Banana Crumb Muffins

Shellie made these muffins for us when she was visiting us over the summer and we all loved them - even Joe who hates both bananas and muffins! I had a bunch of bananas that were about to go bad so I requested the recipe of these amazing muffins from Shell and I'd love to share it with everyone! Seriously....make these soon.

BANANA CRUMB MUFFINS

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup butter, melted

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/3 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Shellie's tips

Don't use muffin paper liners. waste of time. and in my opinion waste of muffin. just spray pam into muffin pan and they will come right out.

Also if you have an ice cream scoop with a pushy button that releases the ice cream I use that to fill the muffins. don't get a complete scoop or it will over run. like a 3/4 scoop is perfect.

This recipe makes about 12. but you are probably want to double or triple it cause its that good.

Sweet Potato Minestrone

I saw this recipe and thought it would be the perfect fall soup to try out so I made it Halloween night. We all absolutely loved it and it was also very healthy. I plan on making this one often. You can find the original recipe here and I'll list the recipe on here with the changed I made.

SWEET POTATO MINESTRONE

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 large sweet onion, chopped
• 2 large stalks celery, chopped
• 2 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon of each: thyme, oregano, rosemary, and red pepper flakes
  
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 (28 ounce) can Italian-style diced tomatoes
• 5 cups chicken broth
• 3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 large carrots, sliced thin
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 can red kidney beans
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
  

Heat oil in a soup pot over medium-high heat. Saute onion, celery, Italian seasoning, other seasonings, salt and pepper until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, with the juice, broth, sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, beans and garlic. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.

Beer Bread

One of my favorite things to eat with chili is beer bread. The yeast-y, sweet flavor of the bread is perfect with it. This is a new recipe that I tried out on my family and everyone loved it! It's super easy to make so definitely give it a try! This recipe is adapted from this one.

BEER BREAD

• 3 cups self-rising flour
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 (12 ounce) can of beer
• 1/4 cup of butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch baking pan. In a bowl, mix the self-rising flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, onion powder, and Italian seasoning. Pour in the beer, and mix just until moistened. Transfer to the prepared baking pan. Top with the melted butter. Bake 45 to 55 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Eggplant Parmesan

Eggplant has been one of those veggies that I would eye at the grocery and farmers markets but would NEVER attempt to buy it. Gross. Well something just came over me last week and I decided to buy one and make eggplant parmesan. No clue what would come of this but I figured I should try it before concluding that it was disgusting. I took a few recipes and combined them into this one and we loved it! I seriously could have eaten the whole thing by myself. If you haven't ever tried eggplant, try this recipe!

EGGPLANT PARMESAN

• 1 medium eggplant, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2-4 tbsp kosher salt
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 4 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce of your choice
• 1 package of spaghetti noodles, cooked
  
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

Sweat the eggplant by generously sprinkling the eggplant slices with kosher salt (this takes the bitterness out). Let this sit for 30 minutes. Rinse and pat dry with a paper towel. Dip the slices into the beaten eggs and then coat with the bread crumbs. Place on a baking sheet coated with olive oil. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese on the eggplant slices. Bake for 7 minutes at 450 degrees and then flip them over and bake for an additional 7 minutes. While this is baking, combine the spaghetti sauce and noodles. Serve the eggplant over the spaghetti and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese.

Double Delight Peanut Butter Cookies

YUM YUM YUM is all I have to say about these cookies. I made them for Joe's family and my family over the weekend and everyone loved them! I got the recipe from Janet's blog and she did not disappoint! Everyone needs to try these.

Double Delight Peanut Butter Cookies

• 1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 roll Pillsbury refigerated peanut butter cookie dough, well chilled
• non-stick cooking spray

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375* F. In small bowl, mix chopped peanuts, granulated sugar and cinnamon; set aside.
2. In another small bowl, stir peanut butter and powdered sugar until completely blended. Shape mixture into 24 (1 inch) balls.
3. Cut roll of cookie dough into 12 slices. Cut each slice in half crosswise to make 24 pieces; flatten slightly. Shape 1 cookie dough piece around 1 peanut butter ball, covering completely. Repeat with remaining dough and balls.
4. Roll each covered ball in peanut/sugar mixture; gently pat mixture completely onto balls. On ungreased large cookie sheets, place balls 2 inches apart. Spray bottom of drinking glass with non-stick cooking spray; flatten each ball to 1/2 inch thickness with bottom of glass. Sprinkle remaining peanut/sugar mixture evenly on tops of flattened cookies; gently press into dough.
5. Bake 7 - 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Store tightly covered.

Makes 24 "gooey-in-the-middle" cookies!

Baked Butternut Squash

In the past when I've gotten butternut squash I always made soup with it. That's very delicious and all but I wanted to try something new. I decided to try this recipe and loved it! It's the perfect side dish for the fall and it was easy to make.

BAKED BUTTERNUT SQUASH

• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 3 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a large bowl, combine the parsley, oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Add squash and toss to coat.

Transfer to an ungreased shallow 2-qt. baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees F for 50-55 minutes or until squash is just tender.

Creamy Carrot Gelatin Salad

Ok, so the the title of this sounds a little gross, but don't judge this recipe by its name! I have a lot of carrots that are going to go bad soon so I searched the internet for some new dishes that I could experiment with. Colton LOVES Jell-o with fruit in it, so I wanted to make a Jell-o dish with carrots in it and see if he likes that too. This dish is so delicious, you can't even tell there's carrot in it! I served it to my family and they all asked if coconut was in it. Ha! Here's the link for the salad.

CREAMY CARROT GELATIN SALAD

• 1 can (8 ounce) of crushed pineapple
• 24 marshmallows (I used the small kind)
• 1 jar (5 ounces) cream cheese with pineapple (I just used regular cream cheese)
• 1 package lemon Jell-o (I used Jell-O's Tropical flavor - it has pineapple, orange, and cherry flavors)
• 1 1/2 cups boiling water
• 3/4 cup grated carrots

Drain pineapple; reserve juice. Heat reserved pineapple juice in a small saucepan over low heat; add marshmallows, stirring until melted. Add cream cheese, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat. Dissolve Jello in boiling water; cool. combine marshmallow mixture with gelatin; chill until jelled to the consistency of unbeaten egg white. Stir in crushed pineapple and grated carrot; pour into an 8-inch square pan; cut carrot salad in squares to serve.