Sour Cream Banana Bread

My baby boy loves banana bread....but only if it's in the shape of a loaf (or so I thought).  Apparently a regular loaf pan-made banana bread is COMPLETELY different than the same banana bread recipe in a muffin tin.  It also does not make the grade in these cute mini-loaf pans.  So sorry.  What was I thinking?  No need to cry, now.... So for now, three of our happy family are, well, happy.  And one is longing for the days when banana bread came in it's originally presented format.  

Mashed banana, anyone?

Swirly batter.....

The key to this super moist, yummy recipe is sour cream...oooohhhh, aahhhhhh!

Cute mini pans, right?

They look "loafy" to me...

Loafly....I mean..lovely!

I loave taking pics of my loaves....

Yum.

Double yum! 

One of my cousins was staying with us for a few days and I thought I'd get up early and make a delicious banana loaf - hopefully drawing everyone out of bed to the wonderful scent coming from the kitchen.  My recipe box was hidden somewhere in the back of the pantry way behind all kinds of things that would have made a racket if touched, and that wasn't exactly the kind of wake up call I was going for so I desperately leafed through a couple of handy cook books I had access to and found this one.  We've never gone back.  It's from the "Breast Wishes from Breast Friends - Women working together for a cure" cook book and is now my new favourite one to make.

Sour Cream Banana Bread

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar (I use organic coconut palm sugar, and about 3/4 cup instead of a full cup)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp Real Vanilla Extract
• 1 1/2 cup flour (I use Organic Whole Wheat flour)
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
• 1 cup Bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup Nuts, chopped (I don't add these as my family prefers it without plus the nut-free version can be taken to our nut-free school)
• 1/2 Sour Cream (I have sometimes used Plain Yogurt)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Cream butter with sugar
3. Beat in eggs and vanilla
4. In separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt
5. Add dry ingredients to wet mixture and mix 
6. Mix in bananas, nuts (if you are using them), and sour cream, 
7. Pour into a greased loaf pan
8. Bake for 1 hour
9. Enjoy!

xo

Jen

Easy Peasy Pasta Sauce - Two Ways

Please put up your hand if you have heard the following around your dinner table:

"What's the green stuff?"

"Why is it lumpy?"

"What's in this?"

"What is THAT?"

"Is this all there is for dinner?"

"It looks weird!"

"It smells weird!"

"It tastes weird!"

"I don't like it" (before they've even tried it)

....shall I go on?

"What are the black specks?"

"Why is it touching my meat"

"I don't like tomato sauce, don't we have any ketchup?"

"I'm not hungry anymore....what are we having for dessert?"

"EWWWWW!"

I've got the sweats just thinking about it.  We've all been there.  You find a recipe you know your family will like, you make a trip to the market to lovingly hand pick all the ingredients, sweep your hair into a pony-tail, put on an apron and get cracking in the kitchen until your back is sore and you've burned your hand twice...BUT...you call your be-loveds to the table in a sing-song-y voice and as you are gracefully carrying out your masterpiece with an excited and anticipatory smile you hear it...."I am NOT eating that!!!"  When this happens I imagine myself as a balloon that is flying around the room as the air is rushing out and making that noise...you know the one.

It's tough to take.  I would say that we eat pretty simply....I don't prepare exotic, gourmet meals that only someone with a truly refined palate could appreciate.  I believe fresh is best and a well balanced diet are pretty key in keeping us healthy and energized but that's about it.  However, there are times I have to take my cook hat off and slip into my salesman role, and failing that, I sometimes break out the fake nose and moustache disguise, put on a black body suit and dark glasses (not literally of course, that would be weird) and go into sneaky mode.... my sister calls this being "Sneaky-McSneakerson".  I'd have a T-shirt made but then I suppose that would defeat the point.  Oh well.  The following is a quick pasta sauce that I made but ate two ways.  One - the straight up way served with whole wheat, cheese filled tortellini, and two - pureed in my Vitamix blender and tossed with a whole wheat fusili pasta.  Same exact ingredients, but my boys seem to prefer it "blended", if you will - after all, they "don't like zucchini, onion and garlic".  (Cue music from Mission Impossible)  Sneaky-McSneakerson strikes again!

Straight Up!

Blended...

For me and Ryan...

For the boys...

Easy-Peasy Pasta Sauce

• 10 - 12 Roma Tomatoes, chopped
• 1-28oz Can Whole Tomatoes 
• 1 Large Onion, chopped
• 1-2 cloves Garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 ribs Celery, chopped
• 1-2 Yellow Zucchini, chopped
• 1 Red Bell Pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 Handful fresh Basil Leaves, chopped
• Sea Salt
• Fresh Ground Black Pepper
• 2 Tbsp Butter

1. In a large sauce pan, melt butter over med heat
2. Add chopped onion and celery, cook until the onions soften and begin to look translucent in colour, approx 6 - 7 min
3. Add sliced garlic and cook for additional minute
4. Stir in chopped tomatoes, can of whole tomatoes in their juice, zucchini, bell pepper, chopped basil leaves and a sprinkle of salt and pepper
5. Bring mixture to a boil and turn heat down to a simmer
6. Simmer, stirring and tasting often until sauce begins to thicken a bit and flavours are well blended
7. Season with salt and pepper
8. Serve over your favourite pasta straight up, or puree in a blender first and then toss with pasta

*the pureed sauce freezes well in ice cube trays for an easy individual portion - this is great to have on hand when sending noodles in a thermos for lunch

Enjoy!

xo

Jen

Yogurt Tubey-Things...

