Easy Bananas Foster with Homemade caramel sauce

Blogging Marathon#65: Week 2/ Day 3

Theme: 1 Sauce -- 2 Dishes

Dish: Easy Bananas Foster with Homemade caramel sauce

For the final day of this week's marathon, I have a very simple and very delicious dessert with banana, caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. It is called Bananas Foster and is a dish that was created in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Traditionally bananas are cooked in butter and sugar until browned and then alcohol (rum or banana liqueur) is added and ignited. This cooking process of adding alcohol to a hot pan and creating a burst of flame is called Flambé (which means flamed in French). This dish puts on quite a show when served this way. But today's recipe doesn't have any alcohol or the special effects in it.

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Individual Brownie Trifles

Today's dessert is probably the most simplest to make and doesn't even require a recipe. But I'm going to give you one anyway :-)

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Chocolate Banana Pancakes

Blogging Marathon# 62: Week 1/ Day 1

Theme: Kid's Delight -- Chocolate

Dish: Chocolate-Banana Pancakes

Today's dish combines 2 of my kids favorites -- chocolate and pancakes. I've made pancakes with chocolate chips before but never entirely with chocolate. Eating these feels like eating dessert for breakfast which I must admit was thoroughly enjoyed by all (including me).

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Wholewheat Banana Bread (made with Honey)

Bake-a-thon 2015: Day 5

Bake of the Day: Wholewheat Banana Bread

I sometimes feel that overripe bananas are a bane of my existence. They haunt me with their lingering smell and I can't eat or throw them away. The family abandons them the minute they turn slightly blotchy outside even though they are perfect inside. I have learnt to show them only peeled ones so they don't judge it by the package.

Even with all this I end up with 3~4 overripe bananas by the end of the week. I have so many versions of banana breads/ muffins that making another one doesn't excite me that much. But this recipe from Cookie+Kate is made with wholewheat (pastry) flour and is sweetened with honey (or maple syrup) got me off my behind and into the kitchen to bake.

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Peanut Butter and Banana Breakfast Sandwich

Blogging Marathon# 59: Week 2/ Day 1

Theme: Instant Breakfast

Dish: Peanut Butter & Banana Sandwich

My theme for this week's blogging marathon is 'Instant Breakfast' and Valli wants it to be a quick dish that can be made in less than 20 minutes. So I have 3 easy to make dishes that are filling and delicious.

Breakfast in my household is usually cereal, oats or quick sandwiches, I don't usually cook anything elaborate except for when we have company. So this instant breakfast recipe theme is definitely up my alley and I'm going to share them here this week.

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Nutella Pretzel Nachos

Blogging Marathon# 59: Week 1/ Day 3

Theme: Bring on the Nachos

Dish: Nutella Pretzel Nachos

After 2 savory Nacho recipes, I have a quick and easy sweet nacho recipe today. Recipe is from Food Network and I knew right away that my kids will enjoy these. I wasn't wrong, they loved these nachos and even posed for the clicks.

This is a no bake recipe and all it needs is layering the ingredients and you are ready to enjoy in no time. Our favorite pretzel chips are these thin pretzel crisps, they are great to eat with some hummus and salsa and taste even better smothered in warm Nutella.

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Vegan Banana Rabanada (Brazilian French Toast)

Buffet on Table: Breakfasts across Countries

Day 18: Brazilian French Toast

Another week of mega marathon starts today and this week, we are going to explore the world of 'Breakfasts'. So for next 6 days you will be treated with delicious breakfast recipes from all around the world.

First stop is in Brazil and here's a Brazilian version of French toast. It is served around Christmas time. Recipe is from 'Vegan Brunch' cookbook and is made with bananas and cornstarch and no eggs.

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Vegetarian S'mores with Nutella

Blogging Marathon# 55: Week 2/ Day 2

Theme: Nutella Galore

Dish: Vegetarian S'mores with Nutella

This is probably the most loved theme I have ever chosen. My kids are beyond excited with everything that they got to eat in the name of blogging marathon :-)

For the 2nd day, I made a quick and easy vegetarian S'mores. Traditional s'mores are made with graham crackers, roasted marshmallows and melted chocolate. But my vegetarian version is made with graham crackers, banana, nutella and whipped cream.

