Chicken Noodle Soup- Fatto A Mano

Here's a photo of the lovely chicken noodle soup I made recently. Of course, everything was organic, and I made the noodles from scratch...it was divine!!

Bacon-Wrapped Scallops

Tonight I made one of my favorite things, ever for dinner...bacon-wrapped sea scallops! The bacon I used is made by Hempler's, a local company that has been around since the 30's. Their meats are nitrate and nitrite free, contain no hormones, and no antibiotics. Aside from all that, this bacon is delicious! I like to offset bacon's general saltiness with a little drizzle of agave nectar.

The stuffing on the side is my traditional Thanksgiving day recipe. It has organic bread chunks, organic vegetarian stock, (some of my friends are veg, and I use this so that everyone can enjoy my stuffing. too bad I haven't found any good gluten-free bread...that would be next) onions, mushrooms, garlic and a small amount of diced tart apple. I use liberal amounts of butter in this one, and a dash of olive oil.

The meal is rounded out with an organic baby greens salad. I usually make my own dressings, but when I don't I am addicted to Drew's Greek Olive dressing; I could seriously drink that stuff...tangy, creamy, delicious.

Banana Bread

I just made some banana bread yesterday, and it turned out great. I've been using this recipe for about 7 years now. I originally found it somewhere, but I have made so many changes and adjustments to it,I think I can claim it as my own! It has lots of bananas in it, so it always turns out very moist. Noticeably absent are walnuts. I know I am odd, but I do not like nuts of any kind in my baked goods; in salads and for snacking, I love them!
With that, here is my recipe:

Kristin's Banana Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon real mayonnaise
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, lightly packed
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup applesauce
2 1/3 cups (approx 5 bananas) mashed, over-ripe bananas

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees c). Lightly grease a 9X5 inch loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs,mashed bananas, applesauce and mayonnaise. Scrape sides of bowl, and mix thoroughly. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture. Mix gently, just enough to combine ingredients and moisten flour. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes, and check at that time. Toothpick inserted into center should come out clean. This mix is very moist and may need a bit more time, depending on your oven. If so, lower oven temp. to 320 F, and continue to bake for approx 10 more minutes.

Here She Comes!!!

I am so excited...Shanon will be here tomorrow night. Today is Shanon's last day at work before vacation, but I still have to work tomorrow. She is flying in to Bellingham, arriving around 9:30. We have big plans, too. Let's see...nail appointments, coffee, Vancouver on the train, more coffee, sightseeing, socializing...this is going to be so much fun!
I am busy now, cleaning, organizing, tidying, etc. I want everything to be just perfect when she gets here. I am also trying to come up with some wonderful dessert to have waiting when Shan gets here. I have a couple of ideas, but they will be posts unto themselves!!!