Banana Walnut Muffins

Eeek. I didn't realize my picture was that bad. I guess that's what I get for taking pictures at 10:30pm  in an already dark kitchen. See that cute stand that I have my muffins on though? I saw my Mom had one when we were visiting and she said that she got them at Walmart for $3! When I was there the next day, lo and behold they still had some in stock! I grabbed two of these black ones and a white wire bowl that is currently housing my apples.

See?

Anyway... back to the muffins... My Mom had made some muffins a few days ago and passed this recipe along.

Banana Walnut Muffins

Adapted from: Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients:

2.5 cups of flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp table salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp flax seed

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

1 cup applesauce (original recipe calls for vegetable oil)

1 tsp vanilla

3 eggs

4 mashed bananas

Preheat your oven to 350*. In a large bowl combine the flour, baking soda, table salt, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, flax seed and walnuts, . Stir to lightly combine.

In a separate large bowl, combine your sugars, oil or applesauce, vanilla, eggs and mashed bananas. Make sure to mash your bananas completely or you'll end up with banana chunks that won't bake properly during the baking time (trust me, i know.)

Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until well combined.

If you're not using cupcake liners, generously grease a muffin pan with baking non-stick spray. Divide the batter evenly into the cups. I filled them 3/4 full to almost completely full. I got two pans out of the recipe, so 24 muffins total.

WW info: 5pts per muffin

These would be a great breakfast combined with a smoothie and a small yogurt. Light, refreshing and filling!

Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites

I'm really not a fan of peanut butter in treats like this. If I'm going to eat peanut butter I'd rather have a PB&J sandwich. I know, I know some people may now be considering me insane. But, it's true.

These little morsels may be a game changer though. My willpower and I can beat these little guys. I had a few of them the day I brought them to work, but that was it. I was satisfied without them. Yay!

They're really very easy to make. If you've got some pretzels, peanut butter, melting chocolate (I used almond bark) a few other ingredients and a little bit of time set aside, you too can make these! 

Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites

Source: 17 & Baking

1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tsp butter, room temperature
2/3 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Pretzels (round pretzels or even the square ones will do!)
2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips (or almond bark)

In a small bowl, beat the peanut butter and butter together until smooth and creamy. Beat in the powdered sugar, light brown sugar, and vanilla extract until well mixed – you may need to add more to get the filling thick and stiff enough to hold its shape.

Roll teaspoons of the peanut butter mixture between your palms to form balls. Sandwich between two pretzels and put on a plate or cookie sheet. Freeze the pretzel sandwiches for half an hour.
Melt the chocolate according to package directions. (I put mine in the microwave for 30 seconds and then stirred it around and it was good enough. It all melted together nicely after being stirred around)

Dip each pretzel sandwich in chocolate, about halfway. If you're really feeling crazy, dip the whole darn thing. People will get a surprise bite of pretzel-y peanut butter-y goodness when they bite in. Kind of like those Take 5 candy bars! 

I set each dipped pretzel sandwich on waxed paper to let them all dry.

Creamy Chicken Taquitos

This was a fabulous, filling meal. I've had taquitos at restaurants before, usually in their appetizer samplers. They've always been pretty good. I'm pretty certain that they're always fried though. Which is obviously, why they taste so good :-)

This recipe was SO simple to prepare. Honestly. I cooked the chicken the night before, let it cool, put it in the refrigerator and then the next night it took all of about twenty minutes to prepare and only about 15 minutes in the oven. Super simple!

As you can see, there was enough filling to feed an army! I used a whole package of 10 tortillas. I made burritos with it because I knew I'd need to break into another pack of tortillas with all of that filling and I really didn't want to.

I love how crispy these got in the oven without getting too crispy. I wish I would have been better prepared. These would have gone great with some lettuce, fresh salsa, gresh guacamole and sour cream. A very quick and delicious meal for any night of the week. These would be perfect as an appetizer as well.

Go easy on the spice and you've got yourself a perfect kid-friendly, finger food meal! You could even reserve a bit of the chicken mixture, without any of the seasoning to make some for the kids; then continue on and spice it up to your tastes.

