5 Ingredient 5 Step 5 Minute Banana Breakfast or Dessert

These banana creations are exactly what you need to be having this summer. Chances are you have most of the ingredients already. Its only 5 ingredients and 5 steps. Super easy.

Its been averaging 109-115 degrees lately here in southern Arizona. Football season is starting very soon and all I can think about is trying to stay cool and calm and get through the last bit of summer. Last September was awesome 90-100 degree bbq weather. I loved every minute of it. But its not September yet so I need to cool my jets and eat another one of these yummy pintrest banana creations. Try one or five. I promise you'll like it. 

Also love this little creation for its flexibility. You can use your kiddos favorite flavor of yogurt, use nuts instead of granola, dip and cover the bananas in almond butter, peanut butter, or dip in any kind of chocolate for a fun easy kid friendly dessert. AND unlike all those ice cream type desserts your banana won't melt all over your floor!  

Long live bananas :) 

                        Recipe's author is  Chocolate Covered Katie - a healthy desert blog. 

This recipe makes 4 servings
Takes 5 minutes to prep + minimum of 4 hrs of freezing time on parchment lined cookie sheet for less mess 

Ingredients

2 bananas, cut in half

1/4 cup plain organic yogurt 

1 handful granola your choice, you want it small chunks (large ones tended to fall off) if you have clusters just hit them in a plastic bag with a rolling pin or unopened can of food 

small handful of your favorite candy, pieces of chocolate, or small chocolate chips

4 popsicle sticks (this took me forever to find... don't know why the regular grocery stores didn't carry it... check micheals or another craft store if you need them)

directions 

Thanks for stopping by!
Stephanie

Whole Grain Mixed Berry Bread

Happy Valentines Day!!

I was thinking since it is v-day, I should make something red or pink. Enter berry pink-ish, red-ish flavorful bread. It's better than those sugar cookies that my hubby appeared with while he was "helping" me shop. Hahaha. Okay grocery shopping isn't his thing. I know. I should be thinking sweet romantic thoughts about my spouse. But after 9 valentines days, the jig is up. He can buy me all the flowers he wants. But I know hes still the guy who is going make my life a bit harder, a bit messier, but ALOT more fun. My husband is way more adventurous than I am. Without him I would stay inside with my magazines, books, and wouldn't ever have dreamed I could move to someplace beautiful and warm like California or even attempt the heat of Arizona. Hes the guy who sees a mountain and starts planning a babysitter so we can go hiking. He is one of a kind. Happy v-day to my music loving, bible reading, amazing father, attentive husband, hard working, fast food junkie, somewhat old ( I have to say that he just turned 30 and is still freaked out about it), poetry reading, computer savvy, and romantic at heart husband.  

Okay done with the mushy stuff on to the food.... Yay! Try this you'll love it. It tastes great & looks pretty too.  Note: It can be made in advance (up to 4 days). 

Recipe comes from page 197 Whole Wheat Mixed Berry Bread from the excellent cookbook Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour*

1 cup 100% wheat flour*

1 packet  of yeast  3/4 Tbs if using a jar

1/2 Tbs salt, kosher

1/8 cup vital wheat gluten

1 1/8 cup lukewarm water

1/8 cup of honey

1 1/2 cup of mixed frozen berries, defrosted with their juices ( I used organic)

Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 Tbs water)

Raw sugar for sprinkling

Note: The original recipe called for 2 cups of whole wheat white flour and 2 cups of all purpose flour. I didn't have whole wheat white and only had 1 cup of whole wheat.

Worked well.... actually.  The whole wheat didn't make it feel to heavy as sometimes it can do. That was the the only change I made to the recipe besides halving it. 

Directions:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a very large 2.5 qt bowl

2. Mix together the water, honey, berries & their juices in a smaller bowl

3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients with a large spoon

4. Cover the large bowl with a towel and let it rest at room temperature for 2 hours

5. Dough can be baked at this point or stored in a covered but not airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. 

6. If baking: Grease a loaf pan with butter, stretch the ball, add a bit of flour if needed to prevent sticking to your hands, place it in the loaf pan and let it rest one more time loosely covered with plastic wrap for 60 minutes

7. If you, like me, refrigerated your dough, Pull it out of the fridge and continue with step 6 increasing the resting time to 1 hr and 45 minutes. 

