Banana Chocolate Walnut Bread

The October 2010 issue of Cooking Light rocks! I found so many recipes in the issue I had to go buy a new recipe organizer! Believe it or not, I have never baked banana bread before. But, there were so many banana bread recipes in the issue, I was inspired. The first-yes there will be more, recipe I tried was this banana chocolate walnut bread. The end results were divine! I didn't add the chocolate drizzled over the top because I didn't think my waistline would appreciate the added touch! Enjoy!

Yield: 16 servings (serving size: 1 slice)
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana
1/3 cup plain fat-free yogurt
5 tablespoons butter, melted
2 large eggs
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
6.75 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
2/3 cup semisweet chocolate minichips, divided
1/3 cup chopped walnuts, toasted and divided
Cooking spray
2 tablespoons fat-free milk
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until blended. Add sugars; beat until blended.

3. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (through allspice) in a small bowl; stir well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to banana mixture; beat just until blended.

4. Fold 1/3 cup minichips and nuts into batter; pour batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 55 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Remove bread from pan; cool completely on wire rack. Combine remaining 1/3 cup minichips and milk in a microwave-safe bowl; microwave at HIGH for 30 seconds, stirring until smooth. Drizzle over bread.

Apple Oat Cookies

This recipe popped up in my inbox and caught my eye. You see, I don't usually make cookies without some sort of chocolate component. I wanted to make some sort of cookie last Sunday, but I already made chocolate chip the day before. So, I decided to make these for my mister to take to work on Monday. I wasn't crazy about the way these came out at first. Then, when I had one the next morning for breakfast they grew on me. I think it was the tartness of the apple that I wasn't used to at first, but the sweet cinnamon aftertaste made it all worthwhile. Enjoy!

Apple Oat Cookies
Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats
1 medium apple, peeled and shredded (about 1 cup shredded)
1 cup powdered sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons apple juice or milk

Directions:
Heat oven to 375°F. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. In large bowl, beat butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Beat in vanilla and eggs, scraping sides occasionally, until blended.
In medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Gradually beat flour mixture into sugar mixture. Stir in oats and apple. Onto cookie sheet, drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart.
Bake about 10 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.
In medium bowl, beat powdered sugar and apple juice until smooth, using wire whisk or fork. Drizzle over cooled cookies on cooling rack. Let stand about 1 hour or until glaze is set.

Chocolate Coconut Bars

This recipe caught my eye for many reasons...
1-I LOVE coconut!
2-I usually have all of these ingredients in my fridge at most times.
3-I could make it in 20 minutes.
This is another recipe from my 2004 Taste of Home mini book. This recipe definitely didn't disappoint. I used reduced fat ingredients and it was still tasty. I recommend putting it in the fridge after the chocolate has had time to cool. It helped harden mine a bit and made cutting easier. Enjoy!


Ingredients
1 tube (8 ounces) refrigerated crescent rolls
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup flaked coconut
1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped nuts
Directions
Unroll crescent roll dough into one long rectangle on an ungreased baking sheet; seal seams and perforations. Roll out into a 13-in. x 9-in. rectangle, building up dough around edges.
In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and egg until smooth; stir in coconut. Spread over crust.
Bake at 375° for 10-15 minutes or until cream cheese mixture is set. Immediately sprinkle with chips. Let stand for 5 minutes; spread melted chips over the top.
Sprinkle with nuts. Cool completely before cutting. Yield: 2-1/2 dozen.

Monster Chip Cookies

When cleaning out my craft room, I came across a Taste of Home Halloween magazine from 2004. I'm pretty sure it was one my grandma saved for me and knew it would come in handy one day. Well, that it did...there are tons of recipes I can't wait to try from this issue. The first one was these cookies. The cookies were tasty, but I didn't have time to refrigerate my dough overnight and they turned out pretty flat. I decided not to make "monster" cookies, so I cut the recipe in half. Therefore, the suggested cooking time was off for me. 10 minutes was perfect for slightly brown cookies-I found that out on my third batch in the oven =-(. I'd give this cookie recipe a 7 out of 10.

Monster Chip Cookies

Ingredients
1 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter, softened
1-1/3 cups sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
4 eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
2 teaspoons baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 cups (24 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups chopped nuts
Directions
In a large bowl, cream shortening, butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Beat in vanilla and lemon juice. Combine the dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in chips and nuts. Refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.
Drop by 1/4 cupfuls 3 in. apart onto lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 14-16 minutes or until lightly browned and center is set. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks. Yield: about 3 dozen.

Bow Holders

Now that I am spending a lot of time making bows, it only makes sense to have somewhere to put them. What I love about this creation is that they can be personalized. I'm going to start selling my bow creations soon and think I'm going to add these to my inventory.

