I wanted dessert. I didn't want anything that require too much effort. Or an overnight chill. And I wanted to be able to make it with ingredients on hand. And to be tasty without being too rich.

This banana cake fit the bill. Although it looked overly sweet recipe-as-written. So I halved the sugar and honey. I also reduced the butter by 20% and replaced half of the remaining butter with unsweetened applesauce. Mostly because butter is very expensive here and I was trying not to use too much. And then, just for fun, I decided to replace 140g of the flour with whole wheat flour.

I'm happy with how it came out in the end. It's tasty without being decadent. Having tasted it, I think it probably would've been fine if made according to the original recipe, you'd just want to be prepared for a quite rich, sweet cake.

I do think that either version would benefit from some additional banana. Two bananas makes for a subtle banana flavour, but I think I'd appreciate a more intensely banana-y cake. I might up it to three or four bananas next time. It might also be nice to try replacing the brown sugar with additional honey just to double down on the primary flavours. Reiver also suggested adding some yoghurt to the recipe, which I think sounds like could make a great addition, so I've added it below.

Banana-Honey Cake

Adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. butter, softened
• 1/2 c. honey (or 1/4 c. brown sugar + 1/4 c. honey)
• 1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
• 3-4 bananas
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 315g soft (plain/standard/cake) flour (or 140g whole wheat flour + 175g plain flour)
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease a 20cm square cake tin.
2. Cream the butter with the honey.
3. Mix in the applesauce.
4. Beat in the bananas, followed by the eggs, yogurt, and vanilla.
5. Sift in the flour(s), baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon and stir to combine.
6. Pour batter into preapared tin and smooth top.
7. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 30-35 minutes.
8. Let cool in tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to cool.

I made a fresh loaf of bread the other day. So then, when I slept in the next morning and wasn't feeling up to doing much for breakfast, I decided to go for this French toast. It's got enough to it to be interesting, but isn't actual complicated or difficult.

It's really meant to be made with a baguette so that you get lots of little slices. But I had just made a full-sized pan loaf, so I used that and just did a few larger slices.

Banana-Nut Stuffed French Toast

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs
• 3/4 c. milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 loaf of bread (may not need the whole thing)
• 3-4 bananas, sliced
• 1/2-3/4 c. chopped walnuts
• 4-6 Tbsp. brown sugar
• whipped cream, to serve

Directions

1. Beat the eggs with the milk and vanilla and pour into a large shallow bowl.
2. Cut a slice of bread ~1cm (1/2") thick and almost all the way through. Then cut the next "slice" (also ~1cm thick) all the way throgh. (So that you essentially have two slices joined at the bottom.)
3. Fill the space between the two joined slices with a single layer of banana slices.
4. Sprinkle in 1-2 Tbsp. of walnuts and 2-3 tsp. of brown sugar.
5. Heat up a pan over medium-low heat.
6. Melt a little butter into the pan.
7. Carefully dip the stuffed bread into the custard. Flip and dip the other side.
8. Place the dipped bread into the pan and cook until golden-brown on the underside.
9. Flip and cook until the other side is also nicely browned.
10. Repeat with additional bread and filling until the custard has been used up.
11. Serve with whipped cream.

I still had a few passionfruit left over from the discount bulk bag I picked up last week and these passionfruit-banana soufflés looked great, so I obviously had to give them a try!

They were wonderfully easy to put together. And they rose beautifully! (Three of them also deflated dramatically pretty much instantaneously, but they still tasted good. Even if they were no longer as light and fluffy and wonderful as the ones that stayed more inflated.)

Passionfruit-Banana Soufflés

Slightly adapted from Delicious.com.au

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs, separated
• 1/2 c. sugar, divided
• 5 passionfruit (~100mL of pulp)
• 1 banana, mashed
• 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
2. Grease six ramekins and dust them with sugar.
3. Beat the egg yolks with 1/4 c. of the sugar until light and creamy.
4. Stir in the passionfruit pulp and mashed banana.
5. Combine the egg whites and cream of tartar and beat until foamy.
6. Continue beating while gradually adding the remaining 1/4 c. of sugar.
7. Beat until stiff peaks form.
8. Stir ~1/3 of the meringue into the base to loosen it.
9. Fold in the remaining meringue.
10. Gently pour or scoop the mixture into the prepared ramekins.
11. Run your thumb around the edges of the ramekins to form a small "moat".
12. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 14-15 minutes.
13. Dust with icing sugar (if desired) and serve immediately.

