Creative Cookery

Yesterday was one of those days where you intend to make great things in your kitchen and then things get a little crazy.

I was planning on visiting a friend whose husband will soon be having surgery. I've shared before, in my family, you show love by feeding people. With that in mind, I planned on making my friend dinner for her family of five. I was also hungry for chocolate chip banana bread, so my plan was to wake up yesterday morning, bake a double batch of the bread, whip up some kind of pasta dish, shower, pack up Amelia and I, and hit the road (my friend lives over an hour south of us). That was pretty much how the morning went, if you add in a lot of cussing and a ninety minute delay in leaving.

First, I worked on the pasta dish. I had planned on going to the store and getting lasagna ingredients, but alas, I had not made it to the store this week. Hmm... what do we have on hand... pasta.... canned diced tomatoes with chipotle... ground turkey... black beans... corn.... I'll make Mexican pasta! Great. Well, would have been great if the tomatoes were not, OMG-set-your-mouth-on-fire hot. And, the pasta was lacking sauce. Tomato sauce is generally something I keep on hand in case I'm in the mood for Spanish rice, or a pasta dish. Surely we had some in the cupboard.

Nope.

Shit.

I mean shoot. Amelia is starting to repeat us A LOT, so I'm trying not to swear. Getting annoyed in the kitchen does not help.

So, I whipped up a cheese sauce to throw in. It still ended up pretty spicy, but her kids are toddler/pre-school age, so I figured they'd be likely to be picky anyways. With a sigh, I threw the pasta in a bowl and worked on the bread.

It was supposed to start with shortening and sugar, but I rarely bake with the full amount of fat/butter, so I used half margarine and half applesauce. Throw in the sugar, then the eggs... we're out of eggs. How are we out of eggs?!? Oh, because I've made them every morning this week for breakfast.

I think at this point, most people would have given up. But I REALLY wanted that banana bread. Were I childless, I would have ran to the store, but being that I have a toddler AND I was still in pj's, that seemed like a horrible option. So on the internet I go... did you know you can substitute baking soda and vinegar for eggs? Who knows what the science is behind that, but I went with it and dumped it in.

It smelled horrid. This was going to be a disaster.

Eh, might as well continue. Throw in a few more ingredients and then chocolate chips.

We had a quarter cup left. Not enough for a double batch of banana bread, and I REALLY wanted chocolate in my bread. This is another standard ingredient that I always keep in our kitchen, as you never know when chocolate chip cookies, or chocolate chip anything else will sound good.

SIGH.

What do we have that's chocolate, what do we have that's chocolate... mint chocolate chips? Eww. White chocolate chips? Eww again. Cinnamon chips? Not what I'm craving. Crushed oreo cookies?

That could work.

So now I've replaced the eggs with vinegar and baking soda and the chocolate chips with oreos. I had a weird feeling in my stomach of impending culinary doom, but I poured the batter in the pans and threw them in the oven anyways.

The results?

Not so bad.

Spicy, spicy pasta.

Horrendous looking, but delicious.

My friend liked and appreciated the pasta, as did my husband who insisted that he be able to try my concoction. The bread took FOREVER to bake, our loaf was not baked in the middle and also caved in, and was a little dark around the edges. But, it was indeed full of banana and chocolate flavor with no hint of vinegar, and the kids LOVED it.

Success.

What did we have for dinner last night after all that kitchen drama? Wings at our local sports bar. Mama needed a beer and a break from the oven. Hopefully today will go better when I make bubble-up pizza to eat while we watch afternoon football.