Easy Banana Bread

I am big on making things from scratch.  It saves money, I know what goes into it and nothing tastes better than homemade.  But, as the title of this blog points out, I'm also pressed for time and sometimes dragging all of the ingredients out (if I even have them) and then cleaning it all up is a PITA.  Have you ever looked at the ingredients in a box of banana bread?  There are no bananas in many of them.  Krusteaz does have some in its ingredient list, but they are pretty far down on the list.  As a general rule though I like Krusteaz brand products and looking at the label on the Banana Nut muffin mix it's pretty good.  Sure, it has enriched flour but... I'd be using that anyway.  It also has wheat and barley flour as well as ground flax seed and that's a plus.

So, back to making it...




YUM.

What you'll need.

1 box of Krusteaz Banana Nut muffin mix.
3 eggs
1/4 cup of vegetable oil (you could probably skip this depending on if you used more banana or wanted to sub applesauce, I like the richness it adds though)
4 (around 16 ounces mashed if you want to measure) very ripe bananas mashed up.
1/4 cup of chopped walnuts (optional add, but I like a little more)

Directions:
Mix it all together in a bowl (adding the walnuts at the very end).  Bake according to the box directions.

Voila.  Banana bread, with real bananas.  The awesome thing about boxed mixes like this is that they are very forgiving, and that's saying a lot when it comes to baking.    You could alter this recipe a lot to suit your tastes.  Less banana, butter instead of oil, applesauce instead of oil, no nuts, use 1 tablespoon flax seed and 3 tablespoons water to replace an egg...    It's a lot like these pumpkin muffins using cake mix.

And by the way - if you ever find yourself with very overripe bananas but don't have the time to bake at that very moment, just toss them in a zip-loc bag in the freezer.  When you are ready to make the bread let them sit on the counter for a few hours and you'll be ready to mash them up.

Happy Baking!

Bisquick Mix

Save money and make your own bisquick mix! I love this because I never use a full box of bisquick mix before I need to toss it.

• 4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup shortening

Combine dry ingredients in a food processor and pulse a few times to mix. Add shortening and pulse until it is combined with the dry ingredients.

Use as you would regular Bisquick mix! Check out Betty Crocker's website for tons of recipes.

Pumpkin Banana Bread

This is moist and delicious AND low fat :)

Ingredients

• 3-4 very ripe bananas
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree

Mash banana's in a bowl. Beat the egg and add to banana mixture, mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake at 325 degrees for 50-60 minutes.

If you just want regular pumpkin bread use 3 tablespoons of applesauce + 2 tablespoons melted butter in place of the pumpkin puree.

Sweet Cornbread

I made this cornbread to go with my Colorado Chili and I also made 2 loafs of Cuban Bread because I don't usually like cornbread too well but my husband does. I liked this cornbread :)

Ingredients

* 1 cup sugar
* 1/4 cup honey
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 cup butter (softened)
* 1 cup milk
* 1 cup water
* 2 cups cornmeal
* 2 cups flour
* 1 tablespoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Mix sugar, butter, eggs, milk, honey and water together in a large bowl.

Mix dry ingredients together in a separate bowl: cornmeal, flour,baking powder, and salt and then add wet ingredients while stirring. Pour into a greased 9x13 baking pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Pumpkin Bread

I know it's not really the right season for pumpkin bread but I always have it in my house and use it quite frequently in things like grilled cheese and quesadillas to sneak a veggie in my son. I had an open can in my fridge I needed to use up as well as some pureed squash and sweet potato so I decided to make bread. I found 2 or 3 recipes online that looked good and merged and modified to make my own recipe.

• 2 cups canned pumpkin
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup pureed sweet potato or pureed squash. You can just put in another 1/2 cup oil instead, or more pumpkin. Or, even applesauce will work.
  
• 4 eggs
• 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
  
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Heat oven to 350. In a large mixing bowl, combine pumpkin, sugar, water, vegetable oil, sweet potato puree and eggs. Beat until well mixed. Measure the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, nutmeg and cloves into a separate bowl and stir until combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture, beating until smooth. Grease two 9 x 5 inch loaf pans and dust with flour. Evenly divide the batter between the two pans. Or you can make muffins. Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. For muffins, bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cool for 10-15 minutes, then remove from pans by inverting onto a rack and tapping the bottoms. Slice and serve plain, buttered, or with cream cheese.

