Easy Banana Muffins with Chocolate Chips

• PREP 10mins
• COOK 25mins
• TOTAL 35mins

For the best banana muffins, use very ripe bananas. In fact if you can wait a day for browned, overripe and speckled bananas, they are even better. Just before baking, we throw in mini chocolate chips. You could leave them out or swap for regular chocolate chips or fruit like blueberries or strawberries.

Approximately 16 muffins

YOU WILL NEED

5 tablespoons (70 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

1 1/2 cups (190 grams) all purpose flour

1/2 cup (50 grams) packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

3 ripe medium bananas, mashed with a fork, about 1 1/4 cups mashed

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup (130 grams) mini or regular-size chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line muffin cups with paper liners. This recipe makes more than 12 muffins, so you will need to bake in batches.

Whisk the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.

In another bowl, whisk the melted butter, mashed banana, egg, and vanilla until blended.

Add the banana mixture to the bowl with dry ingredients then use a fork to combine. Do not over mix. Stir in chocolate. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake until a toothpick can be inserted and comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.

AUTHOR: Adam and Joanne Gallagher

 

Hearty Butternut Squash Soup

By Taste of Home

Ingredients

• 1 pound bulk Italian sausage
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 medium sweet red pepper, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large butternut squash (about 5 pounds), peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 package (16 ounces) frozen corn, divided
• 4 cups water
• 1 tablespoon chicken base
• 2 cans (15-1/2 ounces each) great northern beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 cans (14-1/2 ounces each) fire-roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• Heavy whipping cream and minced fresh parsley, optional

Directions

• In a stockpot, cook sausage, onion and red pepper over medium heat 9-11 minutes or until sausage is no longer pink and onion is tender, breaking up sausage into crumbles. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside; discard drippings.
• Add squash, 1-1/2 cups corn, water and chicken base to same pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, 15-20 minutes or until squash is tender.
• Remove soup from heat; cool slightly. Process in batches in a blender until smooth. Return to pot. Add beans, tomatoes, salt, pepper, sausage mixture and remaining corn; heat through. If desired, drizzle servings with cream and sprinkle with parsley.
  Freeze option: Freeze cooled soup in freezer containers. To use, partially thaw in refrigerator overnight. Heat through in a saucepan, stirring occasionally and adding a little water if necessary.

Nutrition Facts

1-1/2 cups: 327 calories, 13g fat (4g saturated fat), 29mg cholesterol, 937mg sodium, 44g carbohydrate (8g sugars, 11g fiber), 13g protein.

CHICKEN AND VEGETABLE STIR-FRY

This is from mccormick .com

INGREDIENTS

8 Servings

• 1 can (14 1/2 ounces) chicken broth
• 1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce  
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon McCormick® Garlic Powder
• 1 teaspoon McCormick® Ground Ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon McCormick® Crushed Red Pepper, optional
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips
• 1 cup broccoli florets
• 1 cup thinly sliced carrots
• 1 cup red bell pepper strips
• 1 cup sugar snap peas

Instructions

1.  Mix broth, soy sauce, cornstarch, sugar, garlic powder, ginger and crushed red pepper in small bowl until smooth. Set aside.

2.  Heat oil in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken in several batches; stir fry 5 minutes until cooked through. Remove from skillet. Repeat with remaining chicken, adding additional oil if needed. Add vegetables to skillet; stir fry 3 minutes. Return chicken to skillet.

3.  Stir soy sauce mixture. Add to skillet; stirring constantly, bring to boil on medium heat and boil 1 minute or until sauce is slightly thickened. Serve with cooked rice, if desired.

We have been cooking this recipe with a variety of vegetables and lost the recipe.  I found it again and decided to post it here for safe keeping.

15 Minute Honey Garlic Chicken

Ingredients

2 tsp olive oil
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but into small cubes
Salt and Pepper
3 T. honey
3 T. soy sauce
3 cloves of garlic
Steamed rice and side vegetable to complete your meal

Instructions

1.  Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat
2.  Lightly season the cubed chicken with salt and pepper.
3.  Add the chicken to the skillet and brown on one side, about 3-4 minutes.
4.  Meanwhile, make the glaze.  Whisk the honey, soy sauce, and garlic in a small bowl until well combined.
5.  Add the sauce to the pan and toss to coat the chicken pieces.  Cook until chicken is cooked through, 4-5 minutes more.
6.  Served with steamed rice and a side vegetable.

Mrs. Stier's Homemade Italian Bread Dough

This was shared to me by my sister Allison Yanda, Mrs. Stier was like a second mom to my BIL, Ray.  It was shared as a YouTube video on Mama's Cookbook channel under the title Mama's Homemade Italian Bread.  I made this very large recipe and used it for two pizza crusts, to pie pans of rolls and a small French Bread loaf.  If you don't need that much dough you can cut the recipe in half.  I like being able to make the dough for several meals worth of crust/bread all in one recipe.