Creamy Chicken Taquitos
Adapted from: Annie's Eats

Ingredients:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup Vine Ripened Salsa from Tastefully Simple
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice (I used bottled)
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin (I omitted)
1/2 tsp onion powder (I omitted)
2 tsp Garlic Garlic from Tastefully Simple
3 tbsp chopped cilantro (I used cilantro cubes)
2 tsp Onion Onion from Tastefully Simple
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 cup shredded Mexican cheese (any cheese will do)
10 tortillas (approx. 6 inch size)
1 tbsp Ole Ole Fiesta Sauce from Tastefully Simple
a pinch or two of coarse salt

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 425. I lightly sprayed a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. You could use parchment paper or a silpat as well.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, salsa, lime juice, spices, cilantro, chicken, fiesta sauce and shredded cheese. Mix thoroughly until well combined.

If you need to, microwave your tortillsa just a little to make sure that they're flexible enough for tightly rolling.
Spoon about 2-3 tablespoons of the chicken mixture onto the tortilla. Roll the tortilla up tightly around the filling. Place them seam side down on your baking sheet. Continue this process with the remaining filling and tortillas. Filling them more/less to your liking.

Line them up, evenly spaced on your cookie sheet and lightly spray the tops of them with cooking spray. Take a pinch of your salt and sprinkle it over the tops. Don't skip this step. It may sound odd, but it'll be delicious.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until crisp and golden brown. Serve plain or with your favorite toppings.

I'm bummed that I didn't take any other pictures. If you want a drool-icious photo, go check out Annie's post.

Perfect Party Cookies

I've really been on a baking kick lately. I just love to be in the kitchen and baking. I love when my recipes turn out, I love when my kitchen smells of whatever is happily baking in the oven, I love the smiles on faces when someone tries something I make and they enjoy it. Baking is also a great stress reliever for me.

The only thing I don't love? Having cakes, cookies, muffins, cupcakes sitting at home and staring me in the face. I do not have very strong willpower. I will eat them. So, when I can make something and bring it to someone or somewhere I'm the happiest! I get to do something that I enjoy, gift it to someone and call it a day without adding any calories to my daily intake.

I made a double batch of these cookies one day last week to bring to my Dentist appointment and to a staff meeting at work. Who brings a box of cookies to their Dentist, right? Well, my Mom used to work at this Dentist office so I know them pretty well. I knew they wouldn't mind getting a little box of sweets for a lunch time treat.

They went over well at both locations. The Dentist emailed me and said "I just ate one of those chocolate chip cookies and thought I had died and gone to Heaven. THANK YOU soooo much for bringing them in. You are the best." Now, if that's not a compliment, I don't know what is. At our staff meeting, a coworker had three of them before we even left the meeting room. Again, I'd say that's a pretty good compliment.

You will not be disappointed when you make these cookies. They're so easy to prepare and not to mention, you don't get that many dishes dirty. You don't even need a kitchenaid/stand mixer! I mixed this all up with a spatula! One thing to note, if you're doubling the batch like I did, make sure you have enough sprinkles on hand. You'll need 8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) of sprinkles. I might have a sprinkle obsession and had plenty of them, but I don't know if non-baking households will have a sprinkle surplus like I did.

This would be perfect  to make with kids. Not too many ingredients, simple measurements and they look fun and festive. They're sure to catch a kid's eye!

This was my second time making a double batch. Can you tell I had to get creative with my sprinkle options? We've got a little Christmas sprinkles, some Spring-time sprinkles and some rainbow sprinkles.

Perfect Party Cookies
Source: Stephanie Cooks

Ingredients
1 cup of flour
1 cup of boxed yellow cake mix
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup butter melted & cooled slightly
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup chocolate chips
4 tbsp sprinkles of your choice

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Sift together your flower, cake mix and soda, set aside. In a large bowl, beat together the melted butter, egg, egg yolk and vanilla until slightly creamy. Add the sugars and stir well.Add the flour mixture, stir well to combine. Add your chocolate chips and sprinkles, sitr well to combine.

(At this point in Stephanie's recipe, she says to refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes because the dough will be runny. I've made these twice now and did not have runny dough either time. Use your discretion. If your dough is runny, refrigerate for 30 minutes. If it's not, you could charge on and not worry about refrigeration.)

