Healthy Banana Bread

Greetings! I have not posted on this blog for a long time. In the past year, I have gotten away from baking. It is not that I have cut baking out in its entirety, it is just that I have been baking the same few items. In my schedule, I have limited time so I end up baking what I know...or have memorized. During this time away from baking, I have eaten healthier and increased the amount of vegetables and grains in my diet. I limited my baked good intake, although I indulged in chocolate, cheesecake, and ice cream.

The gap of time has made me sad because baking is something that I enjoy and that I am truly passionate about. Today, I was inspired to bake something new and that is what I am sharing today! I made a healthier version of banana bread. I took a spin on my original banana bread recipe found on this blog. I added wheat flour, flaxseeds, and limited the fat and sugar in the recipe. The modifications with keep you fuller longer but also give more nutrients. Flaxseeds can reduce heart diseases. Whole flour provides more fiber in the diet. When it comes to sugar, manufacturers are overloading food products with sugar. Many people are unaware of how many products contain sugar and the high amounts found in food products. Reducing fat and sugar in this recipe will help reduce the overall amount of sugar fat in our already sugar latent diets.

 Let's jump into the recipe, shall we?

Apple Cinnamon Banana Bread

I've been having an urge to make something with apple. I was struggling on what to make because I wanted to use apples but not in its typical way through a pie, streusel, etc. That's when I saw the ripe bananas chilling on my counter and thought to myself, why don't I add some apple to my banana bread recipe? I also incorporated cinnamon to compliment the apples and bananas. This is a great banana bread variation, especially since I just made banana bread last week. The apples makes the bread super moist and adds nice textural element. Another great textural element are the walnuts which is slightly crunchier than the apple pieces throughout the bread.The cinnamon gives another depth of flavor throughout the bread. It's like eating apple pie and banana bread together. I don't mind that at all!

One note, because there are apples and bananas in this recipe, it won't keep long on the kitchen counter. I portion my loaf into serving sizes and freeze it. This way, I can pull out some bread for an out the door breakfast or midday snack. The bread last longer and you won't have discard your hard work when it's not edible anymore!

Pumpkin Bread

There is nothing I love more than trying a recipe that I've scribbled on a scratch piece of paper laying on my desk. The recipe always screams, "Make Me!" but I always put it off to the side and end up forgetting about it. I became smarter and began storing these scratch pieces of paper in a folder so I can sift through it when I had an itch to bake. Needless to say, when I had the itch yesterday, I whipped out my folder and starting sifting through my recipes. Awhile back, I was searching for a healthy pumpkin bread recipe because quick breads like pumpkin bread tend to be high in sugar and fat. After a good search, I found a recipe than had just the right amount of healthiness!

This recipe calls for egg whites, plain yogurt, and pumpkin which all create a healthier version of pumpkin bread! I love pumpkin and one of the beauties of making pumpkin bread is not having to worry much about the end product being moist because pumpkin recipes tend to be moist.

I was very happy with how the bread turned out. If I could tweak this recipe slightly, I would add more spice to the bread to bump up the flavor. The recipe is good as is if you like pumpkin baked products to be more on the mild side. Next time, I plan on incorporating some pumpkin pie spice to enhance the pumpkin flavor. Each serving has 140 calories and 4 grams of fat. Not too shabby if you ask me!

Buttermilk Whole Wheat Pancakes

Pancakes are one of my favorite breakfast foods! Not the ones that come from a box or a bag, but the ones made from scratch! I believe there is a huge different in the taste, texture, and overall satisfaction when it comes to homemade pancakes. The great thing about pancakes is that they are super easy to make! Also, you can add any type of flavoring, whether it's vanilla, cinnamon, almond, chocolate, fruit, butter, or syrup. So versatile, so delicious, and so satisfying! I like this recipe because the pancakes are flavorful. There is a great balance of flavors from the wheat flour, vanilla, and buttermilk. Additionally, these pancakes are healthier than other pancake recipes but you won't even not notice which means you can eat a little more without guilt.

How are these pancakes, exactly? Well, here I go on my healthy rant. These pancakes incorporate many healthy components like whole wheat flour, buttermilk, and egg whites. I am not saying adding whole wheat flour makes everything healthy but it is a factor in making these pancakes healthier. As deceptive as the name sounds, buttermilk is relatively healthy ingredient. Yes, it has fat but most of the fat is removed to make butter. Also, it is lower in calories than whole, 2%, and 1% milk. Buttermilk also helps to create light and fluffly pancakes. Lastly, this recipe uses one egg and one egg white. The fat of an egg comes from the yolk so using the egg whites of one egg significantly reduces fat and calories in the pancakes.

Got to have my ingredient list!