I was going to make a banana-ginger oatmeal for breakfast this morning. But then it turned out that we were all out of crystalized ginger. So that was a bust. And most of the other things I'd been looking at either required ingredients or time that I didn't have. And it was already late to be having breakfast. So, in the end, I just asked TF to put together this simple cottage cheese bowl for me. It was actually pretty good! I was going for a banana bread sort of vibe.

I tried it with a full tablespoon of maple syrup this time. But I think next time I might try it with a little less maple syrup, but add a few raisins in instead.

Banana Bread Cottage Cheese Bowl

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. cottage cheese
• 1 banana, sliced
• 1 Tbsp. ground flax seed
• 1 Tbsp. chopped walnuts
• 1 Tbsp. raisins (optional)
• 1-2 tsp. maple syrup
• 1/8 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
• pinch of ground nutmeg

Directions

1. Place all ingredients in a bowl.
2. Mix and serve.

I've made banana pancakes before, but usually they involve mashing the bananas and mixing it into the batter. These ones work a little differently. You make a fairly standard buttermilk pancake batter and then add a few slices of banana to each pancake as it cooks.

I find this approach a little more messy and fiddly than just mixing the bananas into the batter, but it's a nice way to change things up if you want to try something a bit different on occasion. That said, I did have to make some adjustments to the recipe. The original only called for 3/4 c. of all-purpose flour and 1/3 c. of whole wheat flour. And this was cleary not nearly enough flour. I ended up adding an extra 1/2 c. of whole wheat flour and, honestly, I feel like it still could've used a little more. I also ended up needing more bananas than the recipe called for. I guess they expected you to slice the bananas thinner. But I quite liked the thick slices. So I'd just plan on using an extra banana next time.

Three-Spot Banana Buttermilk Pancakes

Slightly adapted from The Big Book of Breakfasts by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• 1 c. whole wheat flour
• 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 c. buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• 3 Tbsp. butter, melted
• 3 bananas, sliced

Directions

1. Combine flours, brown sugar, and salt.
2. Sift in the baking powder and baking soda and mix well.
3. Beat the egg with the buttermilk and stir in the melted butter.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to combine.
5. Heat up a tawa or skillet and add a little butter as needed.
6. Using ~1/4 c. of batter for each pancake, pour in as many as will comfortably fit in the pan (usually 1-3).
7. Press three slices of banana into the top of each pancake and cook until bubbles form and the edges start to look dry.
8. Flip the pancakes and cook until underside is brown and pancake is cooked through.
9. Transfer to a plate and repeat cooking process with remaining batter and bananas.
10. Serve with maple syrup, peanut butter, Nutella, and/or whipped cream.

TF and I both wanted dessert last night. But we were also tired and didn't want to have to apply much effort. Luckily these grilled bananas only required ~10 minutes of cooking time. They are especially easy if you have a gas grill or are willing to use the oven instead.

The ice cream is theoretically optional, while the whipped cream is not. However, I was really vibing with the ice cream last night and having both seemed like overkill. So we got a little bit of chocolate fudge ice cream and then skipped the whip.

Grilled Bananas with Pecans and Chocolate

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 4-6 bananas
• 60g dark chocolate, melted
• 1/4 c. chopped pecans
• 1-2 c. chocolate ice cream (optional)
• 1/2 c. heavy cream, whipped (optional)

Directions

1. Set up grill for direct heat cooking and trim the ends off of the bananas. (Leave the peels on. Just trim the ends.) Alternatively, set the oven broiler to "high".
2. Grill the bananas, turning often, until softened and skins have turned dark (8-10 minutes).
3. Peel and slice the bananas.
4. Drizzle with the melted chocolate and sprinkle with the nuts.
5. Top with ice cream and whipped cream (if using) and serve.

