Banana "ice cream"!

If you love ice cream but not the calories this is a great recipe for you! I got it from a friend and tried it myself just a couple of days later. It's good either way so if you don't have Nutella, make it any way!!!




Ingredients:


4 bananas 
1 Tbsp peanut butter
1 Tbsp Nutella/cocoa




Directions:


Cut the banana into medium size pieces and freeze at least overnight. Take the frozen banana pieces and put them in the food processor and blend, constantly scraping the sides down, until it creates a whip almost. I added a little bit of milk to help the process along... Then add the peanut butter and Nutella and blend until blended. Makes a pint. 


Note: If you use cocoa instead of Nutella like I did (didn't have any) you might not want to put a whole Tbsp...maybe add slowly to taste. Also could maybe add chocolate syrup if you want but I didn't want to because I felt that would take away the "goodness" of it, if ya know what I mean. :-)

Brownie Pudding Cake

Made this other day (for the second time) for my Mama's birthday. I don't know how I "forgot" about this cake! It is so yummy!!! Topped with chocolate ice cream, my brother said it must be a sin. It was that good. :-) Had a request for the recipe and in thinking about how amazing this cake is, thought it was blog worthy. Here it be! :-)
Note: This recipe makes an 8x8 so when I made it I doubled it for a 9x13. Also, I substitued evaporated milk for the milk and it tasted great. Didn't even notice!

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
3/4 cup white sugar
2 Tbsp cocoa
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk (or 1/4 cup evap milk & 1/4 cup water)
2 Tbsp oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (opt. I didn't but it sounds good so I might next time)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 cup boiling water


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 8x8 pan. In medium bowl stir together the flour, white sugar, the 2 Tbsp cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the milk, oil, and vanilla. (Stir in walnuts here if adding them)
Pour batter into pan. In a small bowl stir together the brown sugar and the 1/4 cup cocoa. Stir in the boiling water. Slowly pour mixture over the batter.
Bake for 40 minutes. Place pan on wire rack and cool for 45 to 60 minutes.

It says to serve warm which is amazing but the cake was still good the next day. I can't tell you how it tasted after 2 days because it didn't last that long. :-)

Pazookie!!!

After you ask what it is you have to try it. One of my favoritest desserts ever and it's so easy! This one isn't technically a recipe post but it's something so delicious that I had to share it with you all. :-) Bake a personal size amount of your favorite cookie dough in a small serving bowl that is oven proof (my friend has small metal bowls that we use). When you take it out of the oven, instantly place a few scoops of vanilla ice cream on top and voila! You have one of the yummiest desserts you've ever had. :-) Try it sometime and see if I'm right.  (You could use another flavor of ice cream but the cookie is enough flavor that vanilla compliments it perfectly. )


This recipe is courtesy of my friend, Julie. It is a family favorite they have been doing since they were children and Pazookie is what they always called it. 

No-Bake Cookies

Was asked to post this recipe a month or so ago and am finally getting around to it. This is one of those ridiculously easy recipes that is so yummy. It's a great, "I feel like some sweet really quick" recipe. Basic ingredients and comes together quickly. The hardest part is letting them sit long enough to set up! :-P
FYI, this recipe is another one that is courtesy of my "Beany Malone Cookbook" :-)


Ingredients:


1/2 cup milk
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) margarine or butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 Tbsp dry cocoa
3 cups quick-cooking oatmeal
1 tsp vanilla
The recipe also calls for an optional 1/2 cup chopped nuts.
I've never put them in but you can try it if you want.




Directions:


   Measure the milk, sugar, butter, peanut butter, and cocoa in a large saucepan and stir well together. Bring to a boil, and boil only 1 minute. Stir in the oatmeal, nuts, and vanilla and mix well. Drop by spoonfuls on wax paper and let cool. Makes 40-50 cookies.

Insanely Quick and Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

Just recently re-discovering an old recipe (another from the Beany Malone Cookbook) and in remembering (and tasting) how much I love it I thought I'd post the recipe card. :-)

Sorry it's a little blurry. It's a phone pic. :-P

Ingredients:
1 egg
1 cup peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla


Directions:
Slightly beat egg then add to other ingredients and mix well. Drop by teaspoon onto cookie sheet and cook for 12-15 minutes at 325*. Makes appx 40.