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Banana Nutella Swirl Muffins (Eggless recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 55: Week 2/ Day 1

Theme: Nutella Galore

Dish: Banana Nutella Muffin

We are starting a brand new week of blogging marathon today and my theme for this week is 'Recipes made with Nutella or Chocolate Hazelnut spread'. I knew right away that my kids would love whatever I make for this week since they absolutely LOVE Nutella.

For the first day, I made a moist & delicious banana muffins with nutella swirls. I can't stop myself from bananas even though I know very well that by day 4, they will start to smell very 'banana-ey' and no body in the house would really want to eat them. I try and find some interesting ways to use the overripe bananas and these muffins with Nutella swirls sounded just perfect.

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Banana Strawberry Protein Smoothie (Sunwarrior Product Review and a Giveaway)

I posted about my new exercise routine that I started at the beginning of this year here. Recently I fell off the P90X wagon -- mostly because I was getting bored of doing 1 hour long workouts over and over again. But I didn't want to stop exercising altogether, so I started doing 30 minute cardio and aerobic workouts watching you tube videos.
After a workout I try to drink a healthy smoothie (either by adding protein powder or peanut butter or chia/ hemp seeds). Recently Sunwarrior reached out to me to do a review on their new product line -- Classic Plus.

Like all the other Sunwarrior products, Classic plus is also based on the original rice protein and has added amino acid balancing effects of peas, chia seeds, quinoa and amaranth. Read more about it here.

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Vegan Banana doughnuts with Chocolate Fudge Sauce

Blogging Marathon# 54: Week 2/ Day 3

Theme: Kid's Delight -- Fruits in any form

Dish: Banana Doughnuts with Chocolate Fudge Sauce

I am not sure who liked these doughnutss better, the kids or me!!!!!! These banana beignets or mini doughnuts are just insane. They taste so good that I ate almost all of them the first time I made them, may be I gave a few to my daughter. I had to make them a second time because I just had to (no actually the first round pictures turned awful).

This will be my last post for this week's BM under the Kid's Delight -- fruits in any form theme. I saw Bobby Flay make these beignets on his 'Brunch with Bobby' cook show. They looked so good on TV that I had to make them at home right away.

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Tropical Smoothie with Hemp Seeds

Weather is slowly taking a beautiful turn in our neck of woods. I was looking through my last year photos and noticed that the trees were already in full bloom by this time, now we only have tiny buds on trees. But at least it is getting warm and I have no complaints.
I have a summery smoothie today with pineapple, mango and banana. I added some coconut milk to the smoothie and it reminded me of pina colada a little bit.

But the secret ingredient in the smoothie is "Hemp Seeds'. I read about these seeds in Vegetarian times magazine a while back and when I saw them in Trader Joes, I couldn't stop myself from buying them. I started adding them to my morning cereal, they don't have any distinct taste -- so blend well in just about anything.

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Banana Avocado Chocolate Pudding using Sunwarrior Protein Powder

I have recently started taking exercising more seriously and started doing P90X exercise routine. My aim is not sculpted abs or major weight loss but to get more flexible and have a toned body. There were some exercises that were very tough in the beginning but have now become little less tough. I still have a long way to go in terms of becoming flexible. But I'm happy that I've started doing some exercise and taking care of myself.
After starting the exercise regime, I have been thinking of adding some more protein in the diet by using protein powder. I was researching on the different protein powders available in the market and lo and behold, Sunwarrior sent me a Starter kit to try.

I was very excited to try the various products in the kit. I made this Avocado, Banana, Chocolate pudding aka ABC pudding using Sunwarrior Vanilla Classic Protein powder. What is nice about this Sunwarrior protein is that it is 100% plant based and provides a complete, balanced array of essential amino-acids. Sunwarrior uses an old-world, low temperature, enzymatic process that includes the whole grain of brown rice, including the germ, endosperm, and bran. This unique process captures a protein that's silky smooth and mixes well and tastes great too.

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Mangalore Banana Buns

For this month's 'Indian Cooking Challenge', we are trying out a sweet & savory banana buns from Mangalore (in Karnataka). But these are not the typical yeast based banana buns or rolls, instead they are deep fried pooris made with a banana base dough.