Banana Bread

It isn't often that I find a recipe that I don't alter, but this is a GREAT banana bread recipe. I found it here.

Ingredients

* 2/3 cup oil
* 4 large eggs
* 2 cups mashed ripe bananas
* 2 cups flour
* 2 cups sugar
* 1 (3 1/2 ounce) box French vanilla instant pudding
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Mix oil, eggs and mashed bananas.

Combine remaining ingredients and add to banana mixture.

Now here comes the tricky part... I made this in a loaf pan but ended up cooking it for a good 1/2 hour beyond the cooking time stated to get the middle to cook through. I'd suggest using this batter to make muffins so you don't have that problem, or mini loafs.

Grease your loaf pans and fill with batter. For mini loafs bake about 45 minutes to an hour. Muffins I'd set the timer at 25 minutes or so and check them periodically until the tops start to brown a bit and you can insert a toothpick and have it come out clean.

The next time I make this, and there WILL be a next time I plan on adding 1/2 a cup of chopped walnuts. Another good addition would be chocolate chips. You could even play around with the flavor of pudding you use. This is a very good banana bread though, very moist.

Pita Bread

I adapted this recipe from this one on Allrecipes. Well, adapted may not be the right word. I changed the first step because I don't have a bread maker, lol. It is really easy, and really good! My pita bread didn't fluff up quite enough so I could open them, but that's because I handled it too much. I didn't read the part about setting the rolled out pita's on a lightly floured surface and they stuck to my counter, whoops! They still turned out pretty good though! And, they tasted really yummy :)

Sorry, not the best photo :)

• 1 1/8 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

DIRECTIONS

1. Dissolve yeast in a small amount of the warm water and allow to grow for about 10 minutes. Then, place all ingredients in a bowl and combine. Knead for about 5 minutes or so and then leave it to rise until doubled in size (about an hour)
   
2. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Gently roll and stretch dough into a 12 inch rope. With a sharp knife, divide dough into 8 pieces. Roll each into a smooth ball. With a rolling pin, roll each ball into a 6 to 7 inch circle. Set on a lightly floured surface, cover with a towel. Let pitas rise about 30 minutes until slightly puffy.
3. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C). Place 2 or 3 pitas on a wire cake rack. Place cake rack directly on oven rack. Bake pitas 4 to 5 minutes until puffed and tops begin to brown. Remove from oven and immediately place pitas in a sealed brown paper bag or cover them with a damp kitchen towel until soft. Once pitas a softened, either cut in half or split top edge for half or whole pitas. They can be stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for 1 or 2 months.

Honey Wheat Bread

It's a baking day for me! The Cuban bread I made last week was my very first attempt at home baked bread. Today, I decided to take a basic white bread recipe from back of the flour bag and come up with my own honey wheat bread. This bread is really yummy, earthy and full of flavor and makes excellent toast. Proof that great things can come from a VERY mediocre kitchen, LOL! I do not have a stand mixer or a bread maker and this bread was so easy to do.

Honey Wheat Bread

2 1/2 cups water, warm (105 - 115F)
2 1/2 tsp (1 package or .25oz) active dry yeast
1 tbsp sugar
3 cups all purpose flour
3 to 4 cups whole wheat flour
1 tbsp salt
3 tbsp honey
4 tbsp ground flax seed meal (you could use wheat germ too, I love the nutty flavor of flax seed though)
4 tbsp butter, very soft

Combine 1/2 cup of the water with the yeast and sugar in a large bowl and let stand until foamy - about 10 minutes.

Add the remaining water, 3 cups of white flour, 2 cups of whole wheat flour, salt, honey and flax seed meal to the yeast mixture. Mix with a wooden spoon (or in a mixer), adding the remaining whole wheat flour a few tablespoons at a time, until dough pulls cleanly away from the sides of the bowl. Knead in butter until dough is smooth and not sticky. You can add flour, a tablespoon at a time, if the dough is still sticky after kneading the butter in.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and continue kneading for an additional minute or two, until it is smooth and elastic. Shape dough into a ball and place in a large, lightly oiled bowl to rise until doubled, about 1- 1 1/2 hours. I usually turn a back burner on low for a bit and set the bowel next to the burner. Do not put it on the burner, it's too hot. If you have laundry to do a good spot to let the dough rise is on top of a dryer.

