The Egg Diaries - May 26th to June 1st

The Egg Diaries - A weekly journal documenting my egg use, to help myself and others use all the beautiful eggs, our hens lay for us.  Now, a Blog Hop, so you can join in by sharing the ways in which you use your eggs.  Link up at the bottom of the page.

Happy June!  Summer is here in Central Illinois.  The temperatures are in the eighties and the sun pushes that over the 90 degree mark.  Add to that the humidity and it makes me understand afternoon siestas.  We try to get all of our outdoor work done by ten o'clock, so we can retreat indoors to escape the heat and the buffalo gnats (which are still swarming, much to our, and our chickens' dismay - see my post on them here).

We've been eating food that both uses eggs and scream summertime, like potato salad and deviled eggs.  Memorial Day morning I baked my favorite Banana Cake.

The stuff Banana Cake dreams are made of.

It's not a fancy cake, but it's moist and so banana-ey ( new word!).  This is a large cake and will serve a crowd, so it's wonderful for summertime gatherings.  If you can bake a banana bread, you can bake this cake.  It's so good, that I have to share the recipe with you as as an 'Eggs in Disguise'* recipe.  You'll find it below.

The Egg Diaries

Mon May 26th

5 Eggs - Breakfast:  French Toast, Bacon, Cantaloupe
0 Eggs - Lunch
4 Eggs - Dinner:  Potato Salad, Brats, Spring Greens Salad, Banana Cake (recipe below)

9 Eggs Used

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Tues May 27th

4 Eggs - Breakfast:  Toasted Western Sandwiches, Orange Juice
0 Eggs - Lunch
0 Eggs - Dinner
2 Eggs - Fed to the dogs

6 Eggs Used

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Wed May 28th

0 Eggs - Breakfast
6 Eggs - Lunch:  Deviled Eggs, Homemade Dill Crackers, Vegetable Sticks, Tomatoes
3 Eggs - Dinner:  Meat Loaf, Mashed Potatoes, Carrots, Green Beans, Mushroom and Onion Gravy

9 Eggs Used

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Thurs May 29th

4 Eggs - Breakfast:  Poached Eggs on Broiled Cheddar Cheese Toasts, Grapefruit
0 Eggs - Lunch
0 Eggs - Dinner
2 Eggs - Fed to the dogs

6 Eggs Used

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Fri May 30th

0 Eggs - Breakfast
3 Eggs - Lunch:  Egg Wrap (Hard boiled eggs, genoa salami, cream cheese, tomato and lettuce wrapped in a large spinach herb tortilla.  Cut in half, it serves two.  Make up your own wrap combo!)

0 Eggs - Dinner

3 Eggs Used

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Sat May 31st

5 Eggs - Breakfast:  Cheese and ham omelettes, toast, cranberry juice
0 Eggs - Lunch
0 Eggs - Dinner

5 Eggs Used

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Sun June 1st

0 Eggs - Breakfast
1 Egg  - Toasty Tuna Sandwiches (Recipe is here), vegetable sticks, apples
0 Eggs - Dinner
2 Eggs - Fed to the dogs
8 Eggs - Scrambled and fed to the chickens

11 Eggs Used

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Total:  49 Eggs Used

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Banana Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and flour a 9 x 13 inch pan.

Ingredients

3 large ripe bananas

2 teaspoons lemon juice

3 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup butter, softened

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons of sugar

3 large eggs, beaten

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/2 cups of milk soured with a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice (combine in a small bowl and let stand while you mix the other ingredients)   OR   1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 to 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

In a small bowl mash the bananas and stir in the lemon juice.  Set to one side.

If souring your milk, do it now and set to one side to let it sour.  OR  measure out your buttermilk and set to one side.

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl cream the butter and the sugar together until well combined, light and fluffy.  Add the eggs and the vanilla and mix well.

Alternately, add and beat into the creamed mixture, the flour mix and the milk.  Always start and end with the dry ingredients.  (Confused?  It goes like this:  add about 1/3 of the flour mix, beat.  Then 1/2 of the milk, beat.  Then 1/3 of the flour mix, beat.  Then 1/2 of the milk, beat.  Then the last 1/3 of the flour mix, beat.)

Stir in the mashed bananas.

Pour into your prepared pan and bake for one hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Frosting:

1/2 cup butter, softened

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 1/2 cups icing sugar

Cream the butter and cream cheese together.

Add the vanilla and stir or beat in.

Add the sugar one cup at a time, beating well each time until the sugar is all combined and the frosting is smooth.

Let the cake cool completely before frosting it.  Sprinkle with chopped walnuts.

Store in the fridge.

Makes 16 or more servings.  

This cake can also be frozen.  I usually freeze it in individually wrapped serving sizes.

Enjoy!

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*Use 'Eggs in Disguise' Recipes to use up your eggs.  These are recipes that call for eggs as an ingredient but not as the main star of the dish.