Just for the Record

We woke up this morning to minus 28 below zero.  That's a full 10 degrees colder than predicted!  So if you look at yesterday's post, you might as well add another 10 degrees colder to what the weather guys are saying.   The highest we ever got today was a "balmy" 8 below zero!  And now they are saying this below zero stuff will last well into March.   I don't think we'll be getting any spring this year.  I really feel sorry for the wild animals.   This winter is very hard on them.   So far so good with all the cats.   The chickens are OK, too, but have cut egg production down to about 6 a day instead of 13.  So now we've had over 70 days of below zero.  That's gotta be a record.

The Never Ending Deep Freeze

This is the winter of hibernation.  Pretty much all of December, January, and so far in February, we have had below zero temps.   Night after night after night the low is well below zero (sometimes as low as minus 30), and even our day time temps are often still below zero.   We're a hardy bunch of folks up here in the cold north country, but even by Minnesota standards this is a very cold winter.   This cold winter is being blamed on the Polar Vortex.   Hey, Polar Vortex, go back where you came from! 
Take a look at our 5 day forecast:

Tomorrow Feb 27	Friday Feb 28	Saturday Mar 1	Sunday Mar 2	Monday Mar 3
Partly Cloudy	Mostly Cloudy	Mostly Cloudy	Mostly Cloudy	Mostly Cloudy
Hi: -4° Lo: -18°	Hi: 4° Lo: -21°	Hi: -7° Lo: -21°	Hi: 0° Lo: -15°	Hi: 5° Lo: -11°

As you can see, it looks pretty depressing.   Look at those nightly lows.  And note that these are air temps, NOT wind chills!  And the 10 day forecast isn't much better, just more of the same.  Every day on TV I hear about the "bitter cold" in other areas, where the temps will be in the upper 20's.   At this point we would welcome such a "bitter cold"!
     Everyone around here is going broke trying to keep the house warm.  Those who heat with oil or gas or propane or electric talk about monthly bills of $600 or more.  And people who heat with wood, like we do, are all just about out of wood.   We all thought we had a big enough stack of wood for the winter, but now most folks are down to just a very small pile of firewood. 
     In the book "How to Talk Minnesotan", there's a chapter devoted to how us Minnesotans can gab for at least 30 minutes about the weather.   And that's just what we're all doing!   In just about every cafe, or coffee shop, and at every kitchen table, we're talking about the cold.   So now it is almost March - supposed to be getting near spring.  In fact, on the 9th we're supposed to turn our clocks ahead one hour and "spring forward".   At this point we're thinking spring will arrive by July!  And then we'll have that 1 day of "Minnesota summer" - i.e. that one day of bad ice fishing - and then we'll be getting ready for winter again!  Yippee!
     Now, the next time you hear on TV about the bitter cold in other parts of the country and how they are suffering, please think of us freezing up here.   They never talk about us.   I guess it's just a given that Minnesota is cold.   No news story there.  One of these days it's bound to warm up!  Maybe..............

Oh, Yes! We Have...."ONE"....Banana......

I don't know about your house, but in our house it seems that there is always that one lonely banana left, and it seems to get very ripe very quickly and nobody wants to eat it, and it turns darker and darker by the hour.   What to do with that one lonely  banana??  One banana isn't enough for banana bread.  Muffins?  Maybe, but we have those too often.  Over the years I have researched and tried out several ideas for what to do with small amounts of banana.   And so I will offer here three of our favorites.  I know........I said a while back that writing articles with recipes wasn't quite what I had in mind for this blog, but these are too good not to share.   And besides, at this time of year, baking is a good idea - it warms up the house on these really cold winter days! 

First of all, here's a good coffeecake.   This makes a small cake, but this cake is best served warm and fresh anyway, so small is good. The topping sinks a little into the cake, making little dents of crunchy topping.

BANANA STREUSEL COFFEECAKE

1/4 c. butter

3/4 c. sugar

1 egg

1 medium banana, mashed

1/4 c. milk

1 1/2 c. flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

     Grease a 9 x 9 x 2 pan.  Cream the butter and sugar.   Add the egg, banana and milk.  Combine dry ingredients and add to banana mixture.  Sprinkle streusel mix over batter in pan.   Bake at 350 for 30 min.

Streusel Topping 

1/4 c. white sugar

1/4 c. brown sugar

1/3 c. flour

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 c. butter

Combine dry ingredients and cut in the butter until mixture looks crumbly.

