I've decided to be virtuous and do something about the dozen bananas my husband always brings home and forgets to eat. Then they go brown and support colonies of fruit flies.
An easy, idiot-proof banana bread recipe would be much appreciated.
Banana nut preferably.
Low carb too. (just kidding)(but would it be possible?)

-- Janie

I am not at home, but have a good banana bread recipe that I can post next week. As for using those bananas, they freeze beautifully and are great in smoothies. I peel the bananas, cut them into pieces, put them in freezer bags and pop thme into the freezer. For smoothies, I use them frozen. I bet they would work fine in banana bread if they were defrosted first.

I also freeze bananas but I don't peel them. I just toss them in a freezer bag whole. They thaw in less time than it takes me to get all of my other ingredients measured out.

You're right Miranda, they do work just fine in banana bread.

I'm already in bed w/the laptop or I'd dig out a recipe. They are all very similar. You can customize them to your liking by toasting the nuts, adding cinnamon, nutmeg, etc, using brown sugar instead of white and so on.

The bread also freezes well. Sometimes I freeze whole loaves, other times I slice it thick and freeze individually and then make french toast out of the slices. (One thick slice is a good portion) After the toast is done I melt a little butter and brown sugar in the pan, toss in walnuts and bananas and flambe with a splash of banana liquer or rum and then pour over the french toast. Sort of like a Bananas Foster French Toast. The presentation is very dramatic if you wait until you serve the toast to light the liquer.

Ok, this is from my 1982 Better HOmes and Gardens BInder Cookbook which my mother gave me as a shower gift the FIRST time I got married. It is the only survivor of that shower. I still make this Banana Bread because it is simple and good.

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup shortening ( I have used butter and margerine, both work ok)
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 cup mashed ripe banana
1/4 cup chopped nuts

Stir together flour, baking powder, soda and 374 teaspoon salt. set aside

In a mixer bowl beat sugar and shortening until light , scraping sides of bowl. Add eggs one at a time, beating smooth after each one. Add milk. Add flour mixture alternating with a bit of banana, beating till smooth after each addition. Fold in nuts.

Turn batter into lightly greased 8x4x2 loaf pan. Banke for 60-65 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan, cool. For easier slicing, wrap in plastic and store over night.

As Tori indicates, you can customize. I used brown sugar and toast the nuts, but leave the spices out.

I will have to try your BHG recipe Diana! Here's my "old standby" from a 1978 "new" Betty Crocker ("new and revised" to include some microwave recipes for the first time!), which was also my first cookbook:

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (but I use unbleached)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1/3 cup milk
1 egg
1-1/4 cups mashed bananas (about 3 medium)
1 cup chopped nuts

Heat oven to 350. Grease bottom only of 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan. Mix all ingredients; beat 30 seconds. Pour into pan. Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 65 to 70 minutes. Cool slightly, loosen sides of loaf from pan, remove from pan, and cool completely. Wrap and refrigerate for up to 1 week. (Note: I usually bake in 2 or 3 smaller loaf pans for a shorter time. That gives me one or two small loaves to give away or freeze.)

Definitely not low-carb, unfortunately, and neither is the sweet addition my MIL taught me. Before baking, spread more dark brown sugar over the top of the loaf. Heavenly.

Torile, your "Bananas Foster" french toast sounds too decadent for words. So of course I'll have to try that, too!

YES, I wanted to say that about Tori's recipe too.. Tori, I am going to play with your banana french bread ideas...they are just too good to pass up!! A new B&B breakfast entree courtesy the nice people at ST....I will try in without booze for breakfast, and with booze as a dessrt, maybe with vanilla ice cream?

Diana

We make banana bread (or banana something) just about weekly. Here's our standby:

Banana Nut Bread

3 ripe bananas
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup veg oil
1 cup chopped walnuts

Mash banana and add sugar; let stand about 15 minutes. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Beat eggs and oil in small bowl. Add oil mix to bananas and beat thoroughly. Dissolve baking soda in 1 tablespoon of water (I usually skip this and just add the soda to the dry ingredients). Add dry ingredients to bananas. Stir in nuts.

