Avocado Chicken Pitas

Here's another Simple and Delicious recipe... altered a bit. These are really yummy!



Avocado Chicken Pitas

6 whole wheat pita breads (flat breads, not pockets)
2 medium-small ripe avocados
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt, heaping
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1 cup shredded chicken, cooked
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mash avocado with the lemon juice, salt, garlic powder and hot pepper sauce. Spread over pitas. Layer with chicken, tomato and cheese.
Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 5-6 minutes or until cheese is melted. (You can also use toaster oven rather than conventional oven). Yield: 3 servings.

Slow-and-Delicious Baked Ziti

This is a recipe from America's Test Kitchen. The chef, David Pazmino, said he wanted "big on flavor and light on prep." After I made this I realized that chef's live in a different world than the rest of us. So, this wasn't hard to make but it was definitely time consuming - about 2 hours from start to finish so this is a dish to make when you have some time. That said, it is worth it when you have that time. Also, try to follow the ingredients exactly if you can b/c it's been tested with umpteen variations (i.e. - milk vs. cream, shredded vs. cubed mozzarella, etc.) to get just the right combination and it really does work.

1 lb whole-mlik or 1 percent cottage cheese

2 large eggs, slightly beaten

3 oz (about 1 1/2 cups) Parmesan cheese (I used 1 C grated for the filling & 1/2 C shredded for the top)

Salt

1 lb ziti or other short, tubular pasta

2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

5 garlic cloves, minced

1 (28oz) can tomato sauce

1 ( 14.5oz) can petite diced tomatoes

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 C plus 2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil (I used 1 Tbsp dried)

1 tsp sugar

Pepper

3/4 tsp cornstarch

1 C heavy cream

8 oz low-moisture mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/4-inch pieces

Adjust oven rack to middle and heat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk the cottage cheese, eggs, and 1 cup of the (grated) Parmesan together in a medium bowl; set aside. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in a large Dutch oven over high heat. Stir in 1 tablespoon of salt* and the pasta; cook stirring often, until the past is just barely shy of al dente, 5-7 minutes. (You don't want the pasta all the way cooked at this point.) Drain pasta, leave in colander, and do not wash the pot.

Meanwhile, heat the oil and garlic in a large skillet over medium-high heat until the garlic is fragrant but not brown, about 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and oregano and simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes. Off the heat, stir in 1/2 cup of the basil and the sugar then season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir the cornstarch into the cream in a small measuring cup or bowl; transfer the mixture to the empty pasta pot set over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened, 3-4 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and add the cottage cheese mixture, 1 cup of the tomato sauce, and 3/4 cup of the mozzarella, then stir to combine. Add the pasta and stir to coat thoroughly with sauce.

Transfer pasta mixture to a 9x13 baking dish and spread the remaining tomato sauce evenly over the pasta. Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and (shredded) Parmesan evenly over the top. Cover the baking dish tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove foil and continue to cook until the cheese is bubbling and beginning to brown, about 30 minutes longer. Let cool for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons with basil and serve. (I didn't do this b/c I used dried basil so I just stirred it all into the sauce.)

*A note on the salted water. I've always wondered why I bother salting pasta water b/c I can't tell the difference when I don't salt it - until now. I generally just shake a little in there and that's the problem, it's not nearly enough. When I followed this recipe I learned that you really do have to give it a good amount and then it does flavor your pasta and it's so yummy. You can alter it to taste of course but you do need way more than a tiny little pinch. :)

Chocolate Hazelnut Pancakes with Berry Sauce

These are soo yummy! I've decided to make them our official Valentine's Day breakfast.

Chocolate Hazelnut Pancakes with Berry Sauce
1 ¼ cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp chocolate-hazelnut spread, plus extra
1 egg
3 Tbsp sugar, divided
1 ¼ cups milk
1 8-12 oz pkg frozen raspberries or mixed berries
¼ cup cold water
1 Tbsp cornstarch

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, whisk together chocolate-hazelnut spread, egg, 1 Tbsp sugar and milk. Whisk milk mixture into flour mixture (there may be a few lumps remaining). Heat griddle to medium heat and pour about ¼ cup batter onto griddle for each pancake. Turn once bubbles appear.
Put berries in a saucepan and warm over medium heat until bubbly (break berries up with a spoon). Mix cornstarch and water and add to berry mixture. Add remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Bring to a boil and then turn heat to a low simmer.
Top pancakes with a thin layer of chocolate-hazelnut spread and then with berry sauce.

