Nigella's Banana Bread (err... Muffins)

Last year for Christmas, my dear friend April bought me How to Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson. Clearly... she knows me well. I mean, if there is anything in this world that I want to be... it is definitely a domestic goddess. And if there is anything in this world that I am NOT, it's definitely a domestic goddess. So, there ya go. Perfect gift.

So, I've had this cookbook for over a year (she gave me my present early) and I have YET to make something from it. I've probably read the whole thing, including most of the recipes... and while I enjoy reading the intros to the recipes and the way Nigella describes the food, nothing has jumped out at me screaming: MAKE ME NOW. Which, is a shame, because... I NEED to become a domestic goddess. I mean... I'm a single 28 year old girl. When I say I NEED to become a domestic goddess, I'm not kidding. I need a man, folks. And everyone knows... Domestic Goddessdom= Snagging a Dude.

Finally, last night with three big bananas at the peak of the ripeness, I decided to start my quest to become that domestic goddess.

I cracked open the book and found this recipe for banana bread, that I decided to make into muffins instead. I was a little surprised that the recipe didn't include instructions for myself... like, I was expecting it to say...

First, go into your wardrobe and pick out the tightest, deepest v-neck sweater that you have. Put it on. Next, curl your hair with a curling iron, so that you have soft, bouncy curls. Then put on extra mascara and black eyeliner and a little bit of a pale pink lipstick. Put on your sexiest, highest heels and pour yourself a glass of wine. Now you are ready to bake.

But, it didn't. So, I put on my apron, stayed in my sweatpants and tshirt, and pulled my hair back and got to work. I know, very non-domestic goddessy of me.

Anyway, I'm ALWAYS finagling with quick bread recipes. Trying to make them healthier and lighter (I know... AGAIN very non-domestic goddessy of me... Sheesh. Maybe I'm not cut out for this domestic goddess jazz). And this recipe was no different. I did some butter and sugar substitutions, added some pumpkin I'm trying to use up for some extra nutrients and moisture and voila... Heathy-ish Banana Muffins.

They turned out well... a good banana flavor and very moist. Next time, I'll add nuts and wear some stilettos.

Nigella's Banana Bread (muffins)
adapted from How to Become a Domestic Goddess

So, this is how I made the recipe. So, there are a few substitions and changes. She also added boozy raisins to her batter, but I opted out of that.

Make sure to cook these muffins through. With all the extra fruit they are VERY moist and therefore aren't delicious right out of the oven. They are kind of gooey at first and need to set and cool a good bit. Once they do, though, they are a really good, easy, healthy muffin recipe. And if you want to completely stray from the the domestic goddess route, then try some whole wheat flour, instead of all white. (I know, shameful!).

1 cup + 2 tbsp all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup splenda
2 large eggs
3 medium-large, very ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup unsweetened pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla extract

Grease a muffin tin.

Preheat the oven to 325F and get started on the rest.

Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium sized bowl and, using your hands or a wooden spoon, combine well.

In a large bowl, mix the melted butter, applesauce and sugars and beat until blended. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the mashed bananas and pumpkin. Then, with your spoon, stir in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture a third at a time, stirring well after each bit. Pour into muffin tin. They don't rise much, so I filled them pretty much to the top and bake in the middle of the oven for about a 45 minutes (but check after 30). When it's ready, an inserted toothpick or fine skewer should come out cleanish. Leave in the pan on a rack to cool.

Pumpkin Bread

Ok, so I realize... I've become one of those bloggers that I used to hate. I am posting two pumpkin recipes in the span of 8 days. Sue me.

But, it turns out... that pumpkin, nutmeg, etc... well, they aren't the nasty tasting foods that I thought they were. My bad.

I had a half can of pumpkin puree hanging out in my fridge leftover from last week'sTuesdays with Dorie recipe and I asked my friend Steph for her favorite pumpkin bread recipe.

She sent me to a link from Allrecipes.com that seriously had like a zillion awesome reviews. This is some bread, apparently.

I made some changes to make it a wee bit healthier. I plugged the changes into a nutrition calculator and came up with 191 calories (50 from fat) per serving. Those changes were:

Halved the oil with unsweetened applesauce
Used Splenda for 1/3 of the sugar in the recipe.

It turned out great with those changes. Sweet and moist (just how I like my bread!). I will be trying this recipe again and I might try the 89 calorie/serving version: all splenda and all applesauce. If I do, I'll let you know how it turns out.

Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread.

Peach Buckle

Cobbler is a southern staple. My grandma used to make it a lot and my mom. Peach, Cherry, and Blackberry Cobbler were the most popular in my family. Honestly, I was never a huge fan. I ate it, but it was never a particular favorite of mine. Their cobblers consisted of the biscuit top and my grandma always included dumplings inside hers (which I always picked around). So, since I never really loved cobblers, I never considered making one.

