Banana Bread

Description:
Bananas are rich in potassium and available year round...and as such, you can easily turn your spare ripe bananas into this quick yet rich tasing bread. After the loaf has cooled down, wrap it in plastic possibly overnight to let the flavors develop.
Best eaten with butter and jam.

Ingredients:
5 tbsps. butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar (packed)
1 large egg
1 large egg (discard the yolk)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups mashed, very ripe bananas
1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 deg.F and spray bottom on a 9 x 5 x 3
inch loaf pan with a nonstick cooking spray
-Beat butter in a bowl at medium speed till light and fluffy.
-Add granulated sugar and brown sugar and continue beating.
-Add the mashed bananas
-Add the whole egg
-Add egg whites and vanilla and beat till well blended on
high speed for about 30 seconds
-Combine flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder
-Add flour mixture to butter mixture, alternating with cream and ending with flour mixture
Add walnuts to batter and mix well.
-Pour batter evenly into the prepared loan pan
-Bake until browned and thoothpick comes out clean.
-Baking time: 1 hr. and 15 minutes.
-Cool bread on a wire rack.
- Slice and serve with butter and/or jam.

The Hurting Truth About Our Current State of Affairs--Ouch!

The following article was passed on to me and I thought this has got to be passed around to all Multiply members who are here in the U.S.  Please forward to as many as you can..if you agree with the statements (and I hope you do)! Thanks. "" The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.          Herewith a few confessions from my beating heart: I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important?         I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife.         Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are.        If this is what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.        Next confession:         I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.         It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.         I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution, and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.         Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?        I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.         But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.         In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.         Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something lik e this Happen?" (regarding Katrina)         Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.         And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"         In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.         Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school . the Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.         Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.         Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.         Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."         Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell.         Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.         Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.         Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.        Are you laughing?         Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.         Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.         Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.        My Best Regards .. honestly and respectfully,        Ben Stein

 

Peanut Butter Snowballs

Description:
This is a "no bake" but with "chilling time" nutty snowballs that even kids or new to baking can do. This could be a simple yet delicious dessert you can serve your family & guests this holiday season.

Ingredients:
- 1-1/2 cups peanut butter
- 1-1/2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
- 1 pkg (or 12 oz.) white chocolate chips
- 1 tbsp. veg. shortening
Some confectioners' sguar or edible glitter for dusting




Directions:
.In a large bowl, combine peanut butter and butter until blended; add confectioners’ sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring after each addition.

2. Line a baking sheet with foil. Using your hands, shape peanut butter mixture into 1-inch balls. Place balls on prepared baking sheet; chill until firm, about 1 hour.

3. Place white chocolate and shortening in a large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on MEDIUM, stirring at 30-second intervals, until chocolate is melted and smooth, about 2 minutes.

4. Line a baking sheet with waxed paper. Using a spoon, dip each peanut butter ball into melted chocolate, spooning chocolate over ball to coat, if necessary.

5. Transfer snowballs to the waxed paper-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle tops with confectioners’ sugar or edible glitter.

Shrimp Stuffed Potatoes

Description:
For the coming holidays, this recipe is perfect for it is a combination of sea food and potatoes exquisitely combined for a perfect dish!

Ingredients:
-6 large potatoes
-Vegetable oil, for coating
-8 tablespoons butter
-2 cups grated cheddar cheese, plus more for sprinkling
-2 cups grated Cheese
-2 cups sour cream
Salt and pepper
1lb. shrimp, peeled and sauteed in garlic and onions
Dash of Paprika for color

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Wash potatoes, dry them, and gently prick them with a fork on the sides.
-Coat each potato with vegetable oil, then place on foil
covered pan, and bake for approximately 1 hour.

-Place the butter in a large bowl.
-Remove the potatoes from the oven and slice each potato in half.
-Gently scoop out the potato and place in the bowl.
-With a mixer on high, mix the potatoes, butter, sour cream, salt, and pepper.
-Add the shrimp and both cheeses into the mixture.
Gently stuff the mixture back into the potato shells, making sure not to break them.
-Pile the mixture as high as you can on top of the potato shells.
-Sprinkle each potato with cheese and paprika for color.
Bake in the oven for approximately 20 to 30 minutes until browned on top.

The Gingerbread Wonderland Exhibit

Rick and I went to the Freylinghuysen Park to view the various gingergread exhibit.  There were 250 pieces on display which were works of art by grades 3-5, grade 2K, girls scout brownies, and families of the pupils.

The exhibits used of course a variety of yummy goodies: wafers, graham crackers, mm's, chocolates, candy mints, jelly beans, ice cream cones, popcorns, reeses chocolates, hersheys, etc ...and all kinds of soft and hard candies one can ever find  Also used were cardboards covered with hardened sugars, cinnamon sticks, and just about anything to add color and to express the chosen theme of their work.  Some had the actual photos of where their exhibits were copied from...but a majority were simply borne out of the exhibitor's imagination.  All were wonderful pieces of work of labor and love!

Viewers can vote on their choices although the judges have voted on their choices.

 I particularly liked:

 No. 61 - March of the Penguins (made from edible candy)

No. 53 - Cones and logs....this could have been so tedious to make because the fir cones were made of

            chocolate pieces and logs of hardened chocolate

No. 65 - I said this is Mona Lisa---but Rick, the joker that he is said no---it is Whoopi 

            Goldberg!

No. 71 - The Simpsons--watching t.v.

And No. 17 - the Titanic.

If Anne were here...I am sure she could joined and participated because she is very creative. Or she and Jade could have collaborated to join.