Banana Smoothie

My daughter loves anything banana flavored so it only makes sense that her favorite smoothie would be chalked full of banana flavor.  Plus it's so easy to make, she can throw it together herself.

 

Banana Smoothie

Yield: 16 oz. serving

1 Large Ripe Banana (or 2 small bananas)
1 Cup Crushed Ice
8 oz. Silk Original Almond Milk

 

Instructions:

1. In a blender, combine banana, ice and almond milk until smooth.

2. Pour into a glass, sip and enjoy!

Sometimes it's so frosty & chilly, fuzzy earmuffs are necessary.  

Sweet Potato Banana Crumble Casserole

 
Let's face it...unless you live in the South, the only time that most of us think about making anything with sweet potatoes, or yams, is during the holidays. Well not anymore! I must admit that I have given sweet potatoes a fair shot every year...to no avail. Sweet potatoes/yams + me = unhappy tastebuds. Until now! This dish is so good that it could be served for breakfast, a side for dinner or a dessert. I LOVE this casserole! Finally, sweet potatoes and I have a relationship. A wonderful love affair...even my little Grace loves this (minus the crumble, go figure). 

There is very little that happens in the beginning...Preheat the oven at 375°F. Then I take 3 medium yams, rinse them off and pat them dry. Place the yams on a cookie sheet.

Next a bit of stabbing is required. I grab my modest little table fork and stab the front & back of each yam several times. Note to self: Do Not forget to stab yams...they have a very serious temper. For if you fail to do so, they will EXPLODE! Apparently they do not like being warmed at all.

Into the oven they go...for 20 minutes.

Next we have our bananas...3 large ones to be exact.

I remembered 5 minutes into the roasting that there was a sticker on my bananas.

Reminder: Remove sticker from banana before roasting.
After the yams have cooked for 20 minutes, I add my bananas for 15 minutes of roasting. 

  

After 15 minutes, pull out the bananas. This is when Grace & Rose scrunch up their faces and say "Ewww...Yucky bananas Mama!" And when I spend the next 10 minutes trying to convince them that this is when the bananas are sweet like candy.

The yams still have another 25-30 minutes of roasting, so I allow the bananas to cool a bit. Once they are cool enough to handle, I go ahead and put them in my mixing bowl and whip them for about 10-15 seconds. Just enough to break them down a little before the yams come out and join the party.

Once the yams have finished roasting (after I can insert a fork smoothly into the center of the yam without any resistance), I let them cool for about 10 minutes. Just enough that I can peel away the skin without my fingers feeling on fire.

Toss the yams into the mixing bowl with the bananas and let the whipping commence for about 30 seconds.

Stand back...if the hot mixture doesn't get you, the steam just might. You could do it a bit longer, but I like having a little texture to the dish...not just a smooth paste.

Grab my 2 quart baking dish and start pouring in the banana yam mixture. It smells so good that I have to take a little taste right then...Mmmmm.

 

Smooth it out...although I don't really need to at this time, I still do just because it looks better.

The zester comes out and I zest 1/2 of a navel orange. This step could be skipped if you aren't a fan of orange zest. I've made it with and without and it's phenomenal either way, but I'm just partial to a little bit of the zest. Stir it in...why I don't whisk it in the mixer...I don't know. I just don't. But you Can. :) Then I smooth it all out again. Now for the topping...my crumble. Really easy to do...can I even stress, really easy.

Take a 1/2 cup of all purpose flour and pour it into a medium mixing bowl.

Add a 3/4 cup of light brown sugar.

I take my cold butter, cube it and add it to the flour & sugar. Next a bit of spice...1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon...

1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg (freshly grated is even better)...

Now my hands get to get into the mix. I crumble the mixture of sugar, flour and spice with the butter until it's well incorporated and chunky. (For extra crunch you could add 1/4 cup chopped pecans!)

Then I just pour the crumble mixture evenly over the yam & banana mash.

