RECIPE WEDNESDAY - Banana Bread

Traditionally, when we hear banana bread, we think of this fabulousness baked in a loaf pan.

I like mine cold, smeared with real butter... or served as the base for a chicken salad sandwich. I know that sounds like a really weird combination, but trust me on this. It is delicious! I first had the chicken salad on banana bread at the Twin Towers in Detroit MI years ago. One of those food combinations you remember in a good way. 

Bob and I've been wanting to try the Red Copper 5- Minute cooker like the one shown below:

Our thought was this would be something good for me to cook single meals when he's out on the boat. Less microwave more home cooked or if we want to do something like individual pizzas where I can pile in the vegies while he is strictly meat/ cheese.

We've done the customary omelet and it was good. That said, an omelet is just as easily done in the skillet. 

So I thought I'd try banana bread for Bob. One of his favorites. I've started making banana bread with a Spice Cake as a base but I found a Banana Cake mix by Duncan Hines to give it that extra punch. 

First:

Mix the dry cake mix with:

1 tsp of ground nutmeg (I use fresh)

1/2 tsp of ground cloves

1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

You can adjust these measurements to your taste or substitute 1 tsp of Pumpkin Pie Spice for the first to then adjust the cinnamon.

In a separate bowl slice up 2 ripe bananas then mash them up with a potato masher or mixer.

Add:

1/2 C Applesauce (I've taken to buying the individual servings - 1/2 cup - until I can replenish my                                                    homemade)

1 C. warm water

Mix these to combine then add the dry cake mix mixture and stir just til combined. My favorite tool for this is a 3-pronged salad serving fork I got with our flatware set. While I have great tools in my kitchen, this has become my favorite 'mixing' tool. 

Preheat the 5- minute cooker until the green light comes on. Then open up the cooker and place to 2 ice cream scoops - roughly 3/4 of a cup - of the cake mix into the well, close the lid and snap closed. Cook for 5 minutes. 

HOT!! Carefully transfer to a plate. I sprinkled the top with cinnamon - sugar while still warm. Powdered sugar would also be a good option.

Banana Bread for breakfast. This only took about 10 minutes total from start to finish. We got 6 of these from one bowl of batter. I barely made it through one while Bob ate two. He wrapped the remaining three in waxed paper, slid them into a zippy bag and put them in the freezer in our 'breakfast' bin.