Banana Bread Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

Okay it is obvious. I. Must. Stop. Eating. Banana. Treats... Oh I just love banana goodies though. These banana bread bars were SO good, especially with the cream cheese frosting. So rich. I actually have a teensy bit of a stomach ache right now because I ate too much. And I still have 5 bananas just begging to be turned into banana bread. But I'm going to stop. I must stop. I'm going to freeze my overly ripe bananas and make banana bread at some future date and so as to not widen my butt too much by making it now.


Banana Bread Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup sugar
1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (about 3)
1/3 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 cup flour (+ 2 T. for high altitude)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Cream Cheese Frosting:
2 cups powdered sugar
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 baking dish.

Mix bananas, sugar, oil, and eggs in a large bowl with a spoon. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Mix flour mixture into the banana mixture, stirring to combine, but don't over mix. Add in the mini chocolate chips.

Spread batter into prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool completely and frost with cream cheese frosting. Cut into bars.

To make frosting:
Mix butter, cream cheese, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Gradually add powdered sugar with a spoon and mix until very smooth.

Lasagna

This is Pioneer Woman's "Best Lasagna Ever" and frankly I agree. Mmm. Mmm. It is a hearty lasagna with great flavor. And it's not fussy. No strange ingredients or expensive cheeses, it uses cheapo, green bottle, Kraft Parmesan cheese! This will be my go-to lasagna recipe from now on.


Lasagna

1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 lb Jimmy Dean Hot Breakfast Sausage
2 cloves garlic, minced
2, 6 oz cans tomato paste
2, 14.5 cans whole tomatoes, with juices
2 tablespoons dried parsley
2 tablespoons dried basil
salt
10 oz package lasagna noodles
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cups low fat cottage cheese
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup Kraft Parmesan Cheese
4 tablespoons dried parsley
1 pound sliced mozzarella cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

In a skillet combine ground beef, sausage and garlic. Cook until browned, draining off half of the fat. Pour in the cans of whole tomatoes (I squished up the tomatoes in my hands before adding), tomato pastes, 2 T. parsley, basil and 1 teaspoon salt. Mix together thoroughly and simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes; stir occasionally.

In the meanwhile boil the lasagna noodles. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon olive oil to the water. Cook according to package directions to "al dente". When noodles are finished, drain, rinse with cold water, and lay the noodles flat on a sheet of aluminum foil that has been sprayed with non-stick spray.

While meat and noodles are cooking, in a bowl mix: cottage cheese, eggs, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, 2 T. parsley, and 1 teaspoon salt. Set aside.

Set up your assembly line: meat mixture, sliced mozzarella, cottage cheese mixture, lasagna noodles. Lay 4 noodles on the bottom of a deep 9x13 pan (I have a stoneware 9x13 that worked great) that has been sprayed with non-stick spray; overlap the noodles a little to make them fit. Spread half of the cottage cheese mixture evenly over the noodles. Lay 1/2 pound of mozzarella slices on top of the cottage cheese.

With a spoon make a line through the meat mixture so you'll distribute it evenly. Spread a little less than half of the meat mixture over the slices of cheese. Spread the meat around to distribute it evenly over the mozzarella cheese.

Repeat the layering process, begin with another layer of 4 noodles, top with remaining cottage cheese, top cottage cheese with another 1/2 pound of mozzarella slices, and finish with the rest of the meat mixture.

Sprinkle 1 cup of shredded mozzarella on top and then generously sprinkle with Kraft Parmesan cheese.

Cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Uncover and bake an additional 3-5 minutes to brown cheeses on top.

** You can cover and refrigerate unbaked lasagna for 2 days. Lasagnas also freeze incredibly well so if you could make it in a disposable foil 9x13, cover with plastic wrap, then cover with foil and freeze it. Frozen lasagnas usually take at least 2 hours to cook through.

Diner-Style Strawberry Pie

This recipe is from my favorite cooking magazine Cook's Country. This magazine is an off shoot of Cook's Illustrated, but I like it better because all the pictures are in color and that makes me happy. The pie filling for this pie is absolutely wonderful and I think I'm going to serve it warm on waffles with the lovely cream cheese topping. I did have some trouble with it not setting up as firmly as I hoped, but it was so yummy that I didn't mind.

Diner-Style Strawberry Pie

2 pounds frozen whole strawberries
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons water
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 lb fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced thin
1 9" pie shell, baked and cooled

Topping:
4 oz cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup heavy cream

In a large saucepan cook frozen strawberries over low heat for about 3 minutes, or until strawberries just begin to release some of their juices. Turn heat up to medium high and cook stirring frequently until mixture reaches a thick jam like texture - for me it took about 30 minutes. Turn off heat. Measure out the strawberry sauce to make the mixture measures 2 cups. Pour it back into the saucepan and set it aside.

In a small bowl combine lemon juice, water, and gelatin. Let it stand till gelatin is softened and mixture has thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir gelatin mixture, sugar, and salt into the strawberry sauce in saucepan. Heat to a simmer, about 2 minutes. Transfer this mixture to a bowl and let it stand until it reaches room temperature (about 30 minutes).

After strawberry sauce has cooled to room temp add sliced fresh strawberries, folding to combine. Spread strawberry mixture evenly into prepared pie shell and refrigerate until set, at least 4 hours.

