Quick and Easy Banana Walnut Muffins - The perfect healthy breakfast

Hello my lovelies, 

Did you guys have an action packed awesome summer? Or a relaxing and slow paced one? Which ever it was I hope it was everything you wanted it to be :)

I had a fairly busy summer myself, I worked a full time 9-5 'grown up' job, I volunteered, and I took a summer course, and tried to squeeze in some time for friends to catch up on movies (pretty sure I saw every movie that was out in theatres this summer) and summer memories. :) Oh! And I also got a brand spankin' new macbook pro :D *fan girl squeal* 

I also made a facebook fan page which I would love for you guys to head over and 'like' ! ;)

I also had some not so great moments. In July I got rear-ended in a car accident that gave me some really bad whiplash :( This resulted in far too many visits to the chiropractor's office - but on the bright side I am slowly but surely going back to my 100% self :)

All of this to say I have had a very very busy summer. Thats why when my parents informed me of their plans for a last minute road trip I was excited (albeit a bit weary of the long drive) to get out of Ottawa for a bit. We drove all the way down to Waterloo to the welcoming home of some old family friends. While there, the Mrs. of the house taught me how to make these delicious banana nut muffins. Whats super great about them is you can use up any bananas that may be going a bit too brown. 

What makes it even better? Its super easy to toss together (a few minutes) and uses only one bowl and comes together fast with a whisk. Same amount of time that it would take to make pancake batter you can have this yummy treat :) I personally loved the taste especially when you consider the simplicity of it. And with back to School/Work season back upon us this make it the perfect healthy treat. Make in the morning (or afternoon) and have a quick, easy, nutritious breakfast on the go. 

Quick and Easy Breakfast Banana Muffins

Ingredients: 

* 3 Bananas

* 2 eggs

* 2 cups of flour

* 1 cup of sugar

* 1/3 cup of oil

* 1/2 cup of milk

* 1 tsp of baking soda

* 1 tsp of baking powder

Toppings/Fillings:

- throw in a handful of chocolate chips or walnuts or anything else you want and mix in to the batter. We opted to crush up some walnuts and toss them on as toppings. 

Instructions:

1) Mash up the bananas in your bowl with a spoon or fork (or whatever else you like)

2) Throw in the rest of the ingredients and mix (yup! that easy!) Scoop into paper lined muffin/cupcake tins and bake at 350* until a toothpick comes out clean. (Usually 10 to 15 min depending on your oven temperatures) 

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My Secret Recipes: Addictive Banana Squares

It's been awfully hot here, the kind of weather where turning on an oven is probably illegal. And a suicide mission. Probably both. Ottawa has never had this hot a weather and we broke quite a few records! (Something I wish I could be proud of)

All this to say that I haven't been able to bake for about a week, but thankfully I have a few recipes I have yet to post on...so...I uh...will. ya. :D

Ok so as I have shared with you guys before, I have a series of recipes that, if I say so myself, taste really really REALLY good. And for some reason that is somewhat foreign to me I feel a bit 'over protective' of these recipes, almost like a 4 year old who doesn't mind (in fact loves) to share all her toys with the neighborhood kids, but for some reason clutches greedily to that one special doll. And lord have mercy on your soul if you try to yank that doll away from her.

But I've been trying to be a good girl and learn to share a bit more. So from my list of uber secret recipes (that coincidentally happen to be my most requested recipes) I am slowly but surely trying to share a few of these with you. So if Banana isn't quite your thing (the insanity!:O ) then why not try my cinnamon bun recipe? Or perhaps some Hummus?

I made these babies to take to a family friend's house where we were invited for dinner. The final product was quite adorable (think little chocolate squares in cupcake liners topped with a swirl of chocolate frosting and a slice of banana!) but I wasn't able to catch a picture of them, so you will just have to take my word for it. :)

TIP: These banana squares taste EVEN BETTER the next day. So let them sit for a while...if you can stand it

Blogging is a way for me to connect with other foodies around the world and 'write down' my experiences and life through food, but it also serves the purpose of helping me keep track of my favorite recipes. Long story short I thought I had lost this recipe forever, and hopefully by writting it here I never will lose it again!

Enjoy!

The Most Addictive Best Ever Banana Cake


3 bananas
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
¾ cup chocolate chips (optional)
1 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt

1. Mash up the Bananas really well. Beat in the sugar, egg and vegetable  oil.

2. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a separate bowl.

3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and make sure you mix REALLY WELL. You can also stir in some chocolate chips if you like.

4. Bake at 350C until lightly brown on the edges and toothpick comes out clean.


"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine

2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa

3 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

Recipe Review: This is (clearly) one of my all time favorite recipes. It converted my banana hating sister into a banana cake eating crazy person! (To the point where you have to hide it from her!) What I love about this is its SOO easy to whip up, can be made in one bowl if you like, is fool proof and most importantly its SO yummy. When you have your first bite, you wont think oh my god insane! You will be like" hmm...this is good banana cake. nothing crazy...not sure what she was going on about..its just banana cake." But thats where you are wrong laddie. Ten minutes later you will find yourself reaching for another bite....and another...and another...They really are THAT addictive!

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Extremely Moist Banana Cake with Sour Cream Chocolate Frosting

Don’t you just love when things turn out as they are supposed to?

If you are like me, more often than not, they don’t turn out as they are supposed to, and you deal with it. However, today I got a sweet little surprise! You see these pictures? To my delight and surprise I didn’t have to do much editing at all! 

Usually I don’t do any major editing, I feel if I do that I’m not being genuine and that if I need to seriously Photoshop a picture, then its my crappy photography skills fault, and thus I just ditch the photos all together. That may be a bit harsh (I probably have a good 50 sets of pictures that I have taken but will probably never post because I feel the photography skills sucked), but at the same time I think it’s a good thing. I feel like I’ve grown as a photographer because I keep pushing myself to create photos that are as natural as possible and need limited editing, and thus have learned how to improve. Anyways, I’ll stop bragging about this. It just really made my day :)

Now on to this cake, I made it way back in March for my birthday (on March 6^th) and it was very delicious. In my opinion, the best gift a foodie can give themselves on their birthday is a day in the kitchen! This banana cake was very moist; something that I usually find is missing in banana cakes. This has a special little part to it where you have to pop it into the freezer right after you bake it. I personally have never heard of this ‘technique’ and was quite intrigued. I don’t know if it’s the freezing that causes the moistness but either way it was pretty good. I also made a chocolate sour cream frosting to top it off which, as you can imagine, topped off this banana cake quite nicely! This recipe is a keeper folks! :)

Best Ever Banana Cake

(source)

Ingredients

    * 1 1/2 cups bananas, mashed, ripe

    * 2 teaspoons lemon juice

    * 3 cups flour

    * 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

    * 1/4 teaspoon salt

    * 3/4 cup butter, softened

    * 2 1/8 cups sugar

    * 3 large eggs

    * 2 teaspoons vanilla

    * 1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 275°. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan.

2. In a small bowl, mix mashed banana with the lemon juice; set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

4. In a large bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and 2 1/8 cups sugar until light and fluffy.

5. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in 2 tsp vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Stir in banana mixture.

6. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for one hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

7. Remove from oven and place directly into the freezer for 45 minutes. This will make the cake very moist.

I couldn't make up my mind with how to decorate it...a few royal icing flowers in the middle? no...one cute tiny one...no....I settled for banana slices and shaved dark chocolate! mmm :)

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