Banana Nut Bread

All my family members, except my husband, treat our tummies with Idli,Dosa and what not for breakfast . Mr.B sticks strictly with cereals in the morning. He loves to eat any cereal that has a hint of banana. His favorite one is Post Banana Nut Crunch. I decided to make the Banana nut bread (he loves it) as an alternate to his everyday (boring, to me at least) cereals. I think it's o.k to make this once a week though it's not that healthy as cereal because of the fat added. I made the bread this weekend with the help of my two lovely kids (they volunteered). I altered a bit of the recipe that my sister printed it from net. The recipe is very simple if you have the ingredients handy in your pantry. The bread came out really good and moist. Here is the recipe of my first ever successful baking.





Ingredients

All Purpose Flour : 2 cups
Sugar : 3/4 of a cup
Eggs : 2
Salt : 1/4 tsp
Butter : 1 stick(softened)
Bananas : 3 ripened
Almonds : 1/4 cup(chopped)
Baking Soda : 1 tsp
Pure Vanilla Essence: 1 tsp

Method:

Combine flour and baking soda . Mix it well. You can sift both together to mix evenly. Add salt and sugar to the flour. Mash the bananas roughly and add to the flour . Add slightly beaten eggs , vanilla essence, half of the almonds and butter and mix them thoroughly. Be gentle with the ingredients. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan with butter on the bottom and sides. Pour the batter into the pan and top it off with the remaining chopped almonds. Bake for an hour , or until the time when a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Set it to cool for 5 minutes. Turn the pan upside down gently and the bread slides off nicely from the pan. Enjoy the bread with a cup of tea.

Beetroot Jam

Beetroot Jam is one I always enjoy since my childhood. If you are from Tamilnadu, especially from south of it, you might have tasted this Jam several times during happy occasions.. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients

Beetroot - 3
Sugar - 1 1/2 cup
Honey - 1/4 cup
Ghee - 3 tbs
Dates -10 (Roughly chopped)
Vanilla Essence (optional)
Nuts (optional)


Method

Peel the skin of the beet and quarter them. Pressure cook the beet for one whistle. Purée the cooked beet in a blender. The beetroot bunch made 3 cups of Purée. Combine beetroot Purée and sugar in a deep bottomed vessel and boil over low to medium heat. Stir the Purée consistently so that it doesn't stick to the pan. You can add some ghee to avoid the puree sticking to the bottom. Add the honey to the Purée. The Purée will tend to turn again watery because of honey. Keep stirring until it has turned to thick consistency . At the end add chopped nuts and dates and give a nice stir. Allow it to cool.I didn't add any preservatives or essence. I like the flavor of beet as such.Use it as a spread for bread or crackers.