Banana Ice Cream

Hello, sorry for the long delay in posting! Does anyone still check this page? I so miss posting here, so I'm oping to get back in the habit.  Today I have a yummy treat for you. I hate artificial banana flavor, so anytime I hear banana ....this or that....I tune out because it's gonna be nasty, but I found a yummy tasting banana ice cream....all the better because my hubby has developed a dairy sensitivity and can no longer have milk or ice cream.  Enjoy!

Banana Ice Cream

Place frozen bananas in a food processor or a good blender and process until smooth.

How's that for easy?! We sometimes add some PB2 and a tiny drizzle of chocolate syrup on top and it's OH SO GOOD!!  I'm so thankful for Pinterest! :)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

Do you Pinterest? I am so addicted it isn't even funny. I force myself not to go there everyday because I can lose 2 hours at a time. It's an amazing source of DIY projects, recipes, inspirational and funny quotes, YOU NAME IT and you can probably find it on Pinterest.

The morning of Super Bowl Sunday, I was on there looking for some munchies to make to watch the big game and I found some recipes to try...bought the stuff and made them that day! Yay me, that kind of turn around almost never happens. Take this post for instance...I really should have done it last week. Well, here I am now and you'll love me forever. Riley (my 9 year old) makes this for me. It's so super simple and so super yummy. We've had it with regular graham crackers, apples and chocolate animal crackers and I think the chocolate animal crackers are my fave....followed closely by Braeburn Apple slices. YUM! Enjoy!



Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

• 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup MINI chocolate chips...milk is good, but I love the semisweet ones in here!
• 1 cup toffee bits

Cream together cream cheese and butter. Add all remaining ingredients and mix until well-combined. Serve with graham crackers or apple wedges.

You won't believe this!

I am about to tell you about the best recipe I've had in a very long time. I had these bars at church this weekend and they are PHENOMENAL! I love Snickers candy bars and now I can make my own at home! They are time consuming and are probably better suited as a special treat, but I can't wait to make them! Enjoy!!

CHOCOLATE CARAMEL CANDY BARS (Homemade Snickers)

2 teaspoons butter
1 cup milk chocolate chips
¼ cup butterscotch chips
¼ cup creamy peanut butter
FILLING:
¼ cup butter
1 cup sugar
¼ evaporated milk
1 ½ cups marshmallow crème
¼ cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cup chopped salted peanuts
CARAMEL LAYER:
1 package (14 ounces) caramels
¼ cup heavy whipping cream
ICING:
1 cup (6 ounces) milk chocolate chips
¼ cup butterscotch chips
¼ cup creamy peanut butter
1. Line a 13in x 9in. pan with foil; butter the foil with 2 teaspoons butter and set aside. In a small saucepan, combine the milk chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and peanut butter; stir over low heat until melted and smooth. Spread into prepared pan. Refrigerate until set.
2. For filling, in a small heavy saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add sugar and milk; bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; boil and stir for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in the marshmallow crème, peanut butter and vanilla. Add peanuts. Spread over first layer. Refrigerate until set.
3. For caramel layer, in a small heavy saucepan, combine the caramels and cream; stir over low heat until melted and smooth. Cook and stir 4 minutes longer. Spread over the filling. Refrigerate until set.
4. For icing, in another saucepan, combine chips and peanut utter; stir over low heat until melted and smooth. Pour over the caramel layer. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
5. Remover from the refrigerator 20 minutes before cutting. Remove from pan and cut into 1 inch squares. Store in an airtight container.

Butterscotch Bonanza Bars

When you have a 10 year old boy asking you for a recipe because he liked it, you KNOW you have a winner, right?! That's just the case with this recipe. Within 2 hours, the entire pan was gone!

I love to read murder mysteries with recipes. Diane Mott Davidson is a good author and my other favorite is Joanne Fluke. This recipe comes from Joanne Fluke's book DEVIL'S FOOD CAKE MURDER. I have already baked two recipes and they're both pretty good. This one is my fave of the two. They are soooooo super easy to stir up and they are loved by the boys of the house! Enjoy!


Butterscotch Bonanza Bars

Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium bowl, melt 1 stick of butter.

Stir in 2 cups light brown sugar until well mixed.

Sprinkle 2 tsp baking POWDER and 1 tsp salt over this and then stir until well mixed.

Add two beaten eggs. Stir well.

Stir in 1 tsp vanilla.

Add flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until you have added 1 1/2 cups.

