Blueberry Banana Bread

Last month, I hosted a Pampered Chef party at my house.  We had alot of fun, with good friends and good  food!  The consultant made a really yummy mango salsa to start with, and then she showed us how to dress up chicken breasts with Pampered Chef spices.  I made this delicious Blueberry Banana Bread (in my Pampered Chef stoneware loaf pan), and my Roasted Beet and Pear Salad.  Everybody had a great time, and I got many requests for the bread recipe, so I thought I would share it with you all too! :)

I also wanted to thank everybody who came to the party, and everybody who ordered even if they couldn't make it.  Because of you guys, and the awesome hostess bonus that Pampered Chef offered in July, I got a whopping $440 worth of free products!!!  I also bought a couple of the bigger items at a discounted price, so I ended up with almost a whole new kitchen! :)  Here's a picture of all the stuff I got.  So thanks again!

Now for the bread recipe.  I have tried several banana bread recipes...some good and some not so good. :)  But this one is the best one I have made.  It's always gone in just a day or two!  It's delicious warm or cold, plain or slathered with butter! (That's the way I like it! :D)

Blueberry Banana Bread

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 medium bananas, mashed

1 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350°. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.  In another bowl, cream the shortening and sugar.  Add eggs and vanilla; mix well.  Stir in the bananas.  Slowly add the dry ingredients, and mix until just evenly moistened.  Gently fold in the blueberries.  Pour into a greased loaf pan.  Bake for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Remove to wire rack to cool.  Slice, slather with butter, and devour! ;)

P.S.  This is also a really fun recipe to make with your kids!  Chance loves to help me make this...and eat it! :)

Whole Wheat Sweet Potato Muffins

The other day I saw on Facebook that the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission is having a Bloggers Recipe Contest for the best sweet potato recipes!  My family loves sweet potatoes!  We eat them baked, grilled, fried, in pancakes...well, just about any way!  This morning I was wanting some muffins, so I came up with this yummy (and healthy) recipe for whole wheat sweet potato muffins.  They were a big hit, especially with my four year old son, who helped make them!

Sweet potatoes give them a healthy kick, a yummy sweet flavor, and pretty orange color!  I used half whole wheat flour and half unbleached all purpose flour.  Greek yogurt adds moisture and more protein.  And I used maple syrup instead of highly processed white sugar.  I think these turned out to be a great start to a day!  And definitely kid approved!

Whole Wheat Sweet Potato Muffins

1 cup cooked and mashed sweet potatoes

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

1/2 cup maple syrup

2 eggs

1/4 cup melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Topping:

2 tablespoons melted butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 375°.  In a large mixing bowl, mix together the sweet potatoes, yogurt, maple syrup, eggs, butter and vanilla.  In another mixing bowl mix together the flours, baking soda and cinnamon.  Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients.  Stir until just moistened.  Grease two muffin pans and fill each cup half full with batter.  In a small mixing bowl, mix topping ingredients together.  Sprinkle the topping onto each of the muffins.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Makes 24 muffins.

* I added this recipe to "Sweets for a Saturday" at the Sweet as Sugar Cookies Blog.  Check out all the great recipes at http://sweet-as-sugar-cookies.blogspot.com/2011/02/sweets-for-saturday-6.html!

* I added this recipe to "Seasonal Sundays" at the Real Sustenance Blog.  Lots more great seasonal recipes at http://realsustenance.com/seasonal-sunday-02-27-11/!

Old Fashioned Molasses Taffy

I have read books and heard stories about old-fashioned taffy pulling parties.  Folks used to get together on a winter night and make molasses taffy.  It was quite an occasion for the young people, because they got to pull taffy with their sweethearts. :)  The teens used to try to make the fanciest designs and sometimes even their initials with the taffy.

Last night I was trying to think of something fun to do, and remembered the stories about pulling taffy.  So I thought we would try it!  I found some salt water taffy recipes, but I wanted to make the old fashioned molasses kind.  I also wanted it to be a little more flavorful than just plain molasses so I added some spices.  The way this recipe turned out, it tastes a bit like a ginger molasses cookie.  Delicious!  And also very sweet and sticky! :)

You will want at least a couple people there to pull the taffy.  The more the merrier!  This is great for older kids and adults, but the taffy gets kind of hard for little tykes to pull after a while!  This would be great fun for a party!

Old Fashioned Molasses Taffy

2 cups sugar

1 cup molasses

1/4 cup water

2 teaspoons white vinegar

3/4 teaspoon ginger (optional)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

First, lightly grease a baking sheet, or pan.  Make sure it has edges on it.  Set it aside.  Mix first 4 ingredients, plus spices if wanted, in a large saucepan.  Bring to a boil.  Continue to boil and use a candy thermometer to bring the mixture up to about 260º F, the hard ball stage.  If you drop a bit of the candy into a glass of cold water, it should form a hard ball that isn't easily squishable.

  Remove from the heat and stir in butter and baking soda.  This will make the candy bubble up and lighten in color.  Pour the candy onto the prepared pan.  Let it cool for about 10 minutes or so, or until you can touch it without being burned.  As soon as it is cool enough to touch, divide the taffy so everybody gets a chunk, and pull away!  You might want to butter your fingers so it doesn't get so sticky! You'll want to keep stretching it out and folding it back on itself for about 15 to 20 minutes.  When the taffy gets stiff and harder to pull, make a rope and cut it into bite sized pieces.  Wrap each piece with wax paper.  Now you have a bunch of great candy to eat (if you've got a real sweet tooth), or to share with others!

