Hawaiian Banana Nut Bread

3 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 c. white sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 c. chopped walnuts (opt.)
3 eggs, beaten
1 c. veg. oil
2 c. mashed very ripe banana
1 8 oz can crushed pineapple, drained
2 tsp vanilla
1 c. flaked coconut
1 c. maraschino cherries, diced.

Grease two 9x5 loaf pans. Combine flour, salt, baking soda, sugar and cinnamon. Add walnuts, eggs, oil, banana, pineapple, vanilla, coconut and cherries; stir just until blended. Pour batter evenly into pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes.

Notes: I haven't actually made this myself, however I have tasted it and LOVED it. I must make it for my own family soon.

Granola

3 C. rolled oats
1 C. slivered almonds
1 C. cashews
1/4 C. + 2 Tbs. brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 C. + 2 Tbs. honey
1/4 C. oil
3/4 tsp. salt
1 C. dried cranberries


Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. In large bowl, combine oats, almonds, cashews, brown sugar and cinnamon. In separate bowl combine honey, oil and salt. Combine both mixtures and pour over one or two cookie sheet pans. Bake for 1 hour, 15 min. stirring every 15 minutes to bake evenly. Remove from oven and add dried cranberries.

notes: obviously there are a lot of recipes for granola out there. this has been my favorite that i have found so far. the original recipe i used called for maple syrup instead of honey and raisins instead of cranberries but since my husband won't come within a 10 foot radius of anything maple or raisins, i made my own substitutions and they work perfectly.

Whole-Wheat Banana Nut Muffins

3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/4 c. whole wheat flour
3/4 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
3/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. honey (or 1/4 c. sugar if you prefer, or I did 2 T. sugar and 2 T. honey)
1/4 c. butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 c. mashed very ripe bananas (about three bananas)
1/3 c. low-far sour cream or plain yogurt
1 t. vanilla
1/4 c. nuts, chopped (pecans or walnuts)
1/4 c. packed brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350. Line a muffin tin with liners--you'll need about 15-16.

Whisk together the flours, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the sugar, honey (if using), and butter. Add each egg in one at a time, combining completely after each addition but not over-mixing. Add the mashed banana, yogurt, and vanilla. Slowly add in the flour mixture and beat until just combined (don't over-mix).

Divide the batter evenly (so the cups are about 2/3 full) among 15-16 muffin tins. Combine the chopped pecans and brown sugar and sprinkle them on top of the batter. Bake for 23-28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack and allow to finish cooling. Serve with breakfast or as a snack.

Note 1: My friend Julia hit me up to this lovely site, where I found the recipe for these muffins. They are really, really excellent. I was able to get a dozen regular-sized ones and a dozen mini muffins. So some for me and the husband and some for the kid! We all loved them. Also note that I love nuts IN my muffins, so I added an additional 1/4 cup chopped walnuts to the batter.

Note 2: These are similar to these, but not quite the same. I like the addition of nuts, as well as the sour cream/yogurt.

Breakfast Burritos

1/2 lb. sausage links (we always do turkey sausage)
6 eggs, beaten
4 oz. can of chopped or diced green chiles, drained
4 oz. grated cheese (could do less)

Beat the eggs; add chiles and cheese.

Cook sausage in boiling water; slice and then brown in skillet. Add egg mixture and scramble.

Fill tortillas with scrambled egg mix. Fold up burritos and eat.

Note: When we do this we get three adult-sized burritos, one kid-sized burrito, and maybe enough for one more kid burrito.

Carrot Cake Pancakes

1 1/4 c. flour
1/4 c. chopped walnuts, toasted
2 t. baking powder
1 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. salt
1/8 t. ground nutmeg
Dash of ground cloves
Dash of ground ginger
1/4 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. low-fat buttermilk
1 T. canola oil
1 1/2 t. vanilla
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 c. finely grated carrots (about 3/4 pound)

Mix the first eight ingredients (through ginger), stirring with a whisk. Combine brown sugar and next four ingredients (through eggs); add wet mix to dry mix, stirring until just moist. Fold in carrots. Cook like regular pancakes, except you might want to spread the batter on the skillet with a spatula and make sure to grease the pan. YUM!

Applesauce Raisin Muffins

1 c applesauce
3/4 c brown sugar
½ c oil
1 3/4 c flour
1 t baking soda
½ t salt
1 t cinnamon
½ t ground cloves
½ c raisins (optional)

Combine dry ingredients in bowl and stir together. Add applesauce and oil and blend together. Add raisins, if desired. Fill greased muffin tins 2/3 full. Bake at 375° for 18 minutes.

Banana Filled French Toast

1 (1 pound) loaf French bread, cut into 1 inch slices
2 bananas, peeled and sliced
4 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 teaspoon water
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon milk
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon orange juice
1 1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest

Create a pocket about 2/3 of the way into each slice of bread by cutting along an edge. Fill pockets with 2 or 3 banana slices each.

