Whole-Grain Harvest Nut Banana Bread - King Arthur Flour's Bake the Bag!

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I started a new baking challenge from King Arthur Flour to bake items using their White Whole Wheat Flour. The challenge is called Bake the Bag and they send you a recipe each week where you bake bread, cookies, etc from the flour bag until you've used the entire bag.

What a great way to find some new recipes while gaining experience in baking with white whole wheat flour!  You can join this challenge as well by signing up on their site here.  

First up is this Whole-Grain Banana Bread.

This bread is fabulous!  Very moist and tender with a nutty, earthy flavor profile that screams Fall! 

What is Banana Bread?

Banana bread is a form of quick bread (no yeast involved) that is of cake like texture...or like a large muffin, that is baked in a loaf pan.  You use really ripe bananas to moisten the bread and give it great flavor as well.  I know people that buy bananas just to make banana bread rather than eating them!  Do you do that?

Can banana bread be customized?
Once you have the basic recipe down, banana bread can be made a million different ways.  You accomplish this by adding in "add-ins" like cinnamon, chocolate chips, cranberries, or any dried fruit.  You can also change the fat used in the recipe by substituting sour cream, yogurt, applesauce...etc.  This recipe calls for nuts as optional ingredient and I like a good nut in my banana bread.  Since I didn't have a whole lot of walnut I decided to put a mix of nuts in my bread.  Pecans, walnuts, and sunflower seeds made for a wonderful harvest mix and give this bread a great nutty, earthy flavor!

Whole-Grain Harvest Nut Banana Bread

Banana bread is typically served as a breakfast bread but can also be served warm with ice cream for dessert.  Oh yum!  I totally suggest that you try it toasted with a little spread on top for a nice change as well. 

What equipment do I need?

Need a good loaf pan?  This one is the one I use all the time.  For a more economical version, this one is really nice to have.  You will also need a good rubber spatula such as this one or this one.  Plus, a wonder mixing bowl is a must!  Options such as this one, and this one are perfect.  

Banana bread is the bomb!  You must have a good recipe in your recipe box!  You're gonna love this banana bread and this recipe will become a favorite in your house like it did mine.

Enjoy!

Whole-Grain Harvest Nut Banana Bread

source:  King Arthur Flour

2 cups thoroughly mashed banana; about 4 or 5 medium bananas
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 cup King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour or Premium Whole Wheat Flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped nut, a mix of pecans, walnuts and sunflower seeds 
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Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the center position. Lightly grease a 9" x 5" loaf pan; if your pan is glass or stoneware, reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the mashed banana, oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
3. Weigh your flours; you’ll find their weight by toggling to “ounces” at the top of the ingredient section above. Or measure them by gently spooning them into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. Mix the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and chopped nuts into the banana mixture. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl and mix again to thoroughly combine the ingredients.
4. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan. Mix together the sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle over the batter.
5. Bake the bread for about 60 to 75 minutes, until the bread feels set on the top, and a paring knife (or other thin knife) inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs (but no wet batter). If you have a digital thermometer, the bread's temperature at the center should register about 205°F. If the bread appears to be browning too quickly, tent it with aluminum foil for the final 15 to 20 minutes of baking. Note: If baking in a glass or stoneware pan, increase the baking time by 10 to 15 minutes.
6. Remove the bread from the oven. Cool it in the pan for 15 minutes, then loosen the edges, and turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool completely.
7. Store leftover bread, tightly wrapped, at room temperature for several days. Freeze for longer storage.

French Chocolate Bark

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Is everyone ready for Christmas?  

I'm as ready as I'm going to get this year.  Our tree's been up for a week or so, the presents are wrapped, the outside is decorated with lights, and the menu is planned....sort of!

So Monday night I made several batches of goodies for MGG to take to work and share with his staff of about 80 guys.  I usually make "The Fudge" which is the original type that you boil, but this year I made a quicker, faster, take on fudge.  I'll share that with you next.  I also made a chocolate bark.  I LOVE bark.  It's easy to make, you can add all sorts of toppings, and make a different flavor variation every time.  

FRENCH CHOCOLATE BARK

I just happened to be watching the Food Network on Sunday and watched Ina Garten (The Barefoot Contessa) make a French Chocolate Bark.  Her version had a sweet salty thing going on with nuts and dried fruit PLUS it had TWO TYPES OF CHOCOLATE!  I new that was the bark I wanted to make this year.  Boy, the flavors did not disappoint!  What a heavenly combination.  Dried apricots, cranberries, and dried cranberries top a mixture of dark and semi-sweet chocolate.  Deep and rich with sweet, tart, and crunchy bites!  WOW!

So after taking a test taste, or two...I promptly stashed some of the bark for us, and packed the rest for the work crew.  It came out perfect, was really easy to make, and was the hit of the holiday treats.

Enjoy!!

French Chocolate Bark

adapted from Ina Garten's French Chocolate Bark

8 ounces very good semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
8 ounces very good bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup whole salted, roasted cashews
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 cup dried apricots, roughly chopped

Place the semisweet chocolate and the bittersweet chocolate in a glass heatproof bowl over simmering water and stir with a rubber spatula constantly, until melted. Line a sheetpan with parchment paper.

Pour the melted chocolate onto the parchment paper and spread it lightly into a 9x10" rectangle. Sprinkle the cashews, apricots, and cranberries over the chocolate. Set for 2 hours or until firm. Break bark into pieces and serve.

Jamaican Jerk Chicken Stir Fry

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I have a friend that vacations in Jamaica every single year.  She loves the people, culture, beach, and of course the food.  She even got married there a few years back!  She had the perfect destination wedding.  I love to sit and listen to all her stories and adventures of Jamaica as I've never been there, but it's definitely on my bucket list.  

When she comes home she always brings me back something special.  I've gotten quite a bit of rum, which I totally LOVE! But I have to say that I'm extremely grateful that she brought me back some Jamaican jerk seasoning.  I love Jerk Chicken, and this spice blend is heaven, and it's what we are featuring today in my Jamaican Jerk Chicken Stir Fry.

The one that she brought me back is available here.  The Spice Hunter also make a good blend that you can find here.

JAMAICAN JERK CHICKEN STIR FRY

This recipe was adapted from my Caribbean Pork Stir Fry dish.  The basis is similar but I chose to use chicken instead of pork, and create a Jamaican jerk chicken flavored stir fry.  What a hit this was!  MGG practically inhaled this dish, having 2nds and wanting thirds!  This dish carries a little heat from the spices, but you can tone it down if you want by adding less seasoning.  It is also a little sweet from the plum sauce, so this brings you that sweet and spicy combination that everyone loves!

The combination of flavors, veggies, and spices is absolutely a winner In our books.  We will be making this dish often.  So why not add a little spice from Jamaica in your life.  This will be one dish the whole family will love.

Enjoy!




Jamaican Jerk Chicken Stir Fry

serves 4

2 tablespoon canola oil
3/4 lb of boneless chicken breasts, cut in to 1" pieces
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 - 3 teaspoons Jamaican jerk seasoning
3 of each color, red, yellow, and orange, mini bell peppers, cut into strips or chunks

1/2 medium onion, sliced

1 large zucchini, halved lengthwise, and sliced

1/4 cup of whole unsalted cashews (or peanuts)

1/2 cup bottled plum sauce

hot cooked rice 

In a wok or large skillet heat oil over medium-high heat.

In a pie pan add cornstarch and then dredge chicken pieces in the cornstarch until covered.  Add chicken to hot skillet and sprinkle with Jamaican jerk seasoning.  Cook for about 5 minutes or until no longer pink, stirring often.  Remove chicken from the skillet to a pan.  

Add the bell peppers, onion, and zucchini to the skillet.  Cook for 5-7 minutes until crisp tender.  (add additional canola oil if needed).  Add cashews to the skillet and stir until toasted, about 1 minute.  

Return chicken and any juices back to the skillet.  Add plum sauce to the skillet and toss to coat and sauce is heated through.  Serve over hot cooked rice.  

