Banana Bread

One of my favorite things about Fall and winter is that I can bake up a storm in my kitchen without making my house unbearable to be in. What better way to celebrate this than whip up some super yummy banana bread? This is a super easy recipe and makes a great addition to breakfasts at the holidays or any time of year, and who doesn't appreciate the gift of baked goods?

This recipe yields one large loaf pan of bread, or 2 smaller loaves (I used 2 of the aluminum loaf pans you can buy in 3 packs at the grocery store, they are great for gifting to people because you don't have to worry about asking for them back).

To make this Banana Bread you will need:

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
2 overripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp. milk
2 eggs

I start by pre heating my oven to 350 degrees and mixing all of my wet ingredients together in one bowl, and all my dry ingredients in another bowl. Mixing them both well separately ensures that everything is evenly distributed without over mixing the final batter. For the dry ingredients I often use a whisk for the mixing as I find it does a great job of evenly distributing my dry ingredients quickly, but a spoon will work just fine.

Next, combine the wet and dry ingredients together and mix until everything has come together, try not to overmix, but you don't want dry clumps in your batter either!

Pour the batter into greased bread pans, filled about half way each (you can fill them up to as much as 3/4 full, but this bread does rise a very fair amount when baking). Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes for 2 loaves, or 60 minutes for one larger loaf. If you prefer to try this as muffins, I would check them after 20 minutes or so.

Set on a rack to cool and serve warm with or without any toppings you choose. The husband and I ate a whole pan in an afternoon, but we're kinda shameful that way ;)

Enjoy!

Friday Food Craft: Matt's Banana Breakfast Shakes

Hey everybody! Welcome back for another Friday food craft. This week, I am sharing my husband's recipe for a super yummy breakfast shake. There are only 3 ingredients and it's ready in about a minute! I will also tell you, that aside from breakfast, it makes a great shake any time of day.

You will need:

A blender
1 cup milk
1/2 large banana, frozen
2 heaping scoops vanilla protein powder*


Place your protein powder and milk in your blender and pulse together for a few seconds with your blender covered tightly (we don't want to make any messes). Then, break up your half banana into 2 or three pieces, add it to the mix and blend until smooth, about 1 minute. Pour into your favorite drinking glass and enjoy.

*The hus is a personal trainer, if you do not need additional protein in your diet, you can substitute additional frozen fruit, or a vanilla breakfast shake powder like Carnation instant breakfast to give you more vitamins in your shake. The vanilla does make it taste a little extra yummy, so if you just go with more fruit, I might add a 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

When freezing my bananas, I peel them first and place them in a freezer bag, then place them in the freezer at least overnight before use to make sure they are completely frozen.



We have also done variations of this where a handful of fresh blueberries were added, it's extra yummy and delicious, so feel free to add your favorite additional fruit either fresh or frozen. The banana is pretty essential for me though, as frozen bananas have a great creamy texture, like ice cream, that makes me feel like I am having dessert for breakfast. It's also great if you love the flavor of banana but don't like the texture (like my husband) now he gets to enjoy a fruit he usually avoids.