I stole this Banana Bread

I do not usually copy and past a recipe but I really liked this one and I do not want to forget it. I got it from Cookingbread.com

Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Banana Bread Recipe: Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

• 1 large egg
• 1 cup banana (mashed)
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1/4 cup shortening (melted)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup raisins or pecans

• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Method

In a bowl mix butter and sugars together. Add egg, molasses, shortening, buttermilk and bananas. In another bowl sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together. Add rolled oats. Slowly add dry ingredients to the banana mixture. Combine till moistened. Add raisins or pecans. Pour into a large greased bread pan. Bake in a preheated 350 F oven for 60 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 1/2 hour before removing from pan.

Changes I have made thus far. replaced the flour with whole wheat pastry flour and plan to replace some fat with apple sauce next time.

without the fat replacement these muffins are 5 "zucchinis" each

Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 14
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 257.2

• Total Fat: 10.7 g
• Cholesterol: 24.6 mg
• Sodium: 214.3 mg
• Total Carbs: 40.7 g
• Dietary Fiber: 3.5 g
• Protein: 3.9 g

General Tso's Chicken

My husband loved General Tso's Chicken. After about a year in Mexico he was really missing General Tso's chicken, we were just unable to find it in Mexico City so I thought it would be nice to make it for him. One of the issue with making it for him was I had never eaten General Tso's Chicken so I really had no idea what I was doing or what it should end up tasting like. I had however seen it on his plate many times and I had smelled it before so I set out to read up on the dish and what people (including my husband) said it tasted like and what the texture of the sauce was like and reading many online recipes on it I moved forward with the following.
3 eggs
1/2 cup cornstarch

minced garlic
minced ginger
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup chicken broth
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
6 to 10 hot peppers
1 Tablespoons rice vinegar
1 to 2 pounds chicken cut into 1 inch pieces
oil for frying

heat the oil in a pan for deep frying. mix the 1/2 cup corn start with 3 beaten eggs. dip the chicken pieces into the batter and deep fry in batches, drain on a paper towel lined plate.

mix together the soy sauce, chicken broth, cornstarch, honey, brown sugar, and rice vinegar.

add 1 tablespoon peanut oil with sesame oil to a hot wok with the chili peppers then add the garlic and ginger, mix into the oil then add the sauce. Cook the sauce until it is thick, then, and this is the tricky part you can add the chicken to the sauce and stir to coat or put the thickened sauce into dipping bowls and dip the chicken into it, that way the breading on the chicken does not get soggy.

My Hubby said that I got the sauce spot on for flavor but the chicken breading did get soggy.

Learning to Sew with 4H and Grandma

My Mom signed my daughter up for her 4H group the sew-unsews. Here DD is learning how to sew, she loved it.
As you can see she has been practicing on her scooter too, took a little spill and got the elbows, she is now practicing with long sleeves on.

Week One on the Weight Program

while it is not fancy it is a good diet meal. Whole Wheat Spaghetti with ground turkey spaghetti sauce, simple salad with light balsamic dressing and balsamic strawberries.
1 small package cooked spaghetti (serving on 1 cup per person)
8 oz ground lean turkey
1 med onion
jar of your favorite low cal spaghetti sauce

1.5 cups cleaned and quartered strawberries
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 tomato, chopped
4 cups lettuce, chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
4 tablespoons light balsamic salad dressing

meal serves 4 (with extra pasta for the growing, hungry kids) the meal equals...lets not call them points...9 zucchinis

Swordfish Quesadillas

I while back I talked about making some really great grilled swordfish. When I make the swordfish we had some left over so I thought that I would make some fish quesadillas with it and they were oh so tasty.

I has blue tortillas because they are every where in Mexico city and, well, we like them best
oaxaca cheese but I think you could use mozzarella
pieces of leftover grilled swordfish
salsa verde
chopped onion
chopped tomato
canned jalapenos
lime
butter

Lightly butter one side of a tortilla and place it in a fry pan then put the cheese and fish on one half of tortilla and fold in half. Cook quesadilla on both sides, serve with salsa and veggies and a squeeze of lime if you like.

my hubby said he thought it was the best "taco" he had ever had with his new favorite fish.