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been challenging myself to replace many of the store-bought lunch box goodies with treats that I can make at home and therefore control what my precious young'uns are eating.   My boys love frozen yogurt so in place of buying the pre-packed ones I discovered these amazing "Ice pop Makers" by Norpro.  (You can find them on Amazon)  We filled them this summer with yogurt, pureed summer fruits and even iced tea!  They are great for using up the last amount of smoothie in the bottom of my handy dandy Vitamix (providing everyone is smoothied-out and there is still some left, of course).  My oldest loves when I mix some of my home-made jam into plain or vanilla yogurt so this is an ideal way he can have this treat at school.  My baby (who is 6 and is not really a baby but I will likely call him my baby until he is 96 and maybe even after) is trickier to please - I find that once you freeze yogurt or smoothie or juice it tastes less sweet so I sometimes have to add a little honey to whatever I'm making for him so it appeals to his sweet tooth and I don't find a half eaten mess laying limply on the counter.  Not that he would ever forget to place the finished "tube" into the sink....no, no, no... my house is always immaculate and well organized....ahem.  

Empty tube.  Pretty colour.

That's some mighty fine yogurt you got there!

Colourful and fun and thankfully my boy's favourite colours are not the ones the other likes...that's the stuff wars are made from.

Now it's frozen, and looks kind of lonely......

I suppose in the name of photography I should open this one and "test it out".....YUM!

xo

Jen

Banana Oat Muffins

Sun-shiny muffin!  Yum!!

When I was pregnant with my first son, I bought something like 100 books....because I was a little excited.  Oh.  And a little crazy, too.  What?  You know - baby brain!  That's a 'thing', right?  Right? RIGHT?? Any-who, of the 100 books, I only found 2 to be remotely useful and one was the "Hospital for Sick Children's Better Baby Food" book.  And although both my boys no longer need all the purees and can successfully eat their "solids", I often refer to this book for some great recipes the whole family can still enjoy.  These muffins are one that I make and are both simple and tasty!  They can easily serve triple duty - as breakfast, as a great lunch-box addition or as a yummy after school snack!

Banana Oat Muffins

• 1 cup All purpose Flour (I use organic unbleached)
• 1/2 cup Whole Wheat Flour 
• 1/2 cup Rolled Oats
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 3/4 cup Buttermilk*
• 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil (I use Coconut Oil)
• 1 fresh Egg
• 1/3 cup liquid Honey
• 1 medium banana, mashed
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips (this isn't in the original recipe but it "encourages" my youngest to eat these muffins...sigh)

*if you don't have buttermilk on hand, add 1.5 tsp of white vinegar to a measuring cup and add enough milk to measure 3/4 cup, let stand 5 minutes

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. Lightly grease or add paper liners to a 12 cup muffin tin
3. Combine the flours, rolled oats, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon in a large bowl
4. In a separate bowl, combine buttermilk, oil, egg, honey and banana
5. Add dry ingredients to wet and stir until just moistened
6. Stir in chocolate chips if using
7. Fill each muffin cup with enough batter to fill about 3/4 full
8. Bake for 18 min or until firm to the touch

Enjoy!

Oh.  As for the other 98 baby books, my doctor told me that I wasted my money and that women were having babies at the sides of fields for thousands of years without books and were able to immediately go back to work...in the field...so I immediately wondered what women, in what field and how can I send them my books?....and then I asked to be referred to an OB/GYN.  The End.

xo

Jen

Turkey Breast for Best Lunch Box Sammy (Sandwich)

Now that school is back in and the nights are getting a bit cooler, we are back to roasting turkey or chicken for Sunday dinner.  This isn't exactly inspired by some childhood memory or tradition, but as a means to get a leg up on school lunches.  My least fussy eater, oddly enough, is very particular about his school "sammies".  He likes bacon (who doesn't, really) and "real turkey or chicken meat" (his words, not mine although I find it amusing that he puts it like this).  I have spent many dollars at the deli counter that I may have well just tossed in the garbage to save everyone the time and effort.  Apparently the taste and texture just doesn't appeal to him, and if the truth be told, I prefer the "real stuff" too.

So in my effort to be efficient in time and money spent, I began roasting enough delicious turkey or chicken on Sunday evenings to provide us with a hearty family dinner and yummy sandwich meat for the back-to-the-grind Monday and Tuesday lunches.  It's great because the kids love the taste, and I love that I know exactly what they're eating.  No mystery cuts, fillers or added preservatives here.

As an added bonus (if you are really wanting to stretch out your dollars - and who wouldn't?), you end up with some bones and bits of meat to make a quick turkey or chicken stock.  I have a great recipe for stock I will share in a later post, so stay tuned.  ;)

Oven Roasted Turkey Breast

• Turkey Breast, Skin On, Bone In
• Olive Oil
• Sea Salt
• Fresh Ground Black Pepper
• 2 - 3 Carrots, washed, unpeeled and cut into 1" chunks (approx)
• 2 - 3 Ribs Celery, washed and cut into 1 " chunks
• 1 - 2 Onions, Skins removed, sliced in half and then into 1" slices
• Fresh Thyme

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F
2. Add Carrot, Celery and Onion slices to a roasting pan
3. Drizzle a little olive oil over the vegetables
4. Add Turkey Breast on top of vegetables
5. Drizzle Breast with Olive Oil
6. Add a few sprinkles of Sea Salt, Fresh Pepper, and fresh Thyme
7. Place in oven, uncovered and turn temperature down to 400 degrees F
8. Let cook approx 20 min per pound +  extra 20 min, until meat thermometer reads 180 degrees F (Please note that I am super cautious about cooking any kind of poultry so I always use a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat to test the doneness)
9. Remove from oven and let stand for 15 minutes
10. Enjoy!

xo

Jen