Whole Wheat Banana-Pomegranate Muffins

So, this is the sixth time that I am participating in the Improv Cooking Challenge, hosted by Kristen of Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker. Yay!

After participating a few times now, what I am finding the most challenging is working with ingredients that I really don`t like.  Raisin`s  were a big challenge for me, and this month`s banana and nutmeg posed an interesting challenge. Neither Mr. Ginge or I are big fan of bananas.  I can`t really get over their mushy texture.

I do, however, enjoy them in certain baked goods.

While I will almost always choose a chocolate chip muffin first, banana muffins are also a favourite.  C, who I used to worked with in the clothing store, would periodically make banana muffins and bring them in to share.  I think that she was the one who got me hooked on banana muffins.

I switched these up a bit by swapping to whole wheat flour and stirring in some tart pomegranate arils, and the end result is a delicious way to start the morning.

Whole Wheat Banana-Pomegranate Muffins

makes 10 muffins

• 3/4 cups mashed, ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup canola oil ( or melted butter)
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 cup pomegranate arils, plus some for topping if desired.

1. Preheat your oven to 350° F. Line your muffin pan with 10 liners. 
2. In a bowl, mix together the banana, brown sugar, egg, oil, and milk.  Set aside.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and nutmeg. Slowly add it to the banana mixture, stirring just until combined ( it’s ok if it’s a bit lumpy). Gently fold in the pomegranate arils.
4. Scoop the batter into the prepared pans so that each cup is about 3/4 of the way full. Sprinkle a few arils on the top of the batter if desired. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean.
5. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then either or enjoy warm, or transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Don’t forget to click the link to check out more great Banana and Nutmeg recipes!

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I also shared this recipe at The Weekend Potluck and Strut Your Stuff Saturdays!

Guest Post from The Cook’s Sister: Banana Bread

Guys! I have a special treat for you today! The lovely Amber from The Cook’s Sister is guest posting today and she’s brought you an amazing treat: Banana Bread!

Baked and Photographedd by The Cook’s Sister
(http://thecookssister.wordpress.com)

She makes amazing and approachable recipes all on a students budget. I am in awe of her ambition to be able to be pursusing her Ph.D and also be able to manage her blog and cook up delicious meals. I’m pretty sure I lived on instant ramen noodles and waffle fries while I was in college! 

Here are a few that most definitely had me salivating!

Image source: http://thecookssister.wordpress.com/2012/11/12/caribbean-coconut-crusted-salmon-with-caribbean-salsa/

• Caribbean Coconut Crusted Salmon with Caribbean Pineapple Salsa
• Breakfast Mess with Eggs, Sausage, Potatoes, and Green Peppers
• Nana’s Zucchini Bread ( I’m a sucker for family recipes)
• Mango and Banana Chai Tea Smoothie
• Cilantro Tomato Corn Salad with Lemon-Butter Dressing

Don’t forget to head on over and check out some more of her amazing recipes!

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Baked and photographed by The Cook’s Sister
(http://thecookssister.wordpress.com)

Hello! I’m Amber from The Cook’s Sister and I’m very excited to be guest blogging today! The Cook’s Sister  is a food blog centered around cooking on a student’s modest food budget. Most of my recipes are day-to-day things that one can cook in a hurry. However, I also, on occasion, feature recipes for special occasions. Each recipe on my blog comes with an estimated cost break-down by ingredient and the total expected affordability of the dish.

Mel and I are both participants in the monthly Improv Challenge hosted by Kristen from Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker, which is how we met. We both visit each other’s blogs regularly now. And we both own some very cute kitties (I have one, Loki) that like to check out the tasty treats that we share on our blogs.

Baked and photographed by The Cook’s Sister
(http://thecookssister.wordpress.com)

Recently, I had the pleasure of having Mel guest post on my blog, where she shared her delicious Chocolate Drizzled Mocha Cookies (Bryan has been asking me to make these cookies ever since)! I’m very excited that Mel invited me to post on her blog as well! I’m always amazed by Mel’s gorgeous creations! I’m amazed by the things she can bake and her ability to make it beautiful.

While I enjoy baked goods as much as anyone else, it’s generally not my strong point. Yet, to go along with Mel’s blog theme and my own, I wanted to share with you a tasty baked treat that is also affordable. So, I set out to make banana bread.

My first attempt at this banana bread didn’t work out so well. It might have had something to do with the fact that my baking powder was three years old (I bought it when I moved to my current apartment). Or maybe I didn’t bake it long enough. Or maybe I overworked the batter. Whatever it was, the bread was terrible on first try. So, I replaced my baking supplies and tried again. Today, I’m sharing my banana bread recipe (take two)!

