Best Banana Bread

I don't usually do Bananas. I buy them for Tony but I kind of dislike them. The other day I bought a pack of Bananas at Costco and left them in the plastic bag. Unbeknownst to me, Bananas ripen within days when left in plastic. I ended up with 4 brown Bananas and a Google search for a good Banana bread recipe. I was not disappointed, for somebody that hates bananas this banana bread recipe was ah-mazing. I didn't have walnuts so next time I'm using walnuts and an actual designated loaf pan. I had to share. This recipe is easy but does require a few steps. I promise it's worth it. (I separated the ingredients to make it easier whilst going through the steps)

1 2/3 Cups Flour
1 TSP Baking Soda
1/4 TSP Ground Cinnamon
1/2 TSP Salt

1 Cup Sugar
2 Eggs

3 1/2 Ugly Brown Bananas
2 TBSP Sour Cream
1 TSP Vanilla Extract

1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil

2/3 C Walnuts

Preheat your oven to 350

Sift flour, baking Soda, cinnamon and salt in a large mixing bowl and set aside

Mash your bananas, sour cream and vanilla until smooth

Beat sugar and eggs until light and fluffy, about ten minutes and slowly add the oil whisking as you go

When sugar and egg mixture is combined add the banana mixture and whisk until combined

Fold your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients in large bowl. Add Nuts.

Pour into a greased loaf or Bundt cake pan. Bake 45 minutes to an hour until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Moist Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

 

 

 

For the Carrot Cake:

1 Cup Sugar

3/4 Cup Oil

1/4 Cup Plain Greek Yogurt (I use Fage)

3 Large Eggs

2 Teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract

2 Cups Flour (I use Soft Silk Cake Flour but honestly I don't even know if that makes a difference)

1 TSP Baking Soda

2 TSP Ground Cinnamon

1/4 TSP Ground Nutmeg

1/2 TSP Salt

2 Cups of Finely Grated Carrots

For the Frosting:

8 OZ Softened Cream Cheese

1 Stick Softened Butter (Salted)

2 TSP Pure Vanilla Extract

2 - 2.5 Cups of Powdered Sugar

Preheat your oven to 350.

In a large bowl beat (using a stand or handheld mixer) sugar and oil, then add yogurt until creamy. One at a time add the eggs and beat until well mixed. Then mix in the Vanilla Extract. Set aside your wet ingredients.

In another bowl combine your dry ingredients; Flour, Baking Soda, Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Salt.

With a spatula, manually mix your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients just until you can't see any more flour pockets then fold in your carrots.

Bake your cake 30-35 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

While your cake bakes, make your Frosting. I used my Ninja Food Processor with the mixer attachment but you can use a stand mixer or a handheld mixer (I just live in the dark ages and don't have a stand mixer). Simply combine all ingredients and mix until mixture is creamy. Start with 2 cups of powdered sugar and add a little more depending on how sweet you want your frosting, I ended up using 2 1/4 Cups.



Now this step is very important, DON'T be like me and frost the cake before it has cooled. I didn't have the patience to wait and wanted to retreat to bed that I went right for it! This is what I ended up with when I tried to frost my cake while it was still warm:

 

 

Carrot Cake: Melty Edition

 

Evidently patience is not my greatest virtue :) still tasted great though!

 

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

~Mely

Weekend Story

 

Friday

 

Friday Tony and I went to the Warriors game in Oakland! The traffic going into the Bay was hideous and I should have known considering it was a Friday but we got there with an hour to spare and we immediately went inside to our seats. It was both Tony and I's first time at a Warriors game and my first time at a professional sports game and it was so much fun! The Warriors are one of the best teams in the NBA right now and it was so much fun watching them play live, I even joked to Tony it was nice seeing my boyfriends Andrew Bogut and Klay Thompson ;)

 

 

 

 

Quick side note about the above pic: We had actually both been up since 4AM because I couldn't go back to sleep after he went to work. I binge watched Gilmore Girls for 2 hours on Netflix before getting up to go to work! I drank approximately 250% more caffeine than he did on Friday which is why I don't look tired.

