Category: Recipes

Saturday Sweetness

Every one needs a good banana bread recipe.

Seriously.

Everyone should have one.

It’s not rocket science to bake and it tastes so good.

And, it’s a great, easy to make, gift at holiday time.

My mom and I used to bake thousands (or so it seemed) during the holidays when I was growing up. She’d use these cute little mini-loaf pans and mini-muffin pans and we’d bake banana bread for what seemed like days. And then we’d give it all away.

Because that’s what we Italian women do. We feed people to show them we love them.

It’s how we do things.

Anyway, I had my great-grandma’s recipe that Mom and I had used for years – my whole life, I think – and I never strayed from that.

Then, I found a recipe somewhere browsing on the web that claimed it was the “best banana bread ever” and I thought I should at least give it a shot and see how it compared to Grandma’s recipe.

Well, all I can say is I hope Grandma forgives me.

It really is the best banana bread I’ve eaten. And when I bake it I can’t seem to keep it around long enough to give it away. My family gobbles it up.

So, if you want a really good banana bread recipe to add to your recipe book, here you go.  I’ve altered it just a teeny bit from the original with the addition of some flaxseed meal to make it a little healthier. I like the nuttiness it gives the bread, even if you leave out the nuts the recipe calls for (Big Girl doesn’t like the nuts so this is my compromise)

You can leave that out (the flaxseed) if you want. It doesn’t affect the texture of the bread if you do.

Best-Ever Banana Bread

4 whole, overripe bananas
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup turbinado sugar
1 whole egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1 pinch salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tbsp flaxseed meal
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

  1. Preheat oven 350 degrees.
  2. Put the peeled bananas in a bowl and mash with a wooden spoon or potato masher.
  3. Add melted butter and mix together.
  4. Add sugar, egg, vanilla.
  5. Sprinkle baking soda, salt & cinnamon and mix together with banana mixture.
  6. Add flour and combine.
  7. Finally, add flaxseed and pecans.
  8. Pour into well greased loaf pan. (you can use one 4×8 loaf pan or 3 small loaf pans)
  9. Bake for one hour (the large loaf pan)
  10. Cool on a rack before serving.

(if it lives that long – mine always “mysteriously” has a slice cut out of it (or two or three) before it cools)

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Soup makes it all better

There’s something about chicken noodle soup that just makes everything feel better.

Whether it’s a physical ailment, emotional upset or just overall stressors of life, chicken noodle soup seems to be the fix.

Especially when it is homemade.

I am so happy that my girls actually prefer my homemade soup to that of the canned fame.  At least then I know that it is healthy and fresh and contains no unpronounceable ingredients.

I thought I’d share my pretty straightforward soup recipe – so that if there are any of you who have never made homemade chicken noodle soup you can see how easy it is and give it a go. I promise it will be worth your trouble (and it’s not really that much trouble anyway)

I usually have most of these ingredients on-hand so it is easy to whip up a batch when someone requests it.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I keep the flash frozen ones on hand all the time)
2-3 stalks of celery, chopped
~1/2 cup onion, chopped (I use the frozen, already chopped kind)
1 cup carrots, finely chopped
1 box chicken broth
2-3 cubes chicken bullion
3-4 cups water
1/2 lb pasta (I use egg noodles, bow tie, etc. whatever I have on hand)
Salt, pepper, garlic salt, onion powder to taste (Houston House Seasoning)

  1. Begin by bringing the bullion, water and vegetables to a boil. Add your chicken and salt/pepper/seasonings.
    Boil on med-low heat until chicken is cooked through. (about 30-40 minutes)
  2. Remove chicken and shred, returning shredded chicken to the pot.  You may need to add some broth if you have lost some water due to the boiling. (I use the broth so my flavors don’t dilute with more added water)
  3. About 20 minutes before serving, toss in the pasta and cook on rapid boil.
    (Alternately, you could cook pasta separately and just add to the bowls just before serving)

If you cook your pasta in your soup, you may also have to add extra broth as the pasta will absorb quite a bit.

Serve with grilled cheese sandwiches or homemade bread for a hearty, filling and comforting meal.

Your kids will thank you. 🙂

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Sweetness

I promised a while back that I’d start sharing some cookie recipes for the holiday baking.

This is one of my favorites.

I made them several years back for a cookie swap party and they have been a permanent part of my holiday baking plan since then.

I’m thinking I’ll make them again this year, but try to make them with Splenda instead of sugar.

If you like eggnog, give them a try. I think you will love them.

