Banana Bread

I have a four year old that won't eat fruits or vegetables. Never has and I am pretty convinced she never will. She is a strange child because who doesn't like strawberries? That would be my child! She's never even tasted one. She ate banana's when she was a baby, but hasn't had one for a very long time now. So imagine my shock when I asked her what she wanted to help me make for our Family Home Evening treat and she responded with, "banana bread". What?! Something with a fruit? We made a delicious loaf together and she actually ate it. Despite the sugar and chocolate chips in it, I felt a little victorious. 

Banana Bread
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs, slightly beaten
juice of 1/2 an orange
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix together the vanilla, eggs and orange juice in a measuring cup or small bowl. Cream the butter and sugar together in a medium bowl until pale yellow and fluffy. Add in the egg mixture and beat until creamy. Mix in the bananas until smooth. Pour the flour in 2 batches into the batter and mix on low speed until incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour into a greased 9x5 loaf pan. Bake 1 hour, covering lightly with foil if the top gets too brown. Cool, remove from pan and slice. Serve dusted with confectioners sugar if desired.

Serves 8


From: Melissa d'Arabian

Mini Fruit Pizza

I made these bites of yumminess last weekend for a bridal shower and had many requests for the recipe. So light and refreshing. Perfect for any summer party!

Mini Fruit Pizzas

Glaze:
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup apple juice
1/4 cup water
3 tbsp lime juice

Cookies:
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp butter flavoring
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 (8oz) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
3 cups cool whip


Fruit:
16 oz strawberries
6 oz blueberries
6 oz raspberries
3 kiwi

For the glaze: Combine sugar and cornstarch in a medium saucepan. Whisk together to combine. Add apple juice, water, and lime juice. Stir and heat over medium heat. Let mixture come to a  boil, stirring constantly. When thick, remove from heat and allow to cool completely.

For the cookies: Beat butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla, and flavorings. Beat until well mixed. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Pour dry ingredients into the butter mixture and combine. Roll dough into 2 inch balls and place on sprayed cookie sheets. Press each dough ball down slightly with the palm of your hand. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes or until tops of cookies are cracked. Allow to sit for a couple of minutes on cookie sheets before removing to racks to cool completely.

For the frosting: Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and cool whip. Mix until combined.


For the fruit: Wash and slice strawberries and peel and slice kiwi. Wash berries. 


Frost one cookie at a time, then add the fruit. If you frost all the cookies and then add the fruit, the fruit may have a hard time sticking in place. Drizzle each cookie with some glaze and refrigerate until ready to serve. Don't make these too early before you serve them because the fruit will get juicy and runny.






jamie cooks it up

Favorite French Toast

I love, love, love this recipe and would eat it everyday if it was somewhat healthy for me. We usually save this for special family weekends, but it's too good not to share!

Favorite French Toast

3 eggs 

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 loaf french bread, cut in thick slices

2 tbsp butter

3 tbsp brown sugar

1 cup walnuts

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

Preheat skillet or griddle and spray with cooking spray. In a shallow dish, beat together eggs, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla. Dip the slices of bread in egg mixture and place on the skillet to cook about 3 minutes per side or until golden brown. 

In a small saucepan, cook the butter and the brown sugar until butter is melted. Add walnuts and toss to coat with mixture. Cook for 3-4 minutes, or until the sugar is dissolved and the walnuts are fragrant. Stir the mixture into the ricotta cheese.
Spread some ricotta mixture on each piece of cooked french toast and serve with either powdered sugar or maple syrup.

I love to serve this with magic syrup...I will make that my next post.

Serves 4

Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

We are loving these snacks at our house. My kids like them, my husband likes having them for breakfast, and I like knowing that they are eating something fairly healthy. It's cheaper than buying granola bars every week too!

Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup honey

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 cups quick cooking oats

1 cup rice krispy cereal

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp mini chocolate chips

In a large bowl, stir oats and cereal together. Set aside. In a small pot, melt butter, honey, and sugar over medium high heat until it comes to a bubble. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 2 minutes. Pour in vanilla and stir till combined. Pour over dry ingredients and mix well to moisten all ingredients. Pour into lightly greased small jelly roll pan and press out to be about 3/4 inch in thickness. (I just press mine into one side of a cookie sheet.) Press down firmly so mixture will stick together. Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips and press down lightly. Cool on a counter top  at room temperature for 2 hours or until chocolate chips are set before cutting into bars. Store in plastic wrap or baggies. 

Makes about 8 granola bars

Lemon Chex Mix

Obviously food blogging is not on the top of my "to do" list anymore. A time and a season for everything, right? I was warned not to make this recipe cause I wouldn't be able to stop eating it. This is my new favorite treat. So yummy!

Lemon Chex Mix

9 cups rice chex cereal
1 1/4 cup white baking chips
1/4 cup butter
4 tsp grated lemon zest
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 cups powdered sugar

Place cereal in a large bowl. Combine baking chips, butter, zest and lemon juice in a microwave bowl and microwave for 30 seconds, stirring after each time until melted and mixed together. Pour over cereal and stir gently to combine. In a large paper bag (like from the grocery store), dump cereal and powdered sugar. Close bag and shake until cereal is coated well with sugar. Spread out on wax paper to dry. Eat and then hit the gym:)

Cookie Cake

Some serious chocolatey goodness!!! This was my Mother's Day dessert:)

Cookie Cake

1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/3 cups flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup chocolate chips

Ganache topping:
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces
1 oz semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugars. Add vanilla and eggs, mix until fluffy. Add all dry ingredients at once, mixing just until wet and dry ingredients are incorporated. Fold in nuts. Don't over mix. Spoon into greased 10 inch springform pan. Bake about 25-30 minutes, just until set. Remove from oven and cool for about 30 minutes.
For ganache: In a saucepan, bring whipping cream to a boil. Remove from heat and add chocolate pieces. Whisk until smooth.
Remove cake from springform pan and place on serving platter. Pour ganache over the top and let it sit for about an hour until it hardens. You may set the dessert in the fridge to speed this up. Slice into wedges and serve!


my bountiful kitchen

Potato Salad

Well, little food blog, it's been a while! We have been busy, busy, busy, and I am tying to fully enjoy this baby before she grows up like the other kids did....even though we keep telling them to stop getting bigger. Time just goes by way too fast!

I have been working on a cookbook and finally got a place that I feel caught up. Finally!!

We are so excited for warmer weather and last weekend we fired up the girl and had our first bbq of the season. I made this yummy potato salad to go with our dinner. I love this recipe because it is slightly sweet. I also like it because you can add/omit things and it still tastes great. I like adding a bit of chopped celery to it and a bit of chopped sweet pickles. Use your imagination....that's the best part of cooking!

Potato Salad


3 to 3 1/2 lbs potatoes (about 10 medium)
6 hard boiled eggs
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup evaporated milk
3 tbsp white vinegar
2 tbsp mustard
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Additional hard boiled eggs
Paprika for garnish

In a large pot, cook potatoes until tender. Drain and cool. Peel potatoes. Cut into chunks. Separate egg yolks from whites. Set yolks aside. Chop whites and add to potatoes and onions in a large bowl. In a small bowl, mash the yolks. Stir in mayonnaise, milk, vinegar, mustard, sugar, salt, and pepper. Pour over potatoes and toss well. Adjust any seasonings if necessary. Garnish with additional egg slices and paprika. Chill until serving.

Serves about 12