Banana Bread Recipe

This is such an easy recipe that takes approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes from beginning to end.  The Caribbean influence comes from 3 products that most West Indians have in their pantry/refrigerator – Mixed Essence, Demerara Sugar and Whole Nutmeg.  If you are not familiar with any of these products, head over to http://www.callaloo.com to order!

Now let’s get down to business….

Ingredients

3  ripe bananas

1 large egg

½ cup semi sweet chocolate chips

¼ cup dark chocolate (broken into small pieces)

½ cup golden raisins

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp mixed essence (Click link to find this product)

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg (Click link to find this product)

¾ cup Demerara sugar (Click link to find this product)

1 ½ cup all purpose flour

¼ tsp salt

½ cup butter

Banana chocolate chip muffins

Method

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place a folded piece of parchment paper in a loaf pan and spray with nonstick spray. This will help remove the loaf later. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mash bananas. Add egg, mixed essence and softened butter to the bowl of bananas, mix for 1 minute, scraping down the sides of the bowl.

In a second bowl, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, sugar and nutmeg. Mix until well combined. Fold in the chocolate chips and raisins.

Make a well in the bowl of dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients. Mix until fully incorporated and the pour mixture into loaf pan. Bake for 55-65 minutes until a knife inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Let cool before serving… Enjoy!

Btw I have a pumpkin banana chocolate chip recipe as well if you are curious 🙂 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾

Soup on Saturdays represents 2 things for me – tradition and mental detox from the week! Preparing #chickensoup takes me back to childhood memories in 🇹🇹…

Saturdays in Trinidad, were like any other day for mothers, grandmothers and housewives in my opinion. They didn’t sleep in, or sit on the couch with the remote. Trini women like countless Caribbean women had to prepare lunch…food…unless they were purchasing roti!

As a woman, looking back, soup on a Saturday makes sense now. Sunday lunch was always a spread (another tradition on its own), so Saturday’s lunch had to be a “one pot” with no leftovers. What better way to feed the family a satisfying meal with little work…little work??? Soup is work! Correction a great soup is a lot of work.

How granny made it look so easy is beyond me. Picking the green fig, peeling provisions, cleaning the meat of your choice,boil, boil, boil…most times we make something to eat while we make the soup 😂😂 then we start chatting about memories and magically the soup is finished.

Now comes the fun part! Eating a blazing hot soup in 90 degree weather! Here’s the consolation…back then we didn’t have air conditioning 😂😂 doesn’t stop me from burning my tastebuds off every Saturday!

I say all of this to welcome you to my Soup Saturday tradition…every Saturday I hope to post a soup, recipe and video. Won’t all be Caribbean soups…going around the world!

Until next #SoupSaturday 👋

Commitment has never been an issue for me but somehow I haven’t been able to commit to this blog.  It’s a mixed bag for me…but mostly I have been apprehensive.  Luckily, my Instagram followers have been terribly kind to me.  I am so grateful for them daily.  They always give positive comments and have been my daily source of encouragement.

So here goes…

Apple Cranberry Chicken Salad!

I love salads…should probably eat more 😂. Fruit salads, fresh salads, pasta, potato, tuna…you name it I love it! I especially love the simplicity and adaptability of salads.

My apple cranberry chicken salad is no exception. It’s fresh, simple and a great addition to your meal prep routine! This salad can stand alone or pair up with toast, crackers or wraps. Keeps very nicely in the refrigerator for 2-3 days if it lasts that long!

You probably have most of these ingredients in the refrigerator or pantry already so no fuss!

Apple cranberry chicken salad

2 cups cooked and diced chicken breast (1-2 boneless chicken breast, depending on the size)

2 celery stalks, diced

1 apple, diced

1/3 cup red onion, diced

1/3 cup bacon, crisped and diced

1/3 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped

1/3 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

2 tablespoons of organic apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon of yellow mustard

1/3 cup light Italian vinaigrette

1/3 cup light mayonnaise

Salt and pepper to taste!

The method is pretty simple and I would advise to get all the ingredients chopped and measured before combining so you don’t forget anything.

To prepare the chicken breast, I either steam or bake the chicken. I prefer to steam though! I never turn the oven on unnecessarily.

To steam the chicken, I begin by seasoning the chicken with a combination of fresh herbs, salt and pepper. Basic herb combo for this recipe is 3 fresh garlic cloves, 1 spring of green onion, couple sprigs of thyme, 1 small shallot and 3 culantro leaves. Use you Ninja or chopper to mince the herbs then cover the chicken. Add a dash of salt and pepper. Don’t over salt. Remember you can always add more salt and pepper. Alternatively you can use a dry rub which is equally delicious.

The chicken is ready for the steamer! Takes about 20-30mins depending on the size of the breast.

While the chicken is steaming, dice the other ingredients. Cook your bacon until crisp! Combine the mustard, apple cider vinegar, mayo, Italian vinaigrette!

When the chicken is fully cooked let cool and then diced the chicken similarly to the celery and apple. Everything should be bite size!

In a large bowl add chicken and all other fruit/vegetables, toss together then drizzle dressing over it. Toss again, adjust flavors and chill!

Serve!