Banana Bread (Paula Deen)

I found this banana bread recipe here, and fell in love. This is definitely my new favorite banana bread recipe.

Banana Bread:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 ripe bananas, mashed

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

Easy Tuna Casserole

Easy, peasey and kids like it : )

This is a great stapple recipe at my house and you don't have to use tuna, we've used frozen shredded chicken and canned chicken too. This meal also freezes great too.

1 box macaroni cheese
1/4 c. butter/margarine
1/2 c. milk
dried onion
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can tuna fish
1 c. frozen vegetables (you can use any kind, mixed or peas) thawed
crushed crackers or potato chips (optional)

Prepare macaroni and cheese according to box directions. Then you are going to add soup, tuna, sprinkle in some dried onion, and vegetables (thaw first). Place casserole in baking dish and sprinkle with crushed crackers or potato chips. Bake at 350 degrees for 3o min.

If you are going to freeze this meal, leave off the crackers, cover with tinfoil and freeze before baking. Thaw over night, add topping before baking, and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Baked Tortelini

LOVE this Casserole style tortelini, its one of our family favorites. Quick, easy and yummy!

1 pkg (9oz) refrigerated cheese tortelini, uncooked
1/2 C. boiling water
1 green pepper, chopped
1 zucchini, sliced
1 3/4 C. marinara
1/2 c. mozzarella cheese, shredded.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, combine all ingredients except cheese in 13x9 baking dish and cover with foil. Bake 30 minutes.

Rremove foil and stir, sprinkle with cheese and bake uncovered an additional 10 minutes.

This recipe serves 4,
Calories: 310
Fat: 9 g.
Fiber: 4 g.

Thai Sweet Sticky Rice

YUMMY!!! If you have ever eaten ate a Thai restaurant I hope that you have taken a moment or two to enjoy Thai Sticky Rice, its more like a dessert rice served with mango, and my family loves it. We had it this last week for dinner, for lunch, after school snack...

Thai Sticky Rice
Basmati rice (cook according to package directions)
1 1/2 C. coconut milk
1 C. white sugar
1/2 t. salt

Mango's peeled and sliced

Make rice according to package directions. While the rice cooks, mix together 1 1/2 cups coconut milk, 1 cup sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a saucepan over medium heat; bring to a boil; remove from heat and set aside. Stir the cooked rice into the coconut milk mixture; cover. Allow to cool for 1 hour.

Serve mangos over rice.

Some, probably most, make a sauce with more coconut milk and sugar, salt and tapioca starch to serve over the rice and mangos, but we find it plenty sweet with out it.

Spaghetti

Ok. So Spaghetti, my spaghetti really doesn't need a recipe post, but I thought I would share how I spice up the plain ole spaghetti

First off to make it healthier I always use whole wheat pasta, and I only put in 1/2 lb of hamburger. I use store bought sauce, (lazy I know, but its all good), usually the vegetable one or traditional. I add either dried onion or about a fourth of a regular onion, diced, as well as one chopped green pepper and one cup diced or shredded zucchini. I also usually add a few shakes of basil, thyme and oregano.

There you have it our simple, whole wheat, vegefied spaghetti.

Fish Tacos

Some of us love fish tacos, others tolerate fish tacos at our house. I try to make them every once in awhile to please the whole family, and it helps that they are super easy

Corn tortillas (or flour)
Breaded fish (our favorite is breaded parmasean tortilla tilapia from costco)
black beans (optional)
coleslaw type lettuce
lime
salsa (optional)
sour cream (optional)
tarter sauce (optional)

Place your fish in the oven and cook according to directions on the box. While cooking your fish you can prepare your corn tortilla's, put a little oil in a skillet and cook each tortilla on each side for 1-2 minutes. This is also when you would heat up your black beans.

Once everything in heated; assemble. Place your fish in your tortilla along with some cabbage or coleslaw and squeeze with lime juice. If you are going to use black beans, I either serve them on the side or place them first in my tortilla shell, topped with fish, cabbage, lime, etc. Now you just top it off with any other toppings you want, salsa, sour cream, or tarter sauce.

So here you are super easy and yummy too.

Happy Eating!

Weekly Menu Plan 2/21- 3/2

Okay we are back! We went to Phoenix for the Weekend so my husband could renew a certification, we got to see a few old friends and catch up with my husbands brother and family. We also got to eat at some of our favorite restaurants. Places you must try if you are in the phoenix area. We ate at restaurants in Peoria, Tempe, Mesa, and Gilbert, some are a chain or Franchise and others are locally owned. I plan on doing a post on each of them this next week. As well as a shout out to a couple of others we love but didn't get a chance to eat at.

So with out further ado, here is our weekly menu.

Monday: Fish Tacos
Tuesday: Spaghetti/Salad/Bread
Wednesday: Curried Coconut Chicken with Mango Rice
Thursday: Pork Chops, Vegetables and Mashed Potatoes
Friday: Apricot Chicken, Cous Cous, and Vegetable
Saturday: Homemade Pizza
Sunday: BBQ Chicken Sandwiches, funeral potatoes and corn
Dessert: Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes
Monday: Enchilada's, yellow rice and mexicorn
Tuesday: Ravioli, salad and bread.
Wednesday: Balsalmic Chicken, Rice and Vegetable

So there you have it and recipes to follow.

Happy Eating!