Banana Bread

Again, I am not a particularly good baker, but I decided to bake a small loaf of banana bread one night as comfort food for the two of us. To be honest, I actually had to make the bread twice, the first trial resulted in a banana bread that had a crusty black outside and a soggy inside....I turned the heat down for the 2nd trial, and I conquered those bananas like nobody's business.

I got this recipe from Elise at Simply Recipes. The recipe did not require an electric mixer, so it worked for me as I do not have any fancy gadgets in my kitchen.

This is what you will need:

3 or 4 medium ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

• Preheat the oven to 325 F.
• Mix butter into the smashed bananas
• Slowly add in sugar, eggs and vanilla, then sprinkle in baking soda and salt, mix well.
• Finally, fold in the flour.
• Grease a 4 X 8 loaf pan, pour in the mixture and bake for 50 - 60 minutes
• Enjoy with butter and a glass of milk....yummm
  

Chicken Cacciatore

Hi friends!

One of my favorite websites to look for recipes is called Simply Recipes, their dishes are, as the name suggests... simple, and therefore perfect for me. I got this recipe from Elise, who (I think) is the main writer for the site. Since Derek is sort of Italian, I thought maybe I should try to make something sort of Italian...with a few tiny modifications, this dish was the perfect candidate. Classic, simple, and finger-licking good!

What you will need:

6 Large chicken thighs with skin
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 cup thinly sliced onions
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup white wine
2 cups peeled and chopped, firm ripe tomatoes

1. Rinse/clean chicken and pat dry.
   
2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat, add the onions and garlic, cook until onions are soft and translucent, stirring occasionally.
   
3. Push the onions to the side. Add chicken pieces, skin-side down. Cook until the chicken skin is golden brown, then turn pieces over and brown on the other side, takes about 8 minutes per side.
4. Season chicken with salt and pepper, on both sides.
   
5. Add wine and simmer until reduced by half. I don't really know when exactly that is, so I usually just wait about 3-5 minutes.
   
6. Add the tomatoes, lower the heat and cover the skillet with the lid slightly ajar.
7. Simmer the chicken for about 40-50 minutes, turning the chicken occasionally so that all parts of the chicken is in contact with the liquid.
   
8. Add some water if the liquid dries up, adjust the taste with salt
9. I usually remove the skin just to be a bit more healthy
   
10. Serve with pasta, rice or veggies! DELICIOUS!
11. The left-overs for this dish are also very very good, as the liquid soaks into the chicken and the chicken becomes more tasty the next day.

HUGS!
Annie