Category Archives: Breads

Reese’s Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Posted on February 27, 2012 | 1 Comment

I’m a Pinterest addict.  I admit it.  I probably need a 12-step program because I cannot tell you how many times a day I look at it.  This is especially bad because not only are there neato home and craft ideas, but bazillions of yummy recipes.  And I want to make them all!  This is not good for a dieter.

So when I’m having something at my house, I see that as my chance to make something delectable without feeling guilty because I’ll only take a bite to taste it.  I decided to make this absolutely sinful banana bread for a playdate and it was a huge hit.  It was sooo freaking good.  I went ahead and threw in a quarter of a pack of chocolate chips because heck, why not!  It was so rich and packed with chocolately goodness! There was one small piece left and I made sure my husband ate it, I could not be trusted alone in the house with this bread!

Reese's Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Reese’s Peanut Butter Banana Bread (with chocolate chips!!)
Recipe from Cookies and Cups

Ingredients:
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
8 oz bag Mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (look in the candy section)
1/4 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • In a large bowl, mix together the bananas, sugars, egg and oil.  In a smaller bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
  • Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and stir until well blended.
  •  Fold in the peanut butter cups and chocolate chips then pour into a loaf pan that has been coated with nonstick spray.
  • Bake 50 minutes to an hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean.  If the bread is browning too quickly, you can lower the heat a little.

Gooey Goodness!

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Posted in Breads, Breakfast, Desserts

Mozzarella and Onion Stuffed Bread

Posted on February 6, 2012 | Leave a comment

Some foods just go together, you can’t have one without the other.  Perfect example?  Pasta and bread.  For the bachelorette party, I was serving crawfish fettuccine but I needed the perfect bread to serve with it, and the search was over once I saw this recipe.

This was incredibly easy to make, and it was phenomenal.  It certainly doesn’t hurt that I got it from a Trim & Terrific cookbook, each slice was relatively low cal!  The only change I would make next time is to add some minced garlic or garlic powder, it would have been great with that.  Make this next time you need a yummy bread as a side dish!

Mozzarella and Onion Stuffed Bread

Mozzarella and Onion Stuffed Bread
Recipe adapted from Holly Clegg’s Trim & Terrific – Home Entertaining the Easy Way

Ingredients:
1 loaf Italian or French Bread, (1 lb)
6 tbsp margarine
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 tsp Dijon mustard
dash of hot pepper sauce (I used Sriracha)
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Instructions:

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Make 1-inch diagonal slices in the bread, making sure not to cut all the way through the bottom crust.
  • In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Once melted, add the onion (and minced garlic if you decide to add that) and cook until soft.  Remove from heat and stir in the mustard and hot sauce.  Mix in the cheese.
  • Spoon the mixture between each slice of the bread and a little on top.  Bake on a baking sheet for 10-15 minutes, until bread is golden and cheese is melted.

136 calories per slice

Mozzarella & Onion Stuffed Bread

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Posted in Breads, Light and Healthy, Menu Ideas, Quick Fix

Baked Praline French Toast

Posted on January 20, 2012 | Leave a comment

I know, you’re thinking “Christen has fallen off of the diet wagon for sure!”  But you would be wrong.  This, believe it or not, is a diet dish!!

The moms club I’m in is doing a Biggest Loser, so we decided to have a Biggest Loser brunch and all made a relatively healthy/low-cal brunch dish.  We brought copies of our recipe to share with each other, so you’ll be seeing some of those other dishes coming soon, there were some good ones.  I got mine from the Holly Clegg Trim & Terrific cookbook, Home Entertaining the Easy Way (given to me by my soon-to-be sister-in-law, Michelle!).  I just love Holly Clegg, she seems so personable and being a Southern girl like myself, I like her recipes!  The orange flavor gave it a different taste from the norm, but a good different.  This one was a definite win, it did not taste “diet” at all, everyone loved it.

Baked Praline French Toast

Baked Praline French Toast
Recipe from:  Home Entertaining the Easy Way

Ingredients:
6 tbsp margarine
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 tbsp light corn syrup
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 eggs
3 egg whites
1 cup orange juice (I used the Trop 50 kind)
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
1/3 cup skim milk
1 tsp orange zest
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 loaf (1 lb) French Bread, cut into one inch slices

Instructions:
In a small bowl, combine the margarine, corn syrup and brown sugar, microwaving until the brown sugar has dissolved, stirring occasionally.  Pour into a casserole, then sprinkle with the chopped pecans before arranging the bread slices over the pecans.

In a larger bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients and whisk to combine.  Pour evenly over the bread and cover, refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake 30 minutes, serve immediately.

