Frosted Banana Bars

These are great banana bars, they're actually more like banana cake.  I found the recipe from Taste of Home.

Ingredients for Bars:

-1/2 cup butter, softened

-1 1/2 cups sugar

-2 eggs

-1 cup (8 oz.) sour cream

-1 tsp vanilla extract

-2 cups flour

-1 tsp baking soda

-1/4 tsp salt

-2 ripe bananas (about 1 cup)

Ingredients for Frosting:

-8 oz. cream cheese, softened

-1/2 cup butter, softened

-2 tsp vanilla extract

-3 3/4 to 4 cups powdered sugar

Process for Bars:

1. Cream together butter and sugar.

2. Add eggs and vanilla, mix well.

3. Add in sour cream and bananas (broken into chunks).

4. Beat in baking soda and salt.

5. Add flour.

6. Beat until smooth.

7. Spread batter into a greased 15 x 10 x 1 inch baking pan or 9 x 13 inch baking dish.  {I used a 9 x 13.}

8. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

9. Let cool completely.

Process for Frosting:
1. Add cream cheese, butter and vanilla to mixer bowl.

2. Add powdered sugar.

3. Beat until smooth.

4. Spread frosting on cooled cake.

5. Enjoy!  Store covered in refrigerator.

Yum!

Spinach Artichoke Dip

This was really great Artichoke Spinach Dip; I like that the recipe uses fresh spinach instead of the frozen stuff.

I found the recipe from Taste of Home.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:
-14 oz. water-packed artichoke heats, rinsed, drained and chopped
-1 cup (about half a normal-sized bag) fresh baby spinach, chopped {if you really like the spinach, like I do you can chop and add the whole bag}
-1/2 cup sour cream
-1/2 cup mayo {I used Miracle Whip}
-1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
-1/2 cup grated Parmesan
-1/3 cup chopped onion
-1/4 tsp garlic powder
-assorted crackers for serving

Process:
1. Combine all ingredients in crock-pot and stir well.
2. Cover and cook on low for 2-3 hours or 1-2 hours on high heat, stirring occasionally.
3. Serve with assorted crackers.
4. Enjoy!

Tumbleweeds

These are really good and actually very easy to make!

I found the recipe from Taste of Home.

Ingredients:

-11 oz. butterscotch chips

-2 tbsp creamy peanut butter

-12 oz. dry roasted peanuts {I used a combination of dry roasted peanuts and a dried fruit and nut mix}

-4 oz. potato sticks

Process:

1. In a microwave safe bowl, melt butterscotch chips and peanut butter, stir until smooth.

2. Stir in peanuts and potato sticks.

3. Drop by tablespoons onto wax or freezer paper.

4. Let sit until set; store in an airtight container.

5. Enjoy!

White Sangria

Happy, happy Friday!  This was really great!  And very easy to make!  Enjoy!

Ingredients:
-1 cup unsweetened pineapple juice {I used 2 small cans which is a little bit more than 1 cup}
-1/4 cup lemon juice
-2 medium oranges, washed and sliced
-1 medium lemon, washed and sliced
-1 medium tart apple, washed and sliced {I used a Granny Smith}
-750 ml Riesling or other sweet white wine {you could also use Chardonnay or Viognier}
-1/4 cup triple sec
-2 cups lemon-lime soda {about 2 cans, use as much or as little as you like}


Process:
1. In a large pitcher, combine pineapple juice, lemon juice, orange and lemon slices; mash gently with a wooden spoon to partially crush fruit.
2. Add wine, triple sec and apple slices.
3. Refrigerate for 2-4 hours.
4. Pour into serving glasses over ice and top off with soda.
5. Enjoy!

Hot Cheddar & Mushroom Dip

This was really good; although I think next time I will use fresh mushrooms and just saute them before adding them to the other ingredients!  

This is also very easy to through together; I found the recipe from Taste of Home.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

-2 cups mayo or Miracle Whip {we like Miracle Whip better}

-2 cups (8 oz.) shredded cheddar

-2/3 cup grated Parmesan

-4 cans (4 1/2 oz. each) sliced mushrooms, drained OR 16-24 ounces fresh sliced mushrooms, sauteed until just tender {I'll do this next time!}

-1 envelope ranch dressing mix OR 3 tbsp Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix

-about 1/4 to 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley

-1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped onion {the original recipe doesn't call for this but I think it would be a nice addition to the recipe!}

-assorted crackers for serving

Process:

1. Combine and mix all ingredients directly in crock-pot.

2. Cook covered over high heat for 2-3 hours or on low for 4-6 hours, stirring occasionally.

3. Serve with an assortment of crackers.

4. Enjoy!

Dutch Oven Scalloped Potatoes

These are really good!  You could also prepare them in any baking dish with a lid or with foil over the top.

I think you could easily assemble this recipe ahead of time, refrigerate and just bake it for an additional 15 to 20 minutes before removing the lid.

I found the recipe from Serious Eats.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

-2 pounds potatoes {I used 6 medium red potatoes}

-3 tbsp butter

-1 1/2 cups grated, cubed or crumbled cheddar or other cheese

-salt and pepper to taste

-1/2 large onion, thinly sliced {I used about 1/4 cup dried minced onion...its not as detectable to the kids and its so easy!}

-2 cups milk

Process:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Lightly grease Dutch oven or other baking dish.