To make topping:
Beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer (stand or hand mixer) until smooth. Add cream and whip until it forms stiff peaks, about 2 minutes. Refrigerate topping till ready to serve on top of individual pie slices.

Omelets

The other night I made omelets because my daughter asked for breakfast for dinner (her favorite). The kids just had scrambled eggs, but I followed this video and made my hubby and I great omelets that were perfectly cooked. I've always found omelets intimidating, but this method worked great. The bottom was not too browned and the middle was cooked through. Success. They were so good.


Omelets

Omelet (ingredients for 1 omelet):
1/2 tablespoon butter
3 eggs, beaten (or 1 egg and 3 egg whites for lower fat option)
1 tablespoon water
salt
pepper

Filling*:
1/2 tablespoon butter
1 green onion, sliced
about 1/3 cup diced ham
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1/3 - 1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese

In a small skillet cook the green onions and mushrooms in a tablespoon of butter, once they are cooked add the ham and heat through. Set filling aside to add to omelets.

For each omelet, mix together beaten eggs, water, salt and pepper in a bowl. Melt a tablespoon of butter in a skillet. Add the egg mixture and push in the sides of the eggs as they cook letting the raw egg fill in the part you just pushed in. Watch the video for reference on this step. When the egg will no longer flow and its almost set in the middle add the filling mixture. Let it cook a minute to melt the cheese. Fold over in pan and slide onto a plate or slide partially onto a plate and then flip over the half still in pan to fold over.

*Of course use any filling ingredients you want. My favorite omelet at The Cheesecake Factory, "the California omelet", has avocado, sauted mushrooms, green onion, diced tomatoes, sour cream, and a combination of monterey jack, cheddar, and swiss cheese. Oh so good. Other combinations I like:
- sauted mushrooms, asparagus, green onions, and Swiss
- diced ham and cheddar
- diced tomato, green onions, and monterey jack

This is a picture of a mostly egg white omelet (1 egg + 3 egg whites, 1 T. water, and cooked in 1 teaspoon butter). It turned out really well and is yummy and healthy for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Best Banana Bread

Oh I think I've found my favorite banana bread recipe at last. The recipe comes from allrecipes.com, but I added the vanilla and cinnamon because it gives it a little something something. This bread is just so moist and wonderful and I can't stay away from it. It is so good with peanut butter spread on it (my kids love it that way).

Best Banana Bread

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 cups mashed very ripe bananas (for me it was 5 bananas)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a loaf pan.

In a bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer beat butter and brown sugar until creamed together. Beat in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Add vanilla and mix in. Slowly mix in flour mixture and beat until all flour is incorporated, but don't over mix. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

Bake in a preheated oven for 45 minutes. Loosely cover top with foil to prevent excess browning on top and bake for an additional 15 - 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted right in the middle comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes then turn out onto a rack and let cool longer - I think this bread is SO yummy warm with butter or peanut butter spread on it.


Nutrition Info (in case you're interested)
12 servings
230 calories per slice
fat 8.9 g
protein 3.7 g
carbs 35.1 g
fiber 1.6 g

Basil Parmesan Chicken

I'm always looking for new and exciting ways to cook chicken and this is definitely fits the bill. I got this recipe from Yummy Fun and think it is fabulous. The parmesan mixture on the chicken is so darn good!

Basil Parmesan Chicken

Chicken:
4 chicken breasts
dry Italian seasoning mix
sliced tomato (I used 2 roma tomatoes sliced fairly thin)

Basil Parmesan Sauce:
1/3 cup mayonnaise (reduced fat works great)
1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan
1 clove garlic, minced (1 teaspoon)
handful fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
6 oz jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained and finely chopped

Parmesan Noodles:
8 0z angel hair pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
garlic salt, to taste
fresh grated Parmesan, to taste

Lightly oil a 9x13 baking dish (I used probably 2 teaspoons of oil and spread it around with a paper towel). Rinse chicken breasts and pat dry. Rub a generous amount of dry Italian seasoning mix on both sides of each chicken breast. Place chicken into the 9x13 baking dish and lay tomato slices on chicken.

In a bowl combine mayonnaise, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, garlic, fresh basil, lemon pepper, seasoned salt, and artichokes. Scoop this mixture evenly onto the chicken breasts. Cover baking dish with foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes, uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes.

While chicken is baking cook angel hair pasta according to package directions. Rinse and put into a big bowl. Toss noodles with olive oil and then add garlic salt and Parmesan cheese to taste. Serve chicken over noodles.

Ranch Turkey Wraps

This is a great wrap. I am a huge fan of avocado and turkey together and the ranch spread is very yummy. These are great for a summer picnic. Thanks to Put a Lyd on It for this recipe!

Ranch Turkey Wraps

1/4 cup cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup ranch dressing
thin sliced deli turkey
thin sliced monterey jack cheese
1 avocado, sliced thin
1 medium tomato, sliced thin
alfalfa sprouts
10 inch tortillas or wraps

In a bowl beat together the cream cheese and ranch dressing. Spread cream cheese mixture over tortillas. Layer with turkey, cheese, avocado, tomato, and alfalfa sprouts. Roll up tightly and cut in half. If transporting for a picnic wrap up wraps tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate till ready to pack.