Bundt Pan Banana Bread

My banana bread is doing double duty for dinner tonight!

First of all, it's serving as the centerpiece of the table

 on top of my new "old" breadboard.

I love how huge it is...plenty of room for a large cake plate, serving 

dishes and something to spread on the bread.

Since I'm serving this bread for dessert, I'm replacing

the typical butter with some homemade buttercream frosting.

See that frosting getting all melty?  The bread was still

warm when I ate it.  The cook has to test the food before

it's served, right? ha.

Yum.

Bundt Pan Banana Bread

4 ripe bananas, sliced

1 1/2 c sugar

4 eggs

1 stick of butter, melted

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Mix above ingredients in electric mixer.

In a separate bowl, sift...

3 1/2 c flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

Add the dry ingredients to the mixer, alternating with

1/2 c buttermilk

Mix on low just until combined.

Bake at 350 in a greased bundt pan

for 55-60 minutes.  Toothpick test.

♥

Panettone

We love Panettone and I always pick up a couple of loaves

when it's available at Christmas.  Then after the holidays,

I buy up every loaf I can find when it goes on sale. ha.

We enjoyed some today with fruit and 

cheesy eggs with sausage served along side.  

♥

This And That

1. Drink
2. Eat
3. Bake
4. Sleep
5. Shine
6. Play

♥

One Rise White Bread Recipe

My friends Keith and Becca requested my bread recipe

when I posted these photos the other day.

So here you go!  I think it's about time I make it again myself!

Very quick, easy, and only one rising in the bread pans!

White Bread

In your mixer bowl with paddle attachment or dough hook,

mix the following ~

2 1/2 c hot tap water

1/3 c vegetable oil

1/3 c honey

2 Tablespoons rapid rise yeast

1 egg, room temperature

Separately, whisk 1 Tablespoon of salt and 

6 1/2 cups of all purpose flour.

Add flour mixture to the mixer and mix until dough

leaves the sides of the bowl.  Then let the mixer

knead the dough for 10 minutes.

Dough will be very wet and almost soupy.

Place on oiled counter and with oiled hands,

divide in half and shape into two loaves.

Place in two greased bread pans.

Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm

place.  I do this in my oven but do not turn on

any heat.  Only turn on the inside light, which

warms it nicely.  Let rise 35 minutes, until the dough

has riser about 1 1/2" above the sides of the pans.

Remove from oven, heat oven to 350 and bake 35-45

minutes until the tops are nicely browned.

Remove from pans onto a cooling rack.

Butter the tops, and cool before slicing.

Well, almost cool.  You have to sample a piece

warm with butter, right?  ha.

♥

Baking Bread

One more thing crossed off my Winter Fun To Do List!

Baking bread was one enjoyable thing I did today!

And I left the bread machine in the cupboard and

did it the old fashioned way!

Have to get the last few done by next week!

Although, since it snowed today, it still feels

like winter is still here! ha.

♥

This And That

Zucchini Bread

Waiting for spring.

Black raspberry smoothies.

Sweet Socks.

An auction purchase.  

(Who said planters had to hold plants?)

A basket of ginger.

Mr. Wren.

Mr. Carrot face.

♥

Old Fashioned Gingerbread

I had only had gingerbread once that I can remember and

it was years ago.  So when I made up my Winter Fun To Do List,

I thought it would be fun to try baking some for myself.

Last week I tried this recipe and it was exactly what

I was hoping for ~ spicy and moist!

I baked it in a 9" pan, but next time I think

I'd prefer it to be in a bread pan.

Gingerbread

1/2 c sugar

1/2 c butter, softened

1 egg

1 c unsulphured molasses

1 T vegetable oil

1/2 c apple sauce

2 1/2 c flour

2 t cinnamon

2 t ground ginger

1/2 t ground cloves

1/2 t salt

1 1/2 t baking soda

1 c hot water

With mixer, cream butter and sugar.  Add egg, molasses

oil and apple sauce and mix well.

In a separate bowl, whisk the flour and spices.

Dissolve baking soda in the hot water.

Add the dry ingredients to the mixer on low, alternating

with the water and mix well.

Bake in 9" prepared baking pan or bread pan

at 350 for 35-55 minutes.

Toothpick test.

Cool before cutting.

Serve with whipped cream. 

♥ 

Sunday Brunch

Brunch Today.

Toasted panetonne, scrambled eggs

blackberry smoothies, coffee.

And this next photo I took in August 2012.

I'm posting it here for Eddie because we're going to

endure love his pig jokes while this post is up!

Too bad I didn't put ham in those scrambled eggs!

Then we would have been all set!

Pig jokes wouldn't have been so random! ha.

Still, it was fun to see a pig fly over our house.

Now, I guess anything is possible! :)

I'm joining up with Monday Mosaics for the first time.

I love the Little Red House blog and thought my 

photos might be fun, too!

♥

Butterscotch Banana Bread

I had over ripe bananas to use up this week and happened to

think butterscotch chips might be good in it.  So, I looked online

to see if it had ever been done before or if I was about to

create something original!  Well, it turns out that this combination

has been around for years!  Who knew?