 

Buttermilk Dinner Rolls

Congratulations to my cousin on getting married this past weekend. Due to my limited diet, I was only able to eat certain items at dinner. Luckily it was buffet style so I was able to pick and choose. The best thing I ate at dinner was surprisingly...the dinner rolls! The rolls were warm, sweet, buttery, and pillowy soft. You know what that means...I fell weak at the knees. Too bad I discovered how amazing they were after I ate half a plate worth of rich mashed potatoes and a chicken cutlet. It may not sound like a lot but it is when the plate is bigger than the size of my head...and probably yours too! Anyways, the dinner rolls were my inspiration for this blog entry.

As I savored each bite of the dinner rolls, I began pondering how I could reproduce this at home. After hypothesizing what makes these rolls so delicious, random ingredients starting popping into my head like buttermilk.  I did some research on the internet to find a buttermilk dinner roll recipe that incorporated butter and sugar to see if my prediction was correct.

The buttermilk dinner rolls turned out deliciously fabulous! Granted it wasn't identical to the ones I had at the wedding but they were pretty close. Usually when I make bread, it's more of the crustier type of bread, which I don't mind but I always wondered how to make soft dinner rolls. I finally discovered the secret...buttermilk! The rolls were soft and fluffy because of the buttermilk and I was surprised how soft and fluffy the rolls remained the next day. The rolls had great subtle flavors (my preference) but my family added butter or cream cheese to the rolls for more flavor. While I like the recipe, I am going to make some adjustments the next time to emulate the "wedding rolls" by adding more sugar, salt, and butter so the rolls are even more scrumptious. I'm sure you'll hear about that adventure...until then, enjoy these rolls!

Cinnamon Buns (Rolls) with Cream Cheese Icing (No Shortcuts Here!)

I love cinnamon rolls and the smell of Cinnabon reminds me of my childhood when my family and I would frequent the mall. Every once in awhile, my parents would let my siblings and I indulge on cinnamon bun for all of us to share. As much as I always wanted to have my own cinnamon roll, I always had just the right amount to be satisfied until the next indulgence! It was a good idea that my parents never bought me my own cinnamon bun because when I was 12, I went to this food fair in California and I got to try all of these different foods. One station made their own cinnamon rolls. I watched in awe behind the glass on the magic of cinnamon rolls. As I saw the bakers slobber sticks and sticks of butter on the bread dough, I began to feel this heavy pitted feeling in my stomach. I told my mom I never wanted to eat a cinnamon roll again because it looked disgusting. She laughed but I was as serious as a 12 year old could be!

That experience is still vivid in my memory but there is something about the cinnamon-ness in a cinnamon roll that just makes it a divine treat. I will indulge every once in awhile and if I do, I will eat a bite...or two. The thing is if you make it on your own cinnamon buns, you can regulate the fat in the recipe, you'll feel better about yourself by regulating how much you make and eat. I'm not saying this recipe is not fattening but I feel better about eating something that I made. The smell of the cinnamon buns baking in the oven is one of the greatest scents because it reminds me so much of my childhood. Now, I can recreate those memories right in my own kitchen.

If I learned one thing from my cinnamon buns encounter it is the importance of the icing. While cinnamon buns are delectable on their own, the icing really make a cinnamon bun from good to stupendous! I used a cream cheese icing for this recipe because I love cream cheese but it also provides a depth of flavor beyond a simple sweetness that a standard icing provides. I kept the integrity of the cream cheese by not adding hat much sugar so you can still taste the cream cheese but doesn't overpower the cinnamon goodness.

I am proud of this cinnamon bun baking experience for many reasons. First, this is my first time making homemade cinnamon buns (I have only made shortcut Cinnamon Bun Bread before). Second, I found making these cinnamon buns pretty easy. I usually have some sort of anxiety when it comes to making bread. I remember when I first started baking bread, I was a hot mess. I didn't understand how particular I had to be when it came to the directions and that yeast is a very sensitive matter. If the liquid is too cold, the yeast takes a long time to activate. If the liquid is too hot, the yeast can die. I have experienced both but I guess it is what has gotten me to this feeling of ease. I am so happy with the result of my cinnamon buns and I'm even happier to share my experience with you!

 Cinnamon buns before they went into the oven. If you think this looks good, just wait!

 Lookin' good, ain't it? They are missing something though...

Finished product with cream cheese icing. Cinnamon buns aren't cinnamon buns without the icing.

French Toast

I love food! Despite this understatement, there is one food staple that I absolutely cannot stand...eggs! I know, it may seem impossible considering baking involves using lots of eggs but I greatly detest the test, smell, and texture of eggs. Eggs are the one food item that shivers down my spine when I was little and the feeling just persisted as I grew older. Off that tangent, I made french toast today for the first time (*round of applause*)! I never made french toast because I do not like eggs and it never really appealed to me but I had an urge to make it.