Calories:  288

Baked Praline French Toast

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Posted in Breads, Breakfast, Casserole, Light and Healthy, Overnight

Sugar Crusted Vanilla French Toast

Posted on December 15, 2011 | 1 Comment

The local moms club I’m in is always doing fun activities.  I hosted one at my house last week that was really different.  We had a pajama party potluck brunch.  Of course nobody spent the night, everyone just came in their pjs (I’m sure my neighbors were wondering what was going on!) that morning.

We joked around that we should call it the pinterest party, since more than half of the dishes were “found” on pinterest, including mine.  Sugar crusted vanilla French toast seemed like it would be just right, and even better that it could be prepared the night before with only minimal work the next morning.  The ingredients consisted mostly of things you would have on hand, so it’s really inexpensive to make.

Sugar Crusted Vanilla French Toast

Everyone seemed to really love it.  I made a double batch but it wasn’t necessary, I ended up with a good bit left over.  But the leftovers are great, that was no problem! :)   The crust is really, well…crusty when it’s leftover but it softens in the microwave, have no fear.

Sugar Crusted Vanilla French Toast (Single Batch)
Recipe from:  Phenomenon

Ingredients:
1 loaf french bread, about 1lb. (plain, of course)

Custard:
3 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 – 3/4 cup white granulated sugar
pinch of sea salt

Sugar Coating:
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

  • Slice the bread into 1 inch slices.  Spray a casserole (just big enough to fit the bread) with nonstick spray and arrange the slices in the dish.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the custard ingredients.  Pour evenly over the bread in the dish and cover tightly with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate overnight.
  • The next morning, remove the dish from the refrigerator and discard the plastic wrap.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • In a microwave-safe bowl, heat the butter just till melted.  Add the brown sugar and corn syrup and whisk well to combine.  Microwave again in thirty-second bursts, whisking after each time until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is bubbly and hot.  Whisk in the vanilla extract.
  • Pour evenly over the top of the bread and bake about 40-45 minutes, until golden.

Sugar Crusted Vanilla French Toast

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Posted in Breads, Breakfast, Casserole, Christmas, Easter, Money Savers, Overnight

Roasted Portobello and Goat Cheese Sandwiches

Posted on November 9, 2011 | Leave a comment

Well the diet is still on.  I’m pretty proud of myself actually, I’m sticking with it (knock on wood!) and seeing results.  It helps that there are so many tasty healthier options out there these days.  Options like this roasted portobello and goat cheese sandwich.

Let me tell you something, this sandwich was awesome.  It was so good that I cooked them again the next night.  I just bought regular goat cheese so I added just a very small amount of 1% milk and mixed it well to make it creamier and more spreadable.  I also served it on sandwich thins.  Excellent!

Roasted Portobello and Goat Cheese Sandwiches
Recipe from Clean Eating, November/December 2011 issue

Ingredients:
1 lb. portobello mushrooms, stemmed and cut into 1/4 inch strips
1.5 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup goat cheese, spreadable if you can find it
1/2 green onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
4 sandwich thins
4 cups spring mix or arugula

Instructions:

  • Preheat oven to 375.  In a bowl, toss the mushrooms and oil then spread out in a large casserole and roast 20 minutes, tossing halfway through.
  • While that’s cooking, mix the goat cheese, green onion, lemon juice, thyme, salt and pepper (and milk if needed to make it spreadable) in a medium bowl.
  • Layer sandwich thins with spread, mushrooms and arugula.            *You can toast the buns if you want to, but we did not.

Per Sandwich…
Calories:  259
Total Fat:  11 g
Sat. Fat:  6 g
Monounsaturated Fat:  3.5 g
Polyunsaturated Fat:  1 g
Fiber:  5 g
Sugars:  6 g
Protein:  13 g
Sodium:  456 mg
Cholesterol:  16 mg

Roasted Portobello and Goat Cheese Sandwiches

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Posted in Breads, Clean Eating, Goat Cheese, Light and Healthy, Money Savers, Sandwiches

Pull-Apart Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Bread with Buttered Rum Glaze

Posted on October 14, 2011 | 1 Comment

I don’t know what I did before I discovered my great love for all things pumpkin.  It is such a versatile ingredient, able to go smoothly into dishes savory or sweet and hold its’ own.

When I saw the picture for this recipe from Sunny Side Up in San Diego, I drooled.  The bread in itself looked delicious, that it incorporated pumpkin and rum was the icing on the cake.  Or the bread.  ;)   It was a little bit labor-intensive, but it wasn’t hard.  And it was delicious so I really think it’s worth the time.

Excuse the little powdered sugar globs in my picture, I couldn’t get them mixed right.  Oh well, didn’t affect the taste!