Bake in greased loaf pan 60 minutes at 350 degrees.

We just finished a loaf this morning!

Geralyn

I often alternate the plain bread with this recipe:

Sour Cream Banana Coffee Cake

1/2 cup semi-sweet choc chips, chopped
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
2 teeaspoons cinnamon
1-3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter, siftened
3 eggs
2-3 ripe bananas
8-oz sour cream
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

Lightly coat a 12-cup bundt pan with veg cooking spray.

In a small bowl combine choc chips, walnuts, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 cup sugar. Set aside.

In a lrge bowl, beat butter at med speed with remaining sugar until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low, add cinnamon and remaining ingredients and beat 3 minutes until smooth.

Sprinkle a third of the choc-nut mix on the inside of greased pan. Layer half the batter; sprinkle with another third of the choc-nut mix; top with remaining batter; sprinkle with remaining choc-nut mix.

Bake 45 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack. Turn out of pan and cool completely before slicing.

Enjoy,
Geralyn

I also use the Better Homes & Gardens binder cookbook recipe. It is very quick and easy!

I can't wait to try the sour cream banana coffee cake. That sounds really good!
-Mary

Wow, what a selection and just in time too !! Because Geoff came home on Tuesday with a bunch of bananas and he's off on a trip today for a week and ... yup, hasn't eaten any of them bananas yet.

Torile, Miranda -- freezing sounds like just the solution for busy times, 'cause then it's less pressure to bake the bread right away. And thanks Geralyn, KimC, Diana for those yummy recipe suggestions. Torile, after reading your French toast idea (drool), I don't think I have the moral right to get back on the weight loss support thread !!

quote:

Torile, after reading your French toast idea (drool), I don't think I have the moral right to get back on the weight loss support thread !!

lol
Don't feel bad Janie. I haven't even had the nerve to post there yet.

Di - do you make a lot of breakfast entrees at your Inn?
I know Italians, in general, aren't big on breakfast and that your clientele will surely stretch beyond the Italian. Most Italian B&B's I see online don't really offer much other than the fruit, yogurt, breads fare.

If you want recipes for the Inn I've got tons of breakfast ones - especially french toast.

Tori, I do a full on breakfast every day. The basics which always appear are yogurt, müsli, fresh fruit in season, and bread, either Italian or home made German or banana bread or pumpkin/zuchini, etc. Additionally, I do some kind of salad, like strawberry/balsamico, orange/rosemary, and then something salty like salami and figs or tomatoes/basil/robbiola/gorgonzola. Then I make an entree, like a frittata, or grilled cornbread with fried apples, or maybe your new banana french bread which really appeals to me. I try to get really good oranges for the juice.

If someone really just wants less, of course, that is no problem!!

oh man, I would love some recipe inspiration. I have a personal code that unless requested, no one gets the same breakfast twice... a two week stay can become quite a challenge!!

Wow! You really put on a spread. We should collaborate and put together an Innkeepers cookbook.

How about Grand Marnier French Toast?
TOAST:
I use french bread but about 3/4" thick on a bias.
For the egg mixture I use eggs, cream, orange juice(just OJ alone is too thin so I use the heavy cream too), vanilla, a splash of Grand Marnier and the zest of an orange.
I cook the bread on the stove top in butter. (I always use clarified butter - I just really prefer the flavor and the fact that it doens't brown as quickly.)
SYRUP:
When I take the toast out of the pan I toss in some Grand Marnier and ignite it. Once it burns off I add a little maple syrup and let it heat up.
BUTTER:
I make a compound butter of softened butter, a little powdered sugar, grated orange zest and - you guessed it - Grand Marnier.
Garnish w/fresh oranges, powdered sugar and more orange zest.

