Oh, Bananas!

I found this recipe on another person's blog and made a couple of changes.  She was using some types of flour I had never heard of.  I'm sure that using those types of flour are just as good and probably healthier, but I wasn't going out tonight to try and locate them.  We have had some snowy, sleety, rainy weather today and getting out tonight did not rank high in the things I needed to do.  These muffins are SO GOOD!!!  A couple of months ago, I had some bananas I didn't use.  I sliced them up, put them in ziploc bags, and put them in the freezer.  They worked GREAT!  I squished them up in the bags before putting them in the mixture.  So ... if you have some bananas that are going bad, don't throw them away!  Slice them up and put them in the freezer so you can use them later!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

2 cups of self - rising flour
3 over ripe bananas
1/4 cup of maple syrup
1/4 cup of almond milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup of milk chocolate chips


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix first 5 ingredients together.  Mix well.  Add in chocolate chips.  Spoon into muffin tins.  Bake for  15-18 minutes until golden brown.  Cool completely and store in the refrigerator.

This one is so Versatile!

I wanted something new for dinner the other night and a friend (Thanks Suzanne!) told me about a recipe she found on Pinterest. It's good, easy, and delicious.  We ate it over rice the first night, made burritos with it another night, and then I ate it over a salad for lunch.  Just thinking about it makes me want it again!

Crock Pot Cream Cheese Chicken Chile

2 frozen chicken breasts
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 can corn kernels, do not drain
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 pkg. Ranch dressing mix
1 Tb. cumin or 3 drops doTERRA cumin essential oil
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 8-oz pkg. cream cheese

Cook in a crock pot for 6- 8 hours.  Stir a couple of times during the day. 

Before serving, use 2 forks to shred the chicken up. Stir again.

Serve over rice.

Fudge-a-licious!

Nothing says Christmas like FUDGE!!!!  I made chocolate fudge last month as a treat for a friend's birthday, so I decided to make peanut butter fudge for Christmas.  I like this easy fudge for 2 reasons.  The fudge that you can feel the sugar in is good, but it is SO sweet and rich and this one isn't like that.  It's rich, but you don't feel the sugar granules.  The fudge that you use cups of sugar in also has to be cooked on the stove top.  This one DOES NOT!!  Oh, 3 reasons ... this one always turns out right! Enjoy and MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU!

Easy Peanut Butter Fudge

2 packages of peanut butter chips
4 Tb. butter or margarine
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp salt

Mix the first 3 ingredients together in a bowl and put it in the microwave for 1 minute.  Stir and microwave for 30 more seconds.  Stir in vanilla and salt.
Line an 8x8 or 9x9 baking pan with foil.  I used the no stick foil or you can spray regular foil with butter.  Pour mixture into pan and refrigerate overnight.  The next day, take the pan out of the refrigerator and remove the fudge.  Let it sit for an hour before cutting into small squares.

*Use milk chocolate chips if you'd rather have chocolate fudge.  OR make both and pour the chocolate fudge on top of the peanut butter fudge.  Let the peanut butter fudge chill for 2 hours before pouring the chocolate on top.  If you decide to make the chocolate peanut butter fudge, use a 9x13 pan.

Apple-licious Birthday!

My grandson turned 6 years old this past weekend.  I can't believe 6 years have already passed since I held that sweet little bundle in my arms and vowed to love him forever.  My heart melted that day and has been mushy ever since.  He is the sweetest, kindest boy on Earth.  I was kidding around with him this weekend and said, "Jake, I didn't bring you a present."  He perked right up and said with the most sincere expression on his face and said, "That's O.K!"  I LOVE THAT BOY SO MUCH!!!!!  Then when he opened our present, he was SO excited!  He has become interested in Ninja Turtles.  When he saw that he got a Ninja Turtle shell he could wear, a Raphael mask, and Raphael's weapons that actually fit in his shell, he was over the moon excited.  It made me feel good all over to see him so happy!  Being his grandmother is such a joy and such a blessing!

His other grandmother made baked apples and brought them for part of dinner.  I had not had baked apples in years.  OH. MY. GOODNESS.  They were SO good!  I made them as part of my dinner tonight.  They are so easy and delicious, I have to share her recipe.

Baked Apples

Apples
Cinnamon
Brown Sugar
Butter or margarine

Wash, core, and slice apples - I sliced each apple into 6 - 8 pieces.  I sprayed the baking dish with butter and put the apples into the dish.  I sprinkled cinnamon over the apple slices.  Use the amount that makes you happy.  I like cinnamon a lot, so I sprinkled it freely on the apples.  Sprinkle brown sugar over the apples.  I probably used a couple of tablespoons.  Next, slice up 1-2 tablespoons of butter and place on the apples.  Mix the apple mixture up and cover the dish with foil.  Bake at 400  degrees for 20 minutes.