I took a few liberties with this recipe, but I'm quite happy with the results overall. This produced lovely waffles with a crisp exterior and a moist centre. I think I, personally, would have preferred a few more nuts in them. And next time I'd definitely add some vanilla and maybe a few spices, but they were still quite excellent as-is.

The original recipe called for making these with sour cream, but I opted to swap that out for fat-free Greek yogurt instead. And when I came up slightly short on the yogurt, I made up the difference with a bit of cottage cheese. And I swapped out half of the all-purpose flour for whole wheat. And, frankly, I think I probably could've gotten away with doing 100% whole wheat. I also omitted half of the butter and added an extra banana. But, despite all of those modifications, I'm very pleased with how they turned out! And they should be quite a bit healthier this way too: lower fat, higher protein, more fruit, more fibre... Not a bad outcome all-in-all!

Banana-Nut Waffles

Adapted from The Big Book of Breakfasts by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• 250g whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 c. unsalted butter, melted
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 1/2 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 1/2 c. cottage cheese
• 1 1/2 c. milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2-3/4 c. walnuts, chopped fine

Directions

1. Preheat waffle iron.
2. Combine the flour, cinnamon, and salt.
3. Sift in the baking powder and baking soda and mix well.
4. Combine the butter, bananas, eggs, yogurt, cheese, milk, and vanilla and mix well.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to combine.
6. Stir in the walnuts.
7. Scoop a portion of batter into the waffle iron and cook according to manufacturer directions. Repeat with remaining batter.
8. Serve as-is or topped with butter, maple syrup, applesauce, custard, whipped cream, sliced bananas, nut butter, and/or chocolate sauce.

I decided to try another feijoa bread recipe. The first one was good as a fairly basic, neutral loaf. Not too sweet. Not too rich. Pleasingly straight-forward and simple to put together.

This one is a bit richer and a bit fancier. I mean, still nothing ludicrous, but it definitely feels a little bit more special than the previous one. Something you wouldn't mind serving as dessert (and would possibly feel at least slightly guilty serving for breakfast -- despite the name). We all quite liked this one!

Photo goes here.

Feijoa and Cinnamon Breakfast Bread

Slightly adapted from NZ Woman's Weekly

Ingredients

• 115g butter, softened
• 100g brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 400g feijoa pulp, mashed
• 1 large banana, mashed
• 1/3 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 125g whole wheat flour
• 125g soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 c. chopped pecans
• 4-5 small feijoas, halved and scooped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a large (23x13cm/9x5") loaf pan.
2. Cream the butter with the sugar until light.
3. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
4. Mix in feijoa, banana, yogurt, and vanilla.
5. Add the flours and cinnamon, then sift in the baking soda on top.
6. Once all the dry ingredients have been added, stir to combine.
7. Stir in the pecans until just mixed.
8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, decorate with feijoa halves (and a little extra cinnamon, if desired), and bake at 180°C (350°F) until toothpick comes out nearly clean (~1 hour).
9. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

Baconfat Bananas

Symbol here! Reiver has just been helping me transcribe some of the recent recipes, so his name may show up on some posts as well. The preamble will usually still be from me though.

I cooked a bit of bacon to go into the strata this morning. Which was delicious, but left me with the conundrum of what to do with the leftover bacon grease. It wasn't really enough to be worth saving, but I also didn't have any ideas readily to hand for it. Reiver suggested it might go well with the slightly over-ripe bananas on the counter, so I poked around for some ideas.

I contemplated doing a slightly savoury banana bread. And there was an interesting banana-bacon-cornbread recipe that I stumbled across as well. But those all required a fair bit more bacon fat than I had available. So, in the end, I went with this simple recipe for bacon and bananas. I didn't actually have the bacon for it since all of that went into the strata, but the bananas were still great on some pancakes! And I can always try it with the bacon next time.

From Reiver: There wasn't any actual bacon in the recipe, just the bacon fat from the Cheese and Bacon Strata. While a simple enough classic, this went wonderfully with the granola pancakes.

Photo goes here.

