Coffee Cake: Better than Sour Cream

In my last post, I talked about the various changes that are happening in my life these days. Some things, however, remain steadfast and constant, comforting in their resolute resistance to change. Things like the Grand Canyon, which is always a giant gaping chasm in the ground, and also dark chocolate, which is always delicious. Additionally, there is my undying habit of buying some food item I really don’t want or need and then not knowing what to do with it. I don’t do this often, but I do it often enough that I really should know better. Sigh. Maybe I’ll learn one day.

The most recent offender was a tub of Tofutti Better than Sour Cream. I’d never had it before, and one day I went grocery shopping after work but before dinner (MISTAKE MISTAKE MISTAKE), and I was planning on making some sort of burrito dealio, and then I saw the BTSC and couldn’t resist.

And then I tried it and instantly regretted my purchase. Blech – it had no flavor, the consistency was just gross, and after a couple of days, a pool of milky water formed atop the sour cream. Ugh. So the neglected tub sat in my fridge for a couple of weeks while I pretended it wasn’t there. But the thought of letting an entire container of food go to waste because I made a stupid, impulsive purchase kept nagging at me, so I finally decided to do something with it. I figured that hiding it in a baked good was the best solution, and hey – I was right!

Sour cream and bananas... a match made in practically-spoiled-food heaven!

This is Sour Cream Banana Coffee Cake. And by “coffee cake,” I obviously mean the East Coast version of coffee cake, which is unashamedly coffee-free. It is, however, the perfect accompaniment for coffee. This cake is definitely one of the best original recipes I’ve created – it’s moist, flavorful, and delicate without being fragile. I was inspired to add a banana when I stumbled across this recipe; I had a very brown banana waiting patiently in my fridge for its chance to shine, and because it had made friends with the similarly-neglected tub of sour cream, I figured I should let their relationship continue in baked-good form. It added just the faintest hint of banana flavor, perfect for a banana-snubber like myself. Intrigued? Well, lucky for you, I wrote down the recipe as I put this together.

Sour Cream Banana Coffee Cake
Ingredients:
1 very brown banana
1 container Tofutti Better than Sour Cream
1/3 C alt-milk
1/2 cup sugar
1.5 t vanilla
1 T ground flax
1 1/2 C flour of your choice
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/2 t nutmeg
2 t cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 350˚F and lightly grease or spray a 9″ x 9″ baking pan.

In a large bowl, mash the banana with the sour cream. Add the milk, sugar, vanilla, and flax and mix until well combined. Add all the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Pour the batter into your pan, pop it into the oven, and wait.

I can’t remember how long this took to bake, but I’d guess it was around 20 minutes. I topped it with a tablespoon of brown sugar and a sprinkling of toasted walnuts, but you could definitely get fancy and whip up a cinnamon-y streusel for the top. Either way, it’ll be delicious!

I should also note that I didn’t use a full container of sour cream, so I upped the milk to 1/2 cup. Your mileage might vary – play around with the liquid content if necessary.

And that, friends, is probably the best use for Better than Sour Cream.

What do you do when you purchase a food item that just doesn’t do it for you?

P.S. I LOVE MY NEW CAMERA. That is all.

Summer Ch-ch-ch-changes!

The sun is out, insects are gettin’ jiggy with it left and right, and my mom’s is bragging about sleeping in on her first day of vacation. [Why didn't I do what everyone suggested I should do with my English major and become a teacher?!] Clearly, it’s summer, my favorite season. I used think I was an autumn girl, but I was just trying to sound mature – screw that! I love summer. Give me 87 degrees, a nice blanket of humidity, and blue skies, and I’ll be blissfully happy.

Admittedly, the transition from spring to summer this year was a bit anticlimactic. We’d already had some very hot, sunny weather, so the clouds that rolled in on June 21st were a little disappointing. Now, however, during this first official summer weekend, the mercury is rising and the sun is a-shinin’.

However, I didn’t get to enjoy the lovely weather yesterday. Things are a-changin’ around here – my roommate’s moving to Boston for grad school (sadface!), so this weekend was a crazy, hectic blur of packing and hauling furniture around. She needed to clear out her bedroom so I could move my stuff in there and my new roommate could move into my old bedroom. Thrilling! My bedroom was a little disorganized on Friday night:

Movin' out!

