Banana Blueberry Bread

Though I'm a "traditional" banana bread gal, this was a nice change of pace.

BUTTERMILK BANANA BLUEBERRY BREAD
1 and 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat four mini loaf pans with nonstick spray. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, buttermilk and vanilla until well combined. Beat in bananas. Gradually add flour mixture to the sugar mixture at low speed, beating just until incorporated. Add blueberries and gently toss to combine. Scoop the batter into the loaf pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool 15 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack.

Hawaiian BBQ Sandwiches

This was an easy meal to make. Yummy. Probably will watch the broiler a little closer next time!

HAWAIIAN BBQ CHICKEN SANDWICHES
2-3 lbs boneless chicken breast
1-2 cups barbecue sauce
Hoagie buns
Pineapple slices
Provolone cheese

Put the chicken and BBQ sauce in the slow cooker. Cook on high for 5-6 hours or low for 7-8 hours. Shred meat with a fork. Toast buns. Place meat on buns. Top with pineapple and cheese. Broil until cheese melts.

Mom's 74th Birthday

I made a cake and brought it to mom's house to celebrate her 74th birthday.

STRAWBERRY CHOCOLATE CHIP CAKE
1 box strawberry cake mix
1 pkg instant strawberry creme pudding mix
1 and 3/4 cups milk
2 eggs
1 and 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients except chocolate chips with a mixer until well combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.Pour into greased 10x15 baking pan or 9x13 cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes. Cool completely. Frost with whipped cream. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Independence Day

PATRIOTIC LAYERED DRINK
Choose 2-3 drinks with different sugar content for the layers (for example: 30g sugar, 15g sugar, 0g sugar). Fill cup with ice all the way to the top. Pour the drink with the highest sugar contest into the cup, filling it approximately one third full. For the second layer, pour the second drink with the lower sugar contest slowly through the ice to fill up to 2/3rd of the glass. Finally, pour the sugar-free or lowest sugar drink slowly through the ice until you've reached the top of the glass. Suggested: Sobe Pina Colada, Gatorade Fruit Punch, G2 Blueberry-Pomegranate). We did not find those choices at the store so went with Big Red, Big Blue and Sobe Pina Colada. The blue and red worked great, but once we added the white - it kind of lost the layers (we were trying hard to not pick a sugar-free option).

Mom had everyone to her house at 4pm for dinner. We brought the cake pops that Cheyenne and I had made, plus we made a Red/White/Blue fruit salad. Finding the red (watermelon) and blue (blueberries) was easy. Finding a "white" melon was hard, but we picked up a Canary melon and it worked great.

John brought some rockets to play with after dinner - that entertained the group for quite awhile. Then we headed home and watched "Independence Day" with Will Smith - a great patriotic movie!!

Cake Pops

Cheyenne showed me a cake pop pan that Grandma had bought and then asked me when we were going to do something about it!! We decided we'd make dessert for Grandma's 4th of July party, so Cheyenne came over on July 3rd and we got to baking. For the cake pops we used a cake mix and then we dipped them in red, white and blue candy melts and then into sprinkles or colored sugar (or both). Cheyenne was a great baker!! Thanks for hanging out with Aunt Sam-alam-acam-afam-alam!

Mexican Chicken / Rice / Queso

This was delicious! Great flavor! Everyone loved it, but it had a kick. Well - it was because I was out of regular diced tomatoes...So for the chicken recipe I added Rotel instead. But only needed 1 cup, so for the Mexican rice, I blended the remaining can of Rotel to make "sauce". Audrey thought it was too spicy!! Though she was correct, it was still yummy.

GRILLED MEXICAN CHICKEN
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 bottle Lawry's Baja Chipotle marinade or Mesquite Marinade
1 jar Mexican queso or homemade Nacho cheese dip (see recipe below)
2-3 cups Mexican rice (see recipe below)
1 cup diced tomatoes
1/2 c. cilantro, chopped

Place chicken breasts in a Ziploc bag. Set aside about 1/2 cup of the marinade and pour the rest into the bag, covering the chicken. Press all the air out of the bag and seal tightly. Marinate for at least an hour in the refrigerator (best if overnight). While chicken is marinating, prepare rice.

When chicken is finished marinating, remove from bag and discard marinade. Grill chicken, brushing on a little of the reserved marinade every few minutes, until done and internal temp reaches 165 degrees. Heat queso/nacho cheese sauce. Place each chicken breast on 1/2 cup rice, top with queso, tomatoes and cilantro.

RESTAURANT STYLE MEXICAN RICE
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup rice, uncooked
1 tsp fresh minced garlic
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 c. tomato sauce
14 oz can chicken broth
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the rice and gently stir until rice begins to brown. Add the garlic, salt and cumin and stir until golden. Add the tomato sauce, chicken broth, and cilantro. Turn up to medium high and bring to a boil, then turn heat to low and cover with a lid. Simmer for 20-25 minutes. Remove from heat and fluff with a fork. Serves 4.

NACHO CHEESE DIP
1 lb Velveeta cheese
1 can Rotel tomatoes (tomatoes and green chilies)

Slice the cheese into cubes and put in a large bowl. Pour in entire can of Rotel. Melt in microwave on high, stirring every 2-3 minutes until fully melted. Serve with tortilla chips.

Butterfinger Cookies

BUTTERFINGER COOKIES
1/2 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 and 1/4 cup peanut butter (chunky or creamy)
1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
5 qty - 2.1 oz Butterfinger candy bars, chopped (about 2 cups). You can chop with a chefs knife or place in ziploc bag and crush with rolling pin. Don't use a food processor as it makes the pieces too fine.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugars together. Add egg and mix. Add peanut butter and vanilla and mix until smooth. Add flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix well. Then add Butterfingers and mix. Roll into 1" balls. Place on un-greased cookie sheet. The recipe did not call for it, but I 'scored' the tops like you would a peanut butter cookie. Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly browned. Allow to cool 2 minutes on baking sheet before moving to rack. Makes 4 dozen cookies.