Extra Banana Banana Bread

Chock full of ripe bananas, this extra banana banana bread is now my go-to recipe when bananas need using up. It’s an absolute favorite at our house! It's perfect for breakfast or snack time and goes delightfully with a cup of tea.

For most of this summer, we’ve been camping out upstairs in our own house, cooking in a makeshift kitchen in one of the spare bedrooms, because our contractor was building us a fabulous addition. 

After quite a few delays – isn’t that always the way? – the handover took place in mid-August and I was finally able to use my gorgeous new kitchen with brand new appliances, including a dual fuel stove and even a second oven! Heaven.

But before that, in the makeshift kitchen, I had some very ripe bananas languishing in the fruit bowl. In an effort to get a break from the construction, we were taking off for a week away. Since I simply cannot bear wasting food if I can help it, I baked this wonderful extra banana banana bread in my Ninja Flip using a 9-in round cake pan. I left it with a note for the worker bees before we headed out. 

I got back to rave reviews! They LOVED it! Well, you know I had to bake it again in the new kitchen. But this time, my big oven had room for an actual bread pan, which was probably more exciting to me than it should be, because I’m sad that way. Maybe you can relate.

I named this extra banana banana bread because it contains DOUBLE the amount of bananas in my usual recipe and it uses extra ripe bananas, the ones that are WELL past their best. Also half the sugar. You don't need it because the ripe bananas are so sweet. 

Extra Banana Banana Bread

Whatever pan you bake this in – normal loaf pan or 9 in round cake pan – I promise, it’s great. Moist, flavorful and lovely. I give the weights of my mashed bananas below but this is a very forgiving recipe. A little more or less will not make a difference. The first, the cake pan one, had a little more banana by weight.

Ingredients

4 extremely ripe bananas, mashed – my almost 2 cups full weighed 9 1/2 oz or 270g 

1/3 cup or 80ml canola or other light oil

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup or 100g sugar

1 1/2 cups or 188g flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt 

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and line your chosen baking pan with baking parchment.  

Peel then mash the bananas with a fork in a mixing bowl. 

Add in the oil, eggs and vanilla then whisk till incorporated.

Add in the sugar and whisk again. 

In separate bowl, measure out flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Mix to combine. (I also sift my baking soda into the bowl, because in a humid climate, it can get a bit lumpy.)

Add the flour mixture all at once to the banana mixture. 

Fold until just combined. 

Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake for 30-40 minutes in a round cake pan or 50-55 minutes in a bread pan.

Remove from the oven. 

Take the banana bread out of the hot pan and leave to cool before slicing to serve. 

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are celebrating International Banana Festival Day which falls on September 21st. Many thanks to our host, Camilla of Culinary Cam. Check out the links below. 

• Banana Apple Coffee Cake Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Banana Daiquiri from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Banana Oat Muffins from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Extra Banana Banana Bread from Food Lust People Love
• High Protein Banana Muffins from Our Good Life
• Protein Rich Banana Smoothie from Mayuri's Jikoni
• Using Banana Leaves + Cochinita Pibil from Culinary Cam
• Vrat Kacche Kele Ke Seekh Kebab from Sneha's Recipe

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Miso Gochujang Peanut Roasted Eggplant

A lovely side dish, suffused with flavor, this miso gochujang peanut roasted eggplant is super easy to make. Crushed peanuts add a welcome crunch!

If you’ve been reading along here for a while, you probably know that, like a lot of children, I did not like, detested, abhorred eggplant growing up. That all changed when my mom’s close friend, Lilian, a second generation Italian American made her eggplant parmigiana for me. 

The thing is, eggplant is relatively tasteless until you add seasonings or spices to it. But, now as an adult, I realize that is one of its best attributes! Just about every cuisine worldwide has eggplant dishes in its repertoire, with their own twist of spices, sauces and fillings. It’s so adaptable, adding extra hidden veg to sauces and stews or being the star of a dish.

Last summer a good friend gave me a new cookbook, Dominique’s Kitchen by Dominique Woolf who was the winner of Jamie Oliver’s show The Great Cookbook Challenge, where 18 contestants cooked to win a contract to publish their cookbooks. It is, as described in its tagline, “easy everyday Asian-inspired food.”

Dominique shares a recipe for a roasted eggplant dish with garlic, soy sauce, gochujang and honey that sounded intriguing. I bookmarked it but never quite got around to making it. Then recently, I read Ella Risbridger’s new cookbook, The Kitchen Book and came across her recipe for eggplant, roasted whole, with garlic, miso and sesame oil. This recipe is my mash up of the two. 

Miso Gochujang Peanut Roasted Eggplant

As mentioned above, this recipe is adapted from two recipes, one in The Kitchen Book by Ella Risbridger and another from Dominique’s Kitchen by Dominique Woolf. I highly recommend both books. 

Ingredients

2 eggplant (My two weighed 1 lb 10 ½ oz or 754g)

2 tablespoons sesame oil 

2 fat cloves garlic

3 tablespoons unsalted butter 

2 teaspoons miso 

1 tablespoon gochujang 

1/3 cup or 50g shelled, roasted peanuts 

Cilantro leaves, to garnish, optional

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and line a baking pan with baking parchment or a silicone liner.

Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise. Use a sharp knife to cut a diamond pattern in the flesh, taking care not to pierce the skin.

Put them on your prepared baking pan and brush the eggplant with the sesame oil. 

Put the pan in your preheated oven. Bake for about 40-45 minutes, or until the eggplant are soft and blistered. I did five minutes on broil/grill at the end.

Meanwhile, peel then grate the garlic cloves into a small heatproof bowl. Add the butter. 

Microwave in 10 second bursts until the butter is melted. (It took mine just one minute.) Swirl every 10 seconds.

Stir in the miso and gochujang until smooth.  

Crush the peanuts in a mortar and pestle or with a rolling pin in a bag. You want some fine dust and some small bits. 

Take the roasted eggplant out of the oven. 

Fork the flesh to break it up. 

Spoon over the garlic-miso-gochujang butter, and fork it right through. 

Sprinkle with the crushed peanuts. 

Garnish with cilantro leaves, if desired. 

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday Fun and today we are sharing recipes with peanuts and/or peanut butter in celebration of National Peanut Day which is today! Many thanks to our host, Amy from Amy’s Cooking Adventures. Check out the link list below.

• Congress Kadlekai Spiced Peanut Snack by Sizzling Tastebuds
• Frozen Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Homemade Butterfingers by Amy’s Cooking Adventures
• Miso Gochujang Peanut Roasted Eggplant by Food Lust People Love
• Peanut Butter Muffins by Mayuri's Jikoni
• Skrewball Brownies by A Messy Kitchen
• Thai Chicken Pasta Salad by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Vrat Shengdanyachi Amti - Peanut Curry by Sneha's Recipe
• Warm Peanut Butter Sauce for Dipping by Our Good Life

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Vintage Pecan Icebox Cookies

These Vintage Pecan Icebox Cookies are made from a tried-and-true classic recipe from Imperial Sugar Pure Cane Sugar. The dough is chilled (or frozen) before baking so you can slice and bake as needed. 

Growing up in Houston, the only sugar we would ever buy was refined from pure cane syrup about 10 miles from my childhood home in a little town called, appropriately, Sugar Land. (The two-word name is one way we separate Texas transplants from locals, as newcomers tend to want to write it, Sugarland. It’s an amusing test.) 

Starting with a single sugar mill back in 1843 and then incorporated in 1905, Imperial Sugar is still my sugar of choice for all the varieties but nowadays it’s no longer a family enterprise. It is run as a subsidiary of United States Sugar Corporation. Thankfully, quality remains high though.

Over the years, Imperial Sugar produced many cookbooks, often in collaboration with the Parent-Teacher Association of Sugar Land as fundraisers. The 48-page promotional cookbook - A Bag Full of Recipes, 1930 edition - this recipe was adapted from was one of those, featuring classic household recipes and baking tips. 

Icebox cookies were a homemaker's ace-in-the-hole for unexpected guests! Kept chilled, they could be baked at a moment's notice. These days, we can freeze the dough and keep it fresh even longer. 

All of the Imperial Sugar vintage cookbooks are available for download on the Imperial Sugar website here: https://imperialsugar.com/vintage-cookbooks/ Such a motherload of vintage recipes! 

Vintage Pecan Icebox Cookies

It is essential that you roll, wrap and chill this dough for at least three hours before slicing to bake the cookies, because they will spread out. The dough can be frozen, well-wrapped, for a couple of months. This makes about 3-4 dozen 2-inch cookies, depending on your slicing. 

Ingredients

½ cup or 60g chopped pecans 

½ cup or 113g unsalted butter, at room temperature 

¾ cup, tightly packed, or 150g dark brown sugar 

1 large egg 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1 ¼ cups or 156g flour 

½ teaspoon fine sea salt 

¼ teaspoon baking soda 

Optional for decoration: pecan halves

For wrapping the dough:

Baking parchment or waxed paper

Method

Place the chopped pecans in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. 

Add the butter and brown sugar and pulse to combine. 

Add the egg and vanilla and pulse until combined. 

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, salt, and baking soda. 

Turn the flour mixture into the food processor and pulse until smooth. 

Tear off a sheet of waxed or parchment paper about 15 inches long. Spoon the dough onto the paper and roll into a log about 15 inches or 38cm long. 

Wrap the dough up and chill for at least three hours or preferably overnight. (You can also store the log in the freezer in a zipper-top bag for up to 3 months.) 

When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375ºF or 190°C, with a rack in the middle. 

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it back and forth on the counter until it is about 1½ inches in diameter. Mine was a challenge to roll into a neat round tube. Is my fridge too cold? Who knows! I just wish I had rolled it more round before chilling! You should. 

Slice the dough roll into circles just under 1cm or ½ inch thick.

Arrange them on a silicone- or parchment-lined baking pan, at least 1 inch or 2cm apart.

If desired, press a pecan half into each round. I like to do this because 1. If someone has a nut allergy, it’s an immediate red flag that says: Do NOT eat, and 2. They are prettier with a pecan on top! 