Now, I'm no french toast expert but I have learned/observed a few things from the Food Network, my mom, and recipe researching. I'll share some of those things with you!

Tips for good french toast:
1. Using day old bread is important because it soaks up the egg mixture.
2. French toast shouldn't be soppy. This is easy to do if you opt using regular white sliced bread.
3. Building a custard is the key to good french toast.
4. French toast should taste eggy with a hint of sweetness, not the other way around.
5. French toast is to be crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

The recipe I used for this post was an experiment but I think it turned out well. In my opinion, this is a healthier version of typical french toast because there is nothing overpowering in the recipe but it achieves all the tastes in french toast. Having said that, let's make some french toast!

Waffles

Growing up, I always made waffles from the box. I'd like to think at the time, my palette was not refined enough to know any better. I'd make waffles on the weekend all the time for my family and my mom  always complain about how she did not like the Bisquick mix but I had no problem with it. As time went by, I learned that my mom was right, aren't they always. Since then, I made a few waffles from scratch but nothing that satisfied my waffle hunger. I finally found a recipe worth blogging about. I did not realize until I made the waffles that there was no milk but I had buttermilk and almond milk. So...I used mainly buttermilk and a little of the almond milk but the buttermilk was too overpowering. Next time I will add half buttermilk and half milk. I just have to make sure I have milk at home! Other than the lingering aftertaste of tangy buttermilk, everything else was great! The texture and flavor was exactly what I was looking for in a waffle.

I did not realize how much of a difference whipping the egg whites does to the waffle. It makes a significant difference. It's a little time consuming but worth every minute. It is essential to fluffy waffles (in addition to the buttermilk). This is important step and this will make good waffles be great waffles.

Challah

What is usually the first thing that you think of when you hear homemade bread? I would assume that most people would get an uneasy feeling of fear, anxiety, or intimidation. Although I haven't made loaves and loaves of bread, the same feeling came over me as well. Bread is different from other baked goods because there are so many factors to take into account that could affect the final product. I think the hardest part about making bread is dealing with the yeast by making sure it is mixed with the right temperature liquid and is stored in the right temperature to proof. Another reason why people stray away from making their own bread is because of the amount of time it takes. From my experiences, I've had productive days while making a loaf of bread. I have gotten things done around the house and even run short errands.

Making bread is definitely doable, especially after a few trials. I decided to make a challah bread today. It is one of my favorite breads to eat because of its eggy taste which is funny because I do not like eggs! I have made this before but it did not use any butter and had a limited amount of oil. This recipe does include butter

Buttermilk Pancakes

What is a better way to start off you day than eating a nice stack of buttermilk pancakes? I can't think of anything better than these light and fluffy concoctions. I like this recipe because it has great flavor and turns out to be everything you expect in a buttermilk pancake!

Cinnamon Bun Shortcut - Cinnamon Bun Bread

I stumbled upon this recipe from the blog Baking Bites. I'm a huge fan of cinnamon buns but not so much when it comes to dealing with yeast. Making bread from scratch is most definitely rewarding but can be quite time consuming. This recipe attracted me because it requires less time than regular cinnamon buns despite the fact that it requires yeast. Even though this recipe can be made in less time than regular cinnamon buns, the taste and satisfaction is not compromised in any way. Granted, this recipe does not yield individual spirals of cinnamon buns but it is still satisfying nonetheless. The bread reminds me of a coffeecake and the topping is bit reminiscent of a pecan pie. Don't get me wrong, it still tastes like a cinnamon bun.

Garlic Knots

I'm sure we have all had garlic bread some point in our lives. The combination of garlic, butter and oil on a nice crunchy piece of bread are just divine. It's so divine that we want to make ourselves whenever we have a desire for it... well, that's how I feel at least. There are tons of ways and recipes to make garlic bread. I started making garlic bread with toasting some bread and slabbing on some oil or butter, topped with garlic salt or powder. Then I moved on to rubbing pieces of garlic on my toast to heating up garlic infused oil and brushing it on toasted bread. One thing these techniques have in common is that they're quick. However, with a little extra time on hands, try making these 100% homemade garlic knots. I had my first garlic knot about two years ago and was anxious to make my own. The bread dough is super easy because it is a basic pizza dough. Do not be intimidated to make the bread, even if the bread does not turn out perfectly, the garlic mixture will make up for it! The garlic topping is made over the stove and when the knots come out of the oven, toss the knots with the garlic/butter/oil mixture and the heat from the bread will cook the garlic mixture and makes it absolutely delicious!