Banana Bread

Ingredients:
1 1/4 Cups Sugar
1/2 Cup (1 Stick) margarine or butter (softened)
2 Large Eggs
1 1/2 Cups Mashed Bananas (about 3-4 medium sized bananas)
1/2 Cup Buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 Cups All-purpose Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1 Cup Chopped Nuts (optional)
2 Cups Chocolate Chips (optional, I prefer milk chocolate baking chips)


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F
Grease the bottom of 2 large loaf pans, or 4 small loaf pans, with shortening. Mix ingredients together until smooth. Bake 50-60 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes. Cut and serve.

Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:
Dough:
2 pkgs active dry yeast (2 TBS)
1 Cup Warm Water
2/3 Cup plus 1 tsp granulated sugar, divided
1 Cup Warmed Milk
2/3 Cup butter (1 stick plus 1 TBS)
2 tsp Salt
2 Eggs, Slightly Beaten
7-8 Cups All-Purpose Flour, you may need a little more


Filling
1 Cup Softened Butter
1 3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar,
3 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 1/2 Cup Chopped Walnuts, optional
1 1/2 Cup Raisins, optional


Glaze:
2/3 Cup Melted Butter (1 stick plus 1 TBS)
4 Cups Powdered Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla
4-8 TBS Hot Water

Directions
To Prepare Dough: In a cup, combine yeast, warm water and 1 teaspoon sugar; stir and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix milk, remaining 2/3 cup sugar, melted butter, salt, and eggs; stir well and add yeast mixture. Add half the flour and beat until smooth. Stir in enough of the remaining flour until dough is slightly stiff (dough should still be sticky).
Turn out onto a well-floured board; knead 5-10 minutes. Place in a well-buttered glass or plastic bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, until about doubled in bulk, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

When doubled, punch down dough and let rest 5 minutes. Roll out on floured surface into a 15-by-20-inch rectangle.

To Prepare Filling: Spread dough with 1/2 cup melted butter. Mix together 1 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over buttered dough. Sprinkle with walnuts and raisins, if desired.

Roll up jellyroll-fashion and pinch edges together to seal. Cut into 12-15 slices. Coat bottom of a 9"x13" baking pan and a 8' square pan with remaining 1/2 cup melted butter, rise in warm place until dough is doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350° F. Bake 25-30 minutes or until rolls are nicely browned. Cool rolls slightly.

To prepare glaze: Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix melted butter, powdered sugar and vanilla; add hot water 1 Tablespoon at a time until glaze reaches desired spreading consistency. Spread over slightly cooled rolls.

Enchillada Casserole

I have found that I like my enchilladas with lots of sauce... so if that's how you like it... this is a good recipe for you! I will have to add pictures later!

Ingredients
1 can (28 oz) Enchillada sauce (I personally prefer Las Palmas Green Chile Enchillada Sauce)
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes (you can use stewed Mexican style tomatoes as well)
1 can (15 oz) whole kernel corn
4-6 cooked chicken breasts (without skin or bones), diced
1 can (10 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup (or cream of mushroom)
1/2 yellow onion chopped
2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 cups shredded cheese
10-12 tortilla shells

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. In a sauce pan mix cooked chicken with 1/3 of the enchillada sauce, corn, tomatoes, onion, cream of chicken soup, crushed red pepper, garlic powder, and 1 cup of shredded cheese. Bring to a boil, let simmer for 3-5 minutes. Scoop mixture into tortilla shells, rolling, and place seam side down in a greased 9'x13' casserole dish. When all tortillas are filled pour the remainder of the mixture on top along with the remaining enchillada sauce. Sprinkle with remainder cheese. Bake for 30 minutes.

If you need to stretch it to go a little farther serve with rice and chips!

Pancakes

Who doesn't LOVE pancakes!?! And what's great is you can always double or triple the recipe and freeze those that don't get eaten and reheat them in the microwave or toaster!

Ingredients:
1 large Egg
3/4 cup Milk
1TBS Sugar
2 TBS Vegetable oil
1 Cup Flour
3 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp Lemon Juice

Directions
Beat egg until fluffy. Mix in remaining ingredients. Heat griddle (or pan) to a medium heat (about 350°). Cook until you see bubble starting to pop, the side on the griddle should be a golden brown, flip and wait until the other side is golden brown.

Chili Cheese Fries

This is quite possibly in the top 5 of my husbands favorites!

