Banana Bread

 I was staying with Kristen's kids and had overripe bananas to use.  I didn't have all the ingredients to make my usual banana bread, so googled recipes that used what I did have.  This bread was moist and delicious.

Banana Bread

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup chopped nuts

2- 3 bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease a loaf pan.

In a large bowl, stir together the melted butter and sugar.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Mix well.  Add the flour, soda, and salt and mix well.  Fold in the sour cream, nuts and bananas.  Spread in prepared pan.  Bake for 60 minutes.  A toothpick should come out clean.  Let sit in pan for about 10 minutes, then take out of pan and cool on a wire rack.  

Banana Pudding

 

While Ken had COVID, our cute neighbor left two big cups of this delicious pudding on our doorstep.  We enjoyed it sitting on the front porch, sitting 10 feet apart.  A delicious pudding and a happy memory.

Banana Pudding

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup milk

1 3.4 oz. package instant vanilla pudding

6 cups sweetened whipped cream or 16 oz. tub of Cool Whip

11 oz box vanilla wafers OR Erin used coconut flavored cookies.  They were delicious.

3 bananas, sliced

Beat the cream cheese until smooth.  Add the sweetened condensed milk, milk, and pudding mix and continue to whip.  Fold in half of the whipped cream until just combined.  

To assemble the pudding, use a 3-quart straight-sided bowl or you can use individual glasses, Or you can assemble it in a 13 x 9 pan, as shown above. Cover the bottom with vanilla wafers, arranging them in a single layer without overlapping.  Spoon about 1/3 of the pudding mixture.  Cover the pudding with another layer of cookies, then slice bananas on top of the cookies.  Spoon half of the pudding that is left on top of the bananas, then more cookies, then another layer of bananas.  Then spoon the remaining pudding, then another layer of cookies.  Then spread the remaining cream on top. and smooth the surface.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for at least two hours.

Brown Butter Banana Bread Brownies

Ingredients:

Brownies:

-2 eggs

-3 bananas, mashed

-1 cup sugar

-1 cup sour cream

-1/2 cup butter, softened

-2 tsps vanilla extract

-2 cups white flour

-1 tsp baking soda

-3/4 tsp salt

Frosting:

-1/4 cup butter, softened 

-1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

-1 1/2 TBSP milk

-3/4 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 13x9 inch pan.

For the brownie part:

2. In a large mixing bowl, beat together sugar, sour cream, butter, and eggs until creamy.

3. Blend in bananas & vanilla.

4. Add flour, baking soda, salt and blend for 1 minutes. 

5. Spread batter evenly into pan. Bake 23-25 minutes or until golden brown.

6. Cool slightly (warm but not hot) and frost with frosting.

For the frosting part:

7. Heat butter while stirring in a medium sauce pan over medium heat.

8. Watch it carefully when it reaches a medium brown color turn off heat, whisk in powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, adding milk as it thickens, then add in vanilla.

9. Pour over the warm banana bread brownies immediately and smooth with a spatula.

10. Cool completely before cutting.

I got the original recipe from sugarapron.com, and I have made a few changes.

Whole Wheat Berry Banana Muffins

• 
• Yields: 12 muffins
• 
  
• Ingredients:
• 2 cups (240g) whole wheat flour (I used 1 cup of wheat flour I ground myself and 1 cup of white flour.)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 tbsp (14g) butter or margarine, melted and cooled slightly
• 2 large egg whites, room temperature
• 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ¾ cup (200g) mashed banana (about 2 medium)
• ¼ cup (60g) plain or honey Greek yogurt
• 3 tbsp (45mL) honey
• ¼ cup (60mL) milk
• ½ cup (80g) diced fresh strawberries (about 4 medium-large) I used slightly thawed frozen, sliced berries.
• ½ cup (70g) fresh blueberries (I used frozen berries straight from the freezer.)

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F, and get out your muffin tins, spray them with nonstick spray if you use it.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate (larger) bowl, whisk together the butter, egg whites, and vanilla. Stir in the mashed banana, Greek yogurt, and honey, mixing until no large lumps of yogurt remain. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and the milk, stirring just until incorporated, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. (For best results, add the flour mixture in 3 equal parts.) Gently fold in the strawberries and blueberries.
3. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tins. Bake at 350°F for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If you're using frozen berries bake closer to the 25 minutes. I started with 20 minutes and checked them every couple of minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

I got the original recipe from amyshealthybaking.com. I've made a few minor changes but love how they turned out!

Pumpkin Shake

I made this yesterday for my children for after school snack so I could take a picture, and of course, I forgot to get out the camera. Hopefully I'll get a pic soon.

But, picture or not, this is a yummy, festive, healthy snack. It serves 2.

1 c. coconut milk (I have made it with normal milk as well and it was delicious that way too)
1 t. cinnamon
2 pinches nutmeg (I like it with little to no nutmeg)
1 t. honey
3/4 banana (I like to use a frozen one because it helps the consistency)
1/2 c. pumpkin
4 ice cubes

Add all ingredients to the blender, blend and enjoy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Milkshake

I recently watched a documentary called "Fed Up" that has made me think more about what my family and I are eating and has increased my awareness of the amount of sugar that is added to a lot of the processed food that we buy. I have been amazed at how much sugar is in things that I have always considered healthy. Yogurt for example. Jacob LOVES it and asks for it several times a day. I usually happily get it for him. One serving of low-fat yogurt has 33 grams of sugar in it. That is more than 8 teaspoons. I was so surprised. The daily recommended amount of sugar for an adult is 25 grams...6 teaspoons and Jake was getting more than that in 1 bowl of yogurt! I feel like I am still learning a lot about the best way for my family and I to eat, and try to take everything "with a grain of salt", but for the last week or two, I have been trying to eat and cook with more whole foods with little to no added sugar and not as much processed food. That way I know what we are eating. I have felt a bit better and lost a little weight as well. Always a plus. :) This is a "whole food" treat that I love and have whipped up a couple of times when I have wanted something sweet.

