Banana Bread

Banana Bread



Banana Bread

1/2 cup butter or margarine
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
4-5 over-ripe bananas
1 3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
small dash of cinnamon
tiny dash of nutmeg

1. Cream together butter and sugars
2. Add eggs and crushed bananas
3. Combine well.
4. Sift together flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add to creamed mixture. Add vanilla.
5. Pour into greased and floured loaf pan
6. Bake at 350 for 60 minutes.
7. Keeps well, refrigerated.

*This is a wonderfully moist banana bread. Easy to make and delicious. I could not find a recipe I liked so I improvised between a few and this is what I came up with. :)*

Montreal Seasoned Broiled Steak & Asparagus

Montreal Seasoned Broiled Steak & Asparagus

I am loving all things broiled. The steak is a chuck-eye or eye of chuck cut, it's a cut between the chuck and rib-eye. It's has the flavor of a rib-eye at a chuck price. Thank you Shannon G. for the fantastic seasoning recipe.

Seasoning:
Montreal Steak seasoning - 4 tablespoons
Brown Sugar - 1/4 cup.

Rub the steak with the above mixture, place in the oven a few inches under the broiler for 4-6 minutes each side.

Asparagus:
Season the asparagus with a little salt and pepper, perhaps a bit of Nature's Seasoning and broil a few inches under the broiler for approx. 10 minutes. They are a little bit tender, a little bit crunchy, just perfect. So easy!

The potatoes are small red creamers cut and boiled/steamed in a bit of water w/butter in a small saucepan, seasoned with salt, pepper, and saute'ed red and green pepper.

Shrimp and Goat Cheese Quesadillas

Shrimp and Goat Cheese Quesadillas w/Spinach & Herb Tortillas

This is a very easy recipe:

olive oil
1 whole onion
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 roll of goat cheese
1 pkg mexican blend cheese (cheddar & monterey jack)
1 lb of cooked shrimp
1 Tbsp of cajun seasoning (I use Tony Chachere's)
salt
pepper
1 pkg of Mission Spinach & Herb tortillas.

Saute' onions and peppers in skillet w/olive oil. Use as much or as little as you like. I use about 1/2 green pepper, 1/2 red pepper, and 1/2 of a large onion.
I usually buy my shrimp frozen so I boil it until thawed, pull the tails off and throw them in the skillet with the onion and pepper until fully cooked. Add salt and pepper to taste, cajun seasoning, and lime juice and turn down heat to low.
Add the goat cheese in chunks and stir until melted.
Remove mixture from skillet into a bowl and add half of an 8oz bag of mexican blend cheese and stir.
Spoon mixture onto one half of the tortilla and fold over and place in a skillet and grill each side.
Cut into thirds.

Product Review: Gluten Free Muffins

Product Review: Gluten Free Muffins by Gluten Free Pantry

My friend Susan brought some of these gluten free muffins to the park the other day. They were absolutely delicious. I could not tell the difference between these and any other blueberry muffins at first, then I realize the only difference was that these did not leave that sugary aftertaste in my mouth the way other products tend to. They were fantastic. She told me I could find them at wal-mart in the baking isle where you find the cake, cookie, and muffin mixes. It's a very plain looking box called Muffin Mix (light and fluffy) by Gluten Free Pantry. After researching the product, I found that the product is packaged for wal-mart and it looks like this:


You can also find the product online through www.glutenfree.com but the packaging is different although it is the same exact product and it costs a bit more by a dollar or two online. It looks like this:



Here are the muffins I made this morning:










The box shows blueberry muffins in the picture but the box does not include blueberries. The mix only makes plain muffins so you can add whatever fruit or nut that you want. The box says it makes 12-15 muffins but once you add some plump, ripe blueberries, the mix goes a little farther. I made 24 mini muffins and 7 regular sized muffins.

This product gets an A+ in my opinion!

Fruit Pizza

Fruit Pizza:

• 1 (18 ounce) package refrigerated sugar cookie dough
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
• powdered confectioners sugar (optional)
  
• Fruit (strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, kiwi, green/red grapes, mandarin oranges, raspberries, blackberries, as much or as little as you want.

pre-heat oven to 350.
Roll out cookie dough onto a sprayed pizza pan or pizza stone. Bake at 350 for about 10-12 minutes. Allow cooked cookie to cool while preparing fruit. Mix softened cream cheese with whipped topping, mixing until lumps are gone and the spread is smooth. You can add in powdered sugar into the mix if you want it sweeter. Spread over cooled cookie. This is the "glue" that will hold the fruit onto the pizza so spread it generously.

Cut fruit into slices and shapes depending on the pattern you'd like to make. You can play around with the fruit and create whatever patterns you'd like. A strawberry heart for valentines day would be cute. Start around the outer edge and place fruit around the pizza in whatever pattern you like whatever order you'd like your fruit until you've filled the pizza.

Optional Glaze:
The glaze that is poured over the top of the pizza makes the fruit shiny and gives the pizza a finished look.

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon orange zest

Mix together and pour over pizza. Slice Pizza with a Pizza cutter.

Click on any picture to enlarge it to full size!

Homemade Laundry Soap

Homemade Laundry Soap

You can save a ton of $$ making your own laundry soap. It's quick, it's easy, it makes a bunch, and your clothes are naturally clean with no phosphates so you are also helping the environment. The initial investment is around $10 and by the time you've made your soap, it costs around $1 per 5 gallon bucket.

