Banana Nut Muffins

I love banana nut muffins. Here is my tried and true recipe that I use. I will also tell you how to convert it to banana nut bread.

Here's what I do:

Oven 400 degrees. Line twelve muffin cup tin with paper inserts.

1 3/4 Cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt ( I always add a heaping tsp. But this is a personal taste thing.)
1/2 cup heaping of white sugar
1 large egg beaten
1 cup mashed ripe banana (over ripe with all the specs on them. they get sweeter.)
1/2 cup milk
1/3 Cup vegy oil
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Combine the first 4 ingredients in a bowl. Add the chopped pecans and mix. Combine egg,mashed banana, milk, and oil in another bowl and mix together. Add the banana mixture to the flour and stir to combine. Spoon into muffin cups filling 3/4 full. Bake 400 degrees 18-20 minutes till golden and toothpick comes out clean when tested.

for bread:
set oven to 350 and pour batter into 8x4 bread pan. Bake about 1 hour or till toothpick comes out clean when tested.

Enjoy!

Pasta with Meatballs

My Sasquatches love it when I make Italian meatballs. I don't do it often enough. It is a little work intensive but worth it. We will have pasta one day and then they make the left over meatballs into meatball subs with mozzarella on top. They are happy. I also freeze bags with 4 meatballs and sauce in each. That way they can just take out one freezer bag and they have all they need for a sub.
This recipe is inspired by a recipe by Wolfgang Puck. I have changed it over time to our liking.

Here's what I do: I double this recipe for us.

Meat balls:
1 1/2 pounds lean eye of round roast
1/2 pound pork loin (I buy center cut boneless pork chops as they are just sliced pork loin. Now not tenderloin, just loin roast.)
1 head garlic roasted (I peel all the garlic cloves and lay on foil. Drizzle with olive oil and add salt and pepper. Wrap up in the foil tight and bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes till they are very soft. When done place in bowl with any olive oil from the packet and mush with a fork.)
 2 eggs beaten
1/2 cup italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese ( I grind my fresh parmesan up in the food processor and then mix with a good quality container of Kraft parm from the store. It stretches the good parm out and you still get the great flavor and more for the money.)
1 tbl. minced parsley
1 tsp. white vinegar
1/2-1 tsp. salt
 1/2 tsp. black pepper

Clean and remove any fat from the meat. Cut into chunks and grind up in a food processor till meat is completely ground up. 

 Place all the meat (beef and pork) in a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix with your hands till completely mixed together. Using a 2inch stainless steel scoop scoop out some meat and roll into a ball in your hands and place on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. You will then place them in the pasta sauce that should be cooking on the stove while these are baking.

Red Sauce:

1/4 Cup olive oil
1 med. chopped onion
1 head of garlic (whole head not just one clove) minced
1 can tomato paste
1/2 can of msg. free beef broth
2 (28oz.) cans of good quality canned tomatoes. I like to use Hunts fire roasted or Cento Sam Marzano Italian tomatoes. Chopped if you can find them.
1/2 Cup red wine
1/4 cup chopped pepperoni
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried marjoram
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 cup fresh chopped basil
salt and pepper to taste
Put olive oil in large pot and heat over med-high heat. Saute onion in oil till onion is translucent. Add garlic and cook for a minute. Then add the can of tomato paste and stir constantly till the paste turns a darker shade of red. Pour the beef broth in and the wine. Stir to dissolve the tomato paste. Stir in the remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 30 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and using an emmersion blender blend the sauce till most the tomato chunks are gone (this is optional. My Sasquatches don't like chunks of tomato so I blend them up.)
Time it so that after the sauce has cooked for 30 minutes the meatballs are coming out of the oven. Place the meatballs in the sauce and simmer lightly for another hour or so. Serve with pasta and Parmesan cheese.

Steak bites seared in brown butter

This is a simple dish. This is a divine dish. Easy and beyond good. About a month ago I purchased a whole Filet of beef to cut into filet Mignon for my family. I had a good hunk of meat left at the end and just cut it into bite size pieces and put it in the freezer. Last week I purchased three filet mignons from the store to add the the frozen ones I had cut up earlier. So it made plenty for my large family of Sasquatches.

Here's what I did:

good quality steak(filet is what I would recommend) cut into large chunks (about two bites worth.)
salt and pepper
butter
 cast iron skillet

dry the steak bites and salt and pepper. Place cast iron skillet over med-high heat and let it get good and hot. Add 4 Tbl. of butter and stir it around till melted and butter has turned brown. This is a delicate time. You want the butter browned but not burnt. Then add half the steak bites and spread out in pan. Don't touch them for 30-45 seconds to let them sear. Then stir and cook another 45 seconds or so. After this I just stirred the steak bites around till they were good and brown but still nice and rare on the inside. Pour the cooked steak bites along with the butter in the pan into a serving dish. Place pan back on the burner and add another 4 Tbl. butter and repeat the directions above.
This is wonderful.
Enjoy!