2 frozen very ripe bananas
2 scoops all-natural peanut butter (I buy Smuckers brand at Walmart. It just has peanuts and 1% or less of salt. I like the taste a lot better than the other peanut butter I have always loved. It is less waxy and has a deeper flavor.)
1 scoop cocoa powder
Milk

Simply add everything to the blender and blend. Add as much milk as you need to reach your desired thickness and enjoy.

You can freeze this to make fudgesicles as well. Yum!

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

This whole wheat banana bread is moist and yummy, lowfat and healthy.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

1/3 cup oil

1/2 cup honey

2 eggs

1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (about 3-4 bananas)

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup hot water 

1 teaspoon baking soda

Mix the oil (can use coconut oil, melted) and honey together in a bowl.  Add the eggs and  vanilla and beat well.  Put in the flour, salt, and cinnamon and mix until all the flour is moistened.  Add the baking soda and hot water and mix.  Put in  greased loaf pan.  Bake for an hour or until wooden pick comes out clean.  Cool in pan for about 5 minutes, then take out of pan and  cool on a wire rack until completely cool.  

Lower-fat Banana Bread

Even though the title of this Banana Bread has lower-fat in it, it is still moist and delicious! I'll be honest, I was grossed out at the recipes I was finding that had 2 cubes of butter in them so I googled "low-fat banana bread" wondering if it even existed. Sure enough, I found this little gem. Give it a try--I think you'll love it like my family does.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup white sugar

1/8 cup of applesauce

2 eggs

1 cup mashed bananas

1/4 cup water

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder


1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2) In a medium bowl, beat the white sugar and applesauce until smooth and creamy. Beat in the eggs, water and bananas with the sugar mixture until it is well blended.
3) Mix in the flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder just until the mixture is moistened. Be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl to blend all ingredients.
4) Bake at 325 degrees F (175 degree C) for about 45 minutes. Bread is done when the top is firm to the touch and a golden brown color. Time will vary according to loaf size and oven type. When bread is removed from oven, allow it to cool on it's side for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool on a rack. This bread is also excellent if you add mini chocolate chips or small fruit pieces to the mix just before baking.

I doubled this recipe to make 2 loaves of bread. I still cooked both loaves at the same time for 40-45 minutes and they turned out great!

I made a couple of adjustments from a comment I found on the site, but here is the original source.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/lower-fat-banana-bread-i/

Banana Bread Bars with Browned Butter Frosting

Like banana bread?  Then you'll LOVE these banana bread bars.  They are moist and yummy and the frosting is just delicious.  I feel I need to apologize for giving you this recipe.  These bars are addictive.

Banana Bread Bars

Cream together:

1/2 cup butter, very soft 

1 cup sour cream

1 1/2 cups sugar

Add:

2 eggs

Beat until creamy and smooth.  Add:

*About 2 cups mashed banana ( 3-4 ripe bananas)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Mix well.  Turn off the mixer and add:

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

Turn on the mixer and mix for about a minute.  Stir in:

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Spread into a well greased jelly roll pan(sided cookie sheet.)  Bake at 375 for about 20- 25 minutes or until they're just pulling away from the edges of the pan.

While the bars are baking, make the frosting:

Browned Butter Frosting

In a large saucepan, over medium heat, melt:

1/2 cup butter

Cook and stir until the butter turns brown.  Brown will start to come up from the bottom of the pan and it will smell really buttery and nutty.  Watch carefully as you don't want it to burn.  When golden brown remove from heat and add:

4 cups powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

About 3 Tablespoons milk

Beat together until smooth and silky. It shouldn't be too thick like a set frosting, but more like a thick glaze.   

When the bars are done, let cool a minute or two, then put the frosting on.  The easiest way is put dabs all over the top and then gently spread with a spatula.  

*When bananas get too ripe, I break them in half and put them in a quart freezer zip lock bag.  I keep them in the freezer and add to the bag as I get more.  When I have enough, I make these bars (or banana bread, banana cake, smoothies, etc.)  Just let them thaw a bit( you can even thaw them in the microwave) and then while the bag is still closed, mash them right in the bag.  Then you can cut a corner off the bag and squeeze the banana mash right into the measuring cup.  

Banana Cream Pie

This is the best banana cream pie recipe, and it's easy to make.  I got the recipe from the Our Best Bites cookbook.  Every recipe I've tried from these ladies is really good.   It makes 2 pies: one for you and one for a friend.  

Banana Cream Pie

1 small box of instant vanilla pudding mix

1 cup cold water

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 pint heavy whipping cream

2 graham cracker crusts (or you can use any of the crusts that you purchase: Oreo, Nilla Wafer, etc)

2-4 bananas

1/3 cup powdered sugar

In a medium bowl, combine the pudding mix with the water and milk.  When well mixed, put in the fridge to set up for a few minutes.  While it's chilling- in another bowl, whip the cream until soft peaks form.  Fold  1/2 of the whipped cream into the pudding mixture. Put the filling back into the fridge while you slice the bananas into the bottom of the crusts.  Pour the pudding mixture over the bananas, dividing it between the two pies.  Mix the powdered sugar into the remaining whipped cream and divide it between the two pies and spread over the top.  Place the clear plastic lids over the pies and refrigerate for several hours.  

You can use this same recipe with chocolate pudding, omitting the bananas for  delicious Chocolate Cream Pies: