Banana Bread

This is my new favorite recipe for Banana Bread! DIVINE!

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups mashed banana (3 bananas)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two MEDIUM (not large) bread pans. You can buy disposable ones that are perfect (they come in packs of 3). Cream butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs, then bananas. Add flour and soda, stirring just until combined. Pour into prepared pans and bake for about 45 min (or till toothpick comes out clean). I checked mine around 40 minutes and put some tinfoil over it for the rest of the time, because it wasn't quite done but was browning quickly on top. (from allrecipes.com)

P.S. It's even better with mini chocolate chips!

Lion House Rolls

All I can say is YUM!

Lion House Dinner Rolls
from The Lion House

2 tablespoons active-dry yeast
2 cups warm water
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter or shortening
1 egg
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
2/3 cup nonfat dry milk
5-6 cups flour

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, combine yeast and water. Let stand 5 minutes. Add sugar, shortening, salt, dry milk, 2 cups flour and egg. Beat together until very smooth. Add remaining flour gradually (about 1/2 cup at a time) until a soft but not sticky dough is formed. Knead until it is smooth and satiny. Cover to let rise until doubled.

Separate dough into three portions. Roll out each portion into a circle and cut into 8 pie-shaped pieces (or 12 pieces if you want smaller rolls). Roll up crescent-style and place on baking sheet. Let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes - until nicely browned. Makes 2-3 dozen rolls.

Cinnamon Rolls

Dough:
2 tbsp. yeast
2 ½ c. warm water
½ c. sugar
½ c. oil
2 eggs
1 tbsp. salt
6-7 c. flour

Dissolve yeast in water and set aside. Beat sugar and oil together, then add eggs and beat well. Add yeast, water, salt, and 3 c. flour and beat until smooth. Put in dough hooks and add rest of flour. Mix and add flour until dough pulls away cleanly from sides of bowl. Let rise 1 1/2 to 2 hours, covered. Spray clean counter top with Pam type cooking spray. Roll dough out onto counter, forming one large square piece about 1/2 inch thick. Spread top of dough with softened butter.
Topping:
Combine the following into a bowl:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1-1.5 T cinnamon
Spread the cinnamon mixture on top of dough. Roll the dough up the long way (this is easiest if your dough is square, you can cut off the excess dough on the sides if needed to make it square). Once rolled up, use dental floss and cut the dough into about 2" thick pieces. Lay the pieces onto a greased cookie sheet (about 12-14 on a sheet).

Let rise another 1 to 1.5 hours. Bake at 375 for 15 min. Let cool until just warm before frosting!

Frosting:
4 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup warm milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
vanilla
Beat together. You may need to adjust amounts to get the consistency you like. It should be a little thick, not runny, as it will melt a little on the slightly warm rolls!

Build your own Burrito Bar

This is a super yummy burrito bar recipe. Below you will find the recipe for all the components of the burritos, adding in all the extra spices and such make this so good! Once you make the following recipes, you will "build" your burrito as you would like! Enjoy! P.S. Read the entire recipe first (including all toppings listed at the bottom) so you make sure you buy all needed ingredients. There is a lot to it, but well worth the extra work! These flavors are so good together! I make up the sour cream and salsa mixtures earlier in the day and put in the fridge. The black beans can be made ahead of time, and then just re-heated before serving to cut down on prep time as well!



Black Bean Filling:
Using a small food processor or chopper, combine the following and chop:
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded
1 clove garlic
1/2 small onion
In a deep skillet pan, put 1 T of olive oil and saute mixture for 2 or 3 min. Then add to the pan:

2 cans black beans, drained slightly
1 tsp or so of Cayenne Pepper sauce
Coarse salt

Reduce heat to low and simmer.

Chicken:
Chop and set aside:
1 clove garlic
1 red bell pepper

In skillet pan, add:
1 T olive oil
3/4 - 1 lb chicken breast tenders, diced
Coarse salt
Cook chicken in oil until lightly brown. Add garlic and peppers and saute another 5-10 min. until chicken is done.

