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by Becki | July 14, 2014 · 11:05 am

Kitchen Sink Banana Bread

A quick recap of last week before we launch into this week’s latest recipe.
Biking to beer is my latest favorite thing to do. This Sorachi saison from Funkwerks tasted so much better after I worked for it!
My pops had a birthday last week! We visited Dancing Pines distillery in Loveland, shared a flight and ended up heading out with their brand new vodka (distilled from grapes!) and cherry liqueur. Goooood stuff!
And we visited the gun store. Looking, no touching after that tasting.
I got funky new pants from Marshall’s and watched my dog go camouflage. He’s kind of cool like that.
I baked balsamic olive oil cookies for the housewarming party I threw on Friday night.
It started pouring right after I snapped this picture. A rousing game of Hedbanz was played until we all hurt from laughing so hard. I left the cleaning for my roommate and was in bed around 12:30am because…
Saturday morning brew! More details about all of this to come, but until then follow Snowbank Brewing on Twitter! I’m running the Twitterverse there during all of our brew days/tappings/random outings.
Leftover cookies and caustic acid. Looking back, I probably should’ve removed the acid-covered nitrile gloves before consuming this…
After a 22 hour brew day, we returned for yet another brew day yesterday. My body was screaming for greens so I whipped up a green monsta before heading back to the shiny tanks.
Which brings me to this bread. I bake things for brew days. That’s just what I do. Pumpkin donuts and face cookies were my Enegren tradition, so I figured it would be a good thing to carry on with my new brewery.
I had leftover pumpkin puree from last week’s pumpkin donuts, and half of an avocado from some guacamole I’d made earlier this week. I figured since they were about to go bad, along with the huge bunch of Costco bananas, I’d just throw them into the bread and see what happened.
Delicious success! And way too much orange in these food styling pics… I think it’s time to go buy some new props…
I threw in some chia seeds as well to make myself feel like this bread was even healthier. So there’s that.

Kitchen Sink Banana Bread

Print recipe

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Serves	8
Prep time	10 minutes
Cook time	45 minutes
Total time	Warning: A non-numeric value encountered in /home/bitesn5/public_html/wp-content/plugins/getmecooking-recipe-template/recipe-template-functions.php on line 2723 Warning: A non-numeric value encountered in /home/bitesn5/public_html/wp-content/plugins/getmecooking-recipe-template/recipe-template-functions.php on line 2723 55 minutes
Meal type	Bread, Breakfast, Dessert

Hearty oil-free banana bread full of random ingredients found around the kitchen. Everything but the kitchen sink.

Ingredients

1 + 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 egg
2 Large bananas (mashed)
1/2 Large avocado (mashed)
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup brown sugar (tightly packed)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons chia seeds

Directions

Step 1
Grease two mini bread loaf pans (or one standard size bread pan) and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Step 2
In a small bowl, mix together the flour, salt and baking soda.
Step 3
In a large bowl, combine the bananas, avocados, pumpkin puree, brown sugar, egg, chia seeds and vanilla and mix until smooth.
Step 4
Add the dry ingredients to the wet and fold in until just combined.
Step 5
Pour the batter in to the loaf pan(s), top with banana slices if desired, and bake for 35-55 minutes. The bread is done when an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Step 6
Allow to cool. Or just devour it straight from the pan like I did.

I’m off to another crazy busy week! Happy Monday!

What else do you bake with browning bananas? I have a ton more I need to use up!

3 Comments

Filed under recipe

Tagged as baking, banana bread, brewing, Craft Beer, healthy banana bread

by Becki | September 22, 2012 · 10:33 pm

Whole Wheat Sugarless Banana Cake Bread

Exciting news all around: I’m back to baking! I’ve missed having the time and the creativity to whip up some deliciousness in the kitchen, so I’m going overboard with it now.

But first: Friday was my last day at Wolf Creek as assistant brewer. While I had a wonderful few months there hauling grain, scrubbing out mash tuns, brewing delicious beer and having some awesome bragging rights, I truly missed being able to connect with those drinking the beer and being able to explain to them why the beer they were tasting had that citrus or banana aroma, or how adding the hops earlier in the boil makes the beer more bitter, or urging them to visit all the local craft breweries that Southern California boasts to expand their horizons and open their minds and steins to the beauty of the beer. That was a ridiculously long sentence.

A few weeks ago I was at Enegren during the middle of the day when a group happened to swing by. There were beer distributors in this group – something I’ve been wanting to do for the past two years. I asked how they got into distribution, they asked me if I was interested and told me they were looking to hire a craft beer specialist and I had an interview the following week. Beginning October 1st I’ll be working with this distribution company and eventually/hopefully bringing the awesomeness of local craft beer to bars and restaurants in SoCal.

