Sunday, March 10, 2013

Baking Extravaganza!

I had my alarm set for 5:30 a.m. so I could get up and go to 7 a.m. spin class.  Yeah, didn't happen.  Sleep always wins over exercise.  I even went to bed at about 10, because it was daylight savings i.e. worst day of the year.

I knew I wanted to get some kind of activity in today.  I decided that my punishment for skipping spin would be to sit on the stationary bike for an hour.  I did it in the cardio cinema and watched the last hour of True Grit.  My butt was totally asleep by the end and I was glad to see that my legs were sore when I got up.

I wanted to go swim too, but when I peeked in the pool there were a bunch of kids swimming with their parents.  I will try again tomorrow after spin class.

I was super bored today.  The weather has been dreary and it's been raining almost all day.  So, I decided to bake to cheer myself up.  You remember that I have a dangerous amount of bananas?  Well, the baggies next to the bananas are filled with shredded zucchini.  So, I spent a very long time searching for recipes involving bananas, zucchini, and crushed pineapple, since I also have a can of that.  Here what I came up with.

Banana Cake
This is from about.com.  It came out pretty good.  I just had to bake mine for an hour.

Ingredients 
2c. Flour
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1c. Sugar
1/4 c. oil
4 ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 c. water
1 tsp. Vanilla



Preheat oven to 350.  Mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt.  In a separate bowl mash the bananas and add the sugar, oil, water, and vanilla. Mix until combined.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet little by little.  Combine them until just wet.  Be careful not to over mix.  Pour the mix into a greased 9x9 pan.  Bake for 45-50 minutes (I had to keep mine in for 60).
Nutrition Info: 10 servings (can easily make pieces smaller), cals: 260, Fat: 6, Carbs: 50, Fiber: 2, Protein, 3


Coconut Pineapple Banana Bread
from Joy the Baker
This recipe is very straight forward, quick, and easy.

3 ripe bananas
1/4 c. crushed pineapple, drained (I added 2 more Tbsps with juice)
1/4 c. oil
1/2 c. sugar plus 2 Tbsps.
2 c. flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
pinch ground ginger
pinch ground allspice
1/2 c. sweetened, shredded coconut



Preheat oven to 350.  Mash banana.  Add the pineapple, oil, and sugar.
In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, and allspice.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet until blended together.  Add the coconut last.  Mix until evenly combined.  Pour into a  greased bread pan and bake for 45-50 minutes.  (I baked for 50 min).
Nutrition Info: 12 servings, Cals: 201, Fat: 6, Carbs: 35.7, Fiber: 1.5, Protein: 2.6

Last bread I made today is a Zucchini, Pineapple, Banana Bread.
I couldn't find a recipe that suited me, so I just threw together some stuff based on the recipes I've seen and just guestimated the amounts that would work together.  This recipe makes two bread pans.

Ingredients
3 bananas, mashed
1/2 c. oil
2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. sugar
2 c. shredded zucchini
2 c. shredded pineapple
3 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp nutmeg



Preheat oven to 350.  Mash the bananas first in a large mixing bowl.  Then add the oil, vanilla, sugar, zucchini, and pineapple and mix until blended together.  In a separate mixing bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet and blend together until combined.  Add half the mix to a greased bread pan and the other half to another greased bread pan.  Bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the middle clean.
Nutrition Info: 24 servings, Cals: 161, Fat 5, Carbs: 28, Fiber: 1.3, Protein: 2

Notes
*I mixed all of the breads with a wooden spoon.  An electric hand mixer would probably over mix the batter.
*I now am down to 4 bananas in my freezer.
*The last bread that I made up the recipe for ended up being my favorite.








2 comments:

  1. you know what would make that last bread absolutely perfect? ...chocolate chips. :) which I put in everything. way to go baker jordan!

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    Replies
    1. I can't believe I didn't thin of that! I have a bag of them in my pantry!

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