Banana Cookies

Say What?

Yeah, I made cookies with bananas, oats, and mini chocolate chips. They're da bomb.

I followed this recipe at skinnytaste.com. I didn't have walnuts on hand so I substituted them for chocolate chips. After I'd gotten started mixing everything I realized my oats were not 'quick oats', but mine turned out just fine!

If you haven't tried this yet please go make some!

Fried Rice

Do you ever get those cravings for a food that just won't be satisfied by anything but said food? Brad doesn't believe in cravings, but I had one today while he was out working the last day of the air show on base. I whipped up a pan of fried rice with the help of two trusty things: Google any my rice cooker.

I typed in 'fried rice for one' and this is what I got. A post from novicehousewife.com on what turned out to be a pretty tasty recipe. Check it out if you'd like.. it makes a LOT!

Slow Cooking

It seems like many people recently have put out tons of 'freezer to crockpot' meals and they look delicious, not to mention brilliant. I'm not quite to the point where I want to take on the ones with 40+ meals to prep all at once, but here's to giving a weeks worth of meals a try.

http://www.sidetrackedsarah.com

Hopefully we will be spending more time together, friend.

Stuffed Shells

I picked this one up during my years at App,  and it's always been one of my favorites. I had yet to make it for Brad since we've been married (which shocked me a little!) so I decided to whip it up the other night. PLEASE try this, you won't regret it!

Ingredients:

• 1 box jumbo shells
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 block of cream cheese
• 1 jar taco sauce
• 1 jar salsa
• Shredded Cheese

Directions: 

• Brown beef, drain and mix in cream cheese until melted together.

I added diced peppers to it too since I had some on hand!
Also, this time I used ground turkey instead of beef.. yum!

• Boil shells until soft; drain. (cool slightly.. they're hot!)

• Fill shells with beef and cream cheese mix using a spoon.

• Cover bottom of a 9X13 dish with salsa, place filled shells on top of salsa.

• Spoon taco sauce into shells.

• Cover with cheese and heat at 125 degrees for 20 minutes or until cheese melts.

• EAT THEM UP!

Hope you enjoy this dish! :)

Bistro Chicken

I get emails from Kraft every now and again with recipes and whatnot. A couple days ago I got this one for Easy Bistro Chicken. I think it'll be something we revisit for sure. It's super easy and delicious! I'll give you the recipe like it was on Kraft.. but I didn't use mushrooms (because I'm not a fan) and we left out the bacon because we were out and someone (me) forgot to get it at the store.

Ingredients

• 2 tsp. oil
• 3 c sliced fresh mushrooms (its hard for me to even type that.. ick)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 can stewed tomatoes, undrained
• 1/4 c Italian Dressing
• 3 tbsp. tomato paste
• 4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb)
• 1 c shredded mozzarella
• 2 slices cooked bacon, chopped

Directions

• Heat oil in large skillet on med-high heat. Add (mushrooms) and onion; Cook 5 min. stirring occasionally. Stir in tomatoes, dressing and tomato paste.
• Add chicken; cover. Simmer on med-low heat 12 min or until chicken is done
• Top with cheese and bacon; simmer uncovered 5 min or until cheese is melted.

I served our Bistro Chicken with couscous (mainly because it's super fast) and a salad! Yum!

Tuesday Nights

So for several months now, my friend Lindsey and I have been taking turns (with Grandmom Burton also) cooking yummy dinners together on Tuesday nights. Usually before and/or after eating, Lindsey and I have also been addictively watching Dexter. Haven't heard of it? Well.. you're missing out! Check it out here on the Showtime website. One thing I think is really cool is that the actor who plays Dexter claims Raleigh as his hometown.


Anyway, I'm blogging about this now to share our meal tonight with you! Get ready for great recipes!!!


