Cheddar & Bacon biscuits with Rosemary

Brandon had been in the mood for biscuits for a while and we found this recipe in the Rodale whole foods cookbook so we tried them.  He actually made them, but I'm pretty sure I know the modifications he used.  

Warning:  These use A LOT of butter.  They also make very Large biscuits.  Original had you cut them in only 12, we went with 16 for ease of cutting, but they were still very large biscuits.

Like the scones from this book these had a nice and flaky texture.  Amazing what using some nice butter will do.  :)  

Ingredients

• 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 2 Tablespoons minced fresh rosemary
• 2 Tablespoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 1/2 cups butter (3 sticks), cold and cut into 1/4 inch cubes
• 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 3 oz. bacon bits (real bacon not imitation - if you want to be fancy, use prosciutto finely choped - 3/4 cup)
• 2 1/4 cups buttermilk plus more for brushing

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flours, rosemary, baking powder, salt and pepper.
3. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal but with some large pieces of butter remaining.
4. Add cheese and bacon.  Stir in buttermilk just until the mixture forms a dough;
5. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured or greased surface.  Knead quickly to incorporated any loose crumbs.  Pat into a 12 inch square.  Cut into 16  3 inch squares.  
6. Place on 2 ungreased baking sheets.  Brush the tops with buttermilk.  Bake for 30-40 minutes rotating the baking sheets in the middle.  

chocolate chip scones

Here's the recipe for the scones we tried this morning.  I really liked the combination of orange and chocolate.  YUM!  This recipe also started in The ROdale Whole foods cookbook, but I changed it around according to what I had in my kitchen and to add a bit more whole grain.  This is my version.

Ingredients

• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup white whole wheat flour
• 3 Tablespoons sucanat (I think I actually used 2 T sucanat and 1 T coconut palm sugar)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 Tablespoons cold butter
• zest of 1 orange (about 2 teaspoons)
• 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons half and half

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425
2. In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.  Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Stir in orange zest and chocolate chips.
3. In a small bowl, beat egg with 1/4 cup of the half and half.  Add to the flour mixture and mix just to combine.  
4. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface (or just onto the silpat I was going to cook on if you are me.)  Pat it into a circle about 1 inch thick.  Cut into 8 wedges and separate so there is 1/2 inch between.  Brush with remaining 2 teaspoons half and half.  
5. Bake on a baking sheet for 15 minutes or until golden.

herbed scones

Today was a day of scones at our house.  I made some for breakfast, then when looking for a biscuit or roll recipe for dinner I found this recipe on the same page as the breakfast ones.  These were more savory and the perfect compliment to our soup.  Tavio loved them.  The other boys didn't seem to be as big of fans of the scones.  I would have to guess it was the texture, but I thought the texture was great.  Nice and crisp on the outside, kind of flaky on the inside.  Very nice just like the breakfast ones (which will probably be my next post.)  Both came from yet another book I have checked out of the library called The Rodale whole foods cookbook.  Considering this was a "whole foods cookbook"  I was surprised that the original recipe didn't use any whole wheat flour, just unbleached.  I changed that in my version.  :)  I did still go with 1/2 and 1/2 - mostly to appease my teenagers.  I also just noticed that the recipe called for a 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda that I missed.  Feel free to use it if you like.  Oh, and I guess I'd better go and change the name of these from herbed buttermilk scones to just plain herbed scones since I was out of buttermilk.  You can change the yogurt, and milk for buttermilk it you'd like.

1 final note, these are not low calorie with 1 stick of butter.  :)  Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cold and cubed
• 1/4 cup greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425
2. In a food processor, combine the flours, baking powder, thyme, mustard seeds, salt and pepper and pulse to mix.
3. Add the butter and pulse just until the mixture forms course crumbs.  Add yogurt and milk and pulse just until combined.
4. Transfer to a floured surface or silpat (I put mine straight on the silpat I was going to cook it on - less mess/dishes)  Knead until well combined if necessary.  Pat into an 8 inch circle (about 1/2 inch thick)  Cut into 8 wedges and separate/ place on baking sheet 1/2 inch apart.  
5. Bake for 12-14 minutes (12 was perfect for me) until lightly browned and crisp.  

