Pineapple Zucchini Bread

Jolynne has made this bread for us a couple of times and it is very delicious and moist.  

Healthy Vegetable house

I love this idea, but wouldn't make it--too much work!  If you want to tackle the project, you can get the directions by clicking here on the prakticideas.com webpage.

Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins with Glaze

 INGREDIENTS:

2 Tbsp butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
2 large egg whites
3 1/2 ripe medium bananas, mashed
1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup chocolate chips

2 tbsp confectioners sugar (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Preheat oven to 325°. Line a muffin tin with 12 liners.
2.  In a large mixing bowl cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer.
3.  Add egg whites, bananas, apple sauce, vanilla, and beat at medium speed until thick. Scrape down sides of the bowl.
4.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt with a wire whisk.
5.  Add flour mixture to bananas, then blend at low speed until combined; do not over mix.
6.  Fold in chocolate chips and pour batter into muffin tins.
7.  Bake on the center rack for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
8.  If making the glaze, combine confectioner’s sugar and 1/4 to 1/2 tsp water to make a glaze. Drizzle over each muffin.

Rachel shared this recipe from skinnytaste.com.  I'm always on the look out for good banana recipes because here in Belize bananas are plentiful and inexpensive.  I don't have muffin tins so I cooked it in a 7 x 11 pan.  I used 1 egg instead of 2 egg whites.  I also used 4 bananas.   After I opened the applesauce jar, I measured out 1/4 cup of applesauce in small disposable containers and put them in the freezer for the next time I make the recipe.

This is definitely a thumbs-up recipe!

Black Bean Taco Mix

Ingredients

16 oz package (2 cups) dried black beans

1 Tbs butter

1 large onion 

4-6 garlic cloves

1-2 jalapeño  peppers

1/4 tsp Mrs Dash seasoning (optional)

1 Tbs taco seasoning

1 Tbs cumin seasoning

1/2 Tbs salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 lbs ground beef

2 cups red salsa

1 cup green salsa

Cilantro (optional)

Lime Juice (optional)

Instructions

Cook black beans until soft according to package instructions. When done cooking, add 1/2 Tbs salt and set aside.  (If cooking in Insta Pot, soak beans over night and the next day put inInsta Pot and set it to cook for 7 minutes.)

While beans are cooking, mince garlic cloves, dice chili peppers (remove seeds), and chop onions.  Cook them in butter and Mrs. Dash until the onion is transparent. Set aside. 

Brown meat. When meat is browned, drain off fat.  Add the red and green salsas and cooked onions, chili, and garlic.  Add taco and cumin seasonings (you can adjust seasonings to your taste).  Add black beans and some of the liquid (as desired - I'll add 1to 2 cups of liquid) it was cooked in. 

Add chopped cilantro and lime juice if desired.

The finished product

Since we have moved to Belize a year ago, I have been cooking a lot more with dried beans.  As I have cooked up black beans, I put these ingredients together and came up with this Black Bean Taco Mix recipe.  It is our new favorite recipe to have for dinner. We will serve it on corn tortillas or with tortilla chips, chopped tomatoes, grated cheese, sour cream, salsa etc.   

Crumb Cake

When we attended our son's wedding we were able to stay at the Wing's home.  They were generous hosts and made us lots of yummy treats.  We had this for breakfast this morning.  It was so yummy, I asked Lina for the recipe.  She said it was a recipe from her grandma.  

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup salted butter, softened 

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup mashed bananas

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp ground cloves

2 tsp cornstarch

3 cups old fashioned oats

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix together butter, brown sugar, sugar, egg, vanilla extract and mashed bananas until well combined.

2. Add flour, cinnamon, baking soda, cloves and cornstarch and mix until combined.

3. Stir in oats.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

5. Spoon tablespoons of dough onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Flatten dough a little bit, into thick discs. They will spread a little when baked.

6. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges just start to golden.

7. Remove from oven and cool on cookie sheet for 3-4 minutes, then move to cooling rack to finish cooling.

Since bananas are inexpensive and plentiful here in Belize, I'm always on the lookout for good recipes using bananas.  I added an extra 1/2 quick oats with the old fashioned oats.    I got the recipe from lifeloveandsugar.com found here.