4 Ingredient Banana Bread

Quick, Easy, Delicious...my kind of recipe!
I found this one on pinterest, and it's definitely a keeper!

Ingredients:

Yellow Cake Mix

2 Eggs

3-4 Overripe Bananas

1/2-1 cup chocolate chips, nuts, etc.

Smash bananas in a large bowl, then add remaining ingredients and mix well. Batter will fill 2 small loaf pans (GREAT for gifts!!) or one large loaf pan. Make sure to spray pans well with nonstick cooking spray and a little bit of flour.

 

Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes (bake longer if using larger loaf pan)

Healthy Banana Muffins

I've been trying to be a lot healthier these days, so I needed a new Banana Muffin recipe.  I adapted the original recipe a little, and here is what I came up with...not too bad for being healthy.  And since it's there's not as much oil, I went ahead and threw some chocolate chips in there...nuts would be really good too!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup white wheat flour
3/4 cup white flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of cinnamon

1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil (I did half oil and half applesauce)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup mashed bananas

1. Combine all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
2. In a large bowl, beat the egg lightly. Stir in the milk, oil, and vanilla. Add the mashed banana, and combine thoroughly. Stir the flour mixture into the banana mixture until just combined.  If adding chocolate chips or nuts, mix in now. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper bake cups, and divide the batter among them.
3. Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 18 to 20 minutes.

Best chicken Gyros!

I love this marinade, and the naan bread is super easy and delicious!! I fill the naan bread with the chicken, lettuce, onion, tomato, cucumber and the dill sauce.  I buy two small containers of the greek yogurt for the bread and Tzatziki sauce.

Souvlaki Marinade:2/3 c vegetable oil or olive oil
1/2 c lemon juice
1/4 c soy sauce
1tbs worchestershire sauce
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
1 Tbsp dry mustard
1 tsp salt
2 tsps garlic

Mix together and marinate chicken at least four hours in a ziploc bag in fridge.

1/2 cup warm water
2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup Greek fat free plain yogurt
1 large egg
olive oil for cooking (you can use butter if you prefer)
garlic salt

In a large bowl, stir together the water, yeast and sugar and let stand for 5 minutes, until foamy.

Stir in the flour, salt, oil, yogurt and egg and stir, then knead until you have a soft, pliable dough. Cover with a tea towel and let rise until doubled in size; about an hour.

Divide the dough into 6-8 pieces and on a lightly floured surface (add more flour if the dough is pretty sticky still) , roll out each piece into a thin circle or oval.

Cook each naan in a nice hot skillet drizzled with oil (just a teeny tiny bit--you're not frying it) until blistered and cooked, flipping as necessary. (When the surface has big blisters and is golden on the bottom, flip it over and cook until golden on the other side. Brush with melted butter and garlic salt.

Dill Tzatziki Sauce

3/4 cup greek yogurt

1/3-1/2 tablespoon dill weed

1-2 Tablespoons light mayo

garlic salt to taste

mix together and let sit for at least thirty minutes.

Egg Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Finally, I can give Ryden a cookie without feeling guilty about it! These actually were really good even without the eggs!

These bad boys came from melskitchencafe.com

*Makes about 2-3 dozen cookies

INGREDIENTS:
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
12 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and line baking sheets with parchment or silpat liners. In a large bowl or the bowl of an electric stand mixer, cream together the cream cheese, melted butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and mix until mostly incorporated by a few dry streaks remain. Add the chocolate chips and mix until combined and no dry streaks remain.

Roll the dough into 1 to 1 1/2-inch balls and place about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten each ball slightly with the palm of your hand (just barely press, you don’t need to flatten it all the way). Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes until the edges are just barely golden brown. Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Cafe Rio Chicken

The chicken in these tacos were soo good! We made burritos with the leftovers the next day, definitely a keeper! This recipe came from crumbsandchaos.blogspot.com

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. CHICKEN BREAST
• 1 cup ZESTY ITALIAN DRESSING
• 1/2 Tablespoon MINCED GARLIC
• 1 packet RANCH DRESSING MIX
• 1/2 cup WATER
• 1/2 Tablespoon GROUND CUMIN
• 1/2 Tablespoon CHILI POWDER

Instructions

Place all ingredients in the crockpot.