Eggnog Cookies

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups Flour
1 teaspoon Baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
1 1/4 cups Sugar
3/4 cups Butter ; softened
1/2 cup Eggnog
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 large Eggs

Instructions

 

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
In a bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.
In a second large bowl, cream the sugar & butter.
Add eggnog, vanilla, and egg yolks and beat at medium speed until smooth.
Add flour mixture and beat on low speed until well blended.
Do not over mix.
Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheet. (1 inch apart)
Sprinkle lightly with additional nutmeg.
Bake 20-25 minutes until bottom turn light brown. Transfer from pans immediately to cool.

Saturday Sweetness: More Cookies for You

Happy Saturday, everyone. In keeping with what is quickly becoming a habit, here's another recipe for your weekend enjoyment.

It's another one of my favorite cookie recipes for you. I'm off today being nursemaid and SuperGirl to SuperMan as he recovers from his little surgical interlude. 

I'm not sure when I'll get around to baking this year… Hopefully sometime soon. It's not as big a priority for me this year, though, so I think I may take it easy on the baking and just make a few favorites and not go all-out like I usually do.  We don't really need the calories. I certainly don't need the sweets.

Here is one recipe, though, that I love to make and eveyrone loves to eat.

They're most commonly called Mexican Wedding Cookies. Or, just Wedding Cookies. Although I've never seen them served at weddings… well, except for the eighty-eleven thousand I made for my stepbrother's first wedding reception. But that was the only time. And after that, I was pretty sure I never wanted to see any again.

But, thankfully, I got over that pretty quickly.

Wedding Cookies

1 stick butter, softened
3 Tbsp sugar
dash salt
1 Tbsp milk (or cream)
1 cup flour (all-purpose)
1 cup pecans, finely chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
Powdered sugar for dusting

Cream butter & sugar. Add milk and extracts, alternating with flour and salt. Finally add nuts.

Form balls from dough (about 1 inch in diameter)

Place on cookie sheet and bake at 325 for 25 min or until edges are golden brown.

Cool.

Roll in powdered sugar.

For an extra good coating, roll once, let sit and then roll again in powdered sugar.

Saturday Sweetness

This is a recipe that is not for the faint of heart.

Seriously.

You must be a bona-fide chocoholic in order to truly appreciate it.

Otherwise, you may find yourself overwhelmed in chocolate-ness. Which, truly, might not be a bad place to be.  But, only if you are the kind of person who likes that sort of thing.

It all started simply enough.

Mom and my step-dad decided they had a hankering for a nine-layer cake.  There is some dissention as to who actually decided they wanted the cake first – neither is willing to take responsibility for the original idea.

When I got to town, it had become a full-blown obsession and we went on a hunt to find one – visiting a few local bakeries (even one run by an old high-school chum) only to find that “nobody bakes those anymore.” (the standard answer we received)

Apparently, nine-layer (or seven-layer) cakes are a pain to make and are prone to collapse/failure/all sorts of doom and gloom.

Mom and I decided we were not going to be thwarted so easily.

We would just make the cake ourselves.

We’re like that.

We don’t like taking “no” for an answer. We take it as a challenge.

So, we sought recipes for homemade icing and baked our cakes. (well, Mom baked the cake. I focused on the research.)

And the assembly began.

First we started with making the icing (recipe is at the end of this post)

The recipe called for 3-4 tablespoons of heavy cream.  But we found that we had to increase that amount considerably to make it to a good icing consistency.

After two batches of icing were prepared and the cakes were cut, we were ready for assembly.  We’d decided early on that there would not be seven, eight or nine layers. We were quite content with four.  That would be challenge enough.

So, we slathered on our homemade icing and piled on the layers.

Just as I was putting the finishing touches on the outer layer of icing my step-dad magically appeared in the kitchen and whisked the cake right out from under my spatula.

I didn’t even get to take a picture of my finished masterpiece!

After diving in (all three of us) it was determined that the cake was a success.  The number of layers were not really important.  (Truthfully, I think it is just a way for a pastry chef to show off.)

I did manage to get a picture of the cake the next day – it’s a little crumb-y but that is because the cake itself is so delicate.

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So, if you have a hankerin’ like we did, here’s a recipe for a truly decadent chocolate icing to go along with a standard yellow cake.

Chocolate Icing

3 cups powdered sugar

3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa

1 stick of butter (softened)

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla

 

Sift cocoa, sugar together.  Combine 1 cup of sugar/cocoa with butter.  Add cream (1 tbsp at a time) and sugar/cocoa, alternately, until the icing is desired consistency. Add vanilla.

This is an icing recipe that really needs to be made with a mixer. I can tell you from experience that it truly doesn’t come together well without the mixer. 