Black Bean and Corn Quesadillas

These are really yummy and pretty quick.  Make sure you use enough cheese to keep all the corn and beans from falling out.

Black Bean and Corn Quesadillas

2 green onions, sliced
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn, drained
1 T. brown sugar
1/4 c. salsa
8 (8 in) flour tortillas
Shredded Monterey Jack or Cheddar Cheese
Butter

Combine everything down to the tortillas in a skillet.  Cook over medium heat until warmed through.
Lightly butter one side of each tortilla (or melt some butter in the pan).  Lay butter side down on a skillet or griddle, sprinkle with some cheese, bean mixture and a little more cheese on top to make it stick.  Top with another buttered tortilla.  Cook until golden, then flip and cook the other side.  Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling.

Slightly altered from allrecipes.com

Seared Chicken With Asparagus and Pistachios

It's already time for fresh asparagus! I found some nice thin asparagus to use in this recipe and it worked nicely, very tender.

1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 - 1 1/2 pounds fresh asparagus (tough ends trimmed, cut into 1 inch pieces)
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into strips or bite size pieces
4 green onions (trimmed and sliced using some of the green tops)
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon oyster-flavored sauce
1 teaspoon chile-garlic sauce
1/4 cup shelled salted pistachios (coarsely chopped)

Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over medium high heat. Add asparagus; cook, stirring for 2 minutes. Add chicken; cook, stirring, for 4 minutes. Stir in onions, ginger, oyster sauce and chile-garlic sauce; cook, stirring, until the chicken is juicy and just cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes more. Stir in pistachios and serve immediately over rice or noodles.
Recipe adapted from Delish - online.

Black Forest Oatmeal

I'm not really sure whether Tiernan and Amelia actually liked this or not. Once Joshie denounced it, they both followed suit, even though 5 minutes before that, Tiernan said he liked it. Grrr....
Anyway, I thought it was quite tasty. I didn't have dried cherries or cherry flavored cranberries so I just used dried cranberries and it was tasty. Oh, and I found that I was out of almonds, so I didn't have any toasted almonds on top, but that would've been scrumptious, I'm sure!


Black Forest Oatmeal

3 1/2 C. chocolate milk
2 C. old-fashioned oats
1 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa
pinch salt
2/3 C. dried cherries (or cherry-flavored cranberries), coarsely chopped
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/4 C. toasted slivered almonds

Bring milk, oats, cocoa, salt and cherries to simmer in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, to desired thickness, about 5 minutes. Stir in almond extract and serve immediately, sprinkling each portion with nuts.
Yield: 4 servings

Greek Chicken Penne

This is another one from this month's Simple and Delicious. Jeremy and I both really liked it. I took out the onions and used shredded chicken instead of boneless skinless chicken breast.

Greek Chicken Penne

Ingredients
2-1/2 cups uncooked penne pasta
1 cup shredded chicken, cooked
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions
Cook pasta according to package directions.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook the garlic in oil over medium heat until browned. Stir in the chicken, artichokes, tomato, parsley, lemon juice, oregano, salt and pepper; heat through. Stir in cheese.
Drain pasta; toss with chicken mixture.
Yield: 5 servings.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Yumalicious! Joshie said, "If there were 30 stars, I would give these 30 stars!!" He is the pumpkin enthusiast in our house!

I had to use almost 6 cups of flour to get the dough right, and I would recommend checking carefully to make sure they're completely baked, because I only baked mine for 30 minutes and I should've left them in longer because the middle rolls were doughy. I get really, um, "annoyed" when recipes don't come out exactly as planned (like having under baked rolls) so I was sitting at the table stewing and Jeff said, "If you're going to let it ruin your whole day, then you can just go back to bed and start over." Ha ha! I guess he's right - no use pouting over doughy rolls! The rolls that were baked were really good. :) Oh, I also added a little more powdered sugar to the frosting because it was a little too thin for my liking. You could probably use more cream cheese to make it thicker, too.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Rolls:
1/4 C. warm water (100 degrees F.)
1 (.25 oz.) package active dry yeast (or 2-1/4 tsp)
1 (5 oz) can evaporated milk
3/4 C. white sugar
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
5 C. all-purpose flour, more if needed

