I’m really affected by mosquito or midge bites and unless I’m covered in repellant, I don’t go out at night. Except that I did. I was cleaning the swimming pool and didn’t finish til nearly dusk and that was about 30 minutes too long. I didn’t notice the bugs while I was out there – probably because I was brushing and tossing the ball in the pool for Charlie, but once I got inside. Ugh.
When I get bit I end up scratching myself silly. I tried the hot spoon until I thought my skin would melt. Still itched. Then I read where the inside of a banana peel might work. I unwrapped a banana and gave it a try and you might think I’m nuts but I stopped itching. John said it was all in my head because I believed it would work. I said, “So why didn’t the hot spoon work?” Apparently I didn’t believe hard enough on that one. It’s okay to stop rolling your eyes at him.
So what do you do when you’ve peeled a banana so you could smear the skin all over your legs? You make a banana and date bread. Then, just because you can, you make a delicious buttery, date, pecan and cream cheese spread to go on top. To make it even better, you add a bit of brandy.
It was really good, especially after the addition of just a tweak of brandy. Next time I would whip the spread in the food processor or thermomix but since we were one of 3,800 homes without power for hours, I smooshed it all by hand. It shows. It just proves you can make tasty things without new fangled gear.
After photographing I was walking back inside with the green plate just as someone knocked on the door. It was a delivery man and I offered him a slice. He said to tell you that it was really good.
- ⅓ cup (75 grams) softened butter
- 4 ounces (110 grams) softened cream cheese
- ¼ cup (50 grams) finely chopped dates
- ¼ cup (50 grams) chopped toasted pecans
- 1 tablespoon apple juice, sherry or brandy
- Preheat oven to 350F/180C
- Place pecans on a baking sheet and bake for 6 minutes.
- Cool and chop the pecans and set aside.
- In a food processor or mixer whip the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy.
- Fold in the remaining ingredients.
- Serve with banana or nut bread or with crackers as a dip.
hahahahaha!! That is one hilarious story. I love the ‘hard enough’ sentence, it sent me to splits. Poor you. My best mosquito repellent, believe it or not, is my husband. Whenever we are out together, it is his blood they are out to get, hahaha! This is such a great looking spread. Bookmarked.
LOL that’s probably why John sticks with me!
I don’t mean to laugh Maureen but, I’ve come to realize people must do some pretty odd things when it comes to those pesky mosquitos. (remember my entanglement when Marion found me on the floor with my ear in a bowl of apple cider vinegar:) It also worked. I’ll have to remember the banana skin trick. If it doesn’t work for me, I’ll just throw it under the rose bushes, good fertilizer I hear for them.
What a dreamy Cream Cheese Spread! Imagine the possibilities! The “tweak” of brandy just wraps it up for me. I really need to give this a try. Now that the Pumpkin Bundt has disappeared, I think it’s high time I bake up a Banana Bread!
Thanks for sharing, Maureen. Hope you’re health is still on the mend:)
Yeah, I’m still struggling with the chest pain and a bit of fever but I’m doing my best to ignore it. 🙂 I don’t know about apple cider in a bowl. I’d like a photo of that. 🙂
I feel like this might be a hard dish to photograph, but you did so beautifully!
I think spreading something on bread is one of my favorite things in life. 🙂
I was really worried. Brown food is notoriously difficult. I hauled everything outside. This was the second lot of photos. The ones I did inside looked creepy. 🙂
I’m definitely going to try the banana skin trick, since mosquitoes love me like they obviously love you and I end up with huge, itching welts every time they find me.
And then, yes, I shall make the banana bread and the spread to go with it. YUM.
Awww, bug bite, not fun. This is totally new to me, banan skin..interesting.
Loving this spread, yummy.
I’m ready to try it again but I don’t want to get bit to test it. 🙂
Maureen, I’ve heard many a story on how a dish was inspired, but yours takes the cake… er, bread. Too funny!!! I’d never heard of rubbing a banana peel over bug bites and I’m not sure what a midge is, but we have chiggers here (also an extremely itch-producing bite) and baking soda does the trick for us. Hope you get some relief soon. Your date spread sounds wonderful and I like your serving suggestions, especially the spoon. 🙂 Please thank your delivery man for his recommendation, too.
