Welcome! And a recipe ♥

Hello!  Welcome to our little corner of the web.   What you will find on this blog are some recipes.  Let me clarify, I am not a gourmet cook in any way shape or form.   I just like to make meals that my husband and I like.   (That is the best kind)!       I would like to think of Createful Heart Cafe, as a little place to sit a while and enjoy your favorite beverage or cookie.    And speaking of cookies, we love cookies.     Why not end this lovely welcome with a nice Banana Nut Recipe.   After all, when the weather turns cooler, and the days are shorter, my attention turns toward my kitchen... and all the comfort foods to warm up our hearts and bring a little sunshine in on the gloomy days.    Speaking of gloomy days, today brought rain, temps down in the lower 40's, and lots of wind.    Okay without further delay... here is the recipe I promised.  Enjoy!  ♥   

Banana Nut Recipe

Ingredients:  1-1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup Splenda, no calorie sweetener, granulated

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 pinch salt

1-1/4 cups mashed well-ripened bananas

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

1/3 cup buttermilk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Prepared a 9x5 loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Blend dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

In separate bowl, combine oil, buttermilk, vanilla & bananas.   Mix well.  Pour mixture into dry ingredients and stir until blended.

Add walnuts and stir until blended.

Pour batter into prepared baking pan.

Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until golden brown and center comes out clean with toothpick.

♥ ♥ ♥

For this recipe, I substituted some ingredients like for instance, I didn't have any walnuts in my pantry (and seldom do), so I used a small handful of dry instant oatmeal.    I don't remember where I read it, but oatmeal can be used in place of nuts.  And this is great especially for those that cannot have nuts of any kind.    I did make this tonight, and oh my its very good and rich tasting.  It would be great with a glass of milk or coffee.   Or in my case hot tea.  ;)     

Last evening, I mashed up the 2 left over bananas we had, and placed it in a covered bowl and put into the fridge.   This morning, I pulled the bowl out and noticed the banana mush had turned a light brown.   This made me think  something had gone wrong overnight.   I did research this online and found that mashed bananas will always turn a little brown, but not to worry, as there is nothing wrong with the mixture and its okay to use.   In fact in the article it stated that if you were using the mashed bananas as baby food, to add in a little bit of juice, like lemon or orange.  But to be careful as too much acid isn't good for baby's digestion.     I thought why not add in a little bit of juice to my mixture.  All I had was, white cranberry peach juice.    So, without any measuring I added just a tiny bit.   Guess what!   It made the bananas taste better in my opinion.   Never would have thought to do something like that.     Also, I added in a small spoonful of brown sugar to this recipe.   As we tend to like our sweet breads just a bit sweeter.   

Also, I would like to add in this... if you don't have buttermilk on hand, then you'll want to try this neat little trick.   Measure your milk, like you would for your recipe, but don't pour the milk level with the rim of the measuring cup, leave just a smidge under, then add in just a bit of white vinegar.   Let this stand for just a bit until you begin to see the milk thicken.  Then add this to your recipe.   Do not worry a bit, as this will not affect the taste of your creation.   At least we never taste it.   But, if you are not too keen on trying this, then by all means use the buttermilk.   

I hope you'll enjoy trying this very easy recipe.   And let me know your thoughts, by leaving a comment.

♥ Mary ♥

Here's what the Banana Bread looked like out of the oven, (my over head stove lighting is a bit bright).