ba-na-naaaaa!

i loved despicable me for the minions alone. and the fact that they were all in love with fruit, like me, didn't hurt either :D

so of course this is a banana update, if you didn't get that yet :)

first is M's bday cake-

Banana Sheet Cake (9 x 9)

Cake

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp of vanilla extract

2  large mashed bananas

1/4 cup Greek yogurt

Frosting

3 oz whipped cream frosting, room temp

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temp

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 9x9 baking pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. In a larger bowl, beat the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time and then add the vanilla and mashed bananas. Mix in half of the flour mixture, then the yogurt, then the other half of the flour mixture. Spread the batter evenly in the baking pan and bake for about 20 minutes or until nicely brown and the surface springs back up when touched. Let cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting, mix all the ingredients together (electric mixer would be the easiest, but by hand is doable). Spread over the cake. Decorate with toasted pecans, optional.

*did half the simplyrecipes recipe but forgot to halve the egg and butter in the frosting, egg might have made the cake denser, and frosting turned out perfectly (not too sweet but a cream cheesy goodness)

second was a new banana bread recipe! who would have thought i would ever branch away from my usual recipe.

Banana Bread

adapted from joy the baker

makes 1 loaf

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup granulate sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup uncooked old fashioned oats

3 tsp canola oil

1 large egg, beaten

2 medium egg whites, beaten

3 large ripe bananas

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a loaf pan. In a large bowl mix all dry ingredients from flour through the oats. In a smaller bowl, mash bananas and then add whole egg and oil until thoroughly mixed.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well. In a medium sized bowl, with an electric hand mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the batter in three additions. Pour batter into pan and bake until top of loaf is firm to touch about 45 minutes. 

is it too early to eat?

since M and D get up before the crack of dawn and stop eating by 3 or 4 pm i suppose it's okay to eat something like this at 7 am:) it's super easy and delicious! i got this recipe from Eating Well and based on what i had in the pantry it became more of a "mexican" lasagna. and even with all the changes it tastes good!

Mexican Lasagna (serves about 5-6, or one and a half M's)

1/2 Tblsp oil
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 zucchini, diced
about 9 oz of black beans, drained
1/2 tsp cumin
about 9 oz salsa of your choice
3-4 small whole wheat tortilla wraps, quartered
1 cup grated pepper jack cheese

Preheat oven to 400 F. Lightly grease a 9 x 9 pan. Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until brown (about 5 minutes). Add the zucchini, black beans and cumin and cook for about 3 more minutes. Make a layer of tortilla wraps on the bottom of the 9 x 9 baking pan. Top with the vegetables, then a layer of salsa and then cheese. Repeat. Bake covered for 15 minutes. Bake uncovered for about 7 minutes or until the edges bubble and the cheese is melted.

and with all the tortilla wraps left over nothing like baking them w/ some olive oil and sea salt to make a stacy's pita chip kind of goodness.and to round out a productive cooking/baking day made a loaf of banana bread! running out of my breakfast granola bars (finally) so i went back to banana bread. i made a few changes again.

Banana Bread (Adapted from The Everything Cookbook)

Yield: 1 large loaf

1 2/3 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup instant oats
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
a little less than 2/3 cup applesauce (unsweetened)
2 Tblsp maple syrup
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup mashed banana
1/2 cup greek yogurt

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray and flour a large loaf pan. In a medium bowl mix together the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl mix together the applesauce and maple syrup, add in eggs one at a time. Add the mashed banana. Add the flour mixture in thirds, alternately with the yogurt. Blend quickly and pour into pan. Bake about 45 minutes or until the center tests done.

i couldn't taste the maple syrup unfortunately, so i'm thinking next time of soaking the oats in the yogurt and maple syrup to really suck up the flavor. but probably the healthiest bread you could make that still tastes delicious. now i just need to get some pumpkin butter to mix with peanut butter and spread on top!

breakfast (or dinner) of champions

along with the granola bars i decided to make some banana bread (what else would you use leftover sour cream for??) to also have as handy dandy breakfast on the go. the recipe is similar to what i've made before except this time i used sour cream and greek yogurt (in place of the butter). of course it was about 3/4 whole wheat flour and the rest white flour and it tastes really good. especially with some pumpkin butter spread on top. eum eum.
reading my nutrition book for my online class i feel more and more like i'm eating unhealthy. which i'm really not compared to how i used to eat or how most americans probably end up eating due to time and budget. so i finally cracked and made huevos rancheros b/c i've been talking about them forever and it's a complete protein and has veggies (sort of). plus it's really easy to make. i cooked the black beans earlier in the day (you can just get the canned version and just rinse the sodium from it) and a can of salsa (this is safeway's southwest salsa medium), eggs, and a tortilla wrap. there's something about having the runny yolk mix w/ the salsa and beans that is just sooooo tasty. i'm drooling just thinking about it again.