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By Kim, April 6, 2010 7:39 pm

I had the urge to make some banana bread the other day and I waited for the urge to subside but it never did. So I let some bananas get super ripe and nice and soft so I could fulfill my urge for banana bread. I found a recipe that said it was a low fat banana bread but I added chocolate chips to it so I’m pretty sure I defeated the purpose. Oh well. It turned out much better with a few chocolate chips in it anyways. Plus I think the chocolate helped keep the bread a little more moist. I took pictures of this wonderful bread, but of course my camera is being a punk and will not let me upload them tonight. So here is the recipe and sorry there is no picture of the bread. But take my word for it, the banana bread was awesome.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

3 tsp canola oil

1 large egg, beaten

2 medium egg whites, beaten

3 large bananas, ripe

1 cup uncooked old fashioned oats

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease pan and set aside. In a large bowl, stir together dry ingredients, including oats and cinnamon.

In a smaller bowl, mash the bananas. Add the oil and whole egg and mix thoroughly.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well. Fold in egg whites last.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until the top of the loaf is firm to the touch.

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By Kim, March 15, 2010 7:52 pm

On a cold day, a nice warm bowl of chili always hits the spot.  We had some cold weather on Friday, so on Saturday I pulled out the crock pot and let it do its magic! I love my crock pot.  I put everything in and it all comes out delicious.  If you don’t have a crock pot, I highly recommend getting one.  But enough of my crock pot and back to my chili.

I have a classic go-to recipe that I have been using for a while now.  It always turns out good and is super easy to make.  I always make corn bread to go with our chili, but this time I decided not to use a mix and make it from scratch.  I have to say that homemade corn bread is so much better than any mix.  It had a hint of sweetness and it was not too dry.  Sometimes the mix stuff turns out so dry, I feel like I need water to wash it down with.

Doesn’t that look awesome? It was!  We had leftovers all week-end and it is already gone! I guess my husband must have liked it!

Check out the recipes below of you are looking for a great easy meal.

Homemade Chili

Ingredients:

1-1 1/2 lbs. ground beef or turkey

2 cups chopped onion

1 cup chopped green pepper

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 15-ounce cans dark kidney beans, rinsed

1 15-ounce can tomato sauce

1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes

6 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

Cook ground beef/turkey with onion, peppers and garlic.  Drain the fat.  In a 4-quart crock pot, combine the meat mixture with the kidney beans, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, chili powder, basil and pepper.  Stir well. Cover and cook on high for 5-6 hours or on low for 8-10 hours.

Adapted from Better Homes Cookbook.

Homemade Corn Bread

Ingredients:

1 cup yellow corn meal

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 large egg, lightly beaten

Directions:

1- Preheat over to 4oo degrees.  Grease a 8-inc square baking pan.

2- Combine corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.  Combine milk, oil and egg in a small bowl, mix well.  Add milk mixture to flour mixture and stir just until blended.  Pour into prepared pan.

3- Bake for 20-25 minutes. Serve warm.

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By Kim, December 7, 2009 6:24 pm

I have wanted to try this recipe for so long and I finally had some extra pumpkin that I needed to finish up. I don’t know how I will ever eat regular pancakes again after I tried these. They were perfect, not too sweet and very filling. I cannot wait to make them again! Enjoy!

Recipe taken from Annie’s Eat.

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By Kim, November 15, 2009 6:10 pm

It has been such a long time since my last post, but I have some good reasons for my absence. First, I changed my blog and second I had to wait (with loving patience) for my husband to help me design the new blog look. Needless to say I am super excited by the new blog. (Thank you to my wonderful, amazing husband!)  So now I am up and ready to post some great recipes I worked on while I was in limbo.

I have been craving homemade bread and the delicious smells it fills in my house.  There is nothing better than the smell of fresh baked bread! I keep telling my husband, if I had the time, I would only make homemade bread for us to use instead of  spending our money on store bought bread. But alas, I have to pay the bills and there goes my free time!

I decided to make the pumpkin swirl bread because I love cinnamon raisin bread and with the added pumpkin I knew I couldn’t go wrong.  The recipe is super easy and it takes very little time for preparation. But make sure to allow time for the dough to rise.

I also used a little extra brown sugar and cinnamon for the filling because I wanted to have a nice sweet cinnamon swirl in the bread. I am glad I made this the night before because this morning we were able to enjoy fresh baked bread for breakfast. Take the time to make this and you’ll be enjoying fresh bread for days!

Recipe:

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup oats

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 package active dry yeast

3/4 cup warm water

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup raisins

Filling:

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine 1 cup of all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, oats, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, salt, sugar and yeast.  Beat in the warm water, pumpkin, applesauce until moistened.  Add egg, beat until smooth. Stir in the remaining 1 cup flour until the dough is firm.  Add raisins.
2. Knead dough until smooth and elastic (about 5 mins).  Place in greased bowl, cover and let rise for 1 hour.
3. Lightly flour surface and roll the dough into about an 18×9 inch rectangle.
4. Melt butter in dish and spread onto the dough.
5. Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle on top of the butter.
6. Roll the dough jelly-roll style, starting with the short side.  Pinch ends to seal.
7. Place seam side down in loaf plan, cover and let rise for 30 minutes.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, until golden. Cool for 10 minutes.

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By Kim, November 15, 2009 5:24 pm

I made these blueberry scones a while ago for my husband and he loved them. In fact, he loved them so much he told his mom about them. So she requested I make them for a trip we took with them.  They turned out just as good as the last time and everyone enjoyed them.. They are super easy to make and they taste great especially with a nice hot cup of coffee.

Recipe found at Good Things Catered

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By Kim, November 15, 2009 5:22 pm

So I was super lazy last week and really didn’t do too much cooking. I blame the holiday week-end!  So this week I’m starting fresh. I love bread and I have always wanted to make a yeast bread. I’ve always been afraid of baking with yeast, which I cannot explain. I think it’s the fear of the unknown. Who knows. But now I can say I’ve tackled this fear and boy did it turn out good! Homemade bread is far superior than store bought bread. Plus it’s made with love (for my husband).

The bread took a little while to make, only because you have to let the dough rise. I seriously was afraid that when I covered up that bowl, nothing would happen. But to my surprise (and happiness) it worked! My dough had risen to the occasion. So after much patience, I had a beautiful (and I mean mouth-watering, ready to devour) loaf of bread. If I had known it would be this easy, I would have started making homemade bread years ago. My only bit of advice for this recipe is to give yourself a couple of hours to make the bread, it takes a little time.

Ingredients:

1 pkg active dry yeast

1/8 cup warm water (110-115 degrees)

1 cup warm milk (110-115 degrees)

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 tbsp butter

3 1/4-3 1/2 cups flour

Butter Mixture:

1/4 cup butter

1/2 tbsp dried parsley

1 tsp garlic powder

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the milk, sugar, butter, salt and 2 cups of flour.  Beat until smooth and then stir in the remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (about 6-8 minutes).  Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down and turn onto a lightly floured surface.  In a shallow bowl, combine the butter, parsley and garlic powder to create the butter mixture.  Shape the dough into dough balls, then dip into butter  mixture. Place the dough balls into a greased loaf pan, next to each other. Do not crowd them in the pan. Create multiple layers with the dough balls. Pour any extra butter over the dough. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Bake at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes, remove and enjoy!