Out With the Old, In With the New

I 've been blogging for almost three years - the same age as my laptop. I started blogging after buying a new laptop one day at Best Buy. I chose a Gateway, not really knowing if that was a good choice or not. It turned out to be a good buy. A BEST BUY??

She's been a good laptop to me these past three years; I haven't had many problems at all. But she's slowing down on me and making blogging more difficult lately. Three years doesn't seem very old, but it is for a laptop. She's a senior citizen now. She keeps wanting me to take her to Golden Corral and I'm like, NO we are not eating there.

Goodbye my Sweet Little Gateway.

Hello my new Compaq Presario CQ62.



I bought a new laptop today!! I'm so very, very excited. Eric and I went to Best Buy today and he helped me pick one out. He's a network technician at a local college and he knows his computer stuff. I do not know my computer stuff.

Here are a few things I learned today.

-Gateway is an Emachine.
-Compaq Presario is an HP.
-An Intel processor costs more than AMD but AMD is just as good.
-3 gigs of ram is very good.
-Windows 7 is very good.
-I love pretty backgrounds that make me feel like I'm in the Rocky Mountains.



This is a big deal to me because I'm on my laptop all of the time. Anyway, I love it. It's so fast and clean and bright. And I can leave it unplugged without the battery dying instantly! This is a great day.



Goodbye plain banana bread.

Hello Butterscotch Banana Bread.



I don't know about you, but I've baked regular banana bread about a hundred times in my life. I love banana bread because it's banana bread and it's awesome as is. But it also can get a little boring. In the past year or so I've tried creating banana bread recipes that are still traditional, but maybe have a few interesting ingredients in them or some different techniques in the baking process.

I was really pleased how this recipe turned out. Here we have classic banana bread with some new ingredients: browned butter & bananas, and melted butterscotch chips.



The browned butter and bananas go well with the brown sugar and maple-y butterscotch. This banana bread has a deeper, darker, more complex flavor than traditional banana bread. I think I'll most likely make this recipe again in the future.

But right now I feel like doing some cookin'. I feel like baking buttermilk biscuits and cooking green beans with bacon. I'm feeling awfully southern today.

Have a good Monday! I think ya'll are great.

Butterscotch Banana Bread (By Me)
Printable Recipe

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup mashed ripe banana
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt (add a tiny bit extra if you like things saltier)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup butterscotch chips, melted

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a (9-inch) loaf pan with cooking spray.

In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat; cook 2-3 minutes, whisking frequently, until butter foams and turns golden brown. Whisk in banana and cook 1-2 minutes until well combined and creamy.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together butter-banana mixture and brown sugar until combined. Whisk in eggs and vanilla until combined.

Place batter into prepared pan; swirl melted butterscotch into batter using a knife. Bake 40 minutes or until well risen, golden brown, and a toothpick inserted into loaf comes out with moist crumbs attached.

Cool completely before slicing.

Makes 1 loaf