Baking Banana Bread with BAMBI

Hello!

This evening, BAMBI and I decided that we would spend some time together in the kitchen baking. She has recently liked being able to take muffins to work with her in the morning, and we had baked some of my banana bread last week and it worked out rather well. So well in fact that our nearly 2 year old has taken to requesting "bee-ahh bed peez" which in his lingo means "banana bread please". 

Molasses and white sugar subbing in for brown sugar

One thing that I realized, a little too late, is that we were out of the required brown sugar. However, this DUDE doesn't panic. I knew that I had some molasses up in the cabinet, and armed with the knowledge that brown sugar is simply white sugar with molasses added (or remaining - depending on the quality you purchase) that is what I did. I measured almost all of the required amount of brown sugar, and then filled the rest of the vessel with molasses. Trust me - you would not notice the difference in the final product. The one thing about adding the molasses this way is that if you really like that molasses flavor, then you can just "accidentally" go a little overboard with the molasses here. 

First let's get the recipe out there:

• 2 cups AP flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (one stick) - softened
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs - beaten
• 2-3 mashed overripe bananas

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and if you're using a loaf pan grease it up. In one bowl cream the butter and sugar together. Mix in the eggs and smashed bananas and combine thoroughly. In a separate bowl add the flour, salt, and baking soda and combine. In stages combine the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix together. 

Let me pause here to show you a picture of BAMBI mixing the bread at this point:

Do you see it yet? Wait, let me zoom in a little bit...

Are you with me on this? Not yet? Let's go in one more time...

Yes. She mixed with a spoon...in the stand mixer bowl...with the mixer sitting right there.  Poor ignored mixer. DUDE will find a way to use you soon. I promise you will get to do the pizza dough on Friday. BTW I actually bought the stand mixer FOR HER because we didn't get one as a wedding gift and she was the one who - at that time - liked to do the baking. Figures, right? 

In any case, this is the point at which you want to stop and consider additions. Chopped walnuts go in great, so would any number of other tree nuts, as long as they are small or chopped small. Mini chocolate chips also make a nice addition. BAMBI put some in because she claims to have found some article about how eating chocolate in the mornings helps to stave off the cravings later in the day. I think that's probably a bunch of hooey and she just wanted to find a reason to eat chocolate for breakfast. 

Either way this is when you start moving the batter into the cooking vessel. We placed the batter into lined muffin tins, but mini loaves work well, as does a full loaf. I will say that the more bananas you use the heavier the bread cooks and sets into whatever you cook it in, so if you are using more or larger bananas I would suggest smaller cooking units. 

Let's also discuss cooking times. 

Whole loaves will take about an hour to cook at 350 degrees. I have not cooked mini loaves with this recipe yet, but I would estimate they would take about 25-30 minutes to cook. Muffins take 13-15 minutes to finish. 

Let me just finish up by saying that this recipe is a great way to use up those last few bananas that no one wants to eat because they got too brown, or you can buy the bananas specifically for the purpose of mashing them up and making bread. Either way you go about it, it is definitely worth it. 

Finished muffins cooling off

Pita in your pocket

So recently I put together a nice light evening meal, but I'm not really sure what to call it. I was calling it "tapas" but it's not really what this was. It definitely had a theme going with it - Mediterranean flavors going on throughout - but other than that I'm not really sure what to call it. Other than delicious. I made some fresh hummus, which the boys LOVED by the way. I don't think I could have forced them to eat chickpeas by themselves, but grind them up into hummus and they were attacking their bowl with nothing but a spoon. Definite Dad dinner win on that one. Alongside the hummus we had some crudite (celery, peppers, carrots, apples) some homemade pickles, two kinds of olives, some jasmine rice, and a really nice cucumber salad that was a leftover from a dinner out. To hold all of this together I had decided to make some homemade pita bread. I searched around for a decent recipe and found one in the cooking section of New York Times' website, which can be found HERE.

I was expecting a slightly more complex dough, but it was simple enough. It reminded me of a pizza dough, though it was a little drier and had less salt and sugar than my pizza dough does. That being said, the procedure was way more complex, but definitely worth it. I ended up using my round baking stone to cook them in the oven - which worked out pretty well. The oven was hot and there was a lot of in and out, so if you're thinking of doing this on a hot summer afternoon I would suggest that you either plan to do it in the morning or the night before.

