“Kids these days!”  I say that a lot… But in truth I am not sure if it is really just kids these days. (actually I am quite certain lol) I see this with a lot of full grown human beings as well… Perhaps I had an unusual perspective on food as a child, and as a full grown human being.  For example if, as a child, food was placed in front of me I ate it.  I will even venture to go one step further and note that, if I was hungry and I could find food… I ate it. Nothing about these situations seemed complicated to me. With that short go, I am guessing you may have figured out exactly what my real frustrate is at this point.

  MY KIDS (AND FULL GROWN HUMAN BEING OF A HUSBAND) ARE PICKY EATERS.  

Im not a foodie and Im sure you have surmised as much at this point.  That is not to say I do not care what I put into my body. As a child I can say “I sooo totally did not care”.  As an adult my understanding of the world has changed a bit, and I can see the importance of caution in certain areas. So I am not a foodie, but I do care about food.  I just care in different ways.  I want my food to be food, not dangerous chemical experiments or unintended byproducts looking for a place to exist in this lonely world.  I don’t like wasting what we have because I know that there are many who do not have it.  I count myself blessed on many levels.  Mostly I detest a smug nose at food that could… would… ??? NO should provide adequate nutrition to help us get through the day. Watching good food go to waste seem somehow to personally offend me.

There you have it…….. you know my ugly side.

Oh trust me I am sure I have worse… lol

I hope the impressions I offer up about myself are not too misleading.  I cook often and have been known to produce mouth watering smells equal to the concoctions producing them; but who can be perfect or offer their best all the time.  I am only referring to the in-between times.  I get tired, I am busy, life is never simple or easy and I am not a full time chef.  I offer what I can and every day is different.     

Today is a day I sat and stared at four black bananas hanging from the hook on my kitchen wall.  I thought to myself what was its about those four bananas that made them so uninviting to my children and husband.  For so long they where in their sweet decadent prime of existence only to be overlooked.  We eat a lot of fruit in this house, and every now and then there are certain specimens that get sat aside left to collect flying little friends.  I haven’t figured it out yet… I’ve tried. I will keep trying. 

Being who I am I am sure you know what comes next.   Yes you are right… I am going to use these bananas any way I can so I know I did my part.   My kids will not eat them… My husband will not eat them.. and shoving them in my mouth really will not help anyone especially my glucose levels.  Give me a few minutes and I will get back to you….

So here you have it. Fresh baked banana bread garnished with a volunteer past prime apple.   

For the record I have received zero complaints or questions as to were the ingredients were obtained, or how this wonderful treat came into existence…. Other than “may I have another piece please?”… oh who am I kidding he said “can I have more?”

Waste not want not is hard for me to take lightly.  When I find myself wanting I tend to see it as me not being satisfied with the blessing and accomplishments I am surrounded by. 

I could offer up my recipe for those who want to run into their kitchen and start baking up all their forgotten produce. To put it bluntly Google offers way better recipes than mine I’m sure. People usually do not stock the ingredients I use in baking. I would rather you look around and perhaps find a hidden treat in anything you may have overlooked or tossed to the side. Its not entirely what we make it out of that sells, but how we choose to offer it. I just watched my children and husband happily partake in four black bananas and one not so crisp… maybe slightly bruised apple… and it filled my heart with joy.