Baking while home sick

Called off sick today. Was getting a sore throat and raspy voice Friday afternoon - which I blamed on eating my first ever raw, homegrown beet (which, admittedly, was small, probably a bit tough, and not a prime product of the garden - but I've been determined to try at least one of these things that I seeded months and months ago in pots, and figure most will go in the compost pile after a lack of success with them this year).

It wasn't the beet. Continued to feel tired and crappy the rest of the weekend - probably shouldn't have gone to racquetball with Carolyn Sunday morning - I just thought I was tired and short of breath due to humidity or something. But there came coughing and headaches and feeling warm...so I just went back to bed after calling off early this morning. Slept til 10am. Read a bunch. (Good day for the new box of comics to show up in the mail!) Made this Maine Blueberry Gateau from a newspaper clipping Julie gave me awhile back.


That pic above is the raw stuff ready to go in the oven. Sure looked like it was going to be more blueberries in the batter than portrayed by the picture! The batter was thicker than I expected, but never having had/made a gateau (!?) before, I didn't know what to expect.

I baked it an hour, tried to find a cakey spot to stick a skewer in (dodging all the blueberries) and it came out clean. It was real crispy brown around the edges - so I was glad it appeared to be done. Didn't want it to go too long!

Then I started poking at it, considering a little nibble, etc and realized it was still really damp in the center. I let it set for awhile, wondering if the residual heat would finish it off, but no luck. So I tossed it in the oven a little longer - no luck. Then I tried nuking it about a minute and a half - that seemed to help! Hey - they make those cake and brownie mixes you can just nuke - and we tried one and loved it! (Gross concept though!)

So next time I make this (and I'm sure there will be a next time), I'll be sure to bake it longer, and maybe even have the quantity of berries?


Sure does TASTE good though! YUM!!! I'm glad it said it made six servings - those are sizeable servings if you think about it, and it goes down REAL easy!

Also, since I was home sick and heating up the kitchen anyhow, and there was a really ripe banana on the counter, I figured I'd try Julie's recipe for banana bread. I love the banana bread she brings in to work often - it's so much more ... banana-y ... than the recipe I use. She gave me her tips - the recipe says to melt the butter in a pot, so she just mashes the banana in that same pot with the butter, and then adds everything else - one pot banana bread! We're both surprised it include a half cup of water (as opposed to milk or something), but why mess with such a good thing!

I pulled mine out at 30 min, even though the recipe called for 35. I think I could've gone 25 min - it would've made really moist and lighter loaves that way. The one on the left has a good sized handful of toasted walnuts in it - yum!