Sour Cream Banana Pancakes

Summertime makes me feel loved. We have wonderful friends who live all over the world and they come visit us! When we can we can, we visit them too. A few weeks ago, we went to the Oregon coast to visit some friends who came in from the east coast. A whole bunch of us, some assorted kiddos, and our dog had a wonderful time sharing a beach house, playing games, and eating and eating. In the morning, we made sour cream banana pancakes that everyone gobbled down. They are currently my guests-in-the-house go to breakfast. Delicious, sweet, vanillay and oh so good!

Sour Cream Banana Pancakes - from Ina Garten
Serves 4
Preheat oven to 250 to store cooked batches of pancakes

1 1/2 cups of flour
3 tablespoons of sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon milk (I used whole milk)
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 ripe bananas chopped or mashed

In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Set aside. In a larger bowl, mix together sour cream, milk, eggs, vanilla and chopped or mashed bananas. 

Find an adorable helper, and let them stir. Mix everything together in the larger bowl and fold until just combined.

In a large cast iron skillet with a bit of butter, cook pancakes in batches. I like to store cooked pancakes on a cookie sheet in a low set oven. 

We like these with a variety of toppings... some faves include butter and sugar, or peanut butter (obviously - this crowd lives on peanut butter) or the never-fail maple syrup. I'm not really a fan of maple syrup, but a dear friend of mine made vanilla infused sugar and with some butter, that's my fave!

I feel like it's been the summer of pancakes, but boy am I glad!!

Enjoy!

 

Baked Oatmeal with Bananas and Raspberries

Mornings in our house are a blur of clothes, hair, toys, dogs, cats, COFFEE. I try to cook ahead on the weekends and make our mornings (and lunches) easier. This is one of my favorite make-ahead breakfasts. I get four servings out of this and I can take it to work and eat it cold or warmed up. It's hearty and healthy and adaptable to what sort of fresh or frozen fruits I have on hand. The edges are dense, sort of like a muffin, but this recipe has no flour. The middle gets soft and more like cooked oatmeal. I can stretch out the servings by adding a side of yogurt. This also makes a great lunch if I've had something else for breakfast. YUM! But terribly hard to photograph.

Baked Oatmeal - inspired by Budget Bytes
Makes 4 large servings
Preheat oven to 350

2 very ripe bananas, mashed - about 1 cup of mash
2 eggs
2 tablespoons brown sugar - totally optional, and very good without the added sugar
2 cups of milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon 
2 1/2 cups oats
2 cups raspberries - I use frozen
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a baking dish you can cover with a lid or tinfoil. Chop nuts and set aside.

Mash bananas and stir in eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, sugar (if using) baking powder and baking soda. Stir to combine and then add in oats and raspberries. Stir to combine and pour into the prepared baking dish. Top with chopped nuts and bake covered for 15 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes. 

This is delicious warm, and I like it just as well cold. This is a super adaptable recipe!

A few variations on this recipe...

• Omit raspberries and using one mashed banana add 1/2 cup of peanut butter and 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. Heaven. 
• I've used blueberries, strawberries and blackberries in this recipe. All delicious, but raspberries are my faves. 
• I've used chopped apples in place of the berries. 
• I've used apple sauce instead of bananas.
• I've used pumpkin puree in place of the bananas and added pumpkin pie spice to the cinnamon already in the recipe.  
• New parents - this is a wonderful thing to have around as you fight off exhaustion and a severe need for calories. 

 
Things made this time last year...

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

 

Maple Pecan Pie

 

Chicken and Dumplings

 

Chicken and Veggies with Biscuit Topping

 

 

Banana Bread

What do you do with old, brown, leftover bananas???  I have the perfect answer to that question.  I know brown bananas may not look appetizing, but wow do they pack a punch when adding to a baked good.  I typically make muffins or banana bread.  This time, I made banana bread. 

Banana bread is considered a “quick bread” because it doesn’t contain yeast.  It uses baking soda and baking powder for the leavening process.  This significantly quickens the preparation of the bread – hence, the name “quick bread”.  This recipe is also lightened because it utilizes egg whites in place of some of the whole eggs and less butter than other recipes.  The amount of milk used is minimal so you can use any type of milk you have.

This recipe is easy and yummy.  Banana bread can make for a great addition to a weekend breakfast, or it can act alone as breakfast during the week.  It also lasts a while in the fridge.  Warm it up, top with a little butter and…voila!  A yummy and healthy breakfast! 

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

5 tbsp butter, at room temperature

½ c granulated sugar

½ c firmly packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

2 egg whites

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 ½ c mashed, very ripe bananas (2 bananas)

1 ¾ c all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp baking powder

1 tbsp milk

1/3 c chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350F.  Spray bottom of 9x5x3” loaf pan w/ nonstick cooking spray.

Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer set to medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat well until creamed.  Add egg, egg whites, and vanilla; beat well until blended.  Add mashed banana, and beat high speed 30 secs.

Tip: Ensuring the butter is at room temperature makes for good creaming and lighter (fluffier) baked goods. 

Combine flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder in medium bowl.  Add flour mixture to butter mixture.  Mix in milk.  Add walnuts to batter; mix well.

Pour batter evenly into prepared loaf pan.  Bake until browned and toothpick inserted near center comes out clean, about 55-60 mins.  Cool bread in pan on wire rack 10 mins.