The leftovers.  This will be part of my lunch tomorrow!

I Want Something Good

I'm having one of those days where I want something.  Something good.  You know what I'm talking about.  It's one of those days where you stand in the pantry and look for something to appeal to you.  You hope that somehow something put itself in the pantry that you didn't know was there.  Why do I do that?  I'm the one who buys the groceries.  I would know if something really good was in there.  Then you go the refrigerator and do the same thing all over again.  *SIGH*  I guess I'll have to make something without over doing the calories.  I won't put the chocolate chips in my cookies because I don't have any.  Chocolate chips would make them even better if I did though!

Healthy Banana Cookies

3 over ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup apple sauce
2 cups oats
1/4 cup almond milk
1/4 cup raisins, craisins, and/or nuts
1 cup chocolate chips, optional
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon  or 2 drops doTERRA cinnamon essential oil

Mash bananas and applesauce together.  Mix remaining ingredients and drop by the spoonful onto a cookie sheet.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Makes about 2 dozen

Going Bananas!

We have had conferences at work this week.  Wednesday, I did 17 back to back conferences.  This week I have completed 25 conferences and only have one left to go.  I would have had that done, but the county cannot get a Vietnamese translator until October.  Hers will be an easy conference though.  I look forward to sharing good things with her parents.  I was exhausted by the time I got home Wednesday night.  Thursday I was able to leave work at a decent hour.  That doesn't happen very often.  When I got home, I saw the bananas I had been letting sit out and decided it was time to make banana nut bread.  I had found a new recipe and made a few changes to it as I usually do.  It made 2 loaves so I took one to work.  It was so good, even if I do say so myself.  My grade level enjoyed it and that made my heart feel good.

Cream Cheese Banana Nut Bread

3/4 c. butter, softened
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
2 c. sugar
2 large eggs
3 c. self-rising flour
4 mashed bananas

1 cup chopped pecans
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. cinnamon 

Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until fluffy.  Add eggs, beating until well blended.  Gradually add flour to butter mixture, beating at low speed until blended. Stir in bananas, pecans, cinnamon, and vanilla. Spoon batter into 2 greased and floured 8x4 inch loafpans.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean and sides pull away from pan.  Cover with aluminum foil last 15 minutes if the bread begins to brown too quickly. 

Makes 2 loaves

I'm Stuffed!

The kids return to school in two days.  :(  The first two weeks of school are CRAZY and I come home exhausted for the first month.  This weekend I have been cooking like a mad woman.  Yesterday I cooked sweet potatoes, asparagus, brussel sprouts, mushrooms, okra, and broccoli.  Today I made the Quinoa Zucchini I posted the other day and Tomato Bisque.  I doubled the recipe for the soup and put it in the freezer to use later.  I also made some Stuffed Zucchini.  We had half of it for dinner and the other half will be eaten later in the week.  I bet in a couple of days, instead of saying, "I'm stuffed."  I'll be saying, "I'm pooped!"  And that is the reason I cook so much on the weekend.  Otherwise, we'd starve during the week.

Stuffed Zucchini

2 large zucchini
1 cup cooked quinoa
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes 
10 mushrooms, diced 
 2 scallions, diced 
2 Tb. minced garlic
2 Tb. olive oil
Salt to taste
1 egg
Grated parmesan cheese, optional 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Put the sun-dried tomatoes in a bowl with enough hot water to cover them. Soak for 20 minutes. Once the tomatoes are done soaking, drain the water and dice them up.  Cut the zucchini lengthwise and scoop out the middle to create the boat.  Dice up the scooped out zucchini.  Over medium heat, add the olive oil, scallion, and garlic in a pan.  Cover and let cook a couple minutes over a low heat. Stir. Add the diced zucchini, mushrooms, quinoa, and salt to the pan and let everything cook for a couple more minutes.  Remove from heat and mix in one egg.  Place the zucchini boats on a foil covered baking sheet. Spray or brush them with olive oil and then fill them with the mixture from the pan.  You can sprinkle a little parmesan cheese on top if you’d like.  Place in the oven and cook for 25 - 30 minutes until the zucchini is tender.  Serve hot.

     *You can also add a little ground beef to it if you’d like.

 

I forgot to take the picture until after dinner so there are only two left on the pan.  I'm sorry it's a little blurry.