Bananas 'N Cream Bread

I've been using the Tyler Florence's ultimate banana bread recipe for several years, and for whatever reason, I grew a little tired of it. I've used this one twice lately, and it is my new fave! I hate how banana bread is really SO bad for you under the guise of being possibly a little healthy, but whatever. A little treat is ok sometimes! One of these days I'm going to get around to trying it as banana bread french toast. YUM!

Here is the killer recipe, adjusted from allrecipes.com.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter
• 3 cups white sugar (Using less has worked just fine for me)
• 3 eggs
• 6 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons baking soda
• 1.5 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
• 2 Tablespooons of cinnamon sugar mixture

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease four 7x3 inch loaf pans. 
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and 3 cups sugar. Mix in eggs, mashed bananas, sour cream, vanilla and cinnamon. Mix in salt, baking soda and flour. Stir in nuts. Divide into prepared pans.Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
3. Bake for 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.(Mine took a little longer!)      (You can see more recipes at beautyandbedlam.com.)

The Marathon

I think marathon runners are awesome. I wish I could run like that, but oh, the asthma! Truly though, lately I've been feeling like every day of my life is a marathon. Especially Fridays! Yesterday I was full speed ahead from 5:15 AM - 11:30 PM. By 6:30 ALONE, I had gotten myself ready, given the baby a bath, ordered a birthday cake and arrived at work. *whew* This is actually only day three of a week long marathon. In the next few days we have my oldest daughter's 6th birthday, a baby shower, volunteering and consigning with Just Between Friends, a CPCU exam, and leading Bible study. Oh yeah, and I have a full-time job. And three kids 5 and under.

I didn't get to my coupons until late last night, so I tackled two grocery stores with three kids this morning. It was relatively painless. It just took about twice as long as normal with Saturday samples for 3 kids, a few bathroom trips, playing a reading game for a reward with my 5 year old, etc., but we made it!

The picture is from our bigger trip to Hy Vee. At Hen House I picked up some sugar pears, sour cream, Activia, Tostitos, cream of chicken soup and some almost free candy bars.

The main meals on the menu for this week are My Mom's Chicken and Rice and Crockpot Mexican Chicken. I also will probably try to getting around to making a few loaves of Bananas 'N Cream Bread. Other than that, we will be flying but the seat of our pants, but hopefully still eating as healthfully as possible! Last week "healthy" was a stretch so this week I'm going to try to give flying by the seat of our pants AND healthy a better shot!

$50/week grocery project (No Coupon Edition)

This week was a massive planning ahead fail. I have a HUGE stack of coupons I didn't get through because I can't find my scissors. The grocery ads were also AWFUL (save for a Kraft deal.) I had planned on making a meal plan and a list during my lunch break on Friday, but that is always a horrible idea. I never end up actually getting to TAKE a lunch break, and yesterday was no different.

I found myself at Trader Joes with only an exhausted baby last night. I picked up a few things for quick and easy meals, and then we hit Price Chopper for $.99/lb chicken breasts and cheese. My after tax total from both trips was $47. It's sure looking like $40 isn't going to get us very far this week! And how about that lack of produce? YUCK. With my extra $3, I'm going to buy a package of tortillas and a can of enchilada sauce. That will at least net us another meal! I'm sure I'll pick up a few other things while we're there because this will just not cut it!

Some of the meals on our agenda for the week are easy cheese calzones, orange chicken with fried rice, cavatini, cheese and onion enchiladas, and pancakes and eggs. We have plenty of cereal and baby's favorite for breakfast. Making lunches may be a problem! It seems like we EITHER have meals for the week OR snacks for the week. We rarely have an abundant supply of both! This week we have meals, I guess!

For more meal plans see www.orgjunkie.com.

Caramel Frappuccino Bombe

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Ya'll know I'm a big fan of Ina Garten, but I have to reserve her recipes for a special occasion!  Since she always calls for "good" (ie the best money can buy) ingredients, I wanted to wait and use the really good stuff! I was able to catch Haagen Dazs on sale this week for $2.99 a pint. It was perfect timing to make Ina's bombe for a Valentine's Day dessert. I switched mine up from her fruit flavors to a "caramel frappuccino" flavor I knew my whole family would love. Here are Ina's instructions (wiith my flavors!)

***

Ingredients

• 2 Pints Coffee Ice Cream, softened
• 1 1/2 Pints Dulce De Leche Ice Cream, softened
• 1 Pint Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, softened

Freeze an 8-inch bowl. When it's cold, place the coffee ice cream in the bowl and press it against the sides of the bowl. If you have a 6 1/2-inch bowl the same shape as the 8-inch bowl (such as from a set of nesting bowls), cover it with plastic wrap and press it into the ice cream to make the layer even. Freeze the ice cream for 30 minutes or until firm. Remove the 6 1/2-inch bowl.

Spread an even layer of softened dulce de leche on top of the coffee ice cream (a 4 1/2-inch nesting bowl wrapped in plastic wrap helps with this) and freeze for another 30 minutes or until firm. Remove the 4 1/2 inch bowl. Finally, spoon in enough softened vanilla bean ice cream to fill the empty space. Freeze until hard.

To unmold, dip the bowl up to the rim in warm water. Run a knife around the edge to loosen the bombe and unmold upside down onto a flat plate. You may need to run a flexible metal spatula along the edge of the bombe to release it. Freeze until ready to serve. Drizzle with caramel sauce. Serve in wedges with freshly whipped cream.

Yield: 1 1/2 quarts; 6 servings

Here is a picture of Ina's in case you were wondering what it looks like on the inside! Mine started melting too quickly for a good photo!



See other recipes at Inside BruCrew Life.  www.beautyandbedlam.com.