Monkey Jam

Monkey Jam

3/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
6 Tbsp lemon juice
3 1/2 cups mashed bananas
1/8 tsp ground cloves 
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp calcium water
2 tsp Pomona pectin

Mix pectin in sugar and set aside.

Mix together and bring all other ingredients to a boil.  Whisk in sugar and pectin mixture. Taste for sweetness and add more sugar if desired.  Do a frozen plate test.  If the jam sets, then add jam into prepared jams and do a water bath for 10 minutes. 

Cranana Jam

Cranana Jam

3 cups cranberries
1 1/2 cup water
2 cups mashed bananas
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup sugar
2 tsp Pomona pectin 
2 tsp calcium water

Mix pectin into the sugar. Set aside.

Bring cranberries, bananas, water, lemon juice and calcium water all to a boil. Whisk in the sugar and pectin.  Bring back to a boil. Taste for sweetness and add sugar if desired.  Do the frozen plate test.  If it sets, pour into prepared jars, add lids and rings, and water bath can for 10 minutes. 

Chocolate Coconut Oil Covered Bananas

Another yummy, but not so low-carb, way to get coconut oil into your tummy!  This one comes from My Cultured Palate.  

Chocolate Coconut Oil Covered Bananas

• 5 bananas, cut in half
• 2 cups coconut oil, at room temperature
• 4 Tbsp raw honey
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp sea salt 
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon 
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• wooden sticks

1. Mix the coconut oil, honey and vanilla together. 

2. Blend in the remaining ingredients – sea salt, cinnamon and cocoa powder

3. Blend until light and fluffy – an immersion blender works well.

4. Skewer each banana half with a wooden stick.

5. Dip each banana half in the chocolate mixture rotating to cover.

6. Place each dipped banana on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

7. Freeze for about 3 minutes to harden the chocolate.

8. Continue to dip and freeze bananas to reach the desired thickness of chocolate. Three times is pretty good.

9. After the chocolate is the desired consistency, place in the refrigerator or freeze – remember, coconut oil liquefies at about 75F so it is important to keep them cool!

10. After dipping is complete, pour any extra chocolate into a parchment paper lined dish and refrigerate until firm – this makes delicious chocolate candy!

Almond Flour Banana Muffins

I found this at Just a Pinch.  I'm always looking for new grain-free recipes.  I found a great deal on ripe bananas and needed to make banana bread.  My other Primal banana bread recipe uses coconut flour, which requires many eggs. Since I am low-ish on eggs and full on almond flour, this is the one I chose.

Almond Flour Banana Muffins

6 cups almond flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp EACH sea salt and baking powder
6 eggs
4-6 overripe bananas
1 cup honey 
1/2 cup melted coconut oil or butter
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup nuts, if desired

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease muffin tins. Blend dry ingredients together. Mix wet ingredients in a smaller bowl. Add wets to drys and stir to combine.  Pour into prepared muffin pans. Sprinkle with nuts, if desired.  Bake about 20 minutes. 

Banberry Jam-Pomona Pectin Version

Banberry Jam-Pomona Pectin Version


5 cups ripe strawberries, hulled and crushed (about 8 cups frozen)
3 1/2 cups ripe bananas, peeled and mashed (about 10)
1/2 cup lemon juice
4 cups sugar, or less, divided
1/2 teaspoon unsalted butter
2 Tbsp Pomona pectin
8 1/2 tsp calcium water


Blend pectin with 2 cups sugar.  Combine mashed fruit, calcium water and lemon juice in large pot.  Bring to a boil.  While vigorously whisking, slowly add sugar-pectin mixture.  Taste and add additional sugar as desired.  Bring to a boil and keep stirring 1-2 minutes.  Add butter if you are getting foam.  Cool five minutes, stirring once a minute to distribute fruit.  


Ladle into hot, prepared jars and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.  Makes 6 pints.

Primal Banana Pancakes

I found this recipe at Primal Kitchen. Dairy-free, gluten-free, grain-free and sugar-free...it sounded intriguing, so I made it for breakfast right then and there. Two of my children really liked it and ate several cakes, three liked it so-so and ate one each and the others tried a bite and rejected it. The banana flavor comes through, and a couple of mine hate banana, so that explains that. It made 10 pancakes.