Banana and Bacon

Slightly adapted from Cuisine Fiend

Ingredients

• 3-4 slices of smoked streaky bacon
• 1 Tbsp. butter
• 2 tbsp. maple syrup
• 2 small bananas, halved lengthwise and crosswise

Directions

1. Cook the bacon, then remove from pan and set aside.
2. Add the butter and maple syrup to the pan.
3. Add the banana pieces, cut-side-down, and cook for 3-4 minutes until slightly caramelized.
4. Flip and cook until softened and evenly cooked throughout.
5. Remove the bananas onto a plate, top with bacon, and drizzle with any juices left in the pan.

I had to fudge this one slightly. It was meant to be done with bananas, blueberries, soft tofu, and orange juice concentrate. We didn't have any orange juice concentrate, but we did have some nice honey Greek yogurt that needed to be used up. So I swapped that in instead. Obviously it's a very different flavour, but it still gives a bit of acidity and a bit of sweetness. Not in the same proportions and not with the same flavours, but it got the job done. And, honestly, I suspect the yogurt version is probably a bit healthier as well.

This worked out quite well. It provided something to round out the breakfast this morning, since we didn't have enough pancakes left to feed everybody. It used up some of the ridiculous pile of tofu from the fridge. And it let me easily say "sure, no problem!" when the Kidlet requested a smoothie with her pancakes this morning. And, even more importantly, Reiver and the Kidlet both seemed to enjoy them.

Banana-Blueberry Smoothie

Slightly adapted from The Big Book of Breakfast by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• 150g soft tofu
• 3/4 c. honey or vanilla Greek yogurt
• 1/2 c. frozen blueberries
• 2 frozen bananas
• 1 c. milk

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients and purée until smooth.
2. Pour into glasses and serve.

I went slightly off-script for this one. The recipe calls for banana, pineapple, and mango for the fruit and then vanilla yogurt and orange juice as the liquid. I found a bag of frozen "tropical fruit blend" at the grocery store yesterday. It did contain pineapple and mango, but it also had a lot of strawberry and honeydew in the mix. I figured that sounded tasty and let me buy only one bag of frozen fruit rather than two, so I just rolled with it. As for the liquids... We already had a bunch of really nice honey yogurt, so I opted to use that with a little vanilla extract mixed in. And for the orange juice... I did juice the orange that we had, but it didn't produce quite enough, so I just rounded it out with a bit of milk and called it a day. So, not quite the smoothie of the recipe, but good nonetheless.

Tropical Smoothie

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 banana
• 2 c. frozen fruit (preferably a 3:1 mix of mango and pineapple)¹
• 1/2 c. honey yogurt
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2-3/4 c. orange juice and/or milk

Directions

1. Combine ingredients in blender and purée until smooth.
2. Add more liquid as needed to achieve desired consistency.
3. Pour into glasses and serve.

---

¹ I think mine was more like 8:6:3:3 strawberries to honeydew to mango to pineapple. ^Back

We all wanted dessert the other day. I was thinking of doing up some grilled bananas with chocolate and chopped nuts. But then Reiver mentioned that he could really go for some bananas and custard. Except... we were all out of custard.

We did have milk, sugar, and eggs though. So I reasoned that it wouldn't be that much trouble to make some custard.

But then I got to flipping through my cookbooks and found this banana butterscotch pudding recipe. And we had (almost) all the bits. And it sounded fun. And Reiver and I are both butterscotch fans. So... wins all 'round!

I say almost all of the ingredients, because we didn't actually have any vanilla wafers. What we did have though, was Gingernuts! And I reasoned that a) using butterscotch pudding rather than vanilla was already a deviation from the "traditional" combination and b) ginger would go quite nicely with both the banana and the butterscotch flavours. And they did, indeed, go very well together!

