fun cooking tip

Bake your favorite quick bread (banana bread, blueberry bread, sour cream cinnamon raisin bread, lemon bread--the kinds that come from batter instead of from dough, and that often have as much sugar as cake, but taste like muffins) in a can.

We use the large cans that hold 30 oz of beans, peaches, or pears usually, but I have also used those big number 10 food storage cans and the smaller pineapple cans; I imagine you could also use the cans that pineapple juice comes in, or even soup cans if you wanted tiny loaves. Take the label off, wash and dry them, and grease them well. Then fill them half-to-2/3 full of batter (my recipes fill 3 cans this way) and bake until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean (60 minutes for pineapple cans; 70-90 for peach cans, etc).

Wait until the loaves cool, and then run a knife around the inside to loosen them and the loaves fall right out. Alternately, you can use a can opener on the bottom of the can and push the loaf right through.

They make the prettiest round slices of bread. Next time you need to show off your bread (like for a ward potluck, or a Christmas treat plate, or a gift loaf, or a family party), this is a really fun and easy way to dress up a regular quick bread because nobody expects to get a slice of bread that is perfectly round. It's kind of cool and fun.

Next, I want to try yeasted bread this way and see if I can make round sandwiches for the kids. It would be great, too, for hamburgers!