Cook on low for 7-8 hours or high 3-4 hours.

Shred and serve how ever you like - as filling for tacos, burritos, nachos, quesadillas" href="http://crumbsandchaos.blogspot.com/2010/08/quesadillas-qdoba-style.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(239, 114, 154); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; ">quesadillas orburrito bowls, etc.

It is easy to double or triple this recipe and freeze the extras.

Coconut Lime Chicken

We made this for dinner and last night and it was a hit! I love it when I try new recipes that are a success! It had such a different flavor, but we really liked it! It came from mealplanning101.com

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 tsp curry powder
1 14 oz can light or regular coconut milk
1 4 oz. can diced green chiles
Zest and juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup green onion, chopped
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and garlic and cook until golden brown on all sides, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the curry powder and cook, stirring for 1 minute, until it is fragrant. Add the coconut milk, chiles, lime juice and zest, bring to a simmer, and simmer until the chicken is just cooked through, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat, stir in the green onions and cilantro. Serve over rice.

Egg Free Pancakes

We usually make pancakes at least once a week over here, and with Ryden and his allergies we have to make them from scratch and try to find the eggless ones. None have ever been worth saving until this one. We usually put bananas in our pancakes, and when we do we have to sing Jack Johnson's "Banana Pancakes" song! Sometimes we even have to play it while we cook :)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil/canola oil
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoon butter

Combine dry ingredients and mix slightly. Add milk, oil, water, and vanilla. Whisk together until just combined. Be careful not to over mix - it should still be slightly lumpy. Set aside to rest for a few minutes.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. While pan is heating, add butter. As soon as the butter is melted, add melted butter to pancake batter.

Return pan to stove and stir butter into batter.

When pan is hot, with a measuring cup or ladle, pour 1/4 cup of batter into the skillet for each pancake.

Cook until bubbles form on the surface. Carefully flip pancakes with turner/spatula and cook until golden brown.

Note: This recipe also works well with whole wheat flour. Chopped fruit, nuts or chocolate chips can be added to batter before cooking for a unique treat.

Egg Free Banana Bread

• 1/2 cup butter or canola oil
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups white flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 very ripe mashed bananas
• 1-2 tsp vanilla
• chocolate chips or nuts

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees, and lightly grease an 8x4 in loaf pan. This can be made in any size pan or muffin tin, the cooking time will just change.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar then add vanilla. Sift in the flour, baking soda and salt. Blend in the mashed bananas. Stir in choc chips or nuts, and pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven 60 min, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Green Chile Cheddar Cornbread

This is my all time favorite cornbread recipe! The secret is the creamed corn, green chiles and cheese...it's sooo good and it came from Picky Palate!

1 Cup butter (2 sticks)

1 Cup sugar

4 eggs

1 ½ Cups flour

1 Cup cornmeal

1 ½ Tablespoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

½ Cup ultra gel (optional-available at Shar’s Bosch Kitchen Store if in AZ)

1 4 oz can chopped green chilies

1 16oz can creamed corn

1 Cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a stand or electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until well combined.Slowly add eggs until well combined. Pour in remaining ingredients in no particular order until just combined.Pour into a 9×13 inch baking dish or 24 muffin tins that have been sprayed with cooking spray. If baking in 9×13 inch dish bake for 25-30 minutes, if baking in muffin tins, bake for 15-18 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean from center.

