Grade 9 | Sydney's Blog

Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips and Coconut

Baking banana bread has been on my to-do list for ages but I never got around to do it, but when my sister called, I finally saw the perfect chance! One day my sister went grocery shopping and saw bananas on sale for an astonishingly cheap price because they were very very ripe. She called and asked my mother and I if we wanted a bag, so of course we jumped at the great deal. I was so excited to cross banana bread off my list that I found this recipe ASAP and tried it out the day after I got the bananas from my sister. The recipe made a lot but it only called for 3 banana’s, so i took the opportunity to make two batches since the bananas needed to be used in a short amount of time. I made one batched with chocolate chips and one batch without seeing that I love chocolate chips but my mom isn’t very fond of them. I made a couple changes to the recipe to suit my mom’s preferences, like in the batch with chocolate chips, the recipe called for 1 cup of chocolate chips but I added a bit less than that. In both batches i also decided to add about 3/4 cup of coconut flakes which brought a pretty satisfying texture to the finishing product. I was very surprised to see just how long banana bread actually needs to bake for. I didn’t have two pans that were the right size so I decided to make two smaller loaves. In doing so, they needed to be in the oven for less than the recipe called. I went for leaving them in for 5-10 minutes, checking and if they weren’t ready I’d put them in for another 5-10 minutes and they actually turned out really well. The finishing product for both batches way amazing with this recipe and I would definitely recommend you try this out.

Ingredients :

Directions :

Step 1

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan, preferably glass.

Step 2

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Stir bananas, milk, and cinnamon in another bowl. Beat butter and sugar in a third bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs to butter mixture, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir banana mixture into butter mixture. Stir in dry mixture until blended. Fold in chocolate chips until just combined. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

Step 3

Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 70 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

Food Blogging Week 7

Best EVER Cheesy Bacon Potatoes!!

My mom had recently bought a big bag of potatoes but she had no idea what to do with then, so one day when i was bored I decided to take a crack at learning a new recipe involving potatoes. I went on the online, searched up yummy potato recipes and the first picture that popped up really caught my eye. In the name i saw potato, cheesy and bacon and immediately knew i had to try. I mean who wouldn’t be excited at the thought of potato, cheese and bacon all in the same delicious dish! The only spices called for in the recipe wee salt and pepper so I knew from the get-go that I would have to make some changes to add some more flavour. In addition to the salt and pepper, I added paprika, cumin and garlic powder which really helped in adding more flavour. I’m so glad that I discovered this recipe because not only did I finally learn how to cook potatoes, but I also learned another method in cooking bacon. The recipe required the bacon to be baked, which was an idea I’d never even thought of before. The bacon fat that separated from the bacon in the oven was then supposed to be used on the potatoes which i also found very interesting. Topped off with some sour cream, the finishing product was amazing so I would definitely consider using this recipe again! I definitely suggest you try out this recipe in your free time!

The recipe : Bets EVER Cheesy Bacon Potatoes

Ingredients :

1/2 pound bacon
3 extra large russet potatoes peeled and chopped into 1/2″-3/4″ pieces, about 6 cups worth
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar or Mexican blend shredded cheeses
3 green onions sliced thin

Instructions :

COOK THE BACON: Spread the bacon strips out across a large rimmed baking sheet pan and place on the middle rack of a COLD oven. Set the temperature to 400 degrees. Set a timer for 16 minutes and check the bacon. Remove it from the oven when it is as crisp or crunchy as you like. I remove ours at 18 minutes and it’s a great balance of chewy crunch. If you like your bacon crispy enough to crumble, you will probably want to cook it another minute past that.
COOK THE POTATOES: While the bacon is cooking, peel and chop the potatoes. Transfer the bacon to a paper towel lined plate to drain. There should be 2-3 tablespoons of bacon grease left on the sheet pan (If there is more than that, drain off a bit.) Put the potatoes on the pan and toss with tongs to thoroughly coat them in the bacon grease. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread the potatoes out in a single layer and bake for 20 minutes, stir well and bake an additional 20 minutes. Stir again, making sure that none of the potatoes are sticking to the tray. Bake another 15 minutes.
Chop the bacon into small pieces. Remove the potatoes from the oven, stir again and sprinkle generously with shredded cheese and chopped bacon. Return the tray to the oven and bake an additional 2-3 minutes, until the cheese has melted. Top with sliced green onions just before serving. Enjoy!

Food Photography

Hi,

I’m Sydney and for my latest Food studies project, I was told to test my food photography skills and attempt to take some aesthetically pleasing photos of household items found in the kitchen so ready or not, here they come!

These are the items i decided to use. My dad’s prized matching utensils that he told me not to take to school because he doesn’t trust that I won’t loose one and mess up the set, a very popular jar with more cooking tools and a cutting board with an orange sweet pepper as my food of choice. I chose this vibrant orange sweet pepper simply to add a little colour to my photos.

I love the way this photo looks because my family and love making jokes about matching up the real utensils with the utensils on the place mats. It’s become sort of a tradition that every time we use the mats, my dad tries to pick up the fake fork instead of his real fork. To me, lining up the real utensils with the fake look very aesthetically pleasing.

I love this little utensil holder because I have one at both my mom’s house and my dad’s. It gives me a little piece of mind knowing that when i switch over to another house, at least I’m going to see one familiar thing.

In these pictures I started playing around with filters and angles. The filter used in both pictures is called “vivid warm”, which i really like. The the second photo, I held the camera bellow eye level and it made the utensil jar look much bigger than it actually is. People usually like to use angles like that to make themselves look taller in their photos.

Here we have some pictures of a vibrant little orange sweet pepper. I held up a black poster board behind the sweet pepper to make sure the colours really got their chance to pop. The first picture is the original and the second is with a filter. The third picture is of an angle bellow eye view which, just like the utensils jar, makes the sweet pepper look a bit taller than above eye view.

Thank you for reading my Food Photography project!

My Micro bit design #2

My micro bit design is a small portable clip that you can attach to anything you desire. It can be attached to anything like your keys, wallet, etc. It is a small clip that had a chip that connects to an app that you can download onto your phone. When you activate it via the app, it will set off a small beeping alarm so that it can help you track down the item that it is attached to.

My Microbit Idea!

My micro bit idea with my partner is pointed towards people that constantly loose their keys, wallets, etc. Our Micro bit is a little beeper that you can connect to any valuable things that you feel you may loose. The micro bit connects to an app you can download on your phone. If/When you loose the item, you can make the micro bit beep via the app so that it can help you find that item.

Sydney’s Blog

My Charles Best Digital Portfolio

Final Assignment–Food Blog 2

Food Blogging Week 7

Food Photography

My Micro bit design #2

My Microbit Idea!