This particular recipe was given a 5 star review so I chose it.

It was wonderful, moist, and such a nice change from

plain old banana bread.  I will certainly be making it again!

The house smelled wonderful while it was baking!

I had enough bananas to double the recipe and make two

loaves.  One is going to work with The Mister.

That is, if we don't dig into it before he takes it!

The butterscotch chips melt into the bread as it bakes!

Butterscotch Banana Bread

For One 9" Loaf

2 ripe bananas, mashed

3/4 c sugar

2 eggs

1/4 c butter, melted

1 t vanilla

Mix above ingredients well in mixer.

In a separate bowl, sift....

1 3/4 c flour

2 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1 t cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg

Add dry ingredients to the mixer, alternating with

1/4 c milk.  

Mix just until combined.

Stir in 6 oz butterscotch chips

and 1 c chopped pecans.

(reserve a little to sprinkle on top before baking)

Bake at 350 in greased 9" bread pan

for 50-55 minutes.  Toothpick test.

It's pretty, too, isn't it?

Original recipe from HERE.

It's better the 2nd day, if you can wait. :)

Enjoy!

♥

Random Thoughts

 

1. I baked something new today!  Apple Pie Bread, which Linda blogged about this week.  Delicious!  We had it for dinner with corn chowder made with summer sweet corn out of the freezer.  I made a double batch so we can have leftovers tomorrow after I'm at an auction all day.  Yum.
2. What a gorgeous fall day!  Every time I sat at my desk, a new bird was in the feeder.  I couldn't stop taking pictures of leaves, crab apples and birds!
3. I had a baked potato explode in the microwave yesterday.  ha.  And to make it worse, I didn't clean it up until today.  But if you steam 1/2 cup of water in a glass bowl on high for 2 minutes and let it sit for 5, everything softens and wipes out easily.  That's my housecleaning tip of the day. :)
4. I bought a new-to-me shirt at the thrift store last week. Irish linen with those dainty shell buttons.  $3.00.  Perfect.
5. Spencer is back to requesting DVD's off of amazon.com.  And when I order them, he waits by the back door for The Mister, thinking they will come in the mail THE day they are ordered.  Boy, does he have a lot to learn about the US Postal Service. lol.
6. I have a list on my sidebar with a challenge to myself to do one pampering thing for myself every day.  I have to say, I'm having trouble! I knew I didn't do things for myself very often, but I really didn't think I'd come to the end of each day and wonder what I've done!  It doesn't take much to make me feel spoiled, so I find the littlest of things feel like luxuries to me. ha.  So, yeah, 30 minutes of extra sleep or a hot bath are a real treat.  I have 2 weeks to go, so I'll have to think of some new things!  Any ideas?
7. Nugget has never eaten anything except his rabbit food and a daily serving of kale or lettuces.  I caught him helping Harry eat his breakfast over the weekend.  Apple Cinnamon Chex Cereal.  ha. He was just crunching away! Who knew!?
8. I've been sewing!  Two-ply kitchen towels out of vintage and newer fabrics.  They're in my shop if you are interested. :)
9. I can tell it's fall~ I've dug out my socks, slippers, and hand lotion! 

Do you have any random thoughts?

♥

Zucchini Bread Varieties

With an abundance of zucchini from the garden, I spent a couple

of days baking bread.  I love to pull a loaf out during the winter

to round out a meal or toast for breakfast.

And I had fun making new flavors, just adding what I had

on hand to my basic recipe.

I added a topping of chocolate chips and pecans to one.

Another got fresh pineapple, coconut and sliced almonds.

And some extra dark Hershey's cocoa made rich chocolate loaves.

I topped a plain loaf with extra lemony frosting.

And I think my favorite was the lemon zest and blueberry one

with a lemon glaze that soaked clear through.

The house smelled wonderful.

  I used up 20 cups of grated zucchini!

And we enjoyed sampling all the different kinds before

the were put in the freezer.  Yum!

Zucchini Bread

2 1/4 c sugar

1 c vegetable oil

3 eggs

3 t vanilla

1/2 t salt

1/4 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

3 t cinnamon

3 c flour

3 c shredded zucchini

Whisk eggs, oil and sugar.  Add the remaining ingredients and

stir with spatula until combined.

Bake in a greased tube pan or 2 large loaf pans.

Or one large and three small loaf pans.

Takes about 60 minutes.  Toothpick test.

30 minutes for small loaf pans.

******

Lemon Blueberry Zucchini Bread

I omitted the cinnamon and added 2 T lemon juice,

the zest of one lemon and 2 c blueberries.

After baking and still hot in the pan, I poured over a mixture

of lemon juice and powdered sugar.  Make it thin to soak 

into the bread...not thick like a drizzle.

******

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

I omitted the cinnamon and added 1/3 Hershey's Extra Dark Cocoa.

******

 Zucchini Bread With Toffee Chip Streusel

I omitted the cinnamon and added 1/2 bag of Heath Toffee Bits

and 1 c chopped pecans.  Most went in the center of the batter like a

streusel with a little left for sprinkling on top.

