YUMMY Banana Bread

This recipe comes from a friend of my brother-in-law. It is YUMMY!

Crumb topping:

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp cinnamon

2 Tbsp flour

Mix dry ingredients, then cut in the butter.

Cinnamon & Sugar coating (I left this out because it just is messier when you are eating it):

1/4 cup white sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Mix together. Spray pans with olive oil or pam, then toss mixture to coat bottom and sides.

Banana Bread:

3/4 cup butter, softened

3 cups white sugar

3 eggs

5-6 ripe bananas

1 (16 oz) container sour cream

2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

3 tsp baking soda

4 1/2 cup flour

Preheat oven to 300 degrees for convection, 325 for regular.

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, bananas, sour cream, vanilla, cinnamon. Then mix in salt, baking soda, flour.

Pour into cinnamon & sugar coated pans. Top with crumb mixture. Bake for 1 hour (usually takes longer) or until toothpick comes out clean from center. (For the small loafs I baked at 350 for 35 minutes). Makes 3 large loaves.

Monkey Bread

When we were home for Christmas, Carol made this for us Christmas morning. I bought the ingredients 2 other times while we were there so we could have it again. It is so YUMMY and easy - but not in the least bit healthy, so this will be a "special occasion" recipe for my family!

2 loaves frozen bread dough (or 24 rolls)

1/2 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 lg (2 sm) pkg vanilla pudding, cook variety

2 TBSP Milk

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Thaw bread, but do not allow it to raise. Grease 9x13 pan. Tear one loaf into pieces & drop helter skelter into pan. Melt butter in sauce pan, add rest of ingredients and beat until smooth. Pour over the torn up loaf. Tear second loaf and throw on top (trying to place in empty spots). Let raise 2 1/2 -3 hours (or overnight in fridge). Place in 375 oven for 30 minutes. Let cool about 15 minutes, turn out on wax paper.

Chili Relleno Casserole

This is a great way to use up those peppers from Bountiful Baskets. I've tried several different versions of this and this one is by far my favorite. Much more filling and much more flavorful. If anyone has other ways to use the chilis, I'd love to hear it. Also, I discovered freshly made corn tortillas at Harmons. They're soooo much better than the regular ones you find in grocery stores, so I recommend trying those. If your kids don't like spicy, they can easily remove the peppers from their portion after it's all cooked.

*4-8 hot peppers, roasted, skinned, seeds removed
several corn tortillas (10ish), torn into 1-inch strips
1/2 lb. each Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheese
2 to 3 tomatoes, sliced
8 to 10 eggs
1 tsp. each: salt, pepper, ground cumin and garlic powder
1/4 tsp. onion salt

Preheat oven to 350°F; grease 9 x 13 pan. Cut chilies in half; lay out flat on bottom of pan. Cover chilies with half the tortillas, half tomatoes and half cheeses. Repeat for second layer. Beat eggs and spices; pour on top. Sprinkle with paprika.

Bake 40 minutes, uncovered, until knife inserted comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes and serve.

*To roast peppers, just place them on a pan on the highest rack in your oven and turn the broiler on. Let them cook until the skins char and bubble. You may want to turn them over so it does that on both sides. Then cool in a paper bag. The skins should easily come off, and if it doesn't, just leave it on.

key lime cupcakes

found these on a blog I follow and they look so good I am going to have to make them!
Key Lime Cupcakes

½ C. butter, softened
1 C. sugar
3 eggs
1 C. milk
1 C. flour
1 (14 oz.) Can sweetened condensed milk
10 graham cracker squares, crumbled
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1/8 t. salt
5 egg yolks
½ C. lime juice

è Start by creaming your butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy. Add the 3 eggs, one at a time.
è In a medium sized bowl, shift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix in the graham cracker crumbles.
è Slowly add the dry ingredients, and the milk, to the butter mixture. Make sure you alternate between the dry ingredients and the milk. (dry-milk-dry)
è In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolks, condensed milk, and lime juice. Pour into your batter and stir slightly.
è Fill cupcake liners ¾ full and bake for 15-20 minutes at 350.

For the frosting, I made a basic cream cheese frosting with a little lemon extract.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 8 oz package softened cream cheese
¼ C. soft butter
1 t. lime or lemon extract
4 C. Powdered Sugar

è Mix the cream cheese and butter until combined.
è Add the sugar and extract slowly. Beat on high until fluffy.

Pizza Dough

Dissolve 2 T dry yeast in 3 C. warm water. After it bubbles, add 1/4 cup sugar or honey and 1 T. salt. Mix thoroughly. Add 4 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Add 2 more cups flour. If needed, add up to 2 more cups flour. Knead about 5-10 minutes by machine, adding flour to make dough not sticky.

Cut into 4 pieces. I thick crust pizza is desired, roll out dough onto pizza pan and let rise for 10 minutes. Otherwise, just pat or roll into pizza pan. Spread with sauce, sprinkle with Italian seasoning. Add toppings as desired. Bake 500 until done, about 20 minutes (mine burned on top at 500 so I would probably do it lower next time). Makes several pizzas. Recipe may be halved.

May use dough to make garlic bread. Place 1/4-1/2 of the original batch of dough in a greased bowl, let rise in warm place for 40 minutes. Punch down. Shape into load, let rise 1 hour on greased baking pan. Baking 375-400, 15-20 minutes. Slice, butter, sprinkle with garlic sale, wrap in foil, bake 20 minutes or pop in freezer.

Pistachio Pesto

My kids loved this one!

1 Cup packed spinach

1/3 cup olive oil

1/4 cup shelled pistachio nuts

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp salt

1 clove garlic, quartered

12 oz dried pasta, cooked and drained

Put the spinach, oil, nuts, cheese, salt, and garlic in food processor. Process until smooth. Toss with pasta and serve. Makes 6 cups.

Nutritional per cup: 361 calories; 10g protein; 16g fat (3g sat. fat); 44g carbs; 2g fiber; 60 mg calcium; 2mg iron; 253mg sodium.

**I added some shredded chicken to the mix before serving**