Banana Butterscotch Pudding

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 6 large egg yolks¹
• 40g cornstarch (cornflour)
• 3 c. milk, divided
• 70g butter
• 250g sugar
• 1/4 c. water
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3-4 bananas, peeled and sliced
• 4-6 Gingernuts, crumbled
• whipped cream, to serve

Directions

1. Mix the egg yolks with the cornstarch and 1/2 c. of the milk and set aside.
2. Heat the remaining 2 1/2 c. of milk with the butter until steaming. Cover and keep warm.
3. Meanwhile, combine the sugar and water over high heat.
4. Stir constantly until sugar has just melted.
5. From this point on, DO NOT STIR the sugar!
6. Reduce heat to medium-high and cook, swirling often, until caramel turns golden.
7. Remove from heat immediately and carefully pour in the milk mixture. It will bubble and steam vigorously, so just do a little at a time initially.
8. Whisk until bubbling subsides and mixture is thoroughly combined.
9. Whisk the egg mixture to make sure the cornstarch hasn't settled out.
10. Slowly pour the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture while whisking to temper the eggs.
11. Return the custard to medium-low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened.
12. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
13. Spoon layers of pudding, banana slices, and crumbled biscuits either into one large dish or several smaller ones.
14. Once pudding has cooled, add a generous dollop of whipped cream on top and serve.

---

¹ I actually went with 4 egg yolks and 1 whole egg for mine. I still found the finished pudding lovely and rich, so I'm not sad about saving a few eggs by doing it that way. ^Back

I've been doing a lot of cooked breakfasts lately, but we got off to a slow start today so I took a slightly different tack and went with these smoothie bowls instead. The original recipe was for a banana-date smoothie, but I just added some extra banana and dates and a bit of yogurt to make a somewhat thicker smoothie and then topped them with almonds, coconut, and granola for an easy, no-cook breakfast.

Chocolate-Banana Smoothie Bowls

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 3 bananas, frozen
• 12 pitted dates
• 1/4 c. almond butter
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 c. milk or almond milk
• 1/3 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 1 tsp. honey
• 1 Tbsp. Dutched (alkalized) cocoa
• 3-4 Tbsp. toasted almonds, chopped
• 3-4 Tbsp. shredded coconut
• 3-4 Tbsp. granola

Directions

1. Combine bananas, dates, almone butter, cinnamon, milk, yogurt, honey, and cocoa in a blender and purée until smooth.
2. Divide the smooth among two or three bowls.
3. Top with almonds, coconut, and granola. Sliced bananas, dried cherries, and/or chopped dark chocolate would also make excellent toppings.

I had some (very) burnt caramel in the fridge that needed to be used up and these waffles wanted to be topped with caramel sauce, so this seemed like the ideal thing to make for breakfast this morning.

The recipe only called for mixing one banana into the batter, so that's what I went with this time. However, I didn't find the results very banana-y, so I think I'd use at least two or three next time.

The bananas, caramel, and pecans made for a nice combination of toppings. I think a generous dollop of whipped cream would have been the perfect thing to complete the ensemble. Although, I will admit, at that point it very much becomes more of a dessert than a breakfast. I definitely think it would be a tasty one though!

Banana-Flax Waffles with Toasted Pecans and Caramel

Slightly adapted from The Breafast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

Waffles

• 1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/4 c. flax seeds
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 c. milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 5 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 2-3 bananas, mashed

Toppings

• 4-6 bananas, sliced
• 3/4 c. caramel sauce
• 1/2 c. chopped pecans, toasted
• 1 c. whipped cream (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat your waffle iron.
2. Combine the flour, flax, sugar, and salt in a bowl.
3. Sift in the baking powder and mix well.
4. Beat the eggs with the milk and vanilla.
5. Drizzle in the melted butter.
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to combine.
7. Mix in the mashed banana.
8. Pour a portion of the batter into the preheated waffle iron and cook according to manufacturer's directions.
9. Repeat with remaining batter.
10. Top waffles with sliced banana, caramel, chopped nuts, and whipped cream (if using) and serve.

The plan had been to make some rum-glazed pineapple for dessert tonight. But the pineapple had gone off, so I found myself casting about for some other last-minute dessert. There were a few different options, but the bananas foster caught my eye and something tasty, that we had all the ingredients for, and would take very little time to prepare. (And is also delicious!)

Bananas Foster

Slightly adapte from Dessert of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 3 bananas
• 3-4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp. dark rum
• ~1 c. vanilla ice cream

Directions

1. Peel the bananas and halve them lengthwise and crosswise.
2. Melt the butter over medium-high heat.
3. When the butter foams, place the bananas in the pan, cut-side-down.
4. Cook for ~5 minutes, then flip and add sugar and rum.
5. Cook for another 5 minutes.
6. To serve, place three banana segments in each bowl, spoon a little sauce over them, and top with 3-4 Tbsp. of ice cream.

