Tag Archives: recipe

Double chocolate banana bread

I have been seeing a lot of banana bread and nutella recipes. I decided to modify my banana bread recipe so it included chocolate chip and nutella. Boy, it was amazing – very rich though, one slice was enough 🙂

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Modifications to the Original Recipe:

Additional Ingredients

  • 1 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
  • 3/4 cup Nutella

Additional Directions

Follow the directions in the Original recipe but add the 1 cup of chocolate chips to the banana mix before adding the dry ingredients. Pour batter into tin as described.

Melt Nutella for 20 seconds on high in the Microwave. Pour the nutella on top of the batter. Use a knife to mix in the nutella slightly into the top of the loaf. Bake as stated in the original directions.

Serving suggestions: Serve warm with whip cream and a coffee

Dinner tonight: Vegetable Frittata

Our weekly plan is our guide to our meals – we mix up the dinners sometime and eat what we are in the mood for. Easy is what was on my menu for tonight – so I opted to have the vegetable frittata early.

Our Vegetable Frittata ingredients varies based on what I have in the fridge and what needs to be used. Below is tonights ingredients but you could add spinach, mushrooms, bell peppers – really anything goes.

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Ingredients

1 tsp olive oil
1/2 medium onion, diced (you could use leeks or spring onions)
1 garlic clove
1 small head of broccoli, chopped into small-ish pieces
1 medium-large zucchini, grated
1 tomato (I used a Roma tomato)
salt and pepper for seasoning
5 eggs, lightly beaten (You could use three eggs and 1/2 cup of egg whites)
2 tbsp italian cheese, grated (optional)

  1. Heat pan on medium heat. Place olive oil in the pan, then the onion and garlic. Cook onion until clear.
  2. Add Broccoli, Grated Zucchini and tomato to the pan – heat ingredients through. I add the broccoli first and then the other ingredients. Cool.
  3. In a small bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Add the vegetable mix to the eggs and lightly stir.
  4. Place the egg mixture back in the pan you were using to cook the vegetables.  Add cheese to the top (optional, My husband wanted cheese I did not so I only added it to one 1/2). Cook mixture for 10-15 minutes on low heat.
  5. Once almost set, place pan into oven and broil for 3-5 minutes (keep an eye on it) remove once top has become firm.
    NOTE: I put aluminum foil on the handle of my pan before putting in the oven as I do not think it is oven proof.
  6. Serve 1/4 of the frittata on a plate, it goes well with a spinach or garden salad.

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Vanilla Buttermilk Pound Cake

I have brought buttermilk several times over the last month and have thrown it out unused, something I really don’t like doing. This time determined to use it before it expires, I found a great recipe in the Cooking Light Magazine (November 2008) for Vanilla Buttermilk Pound Cake.

The recipe makes two 8×4 loafs, which I iced with a lemon icing. Next time though I would either make a plain butter sugar glaze with the vanilla buttermilk loaf, or switch out the vanilla in the loaf for lemon. Also in my oven, it did not require the full hour of baking.

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Ingredients (Vanilla buttermilk pound cake)

3 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup of butter (softened)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 1/3 cups low-fat buttermilk

  • Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
  • Place the first 4 ingredients in a medium sized bowl and whisk. Put aside.
  • Place sugar and butter in a large bowl. Beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the flour mixture and the buttermilk to the sugar mixture in stages, beginning and ending with flour.
  • Spoon the mixture evenly into the two greased and lined loaf tins. Bake at 350 degrees F for 60 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean.
  • Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from tins. Cool completely on a wire rack.

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Ingredients (Lemon Butter Icing)

1 Tbsp butter, melted
1 lemon (finely grated lemon peel + juice from one lemon)
1 1/2 cups icing sugar (confectionary sugar)

  • Place butter and lemon ingredients into a bowl
  • Add the icing sugar in stages, so you can ensure the thickness you want for your icing. Mix together with a knife until blended
  • Apply icing to the cooled loaves with a  knife
  • Serve 🙂