Best-Ever Banana Bread!

Seriously, hands down, the BEST banana bread recipe known to man. Known to man! I've been eating this banana bread since I was a little girl when my mom would (and still does!) make it. I remember coming home after school to the smell of this baking in the house.

Disgusting

The secret to this moist, delicious, your-taste-buds-are-going-to-love-you bread is six disgusting, mushy, over-ripe, frozen then thawed, bananas (see grotesque picture to the right).


Now, I am a person who prefers a banana when the colour of the peel still has a little green in it (or preferably a lot of green), so the thought of these bananas actually revolts me. Call us snobs, but both The Hubby and I will not eat bananas that have started to brown, even a little bit. But, that just means that we end up with a freezer-full of bananas, which just so happens to be ideal circumstances for making delicious banana bread. Regular yellow bananas with just a bit of brown that have never seen the inside of a freezer just don't seem to yield the same moist result.

Broccoli and Aged Cheddar Soup

I love making soup.  There's just something about a lovely smelling soup simmering away on the stove on a frosty winter evening that makes me smile. This is a recipe that I've never made before, but I decided to give it a try for dinner last night. As you will see in my review below, the soup came out a bit thinner than I was expecting (I was thinking it would be about the same consistency as a chowder), but through some stroke of refrigerator magic it seemed to thicken up in the fridge overnight and was super delicious for lunch today.

Oh, and...

Super Helpful Tip: Make sure that when you buy cheese for this recipe you only buy one cup, not eight cups because that's what you wrote down on your shopping list by mistake (not that anyone would ever do that...haha! Ahem. Cough). Enjoy!

Onion Goggles!

Check out these snazzy spectacles!! I wish I knew about these goggles years ago, but just recently picked up a pair after a recommendation from a friend (thanks S.C!), and have been enjoying tear-free cooking ever since!

Here is the science behind it all: When onions are cut, an enzyme called sulfoxide lyase and sulfuric compounds are released from the broken cells. When exposed to air, they react with one another to form a vapour. As this vapour evaporates, it irritates our eyes (and causes me to cry). Chemical weaponry at its best!! Before these goggles, as soon as I sliced into an onion, the vicious army of vapours would enact their powerful defense mechanism, seeping out of the onion with the sole mission to find the shortest possible route to my eyes and attack. Since using these, I haven't shed a tear! The foam seal on the frames protects your eyes from the vapours sneaking in.

I picked up my pair for $29.95 at Cookworks...I know, a little on the steep side, but in my opinion you can't put a price on the pleasure of an onion slicing and dicing experience, all while wearing an accessory that is both extremely comfortable, and obviously very stylish. They are also available at Bed Bath and Beyond.

Megan's Review: Get these!! (Or if you want to save the money, apparently the same goal can be achieved by putting an onion in the freezer for 15 minutes before slicing it.) These are also a great gift idea for the chef who has everything. Life changing!

Herb and Parmesan-Crusted Pork Tenderloin

We always seem to have at least one or two pork tenderloins in our freezer, usually because Save-On Foods constantly has 'Buy One, Get One' events that we are suckers for! Seriously, The Hubby and I have issues when it comes to Save-On Foods. Many of the conversations that we have are about which cashier we had (was it the funny Chinese lady who gets stranger every time we see her), and how many bonus points we collected that day. If we are shopping alone, we come home and debrief on what amazing deal we picked up that day, and whether or not it was a good points day. Sad. So, recently they had pork tenderloin BOGO again (you save like $16!), and of course we picked a couple up.

I took one of the frozen pork tenderloins out of my freezer on Sunday night, and then chose a recipe after work yesterday that wouldn't require me to go to the store for any ingredients...Herb and Parmesan-Crusted Pork Tenderloin it was! 

Chicken Parmesan

Chicky Chicky Parm Parm! What to make for a Sunday dinner when the parents are coming over? Tonight it was Chicken Parmesan with Caesar salad, garlic bread, and broccoli. Delicious!! Some recipes skip the step of frying the chicken before putting in the oven, either to simplify the recipe or to make it more healthy, but the flavour and crispiness that it gives was my favourite part! Rather than making my own marinara sauce, I used a couple of jars of store-bought spaghetti sauce to speed up the prep time.

Caesar Salad

This is my go-to Caesar salad recipe, to be enjoyed with everything from burgers to lasagna to steak. Tonight we ate it as an accompaniment to Chicken Parmesan. I tend to go a little crazy on the garlic in my Caesar salads, but the actual recipe calls for 1 clove...free free to add an extra clove like I do!

Minestrone Soup

This is the ultimate hearty vegetable soup. This recipe has a lot of ingredients, but don't let this intimidate you from either a budget or time perspective. The soup's total ingredient cost was less than $20, and total vegetable slicing and dicing time was about 20 minutes. I must mention that I'm really starting to notice a trend, because all three recipe posts to this blog have had alcohol in them!! This soup will be great for lunches for The Hubby and me this week. Serve with a chunk of bread for a filling meal.

Egg Nog Supreme

Note: 'Supreme' means boozy! Egg nog is one of my favourite things about Christmas. I first made this Egg Nog Supreme recipe last Christmas, and what wasn't slurped up on Christmas Eve by my family was quickly spooned into our Christmas morning coffee. This year I made it as a punch to serve at our New Years Eve party, and crossed my fingers in hopes that everyone wasn't completely sick of egg nog already. Turns out that if you put booze into anything, our friends will drink it (and that's one of the things we love about them most)! Here is the recipe...it's definitely a must try!! Enjoy!

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