52-Week Cooking Challenge W1: Choco Chip Banana Loaf

Last night, I decided to challenge myself to constantly improve my kitchen prowess by committing to cook or bake at least one dish per week for the whole year.  The new house that we are renting in has a small kitchen but I like it better than the kitchen of our previously rented house for the reason of accessibility and unlimited water supply.  The kitchen is equipped with cabinets, has an area for my refrigerator and my oven.  Another plus is that the hubby has put the stock room just behind it. Baking and cooking becomes easy because things are now at an arm's reach.

So with this 52-week cooking challenge, I will be doing a dish that I have not done before, before a week ends.  Most of it may not be original as I only rely on some recipes.  Some I will be putting a twist depending on my mood.  I could go beyond the 1 dish per week depending on my schedule.

I have been planning to make a banana loaf since.  The last banana bread I made was half baked because I put it out of the oven with out testing it with a skewer. I only followed the temperature settings and the baking time only to find out that the insides are still runny.  Good thing Mom has some Lakatan to share which I took home last week.    I intended to have it ripened to almost trash bin worthy state so that it would be all mushy and sweet for the banana bread.

So last night, I got my bowls and measurements out and my oven running for a bread I have been craving to make.

Chocolate Chip Banana Loaf

Ingredients

2 cups flour

2 ripe Lakatan bananas

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup melted butter

1/4 cup oil

1/2 cup chocolate chips or chopped walnuts or chopped raisins.


Instructions

1.  Preheat oven to 325 F.

2. Sift dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda).  Add sugar.  Make a well.

3.  Add butter, oil and eggs.  Mix. (No need of blender)

4.  Mash lakatan bananas in a separate bowl.  Fold into the mixture.

5.  Fold in chocolate chips or walnuts or raisins or combination of the three. Your preference.

6.  Transfer into a greased baking loaf pan or a cupcake pan lined with cupcake liners.

7.  Bake until skewer or tester comes out clean.

Notes:
I didn't use chocolate chips but I had a small bar or chocolate and chopped it finely.  I baked mine for 1 hour and a half because my loaf pan is deep.  I covered the pan with aluminum foil at the last half hour to minimize browning of the top part.

TST

Because most of the groceries in my cupboard are about to expire, I thought of cooking pasta. We used to do tuna spaghetti during Silab gatherings because one of the alumni, Tessa, is a vegetarian (but she eats fish). So I call this recipe TST or Tuna Spaghetti for Tessa. Although during college, it was just a simple recipe, I added some stuff I could find in the cabinet and gave it a good mix. :)


TST

Ingredients

1 can Century Tuna flakes in vegetable oil
8-12 button mushroom - sliced
4 pcs hotdog - sliced
1 500 g pack Spaghetti Sauce
tomato sauce
5-7 cloves garlic minced
quarter of a normal sized onion - minced
dried basil leaves
salt and pepper
water
Penne Rigate (depending on how much you will eat)
Grated Cheese

Cook pasta according to package instructions. Set Aside.
Boil hotdog in small amount of water until all the liquid has evaporated. Set aside.
Use vegetable oil from canned tuna to saute garlic. Add the onions and continue to saute. Add tuna, be sure it is in small bits already. Add hotdog and mushroom and continue to saute.
Add 1 pack Spaghetti Sauce and a little of tomato sauce. Ensure everything is well mixed. Add basil leaves and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with grated cheese on top.