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! :)

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.

Cashew Chicken

A couple weeks ago, we were in this little tiny diner in Gresham and on the counter they had this 3 ring binder cookbook. It was from a "local author" and I was looking through it and saw SEVERAL recipes that I thought sounded good...but my DH didn't think I needed another cookbook....well, I thought differently and when he went to the bathroom I bought it and stashed it in the diaper bag (I'm gonna be sooooooo sad to stop carrying that big thing!) Rugby and Riley happened to find the book about a week ago and went through it, page by page telling me what they thought sounded good....so I set them up with a notebook and they wrote the recipe name, page and who thought it was gonna be a good one...now, I only have to look at their sheet for TONS of dinner ideas!! And I'll actually be using the cookbook, double bonus! We made chicken quesadillas the other day that were so good, but how do you screw that up? It's pretty simple. Anyway, another one that was marked "Both" (as in they both wanted it) was Cashew Chicken. My kids love chinese food and since most of what they like is simple stir fry stuff, I was happy to make it. This recipe is no exception. VERY SIMPLE and VERY tasty! I think the sauce would be good if I could figure out the breading to make peanut butter chicken. YUM! EnjoY!

Cashew Chicken

Peanut Butter Sauce:
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp honey

Mix together until well blended and set aside.

Stir Fry:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1" pieces
3 cups broccoli, chopped
2 ribs celery, cut into 1/2" pieces
2 green onions, chopped (I skipped this for the kids)
2 Tbsp vegetable or peanut oil (I used butter)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp grated gingerroot (next time, I might add a bit more, but I LOVE ginger)
2 packages ramen noodles, flavor packages discarded
1/2 cup cashews

In the oil, saute the chicken, garlic and ginger until the chicken is no longer pink. Remove from skillet and set aside. In the skillet, add a little more oil (or like I did: a bit of chicken broth...less than 1/4 cup) and saute (or steam if you added the broth) the celery and broccoli for about 4 minutes. Add the green onion and continue to cook, stirring often until the veggies are tender-crisp. Add the chicken back to the skillet and pour the sauce over. Bring to a boil, then turn off the heat. While you are waiting, add the ramen noodles JUST THE NOODLES, NOT THE FLAVOR PACKET to a pot of boiling water and boil for 3 minutes; drain. Add the noodles to the chicken and veggies. Sprinkle with cashews and serve.

Peanut butter flavor is very subtle, not at all over whelming. I hope you like it!

Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle

My mom makes fruit trifles. My Rugby LOVES them!! They are probably his favorite desserts. I am a sucker for peanut butter and chocolate. So, when I saw this post this week from another blog, I knew that I had to try it!! I mean does ANYTHING say I Love You better than that?? But, being me I couldn't leave well enough alone...lol! I used a baby cookie cutter (that Granny sent the kids for V-Day last year) to cut the brownies to heart shapes and used that. I also used neufchatel instead of regular cream cheese and I also use light cool whip.

Oh, and brownie mix was on sale this week, so I cheated and used that instead.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle

Brownies
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup baking cocoa
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 tablespoons water
3/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla

Peanut Butter Filling
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup peanut butter
2/3 cup milk
16 ounces Cool Whip
4 peanut butter cups, chopped
chocolate syrup

Brownies:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Combine dry ingredients in large mixer bowl; stir. Add wet ingredients and stir well.
Spread into prepared baking pan. Bake for 18 to 25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out slightly sticky. Let cool completely.

Trifle:
Mix cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth. Add in peanut butter and milk. Combine. Fold in Cool Whip until combined.
Take half of the brownies out and crumble in large glass bowl, if you have one, or in a 13×9 pan. You can also divide up between tall parfait glasses as well. Add a layer of the peanut butter mixture. Take the other half of the brownies out and crumble on top of the peanut butter mixture. Put the last half of the peanut butter mixture on top. Drizzle chocolate syrup on top.
Add the chopped peanut butter cups on top. Refrigerate until serving time.
Enjoy!

Happy New Year (of the Ox!)

Yesterday, the kids had no school, so we celebrated the Chinese New Year! In the morning we made paper lanterns.


For dinner, we made peanut butter chicken and crab rangoon. Tim brought home chopsticks and SUSHI! (Philly rolls and eel rolls) We had a great time!



Now that I was going to post the peanut butter chicken recipe, I can't find it. I'll keep looking and post it when I find it. The crab rangoon is already posted, just follow the link over there on the right-->

**EDIT: I found it! WooHoo! Here you go! I wasn't overly impressed with it, but it wasn't terrible. I think that some extra peanut butter would be good, but we are PB freaks here....

Peanut Butter Chicken

Marinade:
1/3 cup soy sauce
3 tbsp spicy sesame oil (I used regular sesame oil.)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup pineapple juice (don't let that freak you out, you can't taste it in the end!)
S&P to taste
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into julienne strips about 3 inches long (I used 1.25 pounds of boneless breast tenderloins)


Mix together and add chicken. Allow to marinate 2-3 hours in refrigerator. Drain and discard marinade. Dredge chicken in flour.

Sauce:
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup whipping cream (I used half and half)
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter (I used JIF brand. It could have used more, in our opinion.)
Roasted peanuts and/or chopped green onion to garnish

In a medium saucepan, heat some sesame oil, just enough to coat the bottom of the skillet. Saute chicken, turning occasionally until golden brown and cooked through.

In a small saucepan over low heat, combine butter and flour and mix until smooth. Cook slowly until bubbly. Add stock and increase heat to high. When stock begins to thicken, add whipping cream and peanut butter, stirring until peanut butter is melted and sauce is the consistency of gravy.

To serve, place fried chicken on a plate, top with sauce and garnish. Enjoy!

*******My notes: The kids didn't like the heavy flavor of the sesame oil. Next time, I think I would deep fry the dredged and marinated chicken. Also, there didn't seem to be enough sauce to our liking. Simply remedied by making double the sauce for that amount of chicken. We really enjoyed this served with rice. I made white rice, but a fried rice would be fabulous here.

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!

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!