Mmmm...a warm, aromatic, good looking loaf of homemade banana bread! "Wait! Let me take a picture for Instagram really quick!" I can't even count the number of times that I've uttered those words. But it's not always as easy as my "perfect" Insta photos show. I know I can't be the only one who critiques their own pictures until they've picked THE one! I'm not just talking about baking pictures here. It's 100 times worse when it's pictures of my kids, especially ones with all 3 or 4 of them. Trying to make sure EVERY kid is looking and smiling their pretty smile can be a challenge!
But last night as I typed what would have been a simple post with the one pretty picture of the banana bread loaf, I laughed out loud. I could have just posted it, and never said a word, and NONE of you (well, except my husband) would have ever known what truly went on behind the scenes yesterday just to get to the point of that ONE picture! And it made me realize that's exactly what I wanted to write about today. I guess this is what, "Don't judge a book by it's cover" probably meant, but in today's world it's more of, "Don't judge a post by the single picture". So here we go, the real, messy, so NOT funny (at the time), story of what happened while I was baking my banana bread yesterday!
If you know me, you already know this, but if you don't know me, here you go. I'm a clean freak. Messes will mess with me so quick. I'm constantly running around picking up, cleaning up, wiping down whatever needs it. How do I live in a house with 4 kids, 3 of whom are toddlers, and a husband peacefully you ask? Well, I never stop. I sweep my kitchen after every meal/snack/just because. And cleaning and organizing our house is a stress relief for me. So yesterday afternoon as I was wiping down the kitchen counters (see, no shock that's what I do for fun now that I've told you my weakness) when I noticed all of the bananas were ready to be turned into bread, aka they were "yucky black". Now this a recipe I've done for 3 years, ever since my husband bought me my Kitchen Aid mixer. In that time, I've made probably close to a hundred loaves of this bread. Anytime we have leftover bananas, (allll the time), I make it and pass it out. We love it and so do others!
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| Before |
So begins my adventure. I had 8 bananas, that's two loaves. Great, more to share! First loaf goes effortlessly! I even took a before picture of all of the ingredients thinking I might share it with you guys. First loaf, in the oven! I start the second loaf. Get it all added and blended as it calls for, and into the mixing bowl, at this time Jonas decided to scream like a Wildling in the living room, so as I'm walking away to go check on little man, I flipped what in the moment I thought to be the lock switch on my mixer. Now, don't get me wrong here. I KNOW which switch is which. I KNOW you have to start your mixing low and slow so you're ingredients don't go flying everywhere, remember, I've done this a 100 times. So I flipped it all the way to "lock" and instantly I knew I was wrong. Very, very, very wrong. I couldn't even see my mixer anymore from the cloud of flour that was engulfing the area. I didn't have to worry about Jonas anymore, because he had promptly ran into the kitchen to see what all the commotion was about (by the way, his scream was fake because he was completely silent as he watched my mistake).
I rushed to flip the mixing switch off, and stood there and literally let the dust settle. Once it did, I was horrified. I had banana and flour on every inch of my body. Most especially in my hair. I had a mess larger than life on my counters, floors, and clothes. And it was so NOT funny then. I looked in the bowl of the mixer and just laughed. The last thing you add to the recipe is 2 cups of flour, everything else is already pre-blended in your bowl. So when I hit the switch, it was mainly just flour that decided to come flying out, with a few chunks of banana. So developing a game plan to clean this mess up as quickly and efficiently as possible, I reached for my phone and snapped pictures of this, because here I am, in my worst nightmare, and looking at the clock I figured my husband would be home right in the middle of me cleaning it up!
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| After |
First, I finished the bowl in the mixer. I added more flour, and SLOWLY mixed it all together. Got it into my already greased loaf pan and in the oven. Next, I wiped what used to be my shiny red mixer down and set it aside, then I began scrubbing the countertops into the trash can, all so I could work not the floor. Which is when I realized that I was leaving a dusty flour trail anywhere I went due to my clothes and hair. So I fixed that, I got down to my underwear in the middle of the flour pile. Then kept on. Never have I ever hated cleaning so much, or baking for that matter! What a MESS! I had just about gotten the floor clean and was throwing the last of the mess away, when my husband walked in to find me standing there in my bra and underwear only to have to explain the entire deal and show him the pictures. All he had to say was, "That better be some good banana bread." And it was!!
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| Finally an Instagram worthy picture! |
So whether you have a complete disaster behind the scenes, or kids running around all over the place beforehand, or it's completely candid..a picture is worth a thousand words. Here's to not just sharing the "perfect" ones! If you see a picture that you like, click the like button, because who knows what went into getting THAT specific picture! (Except my banana bread picture, now you KNOW what went on, just to get that one picture!) So take the photo's...again, and again, and again!
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