Banana Cake

Banana Cake
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (3-4 bananas)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
Frosting:
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
3-4 cups powdered sugar

In a large bown, cream the butter and sugar until li ght and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg. Beat in bananas and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; add to creamed mixture beating well after each addition.
Pour into a greased 9x13-inch baking pan or cooking sheet (15x10x1in.). Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes (or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean). Cool.
For frosting: In a large bowl beat cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Gradually add powdered sugar until smooth. Spread over cake.

Nutrition: Calories: 238, Fat: 8g, Saturated fat: 3g, Protein: 4g, Carb: 40g, Fiber: 2g, Cholesterol: 39mg, Sodium: 146mg

I LOVE this cake. This has been a favorite of mine growing up. Normally I make it in a cookie sheet but I made this for my birthday cake this year so I halved the recipe and made it in an 8x8 pan. I'm sure you could make cupcakes out of this too. Just reduce the time it bakes in the oven. YUM!

Mini Chicken Pot Pies

Mini Chicken Pot Pies
1 1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 of a 16-oz. package frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
Flour
1 package (12 oz.) refrigerated biscuits (10 biscuits)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Spray 10 muffin-pan cups with non-stick cooking spray. Stir chicken, soup and vegetables in a medium bowl.
2. Sprinkle the flour on a work surface. Roll or pat the biscuits to flatten slightly. Press the biscuits into the bottoms and up the sides of the muffin-pan cups. Spoon about 1/3 cup chicken mixture into each biscuit cup. Lightly press the chicken mixture down so it's level. Top each with about 2 teaspoons of cheese.
3. Bake for 15 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown and the cheese is melted. Let the pot pies cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes.

These were so good! So easy to make and just look how cute they are! I told the kids they were Chicken Muffins. Anything is good if it has the word muffin in it and they liked it too.

Restaurant Style Steak

Restaurant Style Steak

Ingredients:

• filet mignon - 2, 8 ounce filets
• kosher salt - 4 teaspoons
• freshly cracked pepper - 4 teaspoons
• butter - 1 stick
• olive oil - 1 tablespoon
• garlic - 2 cloves, chopped
• parsley - 1 tablespoon, chopped
• thyme - 1 tablespoon, chopped
• lemon zest - 1 teaspoon

Instructions:

1. Take 1/2 stick of butter, softened, and mix well with the peeled, chopped garlic, the chopped herbs, and the lemon zest.  Form into a log and refrigerate.  Generously season the filet's with salt and pepper, approximately 1 teaspoon of seasoning per side.

2. Heat the remainder of the butter (1/2 stick) and the olive oil in a cast iron skillet to a screaming hot temperature. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.   Sear the filets in a screaming hot pan for about 2-3 minutes per side, or until a nice brown crust has formed. While the steak is searing, continue to spoon the residual butter in the pan on top of the meat while it's cooking.  Once both sides are seared, place in the center of the oven for about 6-8 minutes, depending upon how thick your steak is.  

3. In the last minute of cooking, take the log of compound butter and slice a nice thick piece to place on top. Your steak will be ready when it is approximately 135 degrees in the center, or when you push lightly on the top center of the steak and it gently and slowly bounces back.  (Note, this is medium rare. 150 degrees is medium. 170 degrees is well done.)

Mmmm. Steak. We used 12-oz. New York strip steak. It really made a difference to pan sear the meat first. It was so juice on the inside. We didn't make the herbed butter, though. That was a little much for us.  Sean always wants his with A1 and I always want ranch dressing with mine. But I'm sure it would have been delicious.

I don't have a cast iron skillet so we transferred the meat to a cookie sheet lined with foil. Worked just fine.

Crock Pot Chocolate Lava Cake

Crock Pot Chocolate Lava Cake

1 box chocolate cake mix
1 1/4 C milk
1/2 C vegetable or canola oil
3 eggs
1 (3.9 ounce) instant chocolate pudding
2 C milk (I used 1 %)
1 (12 ounce) bag milk chocolate chips
parchment paper

1. Grab a 3-4 quart crock pot and line it with parchment paper. Spray the inside of the paper with cooking spray. The parchment paper helps the cake cook without burning along the edges. You can make it without the paper, just be sure to watch it closely.
2. Find yourself a nice chocolate cake mix and pour it into your stand mixer or medium-sized mixing bowl.
3. Add 1 1/4 cup milk, 1/2 cup oil and 3 eggs. Beat on low-speed for 1 minutes. Scrape the bottom of the bowl and beat on medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until the batter in nice and glossy.
4. Pour the batter into the lined crock pot.
5. Pour one small box of chocolate pudding into your stand mixer or medium-sized mixing bowl. Add 2 cups cold milk and beat it until the pudding thickens. Should take about 3-4 minutes.
6. Pour the pudding over the top of the cake batter. Don't stir it. Really, cross my heart and hope to die. It will cook up best if you leave the layers be.
7. Grab a bag of milk chocolate chips and pour the pretty little things all over the top of the pudding. Again, please do not stir it.
8. Cover the crock and cook on low for 2 1/2 hours, or until the top of the cake is set. The bottom layer of the cake will be all gooey and soft. Yum.
9. Place some on a plate and add a  cool scoop of ice cream or whipped cream right on top.

