12 Days til Christmas! And Banana Gingerbread Cake House

Countdown photos courtesy of the 12 days of christmas ornaments on my tree.

 

 

 And your festive song of the day is a long time favourite.

 

 

After a night and morning of absolute agony thanks to that troublesome tooth (even Tylenol 3 didn't provide any relief) my wonderful sister took me to my appointment to have my last two wisdom teeth extracted.

After waiting and holding back tears for almost an hour, the surgeon agreed to put me under and to remove both wisdom teeth and I didn't even have to argue for either. He was wonderful.

Also, he might have been Santa, granting me my ultimate Christmas wish: pain relief.

 

I woke up in the recovery room with no recollection of how I got there (and no recollection of hanging my head down, tongue out when my sister came in then saying, "I was pretending to be dead!") (I'm a great comedian when not in my right mind).

 

The best news of all?

I haven't even had a glimmer of pain since.

Not when the freezing wore off, not when I took my amoxicillin in delicious chocolate pudding, not when I had hot soup, not when I accidently touched the gaping hole in my mouth with my tongue.

 

How is this possible!?

 

I suspect it doesn't hurt because they pulled both teeth rather than dug around in the gum to remove them, and also they didn't need to stitch the area up.

 

No one really needed to nurse me.

Robin was kind enough to go and pick up all of my perscription meds (ibuprofen which I already have and should have told her not to bother with, percocet, a chlorhexidine mouth rinse, and the amox) so I snuck in a quick nap while she was gone.

Then John came home and I was up baking.

 

I finally used my new pan!

 

 

*I doubled the recipe to ensure I'd have enough batter to fill the pan.

I also used 1 cup all purpose flour and 3 cups rice flour because I ran out of flour.*

 

Banana Gingerbread

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon (sub for 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice)
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
pinch freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup banana, mashed (about 2 large)
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup buttermilk
4 tbsp vegetable oil

 

 

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices.In a medium bowl, whisk together brown sugar, banana, molasses, buttermilk and vegetable oil.
3. Pour into dry ingredients and stir until just ombined. Pour into prepared pan and sprinkle with coarse sugar, if desired.
4. Bake for about 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

* I also brushed the roof with milk and then dusted with silve-white sprinkles to look like snow.

 

Tomorrow won't be spent on the couch - I'm going to go out on the town and finish up my christmas shopping (hopefully!)