Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts

This recipe is a little different from your normal banana bread, but it was super tasty! I got it from the epicurious recipe application on my phone. I just wanted to try something a little different and this did not disapoint!

What you need:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup walnuts, toasted, chopped

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 cup mashed ripe bananas

2 tbs. fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9x5x2 1/2 inch pan. Whisk first four ingreadients in medium bowl to blend. Combine chocolate chips and walnuts in a small bowl; add 1 tbs. flour mixture and toss to coat.

Beat butter in a large bowl until fluffy. Gradually add sugar, beating until well blended. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Beat in mashed bananas, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Beat in flour mixture. Spoon 1/3 of batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle with half of nut mixture. Spoon 1/3 of batter over. Sprinkle with remaining nut mixture. Cover with remaining batter. Run knife through batter in a zigzag pattern.

Bake bread until tester inserted in center comes out clean. About 1 hour and 5 minutes. Turn out onto rack and cool.

Mashed Potatoes

What you need:

4-5 potatoes (russet or golden, I prefer the golden yellow potatoes)

4-5 tbs. Butter

1/4 - 1/2 cup sour cream

Salt

Pepper

Peel and slice potatoes. Boil for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are easily cut in half. Drain the potatoes and put them in a mixer to mash them. Add butter and sour cream until mashed potatoes are creamy and mixed well. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with any main dish. We really love these mashed potatoes with the breaded chicken or pork chops!

Spicy Breaded Pork Chops

I got this recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens cook book except I did not follow it completely. The recipe in the cook book is for Spicy Pecan Pork sandwiches, which are probably very tasty, but my husband is kind of a picky eater so I had to change it to pork chops without the pecans. Still very delicious though and a quick dinner idea.

What you need:

4 pork chops, anykind

1 egg

2 tbs. Dijon-style mustard

1/4 - 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 tbs. olive oil

In a shallow dish beat together egg, mustard, and cayenne pepper just until combined. In a second dish put bread crumbs. Place flour in a third dish. Preheat skillet with olive oil and a little bit of butter to med-high temperature. Coat each pork chop with flour, dip in egg mixture, then coat with bread crumbs. Place each pork chop in skillet cook for about 10-13 minutes or until juices run clear, turning once.