In a medium bowl, beat together eggs, water, milk, vanilla extract, orange juice, and orange zest. Dip the bread slices in the mixture, allowing slices to become saturated.

Grease your skillet or griddle with butter or Pam. Place a few slices at a time in the skillet, and cook, turning once, until both sides are golden brown. Dust with confectioners' sugar to serve. Serve with warm syrup.

Apple Walnut Pancakes

1 1/2 c. flour

2 t. baking powder

1/8 t. salt

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. ground nutmeg

1/4 c. sugar

1 egg

2 egg yolks

4 T. butter

1 1/3 c. milk

3/4 t. vanilla

1 large tart apple, peeled, cored, and shredded

1/3 c. coarsely chopped walnuts, lightly toasted and cooled completely

Start by prepping the walnuts. Chop them to a coarse chop and then put on cookie sheet in oven at 325 for about 8 minutes. They need to be completely cooled before using. Then, melt the butter and then let it cool completely too.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar.

In a medium bowl, add the egg, egg yolks, melted butter, milk, and vanilla and whisk to blend. Pour the egg mixture over the flour mix and stir just until the dry ingredients are incorporated. Add the apple, walnuts, and stir to combine.

Cook on a griddle that is greased.

Serve the pancakes straight off the griddle, sprinkled with powdered sugar OR with warm syrup. I highly recommend the warm syrup. Also, please don't do this without toasting the walnuts. They're so tasty toasted.

Pumpkin Waffles/Pancakes

2 1/2 c. flour

1 T. baking powder

2 t. cinnamon

1 t. ginger

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. nutmeg

1/4 t. cloves

4 eggs

2 c. buttermilk

1 c. pumpkin

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. melted butter

1 t. vanilla

Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cloves in a large bowl.

Whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, pumpkin, sugar, butter, and vanilla in another large bowl until smooth. While whisking, add the flour mixture and blend until smooth.

Cook like regular waffles (which the original recipe said) or pancakes (like I did with happy results). Serve with syrup, powdered sugar, or topping of choice!

Maybe I should have added nuts...Either way, they were great. Using our 1/4 cup measuring cup, we got just over 40 pancakes.

Cherry Nut Breakfast Cake

I needed to use up some leftover cherry pie filling. I got an idea from allrecipes.com, adapted a coffee cake recipe I've had for years, added my own sugar glaze, and served it for breakfast (several times now; my kids love it).

cake:
1 1/2 c flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 c milk
1/4 c oil
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 c sugar
1 egg
1 c cherry pie filling

topping:
1/2 c chopped walnuts or sliced almonds
2 T softened butter
1 c powdered sugar
2 t corn syrup
2-3 T milk

Prepare the cake batter by sifting together the dry ingredients. Beat the wet ingredients together until blended. Combine the mixtures until moistened. Pour into greased 8 x 8 pan. Drop cherry pie filling by spoonfuls onto batter. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes. Meanwhile prepare glaze by creaming the butter and sugar. Add corn syrup, stirring to combine. Slowly add milk until glaze reaches desired consistency. Remove cake from oven and sprinkle with chopped nuts. Drizzle glaze over the cake and serve warm. Yields 16 pieces.

Christmas Morning Cheesebraid

Dough:
1 c. sour cream
1/2 c. sugar
1 t. salt
1/2 c. melted butter
2 T. yeast
1/2 c. warm water
2 beaten eggs
4 c. flour

For bread: Mix sugar, salt, melted butter, and sour cream. Cool to lukewarm. Sprinkle yeast over water in large bowl, stirring until dissolved. Add sour cream mixture, eggs, and flour; mix well. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, divide into two parts and roll each half to a rectangle about 1/4" thick. Place on greased cookie sheet. Spread half of the cream cheese filling (see directions below) down the center of each rectangle (see first picture). With pizza cutter (or knife) cut half-inch strips away from the center filling. Lay them left, right, left, right across each other, forming a pseudo-braid (see second picture). Cover and let rise until double. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-18 minutes. Can glaze with powdered sugar and milk mixture.

Filling:
two 8-ounce packages of cream cheese (can do lite, but not fat-free)
3/4 c. sugar
1 beaten egg
1/2 t. salt
2 t. vanilla

To make the filling, combine the cream cheese and sugar in a bowl. Add other ingredients. Beat well. This will make more than enough, but unfortunately halving the filling isn't quite enough for a full recipe of dough.

We LOVE this on Christmas morning. As adults, it's okay that it takes a couple hours on Christmas morning to complete. But if you have little kids and they want to eat right away, you can make the dough Christmas Eve morning, refrigerate all day, and then bake Christmas Eve so it will be ready Christmas morning.

