Chocolate Banana Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins

Bananas! Zucchini! Chocolate! Oh my, did this recipe turn out well. For some unknown reason, this summer I  often find myself with an abundance of these three ingredients (yes, even chocolate) and a hankering to bake. Not too long ago I whipped up a batch of these little tasty muffins for a few pals. And boy were they a hit!

Omitting the oil and using applesauce instead made the muffins a bit less fat heavy, but not too worry...I ate enough of them to make up for it in the end.

Lately, I've been thinking of taking a survey to see what fall goodies folks would like me to make heading into the next season. There have been more than a few requests for another Foodie Fest (which we are long overdue for) and I'm thinking of doing a sweet 'n savory pie foodie fest sometime in October. Thoughts, anyone? And enjoy the recipe!

Chocolate Banana Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins 

• 1 large ripe banana, mashed
• 1 1/2 c zucchini, shredded
• 1 3/4 c flour
• 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
• 3/4 c sugar 
• 1 egg
• 1/4 c applesauce 
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon 
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp almond extract 
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a muffin pan or line with paper cups.

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

In another medium bowl, mix together egg and sugar. Next add applesauce, vanilla and almond extracts, and mix well. Add in mashed banana and shredded zucchini. Then mix the dry ingredients into the wet until well incorporated. Finally, add the chocolate chips.

Bake for 11-15 minutes, depending upon muffin size. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack or the counter.

Banana Guacamole

Recently, I found myself standing in my kitchen holding a handful of very ripe bananas without a vision in mind as to how to wisely use them. What was a foodie chef to do?? Why get creative, of course! And thus Banana Guacamole was born last week.

Now before you wave around your wand of judgement here, follow my mother's very good advice and try everything once before you say you don't like it. This dip is unbelievably good, especially in the heat of summer! I can easily imagine it on top of a delicious piece of grilled fish (yes, I've been falling off my vegetarian bandwagon of late) or tropical tofu. If you are a spicy lover like myself, adding a hot pepper to it like a jalapeño would likely come out scrumptious! 

If anyone is curious as to what my creative process looks like when making new recipes, this is about as dazzling as it gets with my note taking. When drinking is involved, it becomes much harder to read my handwriting the next day (but I leave funnier notes for myself).

Another variation I would love to try one day is to add mango or even papaya to the mix. Mmmm, I'm craving a fruity drink with an umbrella and a pile of tortilla chips to go with this dip. Have fun, play around with the recipe until you find the version you like, and as always - enjoy!


Banana Guacamole

• 1 very ripe large banana
• 1 ripe large avocado 
• 2 tbsp sweet onion, diced 
• 1 tbsp elephant garlic, diced 
• 2 tbsp anaheim pepper, diced
• 1/4 tomato, diced and seeded (saved for the dip)
• 1 tsp lime juice
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1-2 tsp hot pepper oil (like sesame) 
• salt and pepper to taste 
• red pepper flakes to taste 

Mix the first two ingredients together until well mashed and incorporated. Using the back of a spoon or a fork works just as well as a potato masher. Next mix in the remainder of the ingredients, and tweak as desired for personal taste. Let chill for at least 15-20 minutes before serving. Double the recipe to make a four-person serving.

Bananas Foster Bread

Why yes, this bread is just as delicious as it looks! My new fad - add yummy (alcoholic) flavors to breakfast breads. Someone had already thought of this one, over at Sweetpea's Kitchen, however I still had to try my own take on it.

This is yet another example of why I MUST distribute my baked goods immediately or else I run the risk of being the human vacuum cleaner of food. I think I literally ate half a loaf of one of these bad boys. And it was worth every bite!

I didn't change much with the receipt other than to double it and modify a few ingredient amounts; it honestly didn't need it. And with the leftover rum, I am jumping into a few cupcake ideas which I plan to share with you lovely folk soon. Enjoy! And happy summer!!

Bananas Foster Bread
Adapted from: Sweetpea's Kitchen 

1. 2 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana
2. 2 cup packed brown sugar, divided
3. 12 tablespoons butter (3/4 cup), melted and divided
4. 1/2 cup dark rum, divided
5. 2/3 cup plain fat-free yogurt
6. 4 large eggs
7. 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 
8. 3 cups all-purpose flour
9. 1/2 cup ground flaxseed
10. 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
11. 1 teaspoon salt
12. 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
13. 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
14. 2/3 cup powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease bottom and sides of two 9 x 5-inch loaf pan; dust with flour, tapping out excess.

In a nonstick skillet over medium heat, combine banana, 1 cup brown sugar, 10 tablespoons butter, and 6 tablespoons rum. Cook over medium heat until mixture begins to bubble. Remove from heat; cool. Place banana mixture in stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add yogurt, remaining 1 cup brown sugar, and eggs. Beat at medium speed until combined.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, flaxseed, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and allspice. With the mixer on low, add flour mixture to banana mixture and beat just until blended. Pour batter into the prepared pans. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Remove bread from pans; place on wire rack.

