So tonight we hit Whole Foods for wine tasting. Best decisions ever. They had such good food tonight (salmon, fruit salsa) and a couple of whites that weren’t bad and a red even I liked. I proceeded to go to Trader Joe for some groceries (and I needed a cheap bottle of red wine to make sangria for a wedding shower tomorrow) and I found a rose Malbec. I have been looking for one since the delicious one I had at Barrio at the beginning of the summer. So, here I sit on a Friday night baking banana bread and drinking rose Malbec. I’m content. There’s a new Say Yes to the Dress on tonight (I love watching these girls complain about how mommy won’t buy them a $10,000 dress) and DC Cupcakes which I am officially addicted to and may have to drive to Baltimore/DC just to sample one of these delicious looking cupcakes. But that’s a whole other story. Oh and now there’s a new Say Yes to the Dress series. I really like Randy so I can’t imagine another one that doesn’t involve him as a consultant, but I’m willing to give it a try.
I make a lot of banana bread. My dad loves it. It’s easy to take to the office and cut up for people. I love it. I always have bananas that go bad. I have discovered that Meijer discounts bananas that are about to go bad. I basically always have banana bread ready bananas on hand. I’m prepared at all times. I’ve tried about 15 different recipes in the last two years. I always find a new one on the internet and give it a shot. I’ve made them with sour cream, buttermilk, cream cheese… loads of stuff. I’ve always been a fan of the Betty Crocker “lighter” recipe because I’m all about being a little healthier when possible. I try reducing the sugar, using honey, Splenda, blah-blah-blah. But, I’ve been on this maple syrup kick. I found a bottle shoved in the back of my fridge that my mom and I bought last year. I had completely forgotten about it. Still delicious and now I’ve been using it practically every day on pancakes, waffles… I contemplated using it on toast yesterday I’ve been eating so much of it. I poured some on blueberries last night. It’s getting bad. I may be addicted. So, I cut the sugar in half of a recipe I found and added three tablespoons of maple syrup. It’s in the oven. So far, it smells amazing. Oh and I added some cinnamon. I feel like bananas, cinnamon and maple syrup are a fairly logical combination, no?
Banana Bread
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup fat-free cream cheese
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons maple syrup (the real stuff)
2 ripe bananas
2 egg whites
1/4 cup light sour cream
1 cup whole-wheat flour + 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
*and you could add chocolate or nuts or raisins or anything else you desire in your banana bread
I creamed the cream cheese and sugars together until they were fluffy before adding the sour cream, maple syrup and applesauce. I then added the egg whites and bananas which I mashed with a fork. In a separate bowl, I combined all of the dry ingredients and then slowly incorporated them into the wet mixture. Mix until just moistened. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for 60-75 minutes.
And it’s delicious. Next time I’m adding dark chocolate chips… or the dark chocolate M&Ms that have been sitting on my counter since I made cookies last week… or I could just finish those tonight. Mmmmm. Okay. Think healthy thoughts. Says the girl with the glass of wine and huge chunk of banana bread in her hand.