Ugh! Moving is so annoying. Not that I have a right to complain; I was just doing intra-apartment moving. My roomie is doing half-way-across-the-country moving. Needless to say, we’re all very sad that she’s leaving, but we sent her off in style – last week, another friend and I co-hosted a classy wine & hors d’oeuvres party. Most of the hors d’oeuvres were different varieties of cheese, but I also made hummus and brought along some veggies and crackers. The other friend made a gorgeous (and very non-vegan) chocolate cake, and I contributed this pretty little number:

Fruity!

I used this recipe, and on the whole it was really tasty. In particular, the shortbread crust was deliciously decadent. The pastry cream was a bit odd-colored – almost greyish – because I used oat milk, which is not as pure white as other alt-milks. If I make this again, I’ll probably use almond milk and I’ll definitely top the tart with blueberries for better color contrast.

Sadly, we did not have tart nor cake to tide us over during our moving adventure. Today, however, we rewarded ourselves for our hard work by spending some time walking around the UW arboretum, spotting wildlife (turkeys! bunnies! a three-footed turtle!) and getting some vitamin D. I also enjoyed the effects of yet another ch-ch-change – a haircut! No longer do my curls insulate my neck, trapping heat and making even this summer-lovin’ girl uncomfortable. Instead, I am rockin’ a new short ‘do! Here’s the old me:

Pondering.

…and here’s the new me! (Pardon the crappy Photo Booth picture.)

So much lighter.

Believe it or not (and you should, because it’s true), this haircut was the first time I’ve gotten my hair cut and styled in an actual salon. A family friend cut my hair ’til I went to college, and then I just didn’t cut it, except one time my BFF chopped it all off one night when we were bored. Anyway, I love my new style – it’s definitely a good change!

And I have one more change of note. I recently switched teams at work and had to get certified in another of our software programs, meaning I got a bonus (woo!). I decided to treat myself to this sexy little number. Oh yes. Get ready for some bangin’ food porn.

What changes have you experienced recently?

Bad-Mood Food

I did not have a fantastic Tuesday. It started out just fine, but by the end of the day, I was in a rather dour mood. Everything annoyed me – my skirt kept clinging to my tights in an irritating fashion; my office was cold and I was shivering; I had a headache… you know, typical #firstworldproblems. My life’s so tough, right?

I left work “early,” meaning “right around 5:00,” which meant I was caught in that post-work rush of people leaving campus, which meant I had to deal with traffic, which meant I became even more annoyed during my drive home. (Of course, my version of “traffic” means “more than five cars lined up waiting to turn,” so take that complaint with a large grain of salt.) Whilst waiting in “traffic,” I decided to take advantage of my otherwise-empty car by yelling colorful language quite loudly, and by the time I got home I felt slightly more chipper. However, the thought of making dinner did not appeal to me. Luckily, I had an easy out stored in my freezer: Gardein buffalo wings.

Generally, I’m fairly ambivalent about fake meat. I never crave it, but neither do I shun it completely. I enjoy it every once in a while as a novelty; I like variety in my diet. So when the buffalo wings were on sale at my co-op last week, I thought, why not? And on that bad-mood Tuesday, all I wanted was some sort of easy, tasty comfort food. Enter the wings.

Wingzorz!

I pan-fried these guys and served them up with the Pineapple Collards from Appetite for Reduction. These organic collards also came from the co-op; I found them in the “not-so-hot produce” bin and snatched them up for mere pennies (okay, a dollar or so). I love the co-op’s idea of not-so-hot produce – I also bought five organic green bell peppers for $1.19, and they had nary a scratch on them. Score! Anyway, I had some frozen pineapple, so I thought I’d try to conquer my aversion to sweetness in otherwise-savory dishes and trust Isa. I’m glad I did, too – these were actually really, really good! They had a bit of a kick to them from the red pepper flakes and the ginger, but the pineapple provided a smooth, sweet counterpoint.

And the wings? Well, they were so-so. I’ve also had Gardein’s crispy tenders, and I really liked those. But these wings were a little boring, a bit too squishy and flavorless for my taste (although the sauce was mighty spicy!). Still, this was exactly what I wanted for my bad-mood dinner. Served with a side of oat-bread toast, I had a comforting, filling, and mostly healthy dinner. And after eating, my bad mood was reduced by 47%, give or take. Maybe I was just hungry all along.

What foods do you crave when you’re in a bad mood? Any thoughts on Gardein?

