This Bread is Bananas!

Winter weekday mornings are tough. Not only is it dark when I wake up, it's still dark when I leave! Getting out of bed when the hardwood floors are cold and the dog has to be walked outside in the snow makes it hard to leave the covers behind.

I have always forced down breakfast before leaving for work. It IS the most important meal of the day according to the cereal commercials. (And c'mon, who is eating a bowl of cereal, napkin ready with a big glass of OJ and an unripened banana on the side on a Tuesday morning at 5:30 am anyways?)

But in all seriousness, starting your day off with breakfast gives your metabolism a boost. And starting with  a healthy breakfast gives you extra points. After all, YES YOU CAN! begin your day with a cold slice of pizza and a side of leftover chicken wings, but why not jump start your day with something that is both delicious AND good for you!

I have gotten into the (good!) habit of quadrupling (yes! it's a word - spell check said so!) recipes of quick breads to slice and eat on the go. I've been starting with a basic traditional recipe from cookbooks like Old Faithful (also known as "The Joy of Cooking") and tweaking them to fit my clean bill of health.

I've tried tweaking Zucchini bread, Blueberry Lemon bread, Pumpkin bread and Banana bread. My all time favorite is the banana bread recipe I have included below. If you're a Gwen Stefani fan, you'll appreciate the moniker. If not, haters gonna hate. (The latter will probably also dislike the previous pop culture reference and every other PInC PC reference (read: Politically Incorrect Pop Culture reference) in this blog. Why are you reading this again?)

Ahead of time I want to warn you: this recipe uses only WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR! Two types of people are going to dislike this - celiac sufferers (I'm sorry!) and the faint of heart. I promise you this - when it comes to sweets, I don't mess around. Please believe me that this is NOT a dry, crumbly form of astronaut food (you know, sold at the Museum of Science, oddly delicious...). It is moist (because of the eggs and oil) and melt in your mouth! Don't wuss out. Put away the All-Purpose white flour and nobody gets hurt!

Give this dynamite recipe a try and I promise you'll be jumping out of bed for a hearty slice. To up the chocolate ante, pair this with a hefty glass of Silk's Dark Chocolate Almond Milk. Heaven.

*This Bread is Bananas* Banana Bread

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup ground flax seed
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg
2 eggs, lightly beaten
5 medium over-ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil or vegetable oil
1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate or chocolate chips

Sift dry ingredients - flour, baking powder and soda, flax seed, salt and spices. Make a well in the dry ingredients and put aside.

In a separate bowl mix eggs, sugar and oil until well incorporated. Pour into dry ingredients. Stir dry and wet ingredients together, be careful not to over mix. Stir in chocolate.

Pour into two loaf pans (or one for a GIANT loaf!) lightly coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until golden brown.  Let cool completely before slicing.

It is important that the bananas are over-ripe! By leaving out half of the sugar (usually cookbooks suggest 1 cup!), using over-ripe bananas will add sweetness that you may miss. If you're a foodie, freshly grated Nutmeg tastes even better! The added flax seed gives you an extra dose of fiber. Your body will appreciate this. Enjoy!

You like me!

Wow!! I've been so busy I have neglected my poor blog, and what do I find when I finally revisit The Rumbling Tummy??

An award!

Thank you to my fellow blogger Charlene at It's a CharM'd Life! for honoring The Rumbling Tummy with  a Liebster Award!

Oddly, both my mother and my husband took German in high school, so while most would be quick to assume NONE of my followers speak German - you're incorrect. This gal's blog has quite the international following.

For my non-German speaking followers, liebster is German for dearest or favorite. The Liebster Award is for bloggers with less than 200 followers. I guess it DOES pay off to be hipster and obscure (read: unpopular)!

Now... this is sort of a "pay it forward" deal. So now it's MY turn to award my favorite blogs less traveled. It's a CharM'd Life would be an obvious choice, but I don't want to be an Indian Giver (sorry - Native American Giver). So... who to award? here are my top picks:

Chocolate and Wine
Mama Who
an american girl doll
The Cake Chica
The Sweet Life


Now you all have to follow the rules too!
1)Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.
2)Link back to the blogger who awarded you.
3)Copy and paste the blog award on your own blog.
4) Reveal your 5 blog picks.
5) Let them know you chose them by leaving a comment on their blog.

Thanks for following me!

For the Dogs

Oh dear. It's been too long my friends! I've been busy cleaning up after the holidays and getting a handle on my calamitous classroom!

This long weekend I was searching far and wide for the perfect recipe for treats - not for me, but for my pup!

