Banana Muffins

Returning to the blogging world. Spent the past...well...quite a while...just wanting to spend time with my puppy...now that puppy is gone, it's time to return to this hobby.

I've been cooking & baking like crazy, or so it feels. I don't have a whole heck of a lot of motivation, but I make dinner most nights of the week. And I try to make something (muffins, scones) for breakfast in the morning. Today, (although it's the weekend, so probably not the best timing for "work brekkies"!) I decided to use up some of the buttermilk that I had leftover from St. Patty's Day irish soda bread to make these muffins.

I just found this recipe the other day on Phemomenon, and immediately bookmarked it because of the excess buttermilk in my fridge. And while I was getting the ingredients ready, I realized I also had quite a few bananas to use up. Perfect!

I made quite a few changes, the most significant being swapping banana in for the butter. Healthy, no? :) They rose really tall, perfect muffin texture and delicious!

Buttermilk Spice Muffins
adapted from Mimi's Cafe

Batter
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup mashed bananas (abt 2 medium bananas)
3 eggs
2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup & 1 Tbsp buttermilk

Topping
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large bowl, cream bananas and sugar (I used a hand mixer). Add 3 eggs and blend until well-combined. Batter will be very wet at this stage.

In a separate small bowl, sift flour, baking soda, cinnamon & nutmeg.

Add 1/2 of the flour mixture to the banana mixture and combine until just blended. Add 1/2 of the buttermilk, combine. Blend in the rest of the flour, then the rest of the buttermilk. Batter will have thickened quite a bit.

In separate bowl (you can use the one you used for the flour), combine the topping ingredients and mix until combined.

Grease muffin tins. Pour batter in the muffin tins 1/2-3/4 full, then add a small spoonful of the topping. Put into oven for 20-25 minutes, or until golden.


*Now obviously these are not your typical bakery muffin! Not quite as moist (no butter!) but still great texture and flavor. And not as sweet, because I severely slashed the sugar. I love muffins like this because I feel good about grabbing them for breakfast in the morning! And because of course they taste delicious. :)

Be amazed.

For the first time in my life (ok, maybe not my entire life), I followed a recipe to the T. Exactly. I didn't even try to change a thing.*

I've been falling all over myself trying to make apple recipes (although...why? we go through apples like they're going out of style...I can barely keep enough around for baking!) at about the same time we had a basket full of (rotting) bananas sitting in the kitchen. I forget if I food blog searched for a recipe or if I happened upon it another way, but regardless of how it went, this recipe is perfect. It comes from The Goddess's Kitchen and it involves banana bread & caramelised apples, so, really, it would be hard to go wrong.

It originally came from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book (which I am totally dying to get) and was quite perfect, just the way it was written. :) I do think I may have cut my apples too small or perhaps over-caramelized them, because it was more like there were slim shivers of apples than actual chunks. I liked it that way though...added a bit of sweetness & flavor to the banana bread without taking away from the banana bread.

Mom's Banana Apple Bread
adapted from The Goddess's Kitchen

Makes one 1½ -quart loaf pan (2lb/900g)

For the apples:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
teaspoon pure vanilla extract


For the banana bread:
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon kosher salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
¼ cup fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups very ripe mashed bananas (2 to 3)

Before you start:Position a rack in the center of your oven and preheat the oven to 350°F/180oC. Lightly butter and flour a 1 1/2-quart loaf pan.

To make the apples:Preheat a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the butter and brown sugar and heat until bubbling. Add the apples and cinnamon and sauté until golden and tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the vanilla. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

To make the banana bread:-In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

In a small bowl, combine the orange juice and vanilla.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in three batches, alternating with the orange juice mixture, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl after each flour addition. Stir in the mashed bananas until combined. Then stir in the reserved apples.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove to a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes before unmolding onto the rack to cool further.

Serve slightly warm or at room temperature. The banana bread keeps well wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 3 days. For longer storage, freeze well wrapped in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil for up to 3 weeks. Defrost (still wrapped) at room temperature.

*(Of course I did use cute little leaf molds instead ofloaf pans. That's allowed, right?)

Guiltless coffe cake!

I've been baking. And cooking. Probably more lately than usual. And yet, no posting...

Crazy, right?

In fact, I (ok, we, I didn't eat it all myself) just devoured this recipe without even thinking of taking a picture. (It was delicious, by the way. Make sure to try it!) Too hungry? Maybe. But I'd rather blame it on my camera. :) I'm just not excited about taking pictures anymore. I've been known to take hundreds of pictures in a night, but today I found myself walking out of the house to pick apples (hehe) without my camera, on purpose. I need a new camera.


Sometimes when I take photos, I get this:









Other times this:









But often the photo is mostly clear, except for a thick blue line across the top. Easily crop-able, but really not ideal.

So I'm looking for new cameras. Suggestions? Advice? I like compact cameras that I can easily carry around.

In the meantime, enjoy this banana coffee cake from Fatfree Vegan Kitchen. Delicious! I made a couple changes, most obvious being the addition of dairy & eggs...so check the original if you want the vegan version. This is a perfect recipe to start the day...especially if it's warm.

