Best Banana Bread Recipe!

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 3 ripe bananas
• 1 tablespoon milk
  
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan.

Cream the sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Mix in the milk and cinnamon. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add the banana mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until combined. Add dry ingredients, mixing just until flour disappears.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove bread from pan, invert onto rack and cool completely before slicing.

Homemade Granola

What you need:
3T - EVOO
4 Cups slow cook oats
Put the 3 T EVOO in a large skillet and warm it up - pour the oats in and cook for about 5 minutes on medium until the oats start to toast - very light brown. I usually stir this a lot.

Pour the cooked oats on some wax paper

In the same skillet - still on medium
1 stick of butter
1/4 Cup honey
3/4 C brown sugar
Cook this together until bubbling - let bubble for about 3 minutes.

Add the oats back into the mixture above.
Also add in:
3/4 C. sliced almonds
3/4 C. dried fruit ( I use dried cherries and blueberries) - I usually add more then 3/4 C because we love it.

Stir until it is all mixed together and then cook on medium for 5 minutes.

Pour it out onto wax paper that has been sprayed with cooking spray - and spread it out evenly. It will take about an hour to dry and cool.

This granola is chewy and amazing over yogurt and fruit!

Amazing Spaghetti Sauce

I made the best spaghetti sauce tonight. This is my best friends Dad's recipe and I must say it did not disappoint! I doubled the recipe so I could have left overs and I am planning another pasta dish at the end of the week.

What you need: - This is the original recipe.
2 pounds ground beef
1 onion finely chopped
2 - 15 oz. cans of Contadina Extra think and Zesty tomato sauce
1 6oz can of Contadina tomato paste
1 handful of basil leaves - I used fresh. - 12 leaves
1 handful of Italian seasoning - about 2 Tablespoons
1 T. garlic powder
1 T. garlic salt
6 cloves of garlic
1 T. crushed red pepper
2 T. parsley flakes
1 pinch of sugar - no more!
3 T. EVOO
3 T. grated Parmesan


Brown the beef until fully cooked, add onion while browning.
Remove from the burner and add all the other ingredients, stir well and return to the burner on low. Let simmer for at least 1/2 hour stirring once in a while.
This will cover a pound of spaghetti so you can have left overs.

Holy Guacomole

My sister-in-law gave me this recipe and I can honestly say it is a HUGE HIT every time I make it.

What you need:
6 large avacados - chop into small pieces and mash just a little - we like chunky guacamole!
1/2 red onion - diced small
1 lime - squeeze over avocados - sometimes I even use 2 limes!
1 - 2 jalapenos - deseeded and diced super fine
1 big bunch of cilantro- chopped
salt to taste

combine all the ingredients and mash together with a fork until desired consistency.

Green Smoothie Challenge

I was reading my friends blog and it inspired me to get more fruits and veggies into our diet. And a fun way is to make green smoothies each morning. I was a little skeptical that I would taste the kale or spinach but I must say - IT IS AMAZING and you can't taste the veggies at all and neither will your kids!

What you need - a good blender. I am now saving up for a vita-mix (https://secure.vitamix.com/acb/stores/4/Vita-Mix-5200-P748C108.aspx) You can watch how they make a green smoothie on their site.

Ok - what you need FOOD wise:
I froze 2 bananas- already cut up
1 Cup of fresh pineapple - I even used the core because it has great vitamins in it.
1 whole orange peeled
1 C water and a big handful of ice
I blended this until it all came together and looked like a smoothie.
I then added 3 C. fresh spinach and blended again for about 1 - 2 minutes. You want a SMOOTH smoothie so make sure you blend it until it looks really smooth. I put my setting on Ice Crush to get it this way. This make 2 smoothies - about 12 - 16 oz. size.

You can use any fruit you like and any green leafy veggie you want. After my 2 big bags of spinach are gone I am going to buy some kale. Try changing up your fruits and veggies so your body doesn't get used to just one thing! Try green grapes, orange and strawberry with kale. Yum!

Enjoy and know you are getting a lot of fruits and veggies to jump start your day.

Baked Tilapia with Cucumber Dill Sauce

Baked Tilapia
I usually just buy the individually frozen Tilapia but if your market has fresh that is even better

What you need:
Tilapia fillets - I fix 2 per person.
EVOO
Salt
Pepper
Old Bay seasoning

Line a baking sheet with foil and use a little spray to make sure the fish will not stick.
Place the frozen Tilapia on the foil and drizzle some EVOO on it. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on each fillet and then I use a generous amount of Old Bay to each fillet - you may like less on yours.
Bake at 375 for 15 minutes - you will know it is done when it flakes with a fork.



Cucumber Dill sauce.
I usually have to make a sauce for chicken, fish and pork because my husband is not a huge fan of these meats. This is a yummy sauce and you can use it on a lot of different meats!

1 C. light Sour Cream
1 diced cucumber - if you like a lot of cucumber use the whole thing - I usually pick a medium size and use it all.
1 T. dill weed.

Mix all 3 together in a bowl - add some salt and pepper to taste and there you have a fun sauce for your fish!

Chocolate Berried treasure bars

One of my good friends is coming over tomorrow for lunch and I decided to make sauteed tilapia with a sour cream dill sauce and that yummy pesto bread but wanted to have something fun for dessert - so I found this great recipe. I hope you enjoy it.

Chocolate Berried Treasure Bars

• 2 cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1 cup plain granola cereal
• 1 2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) Dark Chocolate Morsels, divided
• 1 1/3 cups (6-oz. pkg.) dried cranberries, blueberries and/or cherries - I used the dried triple berries from Trader Joe's.
  
• 1 cup sliced almonds, toasted
• 1 can (14 oz.) Sweetened Condensed Milk

1. Preheat oven to 350º F.
2. Melt butter in 13 x 9-inch baking pan in oven; remove from oven. Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs over butter. Stir well; press onto bottom of pan.
3. Layer granola, 1 1/4 cups morsels, dried fruit and almonds over graham cracker crust. Drizzle sweetened condensed milk over almonds.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until browned and bubbly around edge. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.
5. Microwave remaining morsels in small, heavy-duty plastic bag on HIGH (100% power) for 30 to 45 seconds; knead. Cut tiny corner from bag and squeeze to drizzle over top of bar. Refrigerate for 5 to 10 minutes or until chocolate is form. Cut into bars.

These pictures are the graham cracker and first few ingredients then after the sweet and condensed milk. I will take another picture after it is done. I hope it is as good as it sounds!