A midge is very similar to a chigger. We had chiggers in Tennessee and midges in Orlando in Florida. I hate them. I also hate black flies in Maine. I hate all bugs that bite!
LOL – Love the story behind the banana bread. I love banana bread but hate to eat ripe banana’s.
This spread looks divine …love love love cream cheese and I will try this out soon
Thanks for the tip about the banana peal. I will implement it when I go to India. My daughter also gets bit by mosquitoes 🙁
I hope the banana peel works for you. Now I need to buy more bananas so I can have the peels. That makes me wonder.. can I freeze them and they’d still work? I’ll try.
Poor you! I hate mosquito bites. I loved the “bird cage” that we had around our pool in Florida – it did a great job of keeping out the bugs. The snakes still managed to get in, though, which provided hours of amusement for our cats. Anyway, great looking spread! Delivery men must look forward to coming to your place. 🙂
We had a screened pool when we lived in Orlando (everyone does I think). You wouldn’t want an Aussie snake to play with your cats or dogs. They’d be dead soon. 🙁
The lucky delivery man- he got to try your banana bread! I hate being bitten by ‘mozzies.’ It’s strange, because here in San Diego, we can leave the doors open with no screens, and there are no flies or mozzies during summer. When we return to Adelaide in 6 weeks, it’s back to the old “Australian salute”- where we will be waving our hands in front of our face to whisk away the flies!
I’m used to the great Aussie salute but we don’t have many blow flies up in Queensland. Nothing like down in Victoria.
Oh My!!! That looks and sounds so divine. You had me at dates. The pecans did not hurt…..but brandy makes this recipe sing.
This spread would be this hedonists’ way to start the day slathered on some hot toast. I can hear the violins and Julio Iglesias singing to me already. 🙂
I am definitely making this!!!!
LOL your comments make me laugh so hard.
I just wrote the longest comment and it didn’t get through. So annoying!
It wasn’t in spam so it must have gone into the ether of the interwebs. Sorry!
Sorry for your bad reaction to midge bites but I’m glad the magic banana peel solution worked for you even if it was all psychosomatic. When you’re in pain you’ll try anything until you get relief.
Love banana date nut bread with or without the cream cheese spread. I have a container of dates in my cupboard set aside for making sticky date pudding though I still haven’t got around to it in my flurry of florentine attempts. (I’m SO easily distracted.) Since I also have 3 bananas that I ripened and just tossed in the freezer today, I may give that date bread a try on the weekend instead.
I hope you like it!
Maybe this weekend if I can find a home for the rest of THIS before then.
I think you should go outside all the time and let the bugs bite you if this is the results. Wow, both the bread and the spread look AMAZING! 🙂
Gee, thanks, Chris. I think. 🙂
Wow that is great about the banana peel! This bread looks so delicious but that spread sounds amazing!
Thanks, Alicia!
I believe you! I believe the delivery man! I need to check my pantry to see if I have dates…you’ve given me a major craving. And so sorry about your bites…sounds like a nightmare to me 🙁
It gave me a good idea to make banana bread 🙂
Oh, what a fantastic looking loaf!
Thanks so much!
Dear Maureen, I am like you. When I get a bite they seem to explode and itch for days!!
I use cortizone anti-itch cream and it helps.
The date nut bread with this delicious cream cheese sounds very good. I hope the lights are back on.
I hope you are feeling better.
Blessings dear. Catherine xo
If I’m badly bitten I end up on antihistamines to stop itching. It’s nothing serious and I’m one of millions that the mosquitos love 🙂
G’day! As one who “used” to get affected severely by mozzies here, I can more than empathize with you, true!
Your spread on your banana bread looks sooooooooo yum today too!
Cheers! Joanne
So why not now, Joanne?