NOW back to baking! I’ve recently begun a new workout regime AND eating healthy. I was perusing the interwebs for banana bread that had no sugar, made a recipe that totally flopped, decided to make modifications and came up with this cake bread.

Don’t be scared: There’s no artificial sugar here and as long as you’re not expecting traditional buttery, extremely sweet banana bread, you’ll survive.

Whole Wheat Sugarless Banana Cake Bread

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Serves	6-8
Prep time	20 minutes
Cook time	25 minutes
Total time	Warning: A non-numeric value encountered in /home/bitesn5/public_html/wp-content/plugins/getmecooking-recipe-template/recipe-template-functions.php on line 2723 Warning: A non-numeric value encountered in /home/bitesn5/public_html/wp-content/plugins/getmecooking-recipe-template/recipe-template-functions.php on line 2723 45 minutes
Meal type	Bread, Breakfast

This is NOT your traditional sweet banana bread! It’s mildly sweet with little bursts of sweet sunshine from the rehydrated raisins, dense and chewy.

Ingredients

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup golden raisins
5 browning bananas (mashed)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs

Directions

Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Step 2
Place the golden raisins in a small bowl, cover with hot water and let sit for 10-15 minutes.
Step 3
In a medium bowl add the mashed bananas, vanilla extract and eggs and stir until combined.
Step 4
In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients.
Step 5
Drain the raisins, chop finely and add to the dry ingredients.
Step 6
Add the banana mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
Step 7
Pour the batter into a pre-greased 9×9 inch pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

The riper the bananas, the better. I had a craving for banana bread and just couldn’t wait.
Hydrate ’em!
Drain ’em! Chop ’em!
Mash ’em!
Add ’em!
Stir the raisin bits into the dry ingredients.
Pour the banana mixture on top of the dry ingredients.
Stir until just combined. Do not overstir or you’ll get tough, unfluffy bread cake! That would be disastrous.
Spread into a pre-greased pan. You could probably put this in a loaf pan as well, but the baking time will vary.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let sit for 5-10 minutes, or as long as you can hold out before slicing and diving in face first.
Again, my disclaimer: This is NOT your traditional sweet banana bread! It’s mildly sweet with little bursts of sweet sunshine from the rehydrated raisins, dense and chewy. I’ve been having a square of this with the rest of my healthy breakfast every morning.

Enjoy!

3 Comments

Filed under recipe, Uncategorized

Tagged as healthy banana bread, naturally sweetened, sugar free

by Becki | September 20, 2011 · 7:35 pm

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

This morning I awoke to thick sheets of damp grey marine layer resting outside my windows. I put on a baggy sweatshirt and shivered in delight, images of pumpkin muffins and steaming hot mugs of cider racing through my brain.

Then the sun came out. I said, “Screw it,” closed the blinds, pretended I was still frozen through and set to work making an oatmeal that would satisfy anyone who lusts after autumn the way I do.

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

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Serves	1
Prep time	2 minutes
Cook time	35 minutes
Total time	Warning: A non-numeric value encountered in /home/bitesn5/public_html/wp-content/plugins/getmecooking-recipe-template/recipe-template-functions.php on line 2723 Warning: A non-numeric value encountered in /home/bitesn5/public_html/wp-content/plugins/getmecooking-recipe-template/recipe-template-functions.php on line 2723 37 minutes
Dietary	Vegan
Meal type	Breakfast

Pumpkin pie in a bowl - warm, creamy steel cut oats with the rich flavor of pumpkin pie without the guilt.

Ingredients

1/3 cup steel cut oats
1 + 1/3 cup water
1 heaped tablespoon pumpkin puree
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
1 pinch salt

Directions

Step 1
In a small pot, bring the water and salt to a boil.
Step 2
Add the steel cut oats, stir and let thicken for about three minutes.
Step 3
Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 25-30 minutes.
Step 4
Remove from heat. Add pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice and maple syrup and stir to combine.
Step 5
Serve and add toppings of your choice - I added toasted walnuts and dark chocolate.

If it’s still too warm outside to make this, just shut your blinds, blast the air conditioner and shiver away over the stove top until this deliciousness appears and thaws you from the inside out. Or you could just be patient and wait until it’s actually cold out… I do not have that much self control.

I made just enough for a single serving, but only because we had a scant 1/3 cup of steel cut oats left. You can easily double, triple or octo-ply this to feed yourself and anyone lucky enough to smell the scent of fresh pumpkin pie wafting through the air.

There will be plenty of autumn-inspired recipes coming up these next few months – alcoholic beverages included! Too keep up to date, like me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter!

10 Comments

Filed under recipe

Tagged as adoration in a bowl, autumn, canned pumpkin, fall, Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal, pumpkin pie spice, pumpkin puree, steel cut oats