Caramelized Topping (1 Tablespoon more butter)

Crunchy Crumble Topping

Into the oven it goes for another 20-25 minutes. Now, if you have a little bit too much butter in the topping (about a tablespoon more) it will look exactly like this batch...more caramelized than crunchy on top.

Caramelized Topping

Crunchy Crumble Topping

Once everything is finished, and the crumble topping is toasted and crunchy on top, I take this heavenly casserole out of the oven and let it set for 10-15 minutes.

Time to dig in!!! My mouth is in heaven...this is finally a side dish of sweet potatoes/yams that I can enjoy eating.
 

If you are in need of a dessert fix, then I highly recommend that you try a dab of Dryers Yogurt Blends Tart Honey frozen yogurt...OH MY GOODNESS!!! You've got to try this. Happy Eating!

Peanut Butter Banana Bagels

My little Grace LOVES bagels...anything that is sweet or cheesy and she's a happy little girl. Typically her bagel half gets topped with just a little butter and some cream cheese...but one morning things took a turn. A good turn.

Grace loves to help make her bagels in the morning, and other than any knifing skills that may be needed, I happily encourage her to "cook".

View complete posting: Peanut Butter Banana Bagels

Banana Nutty Bread

This is one of my favorite vices...and my mother's as well. We always laugh about how "addictive" it seems to be to our sweet-tooth. But at least it's filled with the goodness of bananas and walnuts! There is that little piece of positive news that I can pull out to justify my love of banana nut bread.

Let us begin, shall we? Start by preheating your oven to 325°F.
Prepare a 9x5x3 loaf pan with Butter (or Pam Spray for Baking) . I tend to choose the Pam Spray For Baking since it has flour in it to allow for an easier release. Grab a large bowl and hand mixer (or your trusty KitchenAid standing mixer!) and a rubber/silicon spatula. (We must make sure that ingredients don't just get stuck to the side, never really joining the party.)
Go ahead, grab your large bowl. Let's get started by adding our 1 cup of sugar and 8 tablespoons of butter to our empty vessel.
Cream sugar and butter together in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
Now, we need to get our eggs to join the party. Add 2 eggs, one by one, beating well after each addition to make sure they are well incorporated.
Add 3 beautifully ripe bananas to sugar, butter & egg mixture. Depending on the ripeness of your bananas, you may want to mash the bananas with a fork in a separate bowl before adding to the mixture. If you are like me and wait until you have dark brown to black bananas, then no mashing is necessary. If not, I would suggest mashing them to allow for a creamier texture. (In this instance, my 3 year-old insisted that Mommy only use one "yucky" black banana and two "pretty" yellow ones)

Ahhh...the smell of sweet bananas! How I love it! The batter will start becoming very creamy (or perhaps a bit watery in appearance if you choose to use overly ripe bananas as I do). This is the beginning of something very good.
And now it's time to get to the spice of it all...1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg. If you have fresh nutmeg, this is the time to use it!
Right about now you will be enjoying the very welcoming aroma of the bananas mixed with the cinnamon and nutmeg. But oh no...we aren't done yet...

Here is where things could get really messy. It's time to add our 2 cups of all-purpose flour. The least catastrophic way that I have found of adding flour to my mix...1/4-1/2 cup at a time.
And then I do a little bit of folding with my spatula. Before turning on the mixer...and viola! No flying flour all over my kitchen!
Then I just repeat the process until all of the flour is incorporated.
Next we add our teaspoon of baking soda. Blend in until well incorporated.
Then a little bit, or 1 teaspoon, of baking powder. This is essential! Should you forget the baking soda & baking powder, there will be a huge hunk of not so edible bread...which would be a complete shame after all this effort.

