Out With The Old, In With The New Year Orange Banana Bread - Great LC Bake-off 2024

Food & Drink Completed Projects
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Back in November, I had grand plans for this challenge. I was going to make an elaborate pesto puff pastry star, for Christmas. But Christmas was nuts. I had house guests for 10 days, and just a few days beforehand, my parents requested that I cook a prime rib. So I just never made it at Christmas. After all, the puff pastry sheets and homemade pesto were frozen, so it’s not like they were going bad anytime soon. So as of last night, I had resigned myself to not making anything for the challenge.

But this morning as I was cleaning the kitchen, I saw the sad bananas sitting in the fruit bowl and felt a pang of guilt. TBH, for the last week, I feel like my full time job has been “use up all the stuff”. I have made stew out of leftover prime rib and every vegetable in the fridge, lunches out of random appetizers, toddler breakfast from fruit salad and leftover quiche. Did I have it in me to do something with the bananas? Then I opened the fridge and found a quarter of a bottle of orange juice, which none of us drink. So I googled around to see if I could find a banana bread recipe that included juice. And guess what? That exists!

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I ended up making a double batch. I was just a little shy on banana, so I filled in the rest with plain applesauce. It made 12 muffins, and two loaves. We’ve been snacking on the muffins all day. I froze one of the loaves and dropped the other off at our neighbors house.

Take that leftovers!

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The combo of the fruits sounds delicious!

Way to go using up leftovers! I don’t know where you get your energy!

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Ooo, yummy! And way to go on not wasting the 'nanas and OJ!

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These sound so tasty! Thank you for sharing the link and congratulations on using up all the food, right down to the quarter bottle of orange juice!

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A combination of Yankee work ethic, and Catholic guilt. Both instilled by my mother from an early age. Anytime you aren’t accomplishing something tangible is a waste, and probably a sin.

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Well, that explains it!

I probably get mine the same place from my dad, but then it is tempered by my Japanese mother who instilled quiet, meditation, do nothing, etc. lol…I probably trend more to her side these days! ha

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Just for fun, this is the Pesto Star I was going to make…

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Go you, I’ve been doing the leftover thing for what seems like months, but not with results as good as this!

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Oh that is too nice to eat! Are you still going to make it?

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I probably will at some point, as I already have the pesto and the puff pastry. Though I do also have a jar of caramelized onions, that might be good in this one…

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All these recipes!!! I’m drooling a little….

Your bread sounds so delicious… I wanna go make bread now. I blame you. :wink:

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