While the bread is cooling, make the glaze by combining remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter, remaining 2 tablespoons rum, and powdered sugar; stir until well blended. Drizzle over the warm bread. Try not to eat it all at once! 

Banana Blackberry Lemon Muffins

A few weeks ago I had a request for more breakfast muffins as a parting gift for a friend's office, this time without any peanuts or strawberries. After doing some hunting, I came across an old Banana Blueberry Lemon Muffin recipe from Dragon's Kitchen. With some finessing and modifications, I created my own version of Banana Blackberry Lemon Muffins and damn if they aren't delicious!

Light, fairly low fat, and healthy. Next time around - no muffin liners. They had the nasty habit of sticking to the liners, which made for a messy eating experience. And they definitely tasted better the next day. Enjoy!

Banana Blackberry Lemon Muffins 
Adapted From: Dragon's Kitchen

• 1 1/4 cup white flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour 
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 large ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract 
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 cup blackberries, frozen or fresh
• 2 tablespoons grated lemon rind
• 3 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 375 F. Lightly grease muffin tin and add liners if desired.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of the lemon rind.

Beat together bananas, eggs, brown sugar, applesauce, lemon juice, almond extract and vanilla extract until blended.

Stir in dry ingredients until blended. Stir in blackberries just until combined. Spoon into prepared muffin cups, dividing batter equally.

For the topping, combine sugar and remaining lemon rind in small dish. Sprinkle evenly over the muffins.

Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Makes about 16 regular muffins.

Classic Banana Bundt Cake

The bundt cake. Brilliant invention. The guy who made the bundt pan made millions. Hopefully he was a sweeter man for it (ha, sorry another bad pun).

For me, the bundt cake is the epitome of easy baking. Make the batter, pour in the pan, bake and let cool. Add a topping as desired or take the simple route with a dusting of powdered sugar or cocoa powder. Or in my case, both. My changes - adding some brown sugar to make the outside ever so slightly crisp, adding almond extract, going with non-fat vanilla yogurt. There is lots of room in this recipe to add your favorite addition like chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, a flavored yogurt, or other tid bits of goodness. Enjoy!

Classic Banana Bundt Cake

Adapted From: Food Librarian

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar 
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoons almond extract 
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• About 4 very ripe bananas, mashed (you should have 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 cups)
• 1 cup vanilla non-fat yogurt

Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Generously butter a 9- to 10-inch (12 cup) Bundt pan. (If you use a silicone Bundt pan there’s no need to butter it). I used a ton of PAM like spray. Don’t place the pan on a baking sheet - you want the oven’s heat to circulate through the Bundt’s inner tube.

Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter until creamy. This takes a few minutes, scrape down the sides as you need. Add the sugar and beat at medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and almond extracts, then add the eggs one at a time, beating for about 1 minute after each egg goes in. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the bananas. Finally, mix in half the dry ingredients (don’t be disturbed when the batter curdles), all the sour cream and then the rest of the flour mixture. Scrape the batter into the pan, rap the pan on the counter to debubble the batter and smooth the top.

Bake for 65 to 75 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted deep into the center of the cake comes out clean. Check the cake after about 30 minutes - if it is browning too quickly, cover it loosely with a foil tent. Transfer the cake to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before unmolding onto the rack to cool to room temperature. Dust the top of the cake with cocoa powder and/or powdered sugar.

If you've got the time, wrap the cooled cake in plastic and allow it to sit on the counter overnight before serving - it's better the next day. You can also add your favorite icing to this. An easy one - orange juice and powdered sugar.

Banana Pudding Pie

This is a banana pudding pie. Make sure you have friends around to help you consume it, or you just might eat the entire thing by yourself. Believe me, I nearly did. Even with friends around. 

I should have snapped a few more shots of this pie, but honestly the second I tasted it I wanted more. Screw pictures. Pie in mouth, please.

After doing some online research, I came across this recipe from Lick The Bowl Good. Sadly, I didn't have a pie pan handy when making the crust and opted for a round cake pan. Hence I lost a few points on presentation as the slices didn't come out all pretty for picture taking. However, the taste more than made up for it. I didn't change much with the recipe from it's original state, and am glad I didn't as this pie is perfect just the way it is. Enjoy!

Banana Pudding Pie
Adapted from: Lick The Bowl Good

To Assemble the Pie: 

• Vanilla Wafer Crust (recipe below)
• Vanilla Pudding (recipe below)
• Whipped Cream (recipe below)
• 3-4 medium bananas, cut into slices
• 30 vanilla wafers plus more for decoration

Vanilla Wafer Crust:

• 2 1/2 cups (about 30) crushed vanilla wafers
• 1/2 cup butter, melted

Vanilla Pudding:

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose white flour
• 2 large eggs
• 4 egg yolks
• 2 cups almond milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Whipped Cream:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

For the crust:
In a medium bowl, stir together crushed vanilla wafers and butter until blended. Firmly press on bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate.
Bake at 350° for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to a wire rack, and let cool 30 minutes or until completely cool.

