Banana Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Whew! What a mouthful, right? I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and it was a hands down winner at my house. Kids....and ME gobbled them up just about as fast as they came out of the oven. They were super moist and held up well to the dunking test.



Ingredients:
1 cup white sugar
1 cup margarine
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3 ripe bananas, mashed
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

In a medium bowl, cream butter and sugar together until smooth. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cloves and cinnamon, stir into the creamed mixture. Then add the mashed bananas, rolled oats and chocolate chips, mix until well blended.

Drop dough by rounded spoonfuls onto unprepared cookie sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove cookies from pan to cool on wire racks.

I did change this recipe up a bit. It asked for 1 teaspoon of cloves. Now..If you have ever worked with cloves then you know it's a POWERFUL spice. So I decreased it and added a bit of nutmeng to go with it as well and it was yummy!

Mendoza Tacos!

What can I say about these tacos? They are the most amazing tacos EVER! My good, fun, funny friend, Becky, is the one who taught me to make these tacos, and I'm so glad she did. They do take a bit of work, but trust me..it's worth it! I think in one week I made these tacos..THREE TIMES. Oh, it didn't stop there. I'm usually a one taco kind of gal..I ate FOUR of these babies in one sitting and probably could have gone back for more if I could have ignored the glutton in me.



Meat Filling:
2 lbs. of ground beef.
1 onion, chopped fine.
1-2 tsp. of garlic.
1-2 Tbsp. of cumin (you can adjust this to your tastes..the more you add the better it is)
2 tsp. of salt.
Pepper to taste.

3-4 cups Mozarella cheese, shredded.

Here is the time consuming part. You fry your own shells. Just grab a package of those white corn tortialls from the market and fry them in oil. While they are cooking, use two forks to fold into the shape of a regular taco shell.

Put in your meat filling and then top with cheese. Bake in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes. This helps crispy up the shells and melts the cheese.

Recommended toppings:
A bit of salt
Couple squirts of lemon (I will NEVER eat a taco without lemon again)
Sour cream
Avacado
Cilatro
Green leaf lettuce
Taco sauce

Amazing!

Bourbon Chicken..Ahh how I love thee.

So I found this WONDERFUL recipe on my friend, Melanie's, recipe blog. She's an amazing cook and an amazing woman who cracks me up all the time with her clever and witty posts. You can find her awesome blog at www.mykitchencafe.blogspot.com. (anyone who knows how to just add a link to a word..Let me know! I'm computer lame.) I'm so glad that she posted this recipe and that I chose to make it because it has become a regular in our house. No, there is not really bourbon in this recipe, but the mixture of flavors gives it a hint of flavor. It's truly wonderful.



BOURBON CHICKEN:

Ingredients:
2lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 tablespoons oil (for pan-frying)
cornstarch (for dusting, optional)

Sauce:
1 garlic clove (minced)
¼ teaspoon ginger (I used ground ginger)
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
¼ cup apple juice
1/3 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
½ cup water
1/3 cup soy sauce

Directions:
Cut chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces, and if you choose lightly dust with cornstarch. Heat oil in your wok and fry chicken bits in batches until lightly browned. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

In a bowl combine all sauce ingredients. Pour into wok and bring to a boil. Add chicken bits back to the pan, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Cheese Bread:

This is actually the first bread recipe I tried that actually WORKED for me. I can honestly say that this is one of the best breads I've ever had, and my family devoured one and a half loaves the first night. It's super moist, holds its shape and tastes delicious! I've messed around with this recipe a bit and have come up with a recipe that I've made a few times. I will add that at the end, although I don't have a picture for it.



Ingredients:

1 cup milk
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. salt
1 Tbsp. soft butter or margarine
2 Tbsp dry yeast (or two packages)
1 cup warm water
4 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, grated

Directions:

Scald milk. Remove from head and add the sugar, salt and butter. Set aside mixture to cool. Add your yeast to the warm water and allow to dissolve. Place in a large bowl your flour and cheese. Add the yeast mixture and milk mixture and mix well. Cover with towel and let rise for 1 hour. Spoon into greased bread pans and bake at 375 for 35 minutes. Makes two loaves.

Pizza bread:
I decreased the amount of salt to 2 tsp. and the amount of sugar to 1 Tbsp. I also used mozzarella instead of cheddar. Before making the bread, I sauteed half an onion and one green bell pepper in oil until they were tender. I then cut up pepperoni in fourths. When it came time to mixing everything together (yeast and milk mixture with the flour mixture) I dumped in my peppers, onions and pepperoni and let it rise like normal. Bake for the 35 minutes at 375. Dip in your favorite pizza sauce.

Eggless Chocolate Cake:

So on Thursday I had a big, fat craving for some chocolate cake only to find out I had NO EGGS! So after a moment of self-pity, I decided that I CAN and WILL find a recipe for an eggless chocolate cake. I didn't have to look far. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and needless to say, it was the most AMAZING chocolate cake I have ever eaten. It's super moist and not lacking at all on chocolatey flavor. I did adjust it a bit because my first one sunk in the middle. Yes, I made this again on Sunday and it turned out beautifully! I topped this one with a basic vanilla frosting. You can adjust the frosting to fit your needs/wants. I also recommend almond flavoring. I did this on Thursday and topped it with slivered almonds and it was really good. Also, don't add the vinegar until last!



Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups cake flour (I used all purpose and it was fine)
1 cup white sugar
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 8 x 8 inch square pan.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.

Make a well in the center and add the water, oil, vanilla and lastly vineger. Beat until smooth and pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.

Here we are!

I love cooking and my family loves to eat my cooking, and I've had so many requests for me to make a cookbook, so I decided to make a blog instead! Here you will find many of my tried and true recipes. I've also decided to be rather adventerous and try some new ones as well and give you my thumbs up or down on. I'm hoping to have at least 2+ recipes posted on here a week.

First thing though, I'm most definitely not the best picture taker so you will have to bear with me.

I hope you enjoy this and find some interesting and fun recipes for you to try out on your family.