Using a cookie scoop, place dough onto a greased cookie sheet. Keep dough cool in between batches. I did put mine in the refrigerator while a batch was baking.

Bake 12-15 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the center sets. Cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet and remove to a wire rack.

Personally, I love a cookie that is a little crisp but also a little chewy so I took them out at the 12 minute mark, let them cool on the sheet and then transferred them to the wire rack to cool completely.

These cookies were even worthy of me taking out my cookie jar from the cupboard! I still have some dough at home in the refrigerator. I think I'm going to bake up some cookies and sell them, bake sale style, at my garage sale this weekend. Like I said, I don't want to add too many calories to my daily intake!

Comments:

For some reason, when I made these last night again, they ended up being really thin. They spread out so much on my cookie sheet. I ended up only being able to put 6 on a cookie sheet at a time because they spread so thin. Personally, I loved them this way. The outside was just crisp enough, but they were still chewy. My Husband said "I feel like I'm eating a wafer." However, her liked them enough to still eat two.

I'm not sure what I did. I think because I was multi-tasking in the kitchen, I probably added a little bit too much, or not enough, of something. I still enjoy them, but just make sure to watch your measuring!  

Or else you'll end up with a giganto cookie!

Creamy Vanilla Pudding Cake

This dessert is one that I made as a teenager one time when my Grandma came down to Minnesota to visit when she lived in North Dakota. She had one bite of this dessert and was forever in love with it! Whenever she visited us she requested that I make this dessert. If we were up in North Dakota visiting her, she made sure she had all of the ingredients on hand so that I could make this for her. She eventually coined it, "Amy's Dessert." That's how I have it written on my recipe card. I don't even remember where I got the recipe from. I'm going to start calling it "Creamy Vanilla Pudding Cake" but deep down, it'll always be "Amy's Dessert." I always felt very special that she wanted me to make this dessert for her. We didn't live near either set of my Grandparents growing up so visiting them was always at least a weekend long visit. We'd go shopping, go to garage sales or just hang out at their house.

Grandma would always make us supper, at least once during the weekend, in her teeny tiny townhouse. There'd be 6 people, at minimum, in her townhouse but she always made us a homecooked meal in that cramped kitchen. My favorite meal? Her homemade mac and cheese. I think it's just elbow macaroni and velveeta, but as a kid, I loved it. I should get her recipe for that so I can always remember it the way Grandma used to make.

If you make this dessert, I hope you enjoy it as much as my Grandma did.While making it, I had faint memories of making it in my Parent's kitchen.

Creamy Vanilla Pudding Cake
Recipe origin: unknown
Ingredients for the crust:
1 cup of flour
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup brown sugar

Ingredients for the filling:
1 8ounce cream cheese, softened
1 cup cool whip
I cup powdered sugar
I also added about 1/4tsp of almond extract to the filling but that's not called for in the original recipe

Ingredients for the topping:
2 pkgs vanilla instant pudding (5oz size box)
2 1/2 cups cold milk
Cool whip per your preference (if you want a lot of cool whip on top, use a lot; if you want a little, use a little)

*cool whip note: I used almost all of a 16oz container of cool whip between the 1 cup used for the filling and the topping.

Mix the crust ingredients until they're well combined and the result is a moist but crumbly mixture. I used a pastry blender to help me with this process. Once combined, press mixture into a 9x13, lightly greased, pan. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes until light golden brown.

The crust needs to be completely cool before you can top it with the filling.

When you're ready to make the filling, combine the softened cream cheese and the powdered sugar together. I put the cream cheese in a medium sized mixing bowl first. I whipped it up a little with my hand held mixer until it got really creamy and soft. Then, I added the powdered sugar and used a spatula to help mix the two together knowing that I'd create way too much powdered sugar dust if I went at it with my hand held mixer! Once they were well mixed together using the spatula, I used my hand held mixer for a minute or so to make sure that they were completely combined. Fold in the 1 cup of cool whip and spread out evenly on the crust. After they're mixed together, it sort of resembles marshmallow fluff I thought. It's a stirable mixture but it looks really sticky.