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Next, is a recipe for a yummy bar cookie.  I make this in a 13 x 9 pan and the bars are fairly thin, but we like a thinner bar anyway.  If you like a thick bar cookie, use a smaller pan.   These are cake-like bars and very tasty, and they use a really small amount of fruit, so if you have a small banana left here's a good use for it! 

SPICY BANANA BARS

1/4 c. butter

1/3 c. mashed banana

1/4 milk

1 egg

1 c. flour

3/4 c. sugar

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. cinnamon 

1/4 tsp. cloves

1/4 tsp. allspice

1/3 c. chopped nuts

Heat oven to 350 and grease and flour a 13 x 9 baking pan.  Cream the butter and sugar, then add the banana.  Mix well.  Add milk and egg.  Add all remaining ingredients.  Spread in the pan.  Bake for 25 min or until it tests done. 

     When cake is cool, frost with the following: 

2 T. melted butter

1 c. powdered sugar

2 tsp. lemon juice (or you can use pineapple juice )

1 or 2 tsp. water

Combine frosting ingredients and thinly frost the bars.

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And finally here is my husband's favorite use for that one lonely banana:  cinnamon rolls!

BANANA CINNAMON ROLLS

1 T. (or 1 pkg) dry yeast

1/4 c. warm water                     Let this proof until foamy.

1/2 tsp. sugar

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In a bowl: 

2 T. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1/2 c. milk

3 T. butter                            Heat this in a microwave for 1 1/2 min until hot.

--------------------

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 c. mashed banana

About 3 c. flour

Combine everything in a large bowl and add flour as needed until you have a dough that can be kneaded.  Knead gently for a few minutes until smooth.  Put in a greased bowl and cover with wax paper and a towel and let rise until double. 

Punch down, and roll out into a 10 x 15 piece.  Smear with 2 T. softened butter. 

Combine: 

2 T. sugar

1/4 c. brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon                       Sprinkle this over the butter on the dough.

Roll up and cut into 12 pieces and place in a greased 13 x 9 pan.  Let rise until almost double.   Bake in a 375 oven for 22 minutes or until lightly browned. 

When cool, frost with a mixture of :

1 T. butter, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 T. milk.  

I made some of these tonight and here is what they look like: 

Vintage Valentines and Ten Ways to Love

This being a day dedicated to love, I thought I'd post a few vintage valentines and share something I read on Sunday that seemed very appropriate for this day! 
     My mother kept a scrapbook of all my old greeting cards received in the 1950's from family, school friends, neighbors, etc.  Not sure if she did this for her benefit or mine, but I'm glad she did!  But over the years and after many, many moves, that old scrapbook became tattered and the pages were just falling apart.   About 10 years ago I carefully peeled off those cards from the scrapbook pages, and I use these old cards as decorations for various holidays.   Here are a couple photos of some of these old valentine cards, from about 1950 to 1958.  I line them up against shelves and display them on furniture, and every year I marvel at the simplicity and purity of those old cards.   When I am long gone, I wonder where these cards will end up?   I often see vintage valentines for sale at antique stores  at this time of the year.  Did they come from someone's old scrapbook, too?

The two top valentines are from 1950, the others are probably from 1955 and later.

Here's one that will stand up on its own that I got from grandparents around 1951.

The following is something that was on the backside of our church bulletin this past Sunday.   I thought it was very good and thought-provoking.  If we all did this, I believe there would be a lot more love in this world!

Ten Ways To Love

1.  Listen without interrupting - James 1:19b

"Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak"

2.  Speak without accusing - 1 Thessalonians 5:13b

"Be at peace among yourselves"

3.  Give generously - Proverbs 21:26b

"The righteous giveth and spareth not"

4.  Pray for others - Colossians 1:9b

"We have not ceased to pray for you"

5.  Do not argue - Philippians 2:14

"Do all things without murmurings and disputings"

6.  Speak kindly - Ephesians 4:15

"Speaking the truth in love"

7.  Express gratitude - 1 Thessalonians 5:18

"In every thing give thanks"

8.  Be loyal - Proverbs 17:17

"A friend loveth at all times"

9.  Be forgiving - Colossians 3:13b

"Even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye"

10.  Be an encourager - Philippians 2:3b

"Let each esteem others better than themselves"

Happy Valentine's Day!  Let us all express our love today to those who are important to us..............