PS

Am I the only person that looks at this blog. If so I may stop compiling the recipe's here. And since my other contributors NEVER contribute (hint, hint) I don't want to waste time typing up recipes I already have. If you know what I mean.

Banana Muffins

I got this recipe from a girl on a message board I frequent and I finally had ripe enough bananas Tuesday night to make them.

1 1/4 cup flour
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 bananas)
1 egg (or flaxseed mixture, see below)
1/3 cup canola oil (or no sugar added applesauce)
1/3 cup milk (soymilk)
1/2 chopped walnuts (I leave these out)
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 and grease muffin pan or line with paper cups.
Combine first 7 ingredients (dry) in medium bowl. Mix the banana, egg, oil, and milk in a separate bowl. Make a well in the middle of dry ingredients and stir in wet ones. Mix until just combined. Fold in nuts and chocolate chips and divide among muffin cups. Bake 18-20 minutes until golden brown and smell heavenly.

Flaxseed mixture: Mix 1 TBS of ground flaxseed with 3 TBS of water and you have the perfect healthy egg alternative for any recipe.

Verdict: These were a perfect breakfast for me. My kids are not muffin fans (of any kind) so they have tasted them but have not eaten a whole one. They are really yummy and I plan on alternating between these and banana bread when I have bananas to use.

Cheesy Chicken Italiano

I got this recipe out of one of my Kraft foods cookbooks.
3 cups rotini pasta (1/2 lb)
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 jar (14 oz) spaghetti sauce
6 oz Velveeta pasteurized Prepared Cheese, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

Cook Pasta as directed on package

Heat large skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 2 min on each side. Add sauce; cover and simmer on low heat 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through (165 degree F) Add velveeta; stir until melted.

Drain pasta; top with chicken and sauce

I served this with green salad and cucumbers.

Verdict: I liked it. It wasn't amazing or memorable but I like it. My kids LOVED it. They both ate it right up and asked for seconds. My four year old made the comment out loud that he really loved this dinner and I should make it all the time.

French Toast Sandwiches

French Toast Sandwiches

Frozen French Toast Slices
Honey Ham Lunch Meat
Sliced American Cheese
Strawberry Jam

Toast French Toast Slices as directed on the box in the toaster and place desired amount of ham and a slice of cheese. Dip in Strawberry Jam. Serve Warm.

Verdict: I LOVE these. Like really, really love them. One of my favorite foods is Monte Crisco Sandwiches but they are not easy to find on menu's. This tasted like a really easy one of those. My kids gobbled them up. Even Turbo who does not like jam. I convinced him to try one bite dipped in jam and he could not get enough. I will be putting these on the menu for a quick filling breakfast or our sunday lunch before our 1 pm church. It was a fun breakfast for dinner type thing. The kids thought I was so cool making sandwiches with their frozen french toast.

Crock Pot Salsa Chicken

4 chicken breast halves (mine were frozen)
1 can corn
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 can chicken broth
1 cup salsa

Place ingredients into crock pot cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Verdict: This has GREAT flavor. I am not a salsa or spicy fan at all. I even kept the salsa out for awhile debating on whether or not to put it in. I decided to include it after all and I was so glad I did. This was not spicy at all but had great flavor and spices to it. I shredded the chicken during the last hour. This has a lot of liquid and makes a great soup or you can do what I did as I was running out the door to class and I just pulled out some chicken and corn and beans and wrapped it in a tortilla with sour cream and cheese. It was so good! My kids ate it as a soup with Frito's, sour cream, and shredded cheese. The chicken and corn and beans would also be good over a salad. The flavor they get from cooking all day is really good.

Crock Pot Brown Sugar Chicken

I found this recipe here and tried it out last Tuesday. Tuesday has become my crockpot day because I have class that night so dinner is done before I have to leave.
-12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, or 6 boneless, skinless breast halves
--1 cup brown sugar (it's okay. you can brush your teeth after.)
--1/4 cup lemon-lime soda (stay with me...)
--2/3 cup vinegar
--3 cloves smashed and chopped garlic
--2 T soy sauce
--1 tsp ground black pepper

The Directions.

Use a 5-6 quart crock pot for this recipe.

Plop the chicken into your crock pot. Cover with the brown sugar, pepper, chopped garlic, and soy sauce. Add the vinegar, and pour in the soda. It will bubble!

Cover and cook on low for 6-9 hours, or on high for 4-5. The chicken is done when it is cooked through and has reached desired consistency. The longer you cook it, the more tender it will be.

Serve over a bowl of white rice with a ladle full of the broth.

