Bountiful Banana Bread

One of my favorite sites to look up recipes is AllRecipes.  They list such a large variety of recipes that I seem to always be able to find an interesting recipe (or two) to try.

Last Saturday, I had some very ripe bananas that I wanted to use up before they were no good.  So, I visited AllRecipes and decided to try these two recipes:

Banana Peanut Butter Bread

and

Janet's Rich Banana Bread.

I made two small modifications to the recipes, and they both turned out so well!

I didn't have any walnuts for Janet's Rich Banana Bread - so I used pecans instead.

Then I added a sugar-cinnamon sprinkle to the top of both loaves before baking for extra texture and taste.

My thought was we would have enough banana bread to stretch for a couple mornings for breakfast.  No such luck!  The guys ate every last drop!!

Try these recipes at your house and see if your family enjoys them as much as mine did!

Chicken Chow Mein (Crock-Pot)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2-2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 1/2 small head of cabbage, chopped
• 1/2 lb baby carrots
• 1/2 large white onion, chopped
• 1 small can sliced mushrooms, drained
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 TBS rice vinegar
• 1 TBS sesame oil
• 3 chicken bouillon cubes
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 4 cups water
• crispy chow mein noodles (for garnish)
• rice

Directions:

1. Combine in the crock-pot:  chicken, chopped cabbage, baby carrots, chopped onion, drained mushrooms, rice vinegar, sesame oil, bouillon cubes, minced garlic, and water.  Stir well.
2. Cook on LOW for 6-7 hours, or on HIGH for 4-5 hours.
3. Add chopped celery approximately 1 hour before serving. Stir well.
4. Serve over rice, garnished with crispy chow mein noodles.

Open Crab Rangoon

Oh yes!  I am making good use of my mini-muffin pan these days!!

When I figured out how well it worked using the wonton wrapers for the Breakfast Bites - I had to try it with the Crab Rangoon recipe.  This turned out to be a very successful experiment!!

Ingredients:

• 1 package cream cheese, softened
• 1 small can crab meat, drained
• 1 TBS minced garlic
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 3-4 green onions, chopped with tops
• 24 wonton wrappers

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Prepare mini-muffin pan with non-stick spray.
3. Tuck one wonton wrapper into each mini-muffin well. 
4. In a small mixing bowl:  combine cream cheese, drained crab meat, minced garlic, soy sauce, half of the chopped green onions.
5. Spoon cream cheese mixture into wonton wrappers.
6. Top each filled wrapper with additional chopped green onion.
7. Bake at 400 degrees F for 10-15 minutes, depending on desire crispness.  (The longer they bake, the crispier - and browner - they will become.)