Banana-Raisin Pancakes

School has started for many families. Even though my little one isn't in school, a nutritious breakfast is still a must. And because I'm not a morning person, I want something quick and easy.

Pancakes are great, but sometimes I find them a bit...bland. I need variety! I need spices! This recipe delivers that. The bananas have  agreat flavor and really keeps the pancakes moist, while the raisins add textural variety (which, according to a lot of Food Network shows, is very important). The cinnamon really brings both flavors together.

Banana-Raisin Pancakes
(Printable Version)

Ingredients

• 2 medium bananas
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup lowfat milk
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 cup pancake/waffle mix
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

•  Break up bananas into a mixing bowl. With the back of a fork, mash until smooth. Add egg, milk, and oil; combine.
• In another mixing bowl, combine pancake mix, raisins, and cinnamon. Add pancake mix to banana mixture and stir until moistened.
• Heat skillet over medium high heat. Measure 1/4 cup batter and pour onto skillet. Cook as many pancakes as you can at one time. 

• Brown the underside of the pancake, and when bubbles appear on the surface and the edges start to appear "dry", carefully flip pancakes over and continue cooking for another minute. 

Little L snitching pancakes before I was done cooking

My Take

 


I love these pancakes, and due to the sweetness the bananas bring to the party, I rarely eat them with syrup. Instead, I use a touch of butter, and just chow down on them that way.

A quick tip: The riper the banana, the easier it is to mash, thus giving you a smoother batter. You can tell how ripe mine are in the picture, and they were super easy to mash with the back of my fork. Though, I don't mind finding pieces of bananas in my pancakes. :)

Any Flavor Cookies

Here is a dessert that you can have a different flavor everytime you make them with no additional effort. These are my "Any Flavor Cookies". They're super easy to make, have very few ingredients, and they're super yummy! I first made these back in college and we called them "Magical Cookies" because they tasted so good.

Any Flavor Cookies
(Printable Version)

Ingredients

• 2 cups Cool Whip
• 1 egg
• 1 box cake mix (any flavor)
• Powdered sugar

Directions

Mix all ingredients until a sticky batter is formed. Put about a cup or so of powdered sugar into a bowl.

Drop the batter by spoonfuls into the sugar and roll it around until well covered. Place onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350°F for 7 minutes.

My Take

I had a heck of a time when I was making these cookies for this post. This was coupled with other kitchen fiascos that day. My issue with the cookies was I ran out of Cool Whip befor the batter got moist. After I thought about it for a bit (and did some research online), I figured the Cool Whip takes place of the oil and water in the regular recipe, so I added a little bit of water. This moistened the batter, and I hoped it wouldn't hurt the flavor. Fortunately, this worked. So if your batter is still a little dry-ish after adding the Cool Whip, just add a little bit of water.

Peanut-Free Puppy Chow

Growing up with peanut allergies meant that a lot of foods were off limits for me: Snickers, Butterfingers, PB&Js, a lot of Thai food, and a ton of different desserts. One of those desserts I wasn't allowed to enjoy was Puppy Chow. It always looked so good. I mean, chocolate with powdered sugar!?

Fortunately my mother came up with a way for me to enjoy this wonderful-sounding dessert. Instead of using peanut butter, she used butterscotch chips. My husband, after he tried this for the first time, said it was even better than the original puppy chow. This stuff is so good my family has it every year at our New Year's celebration.

So, without further ado, here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1 cup butterscotch chips
• 6 cups Kellog's Crispix cereal (Non-name brand is fine as well)
• 1 cup confectioner's sugar (aka powdered sugar)

Directions

•  In a large microwave-safe bolw, melt chocolate and butterscotch chips on high for 1 minute. Stir and heat an additional 30 seconds on high or until melted. 

• Pour mixture over cereal.

 

• Place cereal in 2-gallon zip-top bag. Add coated cereal to sugar and close bag tightly. Toss bag until cereal is thoroughly. coated with sugar. 
• Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

My Take

When making this to take pictures for this blog, it was honestly the first time I've ever made this. I grew up eating it, but never participated in the creation of it. Fortunately, it was super easy to put together, and takes less time than chex mix. Be careful, though. You may find it slightly addicting!

Southwest Chicken Wrap

Welcome back! I'm glad to be back from that vacation. I got my recipes a bit more organized and have a list of all my favorite recipes which will eventually be making it onto this blog. Some of you may have seen a sneak peek of some of the recipes I'm working on via my Facebook page.

But enough of this chit-chat. You are here for the food, and food you shall have. Summer is coming to a close, but here's a great cook-free dish that is quick and easy to make for a summer get-together. The idea originally came from the Weight Watcher's website years ago, but after doing a search, it doesn't seem to be on there any more. So, without further ado, here's the recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 (10 oz) can chicken in water, drained and shredded
• 1 (15 oz) can of corn, drained
• 1 (15 oz) can of black beans, drained
• 2 tablespoons homemade taco seasoning or 1 package of store bought
• Cilantro, to taste
• Flour tortillas
• Sour cream, chopped onion, avocado, etc

Directions

Combine chicken, corn, black beans, taco seasoning, and cilantro in a medium bowl. Stir until well mixed. Serve either warm or cold on a tortilla topped with sour cream, onion, avocado, or any other topping you desire.

My Take

I love this recipe because it's something quick and easy that I can whip up. Plus, it's pretty healthy, so there's that as well. I usually eat it warmed up with a dollop of sour cream, but it's just as good cold. I also like quite a bit of flavor in it, so I tend to add a bit more taco seasoning and cilantro. Love the taste of cilantro, though I know some people aren't as fond of it.

Feel free to tinker with it and make it your own. Do you want a bit of a crunch? Add some diced onions. Think it needs more heat? Experiment with some peppers.  Only thing I ask is that you let me know how things go. :)

Vacation!

