Bake: Whole Wheat Banana Bread {King Arthur Flour Recipe}

Banana bread is such a delicious and classic comfort food. Plus it really helps enforce the "waste not" mindset. Did your family recently go on a banana kick then everyone gave up andw left you with a bunch of browning bananas? No problem! Wait until they're just right and make banana bread!

I petitioned Facebook for a good banana bread recipe and one friend suggested using the recipe on the side of King Arthur brand flour. That's the brand I use so I figured I should give it a try! It turned out perfectly! I altered the recipe a little but not too much. I think just less sugar and whole wheat flour were my changes. 

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups (about 4 or 5) very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3 Tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups of whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping for extra flavor:

• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Optional: 

• 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

Directions:

Gather your ingredients. 

Ultra ripe bananas. The more brown they are, the sweeter they are! 

Oh and don't drop an egg like I did. Oops. 

Preheat your oven to 350ºF then grease and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan. 

Peel your bananas and put them into a large mixing bowl. 

Mash them well. 

Add the oil, sugar, milk and vanilla and mix them together well. 

Now mix in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Thoroughly mix them together. Be sure to scrape the sides so nothing is left unmixed. This is where a stand mixer would come in handy!

Pour the batter into your greased and floured loaf pan and spread evenly. 

Stir the cinnamon and sugar together and sprinkle on top of the batter. 

Put it in the oven for about an hour or until a toothpick or knife comes out of the center clean. 

In an hour it should look something like this! Crumbly and delicious. (Sorry for the blurry photos!)

Let it cool for about 10 minutes then remove the loaf from the pan and let it finish cooling on a cooling rack.

If you can wait that long to dig in!

We actually don't have any cooling racks in the house which is odd, but then again I don't do a ton of sweets baking. So as you can see, my trusty cutting board did the job just fine. 

Baked to perfection.

My husband LOVES banana bread so when it was cool enough to handle, we cut that sucker open!

The directions on the flour bag say you get 16 slices but I think we managed 18. It just depends how thick or thin you want them. 

Spread a little butter on there and you're good to go! No wait, I take that back. Cold, hot, toasted, buttered...any way is a good way to eat this banana bread! Pouring the batter into a muffin tin is also a delicious alternative!

Mmm. 

I've actually decided that from now on it should be called banana cake because "bread" is such a deceiving word. It's cake...come on now, people. Bread doesn't have that much sugar in it! Well, it shouldn't anyways. 

What's your favorite banana bread recipe? Do you buy bananas specifically for making banana bread or is it just a happy accident when a bunch gets brown in the house?

Till next time,

Catherine

Cook: Homestyle Baked Beans

If you're like my husband and I, you love cookout food! My husband absolutely loves having hot dogs, beans and chips for dinner. He'd do it al the time if I let him. That and spaghetti! Don't worry, we get GOOD all beef hot dogs, not processed mystery meat!

Speaking of hawdogs...

With that being said, hot dogs and beans go together. Baked beans are essential to a delicious cookout meal. I recently decided that I needed to attempt making them myself since buying the cans can get pricey. Buying dried beans is so much more economical, even if it does take a little more time. It's really not bad, though. You just have to soak them the night before you want to cook with them.

I found one set of recipes from Squawkfox. And another from AllRecipes. I used these as a starting point and threw things together to make it my own.

Ingredients:

• 1lb of Navy Beans (about 4-5 cups dry)
• 4 cups water
• 2 chicken bouillon cubes 
• 1 12oz can of tomato paste
• 3/4 cup molasses (I used blackstrap but I'm not sure what the differences are)
• 1-1/2 Tablespoons of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 Tablespoon dry mustard
• 1 Tablespoon onion powder
• 6-7 strips of turkey bacon (or regular bacon if you prefer)

Directions:

Soak the beans overnight. Mine soaked for almost 14 hours. They over doubled in size in that time. General rule of thumb is that the longer you can soak them, the better. If you don't know much about cooking with dry beans, check out Squawkfox's post How to Soak and Cook Dry Beans. You should also check out her post 10 Reasons Soaking Dried Beans Can Change Your Life. Good stuff!

