Break the Cycle

I make lots of banana bread. When I'm in the mood - I can easily make/freeze a dozen loaves. But sometimes I have a craving for just one loaf of hot, fresh banana bread. I didn't want to heat up my entire kitchen, so I tried some different online recipes - and this one worked perfectly. This is for a 2 lb breadmaker - 3 large eggs, beaten 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1 tsp. vanilla extract 1 cup ripe and mashed banana 2 cups all purpose flour 3 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. baking soda 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 tsp. salt When beeps sound, add: 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 1 Add the ingredients to the baking pan in the order listed, except for the walnuts. 2 Select the CAKE course, set the crust setting to LIGHT, and press START. 3 When the add beeps sound, open the lid and carefully scrape off any flour that may be left on the side of the pan with a rubber spatula. Please be careful if the kneading blades are moving. 4 Add the walnuts, cl...

Wow - sounds simple - plan to eat.  If I eat what I plan, then I succeed.  This is a pretty neat website - you can plan out your menu's - it'll figure out your grocery list, you can take advantage of what you already have in your pantry, and copy menus - by the week or by the month.  Try it now for 30 days - FREE !  Just click on this ling - PLAN TO EAT I'll be putting a permanent link on my blog for this site. I really think it'll be helpful. Combine this with a calorie tracking site such as WW or Spark people,

    Last weekend I hosted a McCormick Grill Mates Party.  The Spices were sent to me by Crowd Tap   Everyone enjoyed the food.  We had dry rubs, bbq sauce and marinades going.  One of the favorites was the Spiced Brandy & Herb marinade with chicken which is pictured above.  The bbq sauce we brushed on a different batch of chicken during the last 10 minutes as well as using some as a dipping sauce – that was the kids’ favorite.  They said it was good sticky chicken.  We weren’t having steak, but we did use the McCormick Montreal Steak seasonings on some lamb – and wow – that was awesome.  It was nice that it already contained a lot of the spices that I normally use.  I will be buying more McCormick spices in the future.  I do have one bottle that we didn’t try – Molasses Bacon.  If anyone would like the bottle – it’s free – just come by and pick it up.  Just email after and let me know how you liked it !  ...

Although New Years Day usually is the start of all the new Resolutions, new challenges, new ideas - I think the beginning of a new school year is a great time to challenge ourselves to be better. As summer is slowly drawing to a close, I can sit and take time to reflect on what I wanted to do but didn't, and why didn't I? #1 Beach --- I went exactly once. VERY BIG SIGH Once? I have 4 children ! Once? VBS again. #2 Fishing --- We did go out often with Christopher Robin - maybe even try tomorrow for one last day - although not sure the boat will be going out. $$$ - going to the beach would have been cheaper ! #3 Lose Weight --- Well, that didn't happen. I think the end of summer found me heavier than I was at the beginning of summer ! #4 Spend more time with Family --- this happened in a way - not the way I planned, with everyone gathered around the pool, sharing good times and laughs - but we all flew to Michigan together and shared my father's ...

Home from a fun filled week in Michigan. What a great time we had flying my Dad out so he and his twin brother could celebrate their 82nd birthday in the cottage where they grew up - yep, you read that right - both of them, 82. Do you know how many times they each told the same story to the same people? But - it really was fun - and to see my Dad having so much fun was worth every single penny I spent to get my own family of 6 as well as all extended family gathered together for a weekend of partying. Pictures will soon follow - but I wanted to share this recipe that my cousin Carol made up for the party. Quick, simple, somewhat healthy - ideal for a quick dessert type salad - 1 container of Cottage Cheese 1 package of FF jello (this time she used lemon) some blueberries 1 container of Cool Whip That was it. It was good. She mixes it up and uses different jello flavors and different fruits - but it was surprisingly good - and that was the first time my kids EVER ate cottage ...

After a long weekend in the great state of Virginia - I am happy to be home, with about 3 weeks off from swim practice. Not 3 weeks of entirely - because of course, we get home on a Saturday night, and Tennis practice starts Monday morning .... but the Tennis coach is not such an early morning person as the swim coach - I can deal with 7:45 a.m. start times ! Leenah had an outstanding year this year in swimming. 2 weeks before the Junior Olympics she aged up. If you are not familiar with swim terms, that means she jumped from swimming against 11/12 yo's to swimming against 13/14 yo's. She had already made most of the qualifying times for the older age group, so she still had lots of events to excel at during the Junior Olympics - and excel she did. She brought home some very fast times, as well as some medals, but the one event that stood out was a swim off in the 100 Breast Stroke. Breast Stroke is NOT Leenah's best stroke. Freestyle mid-distance is. She's...

Here's another that looks simple enough - and uses stuff I already have on hand - love that. I didn't claim it to be the World's Best Chicken - but I will post my families reviews after we try it - BEWARE - they are picky, picky eaters ! Lots of recipes on Rachel Schultz's blog that I'll be trying ! The World’s Best Chicken Serves 4 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts 1/2 cup Dijon mustard 1/4 cup maple syrup 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar Salt & Pepper Rosemary Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, mix together mustard, syrup, and vinegar. Place chicken breasts into 9×13 baking dish. Season with salt and pepper. Pour mustard mixture over chicken. No need to marinate. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until meat thermometer reads 165 degrees. Season with rosemary.