Banana Loaf Bread

I hate throwing out food. In this case, my overripe bananers (how we call bananas at home LOL). I have 4 pieces that I didn't want to go to trash. So, I made this Banana Loaf Bread instead.

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed

1/3 cup melted butter

1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/4 cup raisins (optional)

Directions:

Yield: Makes one loaf.

No need for a mixer for this recipe.

1.Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

2.With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.

3.Mix in the sugar, egg, raisins (optional) and vanilla. 

4.Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in.

5.Add the flour last, mix.

6.Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan.

7.Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Enjoy!

April

Apple Pie

This apple pie recipe is brought to you by my husband's request. Last week, he asked me if I could make him an apple pie for his  colleagues at Scott and White Hospital. And now I finally got a chance to make them. I found this recipe online a long time ago. I printed it out and totally forgot the name of the site where I got it from. So, whoever came up with this easy-peasy-yet-awesome recipe, all credit is for you.

Apple Pie

Ingredients:

Pastry for 2 crusts (recipe below)

8 cups sliced, peeled assorted baking apples - about 3 lbs.  (Granny Smith, Cortland, Jonathan)
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 Tablespoons butter
1 egg yolk
1 Tablespoon milk

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, toss the sliced apples with lemon juice.

2. Combine sugars, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg; add to apples and toss well to coat.

3. Fill pastry lined 9 inch pie pan with apple mixture. Dot with butter.

4. Place second crust on top of pie filling, cut slits in top of crust to vent. Seal the edges of the crust with a fork or by hand.

5. In a small bowl, beat the egg yolk and milk. Brush mixture over top crust.

6. Bake at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes.

7. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F and bake 40-45 minutes more or until crust is golden and filling is bubbly.

Flaky Pastry Pie Crust Recipe

Makes two 9-inch pie crusts

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, chilled and diced
1/2 cup ice water

Directions:

1. Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl.

2. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

3. Stir in the ice water, a Tablespoon at a time, until the crust mixture forms a ball.

4. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

5. Sprinkle flour onto rolling surface. Roll dough out, then divide in half. Roll each half to fit a 9-inch pie plate.

 6. Place crust in pie plate, pressing evenly into the bottom and sides.





April

Quick Dinner Idea: Spaghetti With Italian Sausage and Bacon Wrapped Asparagus

I have lots of chores to do the entire day that by dinner time I've ran out of energy already. So, I have a few quick dinner ideas up my sleeves. Something that's so easy to do but yummy at the same time.

This recipe is very easy, it is literally just tossing things together in the pan and Voila! Dinner!

Spaghetti With Italian Sausage

Ingredients: (serves 2)

A handful of Spaghetti pasta
2 cups of Ragu Pasta Sauce Meat (or any pasta sauce of your choice)
2 Italian Sausage
2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil

Directions:

1. Cook the spaghetti pasta according to the packaging. Drain and set aside.

2. Slice the Italian sausages to bite size and fry them in oil.

4. In a sauce pan put the pasta sauce and add the fried sausages and simmer for 5 minutes.

5. Put the cooked pasta in the serving plate top with sauce and sausage. Garnish with cheese of your choice.

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus

(grilled/oven baked)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs Asparagus spears trimmed to 4-5 inches tips
Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
Black Pepper
Salt
4 slices Bacon

Directions:
1. Preheat oven (if using) to 400 degrees F.

2. Lightly coat asparagus spears with extra-virgin olive oil and season with pepper and salt.

3. Divide the total by four. Gather that number of spears and use the bacon to wrap the bundle and secure the spears together. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.

4. To grill, place bundles on the hot grill and cover. Cook for 10-12 minutes or until the bacon is crisp and asparagus are tender.

For oven preparation, place bundles on slotted broiler pan and bake for 12 minutes.



Enjoy!


April

Nutella Cookies

My babies and I loves Nutella that's why this cookie recipe was a hit to us. Its gooey on the inside and crispy on the outside. Despite the fact that the Nutella itself is sweet already plus the white and brown sugar in the ingredients, the cookies aren't too sweet. It is just perfect. I hate cookies that are too sweet that's why I alter most ingredients on some cookie recipes.:)

To all fellow Nutella lovers, I hope you will love this recipe as much as we do.

Nutella Cookies

Ingredients:

Makes 2 dozens

½ cup of Unsalted Butter at room temperature
½ cup of Brown Sugar
½ cup of Granulated Sugar
1 cup of Nutella
2 Eggs
1 tsp of Vanilla Extract
2 cups of All Purpose Flour
1 tsp of Baking Soda
¼ tsp of Salt
1 Tbsp of Cacao Powder
White Chocolate Chips (optional)

Directions:

1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees, line a few baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

2) In a small bowl, mix together the flour, salt, cocoa powder and baking soda, set aside. 

