In Which Madi's Mom Makes...Cran-Ban-Zucchini Bread

I had SUCH a hankering for banana bread last night.

                                                 Except, I had a little problem....

                                                                              All I had was bananas.

No flour.
No eggs.
No oil.
No butter.
No sugar.

(Yes, I realize it's time to go grocery shopping!)

So I came up with a recipe to satisfy my craving without having to go shopping, because 1. it was late and Madi was asleep, and 2. I really didn't want to change back out of my pjs. Plus, the Olympic hurdles were on.
Man, I love the Olympics!

Anyways, here's the recipe for Cran-Ban-Zucchini Bread:

2-3 bananas
1 zucchini, grated
1/3 cup chopped dried cranberries
2 cups oat flour (you may need more, depending on your zucchini's moisture content)
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla

With a normal banana bread recipe you'd cream together sugar and butter, but here, just smash the bananas, and mix in the grated zucchini and chopped cranberries and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, mix the 2 cups oat flour (if you don't have oat flour--I didn't--you can add oatmeal, even the packaged quick Quaker Oats kind, to a blender/magic bullet and grind it yourself), baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

Sift in the dry ingredients to the wet bowl.

Spoon the mixture into a non-stick bread loaf pan, and top with the 1/4 whole rolled oats.

Bake at 325F for 45 to 60 minutes, til the toothpick comes out clean.


Ta-da! You, and I, both now have a loaf of cran-ban-zucchini, whatever is left in the pantry, bread!

In Which Madi's Mom Makes...Olympic Cornbread

Olympic cornbread, you say? What's that?

Well, simply put, it's cornbread made in honor of Jamaica's super fast track and field team. My father used to run track and field in high school, and has been obsessively updating me about his beloved Jamaican runners.
My father is not Jamaican.
He has never been to Jamaica.
I doubt he even knows any Jamaican people.

However, he loves watching Jamaican Olympians run.

More power to him.

So, the other night, to honor his beloved Jamaican team, I made a green, yellow, and black cornbread—the colors of the Jamaican flag—to munch on while Madi and I watched yet another set of sprinters run pell-mell down a track (neither her nor I have any idea what a good time is for running—I’m not a runner. I do not run.—but we clap for all of them, anyhow!



Olympic Gold Medal Cornbread

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1/3 cup honey

1 teaspoon salt

3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 egg

½ can of black beans, rinsed

½ cup green chile

1/3 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 400F. Grease a 9inc round pan, or get out a non-stick bread loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, salt and baking powder. Stir in egg, black beans, honey, chile, and vegetable oil until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes for the round pan, or 35 to 45 minutes for the loaf, or, you know, that old stand by: until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Enjoy while watching Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man, run a 100m dash in 9.63 seconds and do that charming finger-wagging dance of his.