zucchini pineapple bread

Here is the zucchini bread I mentioned in the last post.  I thought it odd that the 2 of these recipes seemed so different.  as far as this one actually had no oil and nothing that I consider an oil substitute (like the applesauce in the previous recipe - which also contained oil)  Obviously due to the differences in composition, the resulting bread was quite different.  This was a heavier bread -more the type I'd expect for a banana or zucchini bread.  This bread was also good.  I was worried because I thought for sure it was burned - I started smelling it at 48 min, checked and took it out immediately.  However, I absolutely loved the first piece with all of the crust.  It was nice and crispy and delicious - no burned flavor.  I am glad however that I went in the kitchen before the suggest 60 minutes was up or this would have been burnt to a crisp.
Minimal changes here - just changed out the sugar and spices to be more to my liking.  Yum.

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup coconut sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/3 cup crushed pineapple, well drained
• 1 1/2 cups (190 grams - I weighed mine - seemed easier and I used 201 grams)
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used sliced almonds for ease, but would have prefered walnuts or pecans.)
• 1/2 cup raisins

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray
2. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, nutmeg, allspice and cinnamon in a bowl.  Set aside
3. Place egg, coconut sugar, vanilla, pineapple and zucchini into the blender.  Blend for 10-15 seconds or until well blended.
4. Add dry ingredients.  Pulse until well mixed (or stir in by hand.)
5. Stir in nuts and raisins by hand.  Pour into loaf pan.
6. Bake for 45 -50 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

whole wheat banana nut bread

Yesterday I had some bananas that needed to be used (actually have some more today.  :)  And I had some zucchini that I needed to use so for some reason even though I was teaching a piano lesson and making home-made pizza (ie making bread dough) I decided to go ahead and make both of those as well.  I think the thing that possessed me to do such a thing was the fact that both recipes were in the vitamix book.  I guess I figured anything made in the blender has to be speedy right?  Although the recipe said it only took 5 minutes prep an 10-15 seconds blender time, it took me more like 30 minutes to get both recipes prepared.  They were quick, and the blender helped, and maybe if you weren't distracted by children attempting to do dishes or wanting you to play it would take closer to the 5 minutes projected time in the book.  But I was making this "hurriedly"  making this before my piano student arrived.  Ha Ha!

OK, to the bread - this was a nice banana bread (except for the fact that it stuck like crazy to the bread pan, but that was totally my fault.  I forgot to add the applesauce and stirred it in while it was in the pan thus making my non-stick spray quite ineffective.)  I liked this as a different banana bread.  It wasn't overly heavy on the bananas (I actually usually like more banana, and think I'd like to omit the applesauce next time and use another banana, but that is an experiment for another day.)  This bread had a more "bready" texture than regular banana bread.  Usually banana bread is a bit more dense.  This was a bit lighter with a texture a bit more like a yeast bread even though this had no yeast.  It also had a hint of lemon flavor (can't taste it today, but fresh I could taste it.)
I have altered this recipe changing out the oils and sugar.  The vitamix book used a heart healthy butter spread.  I'm into using more real foods and in this case chose coconut oil.

See how sad - the middle totally fell out when I turned the bread over.  

Ingredients

• 1 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup coconut sugar
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon lemon peel
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2/3 cup chopped walnuts (reserve some for the top of the bread)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray
2. combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium size bowl  Set aside
3. Place egg, coconut sugar, coconut oil, milk, lemon peel, bananas and applesauce in the blender.  Blend for 10-15 seconds or until smooth.
4. Mix wet and dry ingredients (by pulsing in the blender, or just mixing by hand.  Stir in nuts.
5. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 60 minutes (I'd check at about 55.  For a change this banana bread actually took a bit less than the recipe said it would.)

zucchini bread muffins

Here is the recipe I used for muffins using waffle mix at my bean class.  It is similar to carrot cake muffins.

Ingredients

•3 cups waffle mix

•2 cups shredded zucchini

•1 cup sour cream

•¼ cup agave (or sweetener of choice)

•2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

•1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

•Dash of ginger

•Dash of nutmeg

Directions

1.Stir together all ingredients until moistened throughout. 

2.Spoon into muffin pans either lined with papers or sprayed with cooking spray.

