The BEST Banana Bread!!

I discovered this recipe in Cameroon, where we had banana trees in our backyard...and even with the overabundance and cheapness of bananas, I never got tired of this stuff!! Even Josh will eat it, and he hates bananas!!

3-4 Ripe Bananas, smashed with a wooden spoon
1/3 c. + (75 g) melted butter (yes, I sometimes add more than 1/3 cup... and remember, it MUST be butter!!!!!)
3/4 c Sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp Baking Soda
Pinch of Salt (1/4 tsp, maybe??)
1 ½ c Wheat Flour
1 Tbsp Bean Flour
1 Tbsp Flaxmeal
1/2 c chocolate chips (optional)

With wooden spoon (yes, use a wooden spoon! It just tastes better that way!), mix butter into mashed bananas in a large white mixing bowl. Mix in sugar, egg and vanilla. Sprinkle baking soda and salt over the mixture, then mix in. Add the Flour and chocolate chips last–mix just until it is all moist (about 25 stirs!). Pour mixture into a coated bread pan. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on the top...it's SO yummy that way! Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Cool in the pan on the cooling rack for about 10 minutes to let set. Turn over to remove from pan. Let it cool completely, or eat it warm! :)

Ham and Bean Garden Soup

This started out as a bisque, but I changed my mind halfway through. It smelled so good near the end that I thought I was going to die if I didn't eat it soon! :) Josh even said it was his new most favorite soup ever! That's always nice to hear...along with Claire eating 2 whole bowls, AND Andrew even ate his whole bowl, which is really saying something!!

8 Cups Water 3/4 c dry Great Northern Beans
1 clove garlic, whole
1 bay leaf
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Salt

**Place these ingredients into large sauce pan and simmer on medium for about an hour, then add:
1 Potato, finely cubed
1 tsp Fresh Oregano
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced (include some leaves!! These add great flavor to soups, and look so pretty!)
1/2 large onion (or 1 small one)

**Simmer another 30 minutes or so, then add:
3 Tbsp Butter
2 large Carrots, match-sticked (ok, jullienned)
1 clove garlic, pressed
2 more tsp fresh Oregano
a few dashes White Pepper
1 Tbsp Chicken Bouillon (or more, to taste)
1 small zucchini, halved and chopped (smileys, as my kids call them)

**Simmer about 30 more minutes, then add:
1 + c cooked, cubed Ham

**Serve immediately, and garnish with:
2 ripe tomatoes, cubed (Let everyone sprinkle their soup with some. My kids also always request frozen peas and/or corn for every soup. I didn't put it in my soup, but everyone else did and seemed to like that.)

Eat with crackers or fresh crusty Italian garlic bread!

Lemon Herb Shishkabobs

We love these things! The kids love to help make them and they LOVE to eat them as it's so much fun to eat things off a stick! :)

4 boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts, cubed (NOT cooked!)
6 giant white mushrooms, cut in thirds (or small button mushrooms, halved)
1 onion, cut in half then quartered
1 large zucchini, slice in 'circles', then either cut each circle in half, or quarter it
1 bell pepper, chopped (it's fun to use red or yellow or orange for some color)

OR

if you don't have zucchini or peppers (or don't like them), I've used carrots, cauliflower and broccoli! Tastes just as good. I think the kids like this way more anyway.

**Place all the veggies into a gallon size ziplock bag. The, add the marinade:

1 Tbsp seasoned salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3 large cloves garlic, pressed
2 Tbsp each fresh basil, oregano, and parsley (can also add rosemary and thyme!)
the juice of one whole Lemon
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/4 cup water
1-2 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar

Let sit in marinade at room temp for about an hour, then refrigerate and marinade for 6-8 hours.

Thread everything onto skewers. Place on cookie sheet



and Broil until done! (In our oven, it took about 6 minutes; 3 minutes, then turn, then 3 minutes longer.) I serve this with:



fried rice and salad.

Apple Cinnamon Rolls

This was, as always is the case for me, a spur of the moment experiment. I had a really soft apple sitting in the fridge, and no one was eating it because it was bruised. I really wanted some cinnamon rolls. I thought to myself, "Self, what if I cut up that little apple into little tiny pieces and put it in the middle of my cinnamon rolls? Thus, the Apple Cinnamon rolls were born. I also changed my glaze, and OH is it ever GOOOOOOOD!!! Just, um, don't eat all the frosting before you put it on the rolls.

Also, just to note, this is mostly the same as the cinnamon roll recipe. It's in a different format than usual because I typed this one up for Josh's class's recipe book.

Enjoy!

Ingredients for rolls (For Steps 1 and 2):

1 Egg PLUS enough warm water to equal 1 ½ c
1/3 c Oil
½ c Sugar
1 ½ tsp Salt
2 ½ c Wheat Flour
2 c White Pastry Flour
2 tsp Yeast
2/3 c Raisins

(*If you have a bread machine, this is an excellent bread machine recipe! Just add the ingredients in the order listed to your machine, then select the ‘dough’ option. After the machine has finished, proceed to step # 3.)