Items I used to make this dish:

• Island Spice Jerk Seasoning
• Lodge 10" cast iron skillet
• Dynasty Plum Sauce
• Argo Cornstarch
• Cashews

Other items you may like:

• Joyce Chen carbon steel wok
• The Spice Hunter Jamaican Jerk Blend
• Stir Fry Utensils
• Stir Fry Cookbook

This post contains affiliate links of items I use and recommend.  Should you choose to purchase an item a nominal fee is provided to me at no additional cost to you.

Chicken Teriyaki Stir Fry and a Product Review

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You know how much I love my stir frys.  Some of my favorites are my Chicken, Green Bean & Mushroom Stir Fry , Chicken, Brussels Sprouts & Noodle Stir Fry, and my Cashew Chicken.  And those are just the chicken ones!

So imagine my delight when I was browsing the fresh vegetable section in the grocery store the other day and I came across a Stir Fry Kit from Taylor Farms.  Yes! Jackpot!  This was a stir fry kit with all the veggies, chopped, and washed and ready to go, along with a sauce as well!  Now this is fresh cooking, convenience style.  They did most of the work for you so that you can take a 20 minutes stir fry and turn it into 10-15 be skipping all the chopping and sauce mixing steps.  Now that's a good deal!

You may have heard of Taylor Farms.  They are the ones that have those wonderful chopped salad mixes in bagged salad section.  Well they now have a line of stir frys.  I think there was 4 flavors to choose from but I gravitated immediately toward the Teriyaki Stir Fry Kit. 

The kit includes broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, carrots, red cabbage, snow peas, and it includes the  teriyaki sauce as well.  All good stuff for you.  All you need to do is add the protein and anything additional that you want.  I chose to make it with chicken (my go to protein) and added some cashews to the mix for some extra crunch.  Actually, I add cashews to a lot of things....that's my confession for the day!

This couldn't have been much easier since most of the work is done for you.  I used my usual method of cutting the chicken in bite size pieces, dipping in cornstarch, and then cooking that first.  Removing that to cook the veggies which cooked up quickly, then adding the cashews, chicken and the sauce.  BAM! you're done!  Serve alone or with rice and you have an easy, quick, and tasty dinner.

This isn't any kind of sponsored post, I just happen to run into this product and I love to share them with you when I feel they are healthy, helpful in the kitchen, and taste fresh and delicious!  This one is a winner, and I can't wait to try another version.  Hope you can find this in your store...and if you happen to come across it, try it.  You won't be disappointed!

Chicken Teriyaki Stir Fry

serves 4

1 lb boneless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
1/4 c cornstarch
3 Tbls canola oil, divided
1 bag Taylor Farms Teriyaki Stir Fry Kit
1/3 cup cashews, roasted
Optional:  hot cooked rice

On a plate toss the chicken with the cornstarch.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the canola and in a large skillet or wok.  Add the chicken and cook on medium-high until browned on all sides, about 3-4 minutes on each side.  Remove chicken from the pan, and turn the heat up to high.

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of canola oil to the skillet.  Add all the vegetables and cook 4-5 minutes, until they are crisp tender.  Add the cashews and stir until slightly roasted.  Return the chicken and any juices back to the skillet.  Add the stir fry sauce from the kit and toss to coat.  Serve over hot cooked rice if desired.

Sour Cream Carrot Cake Muffins

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Easter is about a week away.  It's one of my favorite holidays!  I have such great memories from my childhood of getting an Easter dress, some white patent leather shoes, having parties, hunting Easter eggs, and of course the food!!

Now that I'm older I still love a good dress, and I have to decorate my house with colored eggs, and pretty spring flowers and bunnies, and I've been known to have an Easter egg hunt or too!  But to me Easter if a day to spend outdoors in the pretty spring weather and after a particularly wet winter we are ready to be outside again. 

This year calls for a nice brunch out in Descanso Gardens.  One of our favorite gardens to visit.  They have a forest of camellia trees you can walk through along with a Japanese garden (swooning over the apple blossom trees, among every spring flower you can think of.  My personal favorite is the tulips.  Just gorgeous!  This year lunch will be held in the rose garden which is surrounded by arbors with climbing roses.  I can't wait to spend the day in a garden!

