try this!

12/3/10

french banana cake

this is the first cake mom ever taught me to make.

from then on, i was always assigned "banana cake duty."

i love this recipe.

it's so EASY, so moist and so fluffy.

french banana cake

2/3 cup water

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 package white cake mix

2 eggs

1 1/4 cups very ripe bananas, mashed

2/3 walnuts (optional)

mix water, vinegar and soda. combine with cake mix and eggs. stir moistened. scrape bowl with spatula. add mashed bananas. beat with electric mixer 3 minutes at medium speed. pour into greased and floured 9"x13" pan. bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes (or until toothpick comes out clean). frost, when cooled, with creamy butter frosting.

creamy butter frosting:

4 cups powdered sugar

4 tablespoons soft butter

cream or milk

1 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract

(i like almond the best)

mix powdered sugar and butter, adding enough cream and milk to make the right consistency of icing. add vanilla or almond extract. frost banana cake and store in the refrigerator.

(you can add sliced bananas to the top of the cake if you'd like)

this recipe comes from the favorites cookbook.

12/2/10

close-to-real cafe rio pork salads

last night i had some salt lake friends over for a salt lake meal.

living away, i thought i'd make something that'd

remind us all of home. first thing that came to mind...

cafe rio.

i tried these copy-cat recipes and they were so accurate that i needed to share.

hope you like them too!

pork

put pork in crock pot,

add 1 jar of pace picante salsa

1 cup of water

and

1 cup of brown sugar

leave in crockpot all day on LOW

(you can use any salsa, just make sure you add enough to cover pork so meat will not dry out while cooking)

creamy tomatillo dressing

1 packet TRADITIONAL hidden valley ranch mix (not buttermilk)

1 c. mayonaise

1 c. buttermilk

2 tomatillos, remove husk, diced

1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro

1 clove of garlic

the juice from one lime

blend all together in food processor or blender

other salad fixins:

whole wheat tortillas

(i didn't do rice, but you definitely could)

black beans

shredded lettuce

diced tomatoes

cilantro

parmesan cheese

guacamole

tortilla chips/strips

limes

and don't forget the dressing.

that's the best part!

blake loved it too!

11/29/10

frozen herbs+salad dressing

frozen herb packets:

i'm sure this convenience can be found at grocery stores nation-wide...

and i'm sure i'm late to the party in finding them.

but they SAVE me!

these teaspoon-serving packets of fresh herbs come frozen from trader joe's.

add them to whatever recipe that calls for "1 tsp. fresh garlic/basil/cilantro".

i don't cook often enough to keep all that goodness in the fridge,

so these are lifesavers.

the other day, i made a yummy light salad dressing

in which i used the cilantro AND the garlic.

how bout that?

oh, and that recipe came from www.allrecipes.com

it tasted great over my spinach/feta/fruit salad.

Orange Citrus Vinaigrette

2/3 cup rice wine vinegar

1/3 cup orange juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 teaspoon honey

Put all together in a jar, screw lid on tight, and shake vigorously until mixed well.

(or put in your magic bullet! i love any excuse to use that thing!)

Makes 16 tablespoons. Only 20 calories per tablespoon.

citrus whipped yams

so we had an unconventional thanksgiving at our household....

including going out to eat on the big turkey day. heaven forbid!

however, i did pull out a thanksgiving-ish dinner on saturday night with friends.

so i don't like mashed potatoes much. nor do my boys.

i subbed them for these whipped yams.

wowsers. they were the winner this year.

sid didn't even complain, though he mentioned it looked like baby food.

healthier (a tad)...and no gravy makin'!

from favorites!

citrus whipped yams

8 medium yams, cooked, peeled and mashed

(note: i'm lazy and put all the chopped up raw yams in a glass pyrex

with a little water, covered, and micro-waved for 20 minutes,

then blended...didn't have time to manage the stove!)

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoon butter

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

blend together all ingredients except yams in saucepan and heat until sugar dissolves.

stir into mashed yams. serves 8.

11/26/10

Brown Sugar-Glazed Butternut Squash

I know Jane and Liz are shocked to see me posting...it's a miracle. But I have to share my favorite food right now. Mom gave me the subscription to Cook's Illustrated this year for my birthday. I usually find one treasured recipe and this is it for the last month. I have seriously made it about 10 times in the last month. Since my kids and hubby don't really like squash, or veggies for that matter, I save the leftovers to put in my salads for lunch the next day!

Brown Sugar-Glazed Butternut Squash

Serves 4-6

(we like the deeper flavor of dark brown sugar, but light brown sugar can be substituted)

1 butternut squash (about 2 1/2 lbs), peeled, halved lengthwise, and cut into 1 inch chunks (*Much easier if you buy the squash already cut!)

1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

3 Tbls unsalted butter, melted (I usually reduce this to about 2)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp cider vinegar

1. Prepare Pan. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Line rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and coat lightly with cooking spray.

2. Roast. Toss squash with sugar, butter, salt and pepper in a large bowl until well coated. Transfer squash to prepared baking sheet. Roast, stirring every 15 min, until squash is well browned and completely tender. (In my oven, it only takes about 15 min, but I have made this in Amanda's Midway oven where it took about 1 hour, so every oven is very different--just watch till tender) Remove pan from oven and sprinkle squash with vinegar and stir to coat. Serve.

ENJOY!

11/25/10

pilgrim hats

talk about a silly, easy thanksgiving treat for the kids to make!

we dipped marshmallows in melted chocolate chips.

put them on keebler's fudge striped cookies.

then drew on a buckle with yellow gel.

easy breezy!

i turned my nose up at them, saying they'd be gross, but ended up eating all the broken pieces.

kinda tastier than anticipated!

11/24/10

another cornbread

i know i just posted a cornbread recipe. do forgive.

i took dinner (chili again) to someone, and had to add cornbread of course.

quite different from the other recipe.

dense and hearty and you only need a small piece.

my boys loved this one and it was gone pretty quickly.

i got it from allrecipes.com.

basically, i had extra buttermilk in the fridge and wanted to use it up.

so i chose this baby:

grandma's buttermilk cornbread

1/2 cup butter

2/3 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8 inch square pan.

Melt butter in large skillet. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended. Combine buttermilk with baking soda and stir into mixture in pan. Stir in cornmeal, flour, and salt until well blended and few lumps remain. Pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

11/22/10

pizza night!

last night we had friends over to make homemade pizzas.

we ended up having leftovers and i can't wait to eat them again tonight!

i could've bought a boboli pizza crust or if i were feeling ambitious, i could've made the dough by hand. instead, i found uncooked dough(whole wheat & white) from trader joes.

(i'm pretty sure whole foods carries it too)

i kneaded and stretched the dough onto a floured cookie sheet, threw a whole buncha toppings on each pizza, and baked em' for about

13-15 minutes @ 450 degrees.

it made for a very EASY, casual, different kind of home cooked meal.