...cause I can tell that we're going to be friends...

Everyone has posted such delicious meals these last few days! I have been trying to find something new for breakfast. Usually I have my cup of coffee and a box of Multi-Grain Os (that's right, I am too cheap to buy the name brand) that I keep in my car. As I drive to work in the morning I throw handfuls of MGOs into my mouth this ritual results in my car appearing as if I drive a toddler carpool. Anyhoo, I love me a banana bread but my Betty Crocker recipe has a LOT of sugar in it. Seeing as I just downed 3 peeps, you might assume that sugar reduction is not a concern for me but, as Elle and I have recently discussed, we will be shortly announcing the first LOTC (Lord of the Chard) challenge to reduce sugar in our diet (details to follow).

So I tried making a healthy version of the nanner classic. (Elle could you provide the citation?) (This recipe is from The King Arthur Flour Cookbook which I wholly recommend - E)

Banana Crunch Bread

1 c. oat flour

1 c. whole wheat flour

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/2 c. butter

1/2 c. brown sugar

2 eggs

3 medium mashed nanners

6 oz. cup plain yogurt (I used greek for extra protein)

1 t. vanilla

1 t. pumpkin pie spice (I used Penzey's Apple Pie spice)

Topping:

1/2 c. oats

1/3 c. brown sugar (I used less)

1/2 t. cinnamon

2 T. butter

1/4 c. nuts

Preheat oven to 350 and grease an 8x8 pan. Whisk the first three ingredients together in a bowl. In a separate large bowl cream butter and brown sugar and then beat in the eggs one at a time. Mix in dry mixture and bananas, alternating until both are integrated. Add yogurt, vanilla and spices. Pour into pan. Mix all of the topping ingredients together and spread over the top of prepared pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes (our oven in on the fritz so it took 50ish minutes).

A shout out to my guinea pigs, and friends of the blog: Tammy and Eric (Daniel's parents) who have very discerning palette. Here are their comments!

Tammy-"I love it, full of banana flavor and really moist cake. I like the topping and don't think it is too dry. Filling breakfast."

Eric-"Somewhat dry...but good flavor. Recommend eating it over the sink. Like raspberry chocolate torte better."

These comments pretty much sum up how I felt: I too felt that the topping was a bit too dry (in the above recipe I cut down the oats by 1/4 c. I think this will do the trick next time). But it did have a really good flavor and, of course, I felt good about eating it (unlike the chocolate torte)!

Coffee is a perfect friend to this bread!

Banana Cupcakes and Spring

Good morning Chardheads. I don't want to jinx anything, but I think spring may have finally sprung in the Northeast. My amaryllis sure thinks so.

A closer look

Friday was Erik's birthday so after pestering him incessantly he finally relented and agreed to let me make banana cupcakes to celebrate. I have made this recipe a dozen or more times. It is my go to "crap I need to bake a treat for something and have nothing in my house but oh god they are so good" recipe. The extra good part about this recipe is that it does not use eggs so you can lick the bowl with reckless abandon.

Banana Cupcakes/Muffins
Makes 12 cupcakes


1/2 cup very ripe banana
3/4 cup AP flour
1/2 cup whole wheat (or white whole wheat) flour
1/4 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup oil
2/3 cup "milk" (soy, almond, mammal)
2 t vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In your food processor/blender/magic bullet blend the banana well until there are no chunks. In a large bowl combine flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. In a separate small bowl whisk together banana, oil, milk, vanilla, and almond. Create a well in the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients in mixing slowly. Try not to over mix. Pour batter into cupcake liners and bake for 20-22 minutes.

Right out of the oven. If you look at the column on the left you can see I am not great at distributing the batter evenly

If you want to eat them plain they are more like a muffin and can therefore technically be eaten for breakfast!

Since I was baking for celebratory purposes I made peanut butter frosting to go with them. Is there anything better than banana and peanut butter? I used this recipe from allrecipes and it worked just fine.

The finished product

Oh hello

After my baking frenzy I had a workout followed by a green smoothie.

In the mix: Kale, water, plain non-fat yogurt, pineapple, and banana. Pow - energy straight to my core!

What was your best birthday cake/treat ever?