Monday, September 7, 2009

In From the Cold

So I guess it's official: Summer is over. Not according to those crazy Gregorians of course, who have it in their minds that the warmest quarter of the year lasts until the 22nd, but to gazillions of students and parents out there the lazy dog days of the season have wagged their tails for the last time this year. The Hallowe'en stuff has been out in stores near me for a good week now, probably longer, and tonight all the spiffy new outfits for the big "first day" are laid out for the all too early alarm clock's rude awakening. Thank God (for us Canadians, at least) that Thanksgiving's long weekend is only - gulp - 35 days away!

At the end of every Summer, it seems that all of a sudden our house is full of so many things that were never actually come around to over the break. Unfinished home improvements, un-hung pictures bought on vacation, photo albums half-filled and baskets (so many baskets!) of the season's peak produce are no longer able to be dealt with at leisure, and we have to relegate ourself to the "quick-fix" technique of dealing with them - gathering up everything that seems related to each other and shoving them somewhere out of the way to "get around to" when we have time! The end result (at least in the kitchen) is that eventually, it all comes bursting out at the seams - or the freezer, refrigerator and cupboard!

So it was in an attempt to get rid of utilize the remnants of last year's frozen fruit stash that I whipped up this loaf - a simple quick bread that can be in the oven in 15 minutes and left to cool on the countertop overnight, just perfect for slicing off a chunk for breakfast as you head out the door on your busy way. In taste, at least, it's a little bit of Summer made portable, and it's so good you may run out of that troublesome freezer fruit before you can replenish it!

Freezer Haul Quickbread
Serves 14 (if you're feeling like sharing!)
1 over-ripe banana, mashed
1 1/2 cups pitted cherries
1 large peach, pitted and roughly chopped
2 small plums, pitted and roughly chopped
1/3 cup cranberry juice
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tbsp honey
1 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup barley flour
1 cup rolled oats (not instant)
2 tbsp ground flaxseed
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
  1. Preheat oven to 325F, grease a large loaf pan.
  2. In a bowl, combine fruit, cranberry juice, vanilla and honey. Set aside.
  3. In another bowl whisk together flours, oats, flaxseed, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.
  4. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.
  5. Beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, alternate additions of the flour and fruit mixtures to the butter, blending well after each addition.
  6. Spread in the pan and place on the lowest rack of the oven.
  7. Bake for 1 hour 40 minutes, or until tests done.
  8. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool completely.
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 263.7
Total Fat: 7.6 g
Cholesterol: 17.4 mg
Sodium: 106.1 mg
Total Carbs: 46.3 g
Dietary Fiber: 4.5 g
Protein: 4.5 g

3 comments :

  1. A good use of all that extra fruit

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's cold everywhere! We've a friend who's home visiting Vancouver and it's colder there than it is here! Sigh.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for the feedback!