Best Banana Bread

Enjoy this perfectly moist family favorite!

1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (about 2 bananas), or thawed frozen bananas
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (light tasting), or vegetable oil
1/2 cup plain yogurt (sour cream or milk with 1 tbsp white vinegar added)
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, sifted (unbleached)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt

Optional:
3/4 cup chocolate chips or
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In large bowl, combine bananas, sugar, oil, yogurt, and eggs. Mix well. In separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Add dry ingredients bit by bit to banana mixture, stirring until combined. Then mix in your berries or chocolate chips if using.

Pour into greased 9x5 inch (2 L) loaf pan. Bake for 1 1/4 hours or until toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before turning onto rack to cool completely. I just leave mine in the loaf pan and remove slices as I like. Slice to serve.

Easy Hearty Chilli

I know this recipe may seem daunting due to the seemingly large list of ingredients, but these are items we should always keep on hand because they are the basis for almost anything you want to cook.  So, don't be scared if your a beginner, this is more of a "throw-it-in-a-pot" and forget about it recipe!

1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 carrots, chopped
2 large celery sticks, chopped
3 bay leaves
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
6 tsp chili powder (or to taste)
28 oz can diced tomatoes
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
28 oz can red kidney beans, rinsed
19 oz can chick peas, rinsed
1 Aurora beef bouillon cube, crumbled
1 tsp salt, or to taste
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

In large pot brown ground beef with onion, garlic and oil over medium high heat.  Break up large beef chunks.  Add carrots, celery, bay leaves and spices to pot, allow to cook for a few minutes stirring regularly.  Then add the kidney beans, chickpeas, and both cans of tomatoes as well as the salt, pepper and bouillon cube. Give this a good stir cover and let cook at a gentle boil over medium heat (or lower) stirring regularly for an hour.  After an hour or so remove lid and continue cooking just above simmer for another half hour to allow it to thicken a bit.  Stir a few times during this period.  Serve with rice and enjoy a comforting fall meal.

2 cups basmati rice, rinsed
4 cups water
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp Bovril liquid chicken stock

Bring water to a boil, add rice, butter and chicken stock.  Reduce heat to just above simmer and allow to cook for about 12 minutes.  You can stir it once during the cooking time.  Once cooked, fluff with fork and voila, perfect rice every time!


We ate this with some cheese we had on hand which was baby Fruillino, a so called Italian cheese (mild tasting, similar to mozzarella) which we have since decided is perfect melting cheese. Needless to say we allowed some slices of cheese to melt atop the chili on our plates and it brought my chili to another level!