Then, it's time to prepare the filling! Combine your 2 packages of pudding mix with the 2 1/2 cups milk in a medium bowl (I used the same bowl I used for my filling) and whisk until it's thick. You don't want it to become set in your bowl, but you want it to be thick and pourable.

Pour the pudding mixture onto the filling layer and make sure it's spread out evenly. The final topping is the cool whip layer.

Top with as much or as little cool whip as you'd like. I top mine with just enough so that it's almost touching the top of the sides of my baking dish.

I think I should work on making my layers more even, don't you think? Oops! It's not too pretty when you look at it from this view.

I do think that the next time I make this, I may make the crust layer a double batch so that it's a bit thicker. There is so much on top of it that I just feel the crust should be thicker.

I'll be eating this tonight for an early Easter meal with my Husband's family. I'll definitely be back to share how it was received by everyone. I hope it's as good as I remember it being.

If you make this, I'd love to hear how you like it!

Edited to add: Well, it got rave reviews at dinner! My Husband's Grandma even asked for the recipe. I think that's always a compliment. I still think I'd double the crust layer next time and be careful to not be cool whip heavy for the topping.

Spicy Black Bean Burritos

Coming from someone who doesn't typically enjoy black beans, this was really good and I will likely make them again. They were very simple and it was a fun, filling dinner that both my Husband and I enjoyed.

Spicy Black Bean Burritos

Recipe from: None other than Annie's Eats

Yields about 6 servings

Ingredients for the bean fillings:

2 tsp vegetable oil

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp minced chipotle in adobo sauce

1/4 tsp kosher salt

A dash of cayenne peppper

1/3 cup chicken broth

2 (15oz) cans of black beans, drained & rinsed

6 tbsp salsa

6 tortillas, warmed (9-inch or 10-inch size)

You'll also want your choice of toppings such as:

Shredded cheese

Diced tomatoes

Shredded lettuce

Chopped green onions

Sour Cream

Avocado/Guacamole

Directions:

To make the bean fillings, heat the oil in a skillet on medium-high heat.  Add the garlic, chili powder, chipotle in adobo sauce, salt & cayenne pepper. Stir and cook just until fragrant, about 30-60 seconds.  Add the beans and the broth.  Bring the mixture to a boil.  Reduce the heat to medium-low and allow the mixture to simmer for about 10 minutes.  Remove the skilled from the heat, stir in the salsa and mash the mixture with a spoon.

Spoon about a third cup of the bean mixture down the center of each tortilla.  Top each with your desired toppings.  Roll the tortilla up tightly, burrito style, and serve immediately.

Chinese Chicken & Broccoli

I apologize for the 'in your face' picture. We had finished our meal and I realized that I didn't take a picture. So, after we packed up leftovers for lunch for the next day, I snapped a photo. It works, right?

We love Chinese food. A little too much probably. I was excited to see this recipe on Annie's blog. (Side note: You'd think I'm BFF with Annie or that I'm getting paid to say her name all the time. Nope, I'm not. I do wish I were BFF with her so that she could be my one-on-one cooking instructor though! I just love her recipes and they're always tasty. Not to mention, beginner friendly recipes!)

This was a great weeknight meal and I'd bet that you have all these ingredients in your kitchen right now! If you love Chinese food you should definitely try this recipe. I can't wait to make it again, really. I can see using this sauce base as the sauce for Kung Pao chicken. Or, make this recipe as it states but add all the veggies that Kung Pao calls for, a little extra spice and you've got... Kung Pao Chicken & Broccoli! 

We also made homemade cream cheese wontons with this meal. Actually, Matt did. He's the 'fryer' in our kitchen. They were also so very good. The cream cheese was still ooey and gooey a little on the inside. When we order Chinese, by the time our food gets here, the cream cheese has hardened and it's not as enjoyable as if they were fresh.

