Banana Bread

Today I set up a bakery and made a ton of banana bread.  I had some bananas in my fridge and freezer that were very ripe and begging to be made into banana bread.

This is the best banana bread recipe.  It's wonderful and delicious.  The original recipe is technically called "Banana Nut Cake".  And cake, it truly is.

 

Here are all ingredients that that go into this treat.  You'll notice that there are chocolate chips.  That's not part of the original recipe, but my special addition.

First, cream the butter and sugar.  Second, add the bananas.  Third, add your eggs.  Then, in goes the sour cream.  This is for sure what makes this recipe extra special.  The vanilla also goes in at this point.  And as always, the dry ingredients and walnuts (or chocolate chips) go in at the end.  

This recipe bakes up wonderfully as a loaf and as muffins.

 

The muffins bake at 350 for about 25-30 minutes.  They come out of the oven a lovely golden brown.  

 

So, I told you I practically had a bakery going on today.  I had so many bananas, which meant I ended up with a ridiculous amount of muffins!

 

There's a lot here and there were more still in the oven!

 

So, to celebrate reaching the halfway point of busy season, I'll give them as gifts to my friends. Beware, if you run into me this week, I may have a gift for you! 

Banana Nut Cake
From: Ms. Colleen

2 cups sugar

½ cup butter, softened

3 bananas, mashed

2 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 cup chopped walnuts (or 1 cup chocolate chips or both!)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cream sugar and butter; add mashed bananas; then the eggs.  Stir well then add sour cream and vanilla.  Add dry ingredients—flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder, gradually.  Fold in walnuts.

This will make 2 small (mini) loaves or 1 large loaf or lots of muffins.

Baking times are as follows:

Mini loaf – 45 minutes

Large Loaf – 55 minutes

Muffins – 25 minutes

Kale Chips

Yes, you read that right.  Kale chips.

I recently made a soup that called for kale, but didn't need the whole bunch.  So, with the remaining bit, I made kale chips.  When I first made this soup, I had never purchased kale before in my life.  I had read about it and how it was supposed to be super healthy for you and have the really great health benefits.  But, who eats just plain kale?  And I sure don't know about very many recipes that have kale in them.  Then, when I didn't need it all for the soup, I was perplexed about what to do with my leftover kale.  And confession: I hate wasting food.  So, even though I think kale is only $1 per bunch,  I still couldn't waste it. 

 

But, then I remembered reading about a recipe for kale chips in Real Simple.  It was an old issue, but I knew there was a reason I saved all those!  I was skeptical as you might be right now, but I was soon convinced!

Kale is super hearty.  So, first wash your kale.  Then, tear it up into small pieces.  You'll want to remove the ribs; they would be rather unpleasant to eat.

Next, toss the kale with some olive oil until they are lightly coated.

Place them on a baking sheet and season with salt and pepper or seasoning salt (personal favorite) or garlic salt.  Bake them for 15-20 minutes at 350.

After 15 minutes or so, you'll have a wonderful bunch of crispy kale that really does taste like chips.  Just remember that because it is hearty, just a few will fill you up. :)  The leftovers keep great in the fridge.

Now, for a bonus economic lesson.  Kale, as I mentioned above, is only about $1 per bunch.  I can't help but think as people figure out how good this stuff is for you that they'll raise the price a bit.  As demand rises, so does the price.  So, quick, get to your grocery store and buy kale and try this before everyone is rushing the produce section to get their own!!  Ok, maybe they won't.  But, you should definitely try this $1 experiment. 

Kale Chips

Any desired amount of kale

Olive oil

Seasoning of your choice-- salt and pepper, seasoning salt, garlic salt

Wash and tear the kale into small pieces.  Be sure to remove the ribs.  Toss with olive oil until lightly coated.  Place on baking sheet and season as desired.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

Chicken Pot Pie

Well, Arkansas finally got a little bit of snow this week.  But, unfortunately, it wasn't enough to cause a "snow day" for most of us.  If you've been at all exposed to the northern part of this country, you would chuckle at our reaction to snow around here.  People buy two extra gallons of milk and five extra loaves of bread when there is an inch, yes, one single inch, of snow expected, and we cancel school and work because the roads are too dangerous to drive on.  Even if we didn't get enough snow to cancel school or work this week, we still had the cold temperatures that make you want to stay home in your PJ's and curl up with a blanket on the couch with a good book.  Enough about the weather for now.  It's back to the 50's and 60's.

About once a year I get a craving for chicken pot pie.  It came last year when Southern Living featured it on the front cover of one of their issues.  And this year, I got the craving when Real Simple had it on the cover of their February issue.  Well, when the snow was expected this week, I couldn't think of a better way to usher it in than with chicken pot pie.

I like to experiment with my recipes and try to combinations, and take a little from here and a little from there.  So, this year, I used my mom's basic recipe and added a few ingredients that Real Simple had in their recipe.

