So, we’ve had a bunch of bananas in the freezer for kind of a while now and I’ve been meaning to turn them into banana bread for as long as they’ve been in there.

Today was the day! Banana bread for everyone! Yay to using up left-overs!

Not really.

I put the bananas in the fridge to thaw over-night and what greeted me this morning was not pleasant. They had oozed out a brown banana-scented liquid all over the fridge and were sagging and falling apart.  They were in an unsalvageable state.

Enter pumpkin, our hero of this tale! I knew I made all that pumpkin puree for something!

I was inspired by this recipe.  I’ve made quite a few changes to the original so I don’t feel bad about writing it out with my adjustments for you:

• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup softened Earth Balance
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup flax meal
• 1 and 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Start by creaming together the vegan butter and sugars, then add the pumpkin. This picture shows the wrong way to do it…

I got ahead of myself here and added the pumpkin in with the sugars because that’s what the original recipe said to do. The butter clumped though, and I think it would have incorporated better without the pumpkin present. The finished product didn’t seem to be affected by the uneven butter though, so no worries if you do it this way.

Meanwhile, mix all the dry stuff together…

Add it to the wet slowly, in three installments.  When it’s completely incorporated, add the almond milk and mix through.

Pour into a buttered and floured loaf pan and spread to the edges.

Bake for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees.

And here she is!…

I let it sit until it was cool enough to pick up then turned it out of the pan and let it cool on a rack.

I did not have high hopes for this bread, the batter tasted kind of awful. The finished bread is a real winner though.  It’s not too sweet; should make a great breakfast bread. It may look a bit dry in the pictures, but I assure you it’s nice and supple!

I’d say this is a triumphant ending to the great banana massacre that took place in my fridge.

Oh, pumpkin.  You’re my hero!

October 18, 2010 Alayna Discussion, Recipes Comments Off on Vegan banana (er…pumpkin) bread

This morning I really wanted to use my pumpkin puree that I made yesterday, so I made a batch of pumpkin oatmeal for Jeff and I with a few extra additions.

Yes, that’s a caramelized banana and apple butter!  Wow, this was so good.  Here’s how it came to be:

I started by slitting a banana in half and heating it in a non-stick pan…

And in a pot I added the following:

• 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tbsp. flax meal
• 1 tbsp. chia seeds
• 1 tbsp. maple syrup
• one huge scoop of pumpkin puree

I basically just let the liquid come to a boil then add all the stuff, stir, turn it to low and let it sit covered for about 5 minutes.  Then I just stir vigorously until it thickens up nicely and serve.

Add the toppings…

And serve! Just look at the “veins” on that caramelized banana, creepy but epically good!

Moving on to my equally epic lunch…

Jeff and I went for a walk to enjoy the glorious day going on outside and to try to grab some lunch.  We ended up at Sawicki’s, a sort of general store/ delicatessen/ sandwich shop in downtown Decatur.  While we waited for our sandwiches to be made, Jeff sipped on a cream soda and I tried a chilled rooibos tea.

And we shared some sweet potato chips…

Jeff got the cuban, which he said was excellent…

And I had the single best veggie sandwich I have ever had…

It was spring mix lettuces, avocado, cucumber, artichoke, tomato, hummus, and basil caper vinaigrette on the most delicious crusty roll ever.  EPIC.

We will definitely be hitting up Sawicki’s again, can’t believe it took us this long to try it.

I have an interesting dinner planned for tonight, maybe I’ll hit the trifecta?

P.S.: Yes, I still plan to put up a video of my wedding cake practice, “life stuff” has gotten in the way, but it does exist and I do intend to get it on here soon.

October 9, 2010 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 1 comment

I haven’t been able to find canned pumpkin in the stores yet, it looks like it keeps selling out before I can get my hands on it.  But, the farmer’s market had a huge table full of perfectly round and delightfully orange pie pumpkins on my last trip, so I decided to just make my own.

It’s really pretty simple, the hardest part is cutting the pumpkin in half.  I’ve found that using a very small knife, like a paring knife, works the best.  Just cut out the stem like you would for a jack-o-lantern, then cut down one side and then the other. When you get to the bottom, you can usually just pull it apart from there.

Here he is!

Scoop out the seeds and set them aside for later.

I covered them in olive oil and put them face down on the baking sheet so that they would steam a little as they were roasting.

I think these spent a good hour in the oven at 375 degrees before they came out looking like this…

Scooped out the soft and delicious roasted pumpkin…

And transferred to the food processor.

After a few minutes of whirring about, I had this…

A smooth and delicious pumpkin puree for adding to oatmeal, soups, yogurt, or whatever else.

I am so excited about this.  Fall is here!

October 9, 2010 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 3 comments