Filling:
1/4 C. melted butter
1 1/4 C. packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice

Frosting:
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 (3 0z.) package cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1 C. confectioners sugar, plus more if needed
1/4 C. milk

Pour the warm water into a large mixing bowl, and sprinkle yeast over the water. Allow to stand until the yeast begins to form a creamy foam, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in evaporated milk, white sugar, pumpkin, olive oil, and egg. Mix until thoroughly combined. Mix in 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice, then add about 5 cups of flour, or more, if needed to make a stiff dough.
Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Dough will be slightly sticky. Form the dough into a ball, place into an oiled bowl, cover with a cloth, and let rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes. (The dough will rise but won't double.)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13-inch pan.
Punch down the dough. On a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough into a rectangle until it measures about 18 inches wide and 26 inches long. Brush the dough with the 1/4 cup melted butter. In a medium bowl, mix the brown sugar with 2 tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the dough. Roll up the dough the long way, and pinch the seam closed. Cut the dough into 12 equal-sized pieces with a sharp knife. Lay the rolls into the prepared baking dish.
Bake in the preheated oven until lightly golden brown, about 30 to 40 minutes.
While the rolls are baking, mix the vanilla, cream cheese, butter, and confectioner's sugar, adding the milk slowly until the frosting is to the desired consistency. You may add more milk to thin it out, or more sugar to thicken it.
Spread the frosting over the rolls as soon as they come out of the oven. Serve warm and enjoy!

Lemon-Ginger Chicken Adventure

Steve and I had a great adventure making this for dinner on Monday night. He was getting ready to leave and I was making dinner. I was chopping up the raw chicken while the oil was heating to fry up the rice noodles. The oil was ready so I asked Steve if he would mind doing the noodles real quick (which, by the way, are so fun to watch if you do them one at a time! They do gymnastics in the oil and tie themselves in knots. Lots of entertainment value there.) He fried them and I got a bowl out for him to pour the oil into so that we could use the pan again and a little of the oil. I had a fleeting thought that plastic would melt so I got a glass bowl out and he began to pour and things we going along just fine ... until ... the bowl exploded! Don't worry - it's just glass and 400 degree oil flying everywhere... No problem...

We started cleaning it up and Steve went and got the kitty litter from the garage and poured that on the oil that was all over the floor - brilliant really! It soaked the oil up and then he swept the litter up and we didn't have to use a whole roll of paper towels to no effect. It was great.

In all the confusion I realized, albeit too late, that I had doubled some of the ingredients but not all because I intended to make extra sauce but I didn't remember where I had left off and didn't want to triple some ingredients and not others so I just stopped and used what I had already measured out. The result was a much spicier dish than I care for but everyone else liked it so I'm posting it that way. (I went back through after dinner and figured out what I had used.)

I told Steve he really might as well stay for dinner at that point. He agreed. Nick was here too but he left. I can't imagine why.

We served this with fried rice and yucky frozen cream cheese wontons. Ish. Really they just aren't even sort of like the restaurant wontons which are divine (no doubt in part b/c they have crab in them too...).

Oh yeah, I asked Mom to get baby corn and she came home with an assortment of canned corn, none of which were baby corn so we didn't add that. And I forgot to add the cilantro but figured it was a fair trade to leave it out since Mom forgot the baby corn.

We did all agree that it needs more sauce to go over the rice noodles but since I've messed with the ingredients already I'll let you experiment at your own peril with the sauce. Naturally I've renamed the dish to match our exciting cooking experience - and added a category to the blog.

Lemon-Ginger Chicken Adventure

vegetable oil for frying

4 oz rice noodles, broken in half

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed

3 tsp lemon zest

4 tsp minced garlic

1/4 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp ground red pepper

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 C water

2 Tbsp cornstarch

2 Tbsp oil

6 ounces fresh snow peas, trimmed

1 can baby corn, rinsed and drained

1/4 C chopped fresh cilantro

2 Tbsp packed brown sugar

2 Tbsp fish sauce

1 Tbsp soy sauce

Heat 3 inches of oil in a wok or dutch oven until oil registers 375 degrees on deep-fry thermometer. Fry noodles in small batches 20 seconds or until puffy, holding noodles down in oil with slotted spoon to fry evenly. Drain on paper towels; set aside.

