My Favorite Banana Recipes

If you're like me, you always have a stash of frozen bananas in the freezer.  As they start to turn too brown to eat, I immediately throw what we have remaining into the freezer to use later for banana bread or muffins.  Here are my favorite ways to use those overripe bananas, just click the recipe to follow the link!

Chocolate Banana Brownies with Vanilla Glaze

Chocolate Chip Pecan Banana Bread

Nutella and Banana Crepes

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Mini Banana Pancakes

Chocolate Puff Pastry Treats

Banana Pudding Poke Cake

Banana Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Banana Cupcakes with Honey Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing

Banana Bread

Happy banana baking!  I would love for you share some of your favorite banana recipes! 

Clementine Quick Bread

My family and I have been addicted to clementines lately and we always have them around for a quick snack.  But sometimes, after opening a new bag, I wonder why they give you so many?  Even if your family doesn't have a hard time finishing them all, you may be looking for a fun new way to use them.  And I have your answer!  

A simple and sweet light bread that is great for breakfast with a little butter (or plain) or as a after school snack.  My kiddos loved it!  I make banana bread so often that I think they were happy for the change.  

I love the bright orange flecks of zest throughout.  And the glaze makes the bread just a touch sweeter and keeps it very moist.  Sprinkle with a dusting of confectioner's sugar and your family or guests are sure to be wowed!  

 Makes 1 loaf

Clementine Quick Bread

8 clementines (zest from 4 and juice from all 8)
3/4 cup half & half
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 5 x 9-inch loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.  Zest 4 clementines to yield 1 tablespoon zest.  Juice the zested and unzested (8 total) clementines to yield 3/4 cup juice - separate into 1/4 cup and 1/2 cup measurements.

Combine 1/4 cup clementine juice, half & half and vanilla extract in a small bowl, set aside.  Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a another bowl and set aside.

Beat zest, butter and sugar with a mixer until combined, about 4 minutes.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.  Beat in cream mixture, followed by flour mixture.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 50-60 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Check at 40 minutes and tent with foil if top is browning too quickly.

Make the glaze by combining the remaining 1/2 cup of juice with the confectioner's sugar.  Remove pan from oven, poke holes in the top with a skewer and apply half the glaze.  Let cool for 15 minutes, then invert pan onto a wire cooling wrack, top side up.  Brush remaining glaze on top.

Store wrapped at room temperature overnight or in the fridge for up to 5 days.

(Source:  Adapted from Martha Stewart)

Layered Chicken Taco Salad

I had been in the mood for tacos, but kept forgetting to buy hard taco shells at the store!  So I used some of my regular fix-ins' for tacos - cheese, lettuce and tomatoes and turned it into a layered salad...or dip?  This dinner came together in no time at all.   

We ate this by scooping it up with tortilla chips even though I had added seasoned tortilla strips to the top of the salad (you can usually find them in the aisle with the croutons).  Which is why I thought of it as a dip or a salad.  I used chicken because I don't eat ground beef, but you can very easily substitute it.  I also tossed in the black beans to cook a bit with the chicken when I added the taco seasoning.    

This is a great dish to customize to your family - choose a different meat or add other toppings such as black olives or chopped green pepper.  We also would have topped it with sour cream and salsa, but I didn't have either of those on hand - and now you can see how desperate I was to have tacos even though I didn't really have all of my usual suspects for the toppings!  I'll chalk that up to another pregnancy craving...  

Serves 4

Layered Chicken Taco Salad

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced

1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed

3 tablespoons taco seasoning

3/4 cup water

1 head of Romaine lettuce, chopped

2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced

1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese

1 cup Santa Fe tortilla strips (optional)

sour cream and salsa (optional)

In a medium skillet over medium, heat the olive oil and add diced chicken.  Cook until browned, add the black beans, taco seasoning and water.  Simmer for about 10 minutes until sauce is slightly thickened.  Spoon chicken and black bean mixture onto the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch pan.  

Top chicken with lettuce, followed by tomatoes, cheese and tortilla strips.  Dish out to individual plates or bowls (or scoop right out of the pan with a tortilla chip!).  Serve with sour cream and salsa if desired. 

Veggie Ranch Pizza

Pregnancy cravings are funny.  I haven't made this pizza in ages and it randomly popped in my head one day.  Of course, I had to have it!  It didn't disappoint, I was a happy girl.  

It also made me think of my best friend in high school - we would make this all the time then watch cheesy movies.  Like the cheesiest - Cry Baby?  With Johnny Depp?  It's absolutely terrible but still a favorite of mine to this day! 

Like regular pizza, you can add your own favorite toppings.  I was going to add cucumbers but the one I bought had gone bad in just a couple of days.  So a bit of a bummer there, but I really didn't miss it.  Green peppers, grape instead of Roma tomatoes, green onions...add anything you like. 

I wrote the recipe using reduced fat cream cheese and crescent rolls.  It's just what I always buy, but it's not necessary.  Use what you would normally buy, it won't affect the recipe.  By the way, this is kid approved!  My 4-year old loves it - just like eating broccoli and carrots dipped in ranch which is one of her favorite snacks.  

Serves 6 

Veggie Ranch Pizza

1 tube of reduced fat crescent rolls
1 (8 oz) bar neufchatel cheese
1/2 packet Ranch dressing seasoning mix
1 cup broccoli florets, diced
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 Roma tomato, diced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9 x 13-inch baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.  Unroll the crescents onto the pan and use your fingers to spread over the entire pan and seal the seams.  Bake for 14-16 minutes until golden.  Let cool completely.

Mix the cream cheese and Ranch seasoning until combined.  Spread over cooled crescent crust.  Top with veggies (any order).  Chill in the fridge for about 2 hours before serving; cut into 12 squares.  Store leftovers covered in the fridge.