The dough is quite sticky compared to regular poori dough and then dough is set aside to rest for at least 3~4 hours or even overnight. I was initially skeptical how these pooris would taste with the banana in it. I thought they would have a very sweet banana flavor, but I was wrong. The banana flavor is very mild and with the addition of cumin seeds, they taste more savory than sweet. Banana makes the pooris soft and fluffy.

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Balehannu Halwa (Coconut - Banana Halwa)

This is the final dish I made for Sankranthi. The actual festival was very low key, but we are heading to our cousin's place this weekend for some belated celebrations. My cousin puts up a beautiful golu and she also celebrates 'bhogi pallu' for the kids.
As I was thinking of what to bring, I found this interesting halwa with coconut and banana in 'Vegetarian Cookbook of India' cookbook by Mridula Baljekar. I had bananas that needed to be used up before leaving for the weekend, so this was a perfect recipe to make good use of them.

Also the recipe uses dry grated coconut cooked in some whole milk to give the texture of fresh coconut. Finding good fresh coconut is a little difficult here, but I always have dry grated coconut in my fridge, so this is a very convenient recipe to make for me.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie

This is one of the 3 pies along with Sweet Potato Pecan Pie that I made at the pie making class last month. The crust here is super simple, it's just crumbled cookies mixed with some melted butter. I guess the chef wanted to teach us a very easy crust along with the ones that are a bit more elaborate.
The filling is the highlight of this pie. I wasn't sure if I would like the peanut butter in the filling, but when I tasted it -- it was a dynamite. Peanut butter taste is not too assertive, but plays a nice balance to the cream cheese and brown sugar.

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Suafa'i -- Samaon Banana Tapioca pudding (with Chocolate) for #Food of the World

This month we are going to Samoa the beautiful island country in the South Pacific ocean for #Food of the World event. I have tried these delicious fluffy and coconut milk soaked Pani popos and this super simple banana pudding, Poi from Samoa.
Today's recipe is a Samoan banana-tapioca soup called Suafa'i. Overripe bananas are cooked down along with coconut milk and tapioca. It is supposed to be a soup but I cooked it down to a pudding consistency. This dish is not really photogenic, so I added some chocolate chips to make it a little appetizing in the photos :-) Skip the chocolate if you want a more traditional Samoan dessert.

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Western Samoa -- Poi (Banana Puddling)

BM# 44: A-Z Cooking Series -- Around the World in 30 days
Country: W for Western Samoa

Dish: Poi (Banana Pudding)
We are moving on to Western Samoa today. There are not too many countries starting with W and so I picked one from this list and cooked from it, not realizing until I started typing the post that is the former name for Samoa. Oh well, it is what it is now and I'm going with it!!!!!!
Western Samoa/ Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. To be honest, I had no clue where these islands where till today and WIKI has given me lot of geographic knowledge about the country. It is fascinating to read about a new country, that too about a country that I just made a dish from. So if you want to know where and what Samoan islands are, please refer to this link.

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France -- Whole wheat Crepês with Banana, Strawberry & Nutella filling

BM# 44: A-Z Cooking Series -- Around the World in 30 days
Country: F for France

Dish: Whole wheat Crepês with Banana, Strawberry & Nutella filling

Today we are going to France, Western European country that is definitely on my bucket list. One of my ex-colleague was from France and she has quite a few stories to tell about her country. Also I almost forgot to mention that I learnt French for about 5 years in school, but the most I can speak or understand is 'Bonjour'. What I learnt from my French friend is that French people love their language and don't like it being butchered by non-French speaking people (like me). I was ridiculed way too many times for my poor pronunciation and grammar.

French cuisine is known to be the finest in the world. It is very diverse and has exerted a major influence on other western cuisines. Traditionally, each region in France has its own distinctive cuisine.

I decided to make one of the most common and popular French dishes, Crepês. A crepê is a type of very thin pancake, usually made from wheat flour or buckwheat flour. Crepês are served with a variety of fillings, from the most simple with only sugar to flambeed crepe suzette or elaborate savory galettes. French sure have dishes with some fancy names.

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Whole wheat Banana Chocolate-Chip Muffins

I made these banana chocolate chip muffins couple of months ago and they were a hit with the kids. I have bananas at home all the time and the last couple overripe ones are the most neglected ones. So I'm looking for recipes to use them up. This recipe is from King Arthur Flour's 'Whole Grain Baking' cookbook.

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