For the pudding: Whisk together sugar, flour, eggs, yolks and milk in a heavy saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, 10-12 minutes or until it reaches the thickness of chilled pudding. (Mixture will just begin to bubble and will be thick enough to hold soft peaks when whisk is lifted. It must be thick and slightly bubbly to set up properly!) Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla.

Transfer to a medium bowl and cover with plastic wrap, making sure to press the plastic directly on top of the custard so it doesn't get a "skin" on it. Refrigerate til completely cool. (Can be made up to a day in advance.)

Whipped Cream: In a medium bowl, whip cream on medium high speed til soft peaks form. Slowly add the sugar and vanilla and continue to beat til thick and stiff. Don't overbeat or you'll have butter (no good).

Assembly: Arrange half of the banana slices evenly over bottom of cooled crust. Spread 1/3 of cooled pudding over bananas, then layer with 20 vanilla wafers. Spread 1/3 more pudding over vanilla wafers, then add the remainder of the banana slices and cover them with the last of the pudding. Spread the whipped cream over the entire pie and decorate with more vanilla wafers if desired.

The layers from the bottom up should be: vanilla wafer crust, bananas, pudding, vanilla wafers, pudding, bananas, pudding, whipped cream

Refrigerate at least for 4 hours. Overnight is best. Consume within 2 days.

Breakfast Smoothie

Day 3 of the cleanse and I am feeling a little...well, frumpy. Tired, can feel the detoxing happening throughout my body, and the newest kicker is my insanely vivid dreaming. Last night I had a dream within a dream, which was more surreal than I can express (yes, it was weird like the movie Inception). Am going to blame it on the cleanse.

While the last few days I have had freshly made juice for breakfast, today I opted for a smoothie due to the large amount of cardio and physical activity I planned on doing. Using Joy the Baker's Kale Spinach and Pear Smoothie recipe as a starting point, I tweaked the recipe a bit and omitted the honey to stay in line with my cleanse. I do have to say, drinking a full glass of my breakfast smoothie was quite filling! 

Plus a little shout out to one of my favorite local Eugene breweries, Ninkasi. If I can't drink their tasty brew while on the cleanse, at least I can drink out of one of their pint glasses. :)

Breakfast Smoothie
Adapted from: Kale Spinach and Pear Smoothie

• Half a ripe avocado
• Half a pear 
• A handful of fresh spinach
• One large leaf of chard (any kind)
• One banana (you can freeze the banana if you like a colder style smoothie)
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups of cold almond milk (hazelnut or rice work too) 

Chop of the fruit into large pieces to make the blending easier. Add all items to your blender and process until smooth and bright green. Pour into a glass and enjoy!

Blueberry Banana Walnut Bread

It is the height of rafting season and we depart in a day for the Rogue River. The two knuckle heads in the photo to the right are some of my river family, Rafter Joe and DJ. They are hilarious to be around and always keep me on my toes, more than the river demands of me! The beige beauty (my raft) will again float down the beautiful waterways of Oregon with these two for comic relief and assortment of other fine characters. Expect a few foodie shots from camp soon.

As a happy rafter is a safe rafter, I take prepping for the river quite seriously. Baking and food included, of course. And drink too. You should see how prepared and organized rafters are. We are just shy of the insanity found with  scuba divers (speaking from years of experience here), gear and personalities included.

This week I whipped up a batch of Blueberry Banana Walnut Bread based on a Raspberry Banana Bread recipe I unearthed last year to share with folks at breakfast. Personally, I think homemade breakfast breads are where it is at. Especially if you are going to row till your hands blister for three days.

I made a few changes to the original recipe, using both white and whole wheat flours, 1/4 less sugar, both brown and white sugars, hazelnut milk in place of water, swapped oil for applesauce, added some spices, and a bit of almond extract. The loaf is a little more moist with the use of the applesauce, however I enjoy it that way for breakfast breads. The modified recipe follows. Enjoy and much love from the river!


Blueberry Banana Walnut Bread

• 1 cup white flour
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup white sugar 
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs (farm fresh are great)
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup applesauce 
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1/3 cup hazelnut milk (or other milk or water)
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
• 1/2 cup walnuts

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the flours, white sugar, baking soda, spices, and salt. In another bowl, combine the eggs, bananas, brown sugar, applesauce, almond extract, and milk.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until moistened. Fold in blueberries and walnuts.

Pour into two (2) greased 8-in x 4-in x 2-in loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees at 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Eat lots!