Verdict: This chicken was SO tender. It had a really good flavor. I was expecting super sweet like candied yams and it wasn't that sweet so I was very pleasantly surprised. It made great leftovers.

Best Chocolate Cake Ever!

So I'm pretty sure a lot of people have this recipe but I stumbled across it on this site.
I will type out the directions here but if you want yummy photos that will make your mouth water click on over. This cake was really easy and so good! Come to think of it I think this is my first ever cake from scratch and it was still easy. I'm not sure I will ever want the box again.

Cake
Two sticks butter
1 cup water
4 heaping TBS cocoa powder
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 beaten eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda

Melt 2 sticks butter in pan. Boil 1 cup water (I did this in the microwave)
After the butter is melted add the 4 heaping TBS cocoa powder and mix thoroughly.
Pour in boiling water and allow mixture to bubble for 30 seconds. Remove from heat.

In large mixing bowl mix
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Pour hot butter/chocolate mixture over flour/sugar mixture and stir together.

In a small mixing bowl (I just used my measuring cup) mix
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 beaten eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda

Add to chocolate mixture and stir together well.

Pour into ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

While the cake is baking (I started this with about 5 minutes left and it ended up working perfectly. You don't want your frosting to set up while you are waiting for the cake)

Frosting
1 1/4 cup butter (= 1 stick and 3/4 of another)
4 heaping TBS cocoa powder
6 TBS milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 lb powdered sugar (I did a little over 2 cups and it seemed perfect. You want it dark brown and runny but frosting consistency if that makes sense.)

Melt butter in medium saucepan. Once melted add cocoa powder. Stir together and allow to bubble for 30 seconds. Remove from heat.
Add 6 TBS milk
1 tsp vanilla
powdered sugar
Stir together well and pour over warm cake and spread quickly. It sets up fast.

I couldn't resist and cut a little corner while it was still warm and oh my! It tasted like the chocolate molten cake you get at restaurants. All I needed was a scoop of vanilla ice cream and it would have been heavenly.
The real recipe calls for chopped nuts in the icing but seeing how my mouth swells up all funny and I get sores for days and not to mention that I don't like the taste of nuts anyway I left them out. For any pecan lovers add 1/2 cup chopped pecans after the powdered sugar.

No Bake Cookies

1 3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
4 TBS cocoa powder
3/4 cup peanut butter
3 cups oats
1 tsp vanilla

Combine sugar, milk, butter and cocoa. Bring to a boil and cook 1 1/2 minutes. (Begin time when it reaches full boil. If you boil to long they will be dry and if you don't boil long enough they won't form up.) Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter, oats and then add the vanilla very last. Drop onto wax paper and let cool.

Granola

I found this recipe on a blog I visit. I am going to type it out here because I hate having to click on links to see things but if you want to see the photo's she has that go along with the recipe go here

I don't measure carefully...
3 heaping cups of Oats
1 heaping cup of Cheerios
3 TBSP brown sugar
cinnamon
2 TBSP butter
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup applesauce
a handful of dried apples or raisins (I put the raisins in with my own because my kids really, REALLY hate raisins. Like instantly gag hate)

In a bowl mix your oats, cinnamon, Cheerios and brown sugar and set aside.

Melt 2 TBSP of butter in a saucepan on medium heat, then toss in the applesauce and honey. Bring to a good solid all over bubbling. Let bubble for 1 min, then remove from heat.
Pour it on your dry mixture and mix until it is all covered.
Spread it out on a baking sheet and cook for about an hour at 250 degrees.
Mix it around every 15-20 minutes until it is evenly dried.
Take tray out of oven and sprinkle on dried fruit. Let cool and transfer to an airtight container.

Verdict: I made this yesterday and more than half of it didn't make it to the airtight container. My kids were all over it. It made a great snack and Jeff and I had our fair share also. I had a bowl with milk last night as my snack after I put the kids to bed and it was really good. I am out of yogurt but I think it would be really good on that. I'm going to play around with adding different spices like maybe some vanilla. It would also be yummy to make this and mix it with peanuts and m&m's as a trail mix. Next time I will probably make two batches. One for us to eat that day and another to put in the container for cereal and snacks through the week. These are also great ingredients to have on hand in food storage and would be easy to use to make your own cereal.

Southwest Chicken Salad

I have been trying to come up with yummy things for Jeff to take in his cooler for lunch/dinner besides sandwiches. I found this recipe in my Food and Family Simple Shortcuts book. I just prepared everything for the salads and put them in their bowls in the fridge so each day before he leaves I put the things together in his container and off he goes. It's actually faster than making sandwiches and I think probably more filling and yummy for him.

