Bananalicious Bread

I've been seriously craving banana bread ever since we returned from Jamaica a couple of weeks ago - the resort had the BEST banana bread, and the best mangos, so every morning I'd have banana bread and mangos for breakfast. Perfection.

I found this recipe - titled Banana Banana Bread - on Allrecipes, then found a Pinterest link to the blog For the Love Of Cooking, which had an adaptation of it, adding vanilla and cinnamon - winner!!

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1/2 c butter, softened

3/4 c brown sugar

2 eggs

2 1/3 c mashed overripe bananas (I used 5 small bananas)

1 tsp vanilla

2 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and coat a 9x5 loaf pan with oil. I whipped out my new cast iron bread pan, which is fantastic! 

In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs, bananas, and vanilla, then beat until well mixed. 

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg, and mix well (by hand). Add flour mixture into banana mixture and stir just until moistened - do not over mix, or the cake will become very dense. Pour batter into the loaf pan, and bake for 60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. 

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Father's Day - so of course, I have a brunch demand. Not from my laid-back husband, but from my 4-year-old, who was demanding muffins from the moment she woke me up at the crack of dawn. So I jumped onto Allrecipes and made these, which were a big hit! 

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

• Ingredients:
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used Smart Balance)
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (I used two medium sized bananas)
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, combine the egg, oil, yogurt and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in bananas and chocolate chips. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups, or silicone cups, two-thirds full. Bake at 350 degrees F for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

French Vanilla Crepes - with hidden Flaxseed, Wheat Germ, and 3 Different Flours!

Even the pickiest of picky eaters can't resist a good crepe - filled with nutellas, strawberries, cream, or whatever strikes their picky fancy. I started with a basic recipe from www.allrecipes.com, and then modified it over time to try to get some better ingredients into my preschooler's skinny, picky body. This is the one breakfast item she will reliably eat!

French Vanilla Crepes

Makes @10 crepes

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup almond flour
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp wheat germ
1 1/2 tsp ground flaxseed meal
3 eggs
2 cups whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp melted butter
**for the whole wheat and almond flours, as well as the ground flaxseed meal, I use Bob's Red Mill organic products, which I can find in the Greenwise sections of my local Publix


1. Combine flours, sugar, salt, cinnamon, wheat germ, and flaxseed meal. Set aside.
2.  In a large bowl, beat together eggs and milk with a mixer. Add vanilla. Beat in flour mixture until smooth. Add melted butter, and stir.
3. Heat a lightly oiled pan over low-medium heat. Add approximately 2 Tbsp of batter and rotate pan to spread it thinly. Brown on both sides, and add your choice of delicious fillings! Stir the batter between crepes, to keep the ingredients from sinking to the bottom. This also keeps the last few crepes from getting too heavy (the butter congeals a bit and rises in the batter.)

This works well with nutella, raw chopped fruits, sauteed apples, jams, and very well with some Reddi-Whip!

Pink Princess Pancakes - a/k/a Pancakes colored with Beet Powder

I will never understand the widespread use of artificial colorings in our food supply - and not just in candy, but in medicine, condiments, etc., etc. And the "natural" alternative to red coloring is carmine, which is apparently ground up insects!! In an effort to avoid them, I bought red beet powder from Amazon.com, and when my daughter requested Red Velvet Pancakes (i.e. pancakes colored like Red Velvet - she doesn't actually seem to enjoy the taste of Red Velvet!) this morning, I whipped up a pancake batter using a basic recipe from Allrecipes, and then threw in some beet powder:

Pink Princess Pancakes (basic recipe adapted from the Fluffy Pancakes Recipe on www.allrecipes.com)

Ingredients
3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon red beet powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 tablespoons butter, melted
cooking spray

Directions
Combine milk with vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to "sour".
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda,and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk egg, vanilla, and butter into "soured" milk. Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients, add in beet powder, and whisk until lumps are gone. It'll make a beautifully pink batter!




Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side. Serve and enjoy!

Day One: Get your toddler to eat breakfast

Normally, Naya will only reliably eat one thing for breakfast - cold pizza. Because apparently she's already a college student. The rest of the meals aren't so tough, fortunately. In my quest for breakfast alternatives . . . smoothies! Today was a Strawberry Pineapple Smoothie - since Daddy has hooked the girls on ice cream-based smoothies (a/k/a milkshakes), I've had some misses in the past with trying to get her to eat these, today was mildly successful! I think for some reason the frozen fruit made it taste much less yogurt-y than usual.

Strawberry Pineapple Smoothie (estimates - made 2 servings):
1/3 c. yogurt
1/2 c. milk
6 frozen strawberries
1/2 c. frozen pineapple
1/2 frozen banana

Next time around - may add honey for some extra sweetness, although Naya didn't seem to mind, and might try to add in some wheat germ or ground flax seed for extra nutrition. Lani still wouldn't touch it knowing it was ice cream-free, but I'm still labeling this - SUCCESS!