If you aren't a fan of my Facebook page (which you really should be), you wouldn't have read this news: I'm taking a vacation from blogging. I need to get better about doing this on a regular basis and for that to happen, I need to stock up on recipes and pictures to go along with those. It was getting really hard for me to do that in a single week, hence the blogging vacation. I'm going to try and still update my menu for the week, but you'll have to wait for the recipes. I do have one more recipe to post before my hiatus (look for it this Wednesday) which works great when you don't have a lot of time or energy to cook in the summer.

My plan is to get back into blogging starting Wednesday, August 7th, 2013. From there on out, I'll be having a blog post up every Wednesday morning. So, in the meantime, look for me on my Facebook page. I'll still be posting bits and pieces here and there. Also, feel free to comment on any of my recipes which have already been posted with any questions or comments you may have.

Beef Pot Pie

Whenever I make pot roast, I always have too much leftovers. Dylan isn't a huge fan, and there's only so many days in a row in which I can eat pot roast. That's when I decided that I needed to figure out how to use up these leftovers so I wasn't throwing away food. My first idea was a recipe I remember eating as a kid, Beef and Noodles.

Then, one day, I got a brilliant idea. I love those cheap little beef pot pies that you buy in the frozen section, and I was craving one. Sadly, they aren't the greatest thing in the world for you. So I decided I was going to make my own. My first attempt was OK, though it was pretty bland as I didn't add any salt or other seasonings, assuming the gravy packets and the seasoning from the meat would take care of it. (Spoiler: They didn't.) So here is my improved recipe.

Beef Pot Pie
(Printable Version)

Ingredients

• 2 packages brown gravy mix
• 2 pre-made pie crusts
• 2 organic russet potatoes, skinned and diced
• 2-3 carrots, diced
• 1 cup leftover pot roast, diced
• 1/2 cup mushrooms
• 1/2 cup frozen sweet peas, thawed
• Salt
• Pepper
• Onion powder

Directions

• Put bottom crust in a 9 inch pie pan. Either poke a few holes in the bottom with a fork, or use dried beans or pie weights to keep it from bubbling up. Bake in a preheated 450 F oven for 7-9 minutes or until slightly browned.
• Meanwhile, cook gravy according to packages. Add the potatoes and carrots and simmer for about 15 minutes or until veggies are tender. Add the roast, mushrooms, and sweet peas and mix well.
• Taste gravy and add salt, pepper, and onion powder to taste.

• Pour the gravy mixture into the baked pie crust. Cover with the second pie crust. Put a couple of vent slits on the top.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 9 minutes or until the top crust is golden brown. Let sit for 15 minutes before serving. 

My Take 

I didn't measure how much salt, pepper, or onion powder I put in. For salt it was probably close to 1/4 teaspoon or more. The pepper and onion powder was only a dash. But take my advice, taste the gravy! Once you put it in the pie crust, you won't have a chance to season it, so make sure you get it right the first time, otherwise you're going to have a bland pot pie.

You also want to cut up your potatoes pretty small. The first time I made it, the potatoes were too big and took over the whole thing.

Because this is a leftover dish, you can use whatever veggies you want. For instance, even though the recipe calls for carrots, I usually use the cooked carrots leftover from my pot roast and add them in when I add in the peas. This time, though, I didn't have any, as my baby carrots went bad. So, I used the frozen pea and carrot combo, and it worked out great. I also didn't have any mushrooms on hand, so I just omitted them. Yet, it still tasted great.

And remember, you can always sub your own homemade crust for the pre-fab ones. I'm not very good at making crusts (a future project of mine) so I just always buy the pre-made ones for now. I'm sure this would taste even better with a homemade crust. :)

Simple Pot Roast with Vegetables

When I think of pot roast, I think of family dinner after church on Sundays. It was a special meal with mashed potatoes and gravy, delicious cooked carrots, and ketchup. (My brother and I apparently didn't have very good taste buds when we were kids). Sadly, my husband isn't a huge roast fan, but I love it, so I've been on the hunt for a good roast recipe. I found several while searching the internet, but all of them used packets of gravy or dressings and it just sounded too salty for me. I also didn't want that much salt, because I was planning on feeding Lucy some.

So I do what I've done recently when I haven't found exactly what I'm looking for: I made something up. And this turned out great. More to follow after the recipe.

Ingredients

• 3-5 pound bottom round roast
• 1 (14.5 oz) can low sodium beef broth
• 5-6 organic russet potatoes, skinned and quartered
• 10-15 baby carrots or 3-4 large carrots cut into bite-sized pieces
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder

Directions

You have to get inventive sometimes to get all the sides brown

• Season the roast with a pinch of salt and pepper. In a large non-stick skillet, brown all sides of the roast. 

• Place the potatoes and carrots in the bottom of your slow cooker. Place the roast on top. Pour the beef broth over the roast and vegetables. Season the roast with a sprinkling of the garlic and onion powders.
• Cook on Low for 8 hours, turning the roast over about halfway through. Roast is done when meat thermometer reads 160°F. Allow the roast to rest for 15-20 minutes before carving, allowing the juices to set.

My Take

I love how this yummy roast can be achieved by just a few simple ingredients. They aren't overpowering and really allows the meat to take center stage.

What I like to do is to take the potatoes out about 30 minutes before the slow cooker is done and use them to make mashed potatoes. I find that when I cook them with the meat, they get a wonderful flavor. And as an added bonus, pot roast makes wonderful leftovers! I also strain the liquid leftover, heat it up in a saucepan with some flour, and make a gravy which I use on the whole meal. Sometimes I do have to add some salt since there isn't a lot added in the cooking of the meat.