Banana Coconut Pumpkin Bread

So, yesterday was my one year blogging anniversary! I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't even notice until late last night, by which time it was too late to get out the candles or whip up a cake. Instead, we'll have to celebrate a day late - and with a warm, tender loaf of quick bread in place of white cake and buttercream.

That may seem like a bit of an unfair trade, but this isn't any ordinary quick bread. It's full of wholesome ingredients that manage to make it comforting (that's the pumpkin and banana talking) and exciting (that tropical coconut, again) at the same time.

Look at that gorgeous, crunchy topping

There's a minimum of added sugar which means the natural flavors of the pumpkin, coconut, and banana can speak for themselves. If that sounds like an unusual combo to you, I'd urge you to give the recipe a try. It's more sophisticated than your average banana bread and a little sweeter than a classic pumpkin loaf. As with my Chicken Crispers, the coconut is the secret ingredient, lending enough tropical flavor to brighten any wintry day, and elevating a simple quick bread to almost celebratory fare.

Road Trip Muffins!

As one of my last acts of baking in our Oklahoma apartment, I whipped up a batch of muffins for the road. I was limited to the ingredients on hand, which means they turned out to be Pumpkin Banana Grape-Nut Muffins.  They're waiting, in the freezer, for our departure this week, but Matt and I sampled a couple fresh out of the oven - for quality control purposes, of course!

I was actually quite pleased with the texture of the cereal in the muffin, but I think the recipe still needs some tweaking - it came out a little more cake-like than I'd hoped.  The addition of an extra banana or two would probably fix this and give the muffins a more appealing flavor since they're not very sweet and taste rather strongly of pumpkin. On the plus side, they're actually pretty healthy, with very little added fat and a protein boost from the yogurt, so these might make a good, health-conscious snack. I've yet to see just how well they travel, but I'll provide the recipe anyway, for those who are interested, and report back on their performance on the road. In any case, they take a pretty picture!

(Update: These muffins were a great treat on our cross-country road trip - we even hiked them down into the Grand Canyon where they made a perfect mid-hike snack! I even liked the flavor better there than when we tested them fresh from the oven.)