I Appreciate Weekends Because of Retail

Saturdays with nothing to do? Oh, yes, I heart them.

I think I appreciate them even more because I once worked retail. Almost 7 years working in retail on the weekend should make one grateful for a lot of things. I think everyone should work retail or be in some form of public service for at least one year of their life.

Working retail taught me:

• to keep my frustration in check when something takes longer than I think it should. I remember plenty of times when I was helping one customer, ran to get something for them, and was stopped on my way by another customer who demanded help then and there and wouldn't take, "I'm helping someone else right now, and I can help you next" for an answer.
  


• the workers don't create the rules. Their job is to obey/enforce the rules even if they don't agree. If there's a legitimate problem, take it to the top.
  


• to put clothes back from where I got them, re-fold a shirt on a display that I looked at, move a book or CD that's out of alphabetical order into its proper place, etc. Little things like that will help a retail worker who doesn't have time because they're doing three things at once, and it will help another customer who may be looking for a specific size or book or CD when I was the last person to have it.
  


• to SMILE at the retail worker. Yes - even the seemingly sulky worker who acts like I'm annoying them by getting in their line. Why? Who knows what kind of person they waited on before me? Heaven knows I waited on my fair share of doozeys. I may never see that retail worker again, but I want to leave them knowing that at least one customer appreciates them.
  


• sitting at home and doing nothing on a weekend is a glorious thing.
  

And so I took full advantage of this weekend and did nothing. It also helped that I've been fighting something all week and it's freezing outside, so I took time to rest. I took a nap, I puttered around the house, made some lasagna in the slow cooker and made some banana bread using up some old bananas.

Quick notes about the recipe below:

I didn't have the Fiber One Honey Clusters cereal on hand, but I did have Kellogg's FiberPlus Antioxidants Berry Yogurt Crunch.

I also didn't have any buttermilk on hand, so I made my own by measuring 1 Tbls lemon juice (or vinegar) in a 1 cup measuring cup, topped it off with milk, stirred, and let it sit for 5 minutes. That's DIY buttermilk for ya.

My three uber ripe bananas didn't equal the full cup needed, so I topped it off with some applesauce.

Finally, instead of regular flour, I used whole wheat flour.

All my substitutions worked out just fine.


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Buttermilk Banana Bread
Original recipe from Fiber One

2 cups Fiber One Honey Clusters cereal
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 egg
1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (2 medium)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom only of 9x5-inch loaf pan. Place cereal in resealable food-storage plastic bag; seal bag and crush with rolling pin or meat mallet (or crush in food processor).

2. In large bowl, beat sugar and oil with electric mixer on medium speed until well mixed. On low speed, beat in buttermilk, vanilla and egg until smooth. Beat in bananas. Beat in flour, baking soda and salt until will blended.

3. Stir in cereal just until mixed. Spread in pan.

4. Bake 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing.

High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): Heat oven to 375°F.



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Yield: 1 loaf; 16 slices Calories: 180 | Fat: 4.5 | Carbs: 31 | Fiber: 2 | Protein: 3

{5 Weight Watchers Points Plus per slice}