Peanut Butter Banana Bread

It's raining. The kiddo is sleeping. The kitchen is clean. There's a Braves game on. All very valid reasons to bake today. :-)

The bread is really for my daughter. She's addicted to peanut butter. And bread. And bananas are about the only fruit she'll eat on a semi-regular basis. So when I saw this recipe on http://www.joythebaker.com/, I knew it had to make its way onto my soon-to-bake list. (Joy's blog on this specific recipe can be found here.)

Peanut Butter Banana Bread
adapted from Cooking Light

1 1/2 c mashed ripe bananas
1/3 c plain or vanilla yogurt
1/3 c creamy peanut butter

(recipe calls for all-natural - I used Jif)

3 T butter, melted

2 large eggs

1/2 c granulated sugar

1/2 c brown sugar

1 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c all-purpose flour

1/4 c ground flaxseed meal

3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground allspice
1/4 c chopped dry roasted peanuts

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°. Grease and flour a 9x5" loaf pan. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, flaxseed meal, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and allspice. In a medium bowl, whisk together mashed bananas, yogurt, peanut butter and melted butter. Whisk in eggs and sugars. Blend mixture until no sugar lumps remain.

Pour the wet mixture into the larger bowl with the dry ingredients. Fold together with a spatula until no more flour bits remain. Fold in the chopped nuts. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 55-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 20 minutes before running a butter knife along the edges of the pan and inverting the bread onto a wire rack to cool completely.

This bread lasts, well-wrapped at room temperature, up to 4 days. It is also great to store in the freezer.

Thing is, I don't really like bananas. And I'm not a huge fan of baked peanut butter. So I wasn't planning on eating much of it --> until it came out of the oven. She's gonna have to fight me for it.

(By the way, the Braves won.)

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Pie

I'm dying to try this... it's in the fridge... the filling tasted heavenly... yes I taste-tested it... but I made it late last night, too late to enjoy it without going to bed with that sicky-icky feeling. And tonight we went to a birthday party and had cake, so sweets really aren't too tempting right now. But tomorrow --> please don't judge me if I have dessert for breakfast!

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Pie

adapted from Recipe Hall of Fame Quick & Easy Cookbook

6 oz cream cheese, softened

3/4 c sifted powdered sugar

1/2 c peanut butter

2 T milk

2 c Cool Whip (about 2/3 of an 8 oz container)

1 (8-inch) graham cracker pie crust

I made my own pie crust rather than purchasing one (see previous post for the recipe). However, when I started piling in the filling, I was surprised that it didn't fill the crust. Then I double-checked the recipe, and realized I had made a 9" crust instead of an 8" one. Probably would have made just the difference it needed.





Beat cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add peanut butter and milk. Beat until smooth and creamy. Fold in Cool Whip and turn into the crust. Chill 5-6 hours or overnight.

The recipe book gave a couple suggestions that I may have to try: Pie can be frozen. Try using a chocolate crumb crust. Or slice a banana into it before you pour the filling into the crust.

My thought is to drizzle hot fudge sundae sauce over the top. Yeah, I'm going to need a pot of strong coffee in the morning to go with my pie!

Frozen Berry Yogurt Pie

Wow, this was REALLY good! I'm not usually a huge fan of frozen desserts, and I am NOT a fan of yogurt. So why did I make it??? Because we were invited to our neighbors' for dinner and I didn't have time to run to the store, so I had to find something with ingredients that we already had in the house! It was so light and just the right amount of sweet to finish off our meal. This recipe will definitely become a favorite at our house.


Frozen Berry Yogurt Pie1 1/2 c graham cracker crumbs
1/4 c sugar
1/3 c butter, melted
2 containers (8 oz each) vanilla yogurt
1 tub (8 oz) Cool Whip, thawed
2 cups berries - I used a frozen blend of raspberries, blackberries & blueberries

Stir together graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter. Press into 9" pie pan for crust. Put crust in refrigerator to harden a bit. Stir yogurt gently into whipped topping until well blended. Stir in berries. Spoon into crust. Freeze 4 hours or overnight until firm. Let stand in refrigerator AT LEAST 15 minutes before eating so pie can be cut easily (ours was in the refrigerator for a good hour and was still very frozen). Garnish with additional whipped topping if desired.

This actually made more crust and more filling than my pie plate held. So I took custard dishes and pressed the leftover crust into the bottom and filled them with the leftover filling. That way I could try it out before taking it over to our neighbors' house, too!