Orange-Banana-Walnut Coffee Cake

This is my adaptation of a banana bread my daughter made recently. Hers was only bananas, and she felt it was too dry, but I loved it! So, naturally, I made a couple substitutions and some additions. Preheat your oven to 350° Spray an 8"-9" square glass pan with oil. Hers was baked in little loaf pans, but my pans are too big for that, so -baked in a square (or round) pan- It's A Coffee Cake!

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk these together:

1-1/3c all purpose flour

2/3c corn flour

1t baking soda

1/2t salt

1T cinnamon

2T ground chia and flax seeds

In a large mixing bowl, mash and whisk together these ingredients:

2 lg. pasture-raised eggs
4oz. avocado oil
1T Mexican vanilla
1c brown sugar
1/2c golden raisins
3 lg. ripe bananas
1c chopped walnuts
zest of 1 lg. orange

Add the dry ingredients to the big bowl, about half at a time. Combine just until everything is mixed together with no dry patches. Pour this into the prepared pan, top with cinnamon sugar.

Bake until it passes the toothpick test, about 50 minutes. Cool completely before loosening the edges and cutting into squares. This turned out great! Nice for breakfast, a snack, or dessert. . .Lin

Banana-Craisin-Pecan Yeast Rolls

2 mashed ripe bananas
1 egg
2T melted butter, coconut oil, or olive oil

In a big glass bowl, mash the bananas and stir in the egg and oil, or melted fat.

1/2c golden raisins or craisins

1/3c ground chia + flax seed

1-2t pumpkin pie spice

1t active dry yeast

1t brown sugar

1/2t salt

1/2c chopped pecans

2c bread flour

In a smaller bowl, stir this group together. Add this to the big glass bowl and combine well, using a heavy wooden spoon or silicone spatula, until all the flour is incorporated, the dough is sticky but pulls away from the bowl a little.

Cover and let rest about 1½-2 hours, in a warm place, until the dough doubles in size. I put mine in the oven with the interior light on.

Fold the dough a little, and poke it to release any air bubbles. Transfer it to a floured surface. I like to use corn flour for this. Move the dough around so the entire ball is covered in flour, pat it down flat and cut it into 9 equal pieces.

Flour the surface again, then shape each piece, pulling, folding, then rolling, into a smaller ball. Put these in a 9" square, non-stick, or oiled glass pan. Cover and let rise again until double in size, about 45 minutes this time.

Bake at 375° for 15-20 minutes and savor the scent in your kitchen.  The rolls are not light and fluffy, they're more heavy and. healthy!

Here's what's left after a few were eaten. One on top, cut, buttered, now just awaiting a sprinkle of spiced sugar, and a quick heating in the microwave. Mmmm...

What a perfect fall day this has been. I worked on other 'house things' while making these rolls, listening to a favorite of mine, Ingrid Michaelson. .😊. .Lin

PANCAKES! - Whole Grain BANANA Pancakes!

This is surprising to me, on so many levels.  I don't remember making pancakes in a decade or more. With bananas?  Even more so. They've never been a favorite of mine. Are strange cravings in our 70's a thing? I didn't want these to be just standard Bisquick pancakes, which were always my favorites when I was a child, so I googled 'best homemade pancakes' and picked the one with all the stars filled in to use as my model, but, it was such a simple recipe! I made a bunch of changes.

• 1-1/3c unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/3c whole wheat flour
• 
  1/3c corn flour
• 2T ground chia and flax
• 2t ground cinnamon
• 4t baking powder
• 1/4t baking soda
• 1/2t salt

• 1-3/4c coconut almond milk
• 1/4c light olive oil
• 1/4c sugar*
• 1T pure Mexican vanilla
• 2 lg. eggs

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. *(I used a mix of coconut sugar and turbinado sugar)  Whisk the wet ingredients together in a smaller bowl.  Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Fold both together until no dry powder is visible, it's okay if there are a few tiny lumps.

Put a little light olive oil in the pan and heat until it starts to shimmer and move a bit. Using a 1/4c measure, pour the batter in keeping it circular.  Top this with banana slices. Flip when the edges appear golden and bubbles appear. Leave it on the second side a minute or two then check the color. Plate them when they're done the way you like.

These weren't pretty, but they sure were good!  This makes a LOT of batter.  You can store it in an airtight container for several days in the 'fridge for more breakfasts! . .Lin

Carrot-Cranberry-Banana Smoothie

1 med. carrot - scrubbed and sliced

3/4c fresh or frozen cranberries

1 sm.-med. banana

1c plain Greek yogurt

3/4c or more cherry juice

Combine all in the blender container.  Cover and pulse a few times to get the blending started.  If it doesn't blend easily, add a little more juice.  Blend on medium or high for a minute or so.  Pour and serve.  Makes 2 big glasses. . .Lin