my confidence for the next meal. At this point I’m not too sure what to do, so if you have any suggestions please comment below your recommendations. The recipe I made is below.

 

 

Ingredients (Sauce)

1 pound ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 (16 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

2 teaspoons dried oregano

2 teaspoons dried basil

1 teaspoon salt

1⁄2 teaspoon ground black pepper

 

Ingredients (Spaghetti)

Water

Spaghetti

Pinch of salt

2 teaspoons of butter

 

Directions for Sauce

1. Gather all ingredients.
2. Combine ground beef, onion, and garlic in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook and stir until meat is browned and crumbly and vegetables are tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain grease.
3. Stir tomato sauce, and tomato paste into the pan. Season with oregano, basil, and salt. Simmer spaghetti sauce for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Serve hot and enjoy!

Directions for Spaghetti

1. Boil water in pot. Well the water is boiling add butter, a pinch of salt, and spaghetti
2. Turn water to medium heat (cook for 15-20 min). Stir occasionally.
3. Drain pasta and add teaspoon of butter