Banana Coffee Cake
adapted from Fatfree Vegan Kitchen

2.5 Tbsp egg whites
1/8 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/6 cup nonfat vanilla yogurt
1/6 cup skim milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbsp light brown sugar
1 Tbsp water
1/2 cup unbleached AP flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 medium banana, ripe

Preheat the oven to 375F and grease a small baking dish.

Mix 3 Tbsp brown sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Set aside.

Combine the yogurt, milk, vanilla, and 1/8 cup brown sugar in a bowl. Add the egg whites.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Pour the yogurt mixture into the flour mixture and stir just until combined. Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan and spread to cover the bottom. Slice the bananas and place the slices over the batter. Sprinkle with half of the cinnamon-sugar. Spread the remaining batter over the bananas. Sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon-sugar. Bake for 25 minutes, or until cake appears set in the middle. Allow to cool for a few minutes before cutting into slices and serving.


I actually halved the original recipe & used a small pyrex bowl to make the coffee cake a bit deeper. I enjoyed it warm, and it was very moist & flavorful. And lots of healthy ingredients!

Heidi's Spinach Artichoke Dip

I've been waiting for a chance to make this dip since I saw it earlier this year...unfortunately having people over is not something that happened often in our last little apartment! I finally got a chance to break out the recipe this past weekend & I was more than pleased. I added some spinach to the recipe, of course forgetting to wait until after I'd blended the other ingredients, so I ended up with something that looked like ectoplasm. It still tasted delicious, & since I completely forgot to take pictures, today's recipe is sans illustration, which might be a good thing. ;) Check out Heidi's website for some delicious looking photos instead!

Baked Spinach Artichoke Dip
adapted from 101 Cookbooks

1 12-ounce bag of frozen artichokes (mine were Trader Joe's brand...you can use canned too)
3 cups baby spinach, chopped
3 ounces silken tofu
3 large garlic cloves
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/8 tsp freshly ground sea salt
pinch of cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. In a blender or food processor puree the artichokes, tofu, and garlic. In a separate medium bowl whisk together the spinach, parmesan cheese, yogurt, salt, and cayenne. Stir in the artichoke puree and pour mixture into a medium-sized baking dish (or multiple smaller dishes). Sprinkle the top with more Parmesan. Bake uncovered until heated through and the cheese on the top starts to brown, about 45 minutes.

Now, I have a big block of silken tofu left over, & unfortunately I have no idea what to do with it. I don't want it to go to waste, so...what can I do with silken tofu? I don't like it in smoothies, but other than that I've never really had it. Any ideas? I trust your foodie brains more than my own!



Ok. One picture. Because, really, is a post a post without any photos?

Lately I have been making these every night for a snack. It feels healthy. :)

Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter "Milkshakes"

1 frozen banana
1 cup cold chocolate milk
1 Tbsp peanut butter

Throw in blender & blend!

(The guinness glass purchased by Tim's mom at a yard sale is optional!)

Simple Banana Bread

Ah, today I did something very unlike me. And it made me happy.

I'm one of those people who loves to use millions of ingredients in her recipes. A little whole wheat flour here, some AP there, and a little graham flour for good measure. Add-ins? Chocolate, raisins, zucchini, banana, applesauce, cherries, blueberries, nuts... And the list (usually) goes on.

And though Tim loves my baking & cooking, sometimes he'll say to me, "Can we just have Bisquick pancakes today?" And then I remember that people actually like simple, basic recipes. And actually prefer them over extravagant, complex ones. Silly me, how hard this is to remember.

(I haven't yet mentioned to Tim that you can in fact still make pancakes from scratch with plain AP flour...that Bisquick really isn't the main ingredient of pancakes...but I'll save that for another day! :) Keeping quiet is one way to get him to make the pancakes...)

So Tim's been in southern Illinois since Thursday, working through the weekend 14 hours a day, & he's tired of it. Today's his last day before he comes home to me, so to make it easier to get through the day, I told him I'd bake him whatever he wants for when he gets home.

He chose banana bread. I immediately thought of all the combos out there...nutella, pb, chocolate, caramel! Then I quickly realized that what he has in mind is probably good ol' plain banana bread. When I ask if he wants anything in it, he answers plain & simple: nuts.

And so, with great difficulty, I created a (nearly) plain loaf of banana bread.

I used the banana bread from Simply Recipes as a base (I still intend to make the delicious looking cake from The Wednesday Chef, but figured I'd stick as close to the simple bread as possible). I halved it because I only had 2 bananas (so sad!) & made very few other changes.

Banana Bread
adapted from Simply Recipes

2 ripe bananas, mashed
2.5 Tbsp melted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 egg, beaten
3/4 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup unbleached AP flour
1/4 cup graham flour
1 tsp instant coffee

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Mix instant coffee & 1/2 tsp hot water, then add to butter. With a wooden spoon, mix butter mixture into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered mini loaf pan. Bake for 45 minutes. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Ok. Yes. I did add instant coffee. Only a little. Oh, and I did add a little tiny tiny bit of graham flour, which I don't really count. And some cinnamon. See...step in the right direction! :)

It was pretty yummy. Not as moist as I expected it to be, but I did use frozen bananas, & I did allow them to leak all over the counter as they defrosted for far too long. I'll have to try again soon with fresh ones!