8. Just before the resting time is complete. Preheat the oven to 375. Just before baking, paint some egg wash on the top of the loaf. Sprinkle with raw sugar. Bake it for 45-50 minutes. Should be richly brown and firm and sound hallow when tapping it. 

9. It it cool for a few minutes minutes then remove it from the pan using a knife along the sides to make sure it will have a smooth removal. Let it cool a few more minutes before slicing but serve while its still warm. 

My family liked a combination of butter and honey spread on theirs to increase the sweetness. I liked the subtle sweet taste of the berries so I only put butter on mine. Was delicious! 

Makes 1 loaf serves 4-6 people - one or two slices each.

May your day be filled with love, all things pink and red, and all things sweet :) 

Happy valentines day from my Az kitchen to yours!

Turkish Caramelized Pear Butter Cinnamon Rolls: Treat Your Friends to an Exotic Brunch

Confession: This recipe was an accident. I had some leftover dough that I didn't know what to do with.... I could've just easily made another loaf of bread like last time. Actually my husband asked for more bread for breakfast, and was shocked that we had eaten the entire loaf a few days before. But I wanted to do something different.

Confession part 2: This was my first time making fruit butter of any kind and also caramel and I don't think I did a good job. But the mess that resulted was so good. My husband ate 3 in a row! Granted he is sort of biased in his opinion, being married to me, and welll since I do all his laundry hahaha. But eating three was a very good sign! Even the next day (this morning) I had another piece with my coffee and it was perfect.

I love that I made this cinnamon rolls with stuff I already in my fridge, like the prepared dough. It was like half of the work was already done. When talking to one of my favorite people, my sister in law, she suggested making it more dessert-like since I was sort of disappointed that the first loaf was more bread like instead of cake like, like banana bread is more cake dessert-ish.

So here is part two of your Turkish bread recipe: 

Don't forget if you did throw the extra almost lb of dough from the previous recipe into the freezer - defrost it in the fridge - not the counter!  Same instructions as before. When the dough is defrosted, you can pull it out of the fridge and start letting it come to room temperature plus some... approx 90 minutes. It seems like a long time but it was okay. I pulled it out and went to church and by the time I was back home it was ready to use. The rest of this took 5-7 minutes to throw together so it would be a perfect brunch. 


Ingredients:

1. almost one pound of leftover Turkish pear coffee bread dough
2. 2 pears, peeled and chopped
3. 1/2 Tbs apple juice
4.  1 + 1/2 tsp lemon juice
5. 1/3 cup sugar
6. 1/4 tsp nutmeg
7. 1/4 tsp cardamom (to mirror flavors in the bread)
8. a dash of salt
9. Confectioners sugar or powdered sugar (for garnish)


Directions:

1. Peel and chop the pears. 

2. Add the pears, apple juice, and lemon juice into a nonstick saucepan.  Once you get the small amount of sauce to boil turn down to low. Cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the pears are soft. 

3. When the pear mixture is softened,  blend it so it looks like applesauce... thick but some liquid part... pourable. I used a food processor and it really didn't do a good job. Maybe a blender or immersion blender would've been better. Or maybe I just didn't have enough liquid. So my pear butter was on the chunky side. Not what I was hoping for but.... it tasted awesome and most of it spread easily on the loaf.  Totally going to try this again because summer is coming and pear butter on fresh biscuits sounds like an awesome way to begin a summer brunch. 

4. Add the spices to the pear mixture.

4. Now for the caramel part.... (deep breath) Hopefully you have done this before. This is the part I need to practice (hahaha).  Take the sugar to a pan and watch it slowly melt and turn amber colored. Once the color changes remove it from the heat. Stir lots!!! This is an understatement. I had crystallized bits in mine because I don't think I was stirring as often as you need to. Cooking is an adventure, right? 

6. Pour the heated sugar (should be in thick liquid form) into the pear mixture. Mine didn't sputter or splash but I have heard it might... so just be careful. Stir it together to combine. 