Materials:
1 piece of ribbon, cut to the length of your choice (my preference is 20in-30in)
1 D ring- I used 1 1/4in.
hot glue
Wood decoration for child's initial or name (I find these at craft stores and they go on sale often & they are painted already)
Directions:
1. Fold ribbon over D ring and glue.
2. Personalize the wood decoration with initial or name of choice. I used a new Sharpie paint pen, LOVED it!

3. Glue wood decoration onto the ribbon. I've made one with the D ring hanging out and another hiding it behind the wood. I recommend putting the glue on the wood and positioning from there.
4. Fray check the ends of your ribbon, let dry.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Loved these! Took me no time at all, will definitely make these again!
Note: I only made one batch using one box of cake mix, 1 15oz. can of pumpkin and 2 cups of chocolate chips.

Easy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
2 spice cake mixes (Duncan Hines, although not pictured, is the best for this recipe)
1 30-oz. can pumpkin
1 12-oz. bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350. Combine cake mixes and pumpkin. Add in chocolate chips. Spoon mixture into lined muffin tins. This can make as many as 48 muffins or as few as 36, just depending on how full the tins are filled. These really don't rise very much, so you can fill the tins pretty full. If aesthetics are a concern, keep in mind that how they look going into the oven is very much what they will look like coming out of the oven. So a cookie scoop works great to keep things on the prettier side.
Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of one of the muffins comes out clean.

Hair Bows #2

My obsession with making hair bows continues with this new style. I'm still getting used to this one and am having a little trouble with making it all center. Nonetheless...I think it's super cute and can't wait to make more. The tutorial for this bow can be found here. Happy Crafting!

BOO!

This is an easy to make Halloween sign that can be hung anywhere in your house to add a little decoration & holiday spirit!

Materials:
scrapbook paper, white card stock, scissors, computer, printer, glue, ribbon, hole punch

Directions:
1. On your computer, print BOO in your favorite font. This will be your stencil for the sign. I printed mine on card stock to make it more sturdy.

2. Cut out the letters that you just printed.
3. Trace your letters on a piece of scrapbook paper. **Make sure to trace the letters backwards**
4. Cut the letters out.
5. Using the white card stock, make a background for your letters. I make my card stock about a 1/2 inch wider and longer than my letters. A good size to go by is 4 x 6. You will need one piece for each letter.
6. Then, glue the letters on to the card stock.
7. Next, you want to have a border for your white card stock. Use a different pattern of scrapbook paper and cut 3 pieced slightly bigger than the white card stock. Glue the card stock on top of the scrapbook paper. You now have your finished letters.
8. Punch a hole in the top center and bottom center of the B and the first O. Then, punch a hole in the top center of the last O.
9. Cut 2 4-inch pieced of thin ribbon & 1 piece of 6 inch ribbon. String the ribbon through the holes to connect the letters. I used a little hot glue to glue the ribbon on the back of the signs.
10. Tie a bow in the top piece and hang.

Halloween Apothecary Jars

This weekend I put up all of my fall and Halloween decorations. I was so excited to do this, because this is the first holiday in our new house. So much more room for me to decorate! After putting everything out, I thought I had a lot more than I actually do. I wanted to buy a few decorations to put out, but didn't want to spend lots of dough. I knew one thing I wanted was few glass decorations to go on our entertainment center. All of the decorations on our entertainment center are glass, so I wanted everything to match. Off to Michael's I went. I used my 50% off coupons and bought both of these jars for about $4.00. I filled each one with candy, hot glued a festive ribbon around the top and voila....new decorations!

Candy Corn Brownies

Halloween is just around the corner and I've been busy working on some new creations. First on the list were these candy corn brownies.

Ingredients:
1 box of brownie mix (with egg, oil, & water)
3 cups of candy corn

Directions:
Prepare brownies as directed on box. Remove the brownies from the oven about 12 minutes before they should come out. Pour candy corn over the top of the brownies. Make sure the candy corn evenly covers the brownies. Put the brownies back in the oven for the remaining 12 minutes. When you take the brownies out, spread the melted candy corn. I mixed mine to create a swirl look, even though the majority of it looks orange. Allow them to cool. As soon as brownies have cooled off enough to be cut, cut the brownies. ***If you wait too long to cut the brownies, the candy corn will harden and break into pieces.



Enjoy!

Hair Bows

One of my students came to school last week with an adorable bow in her hair. During recess I ask her if I could look at it. I took some pictures with my phone and was surprised at how easy it looked to create. When I got home, I did a little google search and came across this great tutorial. I absolutely love the bows I created that night and have been obsessed ever since. I've made multiple trips to local craft stores for different ribbon and have even learned some new techniques. My husband has had a lot of video game time this week thanks to this new love. I'm looking very forward to this upcoming Sunday when mom comes over to craft & create with me!