Banana Cake

I never seem to have shortage of overripe bananas.  I don't mind, really, because we LOVE Banana Bread!  But after a half dozen batches in a month (I guess I kinda overbought bananas!) I wanted something a little different.

1 1/3 cups  sugar

1 cup  sour cream
2 eggs
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups overripe bananas, mashed
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 13x9-inch baking dish and set aside. In a large bowl, cream together sugar, sour cream, eggs, and butter. Mix in the mashed bananas and vanilla. Add the flour, salt, and baking soda; mix well. Pour the batter into the greased baking dish and spread evenly.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

I frosted with my favorite frosting, Coconut Buttercream Frosting.

Cake recipe from Cooking Classy.

Kool-Aid Popcorn

My little pixie is turning 7 and I made this super tasty Kool-Aid Popcorn for her birthday party!  If you love Kool-Aid and popcorn, this recipe is for you!

My little pixie's colors were turquoise, lavender (heaven help me if I slipped and said blue and purple!), and pink.  Just pink.  I used grape Kool-Aid for the purple, and fruit punch for the pink (red?).  I really hoped it would turn out more pink, but even if the color didn't do what I wanted it to, it still tasted great!

12 cups popped popcorn
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 cup sugar
1 packet unsweetened Kool-Aid
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Combine butter, corn syrup, and sugar in a medium pan and cook over medium heat, stirring until butter is melted. Increase heat to medium-high until it comes to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and stir in the Kool-Aid and baking soda; mix well. Pour the hot mixture over the popcorn and stir until it’s well coated. Pour the popcorn out onto a large, rimmed, baking sheet that's been greased, and spread evenly. Cook for 40 minutes at 250, stirring every 10 minutes. Cool completely and break into pieces.

Recipe from Our Best Bites.

PJ Party

My sweet little pixy is turning 7 and wanted to party in her jammies!  She chose lavender and turquoise for her colors (if I accidentally said purple and blue, I was in BIG trouble!) and we added in pink as well.

 Because she didn't want a lot of friends, I did a small dessert table with....

 Chocolate Covered Marshmallows (Seriously, SO good and addicting.  And did I mention they're EASY!?!?),

 Crispy Rice Treats (another SO good, addicting and easy treat! Recipe link at the bottom.),

Chocolate Covered Oreos (Guess what?!?  Even another SO good, addicting and easy treat!),

 and some of the most amazing cupcake EVER with my favorite frosting!  (Recipe links at the bottom.)

And we can't for get the chocolate!  Mini Hershey bars in darling little wrappers!

 The girls munched on pizza and this super tasty Kool-Aid Popcorn (Recipe coming soon!).

 For the activities, the littles made Froot Loop necklaces

 and decorated their own pillowcases to take home.

  

They also took home little bags of chocolate bars.

All of the darling printables are from Just a Little Sparkle.  She does pretty amazing work!

Recipes (as promised :D)

Crazy Good Crispy Rice Treats

White Almond Wedding Cake (I made the batter into cupcakes and baked for 10 minutes less than the cake time.)

Coconut Buttercream Frosting

Yellow Summer Daisy Party

School is finally out!  My cute little 9 year old decided we needed to PARTY!! to celebrate.

 We decided to go with yellow and white for the colors and a mild daisy theme.

 White chocolate covered Oreos.  SO good!

 White chocolate daisy suckers.  Love, love, love how the little pots turned out!

 The lunch boxes were so cute!  They had Uncrustables, apples with caramel dip, Pringles, and lemonade.

 Little flower pots for the girls to paint, along with soil and seed for them to plant at home.

My cute little artist!

Italian Ground Beef Soup

I'm loving this Italian Ground Beef Soup!  It's a fairly simple and basic soup, but the way it all comes together with the spices is wonderful.  It reheats well and the leftovers get fought over.  And who fights over leftovers?!?

1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups carrots, sliced
1 1/2 cups celery, sliced
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
3 cups beef broth
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon thyme 

1/4 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes
1 1/2 tablespoons parsley

Combine ground beef, onion and garlic in a large pot and cook over medium heat until the ground beef is cooked through (If you like to cook your meat with oil, feel free to add a couple tablespoons of oil.  I never use oil when I cook ground beef).  Once the ground beef is cooked, add remaining ingredients and stir to combine.  Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 40 minutes.

Recipe adapted from Art and the Kitchen.

Amish White Bread

I've said it before, but I'll say it again.  I'm fascinated with the Amish way of life!  I am 95% sure I could live the lifestyle without any problem.  I love the simplicity of their lifestyle and if a recipe has the word "Amish" in it, I'm more likely than not to try it out.  I guess that makes me a bit of a sucker. :)

I honestly haven't a clue if this is an authentic Amish recipe, but regardless, it's fantastic!  I've made 2 batches in the last 2 weeks and they haven't lasted long.  I made my girls sandwiches for their school lunches with this Amish White Bread and when I asked them how their sandwiches were, they had no clue the bread was homemade.  They both told me it tasted just like the kind of bread I buy.  Personally, I think this bread is better than store bought bread.  At least now I know it is a great sandwich bread!

1 cup warm water 

1 cup warm milk

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 tablespoons yeast

5 1/2 to 6 cups flour

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer (with a dough hook), pour warm milk and water (I heat them together in the microwave for about 1 1/2 minutes, stirring after each 30 seconds.  I like it to be warm enough that I can stick my finger in it without it being uncomfortable.)  Sprinkle with yeast and sugar, then mix just enough to make sure all the yeast is wet, instead of sitting on the top of the liquid.  Let the yeast sit to proof (get foamy); about 5 minutes.  Add in salt, oil and 3 cups of flour and mix well.  Slowly add the remaining flour, 1 cup at a time, until the dough is soft and not very sticky.  Let the mixer knead the dough for about 5 minutes, or until the dough is elasticy (when you poke it with your finger the indentation doesn't remain).  Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm spot until doubled; about 1 hour.  Dump the dough out onto the counter (I spray my counter with non-stick cooking spray) and divide into 2 equal parts.  Shape each part into a loaf and place in a greased loaf pan.  Cover the loaves with plastic wrap and let rise again until the dough is about 1-inch above the top of the pans; 30 to 60 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 350.  Bake for 30 minutes or until the top of the loaves are nicely browned and the loaves sound hollow when you tap them. Remove the loaves from the pans and place on a cooling rack.  If desired, brush the top of the loaves with melted butter.

Recipe adapted from Bakerette.

Hot Reuben Dip

My husband's favorite sandwich is a Reuben.  I have to admit, although I originally turned my nose up at them, they are pretty tasty.  For the Superbowl (I know, it was for-ev-er ago!) I decided to make him his favorite sandwich.  In a dip.

This hot Reuben Dip tastes just like the sandwich.  The leftovers were even the filling for a grilled sandwich. YUM!

If you love Reuben sandwiches, you'll love this dip!

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened (pretty sure most good dips start out this way)
1/3 cup thousand island salad dressing
1/2 pound pastrami, deli sliced and then chopped into about 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup sauerkraut
1 cup Swiss cheese, shredded

Combine cream cheese and thousand island dressing and mix until smooth.  Add pastrami, sauerkraut, and Swiss cheese and mix until combined.  Pour into a greased 2-quart baking dish and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes, or until hot.

Recipe adapted from Will Cook for Smiles.