Banana Bread, Raspberry Crisp & Stirfry

I did some more baking today... 1 big and 1 mini version of the raspberry lemon loaf I made last week and one loaf of banana bread. I liked how relaxed this recipe looked! It felt like I could not fail. Here it is:

• 1/2 cup shortening or canola oil, or butter etc. (I sometimes leavemost of it out and use 1/3c applesauce) (i used margarine)
  
• 1 cup white sugar (you can cut this back too- I often use a scant 3/4 cup)
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour ( have mixed this with WW, white WW and spelt with good results)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 very ripe mashed bananas (I use all different sizes and amounts- about 1 1/2c)
• 1-2 teaspoons pure vanilla
• chocolate chips (didn't have any!)
  

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8x4 inch loaf pan. (This can be made in any size pan or muffin tins just adjust the baking time)
2. In a large bowl, cream the shortening and sugar and add vanilla. Sift in the flour, baking soda and salt. Blend in the mashed bananas. Stir in the chocplate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until it tests done with a toothpick.

Note: The banana bread is going straight in the freezer so no reviews for now. From the outside, it looks like a good loaf though!

Then I made some simple raspberry crisp! The color was just as rich as the picture makes it out to be. Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

4 cups fresh raspberries or frozen, thawed
Brown sugar to taste, if needed to sweeten berries (i didn't sweeten the berries at all)

Topping
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
3/5 cup uncooked quick-cooking oats (weird. i used 3/4cup)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup non-hydrogenated margarine, softened

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Taste a berry: if it’s too tart or sour, add brown sugar to taste, tossing the berries gently with the sugar to combine.

2. Lightly oil a 8 x 8-inch baking dish. Place berries evenly in the dish. (i made 1 small and one large dish of this)

3. In a medium bowl, combine topping ingredients and sprinkle over berries.

4. Bake until topping is golden-brown and berries are bubbling, about 25 minutes.

After all my baking, it was time for supper. I made a stirfry with the leftover corn from last night, snap peas, carrots, orange pepper, zucchini, tomato and chicken. For the sauce I just did my usual splash of soy sauce and squirt of fat free Catalina dressing. I usually add some peanut butter which I forgot this time around but it would have been a nice addition.

JASON'S REVIEW: Stirfry hit the spot and the raspberry crisp was the perfect mix of sweet and sour.

MY REVIEW: I am relieved to have the over-ripened banana situation AND raspberry situation under control with no epic baking failures. If you have raspberries, you should make the crisp just for the color alone. The flavor was great... but the color was spectacular!