SPICE OF LIFE READING CHALLENGE

This book is for the Spice of Life Reading Challenge. Want to join in, head over to Rebecca's place and join up.



My first book for this challenge is Paula Deen's Kitchen Classics. I got this book last year but have never done anything with it. You can get this book at Amazon.com. I bought it for my son, who is a food network fanatic and he also loves Paula Deen. The book has been laying around here, there and everywhere.
My son brought home some Zucchini a couple of weeks ago. So thought I would see if Paula Deen had a recipe for Zucchini Bread in this book. Sure enough she did. I have also always wanted to make Banana Bread, but have never done so, don't know why. It's really easy.
There is a little story about the Zucchini Bread. I couldn't find my loaf pans. I turned my kitchen upside down looking for them. So I used 2 9 X 13 cake pans to bake my Zucchini Bread. It was Zucchini Cake. But it didn't bother the bread at all. It was still delicious!!!
What I really like about this cook book is that Paula Deen breaks everything down to steps. It's really easy to follow along with the recipe. So here are the recipes for Banana Bread and Zucchini Bread. Enjoy!!

BANANA BREAD

YIELDS 1 LOAF

No electric mixer needed here--just mix in a bowl by hand.

1/2 C. Butter, room temp
1 C. Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Salt
2 Eggs

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 C. Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
3 Ripe Bananas, mashed

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 X 5 inch loaf pan. In a mixing bowl, combine the butter and sugar; mix well. Add the salt, eggs, vanilla, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and bananas, and mix well. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes.

I actually got 2 loaves out of this recipe. They weren't quite as big as a usual loaf pan but they were really good!!




ZUCCHINI BREAD

YIELDS 2 LOAVES

The flavor improves with age and the bread keeps well frozen. You can also substitute pumpkin for zucchini.

3 1/4 C. flour
1 1/2 teaspoons Salt
1 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
3 C. Sugar

1 C. Vegetable Oil
4 Eggs, beaten
2/3 C. Water
2 C. grated Zucchini
1 teaspoon Lemon Juice
1 C. Chopped Walnuts or Pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients except for nuts in a harge bowl. In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients; fold into dry, and add nuts. Bake in two loaf pans for 1 hour, or until done.