Molten Lava Cakes

I've had these before at a friends house, but never made them until last night. I was so scared they wouldn't turn out, but they did and I could have eaten like 5 of them. I didn't have enough ramekins for everyone so I used muffin tins and it worked great! Some had vanilla ice cream with it, some had whipped cream...I had both :) This came from ourbestbites.com

Ingredients:

4 T real butter

1/3 C sugar
3 large eggs

1/3 C flour
1/4 t salt
8 oz bittersweet chocolate*, melted

*8 ounces is about 1 1/3 C of bittersweet chocolate chips. Make the 1/3 cup a little over-full and you should be good

Additional Ingredients:
powdered sugar for dusting

sweetened whipped cream for serving

butter and sugar for preparing pans

You can either bake these in a muffin pan, in ramekins, or even oven-proof

mugs. If you use a muffin tin you’ll get 6 cakes and depending on the size of the ramekins you’ll get 4-6.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. To prepare pans, use your fingers (or the butter wrapper) to rub butter in the muffin tins or ramekins. Sprinkle in some granulated sugar to coat the entire inner surface and tap out any extra discard.

In a bowl with a mixer beat the 4 T butter and 1/3 C sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine flour and salt and slowly add it into the butter mixture just until combined. Stir in melted chocolate by hand, just until combined. Don’t over mix.

Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups or ramekins and then place them on a baking sheet. (If using ramekins you’ll want them not quite 3/4 full)

Bake just until tops of cakes no longer jiggle when pan is lightly shaken, about 8-10 min for a muffin pan, and 10-12 for ramekins. Remove from oven and let stand 10 min.

Baked Mac & Cheese

I made this tonight and it was soo delicious! I made a salad to go with it, but next time I'll probably just serve it as a side with a main dish. It came from blogchef.net.

Ingredients:
1 (8 ounce) package elbow macaroni
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 cup cream
½ teaspoon salt
ground black pepper (to taste)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
½ cup breadcrumbs (buttered)

Directions:

Step 1: Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Cook macaroni noodles according to package directions and drain. Set aside.
Step 2: Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add flour, salt, and pepper. Use a whisk to stir until well blended. Pour in the milk and cream stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes while stirring. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes while stirring. Add cheddar, a little at a time and stir in until cheese melts. Remove from heat.
Step 3: Add macaroni noodles to the saucepan and toss to coat with the cheese sauce. Transfer macaroni to a buttered baking dish. Sprinkle buttered breadcrumbs over the top of the macaroni. Place into the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
(Makes 4 Servings)

Coconut Chicken

This was really really good. We couldn't taste much of the coconut since the chicken was so thick, so next time I think we'll use tenders or cut in half. I think the pineapple sauce on top is a must, as well as the rice pilaf!! It looks like a lot of work, but it was really easy to make.

Coconut Chicken:

• 1 cup flour, divided-I used pureed ritz crackers
  
• 1 egg
• 1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 boneless chicken breasts
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 400˚F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.*** see note
2. Place 1/2 cup flour in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, lightly beat the egg; set aside.
3. In another bowl combine the remaining 1/2 cup flour with the coconut, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
4. Working with one chicken breast at a time, dip the chicken in the plain flour and get it all coated with a layer of flour. Then dip in the beaten egg and then coat with the coconut mixture. Place on the parchment lined baking sheet.
5. Once all chicken breasts are coated and on the baking sheet, evenly drizzle with the melted butter. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, flipping once halfway.

*** Note: If you would rather prepare this on the stove top, do not drizzle the chicken with the butter. Just fry in a skillet with oil until cook through and crisp and golden in color.

Freezer Friendly: After baking the chicken, let cool completely then freeze in a freezer bag for up to 1 month. To reheat, bake in a preheated oven at 400˚F for 20 minutes.

Garlic Rice Pilaf

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 stalk of celery, diced
• 1 cup long-grain white rice
• 2 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• black pepper to taste
• squeeze of lemon juice
• parsley, optional for garnish

1. In a large sauce pan, melt butter. Add garlic, celery, and rice. Cook and stir until slightly brown.
2. Add chicken broth, salt, and pepper. Cover and simmer on low heat until moisture has been absorbed and rice is tender. (This usually takes me about 20 minutes) Add lemon juice just before serving. Toss slightly and garnish with parsley if desired. Serves 4-6.

Pineapple-Orange Dipping Sauce

• 1/2 cup apricot preserves
• 1/4 cup crushed pineapple, undrained
• 1 tsp orange zest

Combine ingredients together and stir until well blended. Serve with coconut chicken.