Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Recipe Day

The Bag Lady realizes that a lot of you are probably going to curse her for this, especially if your New Year’s Resolution includes losing weight. But her philosophy is that you occasionally need a treat, and this particular recipe is not as bad as some – at least it has some fruit in it!

She has, in the past, resorted to dieting to the extreme. You know the kind of diet she means – restrictive, with your own little Nazi in the back of your head, screaming “you vill NOT eat zat – zat is verboten!!” The diet that always works for her is the Scarsdale Diet. It is very restrictive, which is why it works. It is very restrictive, which is why it doesn’t always work, too! She has lost lots of weight with that particular diet, and kept it off for quite some time, but as soon as she is under stress, she starts to eat, and the weight comes back. (She has been very stressed for the last 3 or 4 years now...)
The Cowboy calls it the “Starvedale Diet”.
Anyway, this recipe is definitely not something allowed on the Starvedale Diet.

Banana Spice Cake

2 ½ C flour
½ tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp ground cloves
½ tsp nutmeg
2 ½ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
½ C shortening
1 ½ C sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 ½ C mashed bananas

Sift dry ingredients.
Beat shortening ‘til fluffy, add sugar, beat well. Add eggs one at a time. Stir in vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with bananas. Pour into 2 greased 9-inch pans.
Bake at 375 for 25 – 30 minutes.

Here’s an added bonus for you. This icing is terrific, and is not too sweet. In fact, that’s what it’s called.

Not Too Sweet Icing

4 Tbsp flour
1 C milk
½ C margarine
½ C Crisco shortening
1 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Mix flour & milk. Stir constantly while cooking over low heat ‘til paste forms. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Mix shortening and margarine 4 minutes at high speed. Add sugar, mix 4 minutes.
Add paste & vanilla. Beat until smooth.

The Bag Lady hopes you enjoy the cake...

15 comments:

Crabby McSlacker said...

Damn that sounds good. Fortunately I'm too lazy to make it, otherwise I'd be in serious trouble!

the Bag Lady said...

It is pretty good, Crabby. The Bag Lady is to lazy to make it very often, but she has a couple of bananas slowly turning black, so it just might be on the table tonight for the Cowboy when he comes home from work. Or not.

Leah J. Utas said...

Sounds tasty and easy. That's the best combination.

the Bag Lady said...

Yes, it is. It is TOO (please note the 'to lazy' in the Bag Lady's previous comment - she does TOO know how to spell - must not have hit the o hard enough the second time...)

Emily said...

mmmm...I just had to wipe the drool off my keyboard : )

the Bag Lady said...

Sorry, Emily! The Bag Lady was really tired last night and didn't have a proper post prepared for today. And those bananas on her cupboard are just begging to be used (or tossed out!).

Hilary said...

Damn those resolutions! And thank goodness for laziness. Whew I'm safe.

Sounds good Baggie, but I'm from the school of "If it's not chocolate, it's not worth blowing your diet over." aka "If it's not not chocolate, it's not dessert." Banana does have a certain a-peel though.. ;)

I hope you and the Cowboy enjoy. :)

the Bag Lady said...

Hey Hil - guess I should have posted my recipe for Chocolate Miracle Cake then, eh?
The icing recipe works really well on chocolate cake...

Sarah said...

That looks delicious...

Reb said...

Sounds good Sis. Like Crabby, it is a good thing I'm lazy though.

Terrie Farley Moran said...

df BagLady,

This sounds like a great recipe. I am definitely on the side of the lazies, but I can dream of the smell coming out of the oven and the folk smashing into my first slice . . .

Terrie

P.O.M. said...

I'm ignoring you. I'm ignoring you. Na na na na. I can't hear you.

the Bag Lady said...

Sarah, Reb, Terrie & p.o.m. - Thanks for stopping in!

The Bag Lady was away for part of the day, and has a houseguest coming tonight (for an indefinite period of time), so had to do some actual house-work (blast and damn!) today. She may not be around the blogosphere as much for a little while. She has to see how things play out.

Geosomin said...

Mmmmm...and i have 2 ripe bananas too.
Curse you woman...now i have to go make a cake!

the Bag Lady said...

Geosomin - you won't regret it. Your hips might...