Super Moist Banana Bread

So I have recently been inspired to pick up baking again. When I was in grade school I participated in 4-H and always entered the baking competitions and would make cookies, muffins or cakes. Outside of 4-H I started to make cheesecake and would like to make them for holidays, birthdays or just because. When I went away to college, my desire for baking was replaced with studying and late nights of cramming for exams.

Now that I am settling down and have a home to call my own, I have wanted to pick back up a hobby I loved so much. Something my mother made often for my sister and I growing up was banana bread. I asked my mom for her recipe but she does not have a specific one she follows so I decided to create my own.

 After much research and trial and error I found my super moist banana bread that falls apart in your mouth.

 Hope you all enjoy and don’t be afraid to dust off that mixer and do little experimenting of your own.

Banana Bread

2 ½ cups of all- purpose flour

1 ¼ cup granulated sugar

1 ¼ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 ½ cup applesauce

6 ripe mashed bananas

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Tools: Stand/Hand Mixer

In A Mixing Bowl: Combine first six ingredients.

In A Medium Bowl: Whisk together eggs, applesauce, bananas, and vanilla.

Pour wet ingredients into mixing bowl with dry ingredients, turn on mixer and gently fold ingredients together.

Grease two 8x4 in loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 55 to 65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

(Mini Loaves: I baked four mini loaves at 350 degrees for about 30 to 45 minutes.)

How To: Keep Asparagus Fresh

Growing up, asparagus was a vegetable we did not have often for dinner. On the occasion my mother would buy some, we always seemed to eat it right away or else it would spoil in the fridge. Well I am here to tell you a little secret on how to keep your asparagus fresh, some of you may know this but some may not.

The helpful tip came from a very special lady my family stayed with when our house flooded back in 2010; Mama Betty is her name. She shared this secret with my mother who then passed it down to me.

The secret: You stick the woody/ fibrous ends of the asparagus in water.

  

Simple I know but you must change out the water every couple of days to help keep the asparagus fresh.

Here’s what I do to keep my asparagus fresh.  Take a tall, slender vase or bowl and fill it up with about an inch or two of cold water. With the bunch of fresh asparagus you purchased at the grocery store, clip the ends off about a ¼ of an inch, place in water and put vase/bowl in fridge. You can keep your asparagus for up to a week after purchase in the water.

**Be sure to change out the water every couple of days to ensure the freshness of your asparagus**

Easy Flatbread Pizza

I find myself sometimes in the grocery store looking to see what ingredients I can throw together and create a new dish. A couple of days ago I found myself doing exactly that; I was in Kroger picking up a few things and had walked by the frozen pizza aisle and had a bright idea: pizza!!

Usually, I keep a frozen pizza in the freezer as a quick meal but the downside is sometimes it’s just me at the dinner table and a whole pizza I will never eat. Yes, I know they have personal size pizzas but I never buy them. So as I walked down the pizza aisle I started to look for the ingredients I wanted to use.

I ended up founding some flatbread which you could use pita bread, naan, or even a tortilla if you wanted a crispy crust. For the rest of the pizza I picked up a jar of pizza sauce, a bag of turkey pepperonis, and a bag of pizza cheese. You could very easily make any sort of pizza you prefer but I decided to stick with a red sauce with meat and cheese.  So with my ingredients I whipped up a super easy flatbread pizza…hope you all enjoy my recipe!!

Easy Flatbread Pepperoni Pizza

1 package flatbread, (I used Patissa Savory Garlic & Herb Flatbread), makes 2

1 ½ tbsp. pizza sauce

10 turkey pepperoni slices

¼ cup pizza cheese, (you could use Mozzarella or any other cheese you prefer)

Tools:

Cookie Sheet or a Pizza Stone

Directions:

1)      Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and place your flatbread on cookie sheet/pizza stone

 

2)      Spread your pizza sauce onto the flatbread, then spread out your layer of pepperoni and sprinkle with cheese

3)      Bake in oven for 8 to 10 minutes until cheese if bubbly all over.