Bake, one pan at a time, until the cookies are golden brown and crispy around the edges, about 8 minutes. 

Transfer to a wire rack to cool. 

Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the pans between batches. Alternatively, as mentioned above, it can be frozen, well-wrapped, for a few months. Slice and bake at will! 

Store the cookies for up to a week in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing cookie recipes, just ‘cause we want to. Because who doesn’t want more cookie recipes? Exactly no one. Many thanks to our host, Karen of Karen’s Kitchen Stories. Check out the links below. 

• Candied Orange Peel Chocolate Chip Cookies from Amy’s Cooking Adventures
• Fig Newton Swirl Cookies from A Messy Kitchen 
• Frosted Cake Cookies from Karen’s Kitchen Stories 
• Marbled Tahini Cookies from Culinary Cam
• Peaches and Cream Rustic Thumbprint Cookies from Faith Hope Luck and Love Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Ragi Nankatai from Sneha’s Recipe 
• Strawberry Cake Mix Chocolate Chip Cookies from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Thandai Cookies from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Tropical Treat Gluten Free Cookies from Sid’s Sea Palm Cookies
• Vintage Pecan Icebox Cookies from Food Lust People Love

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Marmite Roast New Potatoes with Sausage and Butter Beans

Marmite Roast New Potatoes with Sausage and Butter Beans is a savory delight of a meal. Lots of protein and a big bucket load of delicious flavor. 

Seriously, guys, we love this meal. It’s easily adaptable to whatever you want to roast to set on top of those beans but at the minimum, make the bean and add some Marmite. The Parmesan cheese! The cracked black pepper! The recipe I adapted this from wasn’t called cacio e pepe butter beans for nothing! 

Marmite Roast New Potatoes with Sausage and Butter Beans

If you haven’t tried Marmite before but love salty, savory things, I encourage you to try and find a jar. It’s readily available in the UK, whence it comes, of course, but in the States, I’ve had luck online and in World Market. It’s quite strong on its own but adds so much flavor to savory dishes.

Ingredients

1 cup or 180g dried butter beans 

1 teaspoon baking soda

7 oz or 200g smoked sausage

10 3/4 oz or 305g new potatoes

Olive oil

Fine sea salt for the potatoes, plus extra at the end, if needed

Freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons Marmite

2 tablespoons butter

1 garlic clove, crushed and minced

1 3/4 oz or 50g Parmesan, finely grated, plus extra for serving

1 teaspoon freshly cracked black peppercorns – I use a mortar and pestle

6 good handfuls spinach, about 2 oz or 57g

Method

In a heat proof bowl, pour boiling water over the dried butter beans. Cover the bowl and leave to soak for one hour. 

Pour the water out. Add the beans to a small pot and cover with fresh water. Bring the water to the boil, add the baking soda and turn the heat down to simmer. Simmer for 35-45 minutes or until the beans are soft. 

Set the pot aside and leave the beans to cool in the liquid. Depending on how old your dried butter beans are, these can be cooked and holding their shape or, for newer beans, very soft, almost mushy. I like them either way.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180ºC. Skin and cut the sausage into rounds. 

Put the potatoes in a roasting dish. Drizzle them with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Give it a good stir to coat the dish and the potatoes.

Tuck the sausage rounds in amongst the potatoes. Roast in the preheat oven for about 20-25 minutes. 

Meanwhile, combine the softened butter and Marmite until you have a homogeneous mixture. 

Remove the sausage to a large covered bowl to keep warm and drizzle the potatoes with the Marmite butter. Stir well to coat. 

Roast for a further 10 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through. 

Meanwhile, add the minced garlic and half the cracked pepper to the bean pot.

Remove the potatoes from the roasting pan and add them to the sausage bowl so you can deglaze the hot pan by adding a good drizzle of water. 

Scrape all the sticky goodness up and add it into the bean pot. Stir well.

Pop the bean pot back on the stove and reheat. Add in the spinach and stir till the beans are heated through and the spinach has wilted, 5-6 minutes.

Stir in the grated parmesan.

Add the rest of the cracked black pepper. 

Taste and season with a little more salt if necessary. Divide the beans between four bowls, then top each with potatoes and sausage. 

Serve with a little more freshly grated Parmesan, if desired. (Always desired, nay, obligatory, at our house!)

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing potato recipes ahead of National Potato Day on August 19th. How will you celebrate? Many thanks to our host, Camilla of Culinary Cam. Check out the links below.

• Appe Batata Vada by Sneha's Recipe
• Baked Spicy Herby Potato Wedges by Sizzling Tastebuds
• Baked Potato Soup by Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Budget-Friendly Potato Soup with Fresh Dill by Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Campfire Potatoes by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Copycat Baked Arby's Curly Fries by Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Creamy Mashed Potatoes Without Butter or Cream by Culinary Cam
• Jacket Potatoes by Mayuri's Jikoni
• Marmite Roast New Potatoes with Sausage and Butter Beans by Food Lust People Love
• Three-Color Potato Salad with Vegetables by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Warm Potato Salad by A Messy Kitchen

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

Pin these Marmite Roast New Potatoes 
with Sausage and Butter Beans!

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