The Best Banana Bread

I posted a picture of some amazing banana bread that I had made on Instagram and promised to post the recipe. That was.....quite a while ago. My follow-through isn't always the best but the intentions are good!

Anywho, I'll keep this short. This bread is super easy and a definite crowd-pleaser. So get at it! :)

Bananas are mushed, Earth Balance butter is creamed with sugar, and homemade (by my aunt) vanilla joins the party. Then add bananas.

Sifted dry ingredients added, stopping to scrape once or twice. 

Thick batter goes into the prepared pan. I like to use parchment that hangs over the sides for easy removal and clean up. 

And into the oven! That easy. 

And there's the end result! Yummy. I'm about to go eat some, in fact. 

Here's the recipe so you can make your own and resist the urge to eat the whole loaf, slice by divine slice. 

The Best Banana Bread

recipe found in my mom's recipe box, origins unknown

2 large bananas, smushed with a fork

1 stick Earth Balance butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups All-Purpose Flour

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp salt

chopped nuts, if desired

Mush your bananas in a bowl. Cream your Earth Balance with sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and bananas. Sift dry ingredients together and add to mixing bowl. Scrape bowl and paddle. Mix only until flour is no longer visible. Do not over mix! Add nuts if desired. Pour/scrape the thick batter into a greased and parchment-lined 9"x5" loaf pan and spread evenly.

Bake at 325F for about an hour, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly in the pan and then remove and let cool on a cooling rack to avoid sweating. That's what sometimes makes banana bread overly moist on the bottom. Slice and enjoy! I like to eat it with a smear of more Earth Balance. :)

Cream Cheese Corn Enchiladas

Enchiladas! Sort of. This is more of a cross between enchiladas and a burrito casserole. And it's awesome. I had a craving yesterday, so it became dinner! Super easy to throw together and then 20 minutes in the oven. Boom! : ) Hardest thing is making sure you have all the ingredients. Which I try to make sure is always. ; )

Ooey Gooey Cheesy!!

I veganized this recipe and it was awesome before, but now it ROCKS. And the absence of dairy-based cheese means I'm not all phlegmy and glued up inside after eating it. Gross, right? Well, it happens. Or used to. Ha. But no more! Here goes.

Cream Cheese Corn Enchiladas

adapted from Cassie Craves

  5 ounces Tofutti cream cheese, softened 

  1/4 cup Tofutti sour cream

  2 cups prepared salsa, divided

  1 cup shredded Daiya cheddar cheese, divided

  1 cup shredded Daiya pepper-jack cheese, divided

  1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed

  1/2 teaspoon chili powder

  1/4 teaspoon cumin

  Salt and pepper

  4 scallions, thinly sliced ( I never have these so I use regular onion if I'm so inclined)

  8 8-inch flour tortillas

1. Preheat oven 325 degrees.

2. In a medium bowl cream together cream cheese, sour cream, 1/2 cup salsa, 1/2 cup of each type of cheese. Toss in the corn, cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and half of the scallion and stir to combine. 

3. Spread about 1/2 cup salsa in the bottom of a baking dish. Place 1/3 to 1/2 cup filling on a tortilla, roll up and tuck in the sides, then put in dish seam side down. Repeat process for remaining tortillas.

4. Pour remaining salsa over enchiladas, spreading to coat all of them. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

5. Transfer to preheated oven and bake 20 to 25 minutes until hot and bubbly. Sprinkle with the remaining scallions and serve warm.

I've kinda gotten to the point where I can just eyeball amounts and throw everything in a bowl and roll it all up in a tortilla super quick. It's great. Since it's generally just for me, I half the recipe, hence the 8"x8" pan, which is perfect. The full recipe fits perfectly in a 9"x13". The Tofutti cream cheese and sour cream that I use are awesome. They are tofu-based, have the same textures and tastes of the "real thing", and mix and melt just great. I get them at Whole Foods or my local Sprouts health food store. They can be pricey, so I use them sparingly, but it's worth it! I hope you'll enjoy these enchilada/burrito/delicious things. : )

Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Cheezy Alfredo Sauce

This meal was totally last minute, but turned out to be AWESOME. My awesome mom gave me half of a baked butternut squash when I was there one day and I am so grateful! I was able to use that instead of roasting chunks of squash, which is what the recipe calls for. In fact, I'll give you the recipe but I honestly just glanced at it. I didn't really follow it. Oops. ; ) I just mixed the squash in a bowl with some AP flour and salt & pepper and then rolled it into ropes on a floured counter. It was still sticky, so I think I'll try a different method next time. I worked in a restaurant where we had butternut squash gnocchi and I watched the line cooks make it many times. They mixed the squash and flour with seasoning and then scooped it into a pastry bag. Over a pot of water, they would squeeze the bag and snip chunks of gnocchi off using kitchen scissors. The gnocchi floats to the top of the pot when done. I really should've tried this first, but sometimes you have to get it wrong before you can get it right. : ) 

So for the Alfredo sauce, I did actually use a recipe. It does call for a few ingredients that may be unusual, but they're totally worth picking up and having in stock. Like nutritional yeast (weird name, totally awesome stuff), raw cashews (which can be pricey, but worth it), tahini (which is paste made from toasted sesame seeds) and tamari ( I just used Shoyu brand soy sauce). I always have Earth Balance vegan butter on hand, too, cause it's great stuff. You can use it for basically anything you would use butter for. And now that I discovered this sauce I will be using all these items A LOT more. I actually made a half batch of the sauce and I had enough for 3 meals (2 with gnocchi and 1 with pasta. Yum!)

