Banana Bread Bites

 The best part about ripe bananas is making banana bread!  I have found the easiest recipe on a website called Simply Recipes.  I use it all the time and the only thing I changed was adding some cinnamon.  Cinnamon makes everything better.  Well almost everything!  Jessica has a Pampered Chef brownie pan and I used that to make the bread in.  The bread turned out great and it's not exactly bite size but you can hold it one hand and your cup of coffee in the other.  Perfect!

Banana Bread Bites
adapted from Simply Recipes

3 very ripe bananas
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup of sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups of flour

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a bowl mash the bananas.  Mix in the melted butter.  Add the sugar, egg, and vanilla.  Mix in the baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  Add in the flour.  What is great about this recipe is that you don't need a mixer you mix everything up in one bowel with a whisk or a spoon.

Spray a 4x8 loaf pan or a brownie pan or make muffins.  Pour the batter into the loaf pan or distribute evenly into the brownie pan.  If you are making a loaf bake for an hour to an hour and ten minutes.  Check after 50 minutes by sticking a toothpick in the center to see if it comes out clean.  For the brownie pan bake 20 to 30 minutes.  Mine cooked for 25 and came out perfect.

French Bread Pizzas

 It's nice making pizza at home because I can put whatever I want on it and I don't have to spend a fortune.  And I like the veggies and Will likes the meat so this way we get what we want.  French bread pizza is so easy.  You don't have to hassle with making your own crust.

French Bread Pizza's
a Lacey Creation

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1 loaf of wide French Loaf Bread
1 cup of pizza sauce

cut up veggies (green peppers, onion, tomatoes, mushrooms)
pepperoni
4 cups of mozzarella

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Cut the French Loaf in half length wise.  Spread a 1/2 cup of sauce on each half.  On one half put veggies of choice.  On the other half put pepperoni.  Or do both halves the way you want them.  Top each half with 2 cups of cheese.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until cheese is nice and melted.

Enjoy!

Blueberry Banana Bread with Walnuts

 This bread is so yummy!  Banana bread is great and then you add blueberries, genius.  I will be making this bread a lot.

Blueberry Banana Bread w/walnuts
adapted from Mom on Timeout

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4 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 stick butter, softened
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

 Pre-heat oven to 325

In a bowl cream together the butter and sugar.  I use my Kitchen Aide mixer.  Add the bananas, egg, and vanilla.  Mix in the flour and baking soda slowly until incorporated. With a spatula mix in the blueberries.

You can make 1 large loaf of bread or 4 small loaves of bread.  Spray your pan/pans with cooking spray and pour the mixture in.

For one loaf bake for 60 to 70 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  For the mini loaves bake for 30-40 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean.  Enjoy!

Caution to all Bakers-Banana Bread

This is banana bread. This poor banana bread got a little burnt. But it still tasted great. I titled this post caution to all bakers because I could have avoided burning the bread if I would have checked the temperature on the oven. I thought the oven was running a little hot but didn't think about it. I'm glad I set the timer for half the baking time the recipe called for or this bread would have been completely black. I just had a feeling. When I noticed the burning smell I checked the temp and it had gotten bumped up to 500 degrees. I'm glad I didn't burn the house down. I really wish I hadn't burnt it because it was a going away present for one of my co-workers. Banana bread is her favorite. She got a promotion and is going to work at the Main Library. All the best luck to her.

This recipe is so easy. You don't even need a mixer. Just mix together with a big spoon.

Banana Bread (Recipe reflects the doubling I did)
from Simply Recipes

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6 or 8 ripe bananas, smashed
2/3 cup melted butter
2 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
2 egg, beaten
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
3 cups of all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 350°. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into 5 small buttered loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Cheater Biscuits and Gravy

When I say cheater I don't mean fattening because these are WW friendly. I say cheater because they are insanely easy to make. I'm not sure it can get any easier unless you used canned biscuits. I bought the Heart Smart Bisquick because it is low fat and better for you. The gravy is from a mix. I wasn't all that crazy about the McCormick mix because it was really peppery but if you like that then this mix is for you. I really like the country gravy mix from Wonder Bread Bakery. It's really good it's about the same amount of points. I love biscuits and gravy. It is my favorite thing to eat out for breakfast but as I'm sure you know country gravy is fattening and so are really good biscuits. This allows me to have my favorite without all the points.






Biscuits and Gravy

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2 WW points per biscuit, yielded 17 biscuits
1 WW point 1/4 cup gravy

3 cups Bisquick
1 cup water
1 package country gravy mix

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees

In a bowl mix together the Bisquick and water. Lightly dust your work surface with Bisquick and knead the dough 10 times. Roll out to 1/2 inch thick and cut with a round cookie cutter. Place on ungreased baking pan and bake for 11-14 minutes.

For the gravy follow the instructions on the package. Serve over the biscuits. Enjoy!

Garlic Breadsticks

I can't make Zuppa Toscana without making garlic breadsticks to go with it. To me you can't have the one without the other. It would just be wrong. You can find the breadsticks I use at Wonder Bread Bakery and at Walmart. They are called Bread du Jour Original Breadsticks. The bag boasts that they are hot and crispy in minutes. The bag doesn't lie. These aren't as good as Olive Garden but they come close and I find them just as addictive.





Garlic Breadsticks
4 WW points per breadstick with butter
3 WW points per breadstick w/o butter

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1 package Bread du Jour Original Breadsticks
1/2 stick of butter, melted or I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray
garlic salt

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

On a baking sheet spread out the eight breadsticks. Brush with melted butter or spray with butter spray. Place in oven and bake for 10 minutes. Take out of oven and brush with more butter or spray and sprinkle on generous amount of garlic salt. Place back in oven and bake for 2 more minutes. You will not use all the melted butter unless you like your bread really buttery.