Chinese Chicken & Broccoli

Recipe from: Annie's Eats

Ingredients:

1 tbsp peanut oil (see directions for specifics)

1 and a 1/2 tsp. sesame oil

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces

4 cloves garlic, finely minced

1 tsp grated fresh ginger

¼-½ tsp red pepper flakes

4 cups broccoli florets

6 tbsp chicken broth, divided

2 tbsp. oyster sauce

1 tbsp. hoisin sauce

4 tbsp soy sauce

1 and a half tsp cornstarch

3 scallions, chopped

Sesame seeds, for garnish (optional)

Directions: 
Heat a half tablespoon of the peanut oil and the 1 1/2 tsp sesame oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the chicken pieces to the pan and sauté until golden brown and cooked through.  Transfer to a bowl with a slotted spoon and cover with foil to keep warm.  Add the remaining half tablespoon of peanut oil to the pan.  Add the garlic and ginger (I forgot/didn't have ginger so I omitted) and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add the red pepper flakes and broccoli florets to the pan.  Pour in about half of the chicken broth – it should steam and boil quickly.  Allow the broccoli to cook until crisp-tender and the broth has mostly evaporated.  Add the oyster sauce and hoisin sauce to the pan.  In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce and cornstarch, and add to the pan.  Stir in the remaining chicken broth.  Return the chicken pieces to the pan.  Cook, stirring frequently, until the sauce has thickened, about 2-3 minutes.  Remove from the heat and stir in the scallions.  Serve over rice and garnish with sesame seeds, if desired.

Chocolate Almond Cake with Pecans

I was excited to see this cake on Annie's blog. I've never made a bundt cake of any kind and they always come out looking so nice. I've used my bundt pan many times before when making monkey bread, but never any cake.

It was fairly simple to make, and I had most all of the ingredients at home. The almond extract really adds a nice flavor to the cake. It's the cake's secret ingredient!

Chocolate Almond Cake

Recipe: Annie's Eats

Ingredients:
For the cake:
2¼ cups flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
1½ cups sour cream
6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled slightly

For the ganache:
6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
¾ cup heavy cream
1 tbsp. light corn syrup

Directions:
To make the cake, preheat the oven to 325˚ F. Grease and flour a 10-cup Bundt pan. I had a 9.75 cup pan so that's what I used and it worked just fine.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; whisk to blend. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 4-5 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed. Mix in the eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition. Blend in the vanilla and almond extracts.

With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the sour cream, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and beating each addition just until incorporated. Mix in the melted chocolate just until combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spreading the batter evenly. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 50-60 minutes. Let cool in the pan 10 minutes. Invert onto a cooling rack and gently remove the cake from the pan.

Like I said before, I've never made a bundt cake so I'm not sure this is supposed to happen. When I inverted my cake onto the cooling rack, I noticed that it had a lot of, what seemed to be, extra at the bottom. "Feet" as you will. I've never known bundt cakes to be raised up that high. I've always thought they should be more flat at the bottom. Do you think I did something wrong?

To remedy this problem, I simply just cut off the excess.

To make the ganache, place the chocolate in a small heatproof bowl. Bring the cream to a boil in a small saucepan. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate let stand 1-2 minutes. Whisk in small circular motions until the mixture is well blended and the ganache is smooth. Stir in the corn syrup. Drizzle the ganache over the cooled cake and garnish with sliced almonds before the glaze sets.

Don't forget to add your corn syrup or you'll wonder why the ganache is more like a frosting and not very drizzle-y. Not that I'd know from experience or anything...

Because of my error, I decided I'd just spread the ganache around, like a frosting and add the pecans all around. I loved the idea in my head, but I'm not sure how I feel about it once it was said and done. I just hope it tastes ok. We tasted the cut off part and that seemed dry. However, that was after it was sitting out while I made breakfast and such, so that could largely be the problem.

I took this cake to my Grandparent-in-Laws house for dinner. I also brought some vanilla ice cream to go with it.

Saturday Breakfast: Eggs Benedict

I've never had Eggs Benedict before so you can probably understand why I've never made it either. I saw this post on Joelen's blog and thought it would be perfect for our Saturday Morning Breakfast.

I figured it should be easy but yet something 'special' that we wouldn't have time for each weekday morning.

I struggled with this recipe. I don't know if it was too much to focus on in the morning or what. Maybe it's because I've never poached an egg so I didn't really have any clue what a poached egg looked like? I was really bummed and was starting to get very cranky in the kitchen.

First of all, I over poached my eggs. I ended up with hard boiled yolks but poached egg whites. Ugh.