Mona is also recovering from holiday overkill. While I am consistent with feeding her only dog food, Hubs is not so conscientious. I've not only seen him slip her bits of chicken or bacon, but recently walked in on him letting the pup lick his yogurt container clean! Both parties looked very guilty.

It was then that I had the idea to get her back on her canine diet (hopefully Hubs will not help her cheat).

I found a few recipes for biscuits and came up with my own by mixing and matching ingredients. Also- MonaPup does not at all have a sensitive stomach, but for doggies that do, you may want to substitute brown rice flour for whole wheat (like some people, certain dogs have a hard time digesting wheat products). You know your pet- if your dog has food allergies, always ask a vet before introducing new foods!

MonaPup's Munchies
2 cup puréed pumpkin
2 Tablespoons Dry Milk
2 Tablespoons peanut butter
2 eggs
2 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
Beat pumpkin, eggs and peanut butter well. Add dry milk and mix. Slowly add flour to wet ingredients. Dough should be crumbly. Chill for 30 minutes. Roll out on flours surface and use biscuit cutter to make small cookies. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Let color on wire rack.
Makes 30- 40 biscuits.

I doubled the batch and froze half of the biscuits to replenish when needed!

For those pet less followers out there- I promise my next post will be for humans, but I couldn't resist sharing! And Mona couldn't resist pigging out!

Cookie Chaos

Success!

The SullyGirls Cookie Exchange produced massive amounts of holiday treats. Spice cookies, sugar cookies, drop cookies... there was just too much to list here on one page. But it was all delicious! I came home with two cookie tins stuffed to the brim. What to do with all these cookies? Well, I ate some and gave the rest to co-workers! It's a genius idea, really. I create miniature tins to send to Hub's bosses and my own at school. Hence, I look as if I've slaved away over a hot stove all day to bake 20 varieties of Christmas cookies when in reality I ate massive amounts of food, mingled with cousins and spent 2 hours helping my Great Aunt from her Assisted Living home to the party (despite the fact that it should only take 12 minutes door to door...). 

As always, I try to come away with one new recipe from any party I attend. I am going to surprise you all by saying that I did not come away from the Cookie Exchange with a cookie recipe. Instead, I picked my Aunt's brain about her delicious Squash puree! The secret? She purees a butternut squash and turnip mix. Genius! I am a big fan of turnip myself, though some find it to be too bland both in name and taste). Mixing the two root vegetables, now that is something that I have to try! 

I'll let you know how it goes. 

As for Christmas dinner, I promised to bring corn casserole and Pecan Pie. I am a traditionalist, but while searching for a good version I came across this baby - 

Deep Dish Pecan Pie! Now that looks dynamite. I think I will make one traditional, and one of these. I should stop now, I am getting too wild for my own good. Before long I'll be googling variations on Apple Pie, that's enough to Gramma Sully a heart attack.

3 days left!!

Delight-mint!

Phew! These molasses peppermint cookies were super easy and SUPERBLY delicious!

They really epitomize all the tastes of the season - a gingerbread-like base and an icy peppermint frosting. I know it sounds like a funny combo, but it works!

Now this is a recipe that will be come a tradition in our house... despite the fact that Hubs dislikes mint... he'll just have to suck it up.

Improv in the Kitch

Yikes! Those Samoas did not go as planned. I baked 5 dozen shortbread rounds... the photo does not convey their pure buttery deliciousness, but they do look pretty!

The next step in the recipe called for a caramel coconut mixture made from vanilla Kraft caramels. I've tried using Kraft caramels before. I didn't like them then, and I now know I don't like them now! Ugh, they have a grainy texture and a bad after taste. Ina Garten ruined me with her homemade salted caramels, after trying my hand at those, Kraft just doesn't cut it! I wish I could trade places with Jeffrey for a night so she could make me a batch before bed...

Wait, you're not getting the Food Network reference? If you're not a foodie, the only other reason you're reading this blog is because you are related to me, but hey, no complaints here! I love the Sully faithful.

Rather than tossing out all of those beautiful shortbread rounds, I improvised! I sliced and diced some baking chocolate and melted it in a double boiler (baker's secret - add a tablespoon of vegetable oil to the melted chocolate to make it nice and shiny when it hardens!). I dipped each cookie in chocolate and sprinkled the top with crushed candy canes. Success!

I'll be whipping up 5 dozen more cookies tomorrow night, hopefully the Molasses Peppermint cookies will go more smoothly.... if not, I'll bring the dregs to my firsties. I'm telling you - those kids will eat anything.