Lindsey got me a great cookbook by The Pioneer Woman for Christmas, so I put it to use tonight and made her meatloaf. I chose this so I could have something to go with my grandma's noodles that mom gave to my sister and I this Christmas (Thanks Mom!!). For dessert I made what we fondly referred to as "Yummy Explosion" in college. I got this recipe from a genius friend. 

I totally failed at taking pictures (again) while I was making the meatloaf, so check out PW's if you want step-by-step pics. Because I'm being lazy today, I copy and pasted her ingredients/directions verbatim below.

PW's Favorite Meatloaf

Ingredients

Meatloaf:

• 1 cup Whole Milk
• 6 slices White Bread
• 2 pounds Ground Beef
• 1 cup (heaping) Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon Seasoned Salt
• 3/4 teaspoons Salt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 1/3 cup Minced Flat-leaf Parsley
• 4 whole Eggs Beaten
• 10 slices Thin/regular Bacon

Sauce:

• 1-1/2 cup Ketchup
• 1/3 cup Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Dry Mustard
• Tabasco To Taste

 

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour milk over the bread slices. Allow it to soak in for several minutes.

Place the ground beef, milk-soaked bread, Parmesan, seasoned salt, salt, black pepper, and parsley in a large mixing bowl. Pour in beaten eggs.

With clean hands, mix the ingredients until well combined. Form the mixture into a loaf shape on a broiler pan, which will allow the fat to drain. (Line the bottom of the pan with foil to avoid a big mess!)

Lay bacon slices over the top, tucking them underneath the meatloaf.

Make the sauce: add ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, and hot sauce in a mixing bowl. Stir together. Pour 1/3 of the mixture over the top of the bacon. Spread with a spoon.

Bake for 45 minutes, then pour another 1/3 of the sauce over the top. Bake for another 15 minutes. Slice and serve with remaining sauce.

Brad doing the honors...
(isn't he gorgeous?!)

De-lish!

Here is a set up of our dinner tonight...
minus the homemade sourdough bread!

Now as for my grandma's noodles... I'm not ready to share that one. Is it bad I want to keep it secret? ha! I haven't made them myself yet, but when I do I shall share. To prepare them you rinse the noodles, then bring them to a boil in chicken broth. Done.

THE Noodles. Essence of my childhood.

For Dessert:

Yummy Explosion



 Ingredients:

• 2 cans crescent rolls
• 1 lb cream cheese
• 1 1/2 c sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp butter
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Orange marmalade to taste (trustme on this one... think creamsicle!)

Directions:

• Lay 1 can crescents flat in a 9x13 pan.
• Mix in cream cheese, 1 c sugar, vanilla annnd marmalade!
• Spread over crescents and lay 2nd can of crescents on top.
• Melt butter and mix with 1/2 c sugar and cinnamon.
• Pour over crescents.
• Bake at 325 degrees for 10-20 minutes, until golden.

Hope you enjoy these!!!

Cheesy Chicken & Salsa Skillet

This was a last minute quick find on kraftrecipes.com. I failed to take pictures, but I'll post theirs and the directions. It is incredibly EASY and so yummy!

Ingredients:

• 2 c. multi-grain penne pasta, uncooked
• 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
• 1 & 1/4 c. chunky salsa
• 1 c. frozen corn, thawed
• 1 lrg green pepper, cut into strips
• 1 c. mexican style cheese

Directions:

• Cook pasta as directed on package.
• Heat large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on med-high heat. Add chicken, cook and stir for 2 minutes.
• Stir in salsa, corn and peppers. Bring to boil, then simmer on med-low heat for 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked, stirring occasionally.
• Drain pasta and add to chicken mixture; mix lightly.
• Top with cheese.
• Remove from heat; cover and let stand 1 minute or until cheese is melted.

You will stuff yourself with this one!
(you're welcome.)

Easy Chicken Tacos

This recipe is from Aunt Millie, and it's delicious.

Ingredients

• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 can rotel
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can corn
• Diced jalapeños to taste if you want to spice it up :) (which I would always recommend)

(I think I added the beans/corn in myself... so it's totally optional, but totally delicious if you go with it!)