Banana Bread (Breakfast Bible Version)

I already have quite a few banana bread recipes. That said, just because I have a bunch of good ones already, doesn't mean I'm not interested in trying even more!

Today was my first day in New Zealand. (I mean, not actually today-today. Not June 28th when this recipe is posted, but December 30th when I'm actually writing from.) I arrived in Hamilton yesterday and today was my first full day here. I woke up good and early due to the time change and decided that it would be nice to make use of the time and make something tasty for breakfast for everyone else to wake up to. That said, being my first day here, I hadn't had a chance to do a grocery shop yet or get a good handle on what was in the kitchen. But I knew that there were a bunch of bananas, eggs, sugar, and flour, so I figured that was a pretty good start.

I did end up making a few tweaks to the recipe. All-purpose flour isn't really a thing here, so I used a mix of "high grade" (hard) and "standard" (soft) flour. There wasn't any plain yogurt, just manuka honey yogurt, so I rolled with that but then halved the sugar. The bananas and eggs were both on the small side, so I threw an extra of each in. And since unsalted butter doesn't really seem to be a thing here, so I just used the salted and then omitted the salt from the recipe. I also ended up swapping out the walnuts for a mix of chocolate chips and sunflower seeds, since there didn't appear to be any walnuts in the pantry. And, as it turns out, that worked out quite well since Reiver doesn't really care for walnuts in his banana bread¹ and ended up quite liking the sunflower seeds.

Banana Bread

Adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour²
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 4 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 large (or 3 medium) eggs
• 1/3 c. manuka honey Greek yogurt³
• 1/2 c. salted butter⁴, melted
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 c. chocolate chips and/or chopped walnuts
• 2-3 Tbsp. sunflower seeds (or more walnuts)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a 23x13cm (9x5") loaf pan.
2. Combine the flour and sugar, sift in the baking soda, and mix well.
3. Mash the bananas.
4. Beat the eggs into the bananas and stir in the yogurt, butter, and vanilla.
5. Stir in the chocolate chips and/or walnuts.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and sprinkle with the sunflower seeds.
7. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for ~1 hour.
8. Transfer to wire rack to cool for 10 minutes.
9. Turn out of tin and allow to finish cooling on the cooling rack.

---

¹ Although I did later find out that apparently part of the reason he preferred the sunflower seeds was that they are smaller than walnuts. Which initially confused me since I usually chop my walnuts to about the same size as sunflower seeds or chocolate chips. But apparently that's not the norm here and people typically just toss whole walnut halves into their baked goods! (New Zealand is a strange place.) ^Back
2 I used 2 c. of hard flour and 1/4 c. of soft flour for mine. ^Back
3 I also think that plain yogurt, either Greek or not, would probably work fine here. Your bread will be a little less sweet if you're using plain yogurt, but I still think that it would be sweet enough. And, if you find it's not, you can always add a bit more sugar. ^Back
4 Or unsalted butter + 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt. ^Back

I've never really gotten on board with the whole green smoothie/puréed vegetables for breakfast thing. Mixing a little bit of wheatgrass or whatever in is one thing, but if you're putting in enough greens to make it look like a St. Patrick's Day special, I am immediately dubious. It starts seeming like one of those health food fads that tries to pack in "superfoods" and forgets that food is actually supposed to taste good. So, I generally avoid the recipes that call for you to drink a kale-spirulina-avocado-superfood-of-the-month slurry sweetened with positive energy and sunshine. But... I'd already made all the other smoothie bowls in the book. And this one at least called for a decent quantity of banana and almond butter. So it seemed like those would hopefully end up as the dominant flavours, with the spinach and avocado just lending a bit of colour and bulk. And, I have to say, it did work out rather nicely! I was quite happy with the results and would definitely make it again.

I did add a bit of honey to my smoothie. And I also bumped up the quantity of almond butter a bit. And I think it did need that to get the flavours balanced right. But, having done that, it was great!

I also decided to add a little bit of toasted coconut to mine (not pictured). Which I think was a good combo. I think pineapple would also work well as a topping if you happen to have some on hand.

