my best friend's cooking adventure

i hope my best friend won't hate me but here's an email i got from her today... looks good to me! keep eating (but cook first!)

So, I was inspired to actually cook tonight - for myself. I was also motivated by the fact that for the past two days I had eaten about 2,000 calories each day of pure shit. The photos are bad...The salmon was okay - I am always afraid that I will overseason the fish so I end up underseasoning it. The problem with Minute Brown Rice is that it is still underdone after you cook it according to directions. However, the veggies were great! I am not a fan of tomatoes cooked really, so I will not try them again. You just raved about them, so I thought I would try.I had two old bananas but also wanted to use up some blueberries, so I found this recipe on the Internet from Cooking Light. The glaze is yummy, but certainly not necessary - the bread can definitely stand on its own.

Lemon-Blueberry Banana Bread

2c Flour
3/4 t Baking Soda (if the bread forms a crack down the center while baking, then the soda is doing its job)

1/2 t Salt

1 c Sugar (I used crystallized cane sugar)

1/4 c Butter, softened (always unsalted for baking)

1 c Mashed Bananas (about 2)

2 Eggs (or 1/2 c substitute)

1/3 c Low Fat Sour Cream

1 t Vanilla

1 c Fresh Blueberries (I used frozen, thawed, drained, patted)

1 T Lemon Zest

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Put the flour, soda, and salt into a small bowl and incorporate.
• In a separate bowl, cream the sugar and butter (sugar is usually considered a 'wet' ingredient because it will absorb into the wet). Add bananas, eggs, sour cream, and vanilla and combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet about 1/2 cup at a time. Then, fold in zest and blueberries.
• Spoon batter into a greased loaf pan (I used two small disposable pans lined with parchment).
• Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
• Cool in pan for 10 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Glaze (really, just extra calories)

1/4c (2 oz) 1/3 less fat cream cheese (a.k.a. Neufschatel) softened

3 T Powdered sugar

1 T lemon juice (I used more because it needed more tang)

3 T water

stir until smooth and pour over banana bread

Okay. Thanks again for inspiring me. I also picked up this month's Everyday Food, but I am really not a fan of chicken. Talk to you later. Love,

Tara