A friend gave me a tip-she said to make an “X” on the bite with your fingernail quite hard but not break the skin and that apparently helps! I hate mozzie bites! 🙁
I’ve tried the hot spoon, Listerine, hot water, anti-itch creams etc. What I don’t like are all the scabs from scratching myself til it bleeds. (gross I know)
bugs or not bugs (which I hate to hear that got you so bad) this bread is so delicious it makes up for the bug bites
It almost makes up for the bug bites. 🙂
How I can sympathize with you and the bugs, Maureen. I can be in a crowd of 30 and be the only one bitten — again and again and again. I will surely try the banana peel remedy. Nothing else seems to work. Why not give peels a go? Your bread looks very good. That opening photo is worth 1000 words. Yum!
John doesn’t get bit at all. He says it’s because he drinks beer. I tell him that’s no excuse. 🙂 There could be a mosquito in Sydney (over 1000 km away) and she’d fly up here and bite me. Thanks for the kind words, John.
What a scrumptious bread and I love that you whipped up your own spread to top it off with!
I had dates left over 🙂
Hmm…I’m wondering if slathering yourself in buttery date pecan and cream cheese butter would keep away the mosquitoes? 🙂 This looks amazing, and I will remember the banana peel trick next time I’m bit by a skeeter!
I’m willing to give it a try 🙂
I’m going to have to try the banana remedy next time I have itching bites (and I get them far too often at this time of year / in summer)! And then…I am going to make this 🙂
You must taste pretty sweet Maureen to attract those pesky mozzies! I’ve never heard of the banana peel trick before. Do you smell eau-de-banana afterwards? 😛
Love the addition of that cream cheese spread, sounds most delicious!
I probably did and I didn’t care – I wasn’t itching. 🙂
I love waking up to one of your posts you always make me smile – intentionally or not. Apart from the horrid ones about your health of course.
Seems I’ve now turned into the mossie magnet – it used to be Richard but for some reason the Chinese ones find me particularly alluring which I’m blaming on the fact that I eat more dumplings than him. But thanks for the banana tip I’ll keep that in mind. Maybe.
LOL I’ve been a mozzie magnet all my life. I don’t like spraying myself but I hate itching even more. 🙂 Maybe I need MORE dumplings!
I can’t stomach bananas, and the thought of smooshing them on my legs makes me feel a bit ill, even though I have absolute and complete empathy for your itching. I react badly to midges and mozzies as well – it leads to quite a lot of antisocial behaviour on my part – “oh, you’re having a soiree by the pool tonight? Um…sorry, can’t make it..” 🙂
One word, darling. Cortisone. Get to the GP and make her give you a script for the hard hitting stuff. I hoard Diprosone OV and it stomps on the allergic skin reaction to the bite almost instantly. Love the stuff. 🙂
I have some cortisone cream and I have antihistamines but nothing really takes it away all the way. The banana wasn’t too bad though. 🙂
Hello, fellow banana non-fan. I don’t mind them smooshed in smoothies, or once a year banana bread or muffins, but to eat them straight. Well, they make me gag. On the other hand I recently discovered that I like plantains in the form of tostones. Have you ever tried them?
http://a-boleyn.livejournal.com/153208.html
mmmm looks delicious! I love pecans and dates!
Hi Natalie! It was pretty good!
I will have to remember that trick too because anytime I go out I get eaten alive and then I scratch myself silly too!
Love this spread, a friend of mine used to make something similar but I haven’t seen it for years!! YUM
Let me know if it works 🙂
So sorry about your bite – but this spread looks fantastic! Thanks for linking the bread recipe too!
I have not heard about banana skin and bites…guess I know what to do next time 🙂
I hope it works for you 🙂
I would have like to have seen a picture of the banana peel treatment 🙂 Your spread really takes banana bread to the next level.
I just bent over and rubbed my ankles with the inside of the peel. It felt weird. 🙂
Yummy, my Peter would love this one Maureen!
yay!