Although it looks as though all my guests left a little tipsy it was really not the case. These just happen to be a couple of things I made with alcohol. The Grand Marnier French Toast was probably my most requested item from repeat guests.

OKAY -- you're it!!! Now you send me one.

quote:

Originally posted by Diana Strinati Baur:
oh man, I would love some recipe inspiration. I have a personal code that unless requested, no one gets the same breakfast twice... a two week stay can become quite a challenge!!

Diana, I stayed at a B&B near a ski resort and the hostess did a great breakfast dish she called "The Wifesaver". It was an egg and cheese strata, slices of bread, cheese, prociutto, tomatoes. But she prepared it the night before to let the egg soak into the bread and then baked the next morning. Real timesaver for next morning. Turns out it was the "Basil Breakfast Strata" from Silver Palate Good Times cookbook, page 123 under Porch Brunches.

Torile -- Grand Marnier French Toast? You're gonna be banned from ever posting on the weight loss support thread for sure now. Sounds so decadent!

Banana bread/cake is my favourite ! Here is my recipe for cake..

5ozs stoned dates,roughly chopped
rind of one lemon finely grated including zest
4-5 bananas smallish finely mashed
1 tablespoonful of rum,optional or any other alcohol you'd like to add, I sometimes use sherry.
3ozs butter
2ozs muscavado sugar
half a tin of condensed milk
2 large eggs,beaten
8ozs self raising flour
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 tablespoonful of bicarboante of soda
4ozs walnut pieces
Heat oven to 170 C
Grease and line the base of a 2lb loaf tin with baking parchment
Put dates, with lemon juice, bicarb and 2tbsps of boiling water into a small dish, stir well and leave to cool,then add bananas and rum/sherry
Whisk together butter, sugar, condensed milk in a large bowl. Gradually mix in the egg, then the banana and date mixture.
Sift over the flour and baking powder and then mix in.Reserve a few walnuts for the top then add the remainder to the mixture.
Transfer the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for about 1 hour and 15 mins or until a skewer comes out clean.

This is novelty value only as I am sure it is too complicated to translate the quantities of ingredients into USA style ones but thank you for all yours.
Wendy

quote:

Torile -- Grand Marnier French Toast? You're gonna be banned from ever posting on the weight loss support thread for sure now. Sounds so decadent!

Then I'll just have to make sure I double the alcohol in my breakfast. That way I won't remember I've been rejection. hiccup

I liked making strata too. I made them any time I had a large breakfast meeting with local businesses. It was always a challenge to think of something "eggy" to come up with for a crowd that would hold for a little time. They were so simple --- mix 'em up the night before and forget about them.

quote:

That way I won't remember I've been rejection. hiccup

Oops......should read: won't remember I've been rejectED.
I should have skipped that second serving of toast.

quote:

Wendy said: ...too complicated to translate the quantities of ingredients into USA style ones..

Wendy, it partly depends on the size of your teaspoons/tablespoons! If they are the same as the US ones, and if you'd tell us how many ounces your tin of condensed milk is, we could probably work it out without too much difficulty. And your recipe sounds well worth the small extra effort. We just have to weigh out some ingredients on a kitchen scale, instead of using our normal "cups" of dry ingredients. (For those who may need a refresher, remember that Imperial pints are 20 ounces compared to the US 16 ounces. Oh, and 170 Centigrade is about 340 Fahrenheit.)

But I did give my neighbor in London a set of US cup and teaspoon/tablespoon measures when she received a US cookbook. Because while it seems "do-able" to convert from UK to US measures, I think it would be much more difficult to convert the other direction. So if you don't have a conversion chart, I can weigh out a few cups of flour and sugar for you so you can try out the US recipes! Or just send you the US measures.

quote:

Originally posted by KimC:
But I did give my neighbor in London a set of US cup and teaspoon/tablespoon measures when she received a US cookbook.

