Banana Foster Bread

I love banana bread and I love Banana Foster so I thought I would try out this Banana Foster bread recipe in CL. I did some variations, tried to make it a bit lighter than the recipe called for.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana
1 cup packed brown sugar, divided*
6 tablespoons butter, melted and divided *
1/4 cup cognac or dark rum, divided*
1/3 cup plain fat-free yogurt
2 large eggs
6 3/4 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 cups)*
1/4 cup ground flaxseed*
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice*
Cooking spray
1/3 cup powdered sugar*


MY CHANGES:

SUGAR: I only used one half cup of sugar in this recipe, it was actually by mistake since I forgot to add it with the egg and yogurt mixture but I found that the bread did not need any extra sugar, plus it saves calories!
BUTTER: I only used 2 TBSP of butter and substituted natural applesauce
ICING: I did not use icing since I thought it would just make it super sugary
ALLSPICE: I did not have so I used pumpkin pie spice
FLAXSEED/FLOUR: I did not have any flaxseed, and I wanted to use wheat flour, so I used 1 cup white flour, and almost 3/4 cup wheat flour.
RUM: I used bourbon because that is what I had on hand.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Mash bananasCombine banana, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 5 tablespoons butter, and 3 tablespoons cognac in a nonstick skillet. Cook over medium heat until mixture begins to bubble. Remove from heat; cool.
Place banana mixture in a large bowl. Add yogurt, remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar, and eggs. Beat with a mixer at medium speed.

Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (through allspice) in a small bowl.
Add flour mixture to banana mixture; beat just until blended. Pour batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray.
Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Remove bread from pan; place on wire rack.
**I baked mine at 50 minutes and I could have taken it out at around 45 minutes.The taste of banana foster is subtle, not as strong as I was expecting. This makes for a good banana bread if you feel like switching things up a little bit. Definitely tastes great reheated for about 15 seconds in the microwave!

Potato Leek Soup and Garlic Cheese Toasts

My BF ordered a box of organic vegetables, and gave me some leeks to put to use..so I found a recipe for potato and leek soup from CL. I didn't follow the recipe exactly so I will list below what I did and include the recipe link if you want the real thing ;)

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/golden-potato-leek-soup-with-cheddar-toasts-10000001108277/

This was my first time preparing leeks, so don't laugh but I actually watched this video on how to clean leeks. Hey leeks can be intimidating! They look like gigantor green onions! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8glwRaS8OM

Soup:
1 tablespoon butter
2 leeks - thinly sliced
6 cups cubed peeled red potato (about 2 1/4 pounds)
2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 (14-ounce) cans chicken broth
3 thyme sprigs
couple rosemary leaves

Preheat oven to 375°.

Wash leeksTo prepare soup, melt butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat.Add leek; cook 10 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally (do not brown).Add potatoes, water, salt, broth, and 2 thyme sprigs. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes or until potatoes are very tender.Remove pan from heat; discard thyme sprigs. Partially mash potatoes with a potato masher. Sprinkle with black pepper.
To prepare garlic bread - place baguette slices in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake at 375° for 7 minutes or until toasted. Turn slices over;
In a separate bowl, melt 3 TBSP of butter, stir in about 1 tsp garlic powder, Brush butter mixture on top of the baguette slices. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top. Bake 5 minutes or until cheese melts.

This recipe was simple but tasted great and was super easy to make!