Breakfast time! Chocolate and peanut butter banana bread

Our mornings used to be crazy... Up at 6, get showered, get dressed, eat breakfast, make lunches, get our plan for the day, get out of the house by 7:15 to get to school on time.

Since we have moved, our mornings are way easier.  I get up at 6:30, get lunches made, have some quiet time before the boys start moving between 7-7:30.  Then they get up and eat at the table and shower and even have time to watch a cartoon before we leave for school at 8:30 in order to be there for first recess.

So I have been making better breakfasts.  If I'm up at 6:30 it allows me to get something done that morning for breakfast that's hot and yummy.  We do pancakes, baked oatmeal and even toad in a hole.   But one of my favorites has always been banana bread.  And I love mine with peanut butter.  So I took the recipe that I like and added a few special ingredients to make it my own.  

Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas

1/2 stick of butter

2 eggs

1 tbsp peanut butter

1/2 c sugar

3/4 tsp molasses

2 c flour

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp ginger

1 c chocolate chips

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350.

Mash up the bananas until there are very few chunks.  Mix it with the butter, peanut butter, sugar and molasses and mix until creamy and fluffy.  

Add the eggs  one at a time until they are well blended.

Mix the dry ingredients together and mix in until just mixed.

Mix the chocolate chips in by hand.

Put in a well greased loaf pan and add some sprinkles, because really, who doesn't like sprinkles first thing in the morning? 

Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a knife comes out clean when you put it through the middle. 

Serve and enjoy!!

Fight the winter blues with color in your dinner!

It has been a long hard winter.

Cold.

Snowy.

Lots of snow days and it's too cold to go to school days. 

I am over it.  

I have the winter blues! 

But my dinner is pretty, with lots of orange today.  Of course you could always add some red too, if that's your thing.

I made smothered chicken.  And it was pretty.  And tasty! 

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 medium sized onion, chopped

1 orange pepper, sliced

1/2 tsp garlic powder 

1/2 tsp thyme

8 oz mushrooms, sliced

Salt and pepper to taste

2 boneless skinless chicken breast

1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions:

In a oven safe pan (I love my cast iron for this) sauté the onions, peppers and mushrooms over medium high heat until they start to soften about 5-6 minutes.  Add garlic powder, thyme, salt and pepper. Cook another minute or two.

Remove them to a plate and add chicken to the pan.  I also salt and pepper this to make sure the chicken is flavorful as well.

Cook until the center is no longer pink.

Add the veggies back to the pan, too with cheese and then put the whole thing under the broiler for 1-2 minutes or until the cheese is melted.  Don't walk away!!!! (Ask me how I know!) 

Serve and enjoy! 

I'm back!

So much has changed in our lives over the last year or so... New jobfor the Husband, new house for us, new school for the boys, new kitchen for me.  

I've been making so many new recipes that I just love.  Pinterest has become my BFF.  So I thought I'd share some of them again, as well as finding a place in the cyber world to put them again.  

I am looking forward to sharing some of these exciting things with you, but as all ways it will be 

Mostly about the food!!! 

 

For now, here's a picture from our new house.  It's off the front porch facing the cold wintery world that we have had a front row seat for since we moved. 

Summertime favorites

I grew up not being a big fan of vegetables.  While I love my mom dearly, I think the veggies we ate growing up were very much the same.  Not a whole lot of variety, boiled and buttered and salted.  She worked hard to help provide for us, so I'm not blaming.  Just saying.  I never really enjoyed them.


Now my step dad has an amazing garden.  And we eat alot of veggies when they come out.  We freeze them, we eat them... we just use them any way we can.


Right now it's squash season.  The zucchini has dried up on the vine, but the yellow summer squash is coming in like crazy.  As well as the green peppers, the purple onions (my favorite) and cucumbers.  


And I have found that squash makes a great addition to alot of things.  Last week we even ate it in chicken burritos.  But this recipe is my favorite.  It's summertime hash.


Summertime Hash
Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, diced
1 clove garlic
salt and pepper
6 small yellow potatoes, diced
1/4 cup water 
2 medium summer squash, diced
3 TBSP fresh parsley
1 TBSP fresh rosemary


Instructions:
Saute the onions, peppers and garlic in oil (I've been using grapeseed oil. ) in a big pan.  Let it cook 3 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.


Add potatoes and water and cook for 5 minutes until potatoes are fork tender.


Add the summer squash and more water if necessary. Cook 3-5 minutes


Add parsley and rosemary.


I serve this with a fried egg on top, and a small bit of steak either on top or on the side. 


Enjoy!

So this one time....

I thought I'd branch out and try some Indian food.  Why not? 

So I found a recipe for crockpot butter chicken.  It was good.  Pretty stinkin' good.

But really, it's easy enough to just do on the stove.   So the next time, I did.  And then I made it again.  It's become a favorite in our house.  Of course there have been some tweaks along the way.  And this is the way we like it best now.

Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts, cut in bite sized pieces
1/2 c plain yogurt
1 tsp corriender
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp curry powder (the one we have doesn't have much heat to it)
pinch of salt and pepper

1 onion sliced
1 clove garlic chopped
1/2 yellow pepper (found these are my favorite in it)
1 can diced tomatoes

1 cup cooked lentils
2 handfulls baby spinach
1 c plain yogurt
hot sauce

Instructions:
Mix together the spices and 1/2 cup yogurt.  Marinate your chicken in that for an hour or so... longer is fine as well.

In a big pot over medium heat, cook onion, garlic and yellow pepper.

Add chicken and brown.

Turn heat to low and add tomatoes.  Cook for 30 minutes.

Add lentils and spinach.  Cook until spinach is  wilted.

Add in yogurt.

Serve over rice.

Enjoy!!

Tuesday's tip o' the day...burns

I'm a klutz sometimes. 

And I like to cook.

And I work as a barista (I make coffee).

So I burn myself, often.

And when I do, I have a surefire technique to not blister or sting.   My old boss, Candy, had a remedy for everything and this was one of her.

Immediately after you burn yourself, instead of running the burn under water, run the cold water over a black tea bag.  Apply the cold tea bag to the burn, rewetting it as necessary, until the sting is gone.


Just a little tip, from a girl who has been there and done that too many times!

"Fancy" Salmon noodle casserole

There are so many things I love about my husband.

He's a great provider.
He's a wonderful father.
He's a talented musician, taught himself to play the guitar.
He's a strong, supportive husband.
He's warm and toasty when I'm freezing.
He pushes me to do new things.
He's willing to try new things.



Oh, but he dislikes tuna fish.  The one downside.  So as a family, we've never had tuna noodle casserole. 


Ever.

Which, some of you are thinking, is not necessarily a bad thing.

But I like tuna noodle casserole, and it's easy!

So last week when we were at my mom's house and we were offered a jar of canned salmon (fresh caught and canned because the freezer was full), I took it gladly.  And earmarked it, at least in my mind, for a fancy tuna casserole.

And it was a hit!  So I'm sharing the recipe.  You could easily substitute tuna if your family isn't opposed to it.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp chopped garlic
4 oz mushrooms, sliced
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp old bay seasoning
1 tbsp flour
1 c milk
1 can salmon (or tuna)

Spaghetti noodles, cooked

Instructions:
In a pan, melt the butter and olive oil.  Add garlic and mushrooms.  (Don't salt the mushrooms!  They won't brown correctly.)

Add flour, salt and pepper and old bay seasoning.  Work it around the pan and into the mushrooms.

Stir in milk over medium low heat until bubbly.

Add the fish.

Add the spaghetti noodles and incorporate the two together.  Make them all yummy and happy there.

Serve.

Enjoy!!