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During my senior year of high school, I was taking college courses at night, and I'd often study in the cafeteria before class. Back then, they used to have a bunch of plastic-wrapped banana bread and cream cheese sandwiches at the register, and I'd usually get one of those, with a cup of hot tea, and have it as a snack to tide me over until dinner after class. To this day, I can't make banana bread without also having some cream cheese handy to make these sandwiches.

This banana bread for this batch is modified from a Betty Crocker recipe (I needed to use up some leftover buttermilk, which this recipe calls for and which my usual recipe does not) -- I added the nutmeg, and used part all-purpose and part whole wheat flour, instead of just the plain all-purpose. I figured I'd get a little more fiber that way, and could justify having these for breakfast! Here's the recipe:

Cream Cheese and Whole Wheat Banana Nut Bread Sandwiches

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed very ripe bananas (3 to 4 medium)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 scant teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

For sandwiches: 1 - 2 8oz packages of cream cheese (I use the lower fat version)

Move oven rack to low position so that tops of pans will be in center of oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottoms only of 2 loaf pans.

Mix sugar and butter in large bowl. Stir in eggs until well blended. Add bananas, buttermilk and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Stir in flour, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg just until moistened. Stir in nuts. Pour into pans.

Bake loaves approximately 1 hour, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans and place top side up on wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days.

To make sandwiches: slice loaves into slices about as thick as your index finger. Sandwich two slices together with cream cheese, spreading thinly or thickly according to your tastes. Goes really well with a glass of milk or a big mug of tea.

This recipe makes two loaves, but I usually only use one loaf at a time - I freeze the other loaf to use later.

January 24, 2009.

OK, Tomato-Cheddar tart. Had some fresh tomatoes from my CSA share that really needed to get eaten, and this seemed like a good way to do it. Shot very quickly before consuming it for dinner last night, although I did at least take the time to “pose” it on one of my pedestals.

Ingredients

5 oz. all-purpose flour
1 oz. yellow cornmeal
4 oz. (1 stick) cold butter
2-3 oz. cold buttermilk
3-4 medium ripe tomatoes, cut into 1/4" slices
3-4 oz. of cheddar cheese, shredded (I used a mix of sharp and smoked cheddar)
salt
pepper
red pepper flake (I used Aleppo pepper flakes)
olive oil (I used basil-infused olive oil)

Cut the butter into 1/4" cubes. Put flour and cornmeal into your food processor work bowl, fitted with the metal blade, add a healthy pinch of salt and half the butter, and pulse until mixture is like coarse sand (10 1-second pulses should do it), Add the remaining butter and pulse, leaving pieces of butter the size of small peas. Stir in enough buttermilk to bring together into a mass, form into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate 30-60 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 375°F.

Roll out the dough into a circle large enough to line a 10" tart pan. Fit the crust to the pan, pressing into the corners. Line the bottom of the crust with the shredded cheddar, layer the tomatoes on top, then sprinkle on salt, pepper, and red pepper to taste.

Bake for 45-50 minutes until crust is golden brown and tomatoes are cooked through. Brush on some olive oil, and let cool for 10-15 minutes before serving.