So here you go!

Vegan Butternut Squash Gnocchi    (I just used this as a loose guideline)

from One Taste Rule! 

1 large butternut squash, seeded, peeled and cut into even-sized pieces

salt

fresh black pepper

about 2/3 cup all-purpose flour

about 1/3 cup cake flour

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Spread the squash out on a sheet pan and bake until soft (25-45 minutes, depending on the size of your pieces).

Mix the two flours.

Puree the squash in the food processor (you might have to do it in 2 batches). Add salt and pepper to taste.

Flour your work surface and place the squash on it. Using a bench scraper, start to work the flour into the squash (this ensures that you don't over-mix). You might not need all of the flour. Your dough should be sticky, but workable.

Divide the dough into 6 portions. Roll each one into a rope, about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into 1/2 inch pieces.

And now for the sauce:

Hurry Up Alfredo

from Epicurean Vegan

Sauce:
1 C soy milk ( I used almond milk)
1/3 rounded raw, unsalted cashews
1/4 C nutritional yeast
3 Tbs tamari (or soy sauce)
2 Tbs Earth Balance vegan butter
1 Tbs tahini
1 Tbs lemon juice
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp paprika
1 pinch nutmeg
1 pinch salt
Black pepper, to taste
2-4 garlic cloves
I added 1/2C Tofutti Sour Cream and used SMOKED paprika and WOW! It was so creamy and flavorful!

DIRECTIONS:

To make sauce, mix all sauce ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth. (What I did is transfer the sauce to a small saucepan and heat–this is also when I added the Tofutti sour cream. Then I just ladled the sauce on a serving of pasta or gnocchi). 

Note: for leftovers, I don’t recommend microwaving them. Keep sauce separate from pasta leftovers and reheat sauce in a pan over the stove and nuke the noodles or gnocchi. Sauce gets too dried out otherwise.

This meal is now one of my absolute favorites and I'm glad I can share it! (once I got around to it. ha.)  I had a side of roasted cauliflower with my gnocchi and it really hit the spot. For the cauliflower, I just chopped a head of cauliflower into bite-sized pieces, tossed them in olive oil, sprinkled salt & pepper, and then roasted on a sheet pan at 400F until slightly blackened in places and crispy, stirring every 10 minutes or so. I used to hate cauliflower, but then I just discovered I didn't like steamed, mushy cauliflower. Roasted is amazing. Give it a try, if you've sworn you don't like it, like me. Enjoy!! : )

Homemade Veggie Pizza with Daiya Cheese

Hiya! So, I can't promise when I will be able to post recipes. I hope for once a week, but don't hold me to it! It'll help that I'm going to try to keep it short and concise. Ha! If you know me well, you'll know that's quite a challenge... ; ) Okay! Let's get to it. Recipe Two:


Homemade Veggie Pizza with Daiya Cheese

Unbaked vs. Baked

My life changed when my friend from Colorado posted her family's pizza dough recipe on her blog. Honestly? In the past I've been pretty lazy when it comes to pizza. Frozen. Pre-made crust. Whatever. Not that those are bad options, but homemade is always ALWAYS better. Seriously. And this dough is so awesomely easy, you really can't go wrong. 

Homemade Pizza Crust

from The Blanchard Bistro

Ingredients / Directions:
In a bowl add: 
2 cups 110 degree water 
1/2 Tablespoon sugar and sprinkle over
2 Tablespoons active dry yeast.  
Proof 5 minutes.

Then add:
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon oil
1/2 Tablespoon salt
About 4 cups flour (You can use AP flour or wheat or a combo, whatever you like. You've just got to watch the amounts - don't want to add to much!  I usually add about three cups and stir it in, then knead in more as it's needed to create a soft, but not sticky, dough.)

Knead dough.  Let dough rise in greased bowl, covered with a clean dish towel, for about 20 minutes, till doubled.  Divide into 2 sections.  Roll out on a floured surface to fit your pan.  Place on pizza pan  Cover with tomato sauce (I usually just use jarred, but you could get fancy and make your own), Daiya brand mozzarella cheese, and other desired toppings (I like green peppers, artichoke hearts, and sautéed extra firm tofu, but whatever floats your boat.).  Bake at 400 degrees for about 15-18 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and edges of crust are browned.

Makes enough for 2 large pizzas, but I generally make a half batch and freeze half of the dough before I let it rise. A quarter of this batch is the size of pizza I made that's in the picture. It's enough for 3 meals for me! 

If you've never used Daiya cheese, I highly recommend it! It's available at pretty much any health food store and it comes in 3 flavors: mozzarella, cheddar, and Pepper Jack (which is my favorite). The mozzarella is perfect for pizza. I like all of them better melted than not, but you can see what you like. The shredded is all I've seen so far, but I know they have more products coming out very soon. Give them a try! P.s. I'm not getting paid for this. I wish!! I'm just a fan. : )