Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

You don't know how badly I was craving banana bread when I made this. I wanted it so bad. But I was nervous, I'd never made it, and I heard a lot of recipes came out soggy in the middle, etc. But this recipe worked great.

You'll need bananas (I used 3), flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, chocolate chips, two eggs, butter, sour cream and salt.

Mash those bananas! Mash'em good.

Beat together the butter, sugar, eggs, sour cream, vanilla and mashed bananas until blended. You might want to do them one ingredient at a time, like the butter and sugar, then the eggs one at a time till blended, then the sour cream, then the others. They'll combine better that way.

Then you stir in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and chocolate chips. I tossed my chocolate chips with my dry ingredients first to give them a coating of flour so they wouldn't all stick together or sink to the bottom.

I filled a loaf pan about 2/3 full.. I wanted to eat the batter straight out of the bowl so badly.

And I had enough leftover batter to make six muffins. I baked them together at 325 for 40-50 minutes, taking the muffins out at about 25 minutes. Make sure you keep an eye on them, my oven runs hot. If the top of your bread is getting too brown and the center isn't quite done, cover it with foil and put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes.

They were so good, so moist and chocolatey and amazing. It was everything I had dreamed of and now I know why I don't make banana bread often. I CANNOT LEAVE IT ALONE.

Noooommmmmmmmmmm.

The BEST Chocolate Chip Banana Bread (original recipe from here, on Tasty Kitchen)

• ½ cups Butter, Room Temperature
• 1-¼ cup Sugar
• 2 whole Eggs
• ½ cups Sour Cream
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 cup Mashed Ripe Bananas (usually Equals 2 Bananas)
• 1-¾ cup Flour
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1 pinch Salt
• ¾ cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Beat together until blended the butter, sugar, eggs, sour cream, vanilla, and mashed ripe bananas.

Stir in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and chocolate chips.

Pour batter into 2 greased loaf pans. Bake for 40-50 minutes (you will want to keep an eye on it, as ovens vary). Cool in the pan for 15 minutes before removal.
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Banana bread is one of those baked goods that you can almost convince yourself is healthy. Almost. I love love love dense, moist cakey things.

 Just looking at these pictures is making me want to make some. *drools*

Go ahead, make some. It's got bananas in it. Potassium is important, yo.

Mom's Chili recipe!

Time to start working on all that recipe backlog. I haven't even taken pictures of a lot of the more recent things I made. I'm kind of disappointed in myself for letting things get the way they are, but that's the story of my life, I guess. Gaining some weight, taking so long to get a job, being a general procrastinating machine. ADD will get you. Get you good. But I will prevail.

And to start with the prevailing, chili! CHILI! I made this for the boys so I didn't wind up with any pics while I was making it, just the finished product. It's so good, it was even better than I remembered it. Mom hadn't made it in so long, even before I moved. AND SHE ALWAYS PUT MUSHROOMS IN IT. Her and my sister Jen love mushrooms. Well bleh I say to them. Bleh!

Steamy chili picture! OoooOOoooo.

Mom's Extraordinary Chili (according to her :) )

•  1 1/2-2 lbs. lean ground beef  (I use 1 1/2 lb. but use more if you like lots of meat) 
• 2 tins (14 oz./398 ml.) Kidney Beans, slightly drained 
• 2 tins (14 oz./398 ml.) Pork and Beans (Pork and Tomato) 
• 2 tins (10 oz./284 ml.) mushrooms-stems and pieces, drained 
• 1 large green pepper, seeded and chopped 
• 1 can (28 oz./796 ml.) tomatoes – whole and cut up or diced 
• 2 tins (10 oz./284 ml.) tomato soup 
• Onion and garlic powder to taste or use chopped onion and garlic to taste and either add to ground beef when frying or put in pot with all ingredients and make sure cooked and tender after cooking 
• Chili powder to taste

            Fry hamburger (with onion and garlic, if your preference) – drain.  Put in large pot and add all other ingredients.  Stir well.  Heat to a low boil, stirring so ingredients don’t stick to bottom of pot, then reduce heat to simmer for 1-1 ½ hours – stirring often.

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Tada. That's all, so easy! I used quite a bit of chili powder before it tasted like.. well, chili. It's so good, I have a bunch in the freezer. I didn't get to enjoy the leftovers because the day after I made it, I had that gallbladder attack and was in horrible pain all week, surviving on jello and powerade.

I wish I had a better picture to show, but trust me. A simple, delicious, hearty chili. Enjoy!