This is what is needed:

• Washing Soda - Arm & Hammer sells it in a box on the laundry isle. It's also called soda ash or sodium carbonate. If you cannot find Washing Soda, then go to the pool supply isle and get a product called PH+.If you want the Arm & Hammer brand, you can call: 1-800-524-1328 and give them UPC code: 33200-03020 and ask where you can buy it locally. If there is no local merchant that carries it, you can order it directly through the customer service representative.
  
• Borax (found on the laundry isle)
• Pure Soap. You can use Fels Naptha, Ivory Soap, Castille Soap, or Glycerin Soap.
  
• Essential oil (Optional) - the most common oil used is pure lavender for scent

The Recipe:
1 cup of washing soda (sodium carbonate)
1/2 cup of Borax
1 bar of grated soap (Fels Naptha, Castille, Glycerine etc.)
(optional) 12-15 drops of lavender

I reserve the supplies I use for soap making for just that and I do not use these supplies for cooking food.

Use a cheese grater to grate one bar of soap. Place the soap in a sauce pan with two cups of water until melted, stirring occasionally. Once the soap is completely melted, add the washing soda, and borax and stir until the powder is dissolved. Pour into a 3-5 gallon bucket and add warm water until it's full. The smaller bucket will be more concentrated and the larger bucket will be more diluted. Add 12-15 drops of essential oil for scent (optional).

Let sit for 24 hours and the solution will gel. It will be gloopy, it's supposed to be.

For a smaller bucket, use 1/3 cup per load. For larger bucket, use 1 cup per load.

This recipe is perfect for high efficiency washers as there is no sudsing agent added so note that your clothes will not sud with bubbles when washing. Suds are added for visual purposes in detergent and do not clean your clothes. They just give the illusion that they are cleaning your clothes. Suds are not needed.

I have found that this laundry soap does a great job removing grease, oil, and blood stains. If something is particularly grimy, use spray and wash pre-treatment before washing. (I have not needed to do so thus far)

To make this detergent pourable, use a pourable container and fill half with water and half with detergent and use 1/2 cup per load.

The pictures:












When using Fels Naptha, it comes out a gold color. Fels Naptha smells so good, no essential oil is needed for scent.



If you have children in your home, do not take your eyes off of this grated Fels Naptha. It smells wonderful and looks like cheese.... nuff said!

Tuna Noodle Casserole

Tuna Noodle Casserole





This is my mother's recipe that she's used for years and years. This is my ultimate comfort food. I've got one in the oven as I type this for my brother who has the flu as it has miraculous healing power. **I'm including recipes for both a 2qt casserole and a 4 qt casserole**

Tuna Noodle Casserole

2 Qt Casserole:

1 -2 cans of tuna (I use 2 because I like more tuna flavor)
1 can of cream of mushroom condensed soup
1/2 can of evaporated milk (you can use regular milk too)
1 can mushrooms, pieces and stems - drained
1 cup of peas, canned or frozen - drained. If frozen you can thaw in the microwave
2 Tbsp chopped onion (and/or chopped celery) (sauteed w/butter or marg. until clear)
2 cups of grated cheddar cheese
About half of a 12 oz. bag of wide egg noodles (I use the ronzoni healthy harvest whole wheat noodles) cooked al dente

4 Qt Casserole:
2-3 cans of tuna - drained
2 cans of cream of mushroom condensed soup
1/2 can - 1 can of evaporated milk - use as much as you like for the consistency that you want (you can use regular milk too)
1 can mushrooms, pieces and stems - drained
1 cup of peas, canned or frozen - drained. If frozen you can thaw in the microwave
1/2 cup of chopped onion (and/or chopped celery) (sauteed w/butter or marg. until clear)
2 cups of grated cheddar cheese
3/4 of a 12 oz bag of wide egg noodles (I use the ronzoni healthy harvest whole wheat noodles) cooked al dente

Mix together the tuna, soup, milk, mushrooms, onions/celery, 1 cup of cheddar cheese, cooked noodles, and then gently fold in the peas. Spoon into a sprayed casserole dish and cover with the remaining cup of cheese and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes for small casserole and 35-40 minutes for larger casserole.

**You can also spread a few crushed potato chips or buttered bread crumbs to the top before baking**

The Livingston Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory fieldtrip

The Livingston Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory


I took Gregory to the Livingston Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) today with one of our home school groups. Say that three times fast! The purpose of LIGO is to measure the ripples in space-time by using a device called an inteferometer. LIGO is partners with Cal-Tech and MIT and is supported by the National Science Foundation. There are two in the United States, one here in Louisiana and one in Washington State. The LIGO Science Education Center focuses on eight specific science topics for children to explore:

• light
• waves
• interference
• gravity
  
• resonance
• oscillations
• feedback
• astronomy

We had a really great time and our tour guide/teacher was fantastic. We made UV detector bracelets and spent time in the hands on "fun room".

This is a mirror that reflects the image as well as the heat of a space heater. If you put your hand over the reflection of the heater, you feel the heat in the reflection as well:


The bubble maker:


The Ripple Slinky


Notice the bracelet is white: (pics can be enlarged by clicking on them)


Notice the colors when UV light is detected:


There will be an open house for the public on Saturday, March 7, 2009 from 1-4pm. For more information, visit the LIGO website at:
LIGO