Most Amazing Banana Bread Recipe

When I was little and my mom and dad would take me to the Farmer's Market, one thing we would often get was banana bread. Oh gosh, that banana bread was so so good! Soft, moist, delicious, amazing yumminess. That's the best way to describe that banana bread.

Well, I got back from Girls' Camp on Friday and we had 15 leftover bananas, and my husband had the great idea to make some banana bread. And it turned out amazing. So, here's the recipe I used. {original found here}

Best Banana Bread

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• Ingredients:

• 1/2 c of butter, softened

• 3/4 c of brown sugar

• 2 eggs

• 2 1/3 c of mashed overripe bananas (I used 4)

• 1 t vanilla

• 2 c of flour {I used whole wheat and it turned out great}

• 1 t baking soda

• 1 t cinnamon

• 1/4 t salt

• 1/4 t nutmeg

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and brown sugar {this may take a little while, don't stop when they are blended. You want it to be a light shade of brown}. 

2. Add the eggs, bananas, and vanilla to your sugar mixture and mix together. In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients {flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg}. 

3. Add your dry ingredient combination to your banana mixture and stir until it combines. It should be thicker, but still slightly soupy {very very slightly}.

4. Coat a 9x5 bread pan with cooking spray and pour mixture in. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until knife comes out clean {when you insert it into the middle that is}. Take out of oven and eat with lots of butter. Mmm, so yummy.

Note: If you do not have a bread pan, try using a muffin tin and bake for only 40 minutes.

Try it, you won't regret it!

Meatless March Meal #9: Grilled Zucchini

For our Sunday dinner this past week, we didn't really do anything too fancy. We just had grilled zucchini & grilled asparagus, fresh garden salad, and rosemary-garlic mashed potatoes {yum!}. It was so healthy and delicious and we both left dinner feeling so good.

Grilled Zucchini & Grilled Asparagus

Ingredients }} prep time: 5 minutes }} grill time: 5-10 minutes

Olive Oil

Kosher salt {you can use regular salt, but kosher salt is much better}

Asparagus

Zucchini, quartered

1. Pour olive oil and salt into ziploc bag with zucchini and asparagus. Shake bag until the asparagus and zucchini and asparagus are covered with salt and oil.

2. Grill the vegetables {asparagus for about 5; zucchini for about 10}. 

 Rosemary-Garlic Mashed Potatoes

  

Ingredients }} total time: 30 minutes (approx)

Potatoes {we used 8 yellow potatoes and it made a lot}

Crushed garlic

1 T rosemary

1 t baking powder

Warmed milk

1. Boil potatoes until soft. Drain. Put into mixer safe bowl {aka, not a pot with stuff that can come off}

2. Pour baking powder, garlic, and 1/4 c warmed milk into bowl. Use hand mixer until mashed and creamy. Add more milk if you so desire {I probably ended up using 1 1/2 cups, but that is a total guess, but it was very good}. Once potatoes are creamed to your liking, add rosemary {I just poured some in, I didn't measure, so this is a guess as well, but you don't need a lot!!}

Garden Salad

  
Ingredients }} total time: 10 minutes
Romaine lettuce
Tomatoes
Onions
Carrots
Cucumbers
Any other vegetable you like

1. Cut up all ingredients, put in a bowl, and serve {easiest recipe ever :) }

Meatless March: Lunch!

Sometimes I make my husband eat leftovers for lunch. Sometimes I make him a PB&J sandwich. And sometimes I make him this :)

Veggie Cream Cheese Sandwich

Ingredients
Cream Cheese {I used Chive & Onion)
Cucumber
Tomatoes
Green peppers
Avocado
Spinach
1. Spread cream cheese on bread. Cut up veggies and make sandwich. The end.

Pretty easy and pretty tasty. Jordan thought it would be good with cheese too, so if you love cheese, I'm sure it would be great with some.

Meatless March: Side Dish #3: Cooked asparagus

When I was little, one of my favorite vegetables {yes, I have always loved most vegetables} was asparagus, but we didn't have it very often {that's probably why it was one of my favorites--what's the saying? Absense makes the heart grow fonder?}.

So fast forward. I saw some asparagus at the store and decided it would be a good vegetable for dinner, but I had NO idea how to cook it! I know you can steam it or cook it on the stove, but I didn't know what I needed to do.

So {of course} I turned to Google and found this -- a super simple and incredibly fast way to cook asparagus. AND it came out perfect!

So here it is. {Okay, here is my shortened version. Check out the full thing {aka how to do it right} on the website.}

Amazingly Short and Superbly Simple Asparagus

Ingredients prep time: 2 min }} cook time: 2:30 min
Asparagus
1 T Water

1. Cut off bottom part of asparagus {anything not green pretty much; you can also break it and find where it is naturally tough}. Put spears into a microwave-safe dish {as many as you want to have for dinner}. Pour in water.

2. Cover with plastic wrap, leaving a small opening. Microwave {yup, that's right!} for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. {If you like it more tender, add 30 seconds or so.}

3. Eat and enjoy!