Pumpkin Pull Apart Bread with Rum Glaze

Pull-Apart Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Bread with Buttered Rum Glaze
Recipe from Sunny Side up in San Diego

Ingredients:
Bread:
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup milk
1 envelope active dry yeast
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups bread flour

1 cup white granulated sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
2 tbsp butter

Buttered Rum Glaze:
2 tbsp butter
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tbsp milk
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp rum (I used spiced rum – just seemed right!)

Instructions:

  • In a small saucepan, brown the 2 tbsp butter, letting it get a rich golden brown.  Remove pan from heat and add the milk, return it to the stove to heat through.
  • Pour the milk/butter into the bowl of stand mixer fitted with a dough hook and let it cool till just warm.  Add the yeast and 1/4 cup of sugar and allow to proof – takes about 8 minutes to look cloudy.
  • Add the pumpkin, salt and 1 cup of flour, mix well.  Add the rest of the flour one cup at a time until all mixed then let the mixer knead the bread for six minutes, until smooth and elastic and slightly sticky.  If the dough is too moist, you can add more flour 1 tbsp at  a time – but I didn’t need to.
  • Move to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a clean towel and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 60-90 minutes.  (To do this, I preheated my oven to the lowest heat setting, then turn it off before adding the dough to rise)
  • While that’s rising, brown 2 more tbsp of butter, add the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix well until it is a crumbly mixture.  Grease and flour a loaf pan and set aside.
  • When the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and flip out onto a floured surface and knead for one to two minutes with your hands.  Roll out to 20×12 inches and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture evenly all over it.  Press the sugar into the dough with the palms of your hands.  Cut the rectangle into six strips, then lay the strips on top of each other and cut them in half, then each half into thirds – you’ll have six squares.
  • Stack the strips vertically into the loaf pan, cover with the towel and allow to rise for 30-45 more minutes.
  • Preheat the oven to 350.
  • Bake the bread 30-40 minutes, until the top is a golden brown.
  • Prepare the glaze:  Heat the butter, milk and brown sugar in a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil and immediately remove from heat and stir in the rum and powdered sugar.  Spoon over bread.

Pumpkin Pull Apart Bread with Rum Glaze

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Posted in Breads, Desserts, Pumpkin, Thanksgiving

Homemade Biscuits with Sausage Gravy

Posted on June 20, 2011 | 2 Comments

A local restaurant here has these huge fluffy biscuits with buttery-tasting sausage gravy and it is AMAZING.  I don’t even want to think about how unhealthy it is because it’s my favorite breakfast item there.  You can’t even see your plate for all the biscuits and gravy!

We decided to try making it for a “breakfast for supper” night.  I’m not enough of a morning person to wake up and have to start rolling out dough and stuff.  Honestly, I normally don’t even eat breakfast.  Anyway, I was really pleased with how this all came out.  I think next time I’ll just substitute regular butter for the shortening in the biscuits, but the gravy was great – hubby even said it was better than the restaurant.  He gets brownie points. :)

Homemade Biscuits with Sausage Gravy
Biscuit Recipe from:  www.tasteofhome.com
Sausage Gravy recipe my own creation

Biscuit Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
3 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening or butter (one stick)
1 egg
2/3 cup milk

Sausage gravy ingredients:
1/4 stick butter (plus more, to taste)
4 tbsp all-purpose flour
milk
1 pkg breakfast sausage, crumbled
salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste

To make the biscuits:

Preheat oven to 450.

In the bowl of your mixer, add the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt, mix well.  Add the butter or shortening in small amounts, mixing until it is a coarse mix.  Mix in the egg and milk just until evenly moistened.

Turn onto a floured surface and kneed twenty times.  Roll out until it’s 3/4 inch thick and cut with biscuit cutters.  Place on baking sheets (I used a silicone mat) and bake 8 minutes or until turning golden brown.

To make sausage gravy:

Brown the sausage in a small pan, drain and set aside.  Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and add the flour.  Cook two minutes, being sure to scrape the sides and corners of the pot.  Add enough milk to break the roux up, mix well.  Add the sausage and a little more milk, until it is a thick consistency but still thin enough to pour over biscuits.  Season to taste with salt, pepper and extra butter.  I like mine buttery tasting!  Serve over biscuits.

Fluffy Biscuits

Biscuits with Sausage Gravy

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Posted in Breads, Breakfast, Pork

Cracklin’ Golden Cornbread

Posted on June 11, 2011 | Leave a comment

Last weekend we had a houseguest, it was one of our friends that recently moved back to our area from Portland.  We were happy to get to spend some time with him and he was nice enough to bring us some delicious boudin and cracklins from Don’s Specialty Meats in Carencro, LA.  It so happened that I was making my Meaty White Bean Stew with Collards (try it, delicious!) and thought some cracklin’ cornbread would be the perfect side dish.

