Try this: Banana “ice cream”

I didn’t believe this when I first heard about it --a recipe for banana ice cream that called for only one ingredient: bananas! But I tried it a couple of weeks ago – and it’s not only delicious, but it’s good for you. I’d even serve it to company. We had a bunch of bananas (no pun intended) around the house today so I made another small batch. Try this yourself…you won’t believe how good and creamy it is.

Start with two or three ripe bananas.

Slice them into discs and put them on a plate. Then pop them in the freezer for 2-3 hours. If they go any longer, they'll become too hard and unusable.

Put the banana slices into a food processor and let it rip. After a few seconds, stop and scrape down the sides. Process again and keep scraping down the sides. If the bananas seem a little stiff or crumbly, you can add a tiny splash of milk, but that's usually not necessary. After about 30-45 seconds of spinning and scraping, the bananas will "magically" become smooth and creamy. Serve immediately. Would be really good with fresh berries.

Don't make me sing...they're making me sing!

Pretty much any character that Kristen Wiig of Saturday Night Live plays make me laugh out loud. But this is one of my favorite skits. Her best line? "I'm not upset...just angry." That's Jon Hamm of "Mad Men" fame as the piano player. Enjoy! (Note: you'll have to sit through a 15-second commercial.)

Toodles Mr. Doodles

Morrie Yohai, inventor of Cheez Doodles, those delicious crunchy cheese-flavored tubes of goodness, died in New York last month at the age of 90. Rest in peace, Mr. Yohai. I will open a bag of salty snacks in your honor and salute you with my orange-stained fingers.

A good book is hard to find

When I was a kid, I read books like a madman. I'd hop on my bike and race to the Victor Free Library - an old train depot in Victor, NY - and get lost in all of choices available to me. I could spend hours walking through the stacks, picking out what spoke to me on that particular day, and would leave with at least three or four books tucked under my arm for the ride home. I'd quickly devour them and be back at the library in a few days to find more treasures. 

But these days, I'm finding it more difficult to read books. More often than not, if a book doesn't "catch" me in the first few dozen pages, I'm done with it. And not many books are "catching" me. The last book I finished was "The Girl Who Played With Fire", the second book in the popular Stieg Larsson trilogy. It started out fine, but by the time I reached the last 100 pages or so, I was speed-reading and racing to finish the damn thing. 

I love magazines. Always have. It's kind of a rush for me to go to a bookstore or newsstand and see rows of magazines in the racks. I relish picking them up and flipping through the glossy pages. Magazines are great because they can immediately satisfy my need for information or entertainment. Magazines allow me to be more fickle - I can quickly scan articles or revel in more in-depth pieces. And if a particular article bores me, I can flip the page.

So does my lack of commitment to getting through a book - and preferring the quick-hit nature of magazines - speak more to my short attention span tendencies, or to life in a world where we're all so used to multi-tasking that it's increasingly difficult to focus and savor the slower pace of a good book? 

We're going on a beach vacation in a couple of weeks, and I'd like to think I could find a book (or two) that I could enjoy. But I find myself already stock-piling magazines to bring with us. 

Is anyone else having trouble committing to books these days, or is it just me?

Try this: Raisin-Honey Milk Bread

I got this recipe from an old issue of Cooking Light magazine. It was the first time I’ve ever made a yeast-based bread and it turned out great. I forgot how much I like raisin bread. Should be good for breakfast, toasted with a little butter.

Raisin-Honey Milk Bread 

• 1 cup warm milk
• ¼ cup honey (divided)
• 1 package dry yeast
• 2 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
• 3 ½ cups flour (divided)
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 teaspoon salt
• cooking spray 

Combine milk, 1 tablespoon honey, and yeast in bowl. Stir with a whisk; let stand for five minutes. Stir in remaining 3 tablespoons honey and yolks.

In a separate bowl, combine 3 cups flour, raisins, and salt. Add milk mixture, stirring until a soft dough forms. Turn dough onto floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about eight minutes); add enough of the remaining ½ cup flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to your fingers. Dough will remain slightly sticky.

Place dough in large bowl coated with cooking spray. Cover dough with towel and place in warm place away from drafts for about 75 minutes or until doubled in size. Gently press two fingers into dough. If indents remain, the dough has risen enough. NOTE: My dough didn’t quite double in size, but I continued with the recipe and it was fine.

Punch dough down; cover and let rest for five minutes.

Shape dough into 9x4 oval and place in center of baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Cover and let rise 55 minutes or until dough is doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake bread for 30 minutes or until browned and loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on wire rack 20 minutes before slicing. 

If church was really like this, I'd be in the front pew every day

But just for the entertainment value, of course. Make it through the first two minutes of this video, and you'll be rewarded with an interpretive dancer who has a little recovering from her butterfly hands move. Am I going to hell for posting this?

Otis was framed

A couple of weeks ago, our good friends Dona and Lynne visited from New Hampshire. They are  wonderfully fun friends - and easy house guests - and we enjoyed hosting them for three nights. They took us to a terrific dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse near Downtown Crossing in Boston, and one morning, while Lynne was attending a conference in Southie, Dona joined us at our Thursday (6:30 am) yoga class. She was a good sport, as the class was a tough one, with lots of focus on abs. (She lucked out - we did not try handstands that particular morning.) The ladies came bearing a giant basket of gifts, including this framed drawing of Otis (yes, it's a drawing, not a photo) that Dona created. What a treasure! Thanks again, Dona and Lynne, for your high spirits and generosity. We look forward to your next visit!