Stir in 2 cups of (any combination) semi-sweet chocolate chips, butterscotch chips. white chocolate chips, or milk chocolate chips. ( I use 1 cup white and 1 cup SS)

Spread into a greased and floured 9x13 pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Cool completely before serving. Cut into 40 bars. (I don't usually get that many...I think I get about 30)

'Nola Bars

Yesterday I wanted to make a treat that was going to a) warm up the house, b)taste yummy, and c)be healthy-ish. I asked for ideas on my facebook page. I LOVE my friends, they always have great ideas and suggestions. Someone suggested Caramel Cookies....it's a weight watchers recipe and sounds awesome...but the kids didn't want them this time. I will make them and post about it, though another time. I'm hoping to have time to make them today or tomorrow. Someone else suggested granola. Well, every time I make granola, I'm the only one that eats it unless it's granola bars, then I barely get one before my vultures kids have them gone. I found a recipe on allrecipes that sounded good and I bought some wheat germ a while back to make granola bars and lost the recipe that called for it. The one I made yesterday was really good! I cut back on the sugar, skipped the raisins, and trimmed the salt just a tad and they were so good! Oh, I added chocolate chips, too. I made a double batch and put them in an 11x17 pan which they filled nicely. Reviews for this one said that a single batch doesn't quite fill a 9x13 pan. Enjoy!

'Nola Bars

2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup brown sugar (1/2 cup is plenty)
1/2 cup wheat germ
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup ap flour
3/4 cup raisins (opt)
3/4 tsp salt (again, about 1/2 tsp is plenty)
1/2 cup honey
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tsp vanilla
chocolate chips, nuts, coconut, sunflower seeds(opt)

Preheat oven to 350. Line a pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix together oats, sugar, flour, wheat germ, cinnamon, raisins and salt. Make a well in the center and pour in the honey, egg, oil, and vanilla. Mix well with your hands (I used my big KitchenAid mixer.) Stir in any extras that you like. I used a whole bag of chocolate chips for a double batch. Pat the mixture into the prepared pan.

Bake for 18-30 minutes, depending on your oven. The edges should just start to brown. This will give you a nice chewy granola bar. Bake a bit longer for crunchy ones. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars and allow to cool completely.

A single batch makes 24 servings. Each serving is: 161 calories, 5.5 g fat, 1.4 g fiber, 2.4 g protien

M&M Bars

As promised, here are the M&M bars. These make a really nice, big pan so they are great for taking to a potluck...or bake sale. :) Enjoy!

M&M Bars

1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup ap flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups quick cooking oats
14 oz pkg caramels (unwrapped)
3 tbsp water
1 cup mini chocolate chips*
1 cup chopped nuts, pecans or walnuts as you prefer*
1 cup mini m&m's*

*I don't bother to measure, usually. I just pour them on til it looks good. :)

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and brown sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to creamed mixture. Stir in oats. Press into 15x10x1 baking pan. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. In a microwave safe bowl, melt the caramels and water. Spread over crust. Sprinkle with chips, nuts and m&m's. Gently press into the caramel and allow to cool completely before cutting.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Remember last week I made chocolate chip cookies that tasted good, but really flattened out on me? My friend, Erin, posted that she had a great recipe for them and she posted it! I made them today and it's my new GO TO recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies! Thanks, Erin!! And one batch isn't nearly enough, so better make it a double :)

Here's the recipe:

"The" Chocolate Chip Cookie
2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
3/4 c. unsalted butter
1 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
1 T. vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt, set aside.

In medium bowl, cream together melted butter, sugars until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix sifted ingredients until well blended.

Bake for 15-17 minutes until edges are lightly toasted.

Root Beer Cake with FUDGE Frosting

Helps with the diet, no? heee heee heee!

I got this cookbook from the library about a month ago. I'm LOVING it! I may have to look into purchasing it. (Where's the best place to get good deals on books?? I use amazon and half.com sometimes is there something better??) I made the granola from the book and now this super yummy cake. The cake is screaming, "BOW DOWN before my awesomeness." And then with a scoop of ice cream on the side? Heaven, I'm telling you!! And this has got to be the BEST frosting I've ever put on a chocolate cake....even Tim commented that it was really good frosting. With a little tweaking, this is a GREAT cake!! Enjoy!!

Root Beer Bundt Cake

Cake:
2 cups root beer (NOT diet!)
2 capfuls root beer concentrate
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 1" pieces
1 1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 cups ap flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 325*. Generously spray the insde of a 10" bundt pan with cooking spray and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, heat root beer, butter, and cocoa powder over medium heat until the butter is melted. Remove from heat and stir in sugar until dissolved. Allow to cool.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt.

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs just until beaten and then whisk them into the cooled cocoa mixture (it doesn't have to be all the way cooled, just enough that you aren't going to scramble the eggs when you add them). Gently fold the flour mixture into the cocoa mixture. The batter will be slightly lumpy, so be careful not to over beat or your cake will be tough.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Rotate the pan halfway through cooking. Transfer to a wire cooling rack until completely cool. Then loosen the edges and turn onto a cake platter.