 

 

On the way to the game we picked up some Esstarbucks. I took this pic of our his and hers iced coffees. I marveled at the fact that this husband of mine never drank coffee before we dated and slowly but surely I got him hooked.

 

 

An iPhone pic of our view of the court!

 

Saturday

Saturday we went to the gym and then my Mom's house for dinner. Tony left to his friend's house to watch the Pacquiao fight and I stayed back and lounged at my Mom's... I even took a nap in my Mom's bed! My Mom baked some Oatmeal cookies and I prepped some Chicken to fry up on Sunday!

 

I let this Chicken sit overnight in Buttermilk, Garlic, Lemon Slices, Rosemary, Salt and Pepper.

 

Sunday

 

Sunday we went for a quick hike with my Mom early in the morning. We came back to my Momma's house and picked up some Starbucks and Donuts. Because if you exercise before eating donuts it makes them calorie free. Didn't you know?! #denial

 

I painfully watched as my Niners played and it was another ugly win. For the last 3 weeks they have been ugly wins. When will our offense start playing as well as our defense? Anyways, we play Seattle on Thanksgiving and I hope and pray our offense can get something going. Please, pretty please?

 

One thing is for sure though, it was so nice having this guy back. Our pass rush was almost non-existent while he was suspended.

 

 

And my fried chicken came out pretty good!

 

After the game we came home to watch the Walking Dead...

 

And I watched 90 Day Fiance because ain't nothing like some good ole' TLC Reality Shows...

 

 

This week I only work Monday and Tuesday and I am so excited to cook this year for Thanksgiving! I will be making:

 

 

Pioneer Woman's Restaurant Style Smashed Potatoes

 

 

 

Along with a roasted Turkey brined with PW's Turkey brine...

 

 

And for Dessert I will be making a whole bunch of PW's Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Frosting.

 

Happy Thanksgiving Week!

 

~Mely

Mely Cooks Monday - Quiche

I love Quiche, I especially love the gourmet ones that cost $16 at Oliver's, but yesterday I had this wild idea to make a Quiche because I had some eggs in my fridge that needed some loving. So I googled Quiche recipes and I made up with this easy recipe. Unsurprisingly, my lover had never eaten Quiche before so further expanding on my efforts to widen his culinary horizons I knew I HAD to bake a Quiche. Here it is...

 

 

What you will need:

2 Frozen Pie Crusts in a tin, thawed according to direction

5 Extra Large Eggs

8 OZ Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1 Cup Heavy Cream (1 cup = 1 little box)

7-8 Bacon Slices
1 Large Potato

1/2 White Onion

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper to taste

 

Preheat your oven to 375.

Dice your potatoes and onion into small cubes.
 

Heat up a non-stick skillet and slice your bacon into 1 inch squares. Once the skillet is hot, add your bacon. Cook bacon until it is chewy but NOT crispy.

Remove bacon from the skillet and allow to cool and drain on a paper towel.

Remove the pan from the stove and drain most of the bacon fat from the skillet, reserve about 4 TBSP to cook your potatoes and onions. First add your potatoes and some salt to taste to the pan, cook your potatoes until they start to get soft (about 5 minutes) and then add your onions and allow your potatoes to brown and your onions to caramelize (about another 5-7 minutes). If you find your potatoes are sticking, drizzle with some Olive oil. Once completed, allow mixture to cool.

 

In a large bowl whisk eggs and heavy cream with ground pepper until creamy. Then add your cheese, bacon pieces and your by now cooled onion/potato mixture. Mix well and pour into your pie crust.

Pour your mixture into your pie crusts evenly distributing it between both. Loosely cover both Quiches with foil and bake on top rack for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the foil and allow the Quiches to finish browning for another 15-20 minutes.

Remove your Quiches from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before digging in.

I must admit, I was really impressed with myself being that this was my first time making Quiche. There's just a couple things I would do differently next time:

~I would use Jalapenos for a kick
~Red Bell Pepper/Spinach for a pop of color
~Play around with the cheeses and meat (Tony requested Sausage next time)
~Add some Garlic for a little flare
~Make my own pie crust and make one deep dish Quiche as opposed to two regular sized Quiches

I encourage you to try this recipe out and play around with the ingredients to make it your own!
~Mely