Roasted Salsa:
4 Roma Tomatoes
1 jalepeno pepper, seeded
1 small onion, peeled and cut into 3-4 thick slices
Salt
Cilantro Leaves (we leave this out, cilantro is yucky in my opinion :)

Heat a skillet pan over high heat. Add whole tomatoes, jalapeno, skin side down, and onions. Allow the tomatoes, pepper and onions to char on all sides. Once all blackened, add to a food processor and pulse grind the salsa with cilantro and salt.

Green Onion Lime Sour Cream:
1 container sour cream (16 oz)
1 lime, juiced and zested
2-3 green onions, sliced
Combine all into a food processor and process until smooth. Pour back into sour cream container and let sit in fridge until ready to eat.

Warm tortillas over stove top. Make your burrito using the following:
Tortillas
Black bean mixture
Chicken
Roasted Salsa
Sour Cream mixture
Romaine Lettuce
Smoked white cheddar cheese, shredded
Pepper Jack cheese, shredded
Sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded

Serve with Rice on side (see Stacie's Spanish rice recipe)

Cheesecake Sopapilla

I made these for our dessert on Cinco de Mayo. Not only is this so easy, but oh wow, they are good!



2 8 oz packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cans refrigerated crescent rolls

Topping:
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, microwave until barely starting to melt


Drizzle with: about 1/4 c Honey

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use a 9 x 13 baking dish, spray with cooking spray.

2. Beat cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, and vanilla until smooth.

3. Unroll crescent roll cans, and using a rolling pin shape each piece separately into a 9 x 13 size. Press one piece into bottom of pan. Spread cream cheese mixture into pan. Cover with remaining piece of roll dough.

4. Stir together the topping material. Spread over entire top of dough. Bake about 30 min. Turn oven off and let sit another 5-10 min. in the oven to cook off extra liquid from butter, if needed. Remove from oven and drizzle with honey. Allow to cool completely, then cut into squares.

Frozen Berry Margaritas (Virgin)

2/3 cup frozen lemonade concentrate, slightly thawed
1 cup frozen unsweetened raspberries
1 package frozen sliced (or whole) strawberries (about 16 oz or smaller)
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
2 cups ice cubes
2 tablespoons sugar
Lime Wedges, to garnish

Using a blender, combine all ingredients (not limes) and process until smooth. This will be thick. Allow to sit if you want it to thin out a little before serving. Garnish with limes.

Mexican Chicken Casserole

{From abcnews.go.com}

3 {9.75 oz} cans white chunk chicken breast in water, drained
1 {16 oz} jar medium picante sauce
1 {10 3/4 oz} can Fiesta Nacho Cheese Soup - Campbells
1 {4 oz} can diced mild green chilis
1 {16 oz} bag white corn tortilla chips

In a large saucepan combine chicken, picante sauce, soup and green chilies. Stir well to combine. Cook over medium heat until the mixture simmers.
Spread crushed tortilla chips in along bottom of 9 x 13 baking dish sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Put chicken mixture over chips. Top chicken mixture with more crushed tortilla chips.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10 - 15 minutes or until heated through.

** I never have canned chicken on hand so I just cooked up some chicken and shredded it. I also did not use the whole jar of salsa and I did not put any green chilis in it. I also only used an 8x6 or 8 x 10 ish size pan.

Chicken Black Bean Tacos with Spanish Rice

Chicken Black Bean Taco Filling
6-8 chicken tenders
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup salsa or taco sauce
1 can corn, drained
1 can black beans, drained

Cook above in crockpot all day. Remove chicken and shred; return to pot. It may still be a bit runny, depending on how much the shredded chicken thickened it up. Serve in tortillas with shredded cheese, sour cream, etc. Can serve Spanish Rice on the side OR do what we do and put some on the tortilla, making a burrito. We love this meal, and it usually makes plenty for 2-3 days.

Spanish Rice
1 cup rice
1 tbsp. oil
salt, pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder or 1 garlic clove
2 c. chicken broth
1/2 c. tomato sauce

Brown rice in oil lightly. Add seasonings, chicken broth, and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil, cover, and let simmer for 20-25 minutes.