Banana Bread

Baked and photographed by The Cook’s Sister
(http://thecookssister.wordpress.com)

Ingredients

Wet ingredients

• 3 eggs  – approximate cost $0.75
• 1 cup cane sugar  – approximate cost $0.50
• 1 cup brown sugar  – approximate cost $0.50
• 1 cup lard, melted  – approximate cost $0.75
• 3 teaspoons vanilla  – approximate cost $0.45
• 2 ½ cups very ripe bananas (about 4-5), mashed  – approximate cost $0.60

Dry ingredients

• 3 cups flour  – approximate cost $1.50
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder  – approximate cost $0.10
• 2 teaspoons baking soda  – approximate cost $0.15
• 2 teaspoons nutmeg  – approximate cost $0.20
• 2 teaspoons sea salt  – approximate cost $0.10
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon  – approximate cost $0.30
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves  – approximate cost $0.10
• 1 cup walnuts (optional)  – approximate cost $0.50

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Combine the wet ingredients (eggs, cane sugar, brown sugar, lard, vanilla, and bananas) in a mixing bowl.
3. Mix until well combined and set aside.
4. Combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, sea salt, cinnamon, ground cloves, and walnuts) in a separate large mixing bowl.
5. Mix until well combined.
6. Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing constantly with a spatula until well combined.
7. Pour the bread mixture into two loaf pans.
8. Bake for 45 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean).
9. Allow to cool until you can safely handle the loaf pans.
10. Turn the pans upside-down to remove the bread.
11. Set on a wire rack and allow bread to cool completely.
12. Serve warmed or cold and enjoy!

Makes 2 loaves, about 16 slices (approximate cost: $3.25 per loaf or $0.41 per slice).

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(P.S. – I absolutely love that her banana bread recipe uses lard! -Mel)

Banana Upside Down Cupcakes

I don’t like bananas.

Which tends to be a problem when I have a big bunch of them sitting on the counter. Slowly going bad. Slowly dying.

Sure, maybe Mr. Ginge will eat one if he’s craving one, and one might find it’s way into a smoothie, but more often than not I am still left with a big bunch on the counter. Freezing them gets them off the counter, but really that just defers the problem, and now I have bananas being forgotten about in my freezer.

Banana bread or muffins will use them up quickly, but six loaves later, you just don’t want any more banana bread. So the pile of bananas still sit, while you wrack your brain, trying desperately to come across something that with use these darn bananas up.

And that’s when I stumbled across these. These give me reason to buy bananas.   That won’t sit on the counter and won’t have a chance to slowly die. For this banana hater, they are that good.  As a special bonus, my dad loves bananas, so these are a perfect father’s day treat for him. Yay!

As a side note, these are better with still (mostly) firm bananas, because they have to be sliced.

Banana Upside Down Cupcakes

makes 18 cupcakes, adapted from Betty Crocker’s Cookbook 1976

For the topping:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 -3 sliced bananas
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

For the cake:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp dark rum ( or extract)
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup milk

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F
2. In a small saucepan, melt the butter and sugar, until smooth and combined. Remove from heat and let cool a couple minutes.
3. Lay a couple slices of banana in the bottom of 18 cupcake cups. Sprinkle the pecan pieces over top. Evenly divide the sugar mix and pour over top of the bananas. 
4. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and the rum, mixing well. 
5. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add,  alternately with the milk, to the creamed mixture.
6. Spoon the batter over the bananas, so that the cup is about 3/4 of the way full. Bake for about 15 minutes or a toothpick comes out clean. 
7. Once they are out of the oven, immediately turn them upside down over a plate or clean cookies sheet. Leave the cupcake pans over the cupcakes for a couple minutes, then unmould. If they stick, gently tap them loose, or loosen by running a knife around the edge.
8. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

The vanilla ice cream is key. 

-Mel

P.S. Check out this bean burrito!

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I linked this recipe to  The Weekend Potluck. Click the link to check out more great recipes!

Double Chocolate Banana Bread

I decided to make banana bread the other night.

What I didn’t realize, though, was that it was not in my cards to make banana bread.

It was Murphy’s law of quick bread. Every thing that could have gone wrong, did.

First, as I was pulling out the ingredients and lining them up, I noticed that we had run out of milk.  When I came back with a new carton, Mr Ginge informed me that we did in fact have milk. After I had opened the carton.

Next, as I measured out the now un-needed milk, I accidentally measured out 1 3/4 cups, instead of the needed 3/4 cups. After I dumped it into the bowl. which contained the dry ingredients.

I managed to make it though most of the recipe, then pour it into the prepared pans. When I moved the pans to pop them in  the oven, I discovered the two eggs that was supposed to make it into the batter. Ugh.

See the thing is, I’ve made banana bread before. Lots of times. Using the same recipe.  And a super simple one at that. (Like no-mixer-required simple)

Fortunately, it still turned out.  I might have cried if it didn’t.

Double Chocolate Banana Bread

makes 1 9×3 loaf

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 3 tsp baking powder
•  1 tsp salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas ( about 2 medium)
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup chocolate chips.

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9×3 loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients except for the chocolate chips and mix with a wooden spoon. Just mix until combined, you will still end up with a slightly lumpy batter, but you don’t want to over mix. Don’t forget the egg.
3. Fold in the chocolate chips, then pour into the prepared pans. 
4. Bake for 55-65 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the pan 10 minutes, then remove and let cool completely on a wire rack. 

adapted from Betty Crocker 1976

It’s really good warm, slathered in butter.

- Mel

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I linked this recipe up to The Weekend Potluck! Click the link to check out some more great recipes!