When the seas are rough and the going gets tough, holding on
to your belief and faith takes a lot of guts. The Holy Quran clearly says:
"Do the people
think that they will be left to say, "We believe" and they will not
be tried?" (Surah Ankabut 29:2)
It clearly means that the Almighty is going to put things into your path, which
will shake your belief in Him, which will make you doubt as to His existence
and His support. I strongly believe that these difficulties come to you only to
test how strong your belief is in Him. Many people crumble in the midst of
hardships and difficulties. It is really difficult to hold onto your beliefs
and faith when things don't look rosy at all. But when the Almighty Himself
warns you that you will be tested, it means we have to be ready all the time,
accept that things may not be really easy as we want it to be always and be
strong in our belief in Him. It is important to be steadfast in our trial to
improve our condition and learn the virtue of patience. It is all easy said than
done, but then one prayer that I always have in my mind all the time is to give
me the patience and the grit to handle all difficulties that comes by my way,
InShaAllah...
I guess enough of the tough talk... I am one crazy person of banana bakes. I have already posted previously Banana Choco-chip Muffins and Banana Coconut Crumb Cake previously. Whenever I get a chance with ripe bananas, I love to bake them - unfortunately, I live in a family that is so banana crazy that the time a pack comes in, it disappears in no time. When the Home Baker's Challenge which had the Crumb Cake as one option was declared, I had put my eye on making the Banana Nut Muffins whenever I get the chance. What I liked about it was all the ingredients were healthy - whole wheat flour, oats, brown sugar and yes - the marriage made in heaven: bananas and walnuts!!! The only thing is that instead of making it into muffins, I made it into a loaf. Baked it the previous night and served it for breakfast - was really awesome with a cup of milk!
Banana Walnut Loaf
Makes one small loaf
Recipe adapted from here
Recipe adapted from here
Ingredients:
1 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup instant oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 ripe bananas
1/3 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup milk
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Greese and flour a small loaf pan.
In a bowl, mix ingredients from whole wheat flour to walnuts well. In another bowl, mash the bananas well, and mix the oil, vanilla nad milk. Combine the banana mixture with flour mixture and blend until just mixed. Pour into the loaf pan and bake for 40 minutes or till the skewer comes out clean.
Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, flip onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before slicing and serving!
If you don't cool it completely, then you wouldn't get neat slices - just like how mine has come out! I just didn't have the patience to wait - I just wanted to finish the photo shoot and gobble down a piece, after having gone through the torment of smelling the loaf baking in the oven! :)
Linking this to "Only Baked Treat" event of Pari happening at Sizzling Tastebuds...
If you don't cool it completely, then you wouldn't get neat slices - just like how mine has come out! I just didn't have the patience to wait - I just wanted to finish the photo shoot and gobble down a piece, after having gone through the torment of smelling the loaf baking in the oven! :)
Linking this to "Only Baked Treat" event of Pari happening at Sizzling Tastebuds...