Quiche with Rice Crust

Crust:
2 c rice, cooked
1 egg, beaten
1 t soy sauce

Filling:
1/2 lb vegetables and/or meat, chopped
4 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 c milk or light cream
1 c cheese, grated
1/2 t salt
dash of nutmeg
pepper to taste

Mix crust ingredients together and spread evenly to cover well-buttered pie plate. Bake crust at 350° for 10 minutes. Meanwhile mix eggs, milk, salt and seasonings. When crust comes out of oven, place chopped vegetable in crust and pour over egg mixture. Top with grated cheese. Bake for 45 minutes to until set. Allow to cool ten minutes before slicing. You may also wrap pie pan and freeze. Quiche may be served cold after thawing, or reheated at 350° for 20 minutes.

NOTES:
-We use less rice than the recipe calls for. Two cups of rice in a 9-inch pie plate makes for an excessively thick crust, in our opinion.
-After an hour in the oven, the crust edge can get pretty crunchy (we're talking teeth-shattering here). Make sure the egg mixture covers the edge of the crust when it goes back in the oven (another reason we reduce the amount of rice).
-We used plain old broccoli for our vegetable, but adding a bit of sausage or other
vegetables would make it more interesting.
-We substituted evaporated milk for the milk.

Baked Apple French Toast

Baked French toast has been one of our favorite breakfasts for years, but it was a guilty pleasure. With so much butter and sugar we didn't feel we could in good conscience eat it that often. We recently found this recipe that--by including apples--directly reduces the need for sugar and moisture and, therefore, the amount of fat. Cooking the sugar until it dissolves produces a syrupy-smooth topping that releases from the baking pan and (more importantly) complements the apples beautifully.

5 T butter
2 large baking apples (peeled, cored and sliced)
1 c brown sugar
2 T corn syrup
1 t cinnamon
10 slices of French bread, 1" thick
4 beaten eggs
1 c milk
1 t vanilla

In large heavy skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add apple slices and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender. Add brown sugar, corn syrup, and cinnamon to apples. Stir until brown sugar dissolves. Pour apple mixture into greased 9x13 pan, and spread evenly. Arrange bread slices in one layer on top of apple mixture, squeezing to make a tight fit. Mix eggs, milk and vanilla well and pour over bread slices, making sure to wet all the bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 375° until mixture is firm and bread is golden. Cool in pan 5 minutes. Invert to serve.
SOON!:

Raspberry Cream Cheese Muffins

2/3 c. (5 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1/3 c. butter, softened (approximately 5 T.)
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 t. vanilla extract
2 large egg whites
1 large egg
2 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. low-fat buttermilk
2 c. fresh or frozen raspberries
1/4 c. finely chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine cream cheese and butter in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer at high speed until well blended. Add sugar; beat until fluffy. Add vanilla, egg whites, and egg; beat well.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture and buttermilk to cream cheese mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Gently fold in raspberries and walnuts.

Spoon batter into greased muffin tins. Bake for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from pans; cool on a wire rack.

Notes: I did 1 1/3 c. white flour, 2/3 c. whole wheat flour. Also I didn't do the walnuts because, well, I just didn't feel like it. And if you are near a Harris Teeter, check their sales because I got the raspberries for $1.50. I used one silicon muffin tin and one regular. If you have a silicon, use it and only it; otherwise, I suggest using muffin papers as the sides and bottoms got really dark in the metal muffin tin.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins

1 c. flour
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 T. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 1/4 c. milk (can use fat-free)
1/3 c. peanut butter (creamy or chunky but NOT natural)
1 egg
2 T. butter, melted
1 t. vanilla
1/4 c. jam

Preheat oven to 400°.

Combine flours, sugars, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; stir with a whisk. Make a well in center of mixture. Combine milk and next four ingredients (through vanilla); add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.

Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Fill each cup three-fourths full with batter. Spoon 1 teaspoon jam into each cup. Spoon remaining batter on top to cover jam. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Let cool in pan 5 minutes. Remove from pan, and cool on a wire rack.

Notes from e: When I did this, I only filled the muffin cups half full, but when I pulled them out of the oven, the jelly had dripped through the bottoms of the muffins. It didn't come all the way out, but I did had to store them upside down. So I altered the recipe thinking if it has more to travel through, maybe it won't make it. But they tasted really good. The peanut butter flavor was pretty mild, but I think they're perfect in the morning before a run given the carbs and (albeit small amount of) protein.

Banana Muffins with Crumb Topping

1 1/2 C of Flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 bananas
3/4 C of sugar
1 beaten egg
1/3 C oil
Topping:
1/3 C brown sugar
2 Tbs. flour
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1 Tbs. flour

Combine flour, soda, powder, salt, together. In another bowl combine bananas, sugar, beaten egg and oil. Combine two mixtures together until all ingredients are moistened. Spoon into muffin cups.