The original recipe says to cook this on low but it was not even close to being ready after 2 hours so I turned it up to high for another hour and it was perfect. So if you cook this on low I'd say it needs 3 or 4 hours to cook.
The bottom of the cake will be gooey and it's supposed to be. Make sure to get all that gooey goodness with your cake. Delicious with ice cream! It was so fun making cake in a crock pot!

Slow Cooker Creamy Macaroni and Cheese

Slow Cooker Creamy Macaroni and Cheese

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni

4 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1 (10.75 oz) can condensed cheddar cheese soup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk (I used 1%)
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard or 1/4 teaspoon of bottled mustard
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Boil the macaroni in water for six minutes and drain. In a medium saucepan, mix butter and cheese. Heat over medium high heat and stir until the cheese melts. Spray your slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. Combine cheese mixture, sour cream, soup, salt, milk, mustard and pepper in your slow cooker. Add the drained macaroni and stir again. Cook on low for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally (I cooked mine for about 2 hours and stirred it twice and it was perfect).

The kids gobbled this up! Fun for me to try a new recipe, too!

Sour Cream Noodle Bake

Sour Cream Noodle Bake

• 1-1/4 pound Ground Chuck
• 1 can 15-ounces Tomato Sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
•  Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 8 ounces, weight Egg Noodles
• 1/2 cup Sour Cream
• 1-1/4 cup Small Curd Cottage Cheese
• 1/2 cup Sliced Green Onions (less To Taste)
• 1 cup Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Brown ground chuck in a large skillet. Drain fat, then add tomato sauce. 1/2 teaspoon salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Stir, then simmer while you prepare the other ingredients.

Cook egg noodles until al dente. Drain and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine sour cream and cottage cheese. Add plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Add to noodles and stir. Add green onions and stir.

To assemble, add half of the noodles to a baking dish. Top with half the meat mixture, then sprinkle on half the grated cheddar. Repeat with noodles, meat, then a final layer of cheese. Bake for 20 minutes, or until all cheese is melted.

Serve with crusty French bread.

I obviously didn't take this picture. I forgot last night and now it's in a tupperware container looking not as pretty as this one. Anyway, we all really liked this meal. Such simple ingredients making very kid friendly, in my opinion. I bet this would freeze well too. Make a whole batch and freeze half of it. We ate ours with garlic toast. Mmmm.

Chicken Fried Chicken with Country Gravy

Chicken Fried Chicken
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
1 sleeve saltine crackers, crushed
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk
2 large eggs
oil

Place chicken breasts between 2 sheets heavy-duty plastic wrap and flatten to 1/4-inch thickness using a meat mallet or rolling pin. Season with half the salt and pepper. Set aside.
Combine cracker crumbs, flour, baking powder, and remaining salt and pepper. In a separate bowl whisk together milk and eggs. Dredge chicken in cracker crumb mixture; dip in milk mixture; dredge in cracker mixture again. Pour oil to a depth of 1/2-inch in a large skillet. Over medium high heat fry chicken 5 minutes per side until golden brown. Remove to wire rack in a cookie sheet. Keep chicken warm in a 225*F oven.

Country Gravy
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups milk
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Whisk in the flour, salt and pepper until smooth. Cook and stir over medium heat  until browned, about 5-10 minutes. Gradually stir in milk so that no lumps form, and continue cooking and stirring until thickened. If gravy becomes too thick, add more milk.

This has always been one of Sean's favorite meals and tonight was my first time making it. It's so satisfying to cook food you know people will love.  And then watch them enjoy it. Ahhhh. The chicken was delicious! That crust is awesome and the chicken was moist and tender on the inside.
Unfortunately I burned the gravy a little. I used the left over oil from frying the chicken and I think that was a mistake. It was already over cooked and it just didn't turn out. So, for the gravy I would suggest using a new batch. of oil. Next time I'll know how to make it better!

I got the recipe for the chicken here. The gravy recipe wasn't making sense to me so we found a different recipe for that here.