Green Smoothie Bowls

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 55g baby spinach
• 1/2 an avocado
• 2 bananas
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 3-4 Tbsp. almond butter
• 1 mango, sliced
• 150g blueberries
• 2 Tbsp. pumpkin seeds (pepitas), toasted
• 1 Tbsp. oat bran¹, toasted
• 1-2 Tbsp. toasted coconut (optional)

Directions

1. Combine the yogurt, spinach, avocado, bananas, honey, and almond butter in a blender and purée until smooth.
2. Divide the smoothie into 2-4 bowls depending on how big you want your servings to be. (I found 1/4 of the batch to be plenty for me.)
3. For small bowls: top each with 1/4 of the mango, ~35g of blueberries, 1/2 Tbsp. of pumpkin seeds, 3/4 tsp. oat bran, and ~1/2 Tbsp. of coconut. For large bowls: double all the topping quantities.

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¹ I couldn't find my oat bran, so I just omitted it. The Kidlet probably wouldn't have liked it anyway. ^Back

I've almost finished working my way through all the smoothie bowl recipes in the Breakfast Bible. I made this mixed berry one yesterday and tried a variation on the tropical fruit smoothie bowl this morning.

I liked this one, but the smoothie came out very soupy. The Kidlet actually prefers that, but, if I'm going to be trying to decant it into a bowl and top it with things, I prefer a slightly thicker base. If nothing else, it allows the toppings to actually sit on top rather than immediately sinking below the surface.

To be fair, the recipe does call for freezing the banana before blending, which I forgot to do. But I still think it would have been too thin. Maybe feezing both the banana and the coconut milk would do the trick?

I also didn't have any almond milk and didn't want to go out and get a carton just for this recipe.¹ Instead of almond milk, I opted for oat milk with a bit of almond butter stirred in.² And since the Kidlet doesn't like pomegranate anymore, I swapped out the pomegranate arils for some fresh blueberries.

Mixed Fruit Smoothie Bowls

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 c. oat milk
• 1 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 1 c. lite coconut milk, frozen in cubes
• 1 c. frozen mixed berries
• 1 banana, frozen
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1 Tbsp. almond butter (optional)
• 1/2 c. fresh raspberries
• 1/4 c. pomegranate arils (or 1/2 c. fresh blueberries)
• 2 Tbsp. shredded coconut⁴
• 2 Tbsp. wheat germ, toasted

Directions

1. Combine the oat milk, yogurt, frozen coconut milk, frozen berries, frozen banana, honey, and almond butter in a blender and purée until smooth.
2. Divide the smoothie between 4 bowls.
3. Top each with ~2 Tbsp. of raspberries, 1 Tbsp. of pomegranate arils (or 2 Tbsp. of blueberries), 1/2 Tbsp. of coconut, and 1/2 Tbsp. of toasted wheat germ.

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¹ Especially since I find myself feeling increasingly concerned about the environmental aspects of growing almonds. I still eat them in moderation, but almond milk seems particularly water-intensive and wasteful. ^Back
2 Which I know is probably not much better than just using almond milk, but... what can I say? I already had a jar of almond butter in the fridge. I haven't had a chance to look into it, but hopefully almond butter is at least slightly less bad water and waste-wise than almond milk. That said, you still have all the ecological impact from the actual almond farming, so... it's probably not great either way.^{3 Back
3} Thinking about this stuff makes me sad and frustrated. I wish everything wasn't so complicated and I wish that it was easier to figure out the consequences of my choices. ^Back
4 I picked up some toasted coconut slices on sale a few days ago, so I just used that here. Either one will work just fine. ^Back

I wanted a sweet treat for my birthday, but I didn't get a chance to do any baking earlier in the day and we had riding in the evening, so anything that required baking or chilling was out. (We didn't get home until nearly seven and it was close to eight by the time we finished dinner, so I wasn't about to start baking a cake or waiting for mousse or somethign to chill at that point!)

