Epicurean De-Lite: Bananas Too Ripe? That's Why They Invented Banana Bread!

Friday, April 15, 2011

Bananas Too Ripe? That's Why They Invented Banana Bread!

They say that when life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade. I agree. But I also believe that when bananas become over-ripe (like mine always do after a few days of sitting on the counter), you should make banana bread. I love banana bread, especially when it is somewhat "out of the ordinary". There is something about a mashed ripe banana that makes this fruit especially delightful baked in a bread. The cover story of the September 2003 issue of Cooking Light magazine features "7 Top Banana Breads" and has my favorite on the cover - Coconut Banana Bread with Lime Glaze. It is outstanding with its 3 Tablespoons of dark rum and can be made Lenten with Egg Replacer powder, a rice or soy-based yogurt, and a Vegan margarine. Another delicious choice is the Marbled-Chocolate Banana Bread. It is wonderfully chocolately, with 1/2 cup melted semisweet chocolate chips folded into half of the batter, then swirled into the other half.

If you haven't figured it out yet, I am presenting you with the 7 Banana Breads in order - from my favorite to least favorite, even though they are all excellent! Another very yummy one is Blueberry-Lemon Banana Bread with Cream-Cheese glaze. But I only make this one at the height of blueberry season, as I like my blueberries to be large and sweet.

The Orange Banana-Nut Bread, which contains walnuts is tied in 4th place with the Molasses-Oat one. Then I like the Classic Banana Bread, followed by the Cardamom Banana Bread with Pistachios. The only reason this one is in last place for me is because my older son and I are allergic to Pistachios. When I made it, I used walnuts and it was - well - missing something. If any of you out there feel inclined to make this one, please let me know what you think of it. All of these recipes can be found by going to the Cooking Light recipe link in the right column of this Blog.

I thought we needed something a little lighter after my last post. : ) I hope you agree.

Until next time, happy and healthy eating!

2 comments:

AnonymousApril 16, 2011 at 4:57 AM
I just eat the banana and save the calories from the other ingredients. Ripe bananas are sweeter than the all yellow ones.
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AGApril 16, 2011 at 7:46 AM
They are! That's how my husband likes them, too. All my recipes are "light" by the way...
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Friday, April 15, 2011

Bananas Too Ripe? That's Why They Invented Banana Bread!

2 comments:

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