Roasty Toasty Banana Bread

Happy Leap Day (yesterday) y'all! A whole extra day in the year which is essentially a freebie from Father Time as a reward for making it through the past three years. "Oh! I see that you endured 2009, 2010, AND 2011 without an extra day in February. Well this year, because you were SOOO good, I will gift you a whole extra day. Use it well and keep up the good work!" Yes, that is in fact how I think Father Time would talk too. All jovial and saint like, much like Santa Claus.

So what did I do to celebrate this extra day (disregarding the tornado warning and torrential downpour that soaked me to the bone for the rest of the day)? I made banana bread. But not just ANY banana bread, roasted banana bread. I know! Get back Jack, this stuff is good! I had read on one of my various food blogs that roasting bananas before adding them to banana pudding is a great way to develop natural sugars in the fruit and thus make it taste more banana-y. So, as I am not a huge banana pudding fan, applied this technique to banana bread. 

Bananas before the oven...

... and roasted bananas after the oven.

After mashing and adding to the rest of my wet ingredients, which included a lot less sugar because of the banana's now more pronounced natural sugars, I tossed it with some flour and nuts and threw it in the oven to wait the excruciatingly long 40 minutes for the loaf to be done. I have already decided that whatever is left of this beautiful loaf will soon turn into roasted banana french toast - more on that later!

Wet and dry, moments before marrying and making beautiful banana bread babies.

Roasted Banana Bread

Wet:
2 medium bananas, with their ends cut off
2 TB agave nectar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup low fat buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Dry:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup toasted and chopped walnuts

Place bananas on a baking sheet and roast at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until skins are browned and inside fruit is warmed and fragrant. Peel bananas and mash with a fork. Mix in a bowl with all wet ingredients, mix completely. Set aside. Mix all dry ingredients in a separate, larger bowl. Pour wet into dry and stir just to combine. Pour in a greased loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, or until center comes out clean when poked with a toothpick.

Peanut Butter is a Food Group

Or at least in my world it is. I know it is not the best thing to be eating on a regular basis, thanks to its calorie density and saturated fat, but I figure there are worse things I could be addicted to. I try to cut my loses by buying the natural kind (I tried to low fat variety and that stuff is awful!) so I figure I am at least not putting so many chemicals and preservatives in my body. And I would like to start making my own someday, but that would require one of those fancy-dancy food processors which is still on my wish list. So all natural, Simply Jiff is what it is.

Given that I am so in love with this legume's spread, I tend to dollop it into a lot of my baking. Last week I made peanut butter and jelly muffins, a first for me. They were delicious, and I deemed them appropriate for breakfast, snacks, and dessert. Topped with a little of my homemade granola and I was good to go! Needless to say the dozen didn't last long at all.

Post 50 Planning

We are quickly approaching 50 posts (two more posts to go) and I am trying to decide what I should make for the memorable anniversary. I love baking and sweets, obviously, but as you will see below I have gone a little overboard on the sweets lately in order to celebrate my birthday - this is not a bad thing and I by no means complaining, mind you, I simply don't think my hips can take much more. I have journals and journals filled with ideas, recipes, and notes about cuisines and things to try, and I have been flipping through them to get ideas. (I know paper and pencil is not the most efficient way to do such a task, but what can I say? I am a traditionalist who sticks with what she knows. And technology and I don't get alone so I can't automate the system.)

Do you all have any suggestions or requests? I am all about trying something new, but am not against revisiting an oldie but a goodie. Or maybe pick something off my wish list to try, that sounds like fun! (check it out over here is you forget what's on there.)

While you ponder that - here are some photos!

Homemade granola! Made with oats, walnuts, raisins, agave nectar, and a little cinnamon. Easy squeezy.

I plan on eating this on top of yogurt, mixed into a salad, topping a baked sweet potato, 3and any extras will be baked into some pancakes at the end of the week - but I doubt it will last that long.

Have a happy week!