Banana/Yogurt Bread

Chocolate chips make everything better, so why not throw some into this quasi-healthy bread?
Recipe adapted from Low Fat Cooking  My version has reduced fat and sugar and added chips.

• 2 cups flour: mixed wheat and unbleached white
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/8 cup butter
• 1/8 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 eggs
• 3 small bananas, mashed
• 1/3 cup homemade yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla and almond extract
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Mix the flour, salt and baking soda and a medium bowl. Mix the sugar, butter, applesauce in a large bowl with an electric mixer and beat until well mixed. Add the eggs one at a time. In a seperate bowl, mash bananas and combine with extracts and yogurt. Add to the egg mixture and beat a bit more. Add the flours and chocolate chips and combine with a spatula or wooden spoon until just mixed. Pour into a loaf pan and bake at 350 for 70+ minutes, or in 3 little loaf pans for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. The decreased fat and increased saucy liquids makes the cooking time a little longer, so keep an eye on them.

Great for breakfast or dessert and snacks in between.
This recipe can also be found at the Barn Hop hosted by Homestead Revival. 
You can also find this post at Simple lives Thursday!

Meyer Lemon Scones

As promised yesterday, here is a recipe to help you utilize the wonders of the Meyer Lemon (or any other type of lemon if that's what you've got, though the Meyer is a bit sweeter). I adapted this recipe slightly from Baking Bites, my changes have been annotated. My scones got a bit dark on the bottom, resulting from cutting the scones about half as large as the original recipe called for and the addition of cornmeal and lack of parchment paper. The cornmeal is what makes these scones truly special, so try mixing some in with the rest of your flour: it gives excellent texture.

Meyer Scones

• 2 cups flour *I used 1.5 C bread flour as i was out of all purpose and .5 C cornmeal
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• -1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup or one stick butter, chilled, quartered and diced into smallish chunks
• 8-10 T fresh meyer lemon juice (Juice from 1.5 of my lemons)
• 1-2 tsp meyer lemon zest (Zest from 2 lemons
• Agave nectar and more lemon juice

Mix the dry ingredients, including sugar until well sifted. Mix in the zest. Add butter, toss to coat then work in with your fingers. You want a sandy consistency, but don't melt the butter with your hands. A few chunks are okay, but try and get the dough a uniform texture. Add about half the juice and mix with a spoon. Add the rest of the juice and mix until the dough forms a ball. I found i had to knead with my hands to get it good and mixed - could maybe have used more juice due to the cornmeal. Divide in two and form two balls, flatten to about 1 inch thick, and quarter. I cut my dough balls into 8ths. Separate scones slightly and bake at 400 for about 20 minutes or until golden. Mix up a splash agave nectar with a bit more juice and drizzle glaze on top of scones. Serve cooled or slightly warm. Makes 8 - 16 depending how small you cut them.

I ate one last night: DELICIOUS, and sent the rest to work with my hubby. Hope the folks at Sunset Canyon Pottery enjoy the treat!

This post can be seen at Simple Lives Thursday, a great blog hop for sustainable ideas.