Directions
Put all ingredients into slow cooker (yes, raw chicken and all!), close lid and cook all day on low (Or a few hours on high, until chicken is cooked through). Shred chicken with forks, stir and sit for 20 minutes.
Serve with taco shells, shredded cheese, lettuce, tomato, sour cream... all the yummy taco fixin's.


Hope you enjoy it!
-D


(btw, I plan on making this again soon, so I'll post some pics after that!)

Corn Dog Muffins

So, I've seen these before on Pinterest (?) and while searching new recipes on the web. I finally decided to try out a recipe for them, which I found on tasteofhome.com.

Corn Dog Muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 packages (8.5 oz each) corn muffin mix
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 can (11 oz) whole kernel corn, drained
• 5 hot dogs, chopped

Directions:

• Combine corn muffin mix and brown sugar in large bowl.
• Combine eggs and milk; stir into dry ingredients until moistened.

 

• Stir in corn and hot dogs (the batter will be thin).

• Fill paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full.

• Bake at 400 degrees for 14-18 minutes or until golden brown.

• ENJOY!

Hubs and I completed ours with tator tots! Yum!

Approval!



The recipe says it makes about 18 of these little guys, but I was able to squeeze 20 out of it. To be honest, you could even get 2 dozen out of it if you pour a pinch less in each cup. But its just how far you want to make it go!

The next time I make them, I think I'll cut the hotdogs up a little smaller, and probably bake them a little longer. I didn't bake them for the whole 18 minutes this first time though. Aside from that we loved this recipe. It's the perfect way to get a corn dog without it being frozen from the store or fried at the fair!

I hope you enjoy them as much as we did! It's quick, super easy and a great kid's meal (in my opinon!)


-D

Pumpkin Eater

One thing I love about Fall is the excuse to eat pumpkin 24/7 in all kinds of fabulous forms and fashions. This is a new recipe I am trying today and I cannot begin to describe how wonderful the kitchen smells at this very moment (They're obviously in the oven as I blog!).

The recipe online can be found here: Swirled Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, at room temperature

Directions

1. In a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until smooth. Beat in 2 eggs, pumpkin, and 1/3 cup water until well blended, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
2. In another bowl, mix flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and nutmeg; stir or beat into butter mixture until well blended. Spread batter evenly in a buttered and floured 10- by 15-inch baking pan.
3. In a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese, remaining egg, and remaining 1/4 cup sugar until smooth. (I added a dash of vanilla extract here! yummm!)
4. Drop cream cheese mixture in 24 evenly spaced 1-tablespoon portions over batter. Pull a knife tip through filling to swirl slightly into batter.
5. Bake in a 350° oven until center of pumpkin batter (not cream cheese mixture) springs back when touched, about 30 minutes.
6. Let cool completely in pan, then cut into 24 bars.

This recipe even included the nutritional information! (Though, is it really necessary to be aware of caloric intake with desserts? I'd rather be blissfully ignorant! :) haha)

Amount per serving

• Calories: 164
• Calories from fat: 38%
• Protein: 2.6g
• Fat: 7g
• Saturated fat: 4.2g
• Carbohydrate: 23g
• Fiber: 0.4g
• Sodium: 130mg
• Cholesterol: 45mg

Anyway, like I was sayin', shrimp is the fruit of the sea....

(Forrest Gump anyone?)

During the first part of my year in Greenville, NC I had the pleasure of dining with some very special people about every week or so. We took turns cooking and going out, and this recipe is from one of our dine in nights. Thanks Caro!