And then, I saw a "cobbler" on Pioneer Woman site and I examined the pictures very closely... it didnt look like the cobblers I had seen. No, it looked like it had crispy, buttery edges (which, incidentally, I'm a HUGE fan of). I decided that this is a cobbler I could fall in love with. Hers was a blackberry cobbler, but not liking the seeds (and I couldnt find fresh ones at the store) I opted to try a peach one and boy, is this recipe simple and delicious. But, folks... it's not technically a cobbler... it's a buckle. You should definitely try this. Hot out of the oven, it's divine. It gets pretty soggy on day two, but the flavor is still excellent.

Incidentally, I only made a half batch of pioneer woman's recipe and I used all splenda, so I calculated the whole buckle as having about 700 calories. Not bad when you can get 4 good sized servings out of it (or if you just sit down with an oven mitt in your lap and consume the whole thing straight of the oven, hey, it's only 700 calories...).

Peach Buckle
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup self rising flour
1/2 milk
1 cup splenda (if using real sugar, only use 1/2 cup)
2 fresh peaches peeled and sliced
extra splenda for the top

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cut your butter up and pit in the pan you are going to be using to bake the buckle. Melt the butter in the oven while it's preheating (dont burn it!)

Meanwhile, mix your sugar, flour, and milk together with a whisk. Pour mixture into the melted butter and place your peaches on top.

Bake till golden brown. Now, I put extra splenda on the top right before I took it out of the oven and thats why mine has that white-ish tint to it. If you used real sugar it would melt better and look prettier.

DELICIOUS.

Tangy Pineapple Cream Pie

I'm still looking for tasty low calorie desserts. And, I think I may have hit the jackpot this time! I saw a recipe awhile back on Cookie Madness for something called Millionaire Pie. I had never heard of this pie, even though Anna on cookie madness says that its a southern classic. Recipes that have pineapple in it, can't be southern classics, can they? I mean, unless you live in Southern Hawaii or something. Who had pineapple in the south?

I digress... I read over the ingredients for this millionaire pie and I started thinking... I might could make this low calorie!!! At first, I was a little hesitant... my last low calorie idea didn't turn out so well... but this one had promise.

I went to the grocery store yesterday afternoon seeking out the ingredients... crushed pineapple in it's own juice (no extra sugar added) check fat free sour cream check low calorie, fat free cool whip check... so far so good... and then we get to the sweetened condensed milk. Now, I knew that there was a fat free sweetened condensed milk... I checked the label and the sucker has 1100 calories for one can!!!!!! Yikes!!!! So, I paced up and down the baking aisle for a few minutes, pondering what to do... should I just scratch the whole pie? Nahhh.. I dont want to walk back to the refrigerated section and put the cool whip and sour cream away. I tried to think of what has the sweetness and consistency of sweetened condensed milk... not much, but I finally decided to buy a box of instant fat free, sugar free vanilla pudding...

And that's how this recipe was born... I've made a bunch of changes to the pie, so I changed the name and I'm calling it my own....

Tangy Pineapple Cream Pie

Graham Cracker Crust: (you could use a pre-made one if you like, but if you do, I'd halve the rest of the recipe).
3/4 cup of Graham Cracker Crumbs
1 tbsp Sugar
1 tbsp Butter melted

Filling:
1 box of jello instant pudding, vanilla fat free, sugar free
(you'll actually only use 14 oz of prepared pudding)
3 cups of cold milk (for the pudding)
4 tbsps sour cream
4 tbsps of key lime juice
2 8 oz cans of crushed pineapple in its own juice, drained
3 cups of cool whip

First, prepare your pudding according to box instructions, set aside to set.

Preheat the oven to 350 and mix the melted butter, sugar, and graham cracker crumbs together and pat into the bottom of a 9.5 inch glass pie pan. If you like more crust and want it to go up the sides, then double the recipe. I just wanted a little base crust. Put into the oven to bake for about 3-4 minutes. Just enough to firm up a little. It will still be pretty loose on top, but its okay, the filling is thick.

Prepare filling. Measure out 14 ozs of the prepared pudding (almost 2 cups) and place in a large mixing bowl. Then add sour cream, key lime juice, drained pineapple, and the cool whip and Stir well, incorporating all ingredients.

Pour filling into cooled pie dish and freeze for 1 hour then pull out of freezer and put into fridge for at least 4 hours. It fills the pie pan COMPLETELY.

What you get when you are finished is a deliciously tangy and sweet, creamy, refreshing pudding type of pie. It is yummy! I might also just skip the crust all together and pour into individual ramekins for little pudding desserts sometime, also.