Peanut butter and banana muffins

Life has been amazing the last several months, but it's also been incredibly busy, leaving less time for things like baking...or rather, experimental baking. I had a few extra hours earlier today and with 2 super ripe bananas originally meant for peanut butter and banana sandwiches, I decided to take it a step further and instead of sandwiches, made muffins.

I wasn't quite sure exactly what I was doing, but I lucked out and managed to make something yummy. Hopefully my taster agrees too. Here are the ingredients and instructions:

Ingredients

- 1 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour (whole wheat flour would probably work too)

- 1/4 cup of granulated sugar

- 2 tsp. baking powder

- 1/4 tsp. baking soda

- 1/2 tsp. salt

- 1/2 cups melted butter

- 2 extremely ripe bananas, mooshed up

- 2 eggs (room temperature)

- 1 cup of whipped peanut butter (I used Kraft Whipped peanut butter)

Directions

- Preheat oven to 350 C

- Combine all dry ingredients (including sugar) into a big mixing bowl

- Combine all wet ingredients into a big mixing bowl

- Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients

- Oil muffin pans (makes 6 jumbo ones or 9 smaller ones)

- Bake 30-40 minutes, depending on the size of the muffin tray you use

- Let muffins rest in pan for 5 minutes

- Remove and place on cooling rack

These turned out really well...the peanut butter really helps keep the moisture in. Enjoy.

A hidden gem: Utopia Cafe

The back seating area at Utopia

A few weeks ago, 2 of my foodie friends (C &S) and I went to Utopia Café , located at 586 College Street West, in Toronto. S promised an evening of amazing nachos and delectable poutine. Lucky for us, he did not disappoint.

Tofu Cream Croquettes

Small and very unassuming, Utopia looks like it would fit perfectly in an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (Canadian edition, anyone)? From poutine to burgers to their version of Tex-mex, Utopia boasts a huge menu with lots of variety. Normally, I find big menus don’t always deliver, as most places only have a few dishes they really excel at.  Randomly trying a few dishes (and because S INSISTS that anything and everything he’s ever had has been pure genius), I was pleasantly surprised that Utopia does deliver.

We started the meal off with Tofu Cream Croquettes, crispy panko croquettes of fresh tofu and cream cheese served with a spicy chipotle BBQ sauce.  We ordered (well, I may have demanded) these on a whim, after all, tofu and cream cheese have drastically different textures…which means the croquettes had to be amazing or a complete train wreck. Luckily, they were amazing. The texture was soft and the taste mild, while the bbq sauce added just the right amount of zing.

Veggie Nachos

We then ordered the Veggie Nachos (freshly made corn tortilla chips piled high and topped with a blend of melted cheeses, spicy salsa, jalapeño peppers, white beans, tofu, corn and sour cream) – they didn’t disappoint either. The freshly made chips were definitely the star, and while I’m not a fan of white beans, they were actually quite tasty. Even the texture couldn’t weird me out.

Gourmet Poutine

By this point, we were full (but not FULL), so we pushed our luck and ordered one more dish: the Gourmet Poutine (sautéed mushrooms, goat cheese and veggie gravy). Now, I’m not a fan of goat cheese (or strong cheeses in general), but the cheese was very mild and gave some great flavour and texture contrast (I’m not a food snob at all).  It acted almost like a sour cream.

Let’s just say we made quick work of the poutine and then some.

S swears that everything on the menu is delicious…I cannot wait to go back and help prove him right.

Restaurant rating: Definitely worth an extra hour or two at the gym.