Other ingredients needed:

*For middle of rolls (step 3):

About 50 grams butter, softened (NOT margarine!)
Dark brown sugar
Cinnamon
1 soft, sweet apple, peeled and finely chopped

*For glaze (step 4):

About 50 grams melted Butter (again, NOT margarine!)
1+ cup powdered sugar
½ tsp almond extract
1 tsp water

Instructions:

Step 1:
Mix gently for 5 minutes until all the dough is in a ball. Let rest, covered, for 15 minutes.



Step 2:
Add 2/3 c Raisins, then mix for another 10 minutes--either by hand or using dough beaters on a mixer on low.
Cover and let rise for 30-45 minutes, or until double in size.

Step 3:
Take dough out and roll out into a rectangle shape on a floured surface. Spread soft butter all over the top. Sprinkle with brown sugar, then with cinnamon, to taste. Sprinkle the chopped apple over the top of the butter, cinnamon and sugar.





With a pizza cutter, cut the dough in half (up and down). Roll up one side jelly-roll style,



then use the pizza cutter to cut little rolls, about 1 inch thick. Put rolls on a greased cookie sheet. When all the rolls are on the tray, put a towel over them and let rise for about an hour. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes at 350F/180C.


(here they are in the oven. I love this picture. You can almost smell them....)

Step 4:
While the rolls are cooking, make glaze. Mix together the melted butter, powdered sugar and almond extract with a fork until smooth. If it appears lumpy, add the tsp of water. Spread over the rolls as soon as they come out of the oven.
(**I suggest making the glaze/frosting at the moment you plan to frost these. If it sits too long, the consistency changes.)

Enjoy these warm or cold, after dinner or for breakfast!

Lentil Soup

My kids love Lentil soup, so I am always experimenting with different ways of serving it. Here I will post my basic Lentil soup recipe that is always a hit at our house! (Yes, my children are weird. I wonder where they get it from???)



2 c dry lentils
About 8-10 cups water
1 bay leaf
1/2 onion (whole or chopped)
1-2 cloves garlic (whole or pressed)
2 Tbsp chicken bouillon
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme
4 fresh basil leaves
1/2 c celery (leaves included!!) chopped
3 large carrots, 'circled' (as my kids say)
2 small tomatoes, finely chopped

Place all together in a large sauce pan. Simmer on med-lo heat for about 45min-1hour. Serve! Eat with crackers or fresh hot wheat bread! And perhaps a salad with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. You can also shred some real Parmesan on top. It adds a nice touch.

**Sometimes I add a chicken thigh to this and simmer it with the lentils. Depends on whether I feel like a vegetarian night or not. I've also added mushrooms. The kids don't appreciate them as much, but I thought they tasted wonderful! :) (Just don't use canned. Has to be fresh!)

Calzones

I tried out a new experiment, and these turned out so super yummy, I think I'll make them again some day!

For the pizza dough, I used a bread machine! (I'm sure you could do this by hand, or in a regular machine, but my bread machine is my right hand man lately.)

1 1/2 c Warm water
4-5 Tbsp Soy milk (or regular milk)
2 Tbsp Oil
2 Tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
2 c Whole Wheat Flour
2 1/2 c White flour
1 Tbsp Flaxmeal
1 Tbsp Bean Flour
2 tsp yeast

Throw it in the bread machine and use the dough setting. Hooray!

Once it's done, pull it out in six smallish portions. Shape each one in a ball, and roll out into a very flat circle. Plop in about 2 Tbsp of the Gourmet Pizza Sauce, some sliced cheese (you don't even need to shred it!), pepperoni, olives...or whatever you would prefer inside of a calzone!!




Wet the outside rim of the circle (I dipped my fingers in the olive juice and used that), then fold in half, pinching the edges together with your fingers.



Place each one on a greased (and layered with cornmeal) baking sheet. Poke a few holes in the top with a knife to keep it from exploding! :)

Place in a 425F/215C degree oven for 20 minutes.



These were SOOOOOO yummy! Devin still drools thinking about these! :) And they really took almost no time at all.

Gourmet Pizza Sauce

I wanted to make calzones, and decided to make a 'real' pizza sauce instead of my usual 'just throw it all together' sauce. I found a recipe on allrecipes.com that I thought looked interesting, but I didn't have all the ingredients it listed. So, as always, I improvised, and found that this is THE MOST FANTASTIC pizza sauce I've ever tasted! Woohoo!!

3+ Tbsp freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
4 sprigs (about 2 tsp) fresh Basil, finely chopped (I admit, I use my kitchen shears!)
1 tsp dried Oregano 3 cloves Garlic, pressed
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp chicken bouillon
1 tsp onion powder
dash Crushed Red Pepper
1/4 tsp dark brown sugar
8 oz can Tomato Sauce (not paste!!)
4 Tbsp boiling hot Water

Combine all the ingredients except for Tomato Sauce and water. Mix well.



Add tomato sauce all at once. Add hot water one tablespoon at a time. You may like your sauce thinner (add more water or tomato sauce) or thinner (omit water). Let sit for at least 1/2 hour on the counter to mix the flavor!



Use on top of pizzas, inside Calzones, or as a breadstick dipping sauce!! OR you could make a yummy chicken cacciatore with something like this as well! Or it could be a yummy marinara sauce for pasta or shrimp! The uses are endless!

**Note: While the crushed red pepper gives it a super yummy zing, my kids thoroughly disliked it! So, I'll try it without the pepper next time and see if they like it better, or if they were just trying to find an excuse to finish early and go play!