Extreme Chocolate Banana Bread

I have another extremely large bunch of bananas to be thankful for today. So...I decided to make a double batch of banana bread. I started with a recipe for extra banana banana bread. I adapted it from a recipe I found on For the Love of Cooking. Then, to change it up I added cocoa powder, chocolate chips, and walnuts to the second half of the batch. It turned out very well! Rich and moist, with a nice balance to the chocolate and banana flavors. I've titled it Extreme Chocolate

Rich, moist bread with a nice balance of flavors, get the recipe here http://bestmixerreviews.com/category/recipes/quick-breads-extreme-chocolate-banana-bread/

Banana Cookies with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts

The harvest keeps on coming! Now the banana trees have decided to bless us with their bounty! I've been making lots of starfruit products for the last while, as well as using them to garnish drinks and dessert plates. Got through the starfruit crop in pretty good form. Now, I'm back to banana products.

Here is a picture of the bunch of bananas that has been getting ripe this week.

This is just a small portion of a bunch of bananas. I've already frozen the majority of this

To read the full recipe go to http://bestmixerreviews.com/category/recipes/cookies-and-brownies-raisin-oatmeal-drops/banana-cookies-with-chocolate-chips-and-walnuts/

Apple and Starfruit Crisp

When you live in the Caribbean there aren't many apple trees. Well, at least not what North Americans would call an apple. We do have a variety of fruits that are referred to as such, like sugar apples and mamie apples which do not taste or look anything like a Gala. What I do have, is a lot of Starfruit. The tree in my backyard is producing enough at this point to feed the whole neighborhood.



When I was in North America, Fall was always a good time to make Apple Crisp. We

To read the full recipe go to http://bestmixerreviews.com/category/recipes/crisp/

Halloween Recipe Ideas

Halloween is just around the corner. When my boys were small we used to bake treats for school Halloween parties, and parties we had at the restaurant. Halloween can lend itself to making treats you couldn't make for any other holiday. Spiders, severed fingers, and eyeballs come to mind! It's one of the few times a year that making something gross is a good thing! With kids, the grosser the better! But, cute owls, candy corn, and Jack O' Lanterns are fun too. You can have a lot of

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The Fruit in my Backyard

I suppose you've already seen the coconut tree picture taken from my backyard on Anne's Coconut Cake Recipe.  Now I'm going to show you the star fruit or carambola tree.

As you can see I'm going to have my work cut out for me trying to use all of these!  I have an idea for a fresh salsa using star fruit, red onion, and jalapeno peppers to put of fresh grilled fish.  I'll let you know how that turns out!
I've also used them with several other fruits in a fruit salad dressed simply with honey and a small amount of sugar and fresh mint leaves.  Really good with banana, pineapple, grapes, and melon.
So, I'm on the lookout for any other recipes using Star Fruit.
If anyone has any suggestions leave a comment. 

Homemade Granola Bars-Salty and Sweet

One of the things that is difficult about living on a tropical island, is that stores only have shipments come in once a week. In addition, they don't always get all the items they order. Sometimes the supply boats are delayed due to bad weather. What this means for me, is that I can't plan a menu, go to the store and find all the ingredients. What I do instead is go to the store, see what they have, and devise a menu based on what is available. I've been making baked goods for

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Anne's Coconut Cake

My niece came to visit my site a couple of weeks ago. She was interested in the recipes and said, "Do you have a recipe for Coconut Cake? It's my favorite!" I agreed to post a coconut cake recipe, but was almost embarrassed. "How is it that I live in the Caribbean and don't have a coconut cake recipe?" ran through my mind. I mean, they grow in my
[caption id="attachment_678" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The coconut tree in my backyard"][/caption]

backyard for gosh

Find the whole recipe at http://bestmixerreviews.com/category/recipes/cakes/annes-coconut-cake/