3) In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and both kinds of sugar. Add the egg, vanilla and nutella and mix to incorporate well.

4) Add the dry ingredients and mix everything together until your dough comes together. 

5) Using a small ice cream scoop, scoop out the cookie dough on your prepared baking sheets a few inches apart.

6) Add the white chocolate chips on the top. (optional)

7) Bake them for about 10 minutes.(they will look very puffy as they bake but they will flatten as they cool)

8) Let them cool completely



Enjoy!



April

Homemade Pizza

This is my first time to make homemade pizza from scratch. It's really fun to make this. I thought it's hard to make the pizza dough but I'm surprised at how easy it was when I did it. Once you get the pizza dough done everything else is just a breeze. I haven't found a good recipe for pizza sauce yet so I used a bottled one. You can put any toppings you like. My kids had some good ol' pepperoni pizza, my husband chose jalapeno and pepperoni on his and I had mushrooms and honey glazed ham on mine.

The kids had so much fun making the pizzas. They helped put the toppings.:) I guess they really hungry already while making it cause they watched the pizza in the oven until it was fully baked.

Pizza Dough Recipe

Ingredients:

Makes 2 14-inch Pizza Crusts

3 1/2 to 4 cups bread flour, plus more for rolling (Note: Using bread flour will give you a much crisper crust. If you can't find bread flour, you can substitute it with all-purpose flour which will give you a chewier crust.)

1 teaspoon sugar

1 envelope instant dry yeast

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 1/2 cups water, 110 degrees F

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus 2 teaspoons

Directions:

Combine the bread flour, sugar, yeast and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and combine. While the mixer is running, add the water and 2 tablespoons of the oil and beat until the dough forms into a ball. If the dough is sticky, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together in a solid ball. If the dough is too dry, add additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead into a smooth, firm ball.

Grease a large bowl with the remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil, add the dough, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in a warm area to let it double in size, about 1 hour. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Cover each with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let them rest for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

April

Homemade Pretzels

This homemade pretzel recipe is super yummy! And as usual this very easy, perfect for my mediocre baking skill. My babies loves it. We had tried different toppings such as pepperoni, cinnamon sugar and my favorite garlic Parmesan cheese.

Cinnamon Sugar and Garlic Parmesan Cheese Pretzels

Homemade Pretzels

Ingredients:
(Makes 10)

• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 1/8 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 1/2 packages)
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 1/8 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup bread flour
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups warm water
• 2 tablespoons baking soda
• To taste, coarse salt
• 2 - 4 tablespoons butter (melted)

Directions:

1.Sprinkle yeast on lukewarm water in mixing bowl; stir to dissolve. Add sugar, salt and stir to dissolve; add flour and knead dough until smooth and elastic. Let rise at least 1/2 hour.

2.While dough is rising, prepare a baking soda water bath with 2 cups warm water and 2 tablespoons baking soda. Be certain to stir often.

3.After dough has risen, pinch off bits of dough and roll into a long rope (about 1/2 inch or less thick) and shape. Dip pretzel in soda solution and place on greased baking sheet. Allow pretzels to rise again. 

4. Brush with melted butter, add toppings (optional. Note: not for Cinnamon Sugar).

5.Bake in oven at 450 for about 10 minutes or until golden.

Toppings:

After you brush with butter try sprinkling with coarse salt.

or Garlic Parmesan Cheese, mix freshly grated Parmesan cheese and garlic powder.

or Once Baked:

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels, try melting a stick of butter in a shallow bowl (big enough to fit the entire pretzel) and in another shallow bowl make a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. Dip the baked pretzel into the butter, coating both sides generously. Then dip again into the cinnamon mixture.

Enjoy!

April

Chocolate Crackle Cookies

This recipe is quick and easy. It is so yummy especially while it is still warm. Great for snacks with a cold drink or just by itself.

Chocolate Crackle Cookies
(Chocolate Crinkles)

Ingredients:
(Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies)

1 box Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Brownie Mix (or any of preference)
1 cup all purpose flour
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup powdered sugar (reserve for coating)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.

2. Place brownie mix, flour, eggs and oi in medium bowl. Stir until blended.

3. Place powdered sugar in a separate bowl.

4. For each cookie, scoop 1 rounded tablespoon dough and place in powdered sugar. Roll dough getly into ball, coating thoroughly with powdered sugar.

5. Place 2 inches apart onto greased cookie sheet.

6. Bake for 11-13 minutes.

Enjoy! 


April