After a bit of staring at recipes and trying to figure out what I could make relatively quickly with ingredients I already had on hand, I settled on banana splits. We still had a little ice cream in the freezer that we'd gotten to go with the apple crisp a little while back. We had bananas. We had almonds in the freezer. We had cream. We even had a jar of maraschino cherries! (The recipe I was using didn't actually call for cherries, but that's madness! If you're gonna have a banana split, you gotta put a cherry on top.) I also had an assortment of other toppings that I was able to get out to make an impromptu sundae bar: mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, sprinkles, etc. The Kidlet was delighted!

And, the nice thing about banana splits, is they don't require much in the way of prep. Assuming you already have some ice cream handy, the only thing you have to do is toast some almonds and make up the fudge sauce. Oh, and whip the cream I guess. Still... easy-peasy!

Banana Splits

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

For each split use:

• 3-4 Tbsp. hot fudge sauce
• 1 banana, halved lengthwise
• 3 scoops of ice cream¹
• 1 Tbsp. slivered almonds, toasted
• 2 Tbsp. whipped cream
• 1 maraschino cherry
• other sundae toppings² (optional)

Directions

1. Make your fudge sauce and keep it warm while you get everything else assembled.
2. Place a banana in a bowl with the two halves spread apart.
3. Line the three scoops of ice cream up down the middle of the banana.
4. Spoon some fudge sauce over the ice cream and sprinkle with toasted almonds.
5. Add a dollop of whipped cream and place a cerry on top.
6. Add other toppings and garnish as desired.

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¹ The recipe calls for 3 scoops of vanilla ice cream per banana. We opted for 1 scoop of falooda kulfi and 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream, but then ended up going back and adding more ice cream after we'd started eating it. So, I think three (smallish) scoops is definitely the right amount for one banana. Just plan on splitting your split with a friend! ^Back
2 eg. chopped peanuts, chocolate chips, sprinkles, mini marshmallows, fresh (or thawed frozen) pitted cherries, strawberries, caramel sauce, stroopwafel, graham crackers, etc. ^Back

Tropical Smoothie Bowls

I gave the Kidlet the choice of waffles or smoothie bowls for breakfast this morning and she chose smoothie bowls.

The suggested base for these tropical smoothie bowls is either strawberry-banana or banana-mango. The blended mixture then gets topped with a combination of banana, mango, pineapple, strawberries, and toasted coconut. (Personally, I don't really think the strawberries fit the "tropical" vibe, but they're tasty and the Kidlet loves them, so I actually doubled down on the strawberries and used them in both the base and the toppings for this one.)

As with the other smoothie bowl recipes in this book, the recipe claims to make two servings. I contend that one of these bowls is way too large for any reasonable person to eat in a single sitting. (The Kidlet usually manages it, but, then again, she's not a reasonable person.~) This actually works out well for us since I can just give the Kidlet one bowl and TF and I can share the other one. But for folks who don't have ravenous, smoothie-devouring spawn, it may make more sense to actually divide this into four bowls to make more reasonable portions.

Strawberry-Banana Tropical Smoothie Bowls

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 3 bananas, divided
• 1 c. frozen chopped strawberries
• 2 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 1/4 pineapple, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1/2 mango, sliced
• 8 strawberries, sliced
• 4 Tbsp. toasted sliced or flaked coconut

Directions

1. Place 2 of the bananas, the frozen fruit, and the yogurt in a blender and purée until smooth.
2. Divide the smoothie among bowls: two bowls for large servings, four bowls for smaller portions.
3. Slice the remaining banana.
4. For small bowls, top each one with 1/4 of the banana, 1/4 of the pineapple pieces (ie. ~1/16 of the whole pineapple), 1/4 of the mango slices (~1/8 of the whole mango), 2 strawberries, and 1 Tbsp. of the coconut. For large bowls, double all the quantities.

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Variations

Banana-Mango Tropical Smoothie bowls

Ingredients

• 3 bananas, divided
• 1 c. frozen chopped mango
• 2 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 1/4 pineapple, cut into bite-sized pieces¹
• 1/2 mango, sliced
• 8 strawberries, sliced
• 4 Tbsp. toasted sliced or flaked coconut

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¹ I was all out of pineapple, so I swapped in som fresh blueberries for this rendition. Not as tropical, but much more visually striking. ^Back