Ingredients:
4 Potatoes
1 Can your favorite chili or some homemade chili (my husband prefers Hormel Chili)
1/2 cup shredded cheese
Garlic Powder
Chili Powder
Salt
Cayenne Pepper (for those who like things spicy)


Directions
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Cut potatoes into strips. Put fries on a cookie sheet, drizzle with oil, sprinkle with garlic powder, chili powder, salt and for the brave some cayenne pepper! Toss fries around to get them all evenly coated with oil and seasoning. Bake for 45-60 minutes.

While the fries are baking heat up some of your favorite chili. Serve fries with chili and shredded cheese on top.

Carrot Muffins

Do you struggle to get your kids (or yourself) to eat as many servings of veggis as you are "suppose" to be consuming? Or maybe I'm the only one.

These carrot muffins worked out GREAT for me, my 2 1/2 year old son absolutely loves these "cupcakes". No I don't put any frosting on them and he just gobbles them right up!

I found this recipe after my mom used her juicer to make some carrot juice and had about 3 cups of carrot pieces left over. What a waste that would be to just throw away!

The original recipe calls for raisins to be added, but anyone who really knows me knows that I really do NOT like raisins, but I love chocolate. So of coarse I switched the raisins for chocolate chips... yummmmm!

The muffins with nothing in them don't really have much flavor, but I love them with the chocolate chips. If you like raisins check out the original recipe here.

Makes about 24 small muffins.

Ingredients:

2 Cups All-Purpose Flour

1 TBSP Baking Powder

2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Ground Cinnamom

4 Eggs

1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil

1/2 Cup Applesauce

3/4 Cup Brown Sugar

3 Cups Shredded Carrots

1 Cup Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.

In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, oil, applesauce, and brown sugar; beat well. Combine egg mixture and flour mixture; mix just until moistened. Add carrots and chocolate chips. Spoon into prepared muffin cups.

Bake in preheated oven for 18-25 minutes. Let cool for about 20 minutes.

Hooray for a healthy snack!

*If you want to make this even more healthy you can use whole grain flour, or add some benefiber in! I prefer all-purpose flour myself.

Caramel Fondant

I combined a soft caramel recipe with a fondant recipe. A word to the wise... I should have thought before hand that I was adding two recipes together therefore I only needed half of the recipes of each... but I realized it too late. So now we have a LOT of caramel fondant, but it sure is yummy and makes a great little soft caramel candy! (The ingredients listed below are for the full recipe that I used, so you will be making a LOT and it takes a while... but it can stay in the fridge until you are ready to use it for the weeks ahead!)

Ingredients

2 Cups Heavy Cream

1/2 Cup Sweetened Condensed Milk

2 Cups Light Corn Syrup

1/2 Cup Water

2 Cups Granulated Sugar

1/2 Cup (1 Stick) softened butter, cut into small cubes

1 bag of Mini Marshmallows

2 Lbs Powdered Sugar

1/2 Cup Shortening

Directions

Combine the cream and sweetened condensed milk in a small saucepan, and place the saucepan on a burner to the lowest heat setting. You want to warm the milk and cream, but DO NOT allow it to boil.

In a large saucepan combine the corn syrup, water, and granulated sugar over medium-high heat. Stir the candy until the sugar dissolves, then use a wet pastry brush to wash down the sides of the pan to prevent sugar crystals from forming and making the candy grainy.

Insert a candy thermometer and reduce the heat to medium. Allow the mixture to come to a boil and cook until the thermometer reads 250°.

Add the softened butter chunks and the warm milk-cream mixture. The temperature should go down about 30°.

Continue to cook the caramel, stirring constantly so that the bottom does not scorch. Cook it until the thermometer reads 235°, and the caramel is a beautiful golden brown.

Remove the caramel from the heat and add the bag of marshmallows. Stir in the marshmallows until they have all melted.

Allow mixture to cool for about 30 minutes.

Prepare the counter and your hands by covering with shortening.

Pour some powdered sugar on the counter, then on top pour some of the caramel-marshmallow mixture. It will take a while to knead all the powdered sugar into the mixture.

After you knead the powdered sugar in. Cover the fondant in shortening and wrap in saran wrap and place in a ziploc bag overnight.

When you are ready to use the fondant remove from fridge and allow to sit for about an hour. This will allow it to come closer to room temperature and be easier to work with.

This Caramel Fondant can be used on cakes or it is great as a nice delicious candy!

ENJOY!!!

**Just so you know, making fondant does tend to leave things a little messy!!!**