Topping: Combine brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter. Sprinkle to the tops of muffins.

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

Amazingly MOIST TASTY muffins!

Cranberry Oat Cereal Bars

3 T. butter
1 bag (10 ounces) marshmallows
6 c. Cheerios
1 c. dried cranberries, or raisins

Spray a 10x15" rimmed baking sheet (like a jelly roll pan) with cooking spray. Set aside.

Measure the cereal and cranberries and put into a large bowl.

In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add marshmallows; cook, stirring occasionally, until marshmallows have melted, about five minutes. Remove from heat, and immediately pour on top of cereal/cranberries.

Transfer mixture to prepared baking sheet. Using a spatula (or your fingers) coated with cooking spray, press quickly and firmly. Let cool for about one hour. Cut into 24 bars. Store in airtight container.

Finnish Baked Pancake

from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book
(So not really going with the theme here, except it is an international food???)

* Makes 4 servings

1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 c. milk
6 eggs
1 T. sugar
1 t. salt
1/2 c. butter for the baking pans

In a bowl whisk together all the ingredients except for the butter - whisk until no lumps remain. Let stand 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450. Put butter into 1 large (14-16 inch) slope-sided pan or into 4 9-inch pie pans and preheat in the oven until butter is melted. Brush entire pan with the butter. Pour in the pancake batter. Bake for 15-20 min. until edges are puffed high and golden.

e-notes: We made the batter up the night before. We used 3 pie pans and 2 loaf pans because that is what we had. In my pie pan I just sprayed it with Pam and it was totally great without all that extra buttery fat. These remind me of thick crepes and are oh-so-very-delicious. We topped ours with just fresh-squeezed lemon juice and powdered sugar.

Mimi's Buttermilk Spice Muffins

A few months ago, my friend told me to try these muffins at Mimi's Cafe. Last week when I had a craving for them I checked on the internet and found the recipe:

Buttermilk Spice Muffins

Muffin Batter:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
3 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspsoons baking soda
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon buttermilk

Nut topping:
1/2 c. sugar
1 c. walnuts finely chopped
1/2 t. each of cinnamon and nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375°. In a mixing bowl, cream the sugar and the butter together with an electric mixer. When they are thoroughly mixed, add eggs and beat one more minute.Sift the flour into a separate bowl, together with the baking soda, nutmeg and the cinnamon.Add the flour and the buttermilk to the first mixture, mix at low speed until smooth. To avoid lumps in the batter, add the wet and dry ingredients alternately, in small amounts.

Make the nut toppping: Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.

Grease muffin tins with butter or margarine. You can also use paper baking cups. Fill each cup 3/4 full of batter. Add a full, rounded tablespoon of nut topping on top of each muffin cup of batter. Bake immediately or the topping will sink to the bottom of the muffin. Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. A toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffin should come out dry. Home ovens heat differently from commercial ovens so you may need to adjust the temperature or the baking time accordingly. (I baked mine for 20 minutes at 350) Recipe yields 12 standard-size muffins, or six Mimis size muffins. If using the jumbo muffin pans, reduce the oven temperature by 25° and increase the baking time 5-10 minutes.

Cinnamon Rolls

I was originally given this recipe as part of a wedding present. On the recipe card they are called Heavenly Cinnamon Rolls. They are heavenly indeed! I used to always use the icing at the bottom of this recipe, but I have since started using a favorite cream cheese icing recipe. To me it has a thicker, more spreadable texture, and a lot more flavor. I have included the cream cheese recipe after the original. Mmmm. I wish you could smell my kitchen right now.

This recipe makes 24 large rolls.

Scald 2 cups milk (5 minutes in microwave on HIGH). Then add 1 stick butter and stir until melted. Add 1 T salt and ½ cup sugar. Mix must be warm not hot. Add 3 beaten eggs. Dissolve 1 ½ to 2 T yeast in 1 cup of warm water. Add to mixture. Add 8 to 9 cups of flour (do this 2 cups at a time, stirring well after each addition--I add the flour two cups at a time and stir about 8 cups with a wooden spoon. I then knead one cup of flour in with my hands). Let rise 2 times. Divide dough in half. Roll out on a greased or floured surface into a large rectangle. Spread about a ½ stick softened butter over dough then sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Roll into one long roll and cut in 1 inch pieces. Lay on cookie sheets and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, until just golden brown. Do not over bake! Roll other half of dough the same way. Frost while hot with ¼ cup melted butter, a little milk, 2-3 cups powdered sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, dash of salt.

Cream Cheese Icing

1 box powdered sugar

1 8oz. block of cream cheese

1 T milk

1 cap full vanilla

Combine all ingredients well. Use for cookies or cinnamon rolls.