A fruit-filled breakfast (Banana bread, strawberry smoothie, chocolate chip zucchini muffins)

 

I love quickbreads.  They seriously are quick to make, as well as being fun and not dirtying-up very many dishes.  In my opinion, they're not any harder to put together than box mixes, which I really don't like.  All you have to do is mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl, the wet ones in another, and combine them- don't mix too much, though, or it will result in a tough bread.  

 

Here in Costa Rica, tea time is usually taken between 3 and 5 pm, depending on the time you've eaten lunch and will eat dinner.  It's generally somewhat informal, unless you are celebrating a birthday or other special event.  They call it "café," because, even if you don't drink coffee, most people do, with a cookie, biscuit or other sweetish treat.  Yesterday 3 overly ripe bananas in my fruit stand were calling my name before café time.  I couldn't waste them, so what better way to use them than to make a delicious banana bread?  

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A note on mashing the bananas- the way I did it was to cut them up a bit in my mixing bowl, mash them slightly with a fork and plop them in the food processor.  If you do it this way, it's best to just pulse a few times, not puree completely- it's nice to have some banana chunks in the bread.  You can also mash them completely with a fork/ knife, and I imagine that a pastry cutter could work well here, too.  

 

This is as easy, quick and delicious as banana bread comes.  The recipe is from the Joy of Baking.

 

 

 

 

Banana bread

 

Ingredients

1 cup (115g) walnuts or pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped (optional but highly recommended)

1 3/4 cups (230 grams) all-purpose flour

3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

3 ripe large bananas (approximately 1 pound or 454 grams), mashed well (about 1-1/2 cups)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

 

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).

 

Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 x 5 x 3 inch (23 x 13 x 8 cm) loaf pan. 

 

Place the nuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly toasted. Cool and chop coarsely.  

 

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix in the chopped nuts. Set aside.

 

In a medium-sized bowl combine the mashed bananas, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla. With a rubber spatula, lightly fold the wet ingredients (banana mixture) into the dry ingredients just until combined. (Here you can add in chocolate chips if you are feeling spunky). The batter should be thick and chunky. Do not over mix the batter, it will result in tough bread. Scrape batter into prepared pan. 

 

Bake until bread is golden brown and a  toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 to 60 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before removing the bread from the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature with a dollop of yogurt on top, vanilla ice cream, or sprinkled with powdered sugar.  

 

Makes 1 - 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf.

 

Note- the first time I made this delicious quickbread, I baked it in a 9 x 9 pan, probably for a shorter amount of time.  If you decide to bake it in another size pan, just keep an eye on it and check it by sticking a cake tester, toothpick or fork into it.  

 

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This morning, I decided to have banana bread and a strawberry smoothie for breakfast.  It's the perfect way to incorporate fruit into your diet (!) Although I don't generally measure the ingredients, here's basically what I combine in the blender…

 

125 grams (1 small yogurt cup) of yogurt (I chose strawberry)

¼ cup orange juice

1 cup of strawberries, hulled and halved (or quartered, if large)

⅓ cup of mango, optional

½ TBSP sweetener (I like to use honey)

 

Makes almost 2 cups of yummy smoothie

 

 

 

 

Other favorite combinations of mine are…

 

- Strawberries, banana, orange juice or mango nectar, mango peach yogurt

- Mango, banana, pineapple, orange juice and plain yogurt

- Strawberries, blueberry yogurt and ice

 

Feel free to try your own combinations!  

 

 

 

 

Here's another of my favorite quickbread recipes.  I gave some of these moist muffins to a friend who claims to "hate" zucchini (how?  I'm not sure…), yet enjoyed these darlings very much.  

 

 

 

 

Chocolate chip zucchini cupcakes

From Gourmet

 

Ingredients

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 TBSP unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

¾ cup plus 2 TBSP sugar

½ cup vegetable oil

1 large egg

½ tsp pure vanilla extract

½ lb zucchini, coarsely grated (1 cup)

6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

 

Equipment- standard 12-cup muffin pan, greased well or lined with paper liners

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place the rack in the middle of the oven.  

 

Whisk together the flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  

 

In a large bowl, using your electric mixer (stand or hand), beat together the sugar, oil, egg and vanilla for about 2 to 3 minutes, or until creamy.  

 

At low speed, mix in flour mixture until just incorporated.  Stir in zucchini and chocolate chips.  

 

Divide mixture among muffin cups.  Bake until tops spring back when lightly pressed, about 30 to 35 minutes.  Cool in pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes before turning out to cool completely.