Knock, Knock. Who's There? Banana. Banana Who?

My mom had bought a bunch of bananas for work and there were a few left over that just sat in our fruit bowl. I saw these spotty bananas the other day and knew I had to do something with them.

Banana bread wasn't really an option this time. I wanted something different. My brother ruled out Banana Cookies in favor of something more breakfast like. This muffin recipe sounded really good and had great reviews so I had to give it a try. I have found so many tasty things at Allrecipes.com and this recipe did not disappoint.

My only complaint? It didn't have enough banana flavor to me. Usually three bananas is one cup, which this recipe called for. I think the problem was that these bananas were smaller than the ones I usually buy. Other than that they were quite yummy! Recipe:

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups Flour
3/4 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice (optional)
1 Egg
1/4 cup Oil*
3/4 cup Plain Yogurt
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 cup Mashed Banana
3/4 cup Chocolate Chips or Chopped Chocolate**

Heat oven to 350°. Grease or line muffin tins.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices.
In a separate bowl, combine the egg, oil, yogurt and extract.
Stir the wet into the dry until just moistened.
Fold in the bananas and chocolate.
Fill the muffin tins 2/3 full. Bake for 22 minutes, or until done.
Yield: I got 17. Strange number. The original says 16. Oh well.

*All I had was olive oil so that is what I used. They came out fine.
**I chopped chocolate rather than spend the money on chips. Half was milk and half was dark.

Here are some lovely photos:





Please make these. They are so good!

Brownie Goodness

I know I said I wasn't going to do any more posts until after we moved but I made this dessert tonight that was too delicious to keep to myself!

Brandon and I had a hard day today. Go here to read why. So I was feeling upset and thought chocolate might make me feel better. I had a box of brownie mix and decided to make them. As soon as the thought hit me I had another: I should heat up some bananas and blueberries in brown sugar and put that on top of the brownie. And I should top it all with whipped cream!

For some semblance of a recipe here are the steps:

Make brownies according to box or make your own.
Once the brownies have mostly cooled start on the fruit:
Slice however much banana you want and toss in a pot with about the same amount of blueberries.
Add brown sugar and vanilla to taste.
Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until berries pop, about 5-7 minutes.
While the fruit is cooking make the whipped cream:
Beat cold cream until frothy and then add powdered sugar to taste (you don't need much.)
Beat until stiff peaks form.
Slice a brownie, top with fruit and whipped cream.
Enjoy!

I have no photos because I was too focused on the food. Maybe I will make this again and be prepared. As a side note: the fruit would make a great pancake or waffle topping!