Oatmeal Banana Bread

Bad banana = yummy bread

Keeping up with the theme of things that go bad before I can use them I'd like to talk about this banana bread recipe I came across. I buy bananas mostly so I can make things with them. On their own I don't really like them. Therefore, I don't buy them often. My roommate had gotten some and I was in the kitchen making dinner one night and there they were sitting on the counter turning brown.

Usually, I wouldn't think anything of it and just toss them out but I was feeling crafty that day. I have a pretty good banana bread recipe I've used for years but I wanted something different. I've been thinking of ways to make recipes a little healthier. Lately healthier has been just to add a tablespoon of ground flaxseed into everything but that wasn't going to cut it this time. So I started googling recipes for banana bread that gave it a little power punch of better for you. There were all sorts of recipes out there and more so than not they called for oatmeal. I'd never thought to do that so I decided to give it a whirl.

That loaf of bread weighed like 5 pounds. But it was really good!

Mix your dry ingredients together and make a whole in the center of it all. 

Like a little well.

Next for the wet ingredients.

Mix those all together. 

Pour the wet ingredients into the center of the dry.

Mix it all up! 

Magic! 

It's all ready. 

Oatmeal Banana Bread

(Recipe courtesy of: www.food.com )

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

2/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup oats (I used old-fashioned)

1 cup mashed banana

1/3 buttermilk (I didn't have any, I used 2%)

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs, beaten

cooking spray or butter (I used butter)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray or butter an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl

Combine banana, oil, milk, vanilla, and eggs in a small bowl or measuring cup

Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently mix just until the dry ingredients are moistened

Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake for 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean

Cool on a wire rack, in the pan, for about 15 minutes

Remove bread from the pan and cool thoroughly on the rack

Or cut into it and slab some butter on it. That's what I did. I mean who wants to eat cold banana bread? Not me. I want it nice and hot with all kinds of melty butter. And again, my apologies for not having any after pictures but I ate a slice then ate it all... There would have been only crumbs. 

Also, for those of you truly health conscious people out there, if you click on the link above to go to the website you get all sorts of fun nutritional facts. So you can pretend to calorie count as you cut yourself another slice. 

Spicy Summer Casserole

Summer summer summer! I just love it. Gardens are flourishing and all the Farmer Fred's of town are out to sell their bundles. It's so easy to get carried away at the local farmer's markets all over town. There's just too much to choose from. I find myself buying it all up only to have a good chunk of it go bad before I can use it. I have a hard time limiting myself to a few things every week. I want it all! So this week, I had a plan.

This is Grace

A few weeks ago I was getting together with my friend Grace. We were going to rectify a little speeding ticket I acquired and I was meeting her at her place. She said to come over early to help her eat a casserole she made. She had lots of veggies that were going to go bad if she didn't use them. It was really good! I couldn't stop eating it. So this week I bought extra produce just so I could make it. It's super easy, and you can use whatever produce you like. Just another yummy idea to get all those vegetables eaten. After all, they make you grow up big and strong.

I used several different peppers, onion, tomato, and asparagus. The great thing about this dish is you can add what you like. There's no "recipe".  But I'll tell you what I did anyway. Mostly because I have pictures...

I sliced and diced:

1 zucchini

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

1/2 medium yellow onion

1 tomato

Toss that with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Added 2 big handfuls of shredded pepper jack cheese.

Put it in a greased baking dish and topped it with more cheese.

Then I covered it in panko bread crumbs.

Drizzle some olive oil over top and bake at 350 degrees.

The end result should be bubbling and golden. 

I turned on the broiler for a few minutes to get it extra golden. 

Enjoy as a side dish or as a main course. Either way, it's tasty and easy and something everyone will love! Sorry there's no after picture, I ate it all...