Take a little time to scrape the sides of your bowl. Just to be sure that there isn't anything missing from the party. Then blend away for about 45-60 seconds, just to incorporate anything that needed a little help.
And now we add our 1 tablespoon of milk. If you use anything other than whole milk, then that's your choice, but there is just something going on with the whole milk that just works with this bread so nicely.
Once again, I would highly recommend that you fold in some of the milk before blending. Then have at it! (thus sparing your shirt, counter, favorite apron, etc., from splatterdom)
Now add in the 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Pure vanilla extract brings out the best flavor! I highly recommend splurging when it comes time for baking. Turn on the blender for just 10 seconds to mix in our vanilla goodness.
Just a little bit of salt really helps bring out the sweetness of the bananas. So let's toss in our 1 teaspoon of sea salt. Blend briefly (10 seconds) just to incorporate the salt.
And now, the time has come to add our partner in crime...the walnuts! So grab that 1 cup of chopped walnuts and toss them into the batter. Blend for just a few seconds (5-10 seconds) so that the walnuts are distributed nicely in the batter. Here is the point where there is a choice to be made...if you do not like walnuts, then I would suggest using some chopped pecans instead. OR just start a second batter and have one with walnuts and one with pecans! How can you say no to that suggestion?!
Time to grab the prepared loaf pan and start pouring in our batter.
Here we are...the moment just before placing all of our hard work into our toasty hot oven. Take a final look and ask yourself this question: Should I place some nuts on top? or not? The choice is up to you. (If I add them on top, then my little kiddles won't touch it.)
Goodbye sweet promise of banana nutty goodness! And now we wait as everything magical happens inside our 325°F oven...for the next 60-70 minutes. (That's 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes for those with timers that are not accommodating)
Ahhhh!!!! Can you smell that wonderful aroma?! Be sure to test this lovely golden brown loaf before pulling it from the oven. When you have inserted a toothpick into the center of the loaf, and it comes out clean, then you can celebrate!
Let the banana bread stand for approx. 10 minutes, tempting you to jump the gun and start slicing. Then carefully remove from the loaf pan, placing it onto a cooling rack for another 15 minutes. Once cooled, go ahead and move it to a cutting board...pick up your serrated knife and slice yourself a much deserved slice of this comfy, cozy slice of heaven. Enjoy!

Banana Nutty Bread
Ingredients:
1 Cup Sugar
8 Tbsp. Butter (room temperature)
2 Large Eggs
3 Ripe Bananas
1 Tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1/4 Tsp. Ground Nutmeg (freshly ground is best)
2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 Tsp. Baking Soda
1 Tsp. Baking Powder
1 Tbsp. Milk
1/4 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 Tsp. Sea Salt
1 Cup Chopped Walnuts

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325°F. Prepare a 9x5x3 loaf pan with Butter (or Pam Spray for Baking).

Cream sugar and butter together in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one by one, beating well after each addition to make sure they are well incorporated. Add bananas to sugar, butter & egg mixture. Depending on the ripeness of your bananas, you may want to mash the bananas with a fork in a separate bowl before adding to the mixture, thus creating a creamier texture.

Mix in cinnamon and nutmeg slowly. Add flour slowly. I suggest adding it in 1/2 cup increments. (I like to fold the dry ingredients into the mixture with a spatula first to avoid airborn puffs and splatter) Next add baking soda. Add baking powder.

Fold in milk before blending...again, I fold therefore I am not covered in splatter. Add vanilla extract. Pure vanilla extract brings out the best flavor! I highly recommend splurging when it comes time for baking. Now it's time for just a bit of sea salt to bring out the sweetness of our bananas.

Finally but not least, we add our walnuts. Now if you aren't a big fan of these crunchy guys, then by all means side-step this step OR replace them with pecans. Pecans & bananas are just too perfect together! But for the sake of tradition, we are calling for walnuts.

Pour your batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 60-70 minutes. When your loaf looks beautifully browned and a toothpick can be inserted into the middle and removed clean...You are ready to pull that goodness out of the oven! Let the banana bread stand for approx. 10 minutes, tempting you to jump the gun and start slicing. Then carefully remove from the loaf pan, placing it onto a cooling rack for another 15 minutes. If you give into temptation 10 minutes into the cooling process...no one will blame you. Slice and enjoy!