 As for creating perfectly round pitas with fantastic pockets I didn't do particularly well there either, but I really wasn't too upset about it. I kind of liked that they were a little misshapen - really gave them a homemade feeling, you know? And - let's face it - the taste and smell are the ultimate test of any food, and these passed with flying colors. Tender warm pita bread fresh from the oven and covered in hummus or carrying a bite of cucumber salad to my mouth was amazing. The only thing I will say is that I tried to follow the recipe as exactly as I was able to. It really was a lot of work to make the rounds, bake them off, and then make the next one, but if you are really wanting to get that fresh pita taste I would absolutely recommend this. My guess is that with this being the first time I did this it was a little difficult for me to get into any kind of rhythm since I was constantly looking at the directions and second-guessing myself. If I make these again, I will write another post to let you know how Pita 2 goes.

Peek-a-boo, I see you!

Speaking of hummus and all those other goodies, what is your favorite thing to eat with pita bread? Do you prefer a curry, or are you more of a falafel and salad kind of person? Let me know in the comments below or on Facebook!

Well this is bananas

 If your house is anything like mine, your kids go through phases. For a while, my 1-year old seemed to want to eat nothing but bananas. Now he has pulled back off of that and seems to want yogurt all the time. I try to offer variety, and he tends to be pretty OK about balancing his eating over the course of a week or so, but he always seems to have a "food of the week" that he wants all the time.

So this is what I end up with after the banana phase: several overripe bananas that are no good for eating anymore, but have not yet gone moldy. Not much for eating any more, so what do we do with them? we certainly could just toss them into the compost heap, but that seems like such a waste. The better thing to do with them is to make banana bread. 

I have found a great recipe for banana bread on www.allrecipes.com, and it is most definitely a keeper. Not too much added sweetness - since the bananas have already concentrated their sugars it is hardly needed - and definitely easy to put together. You can find the recipe here if you are interested. Man did the house smell fantastic while this was cooking, and it seems like if you had something you wanted to add it would be easy enough. I dropped in some cinnamon and nutmeg, but if you wanted to add some chopped walnuts or almonds it should be nice and easy too. If you like to add raisins, that would probably be easy enough as well - but I know not everyone likes to bake or eat raisins. 

Completed banana bread

What is your favorite thing to do with leftovers? Looking for suggestions or ideas and not necessarily just bananas Let me know in he comments below or in Facebook!

A case of mistaken identity

My wife recently made another request of me. I don't mind these requests, because they usually end up with me making something delicious that I will enjoy too. The other day she asked if I would make zucchini bread so that she could take some with her to work as a breakfast, and I was happy to agree.

As I was baking these muffins this morning, my 6-year old yelled downstairs "I smell cookies baking!" I clarified what they were, and offered him one once they were cool. He declined - probably due to the inclusion of a vegetable in the mixture. Actually, these delights are probably closer to the cookies he smelled than the vegetable he resists eating. Perhaps his nose will overrule his brain and he will end up trying one. One can hope.

Zucchini bread muffins

Recipe for zucchini bread:

• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 2 cups grated zucchini (about 2 large zucchini)
• 1 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 cups AP flour
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg

mise en place for the zucchini bread

Start by whisking the eggs in a large bowl, then add in the oil, sugar, vanilla, and zucchini. Make sure the zucchini is pressed down into whatever you are using to measure it, so that you can be sure to maximize the amount of the vegetable you are able to get into the mix. You don't have to really pack it in, but tamp it down to make sure you have the correct amount.

Shredded zucchini in mixing bowl

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt by mixing together with a whisk or fork until the ingredients are evenly mixed. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 4 installments, mixing well between each. This way you can make sure that the batter is evenly mixed and will bake up properly. 

Finished zucchini bread batter

Now you have a decision to make: what size are these finished treats going to be? With this recipe you have multiple options:

1. Two regular loaves
2. Six mini loaves
3. Twenty-four regular muffins

The awesome thing is that you are able to pick and choose a little bit. For example, today I chose to make 12 regular muffins and 3 mini-loaves. I could have chosen one regular loaf and 3 mini loaves, or one loaf and 12 muffins. All are reasonable options. I just felt like this choice have me the greatest flexibility on what to do with the final products. With the oven set at 350 degrees, the baking time is about 18 minutes for muffins, 25 minutes for mini-loaves, and about 35 minutes for a full loaf. 

So if you are looking to make some tasty breakfast - or any time treats really - give these beauties a try. I just hope I leave enough of them for my wife to take with her tomorrow...