Julia's Banana Bread

I had some banana's that were just right for banana bread. I have a recipe I usually use but had pinned one recently so I thought I would give it a try. I love banana bread!!! I was excited for it :)

http://cannella-vita.blogspot.com/2013/03/julias-banana-bread.html

Ingredients

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large)
3/4 cup vegetable oil


Preheat oven to 350°. Coat a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk eggs, sugar, bananas, and oil in a large bowl until smooth. Add dry ingredients to banana mixture and stir just until combined. Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top.

Bake until a tester inserted into the center of bread comes out clean, 60-70 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; let bread cool in pan for 15 minutes. Run a knife around inside of pan to release the bread. Turn out onto rack and let cool completely.

When making this...my pregnant brain happened. I was measuring the flour and meant to grab the 1 cup and the half cup...I was doubling the recipe..I realized after I had started mixing it in that I had grabbed the 3/4 cup and the 2/3 cup instead. Being pregnant the last thing I wanted to do was math...so I added another 2/3 cup and called it good. The bread was good as far as banana bread goes. My husband didn't think there was anything wrong with it. Then I told him what I had done and he laughed. It wasn't a bad recipe, but I like my usual one better. I will have to do it one day and post it on here :)

Cookie Pie

I want sweets all the time. So I found this one and it looked good. It is supposed to be like a cookie cake....just in a pie pan. I have never made one of these before. So I thought it would be a good one to try.

http://www.thefoodette.com/2012/03/m-cookie-pie.html

M&M Cookie Pie
1cup + 1 tbs AP Flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup butter softened (I used "light" country spread)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Texas shaped container of M&M's- OR- 1-ish cup.

Preheat oven to 325*
Cream butter and sugar. Add in egg and extract and blend. The combine flour and baking soda- mix until completely incorporated. Fold in the M&M's. Dump into a greased 9.5" pie pan and bake for 25-30 mins. You know the drill, when a toothpick/ridiculously small pairing knife comes out clean it's donzo.
Cool, cut into cookie pie slices and enjoy!

Well I thought it was pretty good :) I have only had a cookie cake a few times and it was better then ones I had. It was nice and soft and AMAZING warm! However, I liked my blondies quite a bit more than this.

Baked Zucchini Fries

I needed something for lunch today, and I had no time to go to the store. I went to pinterest :) I had a few zucchini's in the fridge so figured this sounded good.

http://www.budgetbytes.com/2012/07/baked-zucchini-fries/

Ingredients
1 lb. zucchini squash $1.69
¼ cup all-purpose flour $0.04
⅛ tsp salt $0.01
1 cup panko bread crumbs $0.35
¼ cup parmesan cheese $0.24
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning blend $0.15
1 large egg $0.25
Instructions
Rinse and dry the zucchini. Cut the ends off and then cut each one into strips, approximately ⅓ inch thick.
Place the zucchini strips on a large zip top bag and add the flour and salt. Shake the bag to coat the zucchini in flour. In a wide, shallow bowl combine the panko bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, and Italian seasoning. Stir to combine. In a second wide, shallow bowl, whisk a raw egg with about 1 Tbsp of water until fairly smooth.
Begin to preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with foil and then place two wire cooling racks over top. One by one, take the flour coated zucchini strips and dip them in the egg and then the seasoned bread crumb mixture. Place the breaded zucchini on the wire cooling racks. The wire racks keep the zucchini up off of the baking sheet and allows hot air to circulate underneath, which will prevent soggy bottoms. Also make sure there is a small amount of space between each strip to allow circulation.
Once all of the zucchini strips are breaded, bake them for approximately 15 minutes or until they are a medium golden brown color. Cooking time will vary with the thickness of your zucchini strips, so keep a close eye.

Well they were pretty good! My 15 month old even ate them! We dipped them in spaghetti sauce and had some pasta roni with it. I will for sure be making these again. YUM!!

Pepperoni Rigatoni

Pepperoni Rigatoni is a dish FOR pinterest. My mom used to make this all the time! I always liked it. I like it a lot more now, because of how easy it is to make!! I am all for yummy and easy :) I will tell you, this isn't an exact recipe...because well, I just do it as I go.

Ingredients
Penne noodles, I used about a half of a bag
Spaghetti sauce, I used a jar
A can of sliced olives, drained
Shredded Cheese
Pepperoni's cut in half, I honestly have no idea how much I used, maybe 30ish? but you can do as much or as little as you want :)

Preheat oven to 350. Boil noodles until cooked. Drain noodles. Put them back in the pot you used to cook them. Add the rest of the ingredients(not all the cheese). Stir and put in a 9x9 pan. Cover with cheese and bake 20-25 minutes.

Easy right? I know I was a little vague with measurements, but really it is all on how you like it. I like to use a lot of sauce. Not everyone likes it as saucy as I do. I usually put more cheese in the mixture then I showed, but I didn't have anymore :) Hope you enjoy!!

Cinnabons Cinnamon Rolls

I had really been wanting cinnamon rolls. So a friend gave me this recipe she found on Pinterest :) I was a little nervous...I had never made cinnamon rolls before, but I didn't care...I REALLY wanted some!

http://www.jocooks.com/bakery/breads/cinnabons-cinnamon-rolls/

Ingredients:

Dough
1 (1/4 ounce) package dry yeast
1 cup warm milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup margarine (I used butter)
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
4 cups flour
Filling
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 tbsp cinnamon
1/3 cup margarine, softened
1 tbsp of flour
Cream cheese icing
6 tbsp margarine (I used butter)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup cream cheese
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
See Kid-Friendly Halloween Desserts
Instructions:

For the rolls, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl.
Add sugar, butter, salt, eggs, and flour to the bowl of a mixer and mix well.
Pour the milk/yeast mixture in the bowl and using the dough hook, mix well until well incorporated.
Place dough into an oiled bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, until it is approx 16 inches long by 12 inches wide.
It should be approx 1/4 thick.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
To make filling, combine the butter, brown sugar, margarine and cinnamon in a bowl.
Spread the mixture evenly over the surface of the dough.
Working carefully, from the long edge, roll the dough down to the bottom edge.
Cut the dough into 1 3/4 inch slices, and place in a lightly greased baking pan.
Bake for 20 minutes or until light golden brown. Cooking time can vary greatly!
While the rolls are baking make the icing but mixing all ingredients and beat well with an electric mixer until fluffy.
When the rolls are done, spread generously with icing.

Well I loved them!! I doubled the recipe and it made 21. My husband helped take pictures....I only posted one of the ones he took, and it is his face. Haha. Everyone seemed to like them. My mother in law said they had too much cinnamon, but no one else thought so :) I can't wait to make them again!!