Salad Greens
Southwest Chicken Breast Strips**
Canned Corn, Drained
Salsa
Ranch Dressing
~This would also be yummy as a wrap and Jeff and I both thought Frito's or corn chips would taste good with it.
I just put the chicken, salad and corn in a bowl and then send him with a little container of salsa and ranch.
** You can make your own chicken and store it in the fridge. The recipe is advertising Oscar Mayers Fully cooked, ready to eat chicken breast strips. We don't have the Oscar Mayer brand out here but I found a different brand that is the exact same. The flavor of the premade stuff is really good and the chicken is tender. I might try to find a seasoning to do my own chicken breasts but this is a great and easy mans meal that they don't have to cook anything.

~The one can of corn and the package of ready to go chicken is enough for about four salads with man size meat portions for a salad for dinner (so bigger than just a lunch salad)

~I have been buying heads of lettuce and chopping it up myself and adding in spinach. It stores better in the fridge than the bags of lettuce and if it's all ready to go in my fridge I eat more salads.

Verdict:
Jeff loved the salad and took another one today.
I made myself one (minus the salsa, I can't stand spicy) for lunch today because the kids wanted hot dogs and those are not my favorite things. Yeah well the kids ended up eating my salad and I ended up with their hot dogs. My kids are not salad eaters either so even they loved it. I think I hear G in the kitchen scavenging for more.

Tortilla Chip Casserole

1 lb ground beef
onion chopped
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2-1 cup of Sour Cream (I usually go with the 1 cup)
1/2 cup water
tortilla chips
shredded cheese
olives (optional)

Brown the ground beef and then add the onion and cook until onion is softened. Add olives and can of stewed tomatoes. Set aside.
In another bowl mix soup, sour cream and water.
Layer twice in a casserole dish chips, meat mixture, soup mixture, cheese
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

This is a family favorite. I always have these ingredients and even without the onion it tastes great. It's really fast and easy to throw together and makes great leftovers. I never put the olives in because I really, really, really dislike olives. I usually break up the tortilla chips a little bit so they are smaller pieces and I don't know how much shredded cheese was called for in the original recipe. I usually just sprinkle how much my family likes. I also save more of the soup mixture for the top so all the chips get covered. My ratio for that is more like 1/4 and then 3/4 on the top.

Easy Chicken Enchilada's

2 cups cooked chicken, chopped or 2 cans chicken
2 cups grated cheese
16 oz sour cream
2 cups salsa
1 can cream of chicken soup
chopped onions
14 oz bag nacho cheese Doritos

In a bowl mix the chicken, sour cream, soup, salsa, 3/4 bag of doritos, 1 3/4 cups of cheese, and onions.

Put into casserole dish or oven-safe bowl. Sprinkle rest of cheese on top.

bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

This turned out really well. I enjoyed it even though I am not a huge salsa/spicy fan. The soup and sour cream. The only think I would do different is layer it next time. Layer of chips, layer of mixture, layer of cheese repeat.

Ok Girls

It's really, REALLY sad when the only person posting on the recipe blog is the girl that everyone teases can't cook.

Peanut Butter + Chocolate = Heaven!!

I LOVE Peanut Butter. Like I could really eat it every day and totally be fine. So my darling husband did the grocery shopping for me yesterday. All that was on my list was a brownie mix. Well he found a Betty Crocker brownie mix with peanut butter chips!!! So yum! I couldn't wait another minute to try them so tonight after dinner I mixed them up. Well on the back of the box it had the best idea!
For frosted peanut butter brownies
Mix
1 cup chocolate frosting (I used the Betty Crocker original chocolate, I'm not a whipped frosting fan)
1/3 cup peanut butter
few teaspoons of milk
spread on cooled brownies.
Well who can really wait for brownies to cool. Not me! This is my new favorite thing and I just may mix up the frosting with the peanut butter to eat by itself. It was so good. It made the brownies perfect. My kids totally inhaled them and I will give you darling hubby's verdict when he gets home. I love quick and easy ideas to make something special. I just may try this on regular chocolate brownies too.

Easy One Skillet Chicken Parmesan

courtesy of Minute Rice Website

Ingredients:

1	Tbsp.	oil
4		small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)
1		large green pepper, chopped
1	jar	(14 oz.) spaghetti sauce ( about 1-1/2 cups)
1	cup	water
2	cups	MINUTE White Rice, uncooked
1	cup	Mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4	cup	Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions:

HEAT oil in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken and peppers; cover. Cook 4 to 5 minutes on each side or until chicken is cooked through (170°F), stirring peppers occasionally. Remove chicken from skillet; cover to keep warm.

