Easy Banana Nut Bread with Caramel Frosting

Ever wonder what to do with overly ripe bananas? Make banana bread!  Here is a super easy banana nut bread recipe that is delicious all by itself , but I made it even better by adding caramel frosting.

   

For the banana nut bread, all you need is 3 eggs, 1 cup of chopped pecans or walnuts, vanilla flavoring and a box of cake mix.  I prefer to use french vanilla cake mix.   Mix all the ingredients together.

 

 

Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake for 1 hour on 350 degrees.



For the frosting you will need sugar, butter, brown sugar, milk, vanilla flavoring and powdered sugar.

 

Pour the icing over the loaf  and sprinkle with chopped nuts. 

 

 

 

 

 

 Banana Nut Bread Recipe

 

Printer Friendly Recipe

 

4 or 5 ripe bananas

1 box of cake mix

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, using a mixer mash bananas.  Add in cake mix, eggs,vanilla and nuts.  Mix well and pour into a greased 5 x 9 loaf pan.  Bake for one hour.  Allow banana bread to cool before making frosting.

 

Caramel Frosting Recipe

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoon butter

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

2 tablespoon milk

2 teaspoon vanilla flavoring

2 tablespoon powdered sugar

 

Heat sugar, butter, dark brown sugar and milk in a sauce pan until dissolved.  Bring to a rolling boil and cook for one minute.  Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla flavoring and powdered sugar.  Beat until desired consistency, it should be thick but loose enough to pour over banana bread.  Pour immediately over banana bread and sprinkle with nuts.

Potato Leek Soup

There is nothing like a warm bowl of soup on cold winter day. One of my favorite soups to make is potato leek soup. It's delicious and super easy to make. Also, this soup is also low in calories and fat because it uses 2% milk and only tablespoon of olive oil. Traditional recipes for potato leek soup use alot of butter and heavy cream.  You can enjoy this soup without feeling guilty.

 

 

Here are few tips for cooking with leeks:

• Buy leeks that are firm with dark green tops and little to no bruises or blemishes.
• Buy only as many leeks as you need because leeks will only keep in the refrigerator for a few days.
• Leeks have alot of embedded dirt between the leaves, so washing them properly is important. The easiest way to clean them is to slice the leek in half length down the center. Rinse in between the leaves under cold water to remove all of the dirt.

 

Wash and slice the white and pale green portion of the leek.



Saute leeks in olive until tender.

Add potatoes and chicken both, cook until potatoes are tender, the puree.

Garnish with green onions.

Potato Leek Soup Recipe
Makes 9 cups

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 leeks (about 1 pound), washed and sliced, white and green portion only
3 large russet potatoes, peeled and chopped into chunks
5 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups 2% milk
salt & pepper to taste
green onions, chopped (optional for garnish)

Directions
1. In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat.
2. Saute leeks for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until leeks are soft.
3. Add potatoes and chicken broth to pot. Cover and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and add milk.
5. Using a blender or immersion blender, puree soup to desired consistency. If the soup is too thick, add a bit more chicken broth or milk. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Garnish with green onions and serve.

Low Calorie Bite Sized Sweet Potato Pies



These bite sized sweet potato pies satisfy my craving for sweet potato pie in a healthy way.  At 78 calories each I don't feel guilty when indulging my sweet tooth and neither will you.

Roll out pie crust and use a 1.5 inch biscuit cutter to cut 24 pieces of dough. Press dough into mini muffin cups.

Spoon filling into mini muffin cups.

Bake for 20 minutes at 375.

 



Mini Sweet Potato Pie Recipe

 

Serving: 24

Nutrition info per serving:

Calories: 78   Fat:3.6g    Carbs: 11.2    Fiber :0.4g   Protein:  0.8g



Ingredients

2 cups of cooked mashed sweet potatoes (about 1.5 pounds of raw sweet potatoes)

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 egg whites

1/4 cup 2% milk

1 (9inch) Ready made pie crust

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 375.

Spray a mini muffin pan with cooking spray

Roll out pie crust and use a 1.5 inch biscuit cutter to cut 24 pieces of dough. Press dough into mini muffin cups.

Add potatoes to a mixing bowl, for best results potatoes should be warm, or room temperature, Stir in sugar, milk, eggs whites, nutmeg and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until mixture is smooth. Spoon filling into mini muffin cups.

Bake for 20 minutes or or until tooth pick inserted into center comes out clean.