Easy banana bread

• I tried this recipe and it was so quick and easy. 

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• Prep: 5 minutes
• Cook: 1 hour
• Yield: Makes one loaf.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter 
• 1 cup sugar 
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last.  Mix. Pour mixture into a buttered loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Pumpkin Stew

As soon as we started seeing fresh pumpkins this year, the kids were begging me to make this stew.  It has a long cook time, but it's easier than you think to prep and definitely worth the little bit of extra effort.  I also love using this recipe when we need to take dinner to other people.  It's hearty and beautiful to serve.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes

• 3 tablespoons canola oil, divided

• 1 cup water

• 3 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

• 4 medium carrots, sliced

• 1 large green pepper, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

• 4 garlic cloves, minced

• 1 medium onion, chopped

• 2 teaspoons salt

• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

• 2 tablespoons beef bouillon granules

• 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained

• 1 pumpkin (10 to 12 pounds)

• Directions In a Dutch oven, brown meat in 2 tablespoons oil. Add water, potatoes, carrots, green pepper, garlic, onion, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 2 hours. Stir in bouillon and tomatoes. Wash pumpkin; cut to 6 to 8 in. circle around top stem. Remove top and set aside; discard seeds and loosen fibers from inside. Place pumpkin in a shallow sturdy baking pan. Spoon stew into pumpkin and replace top. Brush outside of pumpkin with remaining oil. Bake at 325° for 2 hours or just until the pumpkin is tender (do not overbake). Serve stew from pumpkin, scooping out a little pumpkin with each serving. Yield: 8-10 servings.