Nutella Love

I have a new love - Nutella (pronounced NEW-TELL- UH). For those of you who may not know, Nutella is a spread made from a combination of crushed  roasted hazelnuts, skim milk and a hint of cocoa.  It is divine.

I had my first taste of Nutella a week ago after purchasing it from Jungle Jim's in Cincinnati. My husband tried it a few months earlier at work and raved about it. I wasn't too pressed to try it since I am not a huge fan of peanut butter. I just assumed it would be the same for me.  Still not convinced, it took a day or two before I finally tried it on a piece of french bread. I can not tell you how delicious this stuff is. You MUST try it for yourself.

Photo Credit: YoungMarriedChic.com

Imagine my thrill, when I found this recipe from Kris, the Young Married Chic on Eat.Drink.Shop.Love blog for Nutella Banana Nut Bread! Since I am trying to watch what I eat, I plan to make the bread when our out of town guests arrive this weekend.  Hopefully, they'll eat most of the loaf.
Here is the recipe from the  Eat.Drink.Shop.Love blog. Be sure to visit her blog here for more fantastic recipes.

Banana Bread with Nutella Filling

adapted from Bethenny Frankel’s BooBoo Banana Bread

Ingredients
1/2 cup raw sugar
1 tablespoon butter (regular or nondairy)
1 cup mashed over ripe bananas (2 or 3)
1 egg
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Dollop of Nutella (to be added later)

How to Prepare

Preheat  the oven to 350 degrees. Combine all the wet ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Combine dry ingredients, mix, and add to wet ingredients.

Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the bottom of a loaf pan. Put it in the bottom  of the pan and spray it with cooking spray. Pour in half of the batter into the pan and spread a line of Nutella (as much as you want really) down the center of the batter. Pour remaining batter over the Nutella line and cover it loosely with foil.

Bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil, then bake for another 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out almost clean (moist crumbs are fine). Cool completely, then slice and serve.

**Want pumpkin bread? Take out the 1 cup of mashed banana and add 1 cup of canned pumpkin and 1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice

**No Nutella? Just add 1/2 cup of chocolate chips



Cincy Trip

We decided to take a small shopping trip to Cincy yesterday. Our main goal was to visit IKEA and the Cincinnati Premium Outlet Mall. While planning the trip, we heard a ton about a grocery store - Jungle Jim's - that we HAD to visit. Oh, and of course - lunch at Pappadeaux!  Our friend, F, joined us for the trip. What a delightful friend and trip mate.  The first stop was to the Outlet Mall. I am not a huge Outlet Mall fan.  But this is a good one. We didn't do too much damage there. Mainly purchased from Banana Republic. Great deals on their logo tshirts which I love o wear under cardigans. Oh, and a super fab gold, Lucite necklace. Second stop was IKEA where I purchased the chandelier for my closet. Believe it or not, I actually left the store UNDER budget! I found the cutest little bud vases and other goodies. BUT the best buy was my skirt/pant hangers. Sixty nine cents for 2! Yep, you heard it right. 69 cents for two dark wood skirt/pant hangers. I am in the process of boutiqueing (that is my own word - LOL) my closet and these are PERFECT! I grabbed a ton - and still didn't have enough.....
After all of that, we need fuel.

 We stopped at a Cajun seafood restaurant, Pappadeaux. We don't have one here in Indy - we NEED one. Well, maybe not. I ate WAAAAAYYYYY too much there.

Last stop - Jungle Jim's. Honestly, I don't have the words to describe this place. I'll try -  It is huge and gaudy, but chock full of food items you did not even know you needed. The front has these ginormous jungle creatures (gorilla, elephant, monkeys, giraffes, etc) "hanging" out in the jungle. Yea - ok. Anyway, the store has these great international food sections featuring some wonderful foodie items. When I say section, I don't mean like in our local groceries. I mean five or six aisle sections. This is where I purchased my first jar of Nutella - the devil. This stuff is out of this world good. Hazelnuts ground into skim milk and chocolate. Believe the hype! It's that good.
We purchased our items and left after perusing many of the aisles. What a wonderful day spent with my hubby and our friend, F.