Spring Cleaning: The Super-Hot Cupboard-Organizing Edition

Last weekend, Mama Nature walloped the Midwest with a most un-springlike heat wave – 90-degree temperatures, humidity, blazing sun… the whole works. Many people complained and avoided the outdoors, but me? I reveled in it. I’m one of those poor souls who’s always cold – slight breeze? I’m a-shivering! Less than 75 degrees? Where’s my sweater?! Heck, I even keep a fleece blanket at work for those days when my office is just too chilly for my taste. I just switched teams at work, and I’m sure my new co-workers think I’m utterly nuts when they walk past my office and see me sitting in dim lamplight, wrapped up in a blanket… but hey, the fluorescent lights hurt my eyes and I hate air conditioning!

Anyway, last weekend most people retreated indoors to their air conditioning and their cool drinks. Me? I basked in the sunlight and then went on a vitamin D-fueled cleaning spree. Besides giving my kitchen floors a long-overdue washing (Mom, don’t be ashamed of me!), I also organized my kitchen cupboards. This was, perhaps, even more long-overdue than the floor-washing.

Not exactly a "before," but this is a cupboard that has yet to be organized... gag!

You see, I am a slightly compulsive grocery shopper with mild packrat tendencies. I freaking love grocery shopping. I could spend hours meandering through the aisles, reading labels and checking out new-to-me food items and even just people-watching, shaking my head at all the junk most people throw in their carts as they zoom around the store, rushing through their shopping. I don’t spend a ton of money on groceries, but I just love having variety in my cupboards – who doesn’t need four types of rice and three kinds of nut butter and at least five varieties of beans?! I suppose if I had a family, this might be more justified, but I’m just a lady cookin’ for herself. I know many of you like-minded foodie folks can empathize with me, but let’s be real – most people are content with a big ol’ bag of white rice, a jar of Jif, and some refried beans for taco night. Me? Not so much. And my love of variety led to a rather unfortunate spacing situation – my cupboards were haphazardly filled with foodstuffs, making each cooking experience an adventure. Would the soba noodles fall to their death, scattering small soba sticks all over my floor? Would the nutmeg container roll out of the spice cabinet, knocking me on the noggin? Anything was possible!

Grr!

Not so now, however. My packrat tendency of saving jars finally paid off with more than just an overstuffed jar-and-kitchen-towel-and-dishcloth-and-large-utensil drawer. Now, those jars have a new lease on life. Check it:

Ahhh.

Beautiful, no? Those are my grains, re-homed, re-labeled, and generally re-organized. I didn’t even realize that poor bulgur wheat was languishing behind the beans! Who knew that I was in possession of such a quantity of cous cous?! Heck, I wish I’d saved more jars – I still have some bagged varieties awaiting a new home.

I only organized one shelf, but I already feel at least 37% less anxious when I open my cupboard now. I’ve got grand plans for my other cupboards, too – my spice shelf is a mess, and my pastas are out of control. But I’ve been re-inspired to continue my organization by Lindsay‘s oh-so-timely post about kitchen cabinet minimalism, and I’ve become obsessed with looking at canisters on eBay. So – what are your awesome kitchen organization tips? I know you’ve got ‘em, so do share!

Serendipitous Sunday (Pancakes for Memorial Day Weekend)

Hi, friends. One day I’ll get back to blogging on a regular basis, but for now I’m just livin’ my life and not thinkin’ about blogging… which is not to say that I haven’t had blog-worthy food. I have, but I just haven’t told you about it. Lemme change that.

Last weekend, serendipity struck. Soyatoo had been on sale at the co-op, meaning I just had to purchase a bottle (my first!). I’d chopped up and frozen two mangos a couple weeks ago, so I had ready-to-go mango chunks in my freezer. Mangos and Soyatoo… a match made in some sort of foodie heaven. Just look:

Sunday brekkers.

Oh yes. Pancakes (recipe from VWAV/Vegan Brunch) topped with mango sauce and Soyatoo, with a cup o’ coffee and a side of my new favorite fruit – apriums. They have a goofy name, but they’re both delicious and adorable.

Pancakes are the ultimate weekend breakfast, aren’t they? And I love topping them with homemade fruit sauces; when I was a kid, I thought it was the neatest thing when my dad made strawberry sauce and spooned it over pancakes for us. Had I made pancakes in the shape of letters (K for Kelly!), I could’ve had a double dose of nostalgia for the good ol’ days. Maybe next time.