Banana Bread and Hummus (Not together!)

I'm not sure if everyone has this problem but when I buy bananas there is usually one left that is too far gone to eat. The obvious solution for me is to use it for baking but most recipes that I have at home and the many that I have trawled through on the internet, all call for two or more very ripe bananas. So, in the past I have just halved the recipe and used a small loaf tin. That was until I found a great recipe using only one banana and not only that it was one of those easy, dump everything in the bowl, mix and bake recipes.

Banana Bread with One Banana

Ingredients:

1 large very ripe banana broken into small chunks

1 egg with enough milk to make up 250mL

115g softened butter.

1 tsp. vanilla

210g flour

230g sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

Walnuts (optional)

Chocolate Chips (optional)

Dash of cinnamon (optional)

Directions:

*Preheat your oven to 180°C

1. Dump all of the ingredients (except for the nuts and chocolate chips) into your mixer bowl; no need to combine.

2. Mix on low to medium-low until most of the chunks are gone.

3. Grease a baking pan well or line with baking paper.

4. If you're adding chocolate chips, mix them into the batter and pour into the bread pan. Top with sprinkles of walnuts.

5. Bake at 180°C for 55 minutes or until skewer comes out clean when inserted.

It really is a great, quick recipe and I have made it many times. The ones in the picture I made when I actually had two over-ripe bananas, so I made one large one and two small ones.

I'm going to share another recipe here as well and its for a different twist on hummus. I am totally addicted to hummus and it usually goes in my shopping trolley every week. I really love making things from scratch and I thought I should really have a go at hummus because its not that hard. I have made it quite a few times and it is delicious and easy but I get tired of remembering to soak my chickpeas before making it and its probably just a personal preference but I dont like making hummus from tinned chickpeas.

A while ago I picked up a national geographic magazine devoted entirely to natural home remedies which was absolutely my cup of tea! As I was flicking through I found a delicious recipe for hummus using tinned black beans instead of chick peas. I decided to try it and see whether tinned black beans were ok in this recipe. The result was a sightly odd coloured but extremely creamy and tasty hummus.

Black Bean Hummus

2 cups tinned black beans (you can soak and cook your own if you prefer)

¼ cup tahini

2 tsp lime juice

1 ½ Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1 minced garlic clove

1 tsp. ground cumin

½ cup chopped fresh coriander

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

Put everything into a food processor/blender and blend until smooth. Add salt to taste and more olive oil and lime juice if needed.

I hope that you will enjoy making these recipes. Again, please do email me your thoughts if you give them a go and pics as well!