I decided to use lots of veggies this time round.  I had about 2/3 cups chicken, 1/2 cups each frozen peas and green beans, and 2/3 cups fresh carrots.

Then, I also added some sauteed onions and mushrooms.  I really love mushrooms.  Before I did, I just couldn't understand why anyone would want to eat them.  Then, one day, it clicked.

Finally, instead of making my own sauce, I just used a can of cream of chicken soup.  This is what makes this recipe so simple.  Thanks, Mom!

Mix it all together and season with salt and pepper.  But, be cautious with the salt-- the soup can be pretty salty without much help.  Add some chicken broth if you think it needs more moisture.

I didn't put a pie crust on the bottom of my dish in an effort to cut a few calories.  And before you feel sorry that I don't have a pie plate, I do.  I just thought this one was cuter.  :)  I saw the heart idea for the top in another magazine and thought it would be fun since Valentine's Day was only a few days off.

Brush the pie crust with egg.  Wrap the edges with foil so that they don't get too dark too fast.  Then bake at 400 for 45 minutes.  Remove the foil from the edges for the last 15 minutes.

Make this the next time there are chances of snow!  

Here's my mom's delicious recipe...

Easy Chicken Pot Pie 

1 2/3 cups frozen mixed vegetables of your choice, thawed (I used some fresh)

1 cup cooked chicken, cut into pieces 

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup 

2 pie crusts (or you can just use 1 for the top) 

1 egg to brush on top 

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Mix vegetables, chicken and soup.  Pour into bottom pie crust.  Cover with remaining crust and flute edge or decorate top, as desired.  Cut several slits in crust so the heat can escape.  Brush crust thoroughly with beaten egg.  Loosely cover the edges with foil.  

Bake for about 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown and pie is heated through and bubbling.  Remove foil from edges for last 15 minutes.  

Serves 4 to 6  

This recipe also freezes well.  These are my mom's instructions for freezing it:  Wrap the pie with saran wrap and foil.  When baking, be sure to take off the saran wrap and brush with an egg.  It can be a little frozen or completely frozen, too, but you will have to extend the baking time.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I really don't think that there is a better way to celebrate Valentine's day than by making some delicious frosted sugar cookies.   You know like the ones they have in the store that are fluffy and soft and have icing to match whatever holiday is currently being celebrated?  Yeah, those.  I love them.  I think I could eat a whole container of them.

Well, last night my friend, Catherine, made some cookies that were just like those ones at the store.  She found this recipe for soft frosted sugar cookies that came from someone who also loves those cookies at the store.  Uh, hello, they were amazing.  I was glad that I was there to watch her work and help sprinkle on the sprinkles.  She made them for her coworkers, but we enjoyed the most of the extras.

I'm currently scheming for an excuse to make these so I can eat another one.  Let me know if you have any ideas.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

There comes a time when you just need to bake.  I'm convinced that mixing a few ingredients together is stress relieving/satisfying/therapeutic.  However, you always end up with a delicious combination of ingredients that you don't need to eat all by yourself. 

There also comes a time when your camera battery dies and you have to resort to using instagram. 

Neither one of these times are bad times.

I made chocolate chip cookies for the sheer satisfaction of baking and to enjoy a bite or two of cookie dough.  Ok, and maybe a cookie still warm from the oven, too.  I'm still scheming on what to do with the rest of them. 

This is a great cookie recipe.  It's from a Williams-Sonoma kids cookbook that my sister received a long time ago.  It has Crisco in it, which provides a nice crispness.  I think it's the secret ingredient in this recipe.  And, it has an above average amount of chocolate chips in it. 

I'd love for you come over and eat one with me.  Or you can use the recipe below to make your own batch.

Williams-Sonoma Chocolate Chip Cookies 

1 cup flour 

½ teaspoon salt 

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder 

¼ cup butter 

¼ cup shortening 

½ cup brown sugar 

½ cup sugar 

1 egg 

¾ teaspoon vanilla 

1 ½ cups chocolate chips 

Preheat oven to 350.  In a small mixing bowl combine butter, shortening, brown sugar and sugar.  Scrape sides with spatula.  Add the egg and vanilla and continue to best on medium speed until well blended.  Add flour, baking powder, and salt.  Pour in the chocolate chips and stir until well blended.  Place on cookie sheet by the spoonful, several inches apart.  Bake for 12 minutes.

This will make about 2 dozen cookies... depending on how much dough you eat. :)

Chili [Baked Potatoes]

Despite the unseasonably warm February we are having, my friend and I decided to make chili.  Further, we decided to serve it on baked potatoes. 

I opted for a sweet potato, and she, a good ol' regular tater.  It was kind of like chili cheese fries.  Heart attack?  Maybe.

We used my favorite chili seasoning.  If you haven't tried it or don't have a favorite, it's worth a try.

Here's a picture of it.  But, it's rather out of focus, unfortunately.

The chili reheats wonderfully.  And it tastes wonderful all by itself.  :)

Off to read Persuasion by Jane Austin.  Gotta love quiet nights at home.