Revisited

One of the drawbacks of having posted over 100 recipes is that I've shared with you most of the stuff I make on a regular basis. Last week I made nothing new. Not one thing. So I thought I would share what I made and maybe you will find a recipe you never read about before or one that you forgot about. I remembered to take new pictures of some of them.

Every two weeks I make my granola bars. They are healthy, delicious, and great treats in my kids' (and hubby's) lunch sacks. Sometimes the girls will even have a second one as an after school snack. I love that I know every ingredient that does into these bars.




One of my all-time favorite dinners is Lemon Chicken. I love it so much that we ate it all before I could take a picture. If you haven't tried it yet, give it a shot!

For dinner one night we had Meatloaf and Roasted Green Beans. Both sooooo good. Sometimes I like to change it up and use orange, yellow, or red peppers instead of green in the meatloaf. I didn't put any of it into muffin cups this time, though.



Friday night I made Whole Wheat Pizza. Except this time I used all white whole wheat and I think it's even better than my original recipe! We decorated the pizzas with pepperoni, red peppers, and lots of mozzarella. Bubba added banana peppers to his. The posted recipe makes four individual pizza crusts. Try it this weekend!

I also made my Healthier Banana Bread and Zucchini Muffins. Again I used all white whole wheat. I almost never use even the smallest amount of white flour anymore. The girls have state-wide standardized testing this week. Banana bread and zucchini muffins made with whole wheat, low fat, healthy ingredients are the perfect breakfast food to keep them full until lunch. Have you ever tried to take a test while your stomach is rumbling? It's so hard to concentrate! I load them up with bread and a glass of sugar-free Carnation Instant Breakfast for the protein.



March is strawberry season in Florida and last Saturday we made our annual trek to the Plant City Strawberry Festival.





From 11am to 5pm on Sunday Tink and I washed, hulled, sliced, and mashed three full flats of strawberries!



Yep, three of those. We made enough low-sugar jam to last until next year.




We also put away in the freezer a few containers of strawberries ready for shortcake. And we ate A LOT of strawberries. Tink was such a huge help!! But the best thing about making jam with her was the talking. She talked about school, politics, religion, boys *shudder*, her friends, you name it we talked about it. It was, in every sense of the word, awesome.

Of course for dessert that night we had to have Strawberry Shortcake with real whipped cream. No chemical whip will ever sully my shortcake! It was also awesome. :) (Oh, and I used all white whole wheat in the shortcakes.)



But first, for dinner Sunday we had Sunday Roast.

Give one of these recipes a try!

Enjoy!!

Healthier Banana Bread

Bananas ripen so quickly here in Florida. We seem to get only three days before I have to put them in the fridge to stop them from ripening further. And then a lot of times we forget about them. I blame my fridge--I hate it and complain about it daily. It's one of those horrid side-by-side things, but it was brand spanking new when we moved into this house 5 years ago and I can't justify replacing it just because it has space issues. The side-by-side fridges are deep but narrow making it impossible to find anything because everything is shoved to the back and covered by what's in front. So I end up buying doubles and triples of products and...I could go on and on. I. Hate. My. Fridge. But I love banana bread, which I make often because, well, see above. I've tried to healthy-up the recipe since we eat so much of it.

You will need:

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups white flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter (Smart Balance!!)
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs (or egg substitute)
4 overripe bananas
cinnamon (to taste)
one loaf pan



In a small bowl, combine flours, baking soda, and salt--set aside. In a large bowl, mash the bananas. I use my Kitchen Aid stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Add butter and applesauce and mix together. (I made this recipe with cinnamon applesauce once because we were out of unsweetened and it was really good, so any applesauce will do.)



Add sugar and cinnamon, mix, then add eggs one at a time. I don't measure cinnamon in my recipes, I just shake it out until it looks right. Add to your taste, but I suggest about a tsp or so.



Now gently add your flours and stir. You can use a spatula or wooden spoon for this step if you are worried about overmixing. Stir until just combined--you don't want your bread to be tough.





Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes or until center is baked.





If you are worried that your oven temperature is not accurate then bake this bread at 325 until the center is baked. A common complaint about quick breads is that the centers are still raw while the sides are overdone, which is most often caused by an oven that is too hot. If it happens, you can tent some foil over the top until the center is done. Another cause of a raw middle is a pan that is too small. Make sure your loaf pan is large enough--if you are unsure, make 2! A crack down the middle of the bread is perfectly normal.


Let cool for 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack and then turn out.



Banana bread is better is wrapped overnight and eaten the next day. But who does that?? We love our banana bread hot from the oven and smothered in butter.



To add a punch of extra flavor try adding 1 tsp of banana extract. I do that sometimes (when I'm not out of extract). I love it with or without!



One final note: the more whole wheat you use, the drier the bread. White flour keeps bread moist and tender. If you insist on using all whole wheat, up your fat in the recipe (at least 2 more T butter). Your bread will be denser and much less tender, but still tasty!

Enjoy!!

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