Easy Cake Mix Banana Bread

Although I have a wonderful recipe from my church friend Miriam Smith, I wanted to find a super easy one since we seem to let our banana's go bad all the time and I don't want to waste them. And I'm all about quick and easy recipes. So I came across this recipe that uses a box cake mix. My daughter wanted chocolate chips in it but I didn't have any so I compromised and used chocolate cake mix. Needless to say, it wasn't the same, it was ok but the one with the yellow cake mix was the best between the two. The chocolate one on the right in the picture is the one I poked with the knife to see if they were ready so that's why it looks like it fell.

Ingredients

2-3 bananas (I used 2 but 3 would probably taste better)
1 box cake mix (I made 2 batches and used yellow and chocolate but heard Butter Pecan is really good)
1 stick of butter
2 large eggs
cinnamon sugar - optional (I sprinkled this on the top of the yellow, just to see what would happen)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350.
2. Mash bananas in the bottom of a bowl while melting butter in the microwave for about 30 seconds. 3. Pour melted butter in with the bananas and stir.
4. Dump the cake mix on top of banana mixture to cover it. Make a little hole in the cake mix and crack the 2 eggs into the hole. If the butter is very hot, you don't want the eggs to scramble so maybe let it cool off a little.
5. Then mix the eggs and cake mix into the bananas and butter. I just used a spoon and didn't over mix it.
6. Pour into a sprayed/buttered loaf pan.
7. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Stick a knife in the middle at 30 minutes. If it comes out clean it's done. If it has batter on it, cook for another few minutes.

IMPORTANT: DO NOT remove the bread from the pan until it's cooled off or it WILL crumble!!!

UPDATE: I had a piece of the chocolate bread right out of the fridge with butter on it and it was WAY better cold the next day so take that for what its worth. =0)

Amry's Favorite Chicken and Rice

This is Amry's favorite chicken and rice dinner and it only takes about 15 minutes...especially if you use canned chicken. We all like it, but not as much as her. And she likes it REALLY dry. I would like it better if it were creamier, so if you like it like that, add another cup or more of water. I usually double the recipe when I make it since she likes to have it for breakfast. =0)

Ingredients
· 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
·  1 pound diced chicken breast (or 1 large can cooked)
· 1 10 3/4 ounce can Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free)
· 1 cup water
· 1/4 teaspoon paprika
· 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
· 2 cups uncooked instant white rice

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook for 10 minutes or until well browned. Remove the chicken from the skillet. 

2. Stir the soup, water , paprika and black pepper in the skillet and heat to a boil. Stir in the rice. Reduce the heat to low. Return the chicken to the skillet. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked though. For a creamier dish, decrease the rice to 1 1/2 cups or add more water. 

You can also use Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup instead of the Cream of Chicken.

Hamburger Pepper Steak

This is a family favorite and easy enough to make.  ESPECIALLY if you have pre-cooked hamburger in the freezer. I just browned 5# with salt, pepper and some minced garlic. Then I put it in sandwich baggies to keep in the freezer and use as needed. Saves so much time! We always laugh when I say I'm making pepper steak for dinner because every.single.time my daughter says, "I hate pepper steak!" And I say, "no you don't". And then she will have 2 or more bowls full and we all laugh. =0)

Ingredients

2# hamburger or turkey burger
2 green bell peppers
1 or 2 large onions
4-6 packets of dry brown gravy
salt and pepper to taste
Italian seasoning to taste
1 tsp heaping of minced garlic
4 cups Minute Rice, cooked as directed

While hamburger is browning with garlic, chop green peppers and onions and add them to the hamburger. Cook it until it's done. Mix 4 packets of gravy with water as directed and add to hamburger mixture. Add salt, pepper and Italian seasoning to taste. Bring to a boil then turn to low and simmer for a few minutes. Serve over cooked rice. Serves 4-6.

Cheesy Easy Meatloaf

Hot out of the oven!