Shrimp & Grits

Ingredients

• 4 cups chicken broth
  (or 4 chicken bullion cubes with 4 cups water)
• 1 cup grits
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
  (this time I did 1/2 green bell pepper and 1/2 red... for added color :) )
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 pound raw shrimp
• 4oz shredded cheddar cheese
• 4oz shredded pepper jack cheese
• 1 can Rotel diced tomatoes with green chiles

Directions

• Bring chicken broth to a boil. Add grits and simmer 20 minutes (may need to add more water).
• Saute green onions, bell pepper and garlic in butter until almost tender, then add shrimp and cook about 2 minutes longer.
• Combine vegetables and shrimp, grits, cheeses and Rotel together and pour into 13x9 baking dish. Top with cheddar cheese.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Enjoy!
-D

Sausage Casserole

So I always love a good breakfast casserole with sausage, eggs, cheese... all that yummy stuff! Brad and I LOVE to have breakfast for dinner and so I decided to finally try a recipe for the sausage casserole. I pulled parts from different recipes I found online and added a couple of things to it myself.



Ingredients

• 1 can crescent rolls
• 6 eggs
• ~ 1 cup milk
• 1 lb sausage (hot, mild, turkey... whatever you like!)
• 1/2 cup onion, diced
• 1/2 cup green pepper, diced
• 8oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray 13x9 casserole dish with cooking spray. Unroll crescent rolls and lay flat in a single layer across the bottom of dish. Bake approximately 10 minutes and set aside.
3. Brown sausage with diced onions and green peppers. Drain.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs together with milk, 1/2 cup of shredded cheese, salt and pepper to taste. I added a tad of parsley to the egg mixture as well.
5. Layer sausage with onions/peppers on top of crescent roll layer. Pour egg mixture over top and sprinkle with remaining shredded cheese.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.



Voilà!

Enjoy!
-D

JavaJavaJavaJavaJava

This recipe for 'Perfect Iced Coffee' is a MUST! It is of course from The Pioneer Woman and it makes a TON. So, probably for at least the first time I'd half it... especially if it's only going to be you drinking it. Did I mention it makes a TON!? I didn't take any photos of my coffee making, so I'm copying and pasting her recipe here! The link to it is above if you'd rather see her picture step-by-step instructions.

Recipe: Perfect Iced Coffee

Prep Time: 8 Hours  |  Difficulty: Easy  |  Servings: 24

Ingredients

• 1 pound Ground Coffee (good, Rich Roast)
• 8 quarts Cold Water (2 gallons)
• Half-and-half (healthy Splash Per Serving)
• Sweetened Condensed Milk (2-3 Tablespoons Per Serving
• Note: Can Use Skim Milk, 2% Milk, Whole Milk, Sugar, Artificial Sweeteners, Syrups...adapt To Your Liking!

Preparation Instructions

(Adapted from Imbibe Magazine)

In a large container, mix ground coffee with water. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature eight hours or overnight.

Line a fine mesh strainer with cheesecloth and set over a pitcher or other container. Pour coffee/water mixture through the strainer, allowing all liquid to run through. Discard grounds.

Place coffee liquid in the fridge and allow to cool. Use as needed.

To make iced coffee, pack a glass full of ice cubes. Fill glass 2/3 full with coffee liquid. Add healthy splash of half-and-half. Add 2-3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk (can use plain sugar instead) and stir to combine. Taste and adjust half-and-half and/or sweetened condensed milk as needed.

*************************

**D's NOTE:

• For the coffee, I used Seattle's Best - Level 5
• I used paper towels in the strainer instead of cheesecloth (worked perfect!) and instead of half-and-half/sweetened condensed milk, I used some of the French Vanilla coffee creamer I had in the fridge. (Of course, any creamer you like will work great!)
• Mine ended up tasting like Starbucks.. yum :)

Enjoy!
-D




P.S. Did anyone get the movie reference in my blog post title?! Click here to see if you were right :)

Baked Perch Casserole

This one comes from Cooks.com. We had a bag of perch to use up from our Lake Erie trip and decided to bake it in a casserole when we got together to celebrate Kim's birthday. Recipe and pictures below!