Butter two 8x4 inch loaf pans and set aside. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and divide in two equal portions. Working with one piece at a time, roll the dough out into a 9 inch wide x 12 inch tall rectangle, with the short side towards you. Fold one third of the dough down, then fold it down again. Pinch the bottom seam to seal. Your rectangle should be approximately 9x4 now. Turn the seam side up. Fold each end over about 1/2 inch, tuck in any loose ends and pinch to seal. Place the loaf seam side down into a greased 8x4 inch loaf pan.

Cover loaf pans lightly with oiled plastic wrap and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 45-60 minutes. Dough will rise above the top of the pan.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375F.

Place loaves in oven and bake for 36-40 minutes. The loaves will be golden and will sound hollow when tapped on the bottom when they are done. You can also insert an instant-read thermometer into the bottom of the loaf. It will read 200F when the loaves are done.

Remove loaves from pans immediately and let cool completely on a wire rack(2-3 hours) before slicing.

Makes 2 loaves

Soft Baked Pretzels

Soft Baked Pretzels :)

I made these while Dillon napped today, and then he tested them out for me :) YUM

I found the recipe on the blog "Fresh From Cate's Kitchen", you can find many other great recipes on her site as well, I know I have!

1 cup milk, scalded and cooled to lukewarm

1 envelope active dry yeast

1 tbsp honey

1 cup bread flour

1 1/4 to 2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
2 cups water

2 T baking soda

1 egg yolk

2 tsp milk

kosher salt

Place the scalded milk in a large bowel, and stir the yeast in until dissolved.

Add the honey and one bread flour, and stir until smooth.

Sprinkle on the salt, add the butter, and stir well to incorporate.

Add 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour, and knead dough for about 5 minutes, until dough is smooth. Add a little more flour if the dough is too sticky.

Transfer to a clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1/2 hour.

Preheat the oven to 450 F.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and separate into 8 equal balls.

Roll each piece out into a long skinny rope, 24-30" long. Form into a typical pretzel shape.

Let the pretzels rise for about 10 minutes under a clean kitchen towel while you boil 1 cup of water with the baking soda in a small saucepan (make sure one pretzel at a time will fit in the pan!)

Mix together the egg yolk and milk.

Carefully lift a pretzel with a spatula and place in the boiling water.

After 20 seconds, remove and shake off the water. Place on a Silpat or parchment-lined baking sheet and repeat with the remaining pretzels.

Brush the egg yolk-milk mixture over the pretzels, then sprinkle with kosher salt.

Bake for about 12 minutes, or until deeply golden brown, then cool on a wire rack.

Serve to toddler.

What? A pretzel for a snack?!

Let's try this out....

What the heck! That is SALTY!

Hmm, I guess maybe I kinda like it!

There you go, a 15 month olds seal of approval :)

Cuban Bread

MMMM, nothing like homemade bread! Even better when it takes about an hour, start to finish!

I found this wonderful recipe on Fun Foods on a Budget, a blog I happened upon today and it was WONDERFUL. I wasn't feeling making cornbread, so this was a wonderful addition to the Chili that was waiting for me in the crock pot when I got home.

5-6 cups all-purpose flour (you can substitute whole wheat flour for 1 or 2 cups)
1 tbsp. yeast
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. salt
2 cups hot water (120-130 degrees)
1 tbsp sesame or poppy seeds (optional)

Mix 4 cups of the flour with the yeast, sugar and salt. Pour in hot water and beat 100 strokes, or 3 minutes with a mixer. Stir in the remaining flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Knead 8 minutes. Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover with a damp towel. Let rise 15 minute (can you believe that?! 15 minutes!). Punch down and shape into two round loaves. Place on a baking sheet and cut an X or a few slashes 1/2 inch deep on top with a sharp knife. If desired, brush with water and sprinkle with seeds.

Place on the middle shelf of a cold oven. Place a cake pan of hot water on the lowest shelf. Heat the oven to 400 degrees and bake 40 to 50 minutes until deep golden brown.

Freshly baked bread with homemade Chili on a cold day, what could be better? How about a clear picture of said Chili? LOL I guess I'll have to leave the food photography to the pros :)