Fudge Frosting

2 oz dark chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup root beer
1-2 capfulls root beer concentrate
2/3 cup cocoa powder
2 1/2 powdered sugar

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until smooth and shiny. Spread on cooled cake. Allow frosting to set before serving.

Serve slices with a scoop or two of ice cream for a really nice treat! It's like a root beer float...only better!

This cake is nice and moist, almost fudgy!

No-bake granola bars

I made these last night to have for the kids lunches this week. Semi-healthy and completely easy to make. They LITERALLY took less than 10 minutes to make. Riley and TJ helped, too! You can be creative with what you add to them, too. I modified the original recipe (of course!) so you have the one that I made....go from there. :)

No Bake Granola Bars

2 1/2 cups crispy rice cereal
2 cups quick cooking oatmeal
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar (could probably use turbinado if you wanted to)
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips, raisins, dried cherries/cranberries, coconut, etc. I used chocolate chips

In a large bowl, combine cereal, oatmeal and any non-melting add-in that you like. Dried fruit or nuts, etc. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, combine sugar and honey. Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and vanilla; blend until smooth. Pour over cereal mixture and stir to combine. Allow to cool a bit before adding chocolate chips or other melty add-in. Press this mixture into a 9x13 pan lined with wax paper. (Press hard so that it sticks together really well or you'll have a crumbly granola that really isn't a bar) Allow to cool completely before pulling it out of the pan and cutting into bars. Originally recipe states that it makes 24 servings. I used a pizza cutter to cut mine and that worked really well. They stay pretty soft and chewy. Enjoy!

Microwave s'mores

I stumbled upon this somewhere in Bloggydom today. I can't remember where. What I do remember is that this woman was trying to use up her baking supplies from Christmas...(who does that? I use that stuff all year 'round.) Anyway, she was trying to use hers up and had a neat little treat idea for the kiddies. Microwave S'mores! I thought I'd try it out before the kids got home from school....you know so that I knew what I was doing and that they were actually edible. Get this....totally easy and completely yummy! Almost as good as campfire s'mores. Almost. So, here it is! Enjoy!

Microwave S'Mores

graham crackers
chocolate chips
mini marshmallows

Place the chocolate chips and marshmallows on a graham cracker square and microwave 30-45 seconds. See? Simple!

Margie's Modified Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

By request from It's A Boys Life For Me, I bring you:

Margie's Modified Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

1-9" pie crust, baked (I made a graham cracker one since I had the stuff handy, but an oreo crust would be awesome!!)
3 beaten egg yolks
1 pinch salt
2 1/2 cups milk
3/4-1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4-1/3 cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup peanut butter

In a medium saucepan, whisk together egg yolks, salt, and milk. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly just until warm.

In a small bowl, combine flour, sugar, and cocoa. Mix well. Gradually whisk into milk mixture. Continue to stir, over low heat, until thickened (took me about 1/2 hour). Remove from heat.

Stir in vanilla and peanut butter and stir until smooth. Pour into your baked shell and chill before serving. I topped with cool whip and some chocolate curls. YUM!

Chocolate Chip Mint Cookies

Another blog I read, A Thousand Words, had a link to her new food blog, Jen's Bistro. On there the other day was a fabulous sounding recipe, Chocolate Chip Mint Cookies. Well, I love chocolate and I love mint, so thought I'd give them a try. After Riley and I cleaned up our mess from the sugar cookies, we made these. They are super simple since they start with a mix. OMG! Can you believe it?! I used a cake mix! AGHHHH!!!! lol! Anyway,


1 package Devil's Food Cake Mix
Mint chocolate (I used Andes Mint baking chips, mint 3 Musketeers would work, too)
2 eggs
1/2 C oil
1 C chocolate chips or chopped chocolate (I used Ghiradelli milk chocolate chips)

Mix the cake mix, eggs and oil together. The batter will be really thick - I had to add a tablespoon of water to get it to mix together properly. Stir in the chocolate chips. Use two spoons to scoop lumps of the batter onto cookie sheet.



Bake at 350 F for about 7-8 minutes. The cookies will be soft and puffy when you remove them from the oven. Make sure you have your mint chocolate ready.

Once cookies come out of the oven place mint chocolate on each cookie, pressing it on slightly. (I just spooned some baking chips on using the spoon to press lightly) After a few minutes the chocolate will begin to melt. Swirl the melted chocolate lightly with something (I used a toothpick) and let cool. I warn you that it will be hard to let them cool! Riley and I put them in our outdoor refrigerator (AKA our garage) to cool for a bit, then brought them in to finish cooling on the cooling racks. We had to try a warmish gooey one. They are WAYYYYYYYY yummy! I'm pretty sure it's my new favorite cookie!


EDITED TO ADD: After they cooled, the mint got hard (I figured it would), so something like a mint 3 Musketeers would be good so it stays soft and gooey. Either way, they are AWESOME!