Ladled

I used  Banana Bread Recipe  from Banana Bread Cookbook: 51 Easy But Great Banana Bread Recipes book by Eli Hartly. If you are going to bake anyways, why not try a new recipe. I am glad I did. Usually we seem to have only 3 ripe bananas. This time we had 4 just like the recipe needed. I reduced the sugar by 1/4 cup. I could have probably removed another 1/4 cup as the end result was still sweet. I liked the fine melt in the mouth texture. It reminded me of kesari.

At Costco, a food sample provider placed a tortilla onto a griddle pan.  She then put some mix of many kinds of shredded cheese. Thin strands. A minute or so later, she folded the tortilla onto the half. "Are you making a Gordita?" "No. A Quesadilla" And there it was that simple to make a Quesadilla. I never wondered how to make it, but having looked at it, I know I will make it sometime when the fridge has cheese and we always have roti. One reason for not being curious about Quesadilla is my history with queso. Not so great. But now I am appreciating some kinds. That melted cheese in crusted tortilla, with the toasty smell as well as the brown toasty looks. Warm. What else do we need from food?

Sometime I think, culinary experiments at home are more of 'What can i get away with?' I started out with a plan of making normal upma, meaning not semiya (vermicelli) upma which is my elder daughter's favorite. She was out on a sleep over, so we had to make the normal upma with farina. Then I laid my eyes on  Streits potato pancake mix . By then I had peanuts, diced carrots and onions sauteeing in the pan. And just because no one will question me, I tore the aluminium packet of the potato pancake and mixed it to the cooking veggies. The powder coated them all well. And then I realised that we had some  Delallo instant polenta  to take care of. with lightning speed, I added some water to the pan. In a while it started boiling with the starch paste. I ignored the impending doom and added the polenta, as it wouldnt take too long to cook. After few minutes, the overall outcome is palatable and in the end it didnt even scream failure or experiment. So go mix things you wo...

It is always amazing to find a twist on old staples. A friend came back from a visit to India and brought these jewel studded  chegodi  that have lentils stuffed on the top. This also reminds me of a story where a king offers another, food made of gold.

Photo Courtesy:  Chilis Pepper Jack mac cheese Chilis Pepper Jack mac n Cheese, frozen meal tastes very good with all the creamy sauce, little bits and yummy rotini pasta for a variety from the usual elbow pasta. Chicken Fajita too had a palpable flavor and nice mix of all beans, veggies and chicken.

Cashew cookie from Larabar is a healthy way of getting your protein without the added sugar in the protein bars. No processed foods. If you already eat dates, but find them hard to the palate, then the cashew cookie is a softened paste of dates along with pieces of cashew that makes the dates creamy.

California Garlic Grass-Fed Ghee Butter by 4th & Heart, On-the-Go Single Serving 5-Count, Pasture Raised, Non-GMO, Lactose Free, Certified Paleo spreads very easy on a toast, so easy that even a preschooler can make a mild garlic toast reminiscent of the Texas garlic toast, once you give them the toast. With a single serve packet, there is enough to spread onto two toasts. If you prefer to let the toast ooze , there's some liquid form to it too. I put an opened one in the fridge and that froze. Its easier to use when stored outside and sealed. Fourth & heart has a wide variety of spreads with Vanilla Bean, Salted White truffle and Himalayan Pink Salt flavors.