3.Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.  (You may want to check at 18.  I thought these were a tad bit overdone, but just the tiniest bit.  Original recipe said 30 minutes which would definitely be too long.)

sweet corn bread

When we made three bean chili the other day, Brandon wanted to make corn bread.  It is actually very traditional for us to make cornbread with three bean chili, so I looked for my regular recipe on the blog and it wasn't there.  I couldn't believe I had never posted it.  This is my favorite corn bread recipe.  It is the one my mom used.  She has called it Marie Calendar's corn bread before, but in my mom recipe book it just says sweet corn bread.
Normally we make this in a 8 X 8, 9 X 13, or if we want to be quick, in a cup cake pan, but this day, Brandon decided he would make these as waffles.  They worked out fine that way.  A bit drier than usual as a waffle, but super speedy to make that way.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 2/3 cup sugar (or 1/2 spenda, 1/2 sugar, or other healthier substitute)
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup oil
• 3 Tablespoons melted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk

Directions

1. Mix dry ingredients (cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt).  In another container mix wet ingredients (oil, butter, eggs and milk.)
2. Mix the wet and dry ingredients.  Pour into greased 8 X 8 pan or double and use a 9 X 13 pan (or use muffin tins or make as waffles)  Bake at 350 for 35 minutes (8 X 8) or 45 for 9 X 13 - I think muffin tins take around 20 minutes.

banana bread

So, for a long time I've wanted to try the buttermilk banana bread over at Mel's kitchen cafe.  Today I have many bananas, but decided to do my own thing today using buttermilk, but combining a lot of my favorite banana bread recipes. Here's what I did.
The results were OK - I think I should have left them in the oven a little bit longer.  Everyone gobbled it down though.  The 4th baby loaf was the best - least doughy, very tasty.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup splenda
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 2 cups mashed ripe bananas
• 2 eggs (I used extra large today)
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup white flour
• 1 cup wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

1. Beat together brown sugar, splenda, applesauce, bananas, buttermilk, eggs and vanilla.  Add remaining ingredients (I measured 1 cup flour, poured some out of the cup and into the wet ingredients, added my baking powder, soda, and salt to the measuring cup still 2/3 full of flour, stirred it up, then added it to the batter with the other cup of flour.  The cinnamon was an afterthought I folded in.)  Mix just until combined. 
2. Pour into well greased loaf pan.  (today I used 4 small loaf pans that I just bought for making cute gifty sized items.)  Bake at 350 until toothpick comes out clean.  For my small pans it was 40 minutes.

Buttermilk rye bread

Brandon decided he wanted to make Ruben sandwiches for dinner and asked me to make rye bread, so I went to my King arthur flour book.  I had my choices of a quick bread, rolls, or a rye with raisin or something like that, so I went with the quick bread.  Sure was easy to prepare.  I hope it turns out good for sandwiches.  I don't think I've had a quickbread for sandwiches before.
I did leave out the caraway seeds because I personally am  not a fan, and I thought more kiddos would like it minus the caraway.  It also called for orange zest.  I didn't have any.  I did add lime zest.  Also, to be honest, I ran out of molasses and filled the rest of the cup with honey.  I had a little over 1/2 molasses, the rest honey.  Here is what I did.
I thought it was fine in the sandwich, but Brandon said it was too sweet.  I think that is was fine for a quickbread, but I never actually ate a piece plain.  Unfortunately it was Thanksgiving right after I made this and we had too much other bread that I never ate anymore before it molded.  :(   Picture is of the sandwich.  It looked lots better than just the loaf of bread.

Ingredients

• 2 cups (7 1/2 oz.) rye flour (I ground mine fresh)
• 1 cup (4.5 oz.) unbleached bread flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cups (14 oz.) buttermilk
• 1/4 cup (3 oz.) molasses
• 1 egg
• zest of 1 lime
• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a 9 X 5 inch loaf pan. 
2. Whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl.  
3. In another bowl, whisk together buttermilk, molasses, egg and lime zest. 
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir quickly and lightly until the batter is evenly moistened.  Stir in butter.
5. Pour into prepared pan.  Bake 55 minutes to 1 hour -until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  
6. Remove from oven and place on a rack to cool for 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes, run a butter knife around the edges of the pan to make sure the bread isn't sticking, turn it out of the pan and finish cooling on the rack.