So, I decided to fry up a couple eggs for our eggs benedict. It worked well enough. Although, on one of my fried eggs, I overcooked it and it was cooked through. Dangit. I'm sure one of the best parts of Eggs Benedict are the creamy yolks.

Secondly, the hollandaise sauce calls for vinegar and you could definitely taste the vinegar. The hollaindaise wasn't very creamy either.

I was so bummed that this breakfast wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. (Get it? Egg humor!) I'll definitely try again. I may try this recipe for Eggs Benedict. It's more simple for me, the beginner poacher.

Here is the recipe that I followed from Joelen's blog. 

Eggs Benedict
Recipe: What's Cookin, Chicago?

2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
12 large eggs
6 english muffins, split & toasted
12 slices Canadian bacon
1 recipe for Foolproof Hollandaise

Fill a large 12 inch skillet nearly to the rim with water. Add the vinegar and salt and bring to a boil over high heat. Once it comes to a boil, remove off heat.

Crack an egg into a small bowl and one at a time, carefully pour the egg into the skillet. Repeat with the remaining eggs,being careful not to crowd the pan. (You may want to only poach 6 eggs at a time to avoid crowding.)

Once your eggs are in the skillet, cover the pan and poach the eggs until whites are set but yolks are slightly runny, about 5-7 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer eggs to a paper towel-lined plate.

Meanwhile, preheat your broiler. Arrange your toasted English muffins, split side up, on a baking sheet and place a slice of bacon on each. Broil until they begin to brown, about 1 minute.

Arrange 1 poached egg on top of each English muffin. Spoon 1-2 tablespoons of hollandaise sauce over each egg. Garnish with minced fresh parsley and serve.

Foolproof Hollandaise
makes 2 cups

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
6 large egg yolks
1/2 cup boiling water
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
salt to taste

Whisk butter and egg yolks in a large heat resistant bowl set over a medium saucepan filled with 1/2 inch of barely simmering water. Be careful not to let the bottom of the bowl touch the water. Slowly add the 1/2 cup of boiling water into the bowl and cook, whisking constantly. It will eventually thicken when the sauce registers 160 degrees, in about 7-10 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir the lemon juice and cayenne if using. Season with salt to taste and serve over eggs benedict above.

Mom's Banana Bread

My Husband's coworker brought him some bananas that were ready for baking. I know, I know, your first thought is... what? This guy is single and doesn't do any baking for himself. But, he knew the bananas could be used by someone and he knew that I liked to bake so he brought them to work for my Husband to give to me. I thought it was a very nice gesture.
As I was looking through my recipe books, my recipe box & my blog, I realized that I did not have a recipe for banana bread. Growing up, my Mom often made banana bread and it was so good. Moist, flavorful and delicious. I couldn't believe that I didn't have it written down somewhere!

Luckily, when I text her "SOS -- I need your banana bread recipe!" she was happy to oblige and called me with her recipe. Although we don't know the origination of this recipe, we assume that it came from my Grandma, her Mom. My Mom has been using this banana bread recipe for many years. It's the banana bread I've grown up with. As soon as I tried some of my fresh banana bread, I was happy that it tasted just like Mom used to make.

Mom's Banana Bread
Recipe: Amy's Kitchen Creations Family Recipe

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups of Flour
4 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking soda
3/4 cup Butter
1 1/4 cup Sugar*
4 Eggs
2 cups Banana

Mix all ingredients into a bowl until well combined. You can add raisins or nuts if you'd like. When adding them, put a tablespoon or two of flour in a separate bowl, add the raisins/nuts and mix them up with the flour a little. They'll be coated with the flour. This will keep them from falling to the bottom of the bread when baking. This recipe makes two loaves of bread. If you're like me and only have one loaf pan, you'll be baking bread for a couple hours. It's worth it though!

Bake at 350 for 60 minutes.

Enjoy your slice with a little bit of butter or plain, whichever you prefer!

*My Mom said that she does half Brown Sugar and half White Sugar in her recipe. I did 1 cup White sugar, 1/4 cup Brown sugar.

PS- I now have the recipe securely in my recipe box! I will definitely be making this more often now that I have the recipe stored.