Banana Bread with an added little something.

  I came up with this recipe one day when I needed to get rid of some bananas and oranges. Give it a try!!!
 Preheat your oven to 350. Get 2 bread loaf pans and spray well, set aside.

 Banana Bread with a zing of Orange.
   4 Over Ripe Bananas (Smashed)
   1 C Honey or Sugar
   2 Large Eggs
   2 tsp Real Vanilla (you can use imitation but the real stuff makes a difference)
  3/4 C Oil
   1/2 tsp Salt
   1/2 tsp Baking Soda
   1 tsp Baking Powder
   1 Whole Orange Zested and Juiced (Optional but really makes a statement. Without it you just have regular banana bread.)
   1 Cup Nuts your choice (Optional)
   1 Cup Chocolate Chips (Optional)
       If you use both the nuts and chips only use about half of each. Or eyeball how chunky you want your bread.
   Mix all of these ingredients together until well blended!

 2 - 2 1/2 Cups Flour (If you use honey use 2 1/2 cups of flour if Sugar use only 2 cups of flour. Also,if you used Honey use all wheat flour or half wheat half white. The more wheat the better it will taste with your Honey. If you used Sugar use white flour.)
 Mix well and place in two well greased bread loaf pans. Bake at the 350 for 50-60 minutes.
Can make into muffins as well. Bake for about 25-30 minutes.
 Stick a butter knife into them. If it comes out clean they are done. Note: With your bread the top will be cracked and brown. If you pull it out to check and it wobbles at all it is NOT done. DONT stick anything into it just put it back into the oven and close the door. If you set your timer then you should be good with not having it wobble. If it is a little doughy bake for another 5 minutes and check again.
 This is an easy recipe and a good one to teach a beginner who wants to wow some friends and family. :)
   

Recipe for Caramel Candy

This is a great candy recipe it is not hard to make but it does take some time. I hope that you will try this recipe. Once you try it you will do it again and again. It is great over popcorn or by itself.

Start with buttering a pie pan or a 8x8 or 9x9 pan then in a large pan and a small or medium pan.
 In your large pan combine
  1 Cup Sugar
  1 Cup Corn Syrup
  1 Pinch of Salt

In the other pan combine
  1 Cube of Butter ( I use salted but unsalted would work)
  1 Can of Condensed Milk

Place both of your pots on the stove and turn them on. The sugar one place on a Medium heat and the milk a Medium High heat. Stir the Milk mixture so it doesn't burn!!!

 When the butter is melted and the mixture is warm and slightly hot combine with the sugar which should be creating little bubbles in its pan.

 The mixture will boil up a LOT so don't worry about that. Turn the heat up to HIGH. Let it boil down to about half of what it started and turn the heat down to Medium. Start to stir the mixture without stopping so it will not burn on the bottom. When it condenses down again to about half again and starts to darken in color it is time to get a bowl of cold water. When it kind of starts to boil away from the sides of the pan place a small amount of candy in the water. When you drop it into the water if it forms into a ball it is time to put in about a tsp. of Vanilla and turn off the heat. You can pour it into your pan at this point or you can leave it a little longer. The longer you leave it the harder it will get. If you like hard Caramel Candies then just keep cooking it until it is hard when dropped into the water.
 Note: Get new water after every test. You want the water to be cold.
 Hope that you will try this and please let me know how it went!!! Hugs The Bryars