Kids Cuisine

I keep hoping the warmer weather is going to stick around for awhile; but I may be premature.  This Sunday, we awoke to clouds and a never-ending drizzle and mist that made me want to curl back into bed.  Unfortunately, my four-year-old and two-year-old could not be convinced to entertain themselves quietly for two hours alone.
Rather than sneak off to my room and hope the husband and kids wouldn’t find me, I decided to get rid of stuff in the kitchen – starting with the bananas that had hit the almost black stage.  All it took to get the kids involved was a promise that they could “MASH!” and “stir the chocolate.”  A quick banana bread with chocolate recipe later, and we were all set for action.  The three of us began cooking; their dad snapped some pictures, and we managed to keep ourselves amused despite the dreary weather.

The Mashing Part

The Stirring Part

This Cooking Light recipe received many positive reviews.  I liked it because it was incredibly forgiving.  I managed to mess up the marbling design; I messed up putting the ingredients in proper order of wet to dry, and I also goofed around with using muffin pans instead of just a bread pan.  I also had two very enthusiastic helpers who were decidedly less interested in measuring things properly.
It didn’t matter.  It came out great.  There’s no such thing as too many chefs in the kitchen – just give everyone something little to do as you go along.

The Eating Part.

Marbled-Chocolate Banana Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1-1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/2 cup egg substitute
1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add banana, egg substitute, and yogurt; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist.

Place chocolate chips in a medium microwave-safe bowl, and microwave at HIGH 1 minute or until almost melted, stirring until smooth. Cool slightly. Add 1 cup batter to chocolate, stirring until well combined. Spoon chocolate batter alternately with plain batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Swirl batters together using a knife. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.
Yield:  1 loaf, 16 slices (serving size: 1 slice)

CALORIES 183 (23% from fat); FAT 4.7g (sat 2.8g,mono 1.4g,poly 0.2g); IRON 1.1mg; CHOLESTEROL 8mg; CALCIUM 18mg; CARBOHYDRATE 33.4g; SODIUM 180mg; PROTEIN 3.1g; FIBER 1.3g

Cooking Light, SEPTEMBER 2003
My notes:

Be careful with the cooking time.  Since I used a muffin pan, the time needed was much less - about 20 minutes.  The bread took me about 40 minutes, which is much less than the recipe as stated.