Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Pecan Banana Bread

This is one of my FAVORITE recipes that I use pretty much every time I have bananas that don't get eaten in time!

I must credit a majority of this recipe to the famous Paula Deen. About 4 years ago (almost exactly actually), my in-laws and I, along with my FIL's mother, Grandma Angela, took a trip to Savannah, GA -- Not only did I fall in absolute love with Savannah, I fell in love with Paula Deen. For those of you who may not be familiar with Paula or her story, you truly are missing out on one of the South's most inspirational chefs (please see Food Network and Wikipedia for more details). While in Savannah, we had the opportunity of taking the Paula Deen tour (which we did and before that, I had no idea who she was). It was a fantastic little tour, taking us around the city, sharing fun facts about Paula's life, where and how she got her start, her struggles, determination, and dedication, as well as giving us a chance to eat at her brother, Uncle Bubba's, restaurant. One of the items I picked up on that trip was a signed copy of her Kitchen Classics cookbook, which includes both The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook AND The Lady & Sons, Too (one of my all time favorite recipe books). I absolutely LOVE Paula's recipes and I haven't made one that I don't like yet! Unfortunately, her motto "Everything tastes better with butter" adds LOTS of unwanted calories.... so I generally take her recipes and modify them into a healthier version. Here is my semi-healthy version of her Banana Bread recipe (you may want to skip the chocolate chips, but gosh they are so yummy!).

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature (you can sub margarine, but Paula would have a stroke if she knew)

1 cup granulated splenda for baking

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

3 ripe bananas, mashed

1/4 cup crushed pecans (optional)

1/4 cup Nestle Toll house chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. In a mixing bowl, combine the butter and sugar; mix well. Add the salt, eggs, vanilla, flour, baking soda, baking powder, bananas, pecans, chocolate chips, and mix well. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes.

This is a pretty basic recipe and is so delicious. It always gets a 10 (unless, I burn it or something LOL). Try it out for yourselves and be sure to check out many other DELICIOUS recipes from Paula Deen and her family!

Parma Rosa Shrimp Raviolis

Tonight, pasta ala vodka! Oh yah, you heard it correctly, grey goose to be exact!

Ingredients:

1 package Knorr Parma Rosa sauce mix

1 cup milk

1/2 cup buttermilk (or

2 Tbsp Grey Goose Vodka

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 package of Bertolli Four Cheese Raviolis

15 shrimp

Cracked Black Pepper

1/8 tsp garlic powder

In a saucepan, saute deveined and detailed shrimp in butter. Sprinkle with cracked black pepper and garlic powder.

Blend Knorr Parma Rosa sauce mix, milk, buttermilk, and vodka in small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and stir in cheeses. Slimmer until cheese are melted and mixture is thickened about 2 minutes. Add cooked shrimp and stir

Cook pasta according to package.

I served this with a green salad. It was soooo good!!!!! I received a 9 on tonights dinner as well as a "this is the best sauce you have ever made."

I have to say, it was pretty good :) Buon appetite!

Savory Pot Roast

Pot Roast... man's best friend = woman/vegetarian's worst nightmare....

Tonight I decided to make a pot roast. I don't make this kind of thing very often (not sure if ever) so I figured I'd try it out.... not literally of course, simply just the recipe.

Since I got home a bit too late, instead of cooking it in the crock pot, I cooked it in my small roaster in the oven.

Here is the recipe I used for my "Savory Pot Roast"

Ingredients:

1 2 1/2 to 3 lbs boneless chuck roast

1 cup water

6-7 russet potatoes

1/2 Yellow Onion (cut in chunks)

4 stalks of celery, chunked

1 white corn on the cob (broken in half)

1 cup of water

1 tbsp olive oil

1 pkg McCormick Slow Cookers Savory Pot Roast Seasoning

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

To seer the roast, put 1 tbsp olive oil into a frying pan. Place the frying pan on high. Once pan is hot, place roast in the pan. Let cook for about 1 minute and then flip the roast to cook the other side for one minute. After both sides of the roast are brown, place into roaster (or glass pan).

Add vegetables (you can also add carrots -- I just left them out because they are not a household favorite veggie).

In a separate bowl, mix 1 cup of water and Savory Pot Roast Seasoning until well blended.

Pour combined mixture over roast and vegetables. Cover and cook for about 1 hr and 15 minutes or until roast is done until likeness.

Serve and enjoy.

This pot roast was paired with Sutter Home Sweet Road wine (don't ask), but apparently both received 8.5 for flavor! The roast was a bit tough, but the flavor prevailed. I probably could have cooked it for a little less time, but all in all, a successful meal :)