Cooking & Entertaining

Just a quickie today, because I have so much to tell you all, but I have to take the time to write it all out in bite sized portions. However, my life is so full, up to the brim with wonder and amazement that I am so excited to share. But for now, I made the most delicious banana yummies the other day and I wanted to share the recipe with you so that the next time you have browning bananas that your kiddos won't eat, and you are tired of the wonderful, but same old banana bread, these bars will knock your socks off. And DO NOT make them without the frosting. They are just plain 'ole banana something without it. And I am telling you, you do not want to miss out on the most delicious frosting/glaze. It is wonderful. Like, take a bath in it wonderful. And fairly simple, too. One thing that I did differently, though. I did the brown butter just like she said, and then added the powdered sugar to the pan. I did not carefully measure the sugar. I just dumped in a couple of scoops, and then had to add a bit more milk than she did. And I used vanilla bean paste. If you don't have any, run now to the store to get some. It is amazing. I think HomeGoods usually has it for fairly cheap. That is where I got mine. And I also used vanilla bean powder, which is an item that is new to my skill set. I got it at Shoppe 561. Don't know about 561?? Well, it is my new favorite place to shop for unique hand crafted items by local artisans. And the proceeds go to Hope House, a place for victims of sex trafficking. So a win-win! Shoppe 561 is on the corner of Belvedere and Dixie, for you locals. Check out their website: http://www.shoppe561.com/

Back to the banana bars. I got the recipe off Pinterest, but to save you the trouble of finding it, I thought I would just link it up. So here you go:

http://www.averiecooks.com/2014/10/banana-bread-bars-with-vanilla-bean-browned-butter-glaze.html

Hope you all enjoy it as much as we did. In fact, my husband who is not a banana fan, said they were delicious. That the glaze was so delicious and just the right amount to make the banana flavor not the dominant but the browned butter balanced it all out. So coming from him, thats a compliment. I tried another banana recipe that he loved too. I will have to share that sometime. But for now, enjoy!

I made this for a Ladies group Leslie had here and everyone seemed to love it, so here's the recipe.

1 1/2 pounds roma tomatoes chopped
24 oz.Tomato juice
1 english cucumber, peeled and chopped
3 stalks Celery
1/2 cup chopped red & yellow bell pepper
1/2 medium red onion chopped
1 small jalapeno, seeded and minced
1 medium garlic clove, minced
1 lime, juiced
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, chiffonade

If you have a vitamix or similar mixer, combine all ingredients and run on slow speed until desired consistency ( should be plenty of juice but have medium to small chunks for texture)

If you don't have a vitamix take half of all the veggies and puree them in blender or food processor. Take remaining veggies in food processor and pulse 5 or 6 times until veggies are small chunks, combine all ingredients.

So, I've made many an Osso Buco over the years, both traditional and crockpot recipes, but this time I was challenged to make it Whole 30 compliant. This really isn't a big deal except when it comes to "What to serve it over?"

Well I've seen and tried recipes for zuchinni noodles but have never had any that really seemed like noodles. I was very hopeful when I saw someone posting about sweet potato noodles so I figured I'd give it a try. WOW they really do eat like noodles and don't have much sweet potato flavor, and they're super easy.

You'll need a good mandolin for this or maybe a spiral cutter (but I haven't tried that method). I did try to use a good veggie peeler with very little success, the sweet potatos were to hard and I ended up making very short wierd shaped strips so I went with the mandolin.

Loving true scrap 5!! I had a request to post my pumpkin roll recipe. So here it is:
 

 Leslie’s Pumpkin Roll