3. Thinly slice potatoes and place half of them in the bottom of the Dutch oven; I sliced mine about 1/8 to 1/4 inch.

4. Top the potato slices with 1 cup cheese.

5. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and top cubed butter.

6. Top the cheese with the remaining sliced potatoes.

7. Sprinkle potatoes with onions.

8. Season with salt and pepper.

9. Pour milk over potatoes.

10. Cover Dutch oven and bake potatoes for 1 hour.

11. Remove potatoes from the oven, remove the lid.

12. Top the potatoes with the remaining 1/2 cup cheese.

13. Return to the oven, uncovered.

14. Bake potatoes, uncovered for about 30 minutes, until potatoes and cheese are browned.

15. Enjoy!

Herbed Cheesecake Vegetable & Cracker Dip

This is a fantastic twist on cheesecake!  Its savory with lots of herbs, cheese and pepperoni and is served with fresh vegetables and crackers!

I found the recipe originally from Taste of Home.  I have changed the recipe; because I don't think this recipe needs the crust.  Nobody wants to eat crust with a cracker.  

I have made this with both fresh and dried herbs; and I have found that it really is best with lots of fresh herbs and you can use any combination of fresh herbs you have!  Enjoy!

Ingredients:
-3 (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
-3 tbsp flour
-4 eggs
-1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
-2/3 cup fresh parsley, minced
-1 small onion, chopped
-1/2 cup pepperoni, chopped
-2 tbsp lemon juice
-1 tbsp fresh basil, minced or 1 tsp dried basil
-1 tbsp fresh tarragon, minced or 1 tsp dried tarragon
-1 tbsp fresh oregano, minced or 1 tsp dried oregano
-1 1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, minced or 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
-2 garlic cloves, minced
-1 tsp salt
-1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce
-assorted fresh vegetables for dipping
-assorted crackers for dipping

Process:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Lightly grease a small baking dish about 9 x 9 or a little larger.
3. In a large bowl beat cream cheese and flour until smooth.
4. Add eggs and beat until combined.
5. Stir in Parmesan, parsley, onion, pepperoni, lemon juice, other herbs, garlic, salt and pepper sauce.
6. Pour mixture into prepared baking dish.
7. Bake at 325 degrees for about 45 to 55 minutes.
8. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes  loosen edge with knife and cool another 60 minutes.
9. Over and refrigerate overnight.
10. Serve with fresh vegetables and assorted crackers.
11. Enjoy!

Hawaiian Bread or Rolls

This recipe is so awesome; its just as good or actually better than the store-bought Hawaiian rolls/bread because it comes out so fresh, tender and absolutely delicious!

This would be great with spinach dip, I made the rolls for ham sandwiches and my husband loved the bread as toast in the morning!  Enjoy!

This recipe makes 3 loaves; I made 2 loaves and a batch of buns.  You can do this by hand, but as you probably have noticed I always do this the easy way and use my bread-maker.  It does freeze well so go ahead and make the full batch to use later.

I added the honey for extra sweetness, it was recommended by one of the other reviewers.  I found the original recipe from Food.com.

Ingredients:

-3 eggs

-2 cups pineapple juice {I used 2-6 oz. cans, plus 1/3 cup water}

-3 tbsp honey

-3/4 cup sugar

-1/2 tsp ground ginger

-1 tsp vanilla extract

-1/2 cup butter, melted

-6 1/2 to 7 1/2 cups flour

-4 1/2 tsp yeast

Process:

1. Place the eggs in the bread-maker pan.

2. Add the pineapple juice/water to the bread-maker pan.

 3. Add the vanilla, ginger and honey to the pan.

 4. Add sugar and melted butter to the pan.

5. Add the flour and yeast to the bread pan.  It will be fairly full.

6. Set the bread-maker to the dough setting and let the cycle run. {Tip: After the bread-maker starts to mix push a wooden spoon straight down into the pan to help mix the dough; since its so full the bread-maker itself may not be able to pull all of the flour and yeast down into the mix.  Also check the mixture as it mixes to see if it is too sticky, add more flour if needed to make a good dough consistency the dough should not stick to the sides of the bread pan, it should form a nice ball of dough around the mixer blade.}
7. Once the cycle has completed, turn the dough out onto an oiled or floured surface.

8. Cut the dough in to 3 fairly equal pieces; this divides your loaves.

9. Place the dough for loaves into generously greased bread pans.

10. Form other dough into rolls {you can do all rolls or all loaves if you like}, place rolls on a baking sheet lined with parchment or greased.

11. Cover the loaves/rolls with clean kitchen towels and allow to rise for about 1 hour.  {I like to preheat the oven while the bread rises and have the dough rising on the stove-top in the winter when the room temperature may be a little lower than in the summer.}

12. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
13. Bake the loaves for about 30 minutes, until golden.

 Bake the rolls for about 20 minutes, until golden.

14. Immediately remove the loaves from loaf pans and cool on wire racks.

 Cool the rolls on the parchment or on a wire rack.

 15. Enjoy!