I was so nevous about this part. V= victory with my fingers crossed! 

7. Roll out the dough into a rectangle shape 

8. Spread the chunky or smooth (depending on how yours came out) caramelized pear butter over the top of the rectangle. 

9. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Evenly roll up the rectangle into a log shape and cut into even pieces. 

 10.  Bake for approx 25 minutes until golden. Sprinkle with fine powdered sugar or icing of your choice. Psst icing is super easy butter & powdered sugar... 


11. Eat with friends and family :) 







Have a great day! From my kitchen to yours

Turkish Pear Coffee Bread (freezer friendly)

I admit I enjoy just reading a cookbook from cover to cover day dreaming about food. No I don't have a lot of extra time on my hands. Its just something I enjoy during nap times or late at night when my hubby is at work. This Turkish bread is from an excellent cookbook that I have been reading through the last couple nights. So its not all daydreaming. Some of it involves shopping and baking! Hahaha. The cookbook is called Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. It is awesome. I am not paid to say that. It is my own opinion. Everything in the book looks good. Granted I usually like more pictures in my cookbooks, but I wanted to make all of these breads. Unfortunately or fortunately for my waist line's sake I settled on five. 

First up to bat (trumpet sound announcing the title) is the Turkish Pear Coffee Bread. This is not a coffee cake, which I was kind of expecting. Don't worry. It is just as good. In fact, it was excellent. My family ate the entire almost lb loaf in one setting over breakfast. It was glorious. The fact that the dough was already in made and waiting to be baked the morning of, was even better. I pulled it out of the fridge, set a timer, started coffee, awhile later someplace in my second cup of coffee I preheated the oven, and threw it in..... breakfast was served 30 minutes later and my kitchen was still clean. That is a good breakfast if you ask me. 

The first thing that happens is the smell... that smell of baking bread that waves and glides through the air filling your house is welll nothing short of amazing. The smell that drives you crazy since you want to cut it and devour it as soon as it comes out of the oven. But you wait until it has time to cool. I have had so many things fall apart on me because I have had trouble waiting for amazing smelling food to cool. Then you taste it... the first taste is texture. Its moist and soft on the inside but a bit crunchy on the outside. Then you taste the spices, the warm spices of cinnamon and cardamom, that make you feel like someone is hugging you. Then you just eat until its all gone.  Try it!!!

makes 2 almost one pound each loaves

one for now

one for later  

Ingredients

• 1/8 cup whole wheat flour
• 3 cups all purpose flour, unbleached
• 2 tsp ground coffee, gingerbread (I will up this next time since I couldn't taste it)
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/8 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 Tbs yeast (this is 1/2 Tbs + 1/4 Tbs) or one packet
• 1/2 Tbs course kosher salt
• 1/8 cup vital wheat gluten (very easy to find at sprouts or trader joes)
• 2 Tbs canola oil 
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• slightly less than 1/2 cup of water
• 1 cup pear applesauce defrosted from the freezer  (click on it for the recipe)
• 1 large eggs beaten
•  1/2 tsp vanilla extract 
• 1/8 cup plain Greek yogurt

Directions:

1. Whisk all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. I used my new sifter and had an easy time incorporating all those wonderful spices into the flour.

2. Whisk all the wet ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. *note: I don't have a bread dough attachment for my food processor so I mixed it with a spoon and then combined it by hand. It was a piece of cake. Don't let it fool you. If you are having trouble get your hands wet. Wet hands help in the handling of this..

3. Cover in a dish - not airtight allow the dough to rest at room temperature until it rises approx 2 hours

4. Dough is now ready to use or store in the fridge or freezer in 1 pound increments. 

5. If you freeze it defrost in the refrigerator and on baking day continue on with step 7. 

6. The day you are baking it: Take half of it and shape it into a ball by stretching the sides around to the bottom of the ball. Use a little bit of flour on your work surface as needed - use a light hand. Aim for a narrow looking oval. 

7. Allow the dough to rest one more time in its new shape loosely covered on a buttered baking sheet or pan. I sprinkled a little bit of course cornmeal on my pan too to prevent sticking. If the dough is fresh you can start baking in 40 minutes. If the dough has been in the fridge or freezer please wait for 90 minutes. 

