Happy blogiversary to me :)

Well it’s officially been a year since I started blogging again. Thanks to my readers and pinners who have visited my site. I have a couple new recipes to share. First one of my favorite things to eat. Chicken Chow Mein. Since moving to Oklahoma I haven’t been able to find a good Chinese restaurant. If anybody knows a good 0ne in the Lawton/Fort Sill area I would really appreciate the suggestion. Anyway, since I get a hankering for Chinese quite often I decided to add another recipe to the mix. The other one that I make is this orange chicken. Orange chicken is my husbands favorite and I really only make it when he’s here to eat it. Don’t get me wrong I like it too but it’s not on my short list when we go out for Chinese.

Ingredients:
source: Favorite Family Recipes

2-3 Boneless Chicken Breast

1/4 c. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. fresh ginger, grated
ground black pepper, to taste
2-3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
3 (5.6 oz) packages refrigerated Yaki Soba noodles (found in the produce section of the grocery store) (or you can find the dried Yaki Soba noodles. They are cheaper but you do have to cook them according to the package)
2/3 c. chopped celery (chopped diagonally)
1 medium-sized onion, thinly sliced
2 c. cabbage, thinly sliced

Directions

In a small bowl combine soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger and black pepper. Set aside.

Cook or grill chicken with a bit of salt and pepper. When done set aside to add to the noodle mix later. Or you can use leftover chicken from a previous meal.
Remove Yaki Soba from packages and discard included flavoring packets. Rinse noodles well, drain, and set aside.(this is for the Yaki Soba noodles that are already prepared)
Heat oil in a large wok or skillet. Add celery and onion and saute for about 1-2 minutes or until onions start to become soft and transparent. Add cabbage and saute an additional minute or so.
Toss Yaki Soba noodles and soy sauce mixture with the vegetables over medium-high heat for an additional 2-3 minutes or until noodles are heated through. Add cooked chicken and heat just enough to warm it. Not too long or the chicken may dry out. 

 

What’s an anniversary without dessert? I had some really ripe bananas sitting on my counter and what better way to use them. You could make this banana bread or you could make chocolate chip banana cupcakes. The original recipe is one that I found on All Recipes. It was for 2 8 inch cake pans. This makes about 2 1/2 dozen cupcakes.

 

Chocolate Chip Banana cupcakes with Vanilla frosting

source: All recipes

Ingredients

2  1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking soda

1 pinch salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup light brown sugar

2 eggs

4 ripe bananas, mashed

2/3 cup buttermilk

1 pkg. chocolate chips, I used milk chocolate

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 2 – 8 inch round pans. Or prepare cupcake tin with paper liners.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter, white sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in the bananas. Add flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk to the creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour batter into the prepared pans or scoop batter into cupcake tin. Fill 2/3 full with batter.
For cake bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes for cupcakes back for 18-22 minutes or until tooth pick comes out clean and tops are golden brown. Mine took 20 minutes. Allow to cool before frosting cupcakes.

Nothing fancy vanilla frosting

Ingredients: makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes, about 1 cup frosting

2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons milk, I had to use a bit more
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

In a bowl of a mixer combine the sugar, butter, milk and vanilla. Start mixing slowly so that sugar doesn’t go all over the place and then increase speed to medium speed until smooth and fluffy add more milk if needed.

 

Thanks again for an awesome year. I will be posting tomorrow to so you all my latest creation using my new sewing machine.

 

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Cheap and good

Just a quick post. I whipped up a batch of granola today for the kids…oh yeah and me. This is a really easy recipe. The kids love it and it can be altered pretty easily. This picture is of a batch I made in February. I didn’t have any chocolate chips on hand so I added plain M&M’s. I don’t think the kids will mind do you?

Banana Peanut Butter Granola (adapted from Annie-Eats)

3 1/2 c. rolled oats, not quick oats

2 1/2 c. puffed rice cereal, I used rice krispies

2 TBS honey

1/3 c applesauce *

1/3 c mashed bananas

1/3-1/2 c. creamy peanut butter, warmed slightly

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp. cinnamon **

Add-ins: any combo works well

1-1 1/2 c. dried banana chips

1/2 c honey rosted peanuts

3-4oz. bitter sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped, or chocolate chips (any flavor) or M&M’s)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat. In a large bowl combine oats and rice cereal. In a small bowl or 4 cup measuring cup, combine honey, applesauce, bananas, warmed peanut butter, salt, cinnamon and brown sugar. Stir mixture til smooth. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Spread mix evenly onto baking sheets. Bake for 35-45 mins turning granola with a large spatula. Also rotate baking sheets and move the top sheet to bottom rack and visa versa, every 15 minutes or so. If edges of granola are becoming brown remove them and place baking sheet back into oven. Be careful not to burn. I’ve burnt almost a whole batch because I had forgotten to set the timer. Not good. Makes the house stink. Place baking sheet onto cooling rack. Once granola is cooled add in the goodies.

I separate granola into snack sized ziplock bags so that they are ready for snacking or yogurt. Enjoy.

* a single serving size of applesauce snack pack is about 1/3 cup.

** omit cinnamon if you use cinnamon flavored applesauce.

 

Banana Bread

I don’t know what is going on in this house but the last couple of weeks I have bought bananas but nobody seems to be eating them. So what do we do when we have very ripe bananas in the house? Well, make banana bread of course. This is going to be a picture heavy post. I am obsessed with banana bread. Love it! Can’t you tell?

I used the recipe that my sister uses with a few modifications. It turned out so good. Love to eat banana bread with a nice cup of coffee.

 

Banana Bread – heavily adapted from Crust and Crumb

• 8 ounces flour (1 3/4 cup)
• 1/2 TBSP baking powder
• 1  tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6 TBSP butter, room temp
• 8 ounces sugar (6 ounces brown, 2 ounces white), I used 3/4 c Brown and 1/4 c white sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temp
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 11-12 ounces very ripe banana (about three medium), mashed
• 3/4 cup lightly toasted, coarsely chopped walnuts, I omitted this. I don’t like nuts in my bread. yuck! 🙂

Directions –

1. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

2. Using a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or using a hand mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy – about 2 minutes.

3. Mix in eggs one at a time, incorporating each egg before adding the next. Mix in vanilla and continue beating for 2 to 3 minutes until light and fluffy.

4. Mix in 1/3 of the dry ingredients, then 1/3 of the buttermilk, then 1/3 of the mashed bananas. Continue in this manner until all the ingredients are incorporated and the batter is smooth. Stir in walnuts.

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease one 9×5 loaf pan. Bake for 45 minutes then reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake for an additional 15 minutes or until baked through. The safest way of knowing if it is finished is to test them with a probe thermometer. The internal temperature should be 180 – 185 degrees.

6. Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it out on a rack to cool for at least one hour before slicing.