1 year Blogoversary! And Peanut Butter Banana Bread for Kicks! October 2, 2010

I cannot believe I’ve been writing for a year! I started this blog just a few weeks before our first wedding anniversary. We had just bought and moved into this house, we had a dog. It was all very domestic. I was just discovering my love for cooking and I had so much to share with all of you!

Things have changed quite a bit in the last few weeks, but I’m still here. I’m not posting as much, mostly because I’m not cooking as much. It’s harder to motivate myself to cook for just one person. But I’m working on that. I’m collecting recipes that are easy to freeze in batches (ie chili) so that I can keep things ready for nights when I don’t feel like dirtying up my kitchen. AND, my coworkers love to have pitch ins so keep your eyes open for potluck recipes!

I’ve put up a Subscribe button in the sidebar. Since I’m not posting as often, I thought I’d enable email notifications so you guys will know when I DO post! Make sure you go sign up!

Our company is switching security companies, which means our long time guard is leaving us. So on Thursday, her last day, we had a breakfast pitch in to say goodbye. It was a last-minute announcement, and I had to babysit my cousin Wednesday night, so I needed something easy to throw together. This fit the bill. I made the batter before I left, and just threw it in the fridge while I sat, then popped it in the oven for an hour when I got home. It went over REALLY well. As in, everyone devoured it.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Adapted from Sugar Plum

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 ripe mashed bananas
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2 Tbsp melted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9 inch loaf pan.

In mixing bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In another bowl, mash together bananas, peanut butter, butter, sugar, and brown sugar until well mixed. (I left mine a little lumpy, so you could taste the banana in the bread.) Add eggs, vanilla and milk.

Add wet ingredients to dry, stir until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Pour into loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until toothpick comes out clean (excluding the melted chocolate chips of course).

I won’t torture you any more… October 3, 2009

If you’ve been following me on Twitter today, you are probably going crazy! I’ve been torturing you with this one all day, even posting a different recipe midday, while Tweeting about how good this bread was smelling! How mean am I?

Well, no fear, my friends, here is the long awaited recipe (if one afternoon can count as long awaited).

This bread is pretty good, although it needs a bit more salt, maybe a little vanilla. I had frozen my bananas, maybe that had something to do with the blandness? And I think I would like to use the whole jar of nutella, instead of just 1/2 cup. I figure if you’re going to add nutella to banana bread, why not use the whole jar??? Unfortunately I only had half a jar left.

Also, I’m not sure how the whole jar would mess with the chemistry of baking. Anyone have thoughts on that? I’m no scientist.

Banana Nutella Bread

From Barbara Bakes (I didn’t change this one at all, this one is allllllll Barbara. Fantastic job!)

1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 3 small)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup low fat sour cream

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup Nutella (I melted it a bit in the microwave to make it easier to work with)

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; whisk together until well mixed.

Combine flour and next 3 ingredients in separate bowl.

Add flour mixture to banana mixture, stirring just until moistened.

Spoon 1/2 batter into a loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Add 1/2 Nutella in dollops. Swirl a bit, then top again with remaining batter. Add rest of Nutella in dollops on top. Swirl again.

Bake for 1 hour and 5 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in pan on wire rack. Remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.

Cheesy Baked Tortellini and Garlic Cheese Bread October 2, 2009

J. told me today when I was home for lunch that he was craving alfredo. I wasn’t feeling that, instead I decided to make a tomato cream sauce. He never knows what is going to taste good anyway hehe! This was great Italian-style comfort food. Simple, but delicious! Great for a quiet night at home. The only thing that irritated me about this meal was that the two recipes called for two different oven temperatures. However, we only left the bread in for about 5 minutes, so I think it would be ok at 350.

Cheesy Baked Tortellini

Adapted From Lovestoeat Weblog

Olive Oil

1 cup marinara sauce

1 cup cream

1/3 cup mascarpone cheese

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup chopped basil

1 tsp dried thyme

1 lb cheese tortellini

2 oz thinly sliced fresh mozzarella

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil an 8 by 8 by 2 inch baking dish (I used a 1 qt Corelle dish).

Whisk the sauce, cream, mascarpone cheese, and herbs in a large bowl.

Cook the tortellini in boiling salted water until just tender, about 2 minutes. Drain. Add to the sauce and toss to coat.

Add the tortellini mixture to the prepared baking dish. Top with mozzarella and Parmesan.

Bake until sauce bubbles and cheeses on top melt and just brown, about 30-40 minutes.

Garlic Cheese Bread

Adapted from Pioneer Woman

8 slices white bread (PW called for French Bread but I didn’t have any)

1/4 stick butter

1/4 cup cheddar cheese, grated

1/4 cup Monterey jack cheese, grated

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup Mayo

1 green onion, minced

Dash of salt

1 clove garlic, minced

Mix cheeses with mayo and onion. Add salt to taste and set aside.

Melt 1/4 of the butter in skillet and add 1/4 of the garlic.

Place 2 slices bread in the skillet, swirling to soak up the butter and garlic. Allow bread to toast in the skillet, removing garlic if it starts to get too brown. (I didn’t do this, and it did taste a little burnt.)

Repeat with remaining butter, garlic and bread.

Spread cheese mixture on bread and bake in 425 degree oven for 10 minutes (again, I think you could use a 350 degree oven for 5-10 minutes), until cheese is hot and bubbly.

Served this with Yellow Tail Merlot (Jordan drank some kind of weird beer *shakes head*)