Whole Wheat Banana Nut Bread

I got a loaf pan finally and decided to try baking some banana nut bread. Someone told me baking is about precision and accuracy (this reminded me of biochemistry lab) but, screw that, I'm a rebel. Since I wasn't following a recipe, I did not measure things accurately but here is an estimation.


Ingredients

whole wheat flour - 1-1.5 cups
evaporated unsweetened milk (normally i would use regular 2% milk, but i didn't have that) - I used enough to get to a pancake batter consistency maybe about 1 cup
sweetened condensed milk - 1 can (but i had some leftover since I don't like it too sweet)
Cardamom (green) powder (optional) - I had these whole (I used 1), so i got the seeds out and TRIED to powder them and failed..so I just threw the seeds in; just use vanilla extract if you have that.
Ripe bananas - 2
chopped walnuts - 3/4-1 cup
Baking powder - 1 tspn
Vegetable Cooking oil - 1 tbspn and some to coat the loaf pan.


Method

1. I found a sieve so I sifted the wheat flour. (yay, I've never done this before, it was exciting. not.)

2. To this add the baking powder and mix.

3. Add the condensed milk and regular milk and mix. Don't add everything at once, since you might add too much. I used my hands and it was gooey until you get it to the pancake batter consistency. I recommend starting out with some regular milk and then working with the condensed milk until you get the desired sweetness. Then you can add more regular milk until desired consistency.

4. Mix, mix, mix. Taste to check sweetness. Add the vegetable oil, roughly chopped up banana bits and walnuts and mix some more!

5. Pour into coated loaf pan and bake at 350 for about 30 or so minutes or until done.

Tastes best when it is warm.

Strawberry and Banana Lassi

It finally feels like summer here in Southern California. I live in Los Angeles on the top most floor facing the North-west (I'm guessing. I'm horrible with directions). But what I do know is that the apartment gets REALLY hot in the late afternoon-evening. And when it's hot, you drink tender coconut water to keep cool and when you don't have access to fresh coconut water, you get tanked on lassis! This is a sweet drink as opposed to the spicy version I posted earlier.

Makes about 3 glasses
Ingredients
1 cup of yoghurt (I always use plain, but I suppose you could use flavored ones)
1/2 Lb of strawberries (give or take) (remove the green bits)
1-1.5 bananas
1/2 cup water
about 8 ice cubes
2-4 tbspn of sugar depending on how sweet or tangy you like your drink.

Method

1. In your blender (ESSENTIAL GADGET FOR THE SUMMER), add the roughly chopped bananas, strawberries, yoghurt, water and blend (chop, puree, liquefy, mix, whatever as long as the fruits disperse into the yoghurt). Then do a taste test. Add sugar accordingly and also put in ice cubes and blend.

Pour into glass and ENJOY!