8. Preheat your oven to 350. Slash two small diagonal, parallel, cuts in the loaf using a serrated knife. The book says about 1/4 inch deep. I just guessed hahaha. 

9. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until its richly browned and firm. The cookbook also gives specific instructions on baking on a baking stone. If you have one, you may want to read this book for yourself and gain some really incredible advice. 

10. Allow the bread to cool on a rack before slicing.... the really hard part. 

Eat and enjoy!! Save the remaining loaf of dough for the cinnamon rolls I will post tomorrow. They are amazing!  Don't miss out. 

From my kitchen to yours.... You don't need reservations for brunch. Make this bread today and serve it up tomorrow with little effort. 

Whole Grain Banana Bread

I have made this bread a few times. Can't believe I haven't shared this recipe yet. We make a lot of banana bread in our home because no one likes brown bananas. So the bananas get lovely transformed into milkshakes, banana bread, or banana pancakes. No complaints here! This loaf bread recipe is easy and most of the time it only takes 15 minutes to throw it together and 65-70 minutes in the oven. It is great for breakfast, brunch, afternoon snacks with coffee & friends.  It would be an excellent homemade gift, if you wrapped it up cute.  love the nutrition in this bread with three fruits, and my husband and son love the sweetness from the fruit, honey, and brown sugar. Win win! :) Try it. You won't be disappointed. This recipe was adapted from a Light & Tasty 2002 magazine recipe. To find it click here. 

Grab two bowls one for wet ingredients and one for dry ingredients. 

The dry ingredients you need are:
1/2 cup oat flour
2/3 cup corn meal (finely ground not the course stuff you use for cornbread - if you can't find this use all purpose)
1 cup of all purpose unbleached flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup chopped nuts ( I used walnut but use your favorite nut)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar

The wet ingredients you need are: 
2 Tbs unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
4 really ripe (disgustingly brown) bananas, mashed
scant 1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup homemade pear applesauce, heaping (click on link for a good recipe)
2 tsp vanilla extract


1.Mix ingredients in their separate bowls
2.Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
3. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet bowl slowly while mixing it
4.Once the mixture is combined and looks homogeneous, prep the loaf pan with butter or non stick spray
5. Pour the nutty fruity mixture into the pan and bake for approx 70-75 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Check on it at the 1 hr mark. If it is looking too dark on the top, cover it with foil. 
6. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes and put on a wire rack before storing or serve immediately. 

*Note: Please do wait the whole 10 minutes after baking or it will not come out in one piece. Trust me! haha I have tried to skip this step before.

Yeilds approx 10 slices :) 


Enjoy!
From my kitchen to yours! 

Homemade Pear Applesauce (freezer friendly)

No fancy recipe from me today, folks! Just four humble ingredients, but trust me, it's a winning combo. Let's call it a kitchen hack. I'm sharing it because, honestly, I use it all the time.

Making delicious healthy things is a passion of mine. Just because I want to eat well doesn't mean I have hours to spend at the gym. So food absolutely has to have good nutrition. But before I lose you completely this hack will help you save sugar, calories, and fat. So yes when you're having fun out to dinner you can order that sweet dessert or burger and fries because the rest of your diet has good balance.  Trust me! 

But you're not 5 anymore and you don't want just applesauce right? I get that. I don't usually make this just to eat. I put it in everything else though. 

Check this out. This amazing kitchen and nutrition miracle is fantastic in breads (banana, zucchini, pumpkin whatever kind you're making), in coffee cake ( totally a special splurge food and it will be completely invisible), in muffins for easy early breakfasts, and even homemade pancakes. It helps you add 2 kinds of fruit, limit oil, limit fat, and add moisture which can be a struggle with baking. 

Homemade Pear Apple sauce. 

4 apples ( 2 sweet and 2 tart green apples, all of them peeled except one, all washed & sliced

4 pears, peeled, washed and sliced

water

2 Tbs ground cinnamon

See 4 ingredients. Super easy... 

