Kona Hawaiian Banana Bread

1 1/4  cup Flour
1/2  cup Shortening
1  cup Sugar
3-4  Fully Ripe Bananas
1/2  tsp. Salt
2  Eggs
1  tsp. Baking Soda

Mix dry ingredients.  Cut in shortening.  Puree bananas with eggs.  Mix dry ingredients, just until blended.  Bake in bread pans at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.  Let stand in pan for 5 minutes.  Turn onto cake rack.  Cover with waxed paper until cool.

Garlic Pesto Chicken with Tomato Cream Penne

Oh. My. Goodness.  This was good!  Lots of flavor and even my husband really liked it.  Seriously one of my favorite Pinterest finds.  Left over chicken can be used to make another meal, with rice or something.  It's that good.

Marinade:
1/2  bottle of Lawrys Herb and Garlic Marinade
2  large spoonfuls of Pesto
2  boneless chicken breasts

Cut chicken into cubes and pour Lawrys marinade and pesto over chicken.  Marinate over night.

Sauce:     (next time I will double the sauce portions, we ate it up but it didn't seem to be very much)
1  box of your choice of pasta
2  tablespoons of olive oil
3  cloves of garlic
2  spoonfuls of pesto
1/2  cup of chicken broth
8  ounces of tomato sauce
1   cup of half and half

Boil water and start on the noodles.

Pour entire batch of chicken, marinade and all, into a skillet and cook chicken fully (the marinade will evaporate/cook down).

Heat olive oil, cook garlic.  Add pesto.  Simmer in chicken broth until half has cooked down.  Add tomato sauce.  Then add half and half.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  Toss pasta in.  Add flour if it needs to be thickened.  Place chicken on top.

Source:  http://cdargis.tumblr.com/post/18818836004/garlic-pesto-chicken-with-tomato-cream-penne

Source:  http://www.plainchicken.com/2009/08/grilled-chicken-tomato-cream-sauce.html?m=1

Chicken, Green Beans and Potatoes

I found this recipe on Pinterest and have liked it.  Super simple and only took me about 15 minutes to do.  That is a major bonus.

The Pinterest Link is here.
http://myhomelookbook.com/2013/02/03/green-beans-chicken-breast-potatoes-butter-italian-seasoning-bake-350-degrees-for-an-hour-easy-peasy/

You put the food in a dish then cut butter over it and shake one Italian Dressing packet over the top.  You are suppose to bake it for 1 hour at 350 degrees.  I've found that the green beans are too cooked, the chicken tough and the potatoes not quite done.  :(  But it tasted good, especially the green beans.  I've decided from now on I will put the green beans in a separate dish and cook them this way.  Green beans aren't my favorite but cooking them this way really makes them tasty.

I tried cutting the potatoes up smaller so they would cook faster and it almost worked.  Next time I think I'll just put them all in separate dishes and cook them different times.

Egg A La Goldenrod

Here is my favorite childhood recipe.  Any time it was my birthday and I got to choose the dinner, this is what my mom had to make.

Ingredients:
1 stick of butter
2 Tbsp flour
2 cups of milk
6 eggs
6 slices of toast

Directions:
Boil, peel, and separate the egg yokes from the whites.  Leave the yokes whole and chop the whites.  To make the sauce, melt the butter and add the flour to make a paste.  Slowly add the milk a little at a time so the paste and milk will mix well.  Cook over medium heat until thick.  Add the chopped egg whites to the sauce.  Toast your bread and tear up 2 slices into bite size pieces on your plate.  Pour sauce over the bread.  Take one egg yoke and grate it over the sauce with a small sized grater.  You won't use the whole yoke on one serving (unless you really like a lot). Yum!

Oreo Balls

 So so yummy and rich.  You can only eat a few before you are done!  This is something I only make at Christmas time, mostly because I am pretty sure they are really really bad for you:)  I'd never heard of them until we were in the army so I don't think they are very common in So. Cal.

For the recipe I just looked online at allrecipes.com and picked whichever recipe looked good.  Then I always crush some peppermint candy canes and put them on top.  I just really like peppermint and chocolate.

Ingredients:
1 pkg Oreo cookies
1 pkg cream cheese
bakers chocolate for melting
peppermint candy canes
wax paper

1.  Crush cookies in a processor or just put in a zip lock bag and crush with a rolling pin.

2.  Mix in a bowl with the cream cheese.

3.  Put bowl in the refrigerator or freezer to chill.  (This will help the balls stay together when you form them.  If they are too soft they will just fall apart.)

4.   Roll the mixture into balls and cover with melted chocolate.  Place on a baking sheet covered with wax paper.  Add a little melted chocolate to the top of each and sprinkle crushed candy cane on top if desired.  Put the cookie sheet back into the fridge or freezer to harden and set. 

Taco Soup

I love pushing the easy button.  I got this easy recipe from my friend Patsy when we lived in Germany.  We were going through the RLBT (Ridiculously Long Business Trip= 15 Month Deployment) and the easy button was quite coveted.  Most of the ingredients I can have on hand at any time and only need to make sure I have the ground beef and onion in stock.

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 onion
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can corn, drained
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 package taco seasoning (I only use 1/3 of it, use to your own taste)
grated cheese (I like colby jack, but whatever type of yellow cheese you like)
sour cream
tortilla chips

Brown ground beef and onion.  I do this in a big pot instead of frying pan, less dirty dishes that way.  Then add the tomatoes, corn, beans and seasoning.  Simmer 15-20 minutes.  Serve with cheese, sour cream and chips.    Lately I've been wanting to add salsa or cream cheese to the mix and see how it tastes.  Jason calls this nachos because it's thick.  Whatever you call it, it's yummy.
Happy eating everyone. 

We need a name....

We've done several variations on this.  The original recipe is HERE and it's called Onion-Beef Muffin Cups.  Even though it's descriptive, we don't really like the name and would like a new name for our own variation.

Jackson wants to call them Dragon Food.  Ilana wants to called them Puffy Mountains or Mini Volcano's.  We need help deciding what to call them or coming up with another name.  Any suggestions?

We've done one with chicken and cheese inside.  It was ok.  The variation pictured here is cut up sandwich ham, half colby jack and mozzarella cheese with a pat of cream cheese on top and then all folded into the bread.  It was the yummiest variation by far.  All of the kids loved them.  They are fun for the kids to hold and eat.  Let me know if you come up with any variations of your own.  The recipe is below.

Ingredients:
1 can large flaky biscuit dough
cut up sandwich ham
mozzarella cheese
colby jack cheese
cream cheese

Open can of biscuit dough and gently stretch out each piece before laying it over the ungreased muffin cup.  Place ham in the bottom of each cup.  Layer with yellow and white cheese.  Put a pat of cream cheese over other cheese and close the top of the dough to seal the filling in.

Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.  Let stand for 2 minutes before removing from pan.  Serve warm.  Yield: 4 servings. 
Enjoy and Happy Eating!