I love this recipe because it whips up so fast and makes a decent amount of cookies, a good thing in a family of 8. :-) I also love this recipe because the are still chewy the next day instead of getting hard like so many home-made cookies do (which if any one has any tips for me on this subject, please, feel free!).
That's it!

Pineapple Cake with Buttery Milk Syrup

Yet again, courtesy of AllRecipes.com I have found another amazing recipe. This cake was so good and also a great pantry cake because the ingredients are all things you most likely will already have in your pantry except for maybe the pineapple. . . which isn't hard to get. Your local grocery store probably has some. :-P Also, I only had pineapple chunks so I utilized a cheese slicer and proceeded to     make my own crushed pineapple.

Disclaimer: I did not take this photo but took it from the recipe at All Recipes.

Here's the link if you wanna go to the site http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pineapple-Cake-II/Detail.aspx
Or you can just take it from here.


Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
20 oz can of crushed pineapple


Directions:
Mix dry ingredients. Stir in the beaten eggs and pineapple with it's juice and mix well. Pour in lightly greased 9x13 pan and bake for 30 min at 350 degrees. While baking, make the syrup.


Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla


Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil over med/high heat and cook for 5 minutes. Pour over the cake while it is still warm.


I made this for the first time a couple of weeks ago for something at my church (I tried out a new recipe for a public function!) and it was definitely a hit. Though, some did say they might like it just as well with out the rich, yummy, delectable syrup. So, I still had some pineapple this week with which I made another cake but didn't make the syrup this time. It is good with out the syrup but almost like a completely different cake. So give it a try and let me know what you think!

Zucchini Bread

So I made Zucchini Bread for the first time in my life a few weeks ago and it was so good!!!!! I remember the first time I had it as a child; it sounded gross! lol! Zucchini...in a bread???? But I was a well behaved child ( :-P ) so I ate it and found it to my liking. :-) Now, at 25 years of age, I finally made my first six loaves loaf. ;-) I tried a couple of variations too. Some with brown sugar on the top, some with brown sugar and cinnamon on the top, some with brown sugar and cinnamon on the top and pecans in it! lol And some with nothing on the top and no nuts. :-) I found the one with the topping and nuts was my favorite but you can do whatever works for you. :-) So, here's the recipe! 


Ingredients:


1 1/2 c flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 egg, beaten
1 c sugar
1 cup finely shredded, unpeeled zucchini
1/4 c oil
1/2 c chopped walnuts or pecans (they say toasted but I don't think I did :-P )


Directions:


In a medium bowl combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg. In another medium bowl combine egg, sugar, zucchini, and oil. Add zucchini mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter will be lumpy). Fold in nuts. Pour batter into bread pan. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely on a wire rack. Wrap and store overnight before slicing. 


I don't think we did that last part. :-P It wasn't even cool before it someone started slicing it. lol So I guess that's not necessary. Also, I easily doubled the recipe to make 2 loaves because who bakes bread one loaf at a time??? :-) Oh, and I didn't have nutmeg so I just added a dash extra of cinnamon and it was still great.

Cinnamon Apples

Shared my attempts (one bad one good) at this on my other blog. Sharing the actual recipe here. :-)
I only had 4 apples so I didn't make much but you can adjust it to any amount of apples. It's very easy. 


Ingredients:
4 apples 
1 tsp cinnamon 
2 Tbsp white sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
Sprinkle of salt
4 cups water
(cinnamon and sugar are approximate as I just sprinkled all :-) )


Directions:
Slice, peel, and dice the apples into small pieces. Place in the pot with about 1/2 cup of the water. Bring to a "boiling simmer" and continue to let simmer until the water boils down, adding a little more each time it boils down. After about 20 minutes of this I went ahead and added the spices, covered it, and then continued the process of boiling down and adding water until the water was gone at which time I decided it was done. :-) They tasted amazing!

Applesauce Chocolate Chip Cake

This is one of my absolute favorites!


Preheat oven for 350 degrees.


Ingredients:
1/2 c butter
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
2 Tbs cocoa
1 c applesauce
2 c flour
1/2 tsp soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 c chocolate chips
Topping:
2 Tbsp sugar
1 c chocolate chips


Directions:
Cream butter, sugar, and eggs together. Add applesauce and dry ingredients. Mix well then add the chocolate chips. Pour into a 9x13 greased pan. Sprinkle the sugar and chocolate chips on top. Bake for 35 minutes.