Toasted Coconut and Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Bread

Toasted Coconut and Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Bread

Everyone here loves banana bread and when you spruce it up with toasted coconut, peanut butter and chocolate chips it's just that much better! This makes 2 standard size loaves 9 x 5 inches.

Toasted Coconut and Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Bread
Printable Recipe
Makes 2 loaves

5 overripe bananas
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
4 eggs
3/4 cup cooking oil (I use olive)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup toasted coconut
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup mini chocolate chips (regular size is fine)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Oil and flour two standard loaf pans.
2. Mash bananas and add sugars. Mix to combine well, working out lumps.
3. Add oil, vanilla and eggs and beat well.
4. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt. Add to banana mixture.
5. Mix coconut and nuts together and set aside 1/2 cup. Blend remaining nuts and coconut into batter along with chocolate chips.
6. Pour batter into pans and top with reserved coconut and nuts.
7. Bake for 1 hour or until done when wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
8. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans.

Turmeric Shrimp in Banana Leaves with Banana Salsa

Inspired by this month's ingredients for the Royal Foodie Joust - turmeric, banana and honey - I came up with this. We just had this for dinner and it was summer-all-over. Ian ate more than his fair share and my brother-in-law, Tim stopped by and declared the salsa a hit. He balked at the name, but bent over the bowl and inhaled and quickly turned to me and said he would try it. He even told me to mention that he loved it.

I think it was very refreshing, and I love the earthiness of the turmeric with the shrimp. The flavor that the banana leaf imparts to the shrimp was just another delicious layer.

So, here's the recipe - roughly:

Turmeric Shrimp in Banana Leaves with Banana Salsa
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

1 pound large shrimp in shell
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 clove garlic - minced
4 sections of banana leaf - 8x8 each
kosher salt

For Salsa:

1/2 cup red onion - diced
1/2 each red and yellow pepper - diced
1 medium cucumber - peeled, seeded and diced
1 large just ripe banana (a little green is best) - diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 lime - juiced
1 Tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Rinse banana leaves and set aside. Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Gently toast spices in a small pan - this works best before spices are ground, but still helps to boost flavor when they have been ground. Combine spices and garlic and make a paste. Toss with shrimp (I like the shell on, but you can remove it) until well coated. Divide shrimp between banana leaves and fold up into small packets. Set, seam side down, in a shallow pan and put into the oven. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes. Remove from oven and open each on a plate. Serve with banana salsa.

For salsa - combine onion, cucumber, peppers, cilantro, lime juice, honey and salt. Stir well. Cut and add banana just before service. Toss gently once banana is added.

Back in the Day

A long, long time ago at a restaurant not-so-far-away, my friends and I spent many a night hanging out and talking. The restaurant was the Perkins at routes 22 and 191 and the friends were usually my best friend Tommy and various other cronies ranging from my ex-husband (who was just my friend then), to Scott, Mark, Tony and occasionally, my other best friend, Marie. This was after high-school but just before I was married - two of the most fun years of my life.

We'd head there after a long night of doing nothing and sit at the large horseshoe-shaped booth in the back. We'd talk about everything, smoke too many cigarettes, drink too much coffee, and wait for our favorite waiter to show. Jack was the waiter who bent over backward for us and dealt with our messes, odd orders and general silliness. I was told that Jack has since passed, but I'm not sure that's true - so we'll just pretend that Jack is still somewhere out there making someone's life pleasant while they dine.

Jack was the only person on the waitstaff at Perkins that would make us one of our very favorite concoctions, the Mutant Milkshake. Other waiters and waitresses would flat-out refuse us and we never really knew why. I still don't know to this day what the big secret was - I know we were charged the full price for what we were getting; a banana split. The difference was, it was a banana split in a blender, and Jack was the only guy who would appease our strange appetites.

I made them at home recently and had to share the "recipe" with the rest of the world. It isn't as odd as it sounds - in fact, they're really good - even my kids think so. The ambiance here isn't the same as it was there - and it's not the same there anymore, either. Perkins was remodeled and the old horseshoe shaped booth is long gone. There isn't anywhere else in that restaurant where I'd want to sit and sip on a Mutant Milkshake, so I make them here at home now.

Mutant Milkshake
Makes 1 shake
Printable Recipe

1 small banana - cut into chunks
3 scoops ice cream, one each vanilla, chocolate and strawberry OR 3 Neapolitan
2 tablespoons chocolate syrup
whipped cream
4 maraschino cherries

Place banana, ice cream, chocolate syrup and 3 cherries into a blender. Puree until smooth. Pour into a tall glass and top with whipped cream and remaining cherry.
This is best enjoyed with friends, but drinkable if you're alone.

Breakfast this Morning

Only in this household would you be lucky enough to get something better if we ran out of the normal foods we have on hand for breakfast. Such was the case today-bread mysteriously gone-milk level a little iffy for 8 bowls of cereal-no Pop Tarts (gasp!). I did have bananas, eggs and enough milk to whip up these. Not enough for the same tomorrow though *sigh*.


Banana Walnut Pancakes with Maple Cream
Printable Recipe

4 medium bananas, mashed well or blended
1 t vanilla
2 large eggs
1 T oil
1 c milk + extra
2 c flour
2 T sugar
1 T baking powder
1/4 c chopped walnuts

Combine bananas, vanilla, eggs and oil in a blender and
blend on low until well combined-a few seconds should do.
Add 1 c milk to banana mixture and blend again
just until combined. In a large bowl stir together flour,
sugar and baking powder.
Add banana mixture to flour mixture
and stir well. Add more milk if necessary-try
to get this as close to a regular pancake batter in
consistency as possible-but not too thin.
Add walnuts and fold in.

Cook over medium heat as you would regular
pancakes-look for bubbles and dry edges before turning.

Maple Cream:

1 c heavy cream
1 t maple flavoring
2 T powdered sugar

Combine all 3 ingredients and beat with a mixer until light and fluffy.
Serve with pancakes.