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True to form, he was woefully disappointed when I told him I was going to make some delicious homemade banana bread for his class. He normally loves my banana bread but he seemed concerned that it wasn't quite right for class snack. Apparently, banana bread just isn't edgy enough to take to Kindergarten.
Naturally, he had no other viable suggestions of his own. Store bought cookies? Nope. Pop Tarts? Nope. Candy? Ice cream? JUMBO PIXIE STICKS!? Something awesome like that!?!? Nope. Nope. Nope.
I told him it had to be banana bread. It just had to.
Banana bread is delicious and it's healthy-ish and if our First Kindergarten Class Snack is homemade banana bread, it would let the teacher know that I read that long Good Food memo they send home every school year; the one that urges us not to send our kids to school hopped up on Cheetos and candy bars and Red Bull.
I needed that Good Parenting Point to make up for the fact that we sent Fox to school in shorts when it was rainy and 50 degrees outside and every single other parent sent their kids in coats and pants. It was so unseasonably cold in September. The Universe clearly wanted to make us look bad in front of all the new parents and teachers. He's lucky I didn't send raw spinach.
I needed a win. And, honestly, banana bread is one of the only From Scratch things I can bake with a fairly high success rate.
I once made a beautiful white chocolate souffle. It was delicious and easy and I started to wonder if I missed my calling. Maybe I was supposed to be a very famous professional souffle maker who travelled the world and made souffles and gave inspirational speeches about how great I am at making souffles. That's a legitimate and highly paid position in real life, right? Not surprisingly, like so many other of my attempts at From Scratch glory, my one good souffle was a complete fluke.
But not banana bread. Banana bread has always been loyal to me.
Unfortunately, loyal and healthy-ish and cheap and easy is boring to Kindergartners.
So we compromised. We dressed up our trusty old loaf.
We added chocolate chips.
We poured it into muffin tins (everything is better when shaped like a cupcake).
"And why not smiley faces?" Little Fox asked.
My kid -- with the needing his food to nourish AND amuse him. Adorable and only slightly obnoxious, right?
In the end, a small and delicious compromise goes a long way. I was able to send my homemade banana bread and Little Fox was able to bring a snack to school that garnered him a little extra street cred with his fellow Kindergartners. "SMILEY FACES!"
He told me that his muffins were yummy!
He was ready with suggestions for his next class snack. "Bake something with marshmallows!"
Marshmallows.
My old foe. Of course. It has to be...marshmallows.
