Mini Gingerbread Banana Muffins

I had a gingerbread mix in the cupboard from some deal I found somewhere.....  Not really wanting to make gingerbread I went to the Betty Crocker website and found this recipe.  I love having fresh muffins to snack on.  They make a great breakfast on the go or a good after school snack.  They also are very "freezer friendly".

You'll need

1 Betty Crocker gingerbread mix
2 mashed bananas
2 eggs
3/4 cup quick oats
3/4 cup water

Pre-heat oven to 350.  Mix everything together and spoon 2/3's full into mini muffin tins.  Bake for about 12 minutes.  Makes 48 mini muffins.

Have you every searched for recipies that use "mixes" for starters?  

Chocolate Covered Banana Bites

These are just FANTASTIC!!  So simple to make.  I'd suggest making them when the kids aren't around...  They are a great late night or after school snack.

You'll need:

2 bananas
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1 big spoonful of peanut butter (crunchy or creamy)

Slice the bananas thick

Melt chocolate chips and peanut butter in microwave for about1 minute, stir till smoothe. dip bananas in chocoate mixture (toothpicks help) and place on wax paper.  Flash freeze for about 1 hour then place in large ziplock bag or freezer container.  Double or tripple the recipe....Yes they go that fast!

Proscuito Basil Chicken

This recipe came from my email box.  I get a weekly email from Rachael Ray's show with her recipies......     Like always when I find a recipe that sounds good my menu planning goes right out the window and I have to make it now.  The recipe calls for Sage but I didn't have any so I used Basil leaves from our plant. I didn't have Marsala so I used Merlot....

The original recipe is called Chicken Samboltica

You'll need:

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
Procuitto
Basil leaves (or Sage)
toothpicks
flour for dredging
Olive oil
Garlic
Baby Portabella Mushrooms
Angel hair pasta
1 cup Merlot (or Marsala)
1 cup chicken broth (optional in my opinion)


Cut your chicken breasts in half and pound til 1/4 in thick. (I fed a family of 5 with 3 breasts). salt and pepper each side. Lay procuitto on top of breast. top with basil leaf and secure with toothpick. Heat a couple of tablespoons of oliv oil in skilled (med high).  dredge chicken (both sides) in flour and place in skillet.  You will need to do this in batches.  turn when brown, remove to plate and cover with foil when both sides are brown. 

When second batch goes in, drop pasta into boiling water and cook al dente. Strain pasta and set aside, reserve 1 cup of starchy water.  

When chicken is done keep warm under foil on a plate. Reduce heat on stove to med.  Add Sliced mushrooms (as many as you want, the more the better) and garlic (I used 4 cloves minced) to skillet.
Cook for a few minutes then add the wine.  Once reduced a bit ad chicken broth. loosten all the brown bits from the pan with a wooden spoon. Ladel some sauce over the chicken on a serving plate. Toss pasta into the sauce, ad some starchy water if needed. Serve alongside the chicken.

This got a thumbs up from everyone in the family!

Both dishes by themselves are fantastic!!  I'll definately be making this one again.

Crescent Sausage Casserole

I came up with this idea one morning when I wanted to make a special breakfast.  Definately not the most original idea but it can be tweaked to what you have on hand and makes a nice weekend breakfast.

1 tube crescent rolls
1 pkg link sausage
8 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/cup shredded cheddar cheese

Spray a 9X13 casserole dish with cooking spray.  Unroll and smoosh the crescent rolls to cover the buttom and up the side just a bit.  Brown sausage in skilled and cut up into little bits, sprincle on crescent rolls. Scramble the eggs and the milk in a bowl then cook in skillet until the consistensly of a really thick stew.  Pour over sausage, spreading to the edges of pan. Top with cheese.  Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.   Serve with maple syrup.

Grilled Romaine Salad

My husband and I have seen grilled lettuce recipies before and have always wanted to try one. We found this one in this months Family Circle Magazine.  It's a recipe from Guy Fierri. My picture doesn't do the salad justice but try it.  It's incredible!

First dice up 1/2 lb bacon and 3/4 cup red onion.

The recipe said put the skillet on high but I thought that was too much and turned it down.  using 1 T olive oil add the bacon and onion to the skillet and cook until bacon is crisp.  Remove bacon and onion,  and most of the grease. set bacon and onion aside, return pan to stovetop. 

The dressing.  In hot skillet add 1 Tsp olive oil and 1/2 cup Basalmic vinegar.  Cook 2-3 minutes until reduced.  Remove pan from heat to cool slightly.

Slice 2 Romain Lettuce hearts in 1/2. Trim end off but leave enough so the 1/2 head stays intact.  Brush with olive oil.  Heat up grill to high.  Place lettuce cut side down and cook breifly till grill marks appear......

Spoon dressing over grilled lettuce.  Top with bacon onion crispies, and top with crumbled blue cheese.    This takes salad to a new level!  Can't wait to find more grilled greens recipies

The bacon and onion cooked together makes a gread baked potato topping too!

Homemade Raised Glazed Donuts

As soon as I saw the post on one of my favorite websites.... www.grocerybudget101.com , I knew I had to try it.  I've made donuts before but not ones that had yeast in them.  The recipe and instruction for making the glazed donuts seemed easy enough to follow.  I made them this morning and they are really good!

They are actually pretty simple to make and don't take very long.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

2 T warm water

3/4 cup warm milk

2 1/2 T melted butter

1 egg

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

2 3/4 cup flour

1 tsp vanilla

Mix the yeast, 1 cup of the flour and the sugar together and set aside.  Combine butter, water, milk, and egg in a mixer. ( Hello, my lovely Kitchen Aid).  Blend in flour, yeast, and sugar mixture.  Blend well (about 3 minutes)  Add vanilla, salt, and remaining flour.  The dough should be very soft but not sticky.  cover dough and let rise till double in size. 

 This is the point where I usually get impatient with yeast recipies....  I pre heated the oven to 200 then shut it off.  Placed a pan of boiling water on the rack and placed my dough in the oven to rise.  It's called a moist rising method.  She explains it in the original recipe.    It really works.  Cut the rising time by alot.

Once the dough has risen turn it on to a floured board and roll it out to 1/2 inch thick.  Cut with a donut cutter.  I don't have one so I used two different sized buscit cutters.  I also cut some into bars when i got tired of re-rolling the dough.  It seemed to get more tough the more I handled the dough.

Let the donuts rest for about 15 minutes while you heat up the oil.  Fry in batches for about 60 seconds per side.  I used pwderd sugar and a little hot water to make a glaze and flavored it with vanilla.  We also tried to make a chocolate and a butterscotch glaze but they didn't turn out that great. 

It's a great recipe that I plan to make again.

The Elvis Cookie Sandwich

Oh yes,  sounds weird, but it is really tasty!

A friend at work found a picture of one and showed it to me.   I decided to try to find a recipe. I actually found the recipe her picture came from......  The answer came from   Dudefoods.com

The cookie is like a banana peanut butter cookie with bacon in it.  by themselves, the cookie is really good.  But when you build the sandwich with fresh peanut butter, banana and bacon slices, it takes on a whole new kind of food. 

The cookie recipe is very simple.....

6 strips of bacon cooked crisp and crumbled

1 egg

1/2 cup butter

1 cup white sugar

1 1/2 cups peanut butter

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

3 mashed bananas

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Mix it all up in your mixer and drop on to cookie sheets and bake for 15 minutes at 350.

The recipe makes a TON of cookies  

To make the sandwich take two cookies and spread them with peanut butter, add fresh banana slices and strips of bacon.   It sounds so weird I know you'll just have to try it.  Even if you don't like the sandwich the cookies are really good.