Ingredients
1 lb. perch fillets
1 med. green pepper, chopped
1 sm. onion, chopped
2 c. buttered bread crumbs
Salt and pepper to taste

Basic White Sauce
3 tbsp. flour
2 tbsp. butter
1 1/2 c. milk

Directions

• Drain fish well on paper towels.
• Grease 8x8 baking dish and lay fish in bottom.
• Sprinkle with green pepper and onion, and salt and pepper to taste.
• Pour white sauce over fish and top with buttered bread crumbs.
• Bake at 350 degrees, 30-45 minutes or until golden brown.

Crockpot Lasagna

Here is a super easy lasagna recipe using ground turkey instead of beef! I got the recipe from Recipe4Living, and you'll find the original recipe there. I've tweaked mine just little.

Ingredients
1 lb ground turkey
1 onion, chopped
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano
30 oz tomato sauce (I use Ragu Chunky Garden Combination)
6 oz tomato paste
16 oz container low fat cottage cheese
1/2 C grated parmesan cheese
12 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
12 oz lasagna noodles, uncooked (one box is 16 oz, works fine with the whole box)


Directions

• Brown ground turkey and chopped onion in a skillet. Add garlic powder, salt, oregano, tomato sauce and tomato paste. Cook long enough to warm mixture.

• In a bowl, mix cottage cheese, parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese.

• Spoon a layer of meat sauce in bottom of crockpot. Add a double layer of uncooked lasagna noodles (break to fit... it won't look pretty, but it will be yummy!) and top with cheese mixture (might have to spread using a spoon).

• Repeat layers two more times.
• Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours. (Internet recipe says 6-8, but if you leave it that long you will most likely have some black and crispy lasagna!)

Enjoy!

-D

Poached Peaches

While Brad and I were in Ohio, my Aunt raved about this dessert she loves to make. Being a wine connoisseur herself, I was confident this recipe would be a hit. It's a Rachael Ray creation and was super easy to follow!

Ingredients
3 cups red wine
1 cup sugar
1 cinnamon stick
2 whole cloves
2-3 whole peppercorns
1-2 strips lemon rind
2 large peaches, halved and pitted
1 pint vanilla bean ice cream
1 container whipped cream
Freshly grated nutmeg to garnish

Directions
Combine wine, sugar, cinnamon stick, cloves, peppercorns, and lemon rind in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, stir to dissolve the sugar and reduce heat to a bubble.

Bring the poaching liquid to a boil and cook on high heat until reduced to a syrupy texture. Add the peaches and poach the fruit, spooning the syrup over them occasionally, until you can pierce the peach easily with a knife. (About 5 minutes)

Put peach halves in 2 dessert bowls. Top with ice cream, whipped cream, and drizzle with the poaching syrup. Grate a little nutmeg over the top.

We had four peaches instead of two, and used a whole bottle of wine because after 3 cups theres just a tad bit left in the bottle. Since we had the extra peaches and wine, we added a little bit more sugar and an extra clove.
For finishing touches we didn't add the whipped cream and we had peach ice cream instead of vanilla bean.

This recipe is delicious! Thanks Aunt Paula for the recommendation!

-D

Chocolate Mousse

Nothing new to update, so here is one of my favorite dessert recipes. This comes from a chef friend!

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup water, divided
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream, whipped

Directions:

1. In a microwave or double boiler, heat chocolate, 1/4 cup water and butter until chocolate and butter are melted.
2. Cool for 10 minutes.
3. In a small saucepan, whisk egg yolks, sugar and remaining water.
4. Cook and stir over low heat until mixture reaches 160 degrees F, about 1-2 minutes.
5. Remove from heat; whisk in chocolate mixture.
6. Set saucepan in ice and stir until cooled, about 5-10 minutes.
7. Fold in whipped cream.
8. Spoon into dessert dishes.
9. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
10. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream!*

*10 is an option, but one I wouldn't leave out!

Enjoy!
-D