Necessity is the mother of invention...
Although an "invention" wasn't involved, I found myself with "an imperative requirement or need for something" (thanks dictionary.com) last weekend: a necessity for a recipe that would help me prevent some very ripe bananas from going to waste (again...). My first thought, of course, was banana bread, and so I dug out my favorite cookbook, found the batter-splattered page with that recipe on it, and then started collecting the ingredients.
To my chagrin, I discovered that I was missing one key ingredient for banana bread: eggs! I realized that I'd used the very last egg a while ago and hadn't gone grocery shopping since then. This is when "the mother of invention" arrived on scene. Not wanting to give up on making banana bread (since I still needed a recipe to prevent those three, pathetic-looking bananas from going to waste), I flipped through a few of my other cookbooks, but all of the recipes I found for banana bread called for my missing ingredient... eggs!
In between cookbooks, I was chatting with one of my on-line friends (who had just linked me to pictures of the Rice Krispies Treats that he had made for an office potluck), sharing my woes of missing ingredients with him. Yes, you read that right: ingredientS... plural. By then, I'd also discovered that I was missing yet another key ingredient for banana bread (AND chocolate chip cookies which I was also thinking about making... to prevent an opened bag of chocolate chips from going to waste): butter!
Not wanting to give up and let this things go to waste, I tried one more place to find a recipe for banana bread that didn't require eggs OR butter: the Internet. I've heard it said that you can find anything on the Internet, and now I believe 'em! After just a bit of looking, I actually managed to find TWO such recipes! Unfortunately, I was still missing ingredients, so I did what any good cook would do: I pressed on, using the ingredients that I DID have on hand.
So... This week's "Tasty Tuesday" recipe is going to be my "Necessity is the mother invention" recipe for Banana Bread With Chocolate Chips".
"Out of Necessity Banana Bread With Chocolate Chips"
3-4 very ripe bananas
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar or brown sugar
1 1/2 cups flour (either all-purpose or whole wheat)
1-2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon (or a pinch) salt (optional)
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (I set it to 355 degrees F since one of my recipes called for 180 degrees C. Thankfully, my friend helped me with the conversion -- though I could've just Googled it.)
2. Lightly grease a pan of your choosing. (I chose my usual Visions loaf pan.)
3. Slice the bananas into a mixing bowl and then add the sugar. Mash the bananas well or puree them with a hand blender. (Because I didn't feel like mashing them by hand, I used my hand mixer on medium speed.)
4. Add the oil, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg to the mashed bananas and mix well.
5. Sieve/sift the flour with the baking powder, banking soda and salt directly into the bowl containing the mashed bananas.
6. Blend/fold in the flour mixture really well.
7. Stir in the chocolate chips.
8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
9. Bake in preheated oven for 40-60 minutes OR until a toothpick inserted into the banana bread comes out clean.
10. Remove the banana bread from the pan. Slice and serve warm, if possible.
So... there you have it: my "Out of Necessity Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips" recipe. It proved to be quite tasty, but I have a feeling that I'll be tweaking it a bit should I make it again.
If you do decide to try this recipe (or either of the two on which mine is based -- see below), I'd love to learn how yours turned out AND what tweaks (if any) you made to the recipe.
As soon as I figure out how to upload pictures to my LiveJournal, I'll be adding at least one picture of my finished loaf of eggless banana bread. So... please check back -- for the pic AND other "Tasty Tuesdays" recipes, of course.
Sources:
"banana bread - eggless & vegan"
http://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/banana-bread-eggless-vegan-recipe/
"My Favorite Banana Bread Recipe - it has No Eggs"
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/print/6639
To my chagrin, I discovered that I was missing one key ingredient for banana bread: eggs! I realized that I'd used the very last egg a while ago and hadn't gone grocery shopping since then. This is when "the mother of invention" arrived on scene. Not wanting to give up on making banana bread (since I still needed a recipe to prevent those three, pathetic-looking bananas from going to waste), I flipped through a few of my other cookbooks, but all of the recipes I found for banana bread called for my missing ingredient... eggs!
In between cookbooks, I was chatting with one of my on-line friends (who had just linked me to pictures of the Rice Krispies Treats that he had made for an office potluck), sharing my woes of missing ingredients with him. Yes, you read that right: ingredientS... plural. By then, I'd also discovered that I was missing yet another key ingredient for banana bread (AND chocolate chip cookies which I was also thinking about making... to prevent an opened bag of chocolate chips from going to waste): butter!
Not wanting to give up and let this things go to waste, I tried one more place to find a recipe for banana bread that didn't require eggs OR butter: the Internet. I've heard it said that you can find anything on the Internet, and now I believe 'em! After just a bit of looking, I actually managed to find TWO such recipes! Unfortunately, I was still missing ingredients, so I did what any good cook would do: I pressed on, using the ingredients that I DID have on hand.
So... This week's "Tasty Tuesday" recipe is going to be my "Necessity is the mother invention" recipe for Banana Bread With Chocolate Chips".
"Out of Necessity Banana Bread With Chocolate Chips"
3-4 very ripe bananas
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar or brown sugar
1 1/2 cups flour (either all-purpose or whole wheat)
1-2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon (or a pinch) salt (optional)
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (I set it to 355 degrees F since one of my recipes called for 180 degrees C. Thankfully, my friend helped me with the conversion -- though I could've just Googled it.)
2. Lightly grease a pan of your choosing. (I chose my usual Visions loaf pan.)
3. Slice the bananas into a mixing bowl and then add the sugar. Mash the bananas well or puree them with a hand blender. (Because I didn't feel like mashing them by hand, I used my hand mixer on medium speed.)
4. Add the oil, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg to the mashed bananas and mix well.
5. Sieve/sift the flour with the baking powder, banking soda and salt directly into the bowl containing the mashed bananas.
6. Blend/fold in the flour mixture really well.
7. Stir in the chocolate chips.
8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
9. Bake in preheated oven for 40-60 minutes OR until a toothpick inserted into the banana bread comes out clean.
10. Remove the banana bread from the pan. Slice and serve warm, if possible.
So... there you have it: my "Out of Necessity Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips" recipe. It proved to be quite tasty, but I have a feeling that I'll be tweaking it a bit should I make it again.
If you do decide to try this recipe (or either of the two on which mine is based -- see below), I'd love to learn how yours turned out AND what tweaks (if any) you made to the recipe.
As soon as I figure out how to upload pictures to my LiveJournal, I'll be adding at least one picture of my finished loaf of eggless banana bread. So... please check back -- for the pic AND other "Tasty Tuesdays" recipes, of course.
Sources:
"banana bread - eggless & vegan"
http://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/banana-bread-eggless-vegan-recipe/
"My Favorite Banana Bread Recipe - it has No Eggs"
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/print/6639