Peanut Butter Cup Banana Bread + 1,000 Followers!

Yep, you read that right. You didn’t think banana bread could get any better did ya? But adding peanut butter and peanut butter cups totally does. I got this recipe from my wonderful friend Molly who made this for us while we were going through a hard time last year. Not only was it a sweet gesture but it also opened me up to a whole new world of banana bread.

As you all know, I am kind of obsessed with anything involving the combination of chocolate and peanut butter. So, throw in the banana’s and it’s pretty much a guarantee that I will love it.

This is a quick bread to throw together and I love that the recipe yields just one loaf of bread. So many make two loaves which we never eat in time and it just adds a lot of baking time since I only have one loaf pan. Sure, I could go get another pan but I just can’t really justify it.

It has the perfect amount of bananas, peanut butter and chocolate to make it a delicious after dinner dessert or an indulgent breakfast.

On a random side note, I hit over 1,000 followers this weekend! I am so thankful to each and every one of you that have enjoyed my site enough to sign up to receive emails and read my posts every week! When I started this blog I thought it would just be my way of storing recipes and sharing them with family and friends. I never imagined strangers would want to see what I was cooking every week! You guys are the best and you give me so much inspiration! Thank you so very much!

Peanut Butter Cup Banana Bread

3 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup oil
1 egg
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
8 oz bag of Reese’s Mini cups

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Grease your loaf pan with butter or shortening. (I used butter)

3. In a medium bowl whisk together your flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, set aside.

4. In a large bowl stir together your bananas, peanut butter, oil, egg and sugars.

5. Pour your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Batter will be lumpy.

6. Fold in your Reese’s Mini cups and spread batter into prepared pan.

7. Bake for approx 1 hour or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then loosen the edges of the pan with a knife and remove from loaf pan, transferring bread to a cooling rack.

Quick Grilled Hunan Chicken

As I’m sure you already know, I am a big fan of Asian food. I made the menu for the next few weeks and about half of it ended up being Asian dishes…oops. But there is so much variety that it never seems like we are eating the same thing which is why I love it so much! So needless to say, there is going to be a lot of Asian food up in here for awhile. Yep, I just said that.

I am not a fan of hoisin sauce so I wasn’t sure how this chicken would go over but I was pleasantly surprised. The peanut butter, soy sauce and oils combined with the hoisin so that it wasn’t overwhelming but complimented it instead. It was a really great, quick weeknight meal. And it was even warm enough to grill it outside. Take that Minnesota!

Quick Grilled Hunan Chicken
recipe from food.com

4 Tbsp. hoisin sauce
2 Tbsp. peanut butter
4 teaspoons soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoon hot pepper oil
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast

1. Pound chicken breasts to 1/2″ thickness.
2. Mix together hoisin sauce, peanut butter, garlic, and oil; spread over both sides of chicken.

3. Grill or broil chicken 4-5 inches from heat source until chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes per side.

4. Slice chicken diagonally across the breast and serve on a piece of iceberg lettuce.

5. If you desire, serve with ramen noodles and steamed snow peas, as fast and easy side dishes.

Peanut Butter Dog Treats

We can’t forget about the lovable pups in our lives during the holiday season! We do not have a dog but we have lots of family and friends that do so I whipped up a batch of these cute little treats for all our dog friends. I sent a mailing envelope full of them to my parents and then I received this picture back. It’s kind of blurry but the gist is as follows: my parents were out of town so my brother was stopping by to check on the dogs. He saw a package on the steps and left it on the kitchen counter (unbeknowst to him, it is filled to the brim with doggie deliciousness). My parents come home to an empty, torn up envelope.

Somebody looks mighty guilty, but satisfied with herself at the same time. I think they enjoyed them.

Peanut Butter Dog Treats
recipe from Come On, Ilene

1 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup margarine or butter
1 cup boiling beef broth
3/4 cup cornmeal
2 teaspoons white sugar
2 teaspoons beef bouillon granules
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg, beaten (or 2 eggs to make treats softer for older dogs)
3 cups whole wheat flour

1. Combine rolled oats, margarine/butter, and boiling beef broth in a large bowl. Let stand and soften for 10 minutes.  Thoroughly stir in cornmeal, sugar, bouillon, milk, peanut butter, and egg. Mix in flour, 1 cup at a time, until dough comes together.

2. Roll out dough to 1/2″ thickness. Cut out shapes with cookie cutter. Place on cookie sheet. They don’t spread apart so you can fit a lot on a sheet.

3.Bake 35 to 45 minutes at 325 degrees, until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool.

Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites

These have football season written all over them! Not only are they a perfectly portable, bite-size snack but they have all the necessary elements for game day: sweet, salty, smooth and crunchy. Yum!

I’ve said time and time again that the combination of peanut butter and chocolate is pretty much a match made in heaven for me. I also love chocolate covered pretzels so I knew when I saw these that they would be an instant favorite….and they totally were! They take a bit of time to make with the rolling freezing time and dipping but they are absolutely worth it for your next gathering! I dipped half in white chocolate and half in semi-sweet and both versions were great.

Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites
recipe from Two Tiny Kitchens

1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 Tbsp. softened butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
Pretzels
1 bag  semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 package white almond bark (optional)

1. Combine peanut butter and softened butter in a large bowl with a fork or whisk, or in a stand mixer.  Add the sugars and mix to combine.  At this point if the filling will roll easily into balls without sticking to your hands you’re ready to go.  If not, add a little more of each sugar until you reach a consistency that is easy to roll.

2. Use a teaspoon measure to scoop the filling.  Roll each portion into a small ball, then sandwich them between two whole pretzels.  When all the balls are rolled and successfully sandwiched, stick the whole tray in the freezer for about half an hour.

3. Pour the chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl and heat at 30-second intervals, stirring occasionally until completely melted.  Chop the white almond bark and place in a seperate bowl then melt in 30-second intervals. Remove half of the pretzel sandwiches from the freezer and quickly dip half-way into the melted chocolate. Return to the tray and repeat with remaining sandwiches, dipping them into the white almond bark.  When all are dipped, return the tray to the freezer to set up completely.  Store the sandwiches in the refrigerator until serving time.

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Muffins

You know how Noah is a chocoholic? Well, turns out he is a peanut butter’oholic too. Whenever he sees that yummy JIF jar in the pantry he gets all hyped up and starts, first calmly, saying “butter” then he gets more and more frantic until he gets a taste of the good stuff. He loves the ‘butter!

He also thinks muffins are cupcakes so it wouldn’t be too great if he told people he had butter cupcakes for breakfast…..  Oh, I can just picture the judgemental looks I would get over that one!

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Muffins
recipe from Cupcakes, Muffins and More (Taste of Home)

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup quick cooking oats
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
Dash ground cinnamon
1 egg
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, optional

1. In a bowl, combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

2. In another bowl, beat egg, peanut butter and milk until smooth. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in peanuts.

3. Fill greased or paper lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 375 degrees F for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

These peanut butter bars are definitely one of my top 3 favorite desserts ever (along with Lemon Hush and pretty much any cheesecake). I literally can wipe out an entire 13 x 9 pan of these if I am left alone with them for too long. They are the ultimate combination of chocolate and peanut butter and I just can’t resist them.

They are made even better because they are ridiculously easy to whip up and I always have all the required ingredients on hand. I mean, what’s better than a dessert that only requires 5 ingredients?  It’s a great dessert to make when you have last minute guests stop by or for a potluck. They aren’t fancy but they are so decedant, rich and just plain good.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

1 cup butter, melted
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup + 4 Tbsp. peanut butter
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1. Mix butter, graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar and 1 cup of peanut butter. Press into a 13 x 9 pan.

2. Melt remaining peanut butter and chocolate together. Spread over peanut butter mixture. Keep refrigerated.

Recipe linked to Totally Tasty Tuesday, Cast Party Wednesday and Full Plate Thursday.

Super Bowl Menu

We are hosting the Super Bowl this year for the second year in a row and I am totally ordering pizza for the second year in a row. It’s easy and makes my life less stressful. But of course I can’t just have pizza. I could never have at least one homemade thing at a gathering…it’s just not my style. Sooo, in addition to the pizza I am going to prepare some dips and desserts for our guests. I’m pretty darn excited about them so I thought that I would share them with you now in case you want to try them for the big game. I will feature them in the future if they are a hit among the crowd.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Mexican Cheesy Corn Dip from Piece, Love and Cooking

Caramel Peanut Butter Dip for Apples

Dessert is a toss up right now…either mini fruit pizza’s or Blue Moon cupakes…ooooor both. I just can’t decide. Blue Moon cupcakes would be perfect for the game but mini fruit pizza’s would be so cute and fun.

Blue Moon Cupcakes from Erica Sweet Tooth

Mini Fruit Pizza’s (store bought or prepared sugar cookies with frosting…if I make these I’m going to frost the cookies then set out the fruit so everybody can create their own using the fruit they prefer)

Blueberry, Banana, Peanut Butter Smoothie

 

With the new year comes new resolutions and I of course have the “be healthier” resolution on my list like so many others. Joel and I joined a local gym and I have been Zumba-ing my butt off ever since (it’s amazing and so fun…do it!). In addition, healthy eating has been a priority too. I’m not a huge fruit eater but I love smoothies so we have been making an effort to try different recipes so that we have an arsenal of options on our hands.