******

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

I added 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips and 1 c chopped pecans

mixed with a little brown sugar.  Add in the batter with some sprinkled

on top, too.

******

Pineapple Coconut Zucchini Bread

I omitted the cinnamon and added 1 c chopped fresh pineapple,

1 c coconut, 1/2 t coconut extract and 1 c sliced almonds.

Reserve a few almonds to sprinkle on top.

The next round of zucchini will be savory instead of sweet

because we love it that way, too!

♥

My new Etsy shop is open!

Come visit!

Click on the sidebar announcement!

What I Did Wednesday #30

1. Cut up a watermelon.
2. Watched Jack sleeping on my desk, on top of my purse.
3. I guess you could say he was sacked out on my "Sak". :)
4. Folded laundry.
5. Did some organizing in the kitchen.
6. Cleaned out my purse...the one nobody was laying on!
7. Sliced up some ripe peaches.
8. Watched Socks climb a tree outside the kitchen window.
9. Re-potted my little jade plant.
10. Found Oreo under the china cabinet.
11. Made more sweet breads with zucchini. They were so good last week I had to make more!  This one has a pecan/chocolate streusel topping.
12. Cut corn and filled bags for the freezer.
13. This bread has lemon zest and blueberries added to the zucchini. 
14. Had to laugh at this sight.  Is it the hair and mouth that belong to the cloud eyes, I saw a few days ago?  Now I just need the nose to come by! ha.
15. Watched a Red Admiral butterfly in the yard.

The boys were so quiet today I had to go check on them a few

times to make sure they weren't up to something sneaky! ha.

All in all, a very nice Wednesday.

I hope you had a wonderful day, too!

♥ 

Beef and Cheddar Spirals

Cute little sandwich bites.  Great for an appetizer or snack.

I paired them with a salad and fruit for a light, summer meal.

Beef and Cheddar Spirals

1 can crescent dinner rolls

4 thin slices of roast beef

4 t Dijon mustard

1 c shredded cheddar cheese

1 T sesame seeds

Unroll dough into 4 long rectangles.  Press seams to seal.

Layer with mustard, beef and cheese.  Start with the short side

and roll so you have 4 rolls.  Press seams closed and slice each roll

into 4 spirals, creating 16 little sandwiches.  Put on parchment-lined

cookie sheet and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake 15-20 minutes at 375 until golden.

Can refrigerate 2 hours before baking.

These are also good using ham and Swiss, too!

I double the meat to make them a bit heartier, but

for an appetizer I would leave as is.

I'm hooking up with The Weekend Potluck!

Click HERE for more fun recipes!

One funny thing...I never buy crescent rolls in a can!  I've made these twice in the last month, and both times I couldn't get the can open! LOL!  I had trouble peeling off the paper, kind of holding it away from me in fear that the can would pop open and scare me.  Then when I got the paper off, I couldn't get it to pop open!  I'm glad I was alone in the kitchen as I'm sure it was a comical sight. :)  Geesh!

♥

Celebrating Easter

A few days worth of preparations all came together today as we celebrated Easter.

The miracle of Christ's resurrection and his victory over death was remembered in

our church service and in our prayers as a family.

 We started the day eating these giant cinnamon rolls with warm buttermilk glaze. 

I used a recipe of my crescent roll dough, rolled out and filled with butter, brown sugar and

lots of cinnamon.  Roll, slice into 12 huge rolls, rise and bake 25 min at 350.

 Easy to make and smelled so good while they were baking that we had to

sample them the day before, too!

 And I think the cross cut-out cookies ended up being my favorites! 

 I used edible ink markers for the detailing. It's always fun to make up the Easter baskets. 

 Taylor's little basket is a Longaberger one that I bought him for his very first Easter.

  It has a little chocolate stain on the outside from his little toddler finger that

 I smile at every year when I pull it out. :)

Fresh flowers, an old ceramic bunny and chocolate eggs make the foyer table cheerful!

Trader Joe's naturally flavored Citrus Gum Drops have become a tradition in recent years.

I went the natural route coloring eggs this time.  Check out the process HERE!

And I can't resist making some cookie eggs with fancy frosting.

British chocolates are so sweet with their nest and chick wrappers.

I love the way they look under this etched dome.

Nothing smells better than homemade rolls rising and then baking!

The traditional ham was dressed up in a pineapple-mustard-brown sugar  glaze and I tried a new recipe, Braised Ginger Carrots, from the book French Women Don't Get Fat.  The devilled eggs got dressed up with the first little snips of dill from my herb pots!

These crescents beat anything from a can.  If you'd like to try them, the recipe is HERE.

Dessert was layers of scratch yellow cake with raspberry preserves in the middle and a lemon drizzly glaze poured over the top.  Gloria's raspberry ice cream was the perfect accompaniment and the first ice cream I've made this year.  If was fun to pull the ice cream maker out, too!

I'm stuffed, sitting here with a cup of hazelnut coffee and feeling sleepy.

I hope you've had a wonderful day!

I'll be back in the morning with my "H" word for the

A to Z Challenge!

♥