Chicken and Banana Bread

Two for Tuesday - only the Wednesday edition ;)

This past weekend I made two more yummy things. The first (well, actually I made this one second, but we'll start with it) was Smothered Chicken with Garlic. I am sorry to report that I don't have a picture of it, because it was not only delicious, it was beautiful! So you'll just have to imagine what it looked like and try it out. :)

1. Smothered Chicken with Garlic (from The Pampered Chef)

3 tbsp fresh rosemary or 1 tbsp dried rosemary, divided (I used dried)
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 whole chicken (about 4 lb)
1 lemon, cut into quarters
1 tbsp olive oil
2 heads garlic, peeled (about 40 cloves)

1. Preheat oven to 375. Lightly spray Deep Covered Baker (if you have one from PC, which I do, in the Cranberry color...which made the dish even more beautiful!) with oil. Combine half of the rosemary with paprika, salt and black pepper in small bowl; set aside. Remove and discard giblets and neck from chicken cavity. Rinse chicken with cold water; pat dry with paper towels. Trim excess fat, if necessary. Place lemon quarters and remaining rosemary inside cavity of chicken. Tie ends of legs together with cotton string. Lift wing tips up toward neck, then tuck under back of chicken. Place chicken breast side up into baker.

2. Brush outside of chicken with oil; coat completely with seasoning mixture. Arrange garlic around chicken. Bake, covered, 60 minutes. Carefully remove lid and continue roasting 25-30 minutes or until Pocket Thermometer registers about 180 degrees in thickest part of thigh and juices run clear. Remove chicken from baker; let stand 10 minutes before carving. Remove garlic from drippings; serve with chicken.

Now, for this next one, there's a story attached. For as long as Lance and I have been married, I have never made banana bread (except once, and it came out as hard as a rock, so that didn't really count). The funny thing is, I get teased all the time about making it because I freeze our really ripe bananas ALL THE TIME...with the intention of making banana bread. Every once in a while, Lance will clean out the freezer and find TONS of black, frozen bananas in there! So he usually just rolls his eyes a little, laughs at me and then tosses them out. Next time around, he'll find more black, frozen bananas and probably wonders how in the heck they got there again...and why. Seriously, he thought I would NEVER make banana bread. Well, hell must have frozen over, because I FINALLY MADE BANANA BREAD! And it was AWESOME!! (And yes, I had some black, frozen bananas in the freezer that I was able to finally put to good use!) I was so proud of myself...but more importantly, Lance was VERY proud of me. :)

Thank you, mom, for the great recipe. ;)

2. Banana (Nut) Loaf
(I left the nuts out of mine)

3 cups sugar
1 cup shortening
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 teaspoons soda
4 cups sifted flour
3 or 4 mashed bananas
1 cup chipped nuts (optional)

Cream sugar and shortening. Add eggs one at a time, mix well, add vanilla, combine soda and buttermilk, add flour and buttermilk alternately, beginning and ending with flour. Add bananas and nuts. Bake in a well greased and floured tube pan or two 8" loaf pans at 350 for 45-50 minutes. Check using a toothpick, if comes out clean, they are done. Cool on wire rack for 15 minutes then remove from pans. :)

I had extra batter, so I poured it into a pie pan - surprisingly it also came out great and it was fun for the girls to eat the bread like a piece of pie. :)

See - the "pie" was almost gone 20 minutes after it came out. :)


Oh, and I also made the strawberry trifle again (Click Here for the recipe) - per Lance's request - to go with the chicken. I just loved Mantha's expression in this photo, so wanted to share. :)