Peanut Butter Banana Bread

From Cooking Light



Ingredients:
Bread:
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana
1/3 cup plain fat-free yogurt
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
6.75 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
2 tablespoons chopped dry-roasted peanuts
Cooking spray
Glaze:
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon 1% low-fat milk
1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. To prepare bread, combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed. Add granulated and brown sugars; beat until blended.

3. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (through allspice) in a small bowl. Add flour mixture to banana mixture; beat just until blended. Stir in nuts. Pour batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 5 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Remove bread from pan; cool.

4. To prepare glaze, combine powdered sugar, milk, and 1 tablespoon peanut butter in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle glaze over bread.

Comments:
Ridiculously easy, turned out great. I tried to be artistic with the glaze, but you can see how well that went. Bah. I'm not a fan of bananas. At all. And it was kind of hard to mash the things up and put them in the batter. The smell... ugh. But once it was baked it wasn't so bad. And the peanut butter glaze definitely helps cut the "banana" in the "banana bread." Adam says he doesn't like the banana/pb combo, but he hasn't tried it yet so I hope he's reserving his opinion.

Walnut Banana Bread

From Taste of Home



Ingredients:
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 to 3 medium)
1 tablespoon milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
In a bowl, cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in bananas and milk. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in nuts.

Pour into a greased 9-in. x 5-in. loaf pan. Bake at 325° for 65-70 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

Comments:
So, last week bananas were on sale but they were all very green. Adam got some anyway, but according to him "they ripened weird." He was going to toss them but I suggested perhaps they could be used to make banana bread. He said "go ahead."

Let me just say right now that I do not like bananas. At all. They smell gross, are mooshy. But yes, I made banana bread. That's how much I love him.

Anywho, pretty easy recipe. I doubled it since I had a lot of bananas to use up. It all worked up well, made the whole house smell like banana (yay!) and apparently tastes ok. He plans to take one loaf to work tomorrow.

Banana-Kiwi Smoothie

From The Everything Glycemic Index Cookbook by Nancy Maar



Ingredients:
1 banana, peeled, cut into 2-inch segments
4 kiwi fruit, peeled, cut in half
Juice of 1 lime
1 1/2 cups orange juice
2 tbsp oat bran or Kashi
4 ice cubes

Directions:
Place the banana, kiwi, lime and orange juices in the blender and puree. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth.

Comments:
I tried a little of this and it was way too banana-y for me. But Adam thought it was great. I got the "summer berry" Kashi and it seemed to go well with the rest of the fruits. I might make this for myself at some point without the banana. We'll see.