Banana Bread not only makes the kitchen smell like heaven when baking, it’s a comfort food to the max!

There is new evidence that bananas that ripen all the way to brown spots have cancer fighting qualities.  Did our Grandmother’s know this when they made this luscious treat?

We use a lot of bananas on The Manor cereal table every day, and frequently they can ripen all at once with no one to eat them.  So we bake this bread! OR simply individually wrap peeled bananas in saran and freeze in freezer bags.  Each batch calls for 4 bananas, so we microwave 4 at a time on a slow defrost setting and they defrost perfectly.

Preheat the oven to 350.

Assemble ingredients: 4 ripe bananas, 1 full stick + 3T unsalted butter, melted, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 beaten egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 teaspoon baking soda, pinch of salt, 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/4 cup pecans, coarsely chopped, with whole pecans retained for topping.

Mix butter with the smashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.  Add the sugar, egg, vanilla.

Then add the baking soda and salt.  Add the flour last, mix until no flour shows.

Pour mixture into a greased 4X8 inch loaf pan, or try our cute little mini-loaf pans for individual portions.

Be creative with your filling or toppings!  We like dried cranberries too, or walnuts.

Loaf bakes a full hour, mini-loaves for 25-30 minutes.  Cool on rack, then serve!

If you want, these freeze nicely for using later, simply wrap in saran and put in airtight freezer bags. Defrost at room temperature.  Recipe can be doubled, no problem.

YUM, Banana Bread!!!

Pre-season is recipe testing time at Yelton Manor Bed and Breakfast!

Cindi and I have tested 7 new recipes in two days! This one got TWO YUMS UP!

Here are Breakfast Cookies! Just 4 ingredients!

6 ripe bananas, 2 cups unsweetened applesauce (we use our home canned of course), 1 cup dried cranberries and 3 cups oats. Just mix it up.

350 degrees for 35 minutes.

As an extra bonus, these are Vegan and Gluten Free.

We tried 3 methods of storing: room temp, fridge and freezer.  Freezer cookies were best and somehow married the flavors optimally.  Fridge was fine.  But we nixed room temperature.

Yield: 18 cookies

This frozen delight has a gorgeous blush-pink color, and the tanginess of the fruit cuts the richness of the dairy.

Pomegranate is one of the “superfoods”, rich with anti-oxidents.  I peel and seed 50 or more around the holidays when they start appearing at the grocery. There are many great videos online to teach you how to seed one easily and without staining everything around yourself.  I use the beautiful, glossy seeds all year in salads, smoothies and sweet treats like this.  This recipe alone is enough reason to purchase an ice cream maker…go get one!!!

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup whole milk

1 1/2 Tmcornstarch

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups bottled pomegranate juice

1/3 cup pomegranate liqueur such as PAMA

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Whisk together cream, sugar, corn starch, and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over moderate heat, whisking, 2 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in remaining ingredients

Transfer to a bowl and chill, uncovered, until cold, at least one hour.

Freeze in an ice cream maker, then transfer to an airtight container and put in the freezer to harden, at least two hours.

Soften gelato slightly in fridge, about 20 minutes, before serving.  Garnish with pomegranate seeds

We make about 6 different kinds of breakfast cake, the Lemony Lemon being my personal favorite.

When we researched lemon cakes (long before there was Google!) we tried about 15 different, mostly complicated recipes. To our utter delight, the recipe we left for last because it seemed too EASY to be true…turned out to be dramatically superior in flavor to all the rest. 4 ingredients, believe it or not, and so so good.

Once again we take a little short-cut by using boxed cake mix. This makes each cake reliably perfect every time and adds a huge convenience factor too.

1  Yellow Cake Mix, best brand you can get

3/4 cup sour cream

3 eggs

6 oz lemonade concentrate, thawed

Combine all ingredients. Whisk until very silky smooth. Bake in a well greased bundt pan for 35 minutes in a 350 degree over.

For added oooomph, serve with a fresh blueberry compote. Blueberries, water, fresh lemon juice, grated lemon rind, cook to boiling and then simmer to desired consistency. Add a few fresh berries to the cooled compote for texture.

  Bananas are either gobbled up by the whole houseful at breakfast, causing us to scramble to keep them on hand…OR no one eats them for days and we end up looking for an alternative way to use fully ripened ones. We freeze lots for adding to fruit smoothies, but we also love to make this wonderful, easy banana bread.

This recipe is a snap!

3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed

1/3 cup melted butter

1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

I love my ice cream maker! If you don’t have one, seriously consider the joy it can add to your life. It makes treats like this simple. I love to make fruited popsicles and sorbets in the summer, but chocolate rules any time.

This gelato is scrumptious as is, but over the top with little chunks of deep, dark chocolate candy bar.  I have also used expresso powder to this recipe to make coffee/chocolate gelato, nom nom nom!

3 cups Whole Milk

2/3 cups sugar

3/4 cup Premium Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

11/2 teaspoon cornstarch

In a medium saucepan, bring 2 cups of milk to a simmer over medium heat.  Meanwhile, whisk the remaining one cup milk with the sugar, cocoa and cornstarch in another bowl.

Scrape the cocoa mixture into the hot milk. cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and bubbles a little at the edges. Then boil gently, stirring, for two minutes longer. Scrape into a bowl and let cool. Cover the mixture with plastic wrap placed tightly against the surface and chill overnight.