Ingredients

5 1/2 cups warm water

7 teaspoons yeast

2 T. Sugar

5 pounds of flour (roughly 17 cups of flour)

2 T. Salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup olive oil

Directions

In a bowl pour 5 1/2 cups warm water and add the yeast ans sugar

In a 7-8 qt. mixing bowl mix together 5# of flour, salt, eggs, olive oil.

Make a hole in the center and add the yeast mixture.

Mix together with a spoon and then finish the mixing with your hands.

Cover it with plastic wrap and a towel and let it rest 20-30 minutes.

At the end of that time, pour it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it, return it to the bowl and cover again with plastic wrap and towel for 20 minutes.  Do this two more times for a total of 1 hour.  

Now your dough is ready to do any of the following:

1/2 the dough will make two 9X13 baking sheet pizzas

You can roll them into 2 oz. balls for rolls

You can make breadsticks

You can form them into french bread loaves
form them and let them rise until double in size

You can use a bread pan and bake a traditional style bread.

Bake at 425 for about 20 minutes  for rolls/bread

For the pizza, 450 for about 15 minutes.

An interesting note about her pizza...she pressed pieces of uncooked Italian sausage squeezed out of the casing into the pizza dough, then added a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese and some onion before adding the sauce on top.  She said you could bake it right  like that, but she went on to add more parmesean and mozzarella.  I am going to add some spinach and basil and grilled chicken on top of the sauce as I do with my grilled pizza and see how it turns out.

*Note:  I tried the uncooked sausage and was not satisfied with the results  I will precook my sausage in the future.  

French Bread Recipe

• From The Spruce Eats
• Found by Natasha for Zoe
• 
  
• Total: 50 mins

• Prep: 20 mins
• Cook: 30 mins
• Rise Time: 105 mins
• Yield: 2 loaves (20 servings)

Preheat Oven: to 400*F 

Ingredients:

2 cups warm water (95 F to 110 F), 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast, 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 teaspoons salt, 5 1/2 cups bread flour (approximately) (all purpose flour works too), Optional: 1 large egg white (lightly beaten), Optional: sesame seeds or poppy seeds

Directions:
1 gather ingredients, 2 In a large bowl, combine water, yeast, sugar, and salt. Stir until dissolved. 3 Mix in flour, a little at a time, until a soft dough is formed. 4 Turn dough out onto a floured board and knead it for about 8 minutes. (or the 1st time i made it i kneaded it in the bowl…) 5 Put the dough in a greased bowl and flip the dough over so that all of the dough including the dough top is lightly greased. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for about 1 hour or until double in size. 6 punch down the dough 7 give the dough a quick 2 min knead 8 Divide the dough into 2 equal halves. Shape each half into a long loaf. 9 Place loaves onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Make about 5 diagonal slits, 3/4-inch deep, into the top of each loaf. 10 Cover loaves and let rise for 45 minutes or until double in size. 11 While the dough is proofing again, heat the oven to 400 F. 12 Optional: Brush the loaves with beaten egg white for a shiny crust, and sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds. 13 Bake at 400 F for 5 minutes. 14 Remove loaves from oven and use a mister to lightly spray the tops of loaves with cold water. 15 Turn oven down to 350 F and bake loaves for another 25 minutes or until done. 16 Remove loaves from baking sheet and let cool on a rack.

Natasha's Blue Ribbon Carrot Cake
When Natasha (age 27 now) was I think 9, she entered this cake in the AV Fair's bake off competition.  She has used the Carrot Cake recipe from the Better Homes and Garden cookbook, but asked me if we could add more carrots and not put raisins in it because she didn't like raisins, but add walnuts because she did like those.  As it turned out, the carrots gave it moisture and the the judge's loved that as well as appreciating the raisin free recipe as many of them did  not care for them either.  She took 1st place and the money prize that went with it.  It's always better when she makes it, but the recipe card I have it written on was fading, so I thought I'd better capture it here.

Ingredients
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
3+ cups shredded carrots
1 cup cooking oil
4 eggs
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions
In a bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.  Add carrots, oil and eggs.  Beat with an electric mixer until combined.  Stir in the cup of chopped walnuts.  Pour into two greased round baking pans.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 - 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool on wire racks for 10 minutes.  Remove the cakes from the pans.  Cool thoroughly on racks before frosting.

She made a 2-tiered round cake with homemade cream cheese frosting for the competition.  We typically buy the cream cheese frosting already made now and sometimes just bake it in a rectangular baking pan and frost it right in the pan.  It's a favorite with my mom for her birthday every June, but these days, I have more time to make it than Natasha, so it's always extra special when we get her to bake it.