Yum yum yum…that spread sounds so amazing. I have baked a banana bread and I am sure going to make this in the evening to go with my cup of tea. Thanks for sharing.
btw, try aloe vera gel next time for the itch…it really helps 🙂
Maureen, you always have me laughing and of course hungry after I read your posts! I will have to try that banana trick. I think for sure if you rub the banana on your skin and drink the brandy that all of your worries will be sorted. A nice slice of your bread and spread on the side would not go bad at all. It sounds like you are doing a little better. I have been keeping you in my prayers. Virtual hug coming your way. Take Care, BAM
What a yummy spread indeed Maureen, what a good idea! Thanks for the tip about banana peel, BigJ is a mozzie magnet. The only thing is that I read mosquitoes are attracted to people who have recently eaten bananas- maybe they just don’t like the skin’s?
I love your excuse for making the banana bread… I needed the peel to rub all over myself. 🙂 I need to try that with mosquito bites… I believe you. Love the spread too… I need to make a spread the next time I make banana bread… I think it compliments it perfectly. 🙂
LOL Honestly, I didn’t make it up!
I’d love to be a delivery person at the exact time you bake this… 😀 Such a lucky guy and thank you for taste testing! 🙂 By the way, is your blood type O? In Japan we say blood type O gets bitten by mosquito a lot (and I believe so because I am O and I get bitten everywhere anywhere – they find me!). Love your spread on this bread.
Maureen this looks so moist and delicious. Love the pecans and dates.. I agree with Nami too I am type O and get bitten all the time.. even by fleas terrible I have 3 indoor cats no one but me gets bites! Good luck with that.
Umm, that spread sounds better than anything coming out of the bagel shop down the street.
By the way, I hope you’re feeling better.
lol!
I have heard all kinds of things to stop the itching but not that one. Next time you could open up a coconut, scrape out the flesh and burn the shell with some fennel seeds and church incense in a pot. The smoke keeps away mosquitoes and we do that frequently around dusk when the mosquitoes are blood hungry. And then you could make a coconut date pecan banana cream cheese spread. But maybe after all your spread sounds great as it is and coconut might just spoil it all. Nice read Maureen =)
John sounds like my husband…but what works is all that counts. 🙂
This looks so delicious and full of flavor. You really are one talented lady when it comes to cooking, Maureen! What a great idea!
wow, thanks, Jodee. I pretty much plod along I think. 🙂
I think even on normal breads this would suit well!
I like everything about this recipe, sounds amazing. I never use dates very much, don’t know why as they are so tasty and good for you! The bread looks amazing as well 🙂
Thanks, Emma and I really appreciate the visit!
Yum this looks good! Hot spoon? I’ve not heard of that one! I use tiger balm on bites, works well. However when I don’t have any to hand a banana must be tried!
Tiger balm? I’ll have to look for it. I thought I’d tried everything. 🙂
Have never heard of the hot spoon technique, but the banana peel I’ve used and it works for me as well. I read somewhere that rubbing the inside of the peel on your teeth helped to whiten them. I tried it a few times, but the flavor wasn’t too pleasant so that didn’t last long. What a great idea to make banana bread since it was peeled already. Love the cream cheese spread! Bet it great on a bagel as well. YUM!
I didn’t try it on a bagel. I wish I had!
Who needs a food processor? I think the more rustic style has a great textural and visual element to it!
I know what you mean but when I think of a buttery spread I think smooth. 🙂
Um, yum. That is all! 😉
🙂
I’m a magnet for bugs too. And the repellant stuff is awful for you too. Our farmer friends told us about a natural repellant for dogs. I use it and it works! After they bite – I dunno – have you tried tea tree oil?
No, but I’ll give it a try. The successful anti-itch method is a cloth dipped in hot water as hot as I can stand and hold it over the bite for a couple of minutes. No more itch.
Hi Maureen, thanks for recipe , I am trying to make a spread with date, Can you tell me how i can make it for kids.
I am going to commercialize a date spread recipe and create a product in my country, Can you advice me ?
I am living in date country so i could not find any great date recipe for kids. deliciouses and healthy.I am trying to find the best formula, please answer to me in private as well. thanks
I wrote privately. I don’t have a recipe for a date spread but I sent a cardamom and date spread that we like on scones.