ADD spaghetti sauce and water to skillet; stir. Bring to boil.

STIR in rice; top with chicken. Sprinkle with cheeses; cover. Reduce heat to low; cook 5 minutes or until Mozzarella cheese is melted.
My family loves this dish.
Lara: It's easy and fast. It's one of my standby meals because I almost always have these ingredients in the cupboard. It tastes great!
Turbo and G will both eat it great. They really like it.
Jeff: The first time I made it he expected it to be spicy because of the color of the rice. (He wasn't there when I made it to see what went into it.) He really loved it. It's a fun spin on traditional spaghetti and chicken.

Swiss Chicken

4 chicken breasts
4 large slices Swiss cheese
1/2 c. milk
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 c. sour cream
3 c. dry stuffing mix

Spray baking dish with nonstick spray. Place chicken breasts in pan and cover each with a slice of cheese. Sprinkle stuffing mix over cheese. Combine cream of mushroom soup, milk, and sour cream. Pour over all. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

I haven't tried this yet but it sounds easy and yummy. I've put it on our menu to try out so I will let everyone know how it turns out.
Verdict: Mixed
Lara: It was okay. Not something I'm going to be craving again anytime soon. It was easy but seemed to be missing something. Maybe a different kind of cheese or a veggi or something. I also made it with store brand stuffing (DH did shopping) and I am a stove top girl so maybe that will make me like it more.
Turbo: Loved the stuffing but wasn't in love with the chicken
G: Who knows with her. She ate it which is always a good sign. She's to busy to actually sit down for a full meal but she did eat it pretty good. She eats great some nights and other nights not at all.

Rolo Cookies

I saw this recipe on a blog that I read (thanks Erika) and thought they looked delish! So these are the next cookie recipe for me to try. I would be in the kitchen making them right now if a) I had all the ingredients and b) if I didn't have a huge mound of monster cookies that the kids and I made last night. So I will try them later in the week and let everyone know how they turned out.
Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 large eggs
48 Rolo candies-ish (You can also use Reese's pieces! They are delicious, but don't spread out as well, and instead make a bump in the middle of your cookie. But if it's okay with you, it's okay with me. [p.s. if you have Very Helpful tiny people at your house, unwrapping all the Rolos is a very good job])
extra sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 F. In small bowl, combine flour, cocoa, and baking soda. Mix well. In large bowl, beat the sugars and butter until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs; beat well. Add flour mixture; blend well. For each cookie, shape about 1 tablespoon of dough around a Rolo, covering completely. Roll in sugar. Bake 7 - 10 minutes (err on the 7 minute side) or until set and slightly cracked. Cool on cookie sheet 2 minutes, then remove and cool completely on wire racks.
Verdict:
They make 48 cookies and they were gone by the next day. Everyone is asking me to make them again.
Lara: They did take a little bit more than regular cookies but they were still easy and fun. I love trying new treat recipes. I put a little too much dough on the first batch because I was overly worried about the rolos being covered. (If the rolo doesn't get covered you have a melted candy mess on your cookie sheet.) I also don't have cooling racks or a spatula here in NY and those are a must for these cookies. I finally figured out a system but the rolo melted middles drop out of the bottom of them if they aren't cooled all the way and are picked up by the sides. Which was fine by me because I had to eat the mistakes. :)
Turbo: Loved helping unwrap the rolos and roll the cookie in sugar. It was a fun interactive recipe and he loves, loves the cookies.
G: It's food and it's a treat so she loves it. I don't even want to know how many she snuck off the counter.
They were a great way to have a chocolate cookie without having to worry about everything melting all over.

Crunchy Biscuit Casserole

2 C cooked, cubed chicken
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 Cup cut green beans, drained
1 4oz can mushroom pieces and stems
1 Cup shredded cheese
1/2 C salad dressing or mayo
1 tsp lemon juice
1 10oz can Hungry Jack refrigerated big flaky biscuits
1 to 2 Tbsp butter, melted
1/4 to 1/3 C Cheddar cheese or seasoned croutons, crushed.

Preheat oven to 375. In medium saucepan, combine first seven ingredients. Heat until hot and bubbly. Pour hot chicken mixture into ungreased shallow 2 quart casserole dish or 12x8 inch baking dish. Arrange biscuits over top of chicken mixture. Brush each with butter; sprinkle with crushed croutons. Bake 25 to 30 minutes until deep golden brown. Serve immediately. Refrigerate any leftovers. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

To cut down on prep time with this recipe I use canned chicken. We also like it with the french cut green beans over the thicker traditional ones. I also don't usually do the butter and croutons on the top. I don't know why just one of those steps I avoid to save time and I don't usually have croutons on hand.