Primal Banana Pancakes

2 medium bananas
3 eggs
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
Dash vanilla extract
Pinch nutmeg
Pinch salt


Blend all the ingredients together in a blender on high for at least 2 minutes, until perfectly smooth and there are lots of air bubbles whipped into the batter.

Heat a couple of tablespoons of stable cooking fat such as butter, coconut oil, or macadamia oil in a large pan on medium heat. When the oil starts to shimmer, pour in the batter to make 2.5" cakes. Allow the cakes to cook in the pan until almost all the way done before flipping; you'll see bubbles pop and stay "popped" when they are ready to flip. Continue cooking the rest of the cakes, adding a little more cooking fat to the pan before each new set of pancakes.

Serve warm with fresh fruit and butter to top, if desired. I served it with creamy almond butter.

Soft Banana Cookies

Please make sure to use regular whole wheat flour, not pastry as I first wrote. Most of the time pastry flour is used for cookies, but not in this case!

Soft Banana Cookies

3/4 cup butter

1/2 cup raw sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup mashed banana

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp. baking soda

Opt. 1/4 cup chopped nuts

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg, vanilla, and bananas. Stir in baking soda and flour. Drop by tablespoonful onto lightly oiled cookie sheet. Bake about 12 minutes at 350, just until edges are browning.

Though not the prettiest cookie, these are very tasty, even without a lot of spice!

The Very Best Banana Bread

Here is my Lambies very favorite breakfast choice:

The Very Best Banana Bread

In your mixer bowl combine:
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup kefir (or buttermilk)
4 eggs
6 ripe to overripe bananas
3 cups sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. salt

Mix until smooth.

Add:
4 cups unbleached flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda

Mix momentarily, just until combined.

Grease and flour three 1 to 1 1/2 pound loaf pans. Add batter to about 3/4 full. Sprinkle a generous layer of raw sugar on top. Bake at 325 for 50-60 minutes until they pass the toothpick test.

Cool, wrap and enjoy the next day.

Banana Muffins

Banana Muffins
Combine:
3 2/3 cups flour (I milled 1 1/2 cup of white pastry wheat, and used white for the remaining measure)
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp EACH baking soda and baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/4 tsp salt

Combine in separate bowl:
7 mashed bananas
2 eggs (recipe calls for three, but I substituted 1 egg with 3 Tbsp water and 1 Tbsp freshly ground flax seeds, just for nutrition's sake)
1 cup melted butter (I used 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 applesauce)

Topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 Tbsp butter
Combine sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter till size of course crumbs.


Combine wets with drys and mix gently, just until moistened. Fill muffin cups (I don't do 2/3 full...we like big muffins!) Spoon some topping mix on top and bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

Makes 2 dozen

Whole Wheat Honey Banana Muffins

Whole Wheat Honey Banana Muffins

Warning: Yield is 48 muffins :)

7 cups soft wheat (pastry) flour
4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 1/3 cup olive oil (or sub as much applesauce as you want, up to all of it!)
2 cups honey
8 eggs
4 cups mashed bananas
1 cup hot water

Combine dry ingredients.
Combine wet ingredients; oil and honey first, then beat in eggs.
Blend the banana into wet ingredients.
Add the dry ingredients into the wet, alternating with the hot water.
Spoon into greased (NOT papered; they stick to the paper) muffin cups. Bake at 325 for 17 minutes or till they pass the toothpick test.

Banana Nut Bread Jam

Banana Nut Bread Jam

10 ripe bananas, pureed (approximately 3 cups)
1 Tbsp lemon juice
4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups toasted walnuts, minced (optional)
1 package powdered pectin
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Mix bananas (we like ours a bit chunky), walnuts, lemon juice and powdered pectin in large pot. Stir while bringing to a full boil. Add sugars all at once. Stirring continuously,
heat until full boil. Boil hard for 1 minute. Ladle jam into jars leaving a 1/4 inch headspace. Process in a boiling water bath (BWB) for 10 minutes. Adjust time according to altitude.

Makes about 6 half pints