The icing also needs to be refrigerated.  We made a double batch for this cake and had about 1 1/2 cups of extra icing left (which we’ll use for cupcakes next week)

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Menu Plan Monday ~ 15 November

It’s a dreary, rainy day here in North Georgia. The kind of day where you want to crawl back in bed and pretend that you’re a bear hibernating until Spring arrives.  It was very hard to get myself going this morning, made even harder by the arrival of SuperMan – back home at 7AM after getting rained out for work today.  While it is super nice to have him home with me, it makes me want to play hookey from work and from life.  He’s a tempting distraction, I tell you.

Big Girl is feeling a little better and I’m pumping her (and me) full of vitamins to make sure that the virus she has been fighting finally loses the battle. She is back to school as the fever is gone (thank goodness) so I think we are making progress.

Here’s what’s planned in our little home for meals this week. It’s comfort-food, mostly, especially today and tomorrow as we’re supposed to be rainy and cool both days.Thanksgiving

I won’t have MPM next week as it’s the holiday week and the girls and I are headed to see my mom for a few days.  We’ll be indulging in her cooking and some local food favorites (like fresh shrimp) while we’re there. Oh, and, of course, the obligatory turkey dinner on Thursday.

Mid-week meal check-in

I mentioned on Monday I was planning to make meatloaf this week.

Well, I cooked it for dinner Tuesday night. It was a big hit.

I also made roasted vegetables. Loved the fact that everything went into the oven and I didn’t have to stand at the stove while my dinner cooked. Almost as good as the crock-pot.

I thought I’d share the recipes for the different menu items with you because this was a really, really good meal. Very filling – one of those nights when I actually wished my little tummy wasn’t so little so I could enjoy more.

Big Girl says that everyone at school says their meatloaf tastes awful. She said she told them you haven’t had my Mama’s meatloaf, then. *grin*

no… not THAT meatloaf!

Mama’s Meatloaf

(click on the link to print)

2 lbs ground beef
2 eggs
~ 2/3 cup bread crumbs
~ 1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp dried minced onion
1 tbsp minced garlic

Houston House Seasoning or Season Salt

Glaze:
1/4 cup ketchup
1/8 cup Splenda brown sugar blend (or 1/4 cup brown sugar)
1/4 cup honey bbq sauce
1 tsp ground mustard

  1. In a large bowl, mix milk and bread crumbs. Mix to combine and let sit for about 2-3 minutes. You will need only enough milk to coat the bread crumbs to make a paste – maybe a tiny bit more.
  2. Add meat, eggs, & seasonings. Be careful not to over mix the ground beef or it gets tough. It’s gross, but I use my hands to mix this part. You just can’t do a good job with a spoon or fork.
  3. Mold into a loaf shape. I put mine in a stoneware loaf pan. Cover with foil.
  4. Bake at 350 for about an hour and a half.  After about an hour remove foil and add glaze. Bake uncovered for at least another 30 minutes.
  5. Let rest about 5 minutes (tented with foil) before serving.

If you are making mini-meatloaves, use a muffin tin and make them into fist-sized meatballs. Bake at 375 for about 30-40 minutes.  Add glaze in the last 10 minutes of cooking.

~*~

Nothing outstanding about the making of these potatoes, but they sure cook up good.

Roasted Potatoes

2-3 Russet potatoes, washed and cut lengthwise into spears or wedges.
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
Paprika
Houston House Seasoning

  1. In a large zip top bag, combine all ingredients. Shake well.
  2. Pour out potatoes on baking sheet.
  3. Bake at 350 for about 25-30 minutes.
  4. Finish on Low Broil setting for about 5 minutes to crisp up the skins.

 ~*~

Remember my post a while back about “the best broccoli you will ever eat?”  Well, I finally got around to trying this recipe. All I can say is, “Broccoli, where have you been all my life?”  This takes broccoli to a whole new dimension in flavor. Nothing like the “regular” broccoli we eat all the time. Soooo good.

Try this.

Trust me.

You won’t be disappointed.

Roasted Broccoli

Ok, there you go. Now you have the perfect menu for dinner tomorrow night. Or tonight if you have time to get the ingredients on your way home.

Your family will thank you.

Baby, it’s Chili Outside

I mentioned earlier this week that I made chili for us to eat on throughout the week. A few of you have asked for the recipe.  It’s nothing fancy, but my family loves it and folks who’ve had it before say it’s pretty good, too.

I like it because it is quick and easy.  And, it fills you up with warm goodness on a cold day.

This week, I cooked some pasta (ditalini or something similar) and served it mixed in the chili.  Chili-Mac is what Momma used to call it when I was growing up.  If you do that, keep the macaroni separate until just before serving because it will soak up all the chili juices and you’ll be left with dry chili and mushy pasta if you don’t.