Strain your beans then put them into your slow cooker with about 4-6 cups of fresh water. Turn the slow cooker to high. 

There's some debate as to whether you should cook the beans in the water that they soaked in or not. I used fresh water. Anyone have a preference and why?

Fry or bake your bacon just before pouring the ingredients into the slow cooker. Or don't. The beans need to cook for so long that it doesn't really matter. If you start the beans and bacon at the same time, just toss the bacon in when you're done! Mine was cool by the time I was ready so I just ripped it into smaller chunks and tossed it into the slow cooker!

Dump all the ingredients into the pot, stir it up and cook on high for 6-7 hours or low for 10-12.

This was less than an hour into the cooking.

This is what it looks like about halfway. Stir every so often if you're around to do so and add more water as needed. Cook for 6-8 hours on high or 10-12 on low.

Serve and enjoy!

Towards the end do a few taste tests and add what you feel it needs. 

I think next time I'll make mine a little sweeter! But overall they were delicious and were a hit with my husband and a friend of ours!

Another great things about this is that there were a ton of leftovers! I divided the rest into 3 quart sized freezer bags for the next time my husband and I are craving hot dogs and beans!

These beans definitely take a long time, though. It's not a quick recipe, but it is easy! Mine cooked for probably close to 9 hours. They definitely weren't mushy like the canned baked beans but were still delicious! It's sometimes difficult to readjust to something when you're so used to the old thing!

All in all, I don't think I'll be going back to store-bought baked beans!

What's your favorite style of baked beans? Homestyle, country style, Boston? Do you ever cook with dried beans?

Till next time,
Catherine

Bake: No Knead Whole Wheat Amish Cinnamon Bread

How's that for some mouth watering deliciousness??? 

That, my friends, is an amazing recipe I found on Redfly Creations for an alternative to the classic Amish cinnamon bread. You should definitely check out her blog because it's chock full of good stuff! Everything from this Amish Cinnamon Bread to pasta sauce to handy pre-made baking mixes and more! 

I altered her recipe by using whole wheat flour and less sugar but it was still really yummy!! Definitely a semi-healthy little "sweet treat" at night after dinner. Or...ya know...anytime. 

Ingredients (Makes two loaves):

Batter: 

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups raw unbleached sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups buttermilk or 2 cups milk plus 2 Tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice
• 4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda 

Also, you'll need: 

• 2/3 cup raw sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

This will be for the middle layer/topping. 

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350º.

Mix your wet ingredients with the sugar till you get  a nice creamy mixture. 

Creamy!

Now add your flour and baking soda. 

Mix well. It will be more of a batter than a dough.

Distribute about 1/2-3/4 of the batter between the two pans. It may sound odd but you want to add the other 1/2-1/4 of the batter on top in a minute. 

Stir together your cinnamon and sugar mixture. 

Sprinkle about 1/2 of the mixture between the two pans.

Now spread the rest of the batter on top! Make sense now?

Now pour the rest of the cinnamon-sugar mixture on top of the batter in each pan.

Take a butter knife and stick it into the batter about an inch or so and swirl the batter around. This will help the top have more texture and the inside to be marbled. 

Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool, and enjoy!!

It was so hard to wait!

Baked to perfection! 

Slices of heaven.

Drool worthy indeed.

Eat it warm, cold, warm with butter, cold with butter, early morning, late night, any time, any way this is so good! 

We had a friend visiting for the weekend when I made this and it went so fast! Boy am I glad I tossed the other loaf in the freezer before it was gone too!

Next I want to try The Pioneer Woman's method! 

I've linked up over at Nourishing Treasures for Wellness Wednesday! Check it out HERE! 

What's your favorite way to make cinnamon bread? 

Till next time,

Catherine