Combine chicken, lemon zest, garlic, ginger, red pepper, and black pepper in medium bowl. Combine water and cornstarch in small bowl; set aside.

Heat wok over high heat 1 minute. Drizzle 1 Tbsp oil into wok and heat 30 seconds. Add chicken mixture; stir-fry 3 minutes or until cooked through.

Add snow peas and baby corn; stir-fry 1-2 minutes. Stir cornstarch mixture; add to wok. Cook 1 minute or until thickened.

Add cilantro, brown sugar, fish sauce and soy sauce; cook until heated through. Serve over rice noodles.

Serves 4.

Butternut Squash Soup

I used the one butternut squash that grew in our garden this year :( for this soup.  It was worth it though because it's really yummy.  And I got to try out my slick new immersion blender!  I'm sure you could probably use other winter squash with this soup too, like sugar pumpkin or acorn. 
Cameron really loved it.  Even though it doesn't look like it in these pictures, I think he ate about 3 bowls.  I'm pretty sure some of it got into his mouth too.

Butternut Squash Soup

6 T. onion, chopped
4 T. butter

6 c. peeled and cubed butternut squash

3 c. water

4 tsp. chicken bouillon

1/2 tsp. marjoram

1/4. tsp. pepper

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper, optional

1 (8 oz) pkg. cream cheese

In a large saucepan, saute onions in butter until tender.  Add the remaining ingredients, except the cream cheese.  Bring to a boil; cook 15-20 minutes, or until the squash is tender.

Puree the soup and cream cheese in a blender or food processor in batches until smooth.  Return to saucepan and heat through.  (Or add the cream cheese and blend with an immersion blender).  Do not allow to boil.

Adapted from allrecipes.com

Chocolate Truffle-Topped Caramel Bars

I made these for FHE this week and they were soo yummy!




Chocolate Truffle-Topped Caramel Bars

Chocolate Truffle Topping
1/3 cup whipping cream
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 bag (12 oz) dark (or semi-sweet) chocolate chips (2 cups)

Crust
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup cold butter or margarine
1 cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats
1 cup chopped pecans

Caramel Layer
1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk


Heat oven to 350°F. In 1-quart saucepan, heat whipping cream, 3 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon corn syrup to a full boil over medium heat; turn off heat. Add dark chocolate chips; let stand 5 minutes without stirring. After 5 minutes, stir slowly with wire whisk until chocolate chips are melted and mixture is smooth and glossy; set aside.

In large bowl, stir together flour and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Cut in 1/2 cup cold butter, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through mixture in opposite directions), until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Stir in oats and pecans. Press mixture into ungreased 15x10x1-inch pan. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Meanwhile, in 2-quart saucepan, heat 1 cup butter, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup corn syrup, the salt and condensed milk to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly. Continue boiling 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour over crust; spread evenly. Cool slightly, about 10 minutes.

Pour chocolate truffle topping over caramel layer; spread evenly. Cool 1 hour at room temperature; refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving. For bars, cut into 15 rows by 5 rows. Cover and refrigerate any remaining bars.

I got this (and the picture) from Pillsbury.com

Creole or Cajun Beef Casserole

This recipe is slightly altered from the Oct/Nov 2010 Simple and Delicious and it is so good!  It's basically funeral potatoes with a kind of BBQ-like beef mixture on top.  The flavors went to together so well.  Chad said he could eat it for breakfast too.  Avery ate one of the corn flakes on the top and pronounced the whole thing disgusting (many times over).  She also told us that she's not going to allow funeral potatoes to be served at her funeral because they're sick! 
But for the rest of us...  I used Cajun Seasoning instead of Creole because that's what I had.  I also left out the cayenne since Cajun already has enough pepper for my taste.  If you want to make your own Cajun seasoning here's a link.  If I had read the recipe closely like I just did, I might have noticed that they note the ingredients for Creole seasoning.  Oh well, we liked it this way! I also did a half recipe and it fit well in an 11x7 pan or a casserole dish would work for a 1/2 recipe too.

