Who doesn’t love banana bread…

I almost did it. I almost went an entire weekend without baking…or cooking or using the stove whatsoever for that matter. Last weekend, Matt was up north hunting, so it was just me and the boys at home…a weekend consumed by laundry, playdates, classmate-birthday-party-shuttling, checkbook balancing, and quick meals of fresh fruit, veggies, yogurt, and so on. Before I knew it, Sunday night dinner was staring me in the face…and I hadn’t cooked a thing…ALL weekend.

So, I made pancakes. Double batch. I couldn’t help myself. After a two-day break from cooking, it just felt right.

And then. Well. There were two bananas looking rather ripe on the counter. So I had to bake some bread.

Thinking of ripe bananas reminded me of the frozen bag of mixed leftover pineapple, bananas, and melon in my catch-all Ziploc in the freezer. So I blended up some smoothies to go with the pancakes.

It’s like giving a mouse a cookie, if you give Amy a recipe, she’ll need some ingredients to go with it…

Sour Cream Banana Bread

(reposted from my original March 2012 post…with improved photo that makes it actually look appetizing this time)

6 Tbsp butter, melted
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups flour
2 bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in a small bowl. Mix sugar with melted butter and set aside to cool for a few minutes. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the eggs and butter/sugar mixture and stir until combined. Add the vanilla extract and mashed bananas, give the batter a quick stir, and pour into a bread pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes until a toothpick tests done.

Banana Ice Cream for Breakfast

Confession: I serve my kids ice cream for breakfast. Don’t tell them it’s healthy. That’ll be our little secret.

You may have already heard of this recipe, but in case you haven’t, stop reading and go put some ripe bananas in the freezer right now…

Tropical Rainforest Fruit Smoothies

We weren’t sure what to call this one. Like most smoothie creations in our house, we just use what’s on hand, and see if it works out. This one was a winner.

With banana, pineapple, and orange juice as the base elements of this smoothie, the name “tropical rainforest” just seemed right.

As you can see, the Youngest loved it…sipped it right down through his favorite Rainforest Cafe twisty straw. What a little monkey.

The funniest part: our last smoothie creation was the Big Green Monster concoction, and when I presented the boys with the tropical fruit smoothie, they actually were sad that it wasn’t green.

Hmmm….maybe I’ll try this one with spinach or kale in it next time!

Tropical Rainforest Fruit Smoothie
2 cups orange juice
1 container of peach-flavored Greek yogurt
2 cups of ice
1 banana
1 cup of pineapple

Blend all ingredients and enjoy!

Blender Banana Oat Pancakes

Sundays in our house are always pancake mornings. We could pretty much put ANYTHING into the batter, and our boys would happily scarf them down. Well, except for uncooked brown rice, which grandpa accidently added to the batter one Sunday morning at the family cabin, when he didn’t have his glasses on, and he thought he was adding brown sugar…but that’s a different story.

We make a double or triple batch each week and save the leftovers to heat up for quick breakfasts or weeknight meals for the boys. They are definitely a go-to, healthy meal when we race home from after school activities, because we can have piping hot, reheated pancakes on the table topped with sliced fresh fruit and a side of Greek yogurt in under five minutes.

Did you know you can put rolled oats in a blender to break them down?

Rolled oats are whole grain – the single ingredient listed on the package is: 100% all natural whole grain rolled oats. That’s it. No extra sugar or artificial flavors or colors that are inherent in most packaged, instant oatmeal.

By breaking down the oats, we can then incorporate them with the flours (I use a mix of whole wheat and all purpose) for an added kick of whole grain in this recipe.

We serve our pancakes with butter and organic real maple syrup.

Blender Banana Oat Pancakes

2 cups rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all purpose white flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 bananas
6 Tbsp vegetable oil
4 cups milk
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder

Start by adding the rolled oats to the blender and pulse until pulverized. Dump contents of blender into a larger bowl and add the remaining dry ingredients (flours, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder). Mix well.

Peel bananas and add to empty blender. Next, add eggs, oil, vanilla, and 2 cups of milk. Blend until bananas are fully mashed and incorporated in the liquid. Add the remaining 2 cups of milk and pulse blender a few times to stir. Pour contents of blender into the dry ingredients bowl and stir to combine.

Preheat griddle to 350 degree. When the griddle is ready, cook pancakes using 1/4 cup of batter per pancake.

Big Green Monster Smoothies

We’ve been working hard on our personal family food revolution, trying to fit more whole foods into each meal, and smoothies are a great way to do just that. Since it’s getting close to Halloween, here’s a hauntingly great recipe packed with nutrients that got two thumbs up from my boys…well, after they were brave enough to try mom’s spooky concoction.

I was a little worried when the boys witnessed the spinach going into the blender. It wasn’t like I was trying to hide it. They love spinach, so why not give it a try? Next came the orange juice, followed by an “ewwww” from the boys. Yet, I perservered.

But, once I hit blend, and the spinach and juice started to whirl together, the boys exploded into a snorting-giggle-ewwww-fest. Oh, no. This isn’t going to be pretty.

Again, I continued on.

Tossed in a banana, a cup of pineapple. At this point, they were definitely entertained and just a little bit curious.

Finally, a cup of ice, one more big whirl, and our frothy smoothie was complete. Annnnndddddd….to my delight, two curious little monsters decided to try it.

Sip, sip, sip. “Hey mom, this is kinda like when they have to drink something gross on the Amazing Race…” Hmmm. O.K.

More sipping. Two empty glasses. “Hey mom, this is actually really good. Can we have some refills?” Success.

Big Green Monster Smoothies
Inspired by Green Plate Rule’s green smoothie.

1 cup spinach
1 cup orange juice
1 banana
1 cup pineapple
2 cups of crushed ice

The trick is to get the spinach nice and pulverized, so start by blending just the spinach and orange juice first. Then, add the bananas, pineapple, and ice. Finally, blend well, and serve.