Milk and Honey Corn Muffins

I had a piano lesson cancel today so I decided to find a muffin to make to go with our soup.  I really wanted a bread, but had no time for anything that would take up a lot of time.  I went to my King Arthur Flour whole grain baking book to see what I could find.  I ended up with this recipe because it didn't look like a sweet muffin, and seemed like it would go well with soup.   The recipe said it was supposed to make only 12 muffins and had 3/4 cup butter, so I did sub out 1/2 of the butter with applesauce.  My muffins were dryer for it, but we added some butter spread and honey and then didn't miss it.  More than anything, I really wish I wouldn't have gotten caught up in serving dinner and would have turned them out of the muffin tins a bit earlier.  I think that has a bit more to do with their being just a touch dry.

Ingredients

• 6 Tablespoons butter\
• 6 Tablespoons apple sauce (3/8 cup - 1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 Tablespoons honey
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups whole wheat pastry or white whole wheat flour (I used 1 cup I had ground on the bread setting, and I made another and 1 cup ground on pastry setting.)
• 2 cups whole yellow cornmeal
• 1 Tablespoon baking power
• 1 1/2 cups milk.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400.  Lightly grease a muffin tin (I needed to grease 1 tin and 3 more muffins.)
2. Cream together the butter, sugar and salt.  Beat in honey and eggs one at a time stopping to scrape the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl after each addition.
3. In a seperate bowl, whisk together whole wheat flour, cornmeal and baking powder.  Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in thirds alternating with the milk.  Mix until batter is smooth.
4. Fill muffin tins to the top.  Bake 20-23 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then turn onto a rack to finish cooling.

Hungry Girl Banana Bread

I checked out 2 Hungry girl books from the library this week.  Trying to see if I want another one.  I have the newest one.  She is good because she makes healthy food.  I tried 2 from the first book I checked out and I wasn't super impressed, but this banana bread from this book was delicious.  Can't wait to try some more recipes.
This bread had a great, bready texture (lots of time my banana bread gets a bit mushy.  Not so with this bread, and it had no oil, and no sugar (just splenda.)  Plus a serving size was 1/8 of the loaf - breads never have that big of a serving size.  Yum.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup splenda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (took 4 for me today - they were smaller)
• 1/2 cup fat-free egg substitute
• 1/2 cup no-sugar added applesauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine dry ingredients (first 6 ingredients)  in one bowl.  Combine the wet ingredients (remaining 4) in another bowl and mix well.  Stir the wet into the dry mixing just until combined.  Pour into a bread pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. (mine is a little larger (1 1/2 lb. size) so my loaf was a bit flatter.  A regular pan would result in a bit taller loaf.)   Bake for 50 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Orange cherry tortillas/ french toasted tortillas

This is another recipe from Gourmet tortillas.  I didn't vary from the original.  I would change up the french toast part of it if making it again though.   I wanted them to be a touch sweeter because lately I like eating my pancakes, french toast, waffles etc. without syrup.  These needed the syrup.  I also would suggest not overcooking them.  I think I was a little afraid that I wasn't getting the insides cooked and that caused me to leave them on a little bit too long.  I think that the first batch that DH ate were better than the rest of the batches because I didn't overcook them.

Orange/cherry tortillas

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 Tablespoon sugar (I used splenda)
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest
• 2 Tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 Tablespoon minced dried cherries
• 3/4 cup water

Directions

1. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.  Add orange zest and mix.  
2. Cut in butter until crumbly.  Add cherries.
3. Add water and mix well.  (add additional flour or water as necessary to make a soft dough that isn't too sticky.  
4. Divide into 8-12 balls (12 for French Toasted tortillas)
5. Let rest for 15 minutes.  Roll to desired size (8 inches for French toasted tortillas but I could only get mine about 6-7 inches big.)  For regular tortillas, cook on a hot pan or skillet, for French toasted, continue below.

French Toasted Tortillas

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs
• 2 Tablespoons sour cream (I didn't have any so I used plain yogurt)
• 3 Tablespoons milk
• dash salt
• dash cinnamon

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, beat eggs until fluffy.  Add sour cream, milk, salt and cinnamon (I'd also add about 1 Tablespoon of sugar/splenda, and maybe a touch of vanilla next time.)  Mix well.  I got out my immersion blender because I couldn't get my yogurt to mix in.  Maybe sour cream wouldn't have this problem?)
2. Dip uncooked tortilla in egg mixture.  The author of the book then fried them in butter.  I just sprayed my skillet with no-stick spray and cooked them on it.    I followed the process of roll tortilla, dip, cook.  While one side cooks, you roll and dip the next one.  Then add that one to the skillet and flip the first one.... until done.  
3. Serve with butter and syrup.

