Basic Beer Bread

My friend Jan gave me this recipe. She said it's really easy to make,and very tasty!

3 cups flour, sifted (or spoon it into the measuring cup)

3 teaspoons baking powder (omit if using self-rising flour)

1 teaspoon flour (omit if using self-rising flour)

1/4 cup sugar

1 (12) bottle of beer

1/2 cup melted butter (1/4 is fine)

Preheat oven to 375.

Mix together dry ingredients and beer.

Pour into greased loaf pan. For crispy crust, pour the melted butter over the top. For softer crust, pour the butter into the batter.

Bake 1 hour; remove from pan and let cool for at least 15 minutes.

Healthier Banana Bread

While I LOVE my Mom's banana bread, it's not exactly healthy. And since I'm trying to drop some poundage, I need to find a healthier, but still tasty, version of one of my favorite foods!

Mom came across this one and it's pretty yummy! One eighth of the recipe is 6 PointsPlus for Weight Watchers.

Very dense and moist, this bread is fragrant and scrumptious. For an even lighter treat, you can cut the sugar in half or use some Splenda sugar substitute.

Weight Watchers Healthy Banana Bread recipe

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all-purpose white flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

2 eggs

3/4 cup granulated sugar

4-5 very ripe bananas, mashed

3/4 cup sugar free spiced unsweetened applesauce

2 eggs

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Spray a bundt pan with cooking spray, set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, mix the dry ingredients, whisking to combine. Add the chocolate chips and nuts if using.

4. Beat the eggs with the sugar together at medium-high speed until creamy.

5. Beat in the applesauce and bananas.

6. Fold in the dry ingredients.

7. Pour into the prepared pan and place it in the oven. Once the oven door is closed, reduce the heat so it’s between 325-350 degrees F.

8. Bake for about 35-40 minutes (the cake is done as soon as a tester comes out clean).

9. Cool on a wire rack for about 5 minutes.

10. Invert on the rack, remove the pan, cool and store in an airtight container.

Nutritional information for 1/16 of the recipe (not including chips or nuts):

Calories: 121

Calories from fat: 8

Total fat: 0.9g

Cholesterol: 26mg

Total carbs: 26.6g

Dietary fiber: 1.9g

Protein: 2.9g

Easy Parmesan Knots

Original recipe from Real Mom Kitchen

Ingredients

1 tube (12 ounces) refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
1/4 cup canola oil
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

Directions

1. Roll each biscuit into a 12-in. rope and tie into a knot; tuck ends under. Place 2 in. apart on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 400° for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.
2. In a large bowl, combine the remaining ingredients; brush the warm knots with the mixture. 

Yield:10 knots.

I used 1/4 cup Wegman's Basting Oil in place of the canola oil, garlic powder, oregano and parsley. It was AMAZING!

Peanutty Chocolate-Banana Bread

INGREDIENTS

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 medium bananas)

1/3 cup milk

1/3 cup peanut butter

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1 egg

3/4 chocolate morsels

1/3 cup peanuts, coarsely chopped (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom of loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. In large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add bananas, milk, peanut butter, oil and egg; mix just until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in chocolate morsels. Spoon batter into pan; sprinkle with peanuts.
2. Bake 60-70 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven; cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove bread from pan to cooling rack; cool completely.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Original Recipe found at Tasty Kitchen

Thanks to Shannon Duffy for sharing the recipe!

INGREDIENTS

1-½ cup zucchini, shredded

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoons salt

½ teaspoons cinnamon

¼ teaspoons ground allspice

½ cups canola oil

½ cups granulated sugar

½ cups light brown sugar, packed

2 whole eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cups chocolate chips

NOTE: for a healthier bread, substitute ½ c. whole wheat flour and ½ c. all-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place rack in the center of the oven. Grease, or spray with nonstick vegetable spray, a 9×5×3″ loaf pan. Set aside.
2. Grate the zucchini using a medium sized grater. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and allspice. Set aside.
4. In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the oil, sugars, eggs, and vanilla extract until well blended – about 2 minutes. Fold in the grated zucchini.
5. Add the flour mixture, mixing just until combined. Then fold in the chocolate chips.
6. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the bread has risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55-65 minutes.
7. Place on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes, then remove the bread from the pan and cool completely.

Banana Bread

My munchkins enjoying some banana bread :-)

My mom has been making this recipe for as long as I can remember, so I don't know where it originally came from. But it's amazing and I'll never bake another (plain) banana bread as long as I live!


INGREDIENTS

Dry

1 3/4 cups flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoons baking soda

pinch of salt

1 cup sugar

Wet

2 eggs

1 cup mashed bananas

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

-OR-

1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour loaf pan.
2. Sift and mix dry ingredients together. Add wet ingredients and mix until well incorporated. Spread mix in the loaf pan and bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Yields 1 loaf.

VARIATION: spoon in to grease/floured or paper-lined muffin cups and bake for 18-20 min or until a toothpick comes out clean.

You can also substitute half of the flour for equal parts whole wheat flour.