Banana Nut Bread Muffins

Another creation from my perfect kitchen creation day!

You will need:

1 stick salted butter

1 C. Sugar

2 eggs

3 very ripe bananas

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

2 C. All-Puropose flour

1/2 C. Milk

1 C. Chopped candied pecans (see recipe in blog)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

Begin by creaming together butter and sugar. When finished, it should have a creamy texture. Add the eggs and mix until well incorporated. 

Peel the bananas and place in a bowl. Smash with a fork until smooth. Add to the wet ingredients and mix until well combined.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the salt, baking soda, baking powder and flour.

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to wet ingredients and mix well. Add half the milk, and again mix together. Add another 1/3 of flour mixture and combine. Add remaining milk, combine. Add remaining flour mixture and mix completely. Fold in candied pecans.

Fill each muffin tin about 2/3 full. Bake for 12-15 minutes depending on how good your oven is. I did 15 minutes and they turned out great. It made about 20 muffins.

There's obviously some missing 😉

When my husband first bit into one he asked what kind of coatin or glaze I used on the outside, and I had no clue what he was talking about, but I guess it's just the way they baked, he loved them. And I've gotten other rave reviews.

I like to eat mine warm with a little butter melted on it, so good!

Enjoy!

Original recipe which I tweaked to make my own http://completerecipes.com/Classic-Banana-Bread.html

Sweet Candied Pecans

Yesterday I was definitely in my game in the kitchen. Maybe besides getting all the dishes done but who likes to do dishes when you have no dishwasher??

First off I made these amazing candied pecans. The inspiration for these coming from when my Aunt and I would candy almonds, this is just a different nut and slightly if different recipe. I decided I would put them in my banana bread muffins I made, recipe to come next!

So here's what I started with:

And don't forget, 4 cups of pecans!

You'll need:

1/2 C. White sugar

1/2 C. Brown sugar, packed

1 Tbs. Ground cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

1 egg white, whisked

4 cups pecans, unsalted

First off make sure your oven is preheated to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. 

In a medium bowl, stir together the sugars, salt and cinnamon until evenly combined

In a separate bowl, preferably with a lid, combine the pecans and egg white, shake until pecans are coated

Spread this mixture out on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, then take them out an stir 'em up, and put them back in for another 20 minutes.

The sweet aroma will fill your home! I like to eat these by themselves or put them in whatever cookie or bread I'm making

Review of Balsamic Vinaigrette Pork Chops

I have to brag on myself a little....ok A LOT! 

My pork chops turned out amazing. I grilled two for myself and drizzled some of the marinade over the chops on the grill, like so

I made some yummy fried potatoes to go with it, and green beans, gotta eat your veggies!

I strongly recommend you stealing thi recipe because it's delicious, so flavorful. I really like the tangy vinegar taste, along with the spices I used, it's all good magic 😇

The final product, after a bite....or two!

Balsamic Vinaigrette Pork Chops

Today I went into this new store in town called Aldi. I guess they are scattered across the south and are famous for low prices, which they definitely have! 

I do the majority of my shopping at Walmart cause they just have EVERYTHING. And living in Arkansas, they are EVERYWHERE! But Aldi beat Walmart's low prices!!

Now I haven't quite gotten into trying their products yet, but I did buy plenty of stuff to make a few meals this week.

Like today, I took 4 thinly sliced pork chops, boneless, and put them in a quart size ziploc bag with the following marinade:

Balsamic vinaigrette 

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Salt

Pepper

It will marinade for 3-4 hours

I'm hoping they will be good! I can't see why thy wouldn't be! I will update later tonight on how fabulous, or not, they are!

And P.S. I am grilling them on our Hamilton Beach grill, like a George Foreman. We use it for everything and love it! 

Got Turkey Leftovers?

I know that since Thanksgiving is over, a lot of people have some leftover turkey. It's delicious, great to eat, but by itself it can get pretty bland!

When carving my turkey I made sure to carve off whole chunks, along with small pieces. And FYI, I love the darker meat it's moist and delicious!

After eating our turkey dinner I was left with 3 quart size bags of white meat and one of dark to save.

Earlier today I took big chunks from light and dark, and gave them an egg and milk bath. I did the dark and white in separate bowls cause my husband isn't a big fan of the dark meat. I left it in the egg and milk, along with garlic powder salt and pepper for seasoning, for about 3 hours. When it came time to get it ready I used 1/2 cup of all purpose flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder, seasoning salt and even some chili powder to spice it up a bit!

I fried those pieces up and they tasted amazing! I served it with homemade mashed potatoes, the only way I'll eat mashed potatoes of course!, and the cranberry sauce I meant to serve last weekend with our turkey, and the leftover home made turkey gravy. It was all fantastic, give it a shot! 

Updated Social Media

I have joined the Twitter world! My twitter handle is @PNWCountryGurl 

Also on Pinterest sharing all my recipes and blog posts just search PNWCountryGirl

And as always on Facebook, hoping to get to 100 likes by the New Year! Just search PNW Country Girl on Facebook! 

DIY Shotgun Shell Light String

So this year, thanks to my good friend Kat who collected over 100 spent shotgun shells, I was able to do some crafty things with them. 

All you need is:

A string of Christmas lights

As many spent shells as lights, maybe a few extra there will be some screw ups trust me!

Scissors

Pliers

First, make sure your shells are cleaned out, no debris or dirt in them

Next, make about 5-6 small incisions at the end, not the metal end of the casing. It should look like this:

  

Next, you should fold every other flap that you cut, in towards the middle of the casing, like this:

Once that is completed, fold the remaining flaps in and make sure they are tightly tucked in. I used pliers to pinch around the edges. The final casing should look like this: 

Once you have all your casings completed, each string light should snugly pop into the casing and stay. 

Here's a look at my final product. The lights don't get hot at all so no worries about melting! These are good for hanging around the house, on your Christmas tree or camping.