Kim -- OMG givng the measuring tools as well as the cookbook is a stroke of genius. Totally thoughtful, practical, and makes your neighbor bilingual in the cuisine department.

Franco's Frittata with Potatoes Lyonaise

We get our eggs from Franco, our neighbor who brings them up every day from his chicken coop. His chickens are fed leftover pasta, biscotti, lettuce and spinach, as well as a corn mix which Franco grows himself. The yolks are dark orange.

Potatoes:

For four: 1.5 lbs new potatos
2 red onions
quarter cup of pancetta
herbs

Peel and boil potatoes. Cut in eights. Remove from water. Fry in olive oil. Finally shread two red onions. Finally mince a handful of parsely with a mixture of chopped chives, chopped sage, chopped thyme and chopped oragano. A handful of parseley to a handful of the mixture.

Sautee the onions with about a quarter cup of chopped smoked pancetta in a seperate pan from the potatoes. When both the potatoes and the onions/pancetta are gold and the onions are caramelized, mix the two together, and toss
in the chopped herbs.

In the spring, I make a fritatta using erbete (wild greens), which are first sauteed in butter and garlic.

Turn inside oven grill on.

Break and scramble six eggs. Place in iron skillet which has been covered with olive oil. Add sauteed erbete (or baby spinach) and slices of gorgonzola dolce. Salt/pepper. When 50 % cooked through, place under grill and let it melt further and become a bit golden on tht top.

Serve a quarter of the frittata on a plate with the potatoes. Sprinkle the plate lightly with chives.

your turn.

quote:

We get our eggs from Franco, our neighbor who brings them up every day from his chicken coop.

I am so envious. I used to have hens and the freshest eggs possible. I miss them.

Okay - one more french toast recipe and then I'll get on to something else. I liked this one because I mixed it up the night before - even measuring out the ingredients that I use the next morning. That way you can put it in the oven and get on to other stuff.

I take french baguettes - slice about 2 inches thick.
Mix up eggs, cream, cinnamon, vanilla and a little honey.

Dip the bread in the egg mix and place in a greased baking dish - cut side up. Pour the leftover egg over the bread The egg should come up at least 1/3rd high on the bread. It will all soak in overnight and the bread will have a moist eggy taste and texture.
Cover and refrigerate.

The next morning drizzle melted butter over the bread. (Not a lot but a good bit since you don't serve it with butter and syrup)

Sprinkle brown sugar on the bread next - leaving it a tad chunky, not totally separated.

Next cover with chopped pecans - or other nut.
Now drizzle fine streams of honey all over the bread and bake. (I use a fork as it gives me thinner streams) The honey and brown sugar will carmelize as once it cools a little bit will have a crunch to it.

I've got a cranberry biscotti in the oven and the timer is calling me.

TAG ! !

Sorry for being late to this thread on the bananas but we have had two of our granddaughters here for a week (5&3) so we had no life for a week.

Judith purposely lets the bananas get black so I will make my banana waffles!!

Banana Waffles (or Pancakes)
4-6 really overripe bananas
3 eggs
1-2 tablespoons of vanilla extract
Low fat Bisquick (or flour with baking powder)
Buttermilk or any other milk

First, mash the bananas with a whisk in a large mixing bowl to get them creamy and smooth. Then add the 3 eggs and vanilla along with about 2 cups of the Bisquick. Mix it all together and determine how much other liquid in the form of a milk you need to add as the bananas do contain a lot of liquid for the batter. I like to keep it thick for waffles but you can thin it out for pancakes.

Use a non stick spray to coat the waffle iron or griddle and let them cook slowly. Normally when the steam stops rising from the iron, they are done to a nice crisp waffle!

You can them sprinkle chopped walnuts on the top or, if making pancakes, sprinkle the walnuts on the pancake when you pour the batter on the griddle.

If you make a big batch, you can freeze them with wax paper in between and the do toast up well or reheated in the oven.

It's like a banana bread waffle!!

They are yummy!!

Doug