I usually cook my pasta al-dente and then drizzle some olive oil on it to keep it from sticking. I store it in a zip top bag and just dump about 1/4-1/3 cup of pasta in a bowl and then ladle the chili on top just before serving.

Here’s a link to print the chili recipe.image

 

Lois’ Chili 

Yields: 8 Servings

Ingredients

2 cans Chili beans
2 cans Black beans
1 package Chili-O Seasoning
2 pound Ground sirloin
1 can Diced tomatoes with chilies
Chili powder to taste
Ground cumin to taste
1 tablespoon Dried minced onion
1 tablespoon Minced garlic

Instructions
  1. Brown meat with minced garlic & onion.
  2. Season lightly with cumin, chili powder & Houston House Seasoning.
  3. Add beans, tomato and Chili-O seasoning.
  4. Add water until chili is desired consistency.
  5. Bring to a boil.
  6. Cook @ a simmer for 30-40 minutes until flavors meld. (You can also put this in a crock pot on low and let it simmer for hours until you’re ready to serve)
  7. Serve with/ cheese, sour cream and chips.

Souper Easy ~ Souper Good

I am a big fan of soups – especially in the fall and winter.

I love how they make my house smell when I’m cooking them – homey and warm and welcoming.

I love how they feel when they’re in my tummy – warm and filling.

I love how they feed my family healthy things that taste great and fill them up inside.

I love that I can usually get multiple meals out of one preparation… especially if you pair it with some good bread or a salad.

I made this soup the other day with some leftover vegetables. That’s another thing I love about soups- that I can clean out the crisper and makes something good at the same time.image

This soup is one of those “clean out the ‘fridge” recipes. So, use your own veggies that you have on hand – don’t think you have to match my recipe exactly.

I let this cook overnight in my crock pot on low and then SuperMan and I have been eating on it for lunch all week.

Clean out the Crisper Soup

2-3 celery stalks, chopped
onion, chopped
~2 tbsp minced garlic (to taste)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 box beef broth
1 beef bullion cube
~1 cup corn kernels
~1 cup butter beans
~1 cup spinach leaves (chopped or julienned)
~1 cup carrots, chopped
1 bell pepper, diced
~1 cup frozen hash brown potatoes
Salt & pepper to taste

  1. Sauté the peppers, onion, celery and garlic in some olive oil until transparent.
  2. In crock pot, combine remaining ingredients, adding sautéed vegetables when they’re done.
  3. Set crock pot on low and cook 6-8 hours.

I also added some leftover roast beef and gravy that was taking up space in my refrigerator.

You can also make this more hearty by adding a cup of barley about an hour before serving, but you may need to add more broth if you do that as the barley will soak up some of the broth as it rehydrates.

I buy Publix’s frozen diced hash brown potatoes. They are great for soups and stews and no potato chopping!

Use whatever veggies you have on hand. I have used squash, zucchini, green beans, peas, etc.  before as well.

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So simple, yet so good

I am having one of my favorite salads for lunch today.

I don’t know why, but I have been on a salad kick lately. Maybe my body needs the greens.  It doesn’t matter. I’m just loving eating salads again. I haven’t had many since my surgery because it seemed silly to fill my belly with salad instead of protein.   Now that I’m getting closer to my goal, I’m eating a little more variety and the salads are back! Yay!

This is one of those salads you’d get at a fancy restaurant. All dolled up on a pretty plate and you’d think you were getting something super special. Until you deconstruct the salad and see how stinkin’ easy it is to make.

Then, it goes from “super special salad” that you eat only on occasion to “super duper salad” that you can eat anytime.

The magic of this salad is the blend of flavors.  The creamy, pungent gorgonzola mixed with the sweet crunch of the pears and topped with the bite of the balsamic dressing. 

Yum.

Sigh.

So good.

Here’s what I use:

IMG_0054

You need:

  • a pear (I used a bosc) Peeled and cored. Slice into about 1/8” thick slices
  • mixed greens – I used a spring green mix.
  • Balsamic dressing
  • gorgonzola cheese

That’s it!

Super-easy.

IMG_0055

Assemble your salad thusly and then drizzle with your dressing.

This is not a salad you want to “drown” in dressing.

You want the Balsamic to be a compliment to the cheese and pears.

And, quite honestly, the greens are just the transport vehicle for the yumminess.
(to me, anyway)

IMG_0056 

You can also add a little grilled chicken if you're feeling a little bit crazy. (or hungry)

Try this today.

You will be glad you did.

Trust me.

(have I steered you wrong yet?)

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