Freeze according to the instructions of your ice cream maker. Because the mixture is thick to begin with, it may take lass time than usual to freeze and thicken to the desired consistency.

I don’t remember where I got this recipe, and I must admit that I had to have been in a pretty ambitious mood to try it out the first time.  Now it is one of the MUST DO recipes every fall when the pears and cranberries come rolling in.  Certainly fancy enough for Thanksgiving dinner and head and shoulders above plain old pumpkin pie.  If I’m feeling less and ambitious I use a store bought pie shell or dough, but this is a great recipe for the crust here:

Ingredients:
For the crust:
1 cup rolled oats (gluten-free if possible)
1/2 cup pecans, chopped (I used walnuts)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 tsp. vanilla (I used 1 vanilla bean, scraped)
1/2 tsp. salt
75 g whole grain flour (I used buckwheat flour)

For the filling:
2 pears, sliced thin
2 cups fresh cranberries
1/2 cup brown rice syrup
2 Tbsp. ground flax (I used whole chia seeds)
6 Tbsp. water or pear juice
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 tsp. vanilla (I used 1 vanilla bean, scraped)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cardamom
zest of 1 organic lemon

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Combine all of the crust ingredients in a food processor and pulse to mix. Grease a 9” tart pan with a little coconut oil and press crust evenly along the bottom of the pan. Place pear slices in a layer on top of the crust.
3. For the filling, combine the flax or chia with the water or juice and set aside until a gel forms. Mix the cranberries with remaining ingredients and stir until well combined. Add the gel and fold to mix. Pour filling on top of crust and pear layer and spread evenly. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Allow tart cool completely before removing from tart pan (approx.1 hour, or place in the fridge).
4. Slice and serve with an optional dollop of cashew cream, sheep’s milk yogurt (pictured), crème fraîche, or ice cream.
Afterthought: a drizzle of melted, dark chocolate.   Serves 10.

How about this combination for a fascinating taste change-of-pace?? It works out to be a *most* intriguing and beautiful confection. I like to make it in a bundt pan so that it has a beautiful shape.

2 sticks unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 Tablespoon grated lemon zest
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 cup plain yogurt
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups dried apricots, chopped
1 cup pistachios, plain, shelled

Grease and flour a 10″ bundt pan and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well. Mix in the lemon zest, lemon juice and the yogurt.
Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the rest, blending well. Stir in the apricots and nuts.
Turn into the prepared pan and bake 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center.
Let cool for 15 minutes before turning out of the pan and onto a serving dish. The cake should be completely cool when served.

FRUIT smoothie?  Sure, we’re all delighted to have one of those……. but a GREEN smoothie?

Wait, what?

Absolutely!  Charge up your body and then leap tall buildings in a single bound!!!

Here is the simplest, most effective and surprisingly delicious way to get lots of greens into your diet. I drink one every day, varying the greens but primarily a choice of spinach, kale, chard, beet greens, dandelion greens, wheat grass or parsley. Also notable: cucumber and celery.

My favorite fruits to add: kiwi, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, apple, pear, banana, cherries, raspberries, pomegranate seeds. Black raspberries and blackberries are also wonderful, but they tend to make the smoothie a brownish color, somewhat unappealing visually but tasting like heaven. I also add chia seeds and ground flax seed for all-important Omega-3 minerals and fiber.

If you buy organic kiwi, apples or pears you don’t need to peel them, retaining the fiber.

You need a very powerful blender to make these, so if you have a VitiMix, or a blender that comes close, give this a whirl, so to speak.

Layer from the bottom, water, greens, fruit. Process until smooth. Drink!  Keeps for 3 days in fridge.

We make a lot of great cookies at Yelton Manor B&B.  We are best known for our chocolate chip cookies, which are from my Grandmother’s secret recipe (I am sworn to secrecy and it’s the only Manor recipe we do not share). Our macadamia and white chocolate chip cookies get the daily rave, and our brownies are simply epic.

But shortbread cookies are always everyone’s favorite.

Homemade shortbread taste SO much better than anything available at the grocery. It’s one of those delicacies that still benefits from being absolutely home made. Luckily, they are easy to make!! And, added to how simple they are to make, they are a truly sophisticated treat, the ultimate butter cookie, a noble bite!

Classic shortbread is also easily modified to be chocolate shortbread, lemon shortbread, nut shortbread, even ginger or coconut shortbread. I prefer the classic, but go ahead and use your imagination. Shortbread cookies can be dipped in chocolate for extra yum. They can also be used as a quick, savory appetizer by topping with a dollop of good blue cheese and a walnut.

Shortbread can be made on a cookie sheet, but beautiful forms are available at cooking stores or by mail order, are inexpensive, and make for a gorgeous presentation.

1/2 cup butter at room temperature

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup flour, unsifted

Cream the butter until it is light. Cream in the powdered sugar, then the vanilla. Knead the dough onan unfoured board until nice and smooth. Spray the shortbread pan very lightly with a non-stick vegetable oil. Firmly press the dough into the pan. Prick the entire surface with a fok, and bake in the pan at 325 degrees for about 30-35 minutes, or until lightly browned. Let the shortbread cool in the pan for 10 minutesbefore you loosen the edges with a knife and flip the pan over onto a wooden cutting board. If the shortbread does not come right out, tap one ege of the pan. Cut the shortbread into cookie size pieces while it is still warm.