Cajun Beef Casserole
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 c. sour cream
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/2 of a 32 oz pkg of hash browns, whichever style you want
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 - 1 lb. ground beef
1/2 c. ketchup
2T. brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. Cajun seasoning
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper, optional
1/2 c. crushed corn flakes
2T. butter, melted

In a large bowl, combine the soup, sour cream, onion powder and pepper.  Stir in potatoes and cheese; transfer to a greased  2-qt baking dish.
Cook the beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain.  Stir in the ketchup, brown sugar and seasonings; spread over potatoes.  Combine cornflakes and butter; sprinkle over the top.  Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until bubbly.

Chunky Vegetable Lentil Soup

Chunky Vegetable Lentil Soup

1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup dry green lentils, rinsed and drained
1 lb mushrooms, quartered
2-3 carrots, thinly sliced
2 stalks celery, chopped
4 cups water
1 14 oz can vegetable broth
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 of a head of napa cabbage, sliced into thin strips

In soup pot heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook until browned and tender. Add garlic and cook until tender. Stir in lentils and stir and cook for 1 minute more. Add mushrooms, carrots, celery, water, broth, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered about 25 minutes or until lentils are tender. Top each soup bowl with a bit of cabbage.

** Crispy garlic bread is fabulous dipped in this broth!

Gingersnaps

This recipe is from Teresa Duffy's neighbor and it's by far the best gingersnap recipe I've ever come upon! I think we made cookies nearly every day when the fam was here for Christmas and this was one of the recipes we made and everyone loved. They stay nice and soft and they're delicious. (I was thinking I'd freeze several because they freeze nicely and the recipe makes a lot - but there was no need for freezing! They were gone before we knew it.)

Gingersnaps

Beat until light and fluffy:

2 C sugar

1 1/2 C butter, soft

1/2 C molasses

2 eggs

Add dry ingredients:

4 1/2 C flour

3 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cloves

1 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll into 1 1/2” balls. Roll in sugar. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets for 8-10 minutes or until set. (Will puff and flatten.)

Spiced Sugar Cookies

These are the best way to do sugar cookies I think - so yummy! I asked my niece which one was for me and she said I had to make my own! Can you believe it? (To be honest, I was perfectly ok with that because I prefer a few less sprinkles...)

Spiced Sugar Cookies

1 1/4 C soft butter

2 C sugar

2 eggs

5 Cflour

1/2 C milk

1 tsp salt

4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp finely grated orange peel*

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat until fluffy. Stir together dry ingredients (including orange peel) and add alternately with milk to the creamed mixture. If the dough is sticky add enough flour to handle. If it's too dry you can add a little more milk. But really, it should be fine if you just follow the recipe... ;)

Refrigerate until firm. Roll out on well floured pastry cloth or counter top. Cut and place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 6-8 minutes or until ever so slightly browned.

*The best way to do orange peel (or any citrus peel) is to use a micro plane grater! It's super thin so you get the delicious flavor but not a big, bitter bite of peel.

Now, if you really want to make these perfect, frost them with Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting from the Cake Mix Doctor. Here's the recipe:

8 Tbsp butter, at room temperature

3 3/4 C powdered sugar; sifted

3-4 Tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

Beat butter until fluffy. Add the remaining ingredients and mix on low speed until everything is nicely blended. Add up to 1 Tbsp milk if the frosting is too stiff.

Lastly, apply sprinkles liberally and let your aunt make her own.

Mmm, divine!

Chocolate-Banana Marble Bread

I let the kids each pick a recipe to make with me and Tiernan picked this one. It's from Sur La Table's Art & Soul of Baking, which is chock full of scrumptious looking recipes, so I'm sure there will be more to come from this book! Anyway, this was deeeelish and Tiern and I had fun making it! All of the kids loved it....Joshie said, "Mmmm...five stars! This is the best banana bread ever. Maybe in the whole world! Well, ya can't go wrong with that, now can ya? :)

As you can see, the recipe calls for just about everything to be at room temperature, but we didn't really follow that little rule and the bread turned out fine. But you can make it however you want. :)

Chocolate-Banana Marble Bread

1 C. mashed very ripe bananas (about 2 large or 3 medium), at room temperature
1/4 C. buttermilk, at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 C. sifted cake flour**
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 C. unsifted, unsweetenedcocoa powder
3 Tbsp boiling water, plus more if needed
1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) butter, softened
1 C. sugar
2 large eggs at room temperature, lightly beaten

