Banana Sunflower Seed Cookies

BANANA SUNFLOWER SEED COOKIES

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 very ripe medium bananas, peeled and mashed
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1/2 cup shelled sunflower seeds
1/2 cup miniature chocolate chips

• Whisk together flour and baking soda in a small bowl. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, beat bananas, butter and sugar until well combined.
• Add flour mixture half at a time, beating to incorporate. Fold in sunflower seeds and chocolate chips.
• Refrigerate cookie dough for 45 minutes to 1 hour. (Cold dough helps keep the cookies from spreading.) 
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with Silpats or parchment paper. 
• Scoop about 1 tablespoon of cookie dough for each cookie and place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake 15 to 17 minutes until edges are lightly golden. 
• Yield: about 24 cookies

Blueberry- Banana Cake

BLUEBERRY - BANANA CAKE

  

3 cups all-purpose flour
2-1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup veg oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups mashed bananas
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup fresh blueberries (or frozen, thawed)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Combine eggs, oil and buttermilk in a small bowl.

Add egg mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring until dry mixtures is moistened. Do NOT beat. Add vanilla, bananas and pecans. Stir well. Fold in blueberries.

Spoon batter into a greased and floured 10-inch tube (bundt) pan. Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then invert to remove cake from pan. Cool completely.

Other Blueberry Recipes:

  

Flash Back Friday #10: Plantain Chips

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FLASH BACK FRIDAY #10

PLANTAIN CHIPS

Click on image to see post from 3/14/2011

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My favorite from this past week was from GirliChef!

SAGE & CHEDDAR BEER BREAD

Yes, you read that right! YUMMMM!

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A big thanks for everyone who linked up!

    

 

BEYER BEWARE

THE KITCHEN IS MY PLAYGROUND

COOKING WITH K

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FBF #2: Nanny's Banana Pudding

FLASH BACK FRIDAY LINKZ is below the Banana Pudding recipe!

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This recipe has been in our family for generations. Its my brother's all time favorite thing! My Nanny (grandmother) has been making this for like.....FOREVER. =) And its taken many years to actually get it down to perfection. Now when I visit, she asks me to make it. So I'm going to share it now.

NANNY'S BANANA PUDDING

1 box Nilla wafers
6 bananas, cut into slices
1 large box of [jell-o] instant Vanilla pudding
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, room temp
3 cups milk
2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Whisk the heavy cream with sugar and vanilla to make "home-made" whipped cream. Or use a pre-made tub of whipped cream--but it tastes a lot better with the homemade stuff!

In a large bowl (I use my stand mixer) pour in sweetened condensed milk and add cream cheese. Beat until its all smooth (no lumps). Add in pudding and milk and mix until well blended. Then fold in half of the whipped cream BY HAND.

In a truffle bowl, put a layer of Nilla wafers on bottom. I like making a "neat" layer of the wafers, then crumble up a bunch to fill in all the gaps. Then top with half of the sliced up bananas. Pour half of the pudding mix. Put in the fridge just for a few minutes to firm it up. Then do the layering all over again. After pouring in the last of pudding mix, top with the rest of the whipped cream. Line the edges with more Nilla wafers and crumbles on top as well. Refrigerate for a few hours. [Its best to sit overnight, in my opinion]

The key is the sweetened condensed milk. You can get the low-fat and same with the cookies and cream cheese. That little difference doesn't change any of the over-all flavor. But I say: just go all out! =D

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FLASH BACK LINKY is up again! Please welcome my co-host Micha from Cookin' Mimi

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Banana Nut Bread

I've used this recipe for yeaarrrrrsssss now. My aunt gave it to me in college, and I don't use any other recipe. This one is perfect. Enjoy!

BANANA NUT BREAD

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2 eggs
4 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 -4 really ripe bananas
pinch of salt
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, mix together first 6 ingredients. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Gradually mix the flour mixture into the banana mixture. And pecans (optional).

Pour equally into 2 greased glass loaf pans. Metal pans might need different cooking time, I've "perfected" this using glass. So make sure you keep an eye on it while cooking if you do use metal.

Cook for 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes, then invert them on wire rack to cool. Eat. Or freeze--this is excellent for freezing then thawing! But most importantly--ENJOY!

Strawberry Waffles

Thank you all for joining the "Strawberry Linky Party!" Its not to late--its still open until Sunday! I knew this one recipe I was going to make right away. Its a "lazy" day here, so a perfect morning to make....

STRAWBERRY WAFFLES

2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 tablespoon sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/4 cups milk
3/4 cup vegetables
3/4 to 1 cup chopped strawberries

Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl.  In another medium bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, milk and veg oil. Slowly whisk in the dry mix into the wet mix bowl until well blended. Gently stir in chopped strawberries. Cook accordingly to waffle iron.

Top with finely chopped strawberries and bananas and a small drizzle of maple syrup.

This make about 8 waffles. I made all of them, then froze the remaining waffles and when you are ready to eat them, pop them in a toaster! My kids LOVED these--its a must try!

REFRIDGERATOR FRUIT SALAD

Ok, so growing up, anytime we had "fruit salad" was for special gatherings, so very far and few between. My mom never had a passion for cooking, so meals were quick, hearty and repeated (but good too!). Because of that I can't eat spinach (but that's a different story). So, fruit salad was a combination of fruit, held together by a can of cherry pie filling. Yes, I said cherry pie filling. The gooey, packed with sugar, very unhealthy stuff. So, naturally, through life that's what I thought about fruit salad.

I've steadily grown a passion for cooking myself, and love to experiment and make unique things, as well as perfecting the "classic" family meals. It wasn't until this past Christmas (the one 2 months ago), that this "cherry pie filling" topic came up again.

My wonderful still is more of a "naturalist" than I could ever be, but hates cooking, so everything is healthy, quick and easy. And I'm talking about the definition of "quick" and "easy" and I'll add "delicious."

One afternoon over the holiday, we were putting lunch together and I said to myself "I wish we had some pie filling, I would love some fruit salad." My sister turns on her toes with one eyebrow up, then turns back around and whips up this little concoction of delight. Something so simple. Something so healthy. My mind couldn't wrap around it.

And I've made it that way ever since.

So now you now most of the story (I could go into waaaay more explaining, but decided to sum it up) here is this amazing treat. And everything is right in your fridge. Its that easy.

REFRIGERATOR FRUIT SALAD

Depending on how much you want to make...I usually make it for one "sitting," or basically for 4 people.
2 small apples or 1 large [honey crisp is the best for fruit salad!] diced
2 or 3 small oranges [I usually have cuties on hand because of the kids] pulled apart and sliced in half
1 banana [if this is going to be eaten longer than a couple hours, add bananas right before serving]
Whatever else [fruit that is] you have: blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, ect...

This is the best part: What yogurt do you have in your fridge? Its probably you one you like eating in the mornings on a daily bases! I've even used my kids' gogurt one time!
Couple scoops (this is up to you, depending on how much fruit you used) yogurt
This could be from the little cups too! Don't forget!

I make this at LEAST once a week, so I buy a big tub at the store just for the fruit salad. It can be any flavor, but I've found strawberry, black cherry or my favorite, vanilla, works the best for flavor enhancement.This is also very healthy! Get the light & Fit kind and have an evening snack you don't feel guilty over!

Sometimes it just take someone to point out the simplest thing. So now I've pointed it out. Enjoy!