The first time, I went bananas

Okay, I know I said this post would be up on Thursday, but I've been migraine-y (that's a word) for the past couple of days, so you'll forgive me for being an hour or so late, right? Thanks.

My family practices Jainism. You may want to ask me about Jainism. I'd rather just direct you to Wikipedia. Because Wikipedia knows more than I do about EVERYTHING.

Because we are Jain, we are vegetarian. This means no chicken, no fish . . . and no eggs.

You need eggs to bake, people.

So we never baked.

* cue the smallest violin in the world playing the saddest song *

This changed at some point and time. We all have a terrible sweet tooth - at buffets, my dad has been known to skip dinner entirely and go straight to dessert (that's smart, except he's diabetic). And then my mother got a KitchenAid stand mixer, and BLAM, we began to bake at home.

Around this time, I had a boyfriend. He was lovely until he wasn't, and then we broke up. But while we were together, he would tell me of his banana bread and how warm and delicious it was. He never brought me any, though. No wonder things didn't work out. Anyway, one day I asked him for the recipe and wrote it down. 

Then I did nothing with that scrap of paper for approximately four and a half years. 

My friend, Streetz - yes, that's actually her name, and yes, it's way cooler than any of our names - was having a Memorial Day Party, and I didn't want to come empty handed, because my momma taught me better than that. So I scrounged around and dug up that scrap of paper and made me some banana bread. 

And lo and behold, it was all gone by the end of the night. Success!

I bake so often, and I have many, many recipes that I love. But banana bread holds a special spot in my belly, because it was the first. So . . . here's the recipe - enjoy.

Banana Bread

* Ingredients

- 1½ cups flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 3 eggs
- 2 ripe bananas, peeled
- LOVE. No, I'm kidding, that's so cheesy.

* Steps

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F.

2. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Use an electric mixer to blend everything together until smooth.

3. Pour the batter into . . . something. The obvious choice is a loaf pan, but I use a large Pyrex dish. The bread seems to bake more evenly, and it's easier to store. But whatever you use, use baking spray to grease your pan before you pour the batter.

4. Bake for an hour or until a toothpick inserted comes out mostly clean. Allow the bread to cool.

5. Eat some, and share with people you like. You can also share with people you don't like. That's cool.

* Add In Options (because I'm fancy like that)

- 1 cup of milk chocolate chips = chocolate chip banana bread. NOT semi-sweet chips, because they are gross.

- 1 cup of walnuts = banana walnut bread. You could even take the loaf out partway through baking and sprinkle additional walnuts on the top. Pretty and yummy crust.

- 2 tsp of cinnamon

- ½ tsp of nutmeg

- Or you could combine some, or all, of the options above. Get crazy.

Much love,

Kavi

Back for seconds

In 2005, I stumbled upon the first blog I would follow. I was a junior at the University of Illinois and was entirely consumed  completely obsessed  utterly tormented focused on being accepted to medical school. One day, I was forwarded a link to a comic strip titled "The 12 Types of Med Students. (Never heard of it? Click here for a good chuckle. For the record, I was initially "The Sensitive Soul." But once I got to medical school and had chronic migraines, I became "The Missing"/"The Crier." And now I am "The Sane One." Carry on). After some snooping, I found that the creator of the comic, Michelle, had a blog called "The Underwear Drawer."

And so I began to read it.

I still read Michelle's blog, along with a handful of others (Lauren Conrad and Mix and Match Mama are amongst my faves). I love getting a glimpse into someone's life, because I'm nosy like that. And now that I'm a blogger, I'm ready to give y'all a peek into my world.

When I began toying with the idea of blogging, I asked my sister, Nikita, for suggestions for a title. I wanted the name to reflect me - and she does know me pretty darn well. In retrospect, I should have known better than to ask the girl who commonly declares that this is HER world, and we're all just living in it. Ever the narcissist, she advocated for the title to be "i wuv nikita." I do love you, Nikita, even though I didn't mention you at all in my first post (yes, she did complain about that). But . . . no.

The name, "Just a Spoonful of . . . Something," is just like it sounds - a dash of this, a dollop of that, all of which make up my lovely life. This includes:

* Baking incessantly

I bake at least twice a week. Something about mixing batter soothes me. That must mean I require a lot of soothing, no? 

Sometimes it's from scratch: other times, I use a mix as a base. Either way, it's sweet, and everyone needs a smidge of sweet in their lives - and I will share my sweetness with you.

* And cooking too, because a girl can't live off of baked goods alone. (But oh, if I could . . .)

My family is brimming with fabulous cooks - especially my mom. I always had the best lunches at school, and I had home cooked food every. single. night. Then I went off to college and discovered that the plate of steaming hot deliciousness didn't magically appear before me on its own. What?!

And so I learned to make my own meals, and now I'll tell you about the concoctions that turned out splendidly.

* Real books, because I'm old school and supremely nerdy.

I don't own a Kindle or Nook and probably never will. I'd rather go to the public library and get a stack of books, because it's free. IT'S FREE, YOU GUYS.

I usually read right before I go to bed - in fact, I can't fall asleep without reading for a while - and I average a book a week. I'll talk about some of the good ones that fall into my lap.

* Deep thoughts on "The Bachelor" 

Stop judging me. I am very, very aware that this show is a - not real at all and b - a complete train wreck.

But I can't stop watching it, mostly because it makes me laugh, and I really like poking fun at all the contestants. So humor my inner mean girl, okay? I rarely allow her and her snarkiness out in public.

* And random musings and updates about my life

Pretty self explanatory. 

I'm sure this blog will evolve into more, but this is a good jumping off point. If you come back and visit on Thursday, I'll tell you about the first time I went bananas.

Intrigued? Good. You should be.

Much love,

Kavi