Bundt pan banana bread

Bundt Pan Banana Bread

This recipe is a staple in our house, and always made in the bundt pan.  Best served warm, and even better with peanut butter!

Adapted from The Best of the Best and More.

Ingredients

• 1 cup organic, unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups organic white sugar
• 5-6 mashed ripe organic bananas
• 4 organic, free range eggs
• 2-1/2 cups organic no-additive unbleached white flour
• 2 tsp organic baking soda
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp freshly grated organic nutmeg

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Cream together butter and sugar in a large bowl.
3. Add bananas and eggs.  Beat until mixed well.
4. Mix dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.
5. Add dry ingredients to banana mixture.  Be careful not to overmix.
6. Pour into greased bundt pan (or two greased loaf pans).
7. Bake 50 to 55 minutes.  Test for doneness before removing (toothpick in middle should come out clean).  
8. Cool on rack for at least 10 minutes before removing.  
9. If freezing, cool completely, then wrap tightly in plastic wrap before freezing.

Pumpkin cranberry oatmeal muffins

We're completely out of baking at the moment, primarily due to the nasty stomach bug that's laid all of us up for the last ten days.  Yuck.  So it's time for an über-baking morning.  On this morning's list is banana bread (recipe to come later), multi-grain bread and buns, shortbread cookies, and pumpkin cranberry oatmeal muffins (made with the last of the pumpkin puree I made in December ... of which I will make much, much more next year).

Pumpkin Cranberry Oatmeal Muffins

(adapted from The Kitchen Magpie)

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 1 cup of organic pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup packed organic, unsulphured brown sugar
• 1/3 cup unsweetened organic applesauce
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup organic stone ground red spring wheat flour
• 1/2 cup steel cut whole flake organic oatmeal
• 1/4 cup ground organic flax seed
• 3/4 cup organic cranberries (fresh or frozen)
• 4 tsp organic, non-aluminum baking powder
• 1 tsp organic cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp organic ginger
• 1/4 tsp grated fresh organic nutmeg
• pinch organic cloves
• 1/2 tsp sea salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. 
2. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Mix eggs, pumpkin, water, applesauce, and brown sugar in a medium bowl until well blended.  Do not overmix.  
4. Fold in cranberries.
5. Make a well in the dry ingredients, then add the wet ingredients and mix just until combined.  
6. Pour batter into a greased muffin tin.  Note:  Do not use paper liners, as these muffins will stick.  
7. Bake 18 - 20 minutes, until tops spring back lightly when touched.  (If using whole wheat flour, decrease cooking time to 15 - 17 minutes.)

Yam & sausage hash

I think this is my new breakfast favourite for fall weekends!  Bright orange yams, sweet onions, sausage, and eggs ... how could you go wrong?

Ingredients (per person):

1/2 lb jewel yams (~1 small)

1/4 lb breakfast sausage (ground or in casings, sliced)

1/2 sweet onion

2-3 tbsp chicken stock

1 egg

Shaved Parmesan cheese

Method:

Peel and cube the yams.  Place in a medium pot of salted water, then bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 4-5 minutes.  Yams should be tender, but not overcooked.  Drain yams and set aside.

Saute sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Once the sausage has begun to release a bit of fat, add onion.  Continue to saute until sausage is cooked through and onions are translucent.  

Reduce heat to medium, then stir in yams.  Add stock, then pack hash down lightly and let cook (without stirring) for 4-5 minutes.  Bottom of hash should become brown and crispy.  With a spatula, carefully lift sections of the hash, mixing it, then lightly pack it down again.  Repeat until desired level of crispiness is achieved.  

Make a well in the hash for each egg, then carefully break the egg into the well.*  Cover and let cook until egg is cooked to desired level of doneness.  Sprinkle with shaved Parmesan, slice into wedges, and serve.  

Notes:

 

* If you like your hash with scrambled eggs, break egg into well, let cook until barely set at the edges, then fold the egg into the hash and repack it.

Mountain bread!

So I was home from work for most of the week before last, as both boys had pneumonia. We ran out of bread and William, carbivore as he is, wanted immediately to make more. My usual multigrain recipe is in the bread machine as I write this, but I saw Beth Baker's recipe for mountain bread and figured I'd give it a try. Here are the fabulous results.

This has fast become a favourite around here.  I've made three loaves, and they've all disappeared within a day of being made.  Thanks for the recipe, Beth!