Whole Wheat Banana Bread

This is by far the best banana bread I have ever had....really...and its made from whole wheat!

I got the recipe from kneadfulthingsnow.com

I have been to 2 of Karen's seminars in the last month, one on bread making and one on food storage and bother were awesome. She really is a fountain of knowledge on this stuff.

Anyway, I decided to try out this recipe and I have already made it twice! So yum!


Banana Nut Bread with Streusel Topping
Bake at 350
50-55 minutes
Makes 1 large loaf—enough to share if you are forced into it.

Pre-heat oven to 350
Lightly butter a 4X9 loaf pan and set aside

Nuts
Spread out 1 1/3 Cup Walnuts on a cookie sheet. Roast in 350 oven for five minutes. Stir and roast an additional 3-5 minutes. The walnuts will quickly begin to smell very sweet and nutty. Oooo so delicious. Allow to cool.

Meanwhile Combine
2 Cup mashed well ripened banana
1Cup Dark Brown Sugar

The juice from the bananas will melt the brown sugar making a very soupy mixture, don't be alarmed. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients:
2 Cup freshly ground whole wheat flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt

Set aside.

Nuts
Coarsely chop your walnuts. Measure out 1 cup and add to the banana mixture. Finely chop the remaining nuts. These will be used for the struesel.

Struesel Topping
1/4 Cup freshly ground whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp Dark Brown Sugar
1/3 Cup Roasted Walnuts Finely Chopped
2 Tbsp Butter

Combine flour and sugar, mix well working out any lumps of sugar. Add nuts and mix. Using a pastry cutter, or your fingers (my technique), cut in the butter until the mixture is thoroughly combined and has a variety of crumble sizes. Set aside.

To the banana mixture add:
3/4 Cup Coarsely Chopped Walnuts
2 tsp Vanilla
2 Large Well-beaten Eggs
1/4 Cup Melted Butter

Stir until well combined.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients all at once and stir gently just till thoroughly combined. Working quickly, dump the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Spread all of the streusel topping evenly over the top of the loaf and very gently press the topping slightly into the batter.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Cover loaf with a foil tent. Continue baking an additional 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean.

Allow the loaf to cool completely. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate overnight. You're gonna love it.

Enjoy!

Recipe: Strawberry Banana Sherbet

I started making this years ago and love it because it is light and fresh tasting and not too high caloried. I got this recipe from a Martha Stewart show I watched one summer.

Strawberry Banana Sherbet
Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients

4 cups (2 pints) strawberries, stemmed
4 medium, very ripe bananas, peeled
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup (about 4 oranges) fresh orange juice
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, (about 1 1/2 lemons)
2 cups whole milk

Directions
Place strawberries in a large bowl. Using a potato masher, mash strawberries, and set aside.
Place bananas and sugar in a medium bowl. Using the potato masher, mash until smooth.
Add banana mixture to strawberries, and mix well. Stir in orange juice, lemon juice, and milk. Divide the mixture among four metal ice-cube trays, about 2 cups per tray. The sherbet can also be poured into a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish and placed in freezer. Stir every 30 minutes until frozen, about 4 hours.

And also, Dreyer's is doing a contest for 1,500 free ice cream parties for your neighborhood. I thought this was a fun idea and who can beat a free ice cream party? You just have to write a paragraph. Here is the link http://edys.neighborhoodsalute.com/

Each ice cream party will include:

Door-step Delivery of ten (10) cartons of Dreyer’s/Edy’s Slow Churned ice cream and thirty six (36) Dreyer’s/Edy’s ice cream snack size cups
One (1) “Party In A Box”, which includes:
* 100 bowls/cups
* 100 plastic spoons
* 10 plastic scoops
* 200 napkins
* 1 disposable camera
* 1 yard sign
* 1 marker
* 100 name tags
* 2 table covers
* 25 door hanger invitations
* Commemorative ice cream scoop
* Wipes for sticky fingers