Descanso Gardens

SOUR CREAM CARROT CAKE MUFFINS

Today I'm bringing you a recipe for Sour Cream Carrot Cake Muffins.  What Easter without Carrot Cake?  You gotta have a bite of carrot cake and these muffins do the trick.  This is a lower carb version as well, so they are delicate, moist, and not overly sweet.  These are the BEST carrot cake muffins around.  The sour cream adds a layer of moistness and the carrots become tender and sweet.

The addition of raisins, walnuts, and spices give it a warmness you'll swoon for and a crunchy sweetness to every bite.  Oh boy these are good!  Perfect to make Easter morning, to take on the go, or to serve at a sweet and savory Brunch.  We adore these muffins and you will too!

Enjoy your Easter, and check out my other post, Host a Festive Easter Brunch, for more menu ideas, or use the search word "Easter" in the search box on the side. 

Sour Cream Carrot Cake Muffins

make 6 muffins

3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons Splenda Bake
1 large eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup carrots, shredded
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a 6 well muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl add flour, baking soda and powder, cinnamon, salt, and Splenda Bake.  Mix to combine.  Add the egg, oil, sour cream, and vanilla.  Stir until just incorporated. 

Fold in the carrots, raisins, and walnuts.  Scoop batter into the muffin tin.  Bake for 18-20 minutes until toothpick comes our clean and tops are golden brown.  Cool and serve.

Bakery Style Banana Nut Muffins

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My love of muffins runs way back to my childhood in which mom would make the best muffins on the weekend.  I mastered that recipe at an early age and still use it today.

As I got older muffins still played a major roll in my breakfast repertoire.  I remember two specific muffins that I can't seem to forget.  I used to work in the MGM Plaza and they had a small coffee shop that everyone frequented before work, or on break.  Along with the coffee, as many Starbuck's and Coffee Bean's do today, they had pastries for purchase as well.  The main item here were big bakery style muffins.

BAKERY STYLE BANANA NUT MUFFINS

So I frequented this coffee house A LOT..and always got a muffin for breakfast.  My two favorite muffins were a Cranberry Walnut muffin and a Banana Nut muffin.  Man was I in heaven anytime I ate one of those muffins.  Moist as can be, and the flavor was heaven.

So being wintery here over the weekend (rain, yea!) I decided it was time to try and re-create one of those muffins.  First up was the Banana Nut version.   Some deep memory recall was in order to get the flavor just right and I do say I hit it on the head!

Bakery Style Banana Nut Muffins are moist and full of spice and earthy walnuts.  They are big beautiful muffins that will make your home smell wonderful as the aroma fills the kitchen.  MGG certainly came running when he smelled these and immediately asked "What smells so good...and will it go with my coffee?"  Haha!  Of course these wonderful muffins go well with coffee, or tea, or milk. 

Perfect for breakfast, brunch, or a snack these are the great warming winter muffin to enjoy. 

I hope you try these soon and enjoy them as much as I did.  Enjoy!


Kitchen Note:  I had enough batter to make 6 regular sized muffins that I filled to the top so they would turn out large, and about 5 or 6 mini muffins on the side.  If you make minis with the leftovers be sure to adjust the cooking time down for those items.





Bakery Style Banana Nut Muffins

Yield:  6 large muffins, plus some batter leftover to fill 1-2 more, or 5 minis

1 large ripe banana, mashed
1 large egg
1/2 c 2% milk
1/4 c canola oil
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 c walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl mash the banana.  Add the egg, milk, and oil.  Mix together using a spatula to completely incorporate.

Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.  Stir just until combined.  Do not over mix.  Fold in the walnuts, leaving a few back to place on the tops of the muffins.

Using a scoop, add batter to the individual muffin tins.  Add the remaining walnuts on the tops of each muffin.  Bake 18-20 minutes.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool 5-10 minutes in the tin.  Serve warm or at room temperature.