I’ve learned the trick to really good cornbread is to heat your oil in your cast iron skillet while you’re mixing the rest of the ingredients, then pour that oil into the batter, mix it really quickly and while the skillet is still piping hot, pour the batter in.  Makes it so crisp and wonderful.  The cornbread was demolished in no time at all!

Cracklin’ Golden Cornbread

Ingredients:
1 cup enriched yellow corn meal
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 egg
cracklins, slightly smashed up
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp butter, cut into small pieces
honey to drizzle over the top

Method:
Coat a cast iron skillet with the vegetable oil, making sure the sides are also well-coated.  Place in the oven and preheat to 425 (with it in the oven).  In a large bowl, mix together the corn meal, flour, sugar, salt and baking powder.  Add the milk and egg and mix well. Mix in the cracklins.   Once the oven is preheated, carefully take out the skillet and pour the hot oil into the batter and quickly stir to incorporate.  As quickly as you can, pour the batter into the skillet.  You should hear a sizzle, that mean s you’ll have a great crust!  Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden and cooked through.  Remove and place the butter pieces on top and drizzle honey over the top.  Use a silicone basting brush and gently spread the butter and honey evenly over the top.  Allow it to soak in a couple of minutes before cutting and serving.

Cracklin' Golden Cornbread

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Posted in Breads, Pork, Regional Louisiana

Marbled-Chocolate Banana Bread

Posted on February 21, 2011 | 1 Comment

Kids.  As soon as you figure out something they like to eat and go buy it, they suddenly don’t eat it.  This happened with us.  My daughter LOVES bananas, so my husband bought a big bunch for her.  Well my mom was in town and I guess it was just too exciting and we were cooking more fun stuff, but the bananas started turning brown.  So I had to do something with them.

After a little Google action, I found a recipe on Cooking Light’s website for marbled-chocolate banana bread.  It sounded delicious, and was really easy when I made it.  Mine didn’t really “marble” so much as have a line of chocolate, but that’s alright.  It’s all in the taste, and the taste was spot on.  This is REALLY good, if you have some bananas over ripening, use this recipe.  Heck, just go buy some bananas and wait for it!

Marbled-Chocolate Banana Bread
Recipe from:  Cooking Light, September 2003

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cup mashed ripe bananas (about three)
1/2 cup egg substitute (equivalent to two eggs)
1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Cooking spray

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt, stirring with a whisk.

In a larger bowl, cream the sugar and butter together.  Add the bananas, eggs and yogurt and beat until blended.  Add the flour mix and beat on low until just moist.

In a small bowl, melt the chocolate chips per package directions.  Once melted and smooth, add 1 cup batter to the chocolate and mix thoroughly.  Spray your loaf pan with cooking spray and layer the chocolate batter with the regular batter.  Use a knife to swirl them. 

Bake for an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Marbled-Chocolate Banana Bread

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Posted in Breads, Breakfast, Desserts, Light and Healthy

Mexican Cornbread Skillet Pie

Posted on November 6, 2010 | Leave a comment

My husband LOVES cornbread, I’m not so much a fan.  But I try to be a good wife and fix stuff that he likes every  now and then.  I knew that the Mexican Cornbread Skillet Pie would be right up his alley so I looked forward to making it for him.

He and our friend Morgan both really loved it.  As I said before, I’m not a big fan of cornbread so I was just kind of “eh” over it.  But they both ate several pieces each and absolutely raved over it, so I’ll definitely be making it again as a treat for him!  I think next time I’ll use the spicy taco seasonings packet instead of the seasonings it calls for in the recipe.  It just didn’t have enough kick, I found.  So, you may want to try that as well if you like things on the spicy side.

Mexican Cornbread Skillet Pie
Recipe from:  Sing for your Supper

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup cornmeal
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup oil
1 cup sour cream
3 tsp baking powder
1 can cream-style corn
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 small can green chilis
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
dash cayenne pepper
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Method:
Preheat oven to 350.  Mix the first 8 ingredients (cornmeal through green chilis) together in a bowl and set aside.  In a pan, saute’ onions, garlic and peppers.  Add ground beef and cook through.  Drain off the grease and mix in the tomatoes, cumin, chili powder, pepper and salt.  Remove from heat.

Grease a cast iron skillet and sprinkle bottom with dry cornmeal.  Spread half of the batter, then the beef mixture, top with the cheese and then spread the remaining batter over the top of that.  Bake 45-50 minutes, or until the cornbread is cooked through.

Looks like regular cornbread on the outside...

with a meaty surprise inside!

 (excuse the crappy picture, I had issues getting it out of the pan!)

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Posted in Beef, Breads, Casserole, Mexican