Notes: 

1. Yes it's freezable

2. It's not going to taste like the cinnamon overloaded kind from the store if you LOVE that add in another TBS. 

3. You get to pick the texture. Cook everything together and then blend up to whatever you prefer. You can have chunky applesauce or completely smooth. It all works. You're in charge. 

4. Cover the fruit completely in water. Simmer for 20-30 minutes until it's completely soft

Miracle fruit sauce so you can be healthy and strong and enjoy the rest of 2013! 

From my kitchen to yours ❤️💯

Walnut Apple Coffee Cake

My mother in law has been in town for the last couple days. Okay I admit out of town visitors sometimes stress me out because I want things to be perfect, but I absolutely love having them. I love cooking for people! So hosting and having fun were my primary goals, as well as showing off my favorite recipes (ie...making yummy food). It shall take me several days to catch up with my favorite hobby, this blog. I made this for breakfast while she was here. Everyone gave it high reviews. My husband loved it (well okay he loved it except for the nuts, but he doesn't like nuts in anything). So here it is, the answer to your next coffee date with a girl friend, or brunch with out of town family.... I served mine with gingerbread coffee and scrambled eggs. 

My Walnut Apple Coffee Cake (recipe was adapted from: Fix It and Enjoy It cookbook)

Ingredients for the cake:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 1/2 cups all purpose white flour
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon, heaping
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup of oil, canola
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 apple, peeled, finely diced
1/2 cup homemade or store bought no sugar added applesauce
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp honey

Ingredients for topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup rolled oats
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Directions:
1. Mix together all dry ingredients for cake in one large bowl
2. Mix together all wet ingredients for cake in another large bowl except for nuts and apples 
3. Very slowly combine the dry ingredients into the wet with a hand mixer or a stand mixer until it is combined
4. Fold in the diced nuts and apples
5. Preheat the oven to 350
6. Grease a rectangle baking dish with butter
7. Pour with a spatula (dough will be extremely thick and will almost need to be scooped out) into the baking dish
8. As oven preheats, Mix together the topping in a small bowl
9. Sprinkle the topping over the cake batter 
10. Bake for 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean
11. Let it rest for approx 5 minutes. Mine was extremely raised when it came out of the oven and seemed to fall or drop as it cooled to a nice flat level coffee cake

It was easy & yummy!!!  Don't wait for a holiday or visitors to try this one! Did I mention it will make your house smell amazing? :) Enjoy!
From my kitchen to yours

Peach Cinnamon Crisp

I made this for the first time last night. It was so delicious! It takes a little bit longer with a 40-45 minute bake time but it is so worth the wait. Its not overly sweet either but there is a nice contrast between the sugar/cinnamon topping, tart oj, and sweet peaches. It will be a party in your mouth that your waist won't have to suffer for! Enjoy :)

Ingredients:
4 cups of sliced peeled fresh peaches ( I used frozen to save lots of time)
1/2 cup of oj
2 Tb brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg lightly beaten
2 Tbs melted butter or margarine (used tub margarine)

Topping: (I didn't measure these out to save time just sprinkled)
1 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp or a dash of ground cinnamon

Method:
1. In a bowl combine peaches, oj, brown sugar and cinnamon (if using frozen fruit let thaw first)
2. Spray a baking dish with nonstick spray
3. Pour peach mixture into bottom of the baking dish
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
5. In a med size bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder.
6. Add the egg and melted butter and mix until crumbly. Mine was a little more doughy than would be defined as crumbly.
7. Sprinkle crumble mix over the top of the peaches in the baking dish... if yours is more doughy also no worries just dot the peaches all over using the entire crumble mix. It still turns out very well!
8. sprinkle with sugar cinnamon topping and bake for 40-45 minutes until topping is golden brown and filling is bubbly.

Serve warm possibly with some frozen vanilla yogurt! :) This makes 6 servings. When I made it I cut the recipe in 1/2 to make 3 servings. One for me and my husband and then one serving for my husband's lunch.

Nutritional info:
1 serving = 245 calories, 5 g fat, 46mg cholesterol, 90mg sodium, 48 g carbs, 3 g fiber, 4 g protein
This recipe is from: Light & Tasty Magazine August/September 2003