Crispy Biscuit Casserole

Will Terha or Mom please post the recipe to the crunch biscuit casserole out of the 2nd ward cookbook. I have a bunch of chicken I need to use and that sounds really good. It's the one with the greenbeans, chicken, mayo, cheese and lemon juice and then the biscuits on top. Thanks!

Summer Rush

So living where we are at the pool everyday and all day has made me really plan my meals because the last thing I want to do is come home with two tired and hungry children and try to entertain them for an hour while I plan and fix dinner. So the beginning of this week I cooked all my meat for the week and put it into containers in the fridge. It worked out amazing! It is going to be my new routine. I cooked 2 lbs of ground turkey. 1/2 a pound of it I put taco seasoning in. I cooked up some chicken and put it in the fridge and I baked some potatoes. Then all week when we got home I gave the kids the list of things they could have for dinner which included
Taco's
Taco Salad (more for me and Jeff)
Baked Potato with fixings
Baked Potato with stroganoff
Sloppy Jo's
Chicken and rice
Spaghetti

Dinner took max 15 minutes because all I had to do was heat everything up or cook noodles for spaghetti and I got to spend more time with my kids. I have my menu all planned out for next week also. I just wanted to share my quick tip with everyone now that summer is here and schedules get crazy and nobody wants to cook.

Sloppy Joes

1 lb ground beef
1 onion chopped
1 can chicken gumbo soup
1 can tomato paste
3 TBS ketchup
2 TBS yellow mustard

Brown ground beef and onion then add remaining ingredients. Serve on hamburger buns. We like this with carrot sticks and potato chips.
Notes: I'm not a huge yellow mustard fan so I don't put the full 2 TBS in there and my family doesn't notice or say anything but that's all I can taste if I put the full amount. I also like to put a little fresh garlic in with the hamburger while it's browning. Enjoy!

Lettuce Knife

Who knew! We saw this handy little tool at Taste of Home Cooking School. It's a plastic knife and it's one of those tools that are going to come in real handy this summer. This is what the snippet says about them:
Lettuce Knife

Lettuce won't brown after being cut with this knife. Knife has serrated blade to slice effortlessly, an easy-to-hold wide handle and can be used with your right or left hand. Also can be used for baked goods and breads, and it's safe for use on non-stick bakeware.

Butter Crock

This I have to say is my favorite new thing and I don't even have one. My mom (Queen) bought one in Twin Falls while we were on our girls trip. It's her favorite lime green color and is so fun. Now that she has one I love it. Every time I go to get my butter out of the fridge I think I really need to order me a butter crock or see if I can find one around town. They come in all sorts of fun colors and they keep your butter at room temperature but it's covered so it doesn't go bad or get yucky. You put a little water in the bottom of it and it creates a vacuum seal to keep it sealed up tight. It's on my kitchen must have list.

Caramel Popcorn

1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup butter
30 large marshmallows
popcorn

Melt ingredients (except popcorn) in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring grequently to prevent scorching. Pour over popcorn. Don't expect it to last very long.

Monster Cookies

3 eggs
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 stick margarine (I use butter)
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
4 1/2 cups oatmeal
2/3 cup chocolate chips
2/3 cup m&m's

Mix together in order listed. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten slightly. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before trying to move them.

Chili

1lb Ground Beef
1 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup chopped green pepper
1 1 lb can chopped tomatoes
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1 1lb can kidney beans, drained
1 tsp salt
2 tsp chili powder
1 bay leaf

In large skillet, cook meat, onion, and green pepper until meat is brown and drain. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer for one hour.
Serve with shredded cheese, sour cream and corn bread.
This makes a thicker chili that is more like the consistency of Taco Soup.

Lasagna Rolls

1 lb Sausage cooked
11 oz cream cheese
1 bunch green onions
1 bell pepper diced
15 oz jar spaghetti sauce
12 lasagna noodles
1 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shreeded

Combine sausage and cream cheese in the same skillet the sausage was browned in. Cook over low heat until cream cheese melts. Stir in onion and bell pepper. Remove from heat. Spread 1/2 of the spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. (I only do enough so the bottom is covered, I like most of it to be on top so the noodles don't dry out while baking.) Cook lasagna noodles according to package. Lay one noodle flat on a cutting board and spoon 2 TBLS sausage mixture on one end. Roll up and place in pan. Continue with remaining noodles. Top with remaining sauce and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes. If made in advanced and refrigerated increase cooking time until heated through and cheese is melted.