Banana Bread Take Two

I love banana bread. With lots of butter. The last banana bread recipe I tried was good, but I wanted something even better. And I found it. This is super simple and will probably become my staple banana bread recipe. I sent half of the loaf to my parents, but I haven't heard back from them if they liked it. I was pretty pleased with it.

Ingredients:
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. butter, room temperature
3/4 c. brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 c. banana, mashed (I didn't actually measure. I had four bananas and just used them all)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.

Mix flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Cream butter and brown sugar.

Stir in eggs and banana.

Stir into the flour mixture.

Pour into a 9x5 loaf pan.

Bake for about 1 hour.

Source: www.closetcooking.blogspot.com

Irish Brown Bread

Sorry for the blurry picture. I had another (much better) one, but when I stuck my memory card in my computer, it wouldn't open. Gr. This has been on my "to try" list for quite some time. As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to make it. I'm a little scared of yeast and the whole rising thing, so I thought this would be perfect, since it didn't include either of those things. Well, I am not a huge bread fan. It is okay. It kind of reminds me of the brown bread you get at restaurants like Outback, Lonestar, etc. I am going to take the extra loaf to my sister - she LOVES bread, so we will see what she thinks. At the very least, it was super easy. No more than 10 minutes of "active" time. Which is always nice.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/4 c. whole-wheat flour
3/4 c. quick oats
1/2 c. wheat germ
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 3/4 c. buttermilk
2 tbsp. honey

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425. Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk and honey. Add to flour mixture and stir to combine until a soft dough forms.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Divide in half and shape each half into a round loaf. Place loaves 3 inches apart on baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes.

Reduce temperature to 400 and continue baking for 10 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when tapped. Let cool 15 minutes.

Yield: 2 loaves that are about 8 inches in diameter

Source: Woman's Day Magazine

P.S. I have a buttload of wheat germ, so if you have a recipe that includes it, please let me know!

How To Host a Superbowl Party On 24 Hours Notice

So, if you read my last post, you know that I had to host a Superbowl party on 24 hours notice. Now, let me preface this by saying - I am NOT spontaneous. I am a planner. I love to plan and organize actually. Spontaneity doesn't do anything for me. So, I was a little panicky. After we had a plan, I calmed down, but it was still kinda stressful. BUT, all in all, everything turned out great. The food was good and the boys were happy. So, here's the menu:

- Party Meatballs
- Ranch Bread Bowl with Veggies
- Pizza Squares
- Buffalo Chicken Dip in a Bread Bowl
- Veggie Tray (No picture)
- Chips and Salsa (No picture)
- Buffalo Chicken Wings
- Oreo Pie (courtesy of some unknown friend of my sisters! No picture - sorry!)
- Gooey Butter Bars

And, here are the recipes:

First, we have party meatballs. My mom actually made these for a Christmas Eve party and had frozen the leftovers. Being the mooch that I am, I just took them out of her freezer and reheated them in the crockpot. So, no recipe. But basically you put meatballs, spaghetti sauce and grape jelly in a crockpot and just go!
Next, we have a bread bowl with ranch dressing and vegetables. This is one of the easiest party dishes you can ever make. It looks like it took more time than it did, and the serving bowl is edible. I used a sourdough bread bowl, filled it with ranch, and put it on a plate with veggies and the bread from the bowl!

I also made pizza squares. You can find the recipe here. This picture is SO much better!

I also made buffalo chicken dip and put that in a bread bowl too. This is one of my most favorite recipes and it is so easy. I could seriously just munch on it ALL day. Sorry the picture is blurry. I don't know what happened.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. cooked chicken

2 c. blue cheese dressing (I don't measure, I just used a whole bottle)

1/2 c. Tabasco sauce (I used hot wing sauce)

1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

Dump everything in the crockpot. Stir to combine.

Cook on high 1-2 hours, until cheese is melted.

Source: www.crockpot365.blogspot.com

I also made buffalo chicken wings. I used the same method as my Asian Chicken Wings from last week, but these turned out so much better! All the guys loved them!

Ingredients:

4 lbs. chicken wings

2 bottles buffalo wing sauce

Directions:

Marinate wings in 1 1/2 bottles of sauce, preferably overnight.

Dump on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour-ish at 350, basting with remaining sauce.

When the outsides are crispy, put the hot wings in a bowl or on a serving plate and drizzle with the rest of the sauce.

And now for the icing on the cake - Gooey Butter Bars! These are super rich, but they are so good! I was eating the dough and the mix before I even got them into the oven! Seriously, go make these.

Ingredients:

1 package yellow cake mix

3 eggs

2 sticks butter

1 package cream cheese, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

1 box powdered sugar

Directions:

Combine cake mix, one egg and melted butter. Pat into a greased 9x13 cake pan.

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add eggs, vanilla and melted butter. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth.

Spread over cake batter.

Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes. Do NOT overbake - it is supposed to be gooey inside!!

Source: Paula Deen

So, that's that. We actually ended up with very few leftovers, which is good. So, after all that, I won't be cooking tonight. Maybe just soup and grilled cheese or a chicken salad sandwich. Something easy!!

Banana Bread

I bought some bananas about a week ago and kind of forgot to eat them, so you know what that means? That's right - banana bread! I wanted to try something a little new, so I found a recipe that included some plain yogurt. Plus, I had some leftover from a previous recipe and needed to use it. My breads never turn out very pretty, but it tastes pretty good. I am also making a pot roast and some cupcakes right now, so get ready!

Ingredients:
2 c. flour
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. bananas, mashed (3-4 bananas)
1/4 c. plain yogurt
2 large eggs
3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp. vanilla

Note: this recipe also called for 3/4 c. chopped walnuts, which I omitted. I am a total purist when it comes to breads - I don't want anything crunchy in there! Also, I love cinnamon so I added a 1/2 tsp. I will add more next time!

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan and dust with flour.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda and salt (and cinnamon). Set aside.

Mix banana, yogurt, eggs, butter and vanilla.

Fold banana mixture into the dry ingredients until just combined.

Pour into the pan and bake 55-60 minutes.

Source: http://www.bigoven.com/