Getting ready for fall chaos

This fall I'm getting ready to a) go back to work, b) send the kids back to school and c) trying to figure out how to have be an efficient household engineer (i.e. chef, housekeeper, nurse, landscaper, taxi driver, counsellor, mother, wife, friend, neighbour, community member etc etc)
To that end, I'm on the search for fabulous slow-cooker and make ahead recipes that I can put in my freezer (a la "Big Cook") so that, come September I'm not beholden to the frozen pizza aisle of the grocery store.

Today I'm going to marry my love of curries with the harvest starting to come in, and try out this slow-cooker Aloo Gobi recipe, using a MONSTER head of cauliflower I found at the farmers market last weekend.
The leftovers will go in my freezer to make a couple of foreseeable future dinners a little more colourful...fingers crossed it tastes good!!!

Food & wine | Recipe: Spiced Cauliflower and Potatoes | Seattle Times Newspaper

Remembering Downtown Magnetawan

Last Weekend, July 30, 2011, the heart of the village where I spent most of my childhood burned down.
I remember when we were young, my sisters, brother and I would walk or boat from our family's cottage resort into Downtown Magnetawan, with a gaggle of friends, to spend all of our allowances at their candy counters.
Black Bart licorice bubble gum was an especially favourite (if not disgusting) treat, if only because we'd stick the pitch black gum across our front teeth and pretend to be pirates.

My first real summer job was as a waitress at the Magnetawan Inn (aka June's Restaurant), way back in 1986.
Another summer, a few years later, I worked at the Downtown General Store.

Alas, I grew up, left home for school, got a job, got married, had kids and now live on the other side of the country - so far far away from this special place.
Thankfully my parents still live in Magnetawan, and I make a point of trying to get home at least once a year.

This summer, I was so privileged to have been able to spend almost the whole month of July back there - we flew home 3 days before the devastating fire.
The last thing I did, just before leaving, was go into the Downtown General Store, and buy myself, Ken, Doug and Evy a new set of "Downtown Magnetawan" shirts.....it's been a tradition for us, and now I will cherish these shirts.

I was shocked to hear the news of the fire - and moved to set up a page on Facebook to commemorate the historic streetscape of this special community. If you're interested, you can see it here: "Remembering Downtown Magnetawan"

I also just found this very moving video on YouTube, that does a magical job of recognizing the firefighter's efforts to save the downtown, and capturing the spirit and sadness of the community, while remembering the beauty and essence of what makes Magnetawan such a special place.

Shea Hembrey: How I became 100 artists

Wearing Nothing New

Wow!! after watching this, I am so totally in the mood to go thrift shopping.... not that I'm brave enough to pull off some of these ensembles.  Still, there is nothing I like better than treasure hunting at "Chez VV", Goodwill and "Sally Ann".  Lucky it's garage sale season!!!

Best Banana Bread Recipe I've ever found

I have a confession to make - I don't like bananas.  Well that's not entirely true, I like bananas, but only if they are barely ripe, without a single blemish or bruise on their skin or pulp, UNLESS - they are baked into banana bread.  I LOVE Banana Bread!
Unfortunately, I have never been able to find a good enough banana bread recipe to meet my  unattainably high standards, until now.
To me, a perfect banana bread has to be: moist and absolutely not crumbly; a little bit crunchy; and, bananay-sweet but not sugary sweet (given my strong feelings against plain mushy, bruised bananas, there's an irony there somewhere I know).
I gave up trying to make banana bread several years ago, because I was tired of being disappointed after trying out new recipes and then being stuck with a loaf of sub par banana bread.  Then, the other day I noticed another recipe for banana bread on the side of a granola bag... feeling ambitious, brave and a little reckless even, I decided to delve once more into the world of baking and give it a try and I'M SO GLAD I DID!!!!

I started to feel optimistic when the warm banana-y smell started wafting through my kitchen.
Even more so when the tinger on my timer tanged and I pulled a wonderfully tall, golden loaf out of my oven... and absolutely over the moon when I cut into it.
The banana bread loaf came out perfect!!!!  Moist and fruity with a crunchy top crust like I've never tried before.  This first loaf was devoured by my family in no time, and I've since made it 2 more times (slipping in some healthy wheatgerm and wheatbran into the mix - evil mother that I am - mwahahahaha).  It slices very well, and makes for a healthy breakfast, lunch and after school snack.

Being as I can't imagine I'm the only person in the world who has struggled to find the perfect banana bread recipe, I've decided to share my find:
  (taken from the side of a bag of Rogers Hazelnut and Honey 5 Grain Granola)
1 1/2 c flour
1 tsp bkg powder
1 tsp bkg soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c vegetable oil
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1 c mashed banana
1 1/4 cup granola

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt in one bowl, set aside.
Beat together oil, sugar and eggs, in another bowl and stir in mashed bananas, mix well.
Add dry ingredients and stir until just mixed
Gently stir in 1 c granola
Turn batter into a greased 8.5x"4.5" (1.5L) loaf pan
Top with remaining granola and press it in gently
Bake at 350 degrees for 50 - 60 minutes
Cool 10  minutes in pan then remove to rack to cool completely.
Makes 1 loaf.

I doubled this recipe the second time I made it with no problems.
I also added about a half cup of both wheatgerm and wheat bran to the flour mixture with no problem.

YUM YUM YUM!!!!