I didn't get pictures of it because my hands were all sticky, but when you are pulling the taffy, it looks like spun gold.  It's such a beautiful metalic looking color, but once you stop pulling it just turns brown again.  Try it out and see for yourself!  Make some memories with your family or friends! :)



Pecan Pumpkin Bars

Fall is definitely here.  We finally had a chilly night last night, and I had to dig in to my cool weather clothes!  I know y'all up north already got snow, but cold weather down here is something to get excited about...at least for me! :)

We took Chance to a pumpkin patch last night to let him pick out a pumpkin.  The patch wasn't too exciting, just a bunch of pumpkins tossed out on a hay strewn lawn, but it was the closest thing we had.  He couldn't make up his mind, so we ended up with three pumpkins that I am going to process and freeze for future use. 

Like making these little treats...

Like I said last week, Chance found a recipe for an old fashioned pumpkin pie in a magazine and wanted to make it.  (He is already reading cookbooks, etc..."Mmm, this looks good!", "This is making me hungry!", "Mommy, I want to make this!")  So we ended up making a pumpkin pie, and had extra filling.  I created these yummy pecan pumpkin bars that are kind of a combination of pumpkin pie and pecan pie.  These would be great to bring to a fall get-together!

Pecan Pumpkin Bars

Crust:

 2 cups flour
1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar

Filling:

2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 cup pureed pumpkin
1/2 tablespoon corn starch
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup millk
1/2 cup cream

Topping:

1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons melted butter


Mix crust ingredients together. Press into an ungreased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes or until lightly brown. Remove from oven. Mix eggs, sugar, molasses, and pumpkin together. In a seperate bowl, mix dry ingredients together. Add to the pumpkin mixture. Add milk and cream. Pour over crust. Mix together topping ingredients. Sprinkle over pumpkin mixture. Bake at 350° for 30 to 40 minutes, or until mixture has set.  It is normal for the topping to bubble up, and it will set back down when it cools.

These are really yummy when they are still warm from the oven!  And they are good cold too. :)  I keep them in the fridge, because they are made with eggs.  I hope you enjoy them!  Happy fall!

Buttermilk Biscuits!

     After making Peach Cantaloupe Butter yesterday, I just had to make some biscuits to go with it!  I have tried for years to find a good biscuit recipe.  A lot that I tried just didn't quite stack up.  So after looking at many recipes, and modifying them, I created this one.  I haven't been disappointed yet!  Someone told me that these biscuits are like the ones their grandmother used to make!  Biscuits are also a great recipe to make with your kids!  Chance loves to help me mix the ingredients, and then cut them out!

Buttermilk Biscuits

2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
2/3 cup buttermilk

Mix all dry ingredients together.  Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Add milk all at once; stir until moistened.  Turn dough out onto a lightly flour surface.  Knead for 10 to 12 strokes or until nearly smooth.  Pat to a 1/2 inch thickness and cut with a floured biscuit cutter.  Place biscuits 1 inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet.  Bake at 450° for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden.

Make Your Own Finger Paints

Chance and I had an afternoon with not much to do, so I decided to make him some finger paints. I looked up several recipes, but I decided on a cooked one since I figured that would have a smoother texture.  It ended up a little thicker than I had hoped, so next time I might add a little more water.

Chance had so much fun helping me make the paints and add the coloring, not to mention painting!

And even though the paint was a little thick, it made wonderful squishy goo to squeeze between his fingers!

I even had fun trying a little artwork.  :)

Fingerpaint

1/2 cup cornstarch

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups cold water

food coloring

In a suacepan, combine all ingredients except the food coloring.  Cook and stir over medium-low heat until paint thickens and becomes opaque.  This can take 10 to 15 minutes.  You don't want to turn the heat too high.  Remove from stove and cool.  When it's cool, divide if you wish to make different colors.  Add food coloring as desired.  I added about 5 drops per color.  Have fun!

Another thing about this paint is that it is very washable!  And every mother knows that's a very good thing! :)

Strawberry Shortcake!

Recently, Chance and I checked out this book from the library.

It is a super cute book...basically, the great-grandson of the Little Red Hen decides he is sick of chicken feed, and wants something different.  So he finds his great-granny's cookbook and decides to make strawberry shortcake...with the help of a turtle, an iguana and a pig.  The book has the recipe, and cooking tips, along with the hilarious story.  So Chance and I decided to try out the recipe!

He had alot of fun helping measure out the ingredients and stir them together.   We had a great time in the kitchen together...even tho we made a bit of a mess. :)  It's a very simple recipe for kids of all ages to help with, or even do themselves!

 

I'm going to share the recipe, but I recommend getting the book also if you have kids!  It's a great way to bond with your kids, and they love the feeling of making something!  When they can relate to the funny characters in the book, it's even more fun!

Great Granny's Magnificent Strawberry Shortcake

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter (one stick)

1 egg, beaten

2/3 cup milk

3 to 4 cups strawberries, washed and sliced

whipped cream

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.  Sift flour, then sift together dry ingredients.  Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Add egg and milk, stirring by hand just enough to moisten.  Spread dough in greased 8 x 1 1/2 inch round pan. building up edges slightly.  Bake for 15 to 18 minutes.  Remove cake from pan; cool on rack for 5 minutes.  Split into two layers; lift top off carefully.  Alternate layers of cake, whipped cream, and strawberries, ending with strawberries on top.

The cake turned out just right!

 Not high in sugar, which I love.  But if you have a sweet tooth you can always add more sugar.

Enjoy your cake!

Note: This recipe is taken from the book Cook-A-Doodle-Doo by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel



Click on the link to the left to buy this book from Amazon.com now!