>I’m heading into a stress-loaded week. Parent-teacher conferences, daughter leaves for a spring break half-way across the country, son is caught up in March Madness at his high school, and Chuck hopes to survive the combination of stressors and the presence of two extra bunnies in our home while La Petite travels.

Of course, I head for comfort food.

While the chicken stock simmered (nothing precise, just water with chicken bones and skin, stray onion pieces, and the end of the celery stalks), I browsed the cookie recipes on my laptop. Then I realized I had many boxes of Girl Scout cookies in the house, and I did not need any more cookies.

But beside the cookies in the snack basket sat were two rapidly ripening bananas.

Banana Bread! Today’s variation: a hint of chocolate.

2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine
3 eggs or 3/4 cup egg substitute
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 medium to large bananas)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon wheat germ
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder (the good kind for baking, not hot cocoa mix)
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. spray an 8- or 9- inch loaf pan with vegetable oil cooking spray or use your favorite alternative.
Beat the sugar and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, bananas, and vanilla. Beat on low speed until well blended.
Mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and wheat germ. Add the cocoa and chocolate chips. Mix well.
Stir dry ingredients into banana mixture just until moistened. Pour and scrape into the loaf pan.
Bake at 350: 8 inch pan for 60 minutes, 9-inch pan for 45-50 minutes. Muffin tins? You’re on your own. I don’t know how long that will take.

Cool 5 minutes. Remove from pan. Serve warm or cool; it’s delicious either way.

And maybe I won’t eat so many Girl Scout cookies if I have this banana bread around the house!

>”Honey, where’s today’s paper?”
“Recycled. You said you were done with it.”
“I was, but then I decided to make the minestrone soup recipe that was in the paper.”
“I can find it for you online.”
“No, thanks, I’ll fly by the seat of my pants.”
Hug. “That usually works well.”

It’s not what you might think. Chuck was making dinner; I had just come home from a Sunday afternoon at school, clearing my desk and preparing the new seating chart for March 1st. He wanted to make the soup, and the newspapers had already gone outside in the recycling. He’s good at winging it, and he remembered the main spices, so he did.

The soup looked good, smelled good, but… I took one bite and coughed until my face turned red. He’d overestimated the crushed red pepper. I couldn’t eat a second bite. Poor guy; neither could he.

Well, faithful readers, here’s the original. Pay attention to the amounts of spices, and don’t try to fly by the seat of your pants – not with the crushed red pepper, in any case.

Minestrone Soup

2 Tbs. olive oil
1 each: large onion, celery stalk and peeled carrot, cut into small dice
2 tsps. Italian seasoning
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. hot red pepper flakes
2 quarts vegetable broth (We used beef stock)
1 can (14.5 ounces) petite diced tomatoes
2 cans (15 or 16 ounces each) small white beans, undrained
1 cup ditalini or other small, tubular pasta
1 pound seasonal vegetables (see variations below)
Salt and black ground pepper
Optional: Parmesan cheese
Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large pot. Add onions, celery and carrots; saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes; saute until fragrant, about a minute longer. Add remaining ingredients. Cover and bring to a simmer.

Reduce heat to medium-low; continue to simmer, partially covered and stirring occasionally, until vegetables are soft and pasta is tender, about 15 minutes longer. Adjust seasonings, including salt and pepper, to taste.

Serves 8.

The original recipe is here at USA Weekend. My only advice: add red pepper sparingly. Please. And serve with lots of liquids, just in case.

In other news, you can still vote for my Zesty Orange Cookies at Foodista; just click the link below.