Banana Bars

One of our new favorite ways of using up old bananas! It's also a great recipe to make with kids because the bars are mixed by hand.

Bars:
1 cup sugar
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 medium)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 package (3oz) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar

1. Heat oven to 350. Grease a 13x9-inch pan.
2. Mix sugar, bananas, oil and eggs with a spoon. Stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Pour into pan.
3. Bake bars 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely (1 hour).
4. Meanwhile, mix cream cheese, butter and vanillas with an electric mixer until well blended. Gradually mix in powdered sugar until smooth and spreadable.
5. Frost cooled bars. Store covered in the refrigerator.

Cookie Dough Cupcakes

These are Finlay's favorite treats.

Ingredients:
1 package cookie dough (take and bake style) or make your own small batch of chocolate chip cookie dough
1 Devil's Food Cake Mix
1/3 cup melted butter
1 1/3 cup water
3 eggs

1. Separate the cookie dough into little balls and place in the freezer for at least 2-3 hours. Make sure the dough balls are completely frozen.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
3. Prepare the cake mix using the above ingredients - not what it says on the box.
4. Line 24 muffin cups with liners (believe me, you want the liners and not cooking spray). Then add the cake mix evenly to each cup. Place a frozen cookie dough ball on top of each cup. Don't push down.
5. Place muffin tins in the oven and bake 15-16 minutes.
   
6. Allow to cool and frost with your favorite frosting. We used milk chocolate frosting and it was great!
   

Sloppy Joe's

2 pounds ground beef (or ground turkey)
1 tsp salt
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup ketchup
1 can tomato sauce (the kind that is around 10 oz)
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons honey mustard
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
hamburger buns, cheese, spinach leaves

1. Brown the meat. Drain far. Sprinkle with salt.
2. Add chopped onion and cook until tender.
3. Stir in ketchup, tomato sauce, vinegar, mustard, and brown sugar.
4. Simmer for 20-30 minutes.
5. Spoon onto hamburger buns and top with cheese and spinach.

Creamed Carrots

14 large carrots, peeled and thinly sliced (or lots of baby carrots cut in half)
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups skim milk
1 tsp salt
1/4 tablespoon dry mustard seed
1/4 tsp celery salt
1/8 tsp pepper
Cheddar cheese (2-3 cups depending on how much cheese you want on top)
1 cup bread crumbs
2 pieces toast, crumbled and/or chopped into small pieces

1. Cook the carrots and drain.
2. Saute the onions in the butter.
3. Add flour and cook for two minutes
4. Add milk and cook until thickened.
5. Mix in salt, mustard, celery salt and pepper.
6. Pour carrots in 9x13 baking dish and pour sauce over the top.
7. Sprinkle cheese over the top, then sprinkle with bread crumbs and pieces of toast.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Best Pizza Crust Ever (can also be made into bread/rolls)

I'm back! After three moves this summer I am finally settled and will once again be consistent with fun tips, trivia, ideas, recipes, and whatever else I feel like putting on here. Today I will post the best pizza dough recipe. It is amazing. Thanks to my mother-in-law for passing it on to me.

Combine the following ingredients and let sit for 5 minutes:
2 tablespoons yeast
2 1/3 cup warm water
1/3 cup sugar

Mix together the following ingredients, and then pour the yeast mixture into it and mix again:
4 cups flour
1/3 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons powdered milk (the secret ingredient)

Add in an additional 2 cups of flour (or more) and knead/mix until the mixture is the right consistency.

Roll the dough and put into the pizza pan or pizza stone. Let rise for 15 minutes.
Add toppings and cook 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees.

To make bread, just put the dough in a bread pan and let rise 15 minutes. Then cook for 28 minutes at 350 degrees. You can make rolls by putting dough in muffin tin (you will want to adjust the cooking time depending on how big your rolls are. They will probably take about 15 mintues).

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are some of the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever had. This will be my new go-to chocolate chip cookie recipes. The cookie dough was especially delicious.

3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 package (12 oz) chocolate chips

1. Heat oven to 375.
2. Mix sugars, vanilla and egg. Mix in flour, baking soda and salt. The dough will be stiff. Form dough into little balls (tablespoonfuls) and place on ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake 8-10 minutes or until light brown.

About the author

This is Tisha. Wonderful cook, amazing wife, and a super-mom in every way. And, she's a babe. In fact, if she were a president, she'd be babe-raham Lincoln.

Thanks Tisha, for your delicious cooking and insightful tips. No wonder Emerson, Finlay and I are always so happy.