This was the first smoothie we tried and it was promptly put on the make again list. I love the addition of wheat germ because of the many beneficial vitamins and minerals it contains. Adding peanut butter provides an interesting and unique variation to the typical fruit smoothie. Another huge benefit of this smoothie is that we always have all of these ingredients on hand making it very convenient to whip up for breakfast or an afternoon boost.

My blueberry loving little man went wild for it. I think he would have drunk the whole batch if we would have given it to him.

Blueberry, Banana and Peanut Butter Smoothie
recipe from allrecipes.com
makes 2 servings

1 tablespoon wheat germ or flax seed meal, optional
1 banana
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 cup plain yogurt (I used blueberry Greek yogurt)
3/4 cup milk

1. Put ground flax seed meal or wheat germ into blender to grind and further breakdown. This will also eliminate any bitterness from the flax seed.

2. Place the banana, blueberries, peanut butter, honey, yogurt and milk into the blender. Cover and puree until smooth. Pour into glasses to serve.

Pretzel Cookies {12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies}

Ok, so I totally watched Elf last week. It’s not my fault, it was on TV. I couldn’t stop myself. I know there are two camps out there – those that are all about Christmas the second Halloween is over and those that think it is necessary to get past Thanksgiving first. I am usually in the second camp but when I saw that it was on, I just couldn’t resist. It cracks me up every time. Please forgive me.

Although cookies aren’t listed as the four food groups for elves, I totally think an exception would be made for these delicious gems. They are sweet and salty, soft and crunchy….how could you go wrong? I mean, look at the little pretzel pieces poking out. You can’t tell me you don’t get all “super cute” over them. It’s kind of undeniable.

Pretzel Cookies
recipe from The Foodie and The Family
makes 24 Cookies

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter chips
1/2 cup pretzels, broken up
sea salt for sprinkling

1. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar on medium speed until fluffy (2-3 minutes). On low speed, add the egg and vanilla extract. Beat to combine, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and pretzels. Cover and refrigerate for an hour.

2. Preheat the oven to 350°. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop onto the parchment paper in well rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle with sea salt and bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire cooling rack.

Recipe linked to Mangia Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Totally Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, What I Whipped Up Wednesday, Sweet Treats Thursday, Full Plate Thursday, Fusion Friday, Holiday Sweet Swap, Seasonal Inspiration, Strut Your Stuff Saturday, Sweets for a Saturday and A Themed Baker’s Sunday.

Peanut Butter M&M Cookies {12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies}

It’s week 4 of the 12 Weeks of Christmas and today I am bringing you my all time favorite flavor combination: peanut butter and chocolate. Is there anything better? These are definitely not the typical crisscrossed peanut butter cookies but still have a very distinct peanut butter taste. They are soft, fluffy and pretty much perfect.

Noah doesn’t get sweets too often but when we went into the kitchen to get a drink and he spied the cookies on the cooling rack he went crazy. I just couldn’t say no so he enjoyed feeding himself one and making a crumbly mess. Later, he walked into the kitchen but I waited around the corner to see if he was going to come back. He was awfully quiet which usually means he is up to no good so I headed to the kitchen to investigate. And what do I see? He has a cookie in his hand with two bites out of it. Apparently, he is now tall enough to reach things off the countertop. Now I am in real trouble.

Can you believe there’s only 2 months until Christmas. I feel the need to start shopping…NOW. I’m a little obsessive. I’m a planner. I’m a list and to-do maker. I like to get things done early so they can be checked off my list. I like to get my shopping done by December 1st if at all possible. I already feel behind and it’s not even Halloween. Crazy much? But instead of stressing, I think I will eat one of these cookies and watch The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (ssshhhh….I didn’t just admit that).

Non-Traditional Peanut Butter M&M Cookies

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup butter flavored Crisco
1 1/4 brown sugar
1 large egg
3 Tbsp. half and half or milk
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 – 1 cup mini Christmas M&M’s

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream peanut butter, shortening and brown sugar until fluffy. Add egg; mix well. Stir in milk and vanilla.
2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Stir in M&M’s.
3. Bake for 7-9 minutes. Let sit on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes then remove to a cooling rack. Note: Don’t put it too close to the edge of the counter or a little cookie monster may help himself.

Recipe linked to:
Sweet Treats Thursday
Holiday Sweet Swap
Full Plate Thursday
Mangia Monday
Tasty Tuesday
Totally Tasty Tuesday
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
Crazy Sweet Tuesday
What I Whipped Up Wednesday
These Chicks Cooked
Sweet Indulgences Sunday
Friday Food
Sweets for a Saturday