Pragmatic Compendium

My kids LOVE this! (and have been nagging me to bake some for two days.)

Ingredients:
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large)
1/2 cup sugar (I use half brown sugar)
1/3 cup liquid vegetable oil margarine (I use Smart Balance margarine)
2 egg whites
1/3 cup skim milk
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour (I use half whole wheat flour)
1 cup Quaker Oat Bran cereal, uncooked
2 teaspoons backing powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions:
Heat oven to 350.
Spray loaf pan with cooking spray or oil lightly.
Combine bananas, sugar, margarine, egg whites and milk and mix well.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, oat bran, baking powder and baking soda.
Slowly pour dry ingredients into the banana mixture and stir just until moistened.
Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake at 55 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool 10 minutes in the pan; remove to wire rack.
Cool completely.

Nutritional Info: (for 1/16 of a loaf)
(before my modifications to the recipe)
Calories 130
Protein 3 g
Carbohydrate 20 g
Fat 4 g
Fiber 1 g

Another tip? When bananas start to get soft in our house, I toss them into the freezer, skin and all. Then, when I make banana bread, I put the frozen bananas in a bowl and fill it with warm water a few times. When the bananas are thawed, I tear off the tip of the skin and “squeeze” the banana out like toothpaste. PERFECT for making banana bread and no wasted bananas!

I almost always make three or four loaves at one time. The mess is already there, the ingredients are already out and the oven is already hot - so why not? It freezes VERY well, sliced or whole!

Our favorite way to eat it? Sliced, topped with “spray butter” and warmed in the microwave for 15 to 30 seconds.

Click HERE for a Print friendly PDF Version!

Life’s a little busy this week, so I’m going to combine my posts for Kitchen Tip Tuesdays and Works for Me Wednesdays .

I mentioned before - I LOVE my Vidalia Chop Wizard! Last time I showcased this wonderful little gadget, someone commented that they were surprised that it could handle tougher veggies, like onions and carrots, so I thought I’d show how the chop wizard handles onions. Notice that I’m using the smaller chopping grate this time and check out the time on the little red clock.

Again, I PROMISE you - I did NOT touch that little red clock! I just LOVE this thing! Chopped onions really are a breeze!

But you probably noticed I didn’t finish all three onions. I actually filled up the chop wizard and had to stop to complete my “onion chopping ritual,” so I thought I’d go ahead and include it in this post as well. I usually chop onions in bulk to freeze, but I only had three today. Here’s what I do:

I chop all the onions I’ve got, either using the chop wizard OR, when I’m really in a hurry, I use my Oster food processor attachment. (I have a 1990 Oster Kitchen Center, but for smaller jobs, I keep my 2003 Oster blender on the counter because it takes most of the same attachments. Isn’t it cool that the attachments are interchangeable?) Anyway, I had an extra 5 minutes today and I really prefer the onions chopped in nice little squares - they’re just prettier than the shredded onion that the food processor produces.

Then, I lay out the chopped onions on a large metal cookie sheet for flash freezing. Flash freezing refers to the freezing technique where you lay out something individually, best on a metal cookie sheet (it gets colder much faster than a cutting board), and freeze it quickly. It keeps the food from sticking together in a big frozen ball of goo. REALLY great for freezing any kind of berry!

Then, I sit here for about a half an hour and write this post. (besides, I need my coffee.) I usually leave the onions in longer because I forget about them. If you can leave them for an hour or two, that’s actually better. I once left them in overnight with no problems. At a minimum, you want ice crystals to form.

When the onions are frozen, I move them from the cookie sheet into something better for freezer storage, such as a Ziploc bag. I stack the bags in the freezer and because they are flat, they take up very little space. (I was going to include a photo of the frozen onions on the cookie sheet, but you can’t see the ice crystals, so it just looks the same as the pre-frozen cookie sheet photo.)

Later, when a recipe calls for onion, I’m ready! They defrost really fast! I leave the bag on the counter for a few minutes and when I take the slab of onion out of the the Ziploc, it just crumbles.

It Works for Me!

Don’t forget to enter this week’s clean sweep(stakes)!

I LOVE my Vidalia Chop Wizard!

I love any gadget that makes my life easier and speeds up a job! I got a beautiful ceramic knife for Christmas two years ago and I used to dice red, yellow and orange peppers by hand. Not anymore! Check out the time on the little red clock.

I PROMISE you - I did NOT touch that little red clock! I just LOVE this thing! Chopped onions are a breeze!

Mine has two blade sizes, so you can dice even smaller than what you see in these pictures. And it’s DISHWASHER SAFE! The best $20 I spent last year! (and, no. I didn’t get paid to write this - I just really like it.)

Don’t forget to enter this week’s clean sweep(stakes)!