Sour cream Tortillas

I can't believe how quickly I can get behind on typing in my recipes.
Here are the tortillas I used in the previous recipe enchiladas.  They come from the Gourmet Tortillas book I checked out of the library.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 Tablespoon butter, softened (I may have only used 1 Tablespoon)
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 Tablespoons milk
• water

Directions

1. Mix dry ingredients together in a bow.  Cut in butter until crumbly.  
2. Measure sour cream in a 1 cup glass measuring cup - add milk and then enough water to make 7 1/2 ounces (I just did 3/4 cup then added more water as needed.)  
3. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix well adding water or flour as needed to make a soft dough that is not too sticky.
4. Divide dough into 8-12 balls depending on size of tortillas wanted (I did 10 for the Enchiladas.)
5. Let rest 15 minutes.
6. Roll out to desired size and cook on a hot pan or electric skillet. 

Cheddar cheese tortillas

I checked out a couple of new cookbooks from the library today.  This one was all about tortillas.  I had wanted to make some for breakfast today, but that would have required me to make a jam yesterday and I didn't want to take the time to.  We were supposed to have enchiladas today, but I didn't buy jalapenos for some reason, so we decided to make tacos.  I took the opportunity to try a tortilla out of the book.  Brandon helped me choose cheddar cheese.  They were nice and soft, and had a good flavor.  Plus they were simple enough.  I didn't have trouble with rolling them out or anything.  Worked great.  This is a picture of the tortilla made into a taco/burrito.  We used ground beef and black beans with taco mix, then added cheese, lettuce, tomato, sour cream and taco sauce.  Great for a quick dinner.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups white flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• dash cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon butter, softened (oops I used 1 tablespoon I think)
• 1 cup finely grated sharp cheddar
• 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon water (I ended up adding another tablespoon of water.)

Directions

1. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.  Cut in butter until the mix resembles coarse meal.  Add the cheese and stir.  
2. Add the water and mix well.  Add more water if the dough won't collect into a ball.  If dough is too sticky, add a bit more flour.
3. Divide dough into equal pieces - 8 pieces for 8" tortillas, 10 pieces for 7" tortillas, 16 for 5" tortillas...  I  made 8 and they were large.  Roll each piece in a circle and cover with a towel for 15 minutes.
4. Preheat a heavy skillet over medium heat (I used my electric griddle and made 2 at a time.)
5. To roll my tortillas, I just sprayed my counter with non-stick spray and rolled them out.  I could roll them as fast as they cooked (or faster) so it really didn't take a long time.  Cook for about 1 minute on each side or until lightly browned.

cream cheese banana bread

Just got done concocting this recipe and decided I'd better write down what I did before I forgot. I saw a recipe in the simple and delicious magazine for "lightened up" cream cheese banana bread. I really couldn't see what they did to lighten it. It still had more sugar than I usually use, and only replaced 1/2 of the regular butter with light cream cheese. It did use baking soda and baking powder - less bananas and flour.... Anyway, I combined my more banana, less sugar variety of bread with the cream cheese and did sub out a bit of baking powder for baking soda. We'll see how it turns out. - YUM! This is probably my favorite banana bread to date. It came out of the oven nicer shaped than it was when I took the picture. It had already fallen.

Update 2/12 - I totally forgot to make the orange glaze last time. I made it this time - super yummy. I didn't need quite as much glaze as I made though, and really it was good without the added sugar, but for a treat the glaze was delicious.



Ingredients

• 4 oz light cream cheese
• 1/4 cup butter - softened
• 1/2 cup sugar (it was a generous 1/2 cup because I was cutting it down, but not so generous that I couldn't walk from the pantry to the mixer with the cup full in my hand.)
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/3 cup mashed ripe banana. (I think I was closer to 2 today but I used 5 bananas)
• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans, divided

Orange glaze

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 Tablespoon orange juice
• 1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel

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, cream cheese, and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time then beat in mashed bananas and vanilla until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Fold in 1/4 cup pecans. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle other 1/4 cup pecans on top.
   
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.
4. Mix glaze ingredients together and drizzle on top of the bread.