Strawberry, Coconut, Raspberry Banana Bread

I've looked at different fruit bread recipes and thought they just seemed odd - not a cake and not a loaf but I've changed my mind. Isabella and I had a 'girls' holiday in Melbourne staying with friends. One morning walked to the local cafe for breakfast. The recommendation was the toasted rhubarb bread. I was not expected to be 'wowed', but I was!
We came back and I looked at a range of recipes to try. I wanted something that was not too unhealthy and this one appealed because it had chia seeds and lots of fruit in it.
I used fresh strawberries and frozen raspberries and 3 bananas.
We LOVE it and Isabella and I have had it for breakfast for the last three days - toasted with butter.
I'm going to try to reduce the sugar next time and probably use coconut sugar. The banana and fruit makes it sweet anyway.
This will also be a great breakfast recipe when we have people staying. It lasts well because we had it toasted. YUM
Thanks Lynn and Bec for the recommendation!


Strawberry, Coconut, Raspberry Banana Bread

INGREDIENTS

• 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup ripe mashed banana (about 2-3 bananas)
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted and cooled
• 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup nonfat plain greek yogurt 
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk (soy, coconut, or skim also work)
• 3/4 cup diced organic ripe strawberries
• 1/4 cup smashed organic raspberries (or you can use more strawberries)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut, plus 3 tablespoons for topping (sweetened is fine, too)
• 2 tablespoons chia seeds
• 2-4 strawberries, sliced for topping

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 9-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
3. In a seperate large bowl, beat together banana, brown sugar, egg, coconut oil vanilla, yogurt, and almond milk until smooth and creamy. Slowly add dry mixture to wet ingredients, and mix until combined. Gently fold strawberries, raspberries, coconut and chia seeds into the batter.
4. Place batter in prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle top evenly with 3 tablespoons of coconut. Place sliced strawberries over the top of the bread. Bake for 50-65 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 20 minutes, then remove from pan and return to wire rack to finish cooling. Bread is even better the next day (they always are). Bread will stay fresh for a few days when wrapped tightly.

Greek Yoghurt Pancakes

The little person in our house loves pancakes. We have tried a few different recipes and the ones that have butter milk or some kind of dairy ingredient seem to be the best.

I found this recipe on Pintrest and am really glad we gave it a try.
The greek yoghurt was made in our yoghurt maker so was quite cheap.

The batter is really think and needs quite a long time to cook. The end result is a soft fluffy pancake.
I made some with frozen berries and some plain which we ate with Maple syrup.

Greek Yogurt Pancakes

Ingredients

• 350ml of  Greek yogurt
• 2 egg
• 1 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking soda

Instructions

1. Open the yogurt container and stir the yogurt until it’s smooth and creamy. Crack an egg over the yogurt and stir to combine leaving. The resulting mixture should be pale yellow in color and have a few lumps here and there.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour and baking soda.
3. Pour yogurt/egg mixture into the bowl with the flour and baking soda. Stir to combine. The batter will be extremely thick.
4. Spoon the batter onto a sprayed griddle or pan heated to medium-high. I usually make four big pancakes, but you could also make 8 smaller ones.
5. Flip the pancakes when they start to bubble a bit on the surface. Cook until golden brown on both sides and serve with butter, syrup, fruit, Nutella….anything! Enjoy!

Over Night Caramel and Apple Scrolls

I was on the look out for a 'make ahead' breakfast/brunch recipe to save time when I have a house full of visitors next weekend. I found this recipe and gave it a go last weekend.
They are really really delicious and the best part was pulling the prepared dish out of the fridge on Saturday morning and baking. I will be making these when I have my house full of guests this weekend!


I cooked them for 20 minutes and they needed a bit longer. They swelled up as part of the cooking process, so need to have a bit of space between each scroll.

Ingredients

• Rolls
• 3  to 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4  cup sugar
• 1  teaspoon salt
• 1  pkg. active dry yeast
• 1/2  cup applesauce
• 1/2  cup milk
• 1/4  cup butter
• 1  egg
• Caramel Topping
• 1/2  cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2  cup applesauce
• 3  tablespoons butter, melted
• Filling
• 2  tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/3  cup sugar
• 1  teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

1. 1Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. In large bowl, combine 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup sugar, salt and yeast; mix well.
2. 2In small saucepan, combine 1/2 cup applesauce, milk and 1/4 cup butter; cook over medium heat until very warm (120 to 130°F.), stirring constantly. Add warm mixture and egg to flour mixture; blend at low speed until moistened. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed. By hand, stir in 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups flour until dough pulls cleanly away from sides of bowl.
3. 3On floured surface, knead in an additional 1/2 to 3/4 cup flour until dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place dough in greased bowl; cover loosely with greased plastic wrap and cloth towel. Let rise in warm place (80 to 85°F.) until light and doubled in size, 45 to 60 minutes.
4. 4Grease 13x9-inch pan. Combine topping ingredients in pan; mix well. Spread evenly in pan.
5. 5On lightly floured surface, roll dough to 15x12-inch (about 30 by 40 cm) rectangle. Spread dough with 2 tablespoons butter. In small bowl, combine 1/3 cup sugar and cinnamon; mix well. Sprinkle over butter.
6. 6Starting with 15-inch side, roll up tightly, pinching edges to seal. Cut roll into 12 slices; place cut side down over topping in pan. Cover; refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight.
7. 7When ready to bake, let rolls stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Heat oven to 400°F. (about 200 degrees c) Uncover rolls; bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan 1 minute; invert onto serving platter or tray. Scrape any remaining topping onto rolls. Serve warm.

Muesli Recipe

This recipe comes from Janeann (my aunty in law). I usually make a double recipe and just add whatever dried fruit and nuts are in half opened packets. A good chance to clear the pantry out. None of the measurements need to be too exact and I reduce the sugar quite a bit.
I'm not a cereal eater but I happily eat this for breakfast.

It also makes a great quick and easy 'fruit crumble' topping with a bit of butter rubbed in.

Muesli Recipe
6 cups of rolled oats
2 cups if wheatgerm (or bran)
1 1/2 cups of brown sugar
1 cup skim milk powder
1 cup coconut
1/2 cup soy flour
1/2 cup rye flour
1/2 cup millet
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1-2 tbs chopped almonds
1-2 tbs chopped brazil nuts
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup dried apples
1/2 cup sultanas

Mix all ingredients except fruit in large oven proof dish or roasting pan.
Bake at 350 degrees C for 30 minutes stirring frequently so it does not brown too much.
Remove from oven, add dried fruit.

Store in airtight container.

Breakfast Burritos

John used his Jamie Oliver iPad application to make us Breakfast Burritos yesterday. They were delicious, the coriander and lime made them really fresh tasting, despite the cheese and sour cream. They had a little bit of scrambled egg, cannellini beans and tomato inside and were topped with guacamole, sour cream and coriander with a squeeze of lime.

I couldn't find the recipe online but this video is similar.
I'll be requesting this one again.