So I pulled 3# of ground turkey out of the freezer so I could make meatloaf yesterday.  Then guess what happened? My recipe called for eggs and I forgot I made the rest for breakfast! So I panicked and googled, "can you make meatloaf without eggs?" And someone had posted they used 1/4 cup of MAYO for each egg needed! Yahoo! So I tried it. Here is the funny part and some insight on *why* I'm not a good cook...I forgot it said 1/4 cup for each so I used 1/2 cup for each, meaning just over 1 cup of mayo in the meatloaf!!! So I laughed to myself and thought, well, that's what the adventure is all about... 

 

It ended up tasting good but needed more of the spices.  I didn't actually measure them like I usually do so next time I need to be a little more heavy handed, especially with 3# of meat!

 

Ingredients:

 

3 pounds ground hamburger (I used turkey)

2 cups shredded cheese (I used cheddar jack mix)

1 cup mayo (or maybe try it with 1/2 cup how it was supposed to be. lol)

1 cup Italian bread crumbs

garlic powder (or a couple tsp of minced)

onion powder (or if you aren't lazy, finely chop a real onion)

Italian seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

 

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.  Mold into a loaf and add to greased meatloaf pan.  Bake for 60-90 minutes until cooked through.  I served with homemade mashed potatoes (I'll post the recipe for them next time I make them), canned corn and beef gravy.

 



cheesy yum!

Serve with homemade taters and veggie!

Want a bite? =0)

Bacon Rice and Chicken Bake

My hubby was at a convention for 4 days so I decided to make him a home cooked meal when he got home yesterday.  This is what I made and everyone liked it! Well, A and J had a problem with the bacon because it wasn't "crunchy" but they still liked it overall. Hubs was thrilled since he was sick of McDonald's (only cheap eats at the hotel), trail mix and beef jerky. lol

Ingredients:

3-4 pounds chicken (I used boneless/skinless chicken thighs)
8 slices thin cut bacon (enough to line the bottom of your 9x13 pan) I used a package of pre-cooked.
1 1/2 cup long grain rice (not minute rice)
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 cups hot water
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp zesty seasoning salt
salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line bottom of  9x13 with bacon. Sprinkle rice over bacon. Mix 2 cans of soup with 1 1/2 cups hot water and remaining seasonings. Pour 3/4 of mixture over rice, saving some to cover chicken. Add the chicken on top of the rice and soup.  Pour the rest of the soup mixture over the tops of the chicken. Cover dish tightly with foil and bake in oven for 2 hours. FYI: Bacon is mostly for flavor and will not be crisp.
 

Chicken out of the oven, it's baked so it won't be crispy.

Serve with veggie and rolls. Enjoy!

Easy Fish and Fries Bake

This was super easy and super good.  My daughter didn't like it so my son ate his, hers and thirds! lol  At first I didn't bake it quite long enough, some of the fries were not done so I think if she tried it again she would have liked it. We all liked it though so 3 out of 4 makes it in the blog. =0)




Ingredients:

15 oz frozen batter dipped fish
1 (16 oz) bag of frozen French fries
1 can cream of celery soup
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp curry powder

Directions: Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9x13 baking dish. Place fish on the bottom of the dish. Put French fries evenly on top of the fish. Mix all remaining ingredients together to make sauce. Pour over the top of fish and fries evenly. Bake uncovered for 50-60 minutes until it's bubbly.

 

Just out of the oven!

 

Creamy Crock Pot Corn

I make this corn for all of our big potlucks and parties.  I just made it with our Easter ham and everyone raves about it every time.  It's beyond easy and will become a family favorite!!!

 

CREAMY CROCK POT CORN

4 cans of whole kernel corn

1 stick of butter
1 block of cream cheese
4 packets of splenda (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Place stick of butter and cream cheese in the bottom of a crock pot.  Turn on LOW.  Drain 4 cans of corn and add to crock pot.  Sprinkle Splenda packets on top and add some salt and pepper.  Cook on low for 3-4 hours. Stir after the butter and cream cheese melts.  Can easily be doubled for large parties/potlucks.





Easter dinner!