My **Favorite** Banana Bread!

I'm not much of a recipe-poster, but this banana bread makes a great exception to that rule. I've made it several times, and nothing has ever gone wrong with it! It is moist, sweet, and perfectly banana-y.

I found the original recipe here one evening as I was trying to decide what to do with some bananas that were getting too ripe to eat. It took about an hour and a half to bake... but it was so worth it! The next day, I took the rest to a family function and it was gone (literally) 5 minutes after I walked in the door. I got rave reviews! I gave the original website to those who asked for it, but then realized that I had tweaked it just a bit and that the results they got may not be the same.

Here is my (going-to-be-famous-someday) banana bread recipe!

• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2.5-3 very ripe mashed bananas
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla
• 1.5 tablespoons vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 335 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8x4 inch loaf pan. (This recipe can make one tall loaf [about even with the sides of the loaf pan, when baked] or two short loaves. I usually make one tall loaf, but you can choose!)
2. In a large bowl, cream the shortening and sugar and add vanilla. Sift in the flour, baking soda and salt. Blend in the mashed bananas. Add vegetable oil and mix. Pour batter into prepared pan(s).
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes (for short loaf; for tall loaf, add approximately 40 extra minutes), or until it tests done with a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out gummy, clean it off and check another spot to ensure that you didn't poke through a bit of banana!

I hope you enjoy! :)

Chocolate-chip Pumpkin Muffins

Today was a sick day for me. I was up half the night coughing and wheezing (thanks, Asthma!) and I was completely exhausted this morning. I stayed home from classes and rested all day.

Obviously, though, I had to do something. I decided that I needed to bake. I just bought groceries yesterday, so I pulled some things out of the cabinet and got to work. I decided on chocolate-chip pumpkin muffins.

Holy. Cow.

They were so good and moist, and only 3 ingredients. (Can you guess where I'm going with this?)

Here is what I did/my recipe! Enjoy!

Chocolate-Chip Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients:

1 box cake mix (I used Pillsbury Traditional Yellow)

1 can pumpkin

2 cups chocolate chips

Instructions:

Add cake mix and pumpkin together in a mixing bowl and mix on medium for about 2 minutes. Mixture will be very think. (My mixture was SUPER thick, so I added about 1/4 cup of Sprite and mixed it in.) Dump chocolate chips in bowl and mix until evenly distributed. Put in muffin tin and bake at 350 for 19 minutes.

I was able to get 16 muffins out of this recipe.

Vegetable Beef Stew!

You guys! I made vegetable beef stew tonight, and let me tell you- it was delicious!

(By the way, I don't even like vegetables or beef... but it was still SO good.)

I didn't use a recipe, but I know what I used. I guess that means that I have my own recipe?

Here it is!

Vegetable Beef Stew
Ingredients-
1 lb. stew meat
1 bag frozen veggies (I used a mix of corn, peas, and green beans)
4 chopped potatoes
1 can beef broth
1 bottle vegetable juice (V8 or similar)
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. season salt
1 tsp. garlic
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 tsp. cinnamon
Assorted other spices to taste

Instructions-
(I know it's complicated, but stay with me!)
Dump everything into a Crock Pot. Stir well and cook for 7 hours.
Toward the end, I added 1 cup of sharp cheddar cheese to the top and stirred it in.

So good!

Husband and I both had a bowl (with grilled cheese!), and we only ate about 1/4 of what I made. I plan on freezing the rest so we can thaw it out and have it again!

My next project will be chicken noodle soup... I'll keep you updated on how it goes!