Revamped Banana Bread!

Oh how I love banana bread!  And I have finally tweaked my mom's recipe to modernize it.  Bye-bye Crisco!  Here we go:

1/3 c. applesauce
3/4 c. sugar or 1/2 c. agave nectar
1/2 T. oil (I use safflower generally, but grapeseed or canola works fine)
2 eggs or egg replacer
1 tsp vanilla
2 to 3 ripe bananas (the blacker the skin, the better)
2 c. all purpose flour (or K.A.'s white wheat)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 c. soymilk + 1 T white vinegar (aka "buttermilk")
1 c. chopped nuts (optional)

Mix your wets (except for the soymilk/vinegar), and add mashed bananas.  Mix your drys separately.  Add your wets to your drys, mix.  Gradually add the soymilk/vinegar and mix well.

Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake for 1 hour in a 350 degree oven.  Check with a toothpick for doneness (doneness?).  Cool 5 min in pan, then flip out and cool 5 min upside down.  When completely cool, eat it, or wrap it up and freeze it.  Mom used to make a double batch and freeze one for later.

Oh and by the way...if you use that egg replacer, it's VEGAN!!!  :)

Butternut Squash Muffins

Ok, here it is--finally! The delicious butternut squash muffins! These are easy to make vegan, fat free, and whole wheat. You can make them non-vegan by using real eggs as well. I swiped Jamie Oliver's muffin recipe and tinkered around with it till I lowered the sugar and made it fat-free.

Note: The recipe calls for fresh squash, but I always use frozen because I'm in a hurry. I've used canned before, and it's ok, just a little on the heavy side. If you use fresh, I recommend you chop it up and boil for 5 minutes to soften.

Butternut Squash Muffins

14 ounces butternut squash, skin on, deseeded and roughly chopped or frozen cubed, boiled for 5 minutes.
1 1/4 cups light soft brown sugar
4 large eggs, or equiv. of Ener-G brand egg replacer
¾ cup unsweetened applesauce
Pinch of sea salt
2 1/2 cups white wheat flour (King Arthur makes this kind, or you can mix 1 ¼ cup all purpose + 1 ¼ cups whole wheat)
2 heaping teaspoons baking powder
Handful of walnuts, chopped (optional)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350*
Whiz up your squash, sugar, eggs, and applesauce in the blender, then set aside.
Mix your drys.
Slowly add your drys to the wets (squash mixture). Be sure you do not OVERMIX! Just mix till incorporated.
Pour into greased muffin pan—I have a pan that makes 12 big muffins, and I just fill them up to the top and it uses all the batter.Bake 20-23 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then pop them out.

Mom's Pumpkin Bread

Sure, there are a million recipes out there for pumpkin bread, but none of them are as good as my mom's. I like to make this to give to my neighbors for X-mas. It's fun to put the loaves in the wagon and walk around the neighborhood with Noah passing them out. They freeze beautifully! You can get nice holiday-themed disposable loaf pans at most grocery stores (or Target) this time of year. Make all your loaves in one day, then freeze till you plan on delivering to save time. It's not a bad idea to bake a few extra, just in case you get invited to a last minute party or something (you social butterfly, you...)

Making this (and any baked good) with local pastured eggs makes the flavor even better. :)

Pumpkin Bread (a la Betty)
4 c. sugar (1/2 brown, 1/2 white)
1 c. vegetable or canola oil
1 can (1 lb. 13oz) pumpkin
1 egg
5 c. flour
4 tsp. baking soda
1 T. cinnamon
1 T. allspice
2 tsp. salt
1 c. raisins
2 c. nuts (optional) [walnuts are best!]

In a large mixing bowl, mix ingredients in order as given. Stir in raisins and nuts by hand last.
Bake in a preheated 350* oven for 1 hour, or until toothpick inserted in center is clean. Makes 3 loaves. (cut in 1/2 for one generous loaf or 2 small)

pumpkin loaf + eggnog + rum = yum!