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and position an oven rack in the center. Lightly coat a 9x5-inch loaf pan with melted butter or canola-oil spray and line it with a piece of parchment paper that extends 1 inch beyond the long edge of both sides of the pan.
In a medium bowl, mix the banana puree, buttermilk and vanilla and whisk just until blended. Set aside.
Use a fine-mesh strainer to sift the cake flour, baking soda, and baking powder together into another medium bowl. Whisk to blend well. Set aside.
Place the cocoa powder in a small bowl. Pour the boiling water over the cocoa and stir until it forms a smooth paste - it should run thickly off the spoon. If it is too thick, add another tablespoon of the boiling water and stir again. Set aside.
Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until the butter is very light, almost white in color, 4 to 5 minutes. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula. Turn the mixer to medium speed and add the eggs, 1 tablespoon at a time, completely blending in each addition before add the the next. About halfway through the eggs, turnoff the mixer and scrape down the bowl with the spatula, then continue adding the rest of the eggs. Scrape down the bowl again.
With the mixer running on the lowest speed, add one-third of the flour mixture. Just as it is barley blended and you can still see a few patches of flour, add half the banana mixture. Repeat with the remaining flour and banana mixtures, ending with the flour.
Transfer half of the batter to a medium bowl. Add the cocoa paste and, using a rubber spatula, gently but thoroughly blend it into the batter.
Drop alternating spoonfuls of dark and light batters into the prepared pan, then marbleize by using a spoon to gently turn the batter over in 3 places down the length of the pan. Do not over mix the batters.
Bake the banana bread for 55 to 65 minutes, until firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Transfer to a rack to cool completely. When cool, remove from the pan, peel off the parchment paper, and serve.

**Note - I didn't have any cake flour, so I looked up a substitution and it said to use 1 cup all purpose flour minus 2 tablespoons. That's what I did and it worked great. : )

Pepper Jack Mac

This is slightly modified from the latest Simple and Delicious. I'm not a big fan of spicey food, but the pepper jack really just gives it a little flavor rather than spiciness. Jeremy hates mac and cheese, but he loved this one.


Pepper Jack Mac
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
4 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
¼- ½ cup chopped onion
1 (8 oz) pkg mushrooms, sliced
3 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
½ cup plus 4 Tbsp milk
½ cup plus 4 Tbsp chicken broth
2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese
½ tsp Italian seasoning
dash of salt
dash of pepper

Cook noodles according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, saute onions in half of the butter until very tender. Add remaining butter and mushrooms and cook until tender. Stir in flour until blended; gradually stir in broth and milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir 1-2 more minutes or until thickened. Stir in cheese, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Cook and stir over medium heat until cheese is melted. Stir bacon into mixture and pour over noodles.

Creamy Broccoli Ranch Pasta

This is delish and tastes quite a bit different than most white sauces so Carrie might even like it. :)




Creamy Broccoli Ranch Pasta

4-6 slices bacon
1 ½ cups broccoli
2 Tbsp flour
1 envelope dry ranch salad dressing mix
1 ¼ cups milk
3 cups egg noodles
1 Tbsp shredded Parmesan cheese
1 tomato, diced

Cook noodles according to package directions. Meanwhile, cook bacon until crisp. Crumble bacon and set aside, reserving 1 Tbsp drippings. Cook broccoli (fresh or frozen) in bacon drippings until tender In measuring glass, measure out milk and slowly add flour and ranch mix to milk. Use whisk to beat mixture until smooth. Pour milk mixture over broccoli and cook on medium heat until thick and bubbly. Cook and stir one minute more. Stir in bacon. Serve sauce over noodles and top with fresh tomato and Parmesan cheese.

Baked Apples in Caramel-Cream Sauce

Baked Apples in Caramel-Cream Sauce

3 large apples, cut into fourths
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup pecans, coarsley chopped
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
vanilla ice cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Put apples, round sides up (peeled or unpeeled) in a shallow ungreased 8-inch square baking pan. Sprinkle brown sugar and dot with butter. Bake 35-40 minutes, or until apples are tender. Pour cream over apples. Stir with a fork to mix cream and syrup. Top with pecans and serve warm with ice cream.

These are really yummy. If you peel the apples they're a bit easier to eat but if you don't peel them they look a bit fancier.