Banana Pumpkin Bread

This is a lovely Fall take on the banana bread recipe I posted earlier this year. I used a homemade pumpkin purée, the recipe for which I've included in case you have a spare pumpkin or two. You can very easily freeze any extra purée in small batches and thaw out and use as needed. If you prefer the canned variety, that works just as well.

The original banana bread recipe called for 1/2 cup of oil. In this recipe, the pumpkin purée replaces the oil. As a result, there wasn't a popping pumpkin flavor, but rather a minor change in consistency. Maybe, if you want more pumpkin flavor, try scaling back the bananas and add more pumpkin purée 1/4 cup at a time. This recipe is worth experimenting with in multiple batches because the odds of each loaf turning out delicious are pretty high. 

Taste in Bloom Original Photo

For the Pumpkin Purée:
For the pumpkin purée: Difficulty: Easy; Makes: 4 (1/2 cup) servings depending on the size of pumpkins; Total time: 50 mins
Barely adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:

• 2 small to medium sized pumpkins

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Slice the top off of each pumpkin and cut them in half. Scoop out the seeds and pulp and slice the pumpkins into quarters. Place the pumpkin quarters on a baking sheet. I put them skin-side down, but they can go on the pan any way you'd like. 

Roast pumpkin pieces in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until the flesh is fork tender.

Once the pumpkins are cool enough to handle, gently peel back the skin with a knife and slice the roasted pumpkin into chunks.

Purée the pumpkin, a few chunks at a time, with a blender or food processor, adding water as needed to make the purée smooth. If storing the pumpkin purée, measure out 1/2 - 1 cup at a time into freezer bags and store in the freezer.

Taste in Bloom Original Photo

For the Banana Pumpkin Bread:
For the bread: Difficulty: Easy; Serves: 1 loaf; Total time: 2 hrs 20 mins
Adapted from *Food Network: Flour's Famous Banana Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup + 2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup pumpkin purée (fresh or canned)
• 3 1/2 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 Tbsp crème fraiche or sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 cups walnuts, toasted and chopped (opt. - I left them out)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line bottom of a loaf pan with parchment paper.

Sift dry ingredients together: flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. 

Whisk together sugar and eggs until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. Stir in pumpkin purée and add mashed bananas, crème fraiche or sour cream and vanilla extract.

Pour into lined loaf pan and bake about 45-50 minutes, up to one hour. Test doneness with a toothpick or wooden skewer. Poke the middle of the loaf and make sure no batter sticks to the toothpick or skewer.

Frittata

When anticipating a busy week, I often like to prepare my breakfasts ahead of time on the weekend. A frittata is a favorite because of its versatility and ease. Each morning, I cut a slice and warm it or allow it to reach room temperature and eat it with some fruit. For variety, I like to try different vegetables and seasonings each time I make it. Frittatas also make a great brunch entrée.

Taste in Bloom Original Photo

Difficulty: Easy; Serves: 8-10 Total time: 30 mins (15 mins for prep)

Taste in Bloom Original
Ingredients:

• 8-10 large eggs
• 1 Tbsp water
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 3 chicken sausage links or 3 breakfast sausage patties or breakfast meat of your choice, diced (opt.)
• 1/2 cup - 1 cup fresh steamed broccoli or veggie of your choice
• 1/4 small onion, diced or minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp turmeric or seasoning of your choice
• freshly grated Parmesan cheese or cheese of your choice (opt. - omitted in this recipe)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preparation:

Preheat oven broiler on low.

Melt butter in a large oven-proof skillet on medium-high heat.


Beat eggs with 1 Tbsp of water. Season the eggs with turmeric or your choice of seasoning and add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Whisk seasonings into the eggs.

Combine sausage, onion and garlic into skillet and allow to cook until the sausage is heated through and the onion is slightly browned, about 5 minutes.

Add steamed broccoli or veggies and stir to combine.

Pour the egg mixture slowly into the skillet, making sure it spreads evenly around the sausage and veggies. Cover and reduce heat to low. 

The frittata should only cook long enough for the sides to solidify. The middle should remain runny. Sprinkle a generous amount of freshly grated Parmesan cheese on top if using.

Once the sides have cooked, remove cover and transfer the skillet to the top rack of oven and broil on low just until the top has browned. Remove and allow to sit a few minutes before slicing. Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator for up to several days.

Note: Frittatas are a great dishes in which you can exercise creativity with flavor. Instead of using onion and garlic, try mincing a shallot. Diced roasted red pepper or jalapeños also create exciting flavor. Nutmeg and cinnamon can make the frittata more earthy. 

Drop Biscuits

Every weekend morning, it is tradition in our home to have biscuits with breakfast. This roots back to my weekend visits with my grandparents as a kid. We would have fresh homemade biscuits with a wide assortment of toppings at our disposal. My grandmother's recipe basically amounted to a "few scoops of this" and "a few sprinkles of that." No two batches of her biscuits were exactly alike, but they were always amazing.

When learning to make my own, I felt more comfortable following a recipe. I found one that works for me and have stuck with it, more or less, ever since. I always make sure to have ingredients on hand for these biscuits. Because if there is ever a day during the week that we are snowed in or home for some other reason, these are going right into the oven.

Taste in Bloom Original Photo

Difficulty: Easy; Serves: 12; Prep time: 5 minutes + 10 minutes baking time

Slightly adapted from *Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook 14th Edition
Ingredients (1 dozen):

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cup milk or 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (less if humidity is high) 

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and cream of tartar. Using either a pastry blender or butter knife, cut in softened butter into the dry mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Some butter lumps are okay.

Make a well in the center of the crumby mixture. Pour all of the milk into the well. Stir just until the mixture is moistened. Using a tablespoon, drop dough in heaping spoonfuls onto parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes.