Southwestern Avocado and Black Bean Salad

You're probably going to start seeing a theme on here. I'm a massive Paula Deen fan (um... ok, clarification... I'm not actually massive. However, I have a feeling Paula's food may have the potential to make you that way if you eat it too often). And really, all she does is take what every Southern girl's MamMaw makes and adds more butter. Alright, I'll give her more credit than that. She just enhances awesome food.

Anyways...

I did get this recipe from Paula's show, but it's actually her son Jamie's concoction.

I fell in love with this salad when I tried it. Salads are always so incredibly good when they're filled with lots of different stuff. Every bite has a different flavor in it. I LOVE me some avocados too, so I knew it would be a winner.
But what really won me over was when we invited some friends over for dinner. At the time, my friend was going through a diet based off the book "Eat to Live" by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. It leaves you with a pretty limited food selection. Basically all she was able to eat were fruits, vegetables, beans, tofu, and nuts, etc. Most salad dressings weren't allowed either. As soon as I heard this, I knew this salad would be perfect. And it was.

And there's really not a whole lot of thinking to it. Just dump it in a big bowl and mix. Fyi, I didn't use as many black beans as it called for. I only used one can, and that was plenty. Don't get too hung up on the measurements. Play with it and put the amount in that suits your tastes!

Ingredients

• 
  
  1/2 cup freshly chopped cilantro leaves
• 
  
  1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 
  
  2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• 
  
  2 or 3 dashes hot sauce (recommended: Tabasco)
• 
  
  4 cups chopped romaine lettuce
• 
  
  2 avocados, peeled and diced
• 
  
  2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels, thawed and drained
• 
  
  2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 
  
  1 cup chopped cherry tomatoes
• 
  
  About 3/4 cup (3-ounces) grated pepper jack cheese
• 
  
  Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

 Directions

In a small bowl, whisk together the cilantro, oil, lime juice and hot sauce.

In a large serving bowl, add the lettuce, avocado, corn, beans, tomatoes, and cheese. Add the dressing and toss well. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and serve.

Dark Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Well, let's start this thing off right...

Who doesn't love some warm, gooey, melt-in-your-mouth banana bread? ... with chocolate.

Fall weather has finally hit the South this week. I don't think our temps have reached 80 yet! It's been pretty rainy, cool, and wonderful. In my world, nothing says FALL more like freshly baked bread, whether it's pumpkin, banana, or zucchini. Any of it is good in my book.
And if it's sweet, combine it with a hot cup of coffee (or hot cocoa for you non-coffee drinkers), and it's oh-so-yummy.

Since I'm still working off the weight my little boy decided to leave me with after his arrival, I've been trying to find recipes with (slightly) fewer goes-straight-to-your-rear-end type of ingredients. This was the best I came up with (I mean, we still want it to taste good, right?).
I got this from Whole Grain Gourmet, and it didn't last but two days.

I only made two changes to it. I didn't have any whole wheat flour on hand, but I do keep unbleached white flour (I don't like the idea of eating the same stuff that I put in my laundry) in my fridge. So that's what I used. Also, since I wanted to let little Noah try some, I left the walnuts out. My hubby doesn't really like them much anyway.

So here you go!!
(I promise it's heavenly. My husband said it's the best he's ever had.)

Whole Grain Banana Bread
Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup packed natural brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cup mashed over-ripe bananas
• 1 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips, preferrably 60% cocoa

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Lighly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan with butter.
3. Combine flour, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Whisk and set aside.
4. In another large bowl, combine butter, honey, and sugar and beat for two minutes. Add the eggs and lightly beat until just combined. Mix in bananas and vanilla -- do not overmix. Gradually beat in the flour mixture in thirds.
5. Dilute baking soda in ¼ cup hot (not boiling) water, then beat into batter.
6. Stir in, by hand, the chocolate chips and chopped nuts.
7. Pour the batter into the pan and bake at 325 for 52 minutes. (test for doneness being careful not to overbake as it may dry out the bread)
8. Remove from pan and place on a wire rack to cool. If you plan to serve this to guests and want clean slices, then allow it to cool for 30 minutes. If you want to enjoy some melt-in-your-mouth, out-of-this-world, warm banana bread, then dig in after 5 minutes.