Tasty Tuesday - Banana Bread with Streusel Nut Topping

Last week, I invited the other Girlfriend over to my house to do some blog planning. While the littles played, she and I drank hot tea and nibbled on the bread below. Let's just say, my very pregnant friend REALLY liked the banana bread. I hope you like it too and if you want to be really popular, invite a girlfriend over and share it! Banana Bread with Streusel Nut Topping

Bread
2 cups all purpose flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
¼ tsp. salt
2 beaten eggs
1 ½ cups mashed bananas (5 bananas)
1 cup sugar
¼ cup cooking oil
¼ cup applesauce
¼ cup chopped walnuts

Streusel-Nut Topping
¼ cup packed brown sugar
3 Tbsp. all purpose flour
2 Tbsp. softened butter
1/3 cup chopped nuts

In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and flour. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbles. Stir in nuts.

Grease bottom and 1.2 inches up the sides of one 9 x 5 x 3 inch or two 7 ½ x 3 ½ x 2 inch loaf pans and set aside. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Make a well in center of flour mixture and set aside.

In a medium bowl combine eggs, bananas, sugar, oil, and applesauce. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened. Fold in nuts. Spoon batter into prepared pan(s). Sprinkle Streusel-Nut Topping over batter.

Bake in a 350° oven for 55 to 60 minutes for a larger loaf pan and 40 – 45 minutes for two smaller pans or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan.
Cool completely on a wire rack.

Your Girlfriend, Michelle

Tasty Tuesday- Tempting Tortellini Soup

Comfort. The definition for comfort is to give strength or hope to. To me, this is the very definition of a girlfriend. Someone who is there for you when you need a little bit of encouragement. A person who will listen when things get tough. When we think of this word, at least one person should pop into mind. We all need someone who can be there for us.

Today I want to share one of my all-time favorite comfort food recipes - an old standby for the days I feel down in the dumps. Although I am not Giada, (much to my husbands dismay), this is an easy Italian inspired soup. It is my spin on chicken noodle soup and is great for a cold night.

Tempting Tortellini Soup
Serves: 6
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 Tbsp. margarine
1 cup cooked, shredded chicken (rotisserie chicken works great!)
2 cans chicken broth
1 (8 oz.) pkg. fresh or thawed frozen tortellini
1 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen spinach, thawed
1 (16 oz.) can stewed tomatoes, undrained
coarsley grated Parmesan cheese

In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, cook and stir garlic in margarine for 2 to 3 minutes. Add broth, chicken, and tortellini. Heat to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add spinach and tomatoes. Simmer an additional 5 minutes. Serve topped with Parmesan Cheese.

Girlfriend to girlfriend, I hope this recipe offers you a little comfort tonight!

Melinda

Tasty Tuesday - Beef Enchiladas

Girlfriends With Grace is all about relationships that we as girlfriends have - relationships with our husbands, boyfriends, children, parents, siblings, and most of all, our other girlfriends. Today's Tasty Tuesday recipe is a great winter recipe and since it is so easy to make, I really want you to consider making a double or triple batch - one to eat tonight, one for the freezer for a more hectic than usual evening, and one to encourage a friend our family member.

My friend and next door neighbor is having a rough start to her new year. A week into 2010, her aunt passed away after a very long and valient battle with cancer. That very night, her mother (and sister to said aunt) who lives in independent housing, started to show more serious signs of dementia to the point of possibly needing to be moved to assisted living. My friend has been busy with funeral arrangements for her aunt and making major decisions for the care of her mother. She didn't ask for a meal and I am sure if I offered, she would probably turn me down. So, I am not going to offer - I am just going to take her some dinner to let her know that I love her and I am thinking of her as she travels this very lonely path.

Beef Enchiladas
1 - 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 lb. grated cheddar cheese
/2 lb. Velveeta cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 6 oz. can evaporated milk
1/2 can Rotel tomatoes with chilies
1 package large flour tortillas - you can use small too, I just don't know how many!

Brown meat and onion toether and drain off fat. Add grated cheddar cheese, mix well, and set aside. In a saucepan, melt velveeta cheese and soup. Add evaporated milk and tomatoes with chilies. Roll up meat mixture in large tortillas and place in a greased 9 x 13 baking dish. Cover entirely with cheese mixure and cover with foil. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. I usually serve this with a side of mexican rice.

Best of all, while you are enjoying your dinner, you can think of your girlfriend who is also enjoying hers!

Your Girlfriend, Michelle

PS - the photo on the blog is not what your enchiladas will look like as yours won't have red sauce on top, just a totally delicious, creamy cheese sauce.