Category: Recipes

The other day, I was looking through my enormous recipe notebook–you know, the notebook full of “things to try.” The idea was to find something that just screamed Easter. Well, I found plenty and the only real trouble I ended up with was picking which adorable Eastery thing to make.

Then, without realizing what I was actually doing– I found myself completely and utterly fixated on this particular recipe. I don’t personally believe there is anything about Cinnamon Ripple Banana Bread that even whispers Easter…nevermind screaming it. But there it was in the mixer and I continued on like a woman possessed.

I intended to take some charming photos of the loaf out of the pan, intact and cooling on a pretty little rack, maybe with a few carefully placed cinnamon sticks. Alas,  once it was out of the oven– the bread knife had a mind of it’s own as well. Then, somebody started nibbling and before I knew it…there were only a couple of slices left.

Not. My. Fault.

Cinnamon Ripple Banana Bread

Ingredients:

3 very ripe bananas–thoroughly mashed

1/3 cup softened butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1-1/2 cups flour

For the Ripple:

1/3 cup sugar

1 Tbsp cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a large loaf pan evenly. Shake about a tablespoon of the  cinnamon sugar mixture into the buttered pan…

and tip the pan around until all the sides and the bottom are well coated.

Pour the excess back in with the mixture set aside for the ripple.

Mix bananas, butter , sugar, egg, vanilla, soda, cinnamon and salt together. Pour about one half of mixture in loaf pan. Sprinkle most of the cinnamon/sugar mixture over the top.

Add the rest of the bread batter over the cinnamon layer. Sprinkle the rest of the mixture on the top. Bake for about 60 minutes or until a knife poked in the middle comes out clean.  Allow to cool completely before cutting.

Serve with cream cheese or by itself. Either way is fine by me. It’s wonderful, and if you can force yourself to save a piece till tomorrow, it is even somehow miraculously…

better. Yeah, didn’t see that coming either. Oh, and as for the Easter recipe…

there’s always next week.

Hunger Games Prize Bag

WINNERS!!

Shelly

Nat

Dot

Congratulations you guys!! You’ve won a prize bag from our Hunger Games Movie Premier. Next best thing to being there.    :}

Thanks for entering everyone!

Turns out–that our little Jello Marshmallow adventure wasn’t a flop after all–like I thought it would be. So, we shall forge ahead and share it with you. Brace yourself…

it’s fabulous~

First, I have a sad confession to make, and that is–I have never been a huge fan of Knox Blox or Jello Jigglers or whatever you want to call them. It just seemed like chewing on a piece of fruity rubber and seriously, it always kind of freaked me out. So, when I saw this recipe, I was a bit skeptical.

But to my surprise, these little fruity rolls ups were different–and what-do-you-know, we love them! They are stretchy enough to be fun, but still soft enough to be chewable. In other words–perfect!

Even the little miss loved them…even if she wasn’t in the mood…

to smile for the camera.

I think she’s actually erasing me and my silly camera right now. Either that, or figuring that if she closes her eyes then I can’t see her.

Ok, ok…I get the hint. No. More. Pictures.

Sheesh!

I’m off to make another batch–this time, in Peach! If you’re wise, you’ll whip these little dudes up too.

Fruity Jello Roll-Ups

1 (6 oz.) pkg. jello

1 cup boiling water

3 cups miniature marshmallows

Lightly spray a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Bring water to a boil and remove from heat.  Add Jello and stir well until Jello is completely dissolved–about 2 minutes.

Add marshmallows and stir until marshmallows begin to melt.  Whisk until marshmallows are completely dissolved.  A pretty little creamy layer will form on the top–unless you wait too long to refrigerate them–like I did.  Oops!

Pour into pan and immediately refrigerate until well set- 1 to 3 hours. They will be very firm and easy to handle.  Loosen edges with a knife.

Starting at one end, roll up tightly.  With seam side down, cut into 1/2 inch slices.  We used the dental floss cutting method (shown in this post).  Just put the string around roll-up, cross and pull to cut.

Serve immediately or store the cute little things in the refrigerator.

When our girl, Lyndi decided that she was having a huge craving for–of all things–pretzel bites, well…what could we do? Some requests simple must be respected, especially when they are this incredible. And to top it off–aren’t they just the cutest things? Almost makes you sorry to eat them. Ok, no it doesn’t. What it really means is that you can wolf them down even faster. Hee hee….

Soft, Adorable Pretzel Bites

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups warm water
2 Tbsps brown sugar
1 Tbsp or package active dry yeast
6 Tbsps butter, melted
2-1/2 tsps salt
4-1/2 to 5 cups flour
Olive oil
3 quarts water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 egg, beaten with 1 tbsp cold water
Coarse sea salt

Directions:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine warm water, sugar, yeast, and melted butter. Mix with the dough hook until combined. Let sit for 5 minutes. Add salt and flour then mix on low speed until combined. Increase the speed to medium and knead until the dough is smooth and begins to pull away from the side of the bowl–about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, and knead into a ball with your hands.

Grease a bowl–I used butter. Add the dough and turn to coat on both sides. Cover with a clean damp towel and let rise in a warm spot until it doubles in size–about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Oil or grease 4 baking sheets. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot over high heat and add the baking soda.

Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a flat surface. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces…

and roll each piece into a rope.

Cut the dough into one inch pieces.

In small batches–15 to 20-ish, boil the pretzel pieces in the water solution for about 30 seconds.

Remove with a large slotted spoon and…

place them on baking sheets. They’ll be kinda slippery but make sure they are not touching each other.

Brush the tops with the egg wash…

and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.

Bake for 12 to 16 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove to a baking rack and allow to cool for a few minutes. Serve with mustard, cream cheese, cinnamon honey butter, or nacho cheese dip. :}

Original recipe–un-tweaked–from Two Peas and Their Pod

…or you could call them Key Lime Softies, cause I’m telling you–that’s what they are. Soft and tender with just a small smackeral of gooeyness…

Now I could have colored these little sweeties light green, but I’m not actually a fan of food coloring as a general rule. But if you are–they’d be great for St. Patrick’s Day.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

2 tsp. lime zest–very important, so don’t leave out!

2 Tbsps. key lime juice

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

3 cups flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease baking sheet. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla, eggs, zest, and juice. Blend in dry ingredients until just combined. Roll by teaspoonful in sugar.

Bake for 8-10 minutes and allow to cool slightly on pan for about 2 minutes before removing to wire rack.

Eat them up.

Oh, and a word of warning…

When you go to roll these “limeys” in sugar, be more wise than I was. Roll them in a cup of granulated sugar–rather than powdered sugar–unless of course, you love powdered sugar poofing up in your face, in your eyes, in your hair– with each go around. It was quite the…um… experience. By the time I finished, I felt like Frosty the Snowman from an alternate universe.

Sorry, no pictures. You’ll just have to trust me.

But do try these someday soon. They are fabulous–and you can trust me on that too.