All About the Fruits

I love fruit and I will eat most kinds of fruit without complaining - in fact, I tend to be quite happy while eating fruit! Mango, however, does not fall into this category. I love mango smoothies, dried mangoes, mango jelly, mango-flavored candy; but I absolutely dislike fresh mangoes (it's probably the texture). And alas, I received three very large mangoes in my veggie/fruit co-op box. I put them on my counter and watched in distress as they ripened - what to do with them?? In hindsight, I realize that I could have easily dried them, but that did not occur to me at the time (of course!). What did occur to me was that if bananas went into muffins relatively easily, why not mangoes? I searched online and eventually created a combination of two banana-mango muffin recipes found here and here.

Banana-Mango-Coconut Muffins    Print Recipe

• 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 3/4 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 c. oats
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 3/4 c. unsweetened shredded coconut
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 egg
• 1 stick of unsalted butter (melted)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• mashed bananas (~ 1 1/2 bananas)
• 1 - 1 1/2 c. mango puree (~ 1-2 mangoes)
• 1/2 c. nuts (optional)

Combine flours, oats, sugar, coconut, baking powder, soda and salt.

In a large bowl, beat the egg.  Stir in the oil and vanilla. Add the mashed banana and mango puree. Mix thoroughly. Stir the flour mixture into the wet mixture until just combined. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with Pam and divide the batter among the cups.

Bake at 375 degrees F for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.

These turned out wonderful! 

(Left) Buttered muffins - yum! (Right) Pre-buttered muffins

I also received a carton of itty-bitty little grapes called champagne grapes (no, these don't make champagne).  Once again the inter-webs came to my rescue with a great recipe for Champagne Grape Cake. Check out the recipe here.  I made this strictly according to the recipe.  It was a fairly simple recipe and turned out a tasty, not overly sweet cake - perfect for a light summer dessert.

(Left) Champagne Grapes  (Right) Champagne Grape Cake

It's six foot, seven foot, eight foot BUNCH!

"Come, Mister tally man, tally me banana!" If the tally man counted how many bananas I had in my apartment and paid me for them, I'd be rich. Well, not really. But I sure had a lot of bananas sitting on the counter and in the freezer and I was getting a bit sick of basic banana bread and muffins. And I'm sure this is shocking, but the banana bread and muffins I had been baking were not exactly monuments to healthy eating.

Determined to find a healthier way to use up the bananas (besides just eating them), I searched on my favorite healthy recipe website (www.eatingwell.com) and discovered an intriguing recipe for Banana-Blueberry Buttermilk Bread. Hmm, easy to make, 278 calories per serving and uses bananas? Ok, I'll give it a try. I followed the recipe exactly and it turned out AMAZING - with a perfectly browned crust, slightly moist inside and a nice light nutmeg aftertaste. Check out the picture of my banana blueberry bread below - I've never had a loaf of banana bread turn out so perfectly on the first attempt.  Want to give it a try? Here's the recipe on the Eating Well website.

Banana-Blueberry Buttermilk Bread

Alas, I still had more bananas left.  And now I had blueberries as well.  And then I started thinking - I like oatmeal, I like bananas on oatmeal, I like blueberries on oatmeal - what if I made a kind of oatmeal-banana-blueberry snack bar? Yum.

Blue Banana Bars

Dry ingredients:
2 c. oats (not the quick cook kind)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. wheat flour

Wet ingredients:
1/2 c. mashed ripe bananas (~ 1-1 1/2 bananas)
6 tbs. milk
1/4 c. coconut oil
1 tsp. vanilla
3 tbs. creamy peanut butter

Extras:
1/4 c. walnuts
1/4 - 1/2 c. blueberries
1/2 c. coconut

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease an 8x8 or 9x9 glass pan. Combine the wet ingredients in a large bowl and set aside. Combine the dry ingredients in a smaller bowl and add to the wet ingredients. Gently fold in the coconut, walnuts and blueberries. Pour into the pan and spread evenly.  Cook for 25 minutes until the top is relatively firm, golden brown and the blueberries are bubbling (the first time you make these, you should keep an eye on them starting around 20 minutes - I burnt mine the first time because I cooked them at a higher oven temperature!). Let cool for about an hour on a wire rack and then cut into bars.  Enjoy as a mid-day snack!

Blue Banana Bars

"A beautiful bunch a' ripe banana

Daylight come and me wan' go home

Hide the deadly black tarantula

Daylight come and me wan' go home"