Banana Oatmeal Muffins

It's not often Matt goes to the grocery store (atleast alone). Since i'm home all day I end up going out to stores just about everyday, so there's usually no need for him to go. Except for on occassion we need something *cough*ice cream*cough* or to return a redbox dvd. And when he goes to the grocery store you can bet he usually always comes back with steak among some other random things. His last trip he came back with a bag of bananas. Not just a little clear plastic bag with a few bananas in it..but a paper sack full of ripe bananas. When I asked what all the bananas were about he replied, "the guy at the store said I could fill the bag full for $1.50." Ook..so we've got about 15 yellow-soon-to-be-brown bananas and let me remind you, he's still on his diet so he won't be eating any of them. And the kids don't really eat bananas, not usually alteast. So rather than making 4 or 5 loaves of banana bread, i've been trying to find other uses for them; mainly healthier snacks I could give the kids. I was so happy to find this recipe! It has such basic, simple ingredients that I don't mind feeding my kids. They were a little like banana bread but they weren't very sweet (although you could easily make them sweeter if you prefer, but we were fine with them the way they were). And you can easily adapt this a number of ways, one batch I added cinnamon, another batch I added peanut butter.

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

Keeping Up with the Joneses

Ingredients:

2 /1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1 c. of plain low fat greek yogurt (I used unsweetend applesauce)

2 eggs

3/4 cup sweetener of choice, or 2 tbs stevia sweetener (I used stevia)

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda
2 bananas (I only used one but realized it needed at least one more
optional: cinnamon, peanut butter, etc.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 deg F.

Spray 12 cup muffin tin with nonstick spray.

Place all ingredients (wet first) into a blender and blend until smooth.

Pour into muffin tins and bake about 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Chocolate Toffee Pretzel Bark

As if you all need another addicting recipe, right? I mean, who can resist the sweet/salty combo? And to make matters worse, there's a good chance you already have all (or most) ingredients on hand! Not to mention it takes no time at all to whip up. I made 2 batches at once not realizing how much I would end up with! But I had no problem getting rid of it. This would make a nice addition to your Christmas plates this year as well, but let's not think about that just yet!
Chocolate Toffee Pretzel Bark
mama say what?!

Ingredients:
½ bag of mini pretzel twists
2 sticks of butter
1 cup of brown sugar
1 bag of chocolate chips
Sea salt or table salt

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Line a large jelly roll pan with aluminum foil and lay a single layer of pretzels down.
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and the brown sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Let it boil gently just until it starts to stick to the bottom and it forms a nice smooth caramel. You’ll want to let it bubble a little and get really thick.
Remove from heat and pour evenly over the top of the pretzels. Put in the oven at 350 degrees for five minutes.
Remove from the oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top. Pop back in the oven for a minute then spread chocolate evenly.
Spread the chocolate chips around with a spatula until mostly melted and sprinkle generously with salt.
Let cool on the counter top for a few minutes and then pop in the freezer for about an hour. When it comes out of the freezer, break it up into uneven chunks with your hands and serve.
*I stored it in the freezer because it softens up a little when left out.

Cinnamon Roll Cookies

So, I told ya i'd be posting a "fall cookie" next. Ok so technically it doesn't really have anything to do with fall. BUT it would definitely go nicely with a nice hot drink like some hot chocolate. Yes, skip the milk and go for the cocoa. Maybe it's a winter cookie? In any case, it's a cookie and I never need a reason to eat cookies! I have to admit I couldn't help but think it wasn't much different than a snickerdoodle, and although they're not something i'd make often, they were fun to try and it's always fun to try something different. I had a friend tell me she tried them and asked what they were because she liked them. I admittedly replied that it was just store bought sugar cookie dough with cinnamon. Sounds pretty simple, right? The original recipe used a pack of mix but I thought i'd take an even bigger short cut by using refrigerated dough. Not sure if that was a wise choice or not, because it was really soft and a little difficult to roll up, but I got it done! I'm sure it didn't help that my house was so hot. But i'll post the recipe as is and if you want to use refrigerated dough, you know there's that option as well!

Cinnamon Roll Cookies

The Country Cook via. In Katrina's Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 pouch (17.5 oz.) sugar cookie mix (or 1 roll refrigerated dough such as Pillsbury)

½ cup butter or margarine, softened to room temp. (omit if using refrigerated dough)
¼ cup all-purpose flour (omit if using refrigerated dough)
1 egg (omit if using refrigerated dough)
1 tbsp. butter, melted
1/4 c granulated sugar
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
¾ cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp. milk

Directions: In medium bowl stir cookie mix, softened butter, flour, and egg until dough forms.
On a floured surface, roll dough to about ¼-inch thickness and brush with melted butter.
In a small bowl mix together sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over dough.
Begin to roll up dough, starting at the long side. Pinch the dough back together if it tears.
Cut dough in half and wrap in plastic wrap and pop dough in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes until firm.
Heat oven to 375F degrees.  Cover baking sheet with parchment paper.
Take dough out of freezer and begin cutting into ¾-inch slices. Place slices about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are lightly golden brown.
Cool for about 2 minutes, remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely.
In a small bowl, mix powdered sugar and milk until smooth. Drizzle over cooled cookies.

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

My husband is on a diet, Ideal Protein to be specific. And even though i'm not the one who has to restrict myself it's still frustrating sometimes. For some reason it's just not as fun to be a pig by yourself, especially when the other person is eating stuff like vegetables..and salad. That's not fun at all. Like the other day we went to the store and he handed me a king sized Twix (I may have mentioned ealirer that Twix sounded good) and I said no. Then he said, "are you sure?" And begrudgingly I snatched it. Because I have no will power. And you can bet as soon as we got home I was into it. But not before scarfing down a fruit tart first. Anyway point is, I said no, don't tempt me. And don't watch as I scarf it down while you're over there being all skinny. And you can bet he was saying things like, "those look soo goood" after I made these cookies. He's usually very positive about what he can eat and hasn't made many comments like this, but I did feel a little bad, because I know he would have liked them!
These cookies were a cookie contest recipe winner, so that automatically made them a must try. They were like a soft, fluffy, lemony sugar cookie. I doubled the baking soda to 1/4 t. and made them a little larger (tablespoon sized scoops) which resulted in a slightly thicker cookie. Summer isn't over yet, put these on your bucket list because next time i'll be bringing you a fall cookie!
Lemon Crinkle Cookies
Lauren's Latest via. LDS Living Magazine

Ingredients:
½ cups butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 whole egg
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoons baking powder
⅛ teaspoons baking soda
1-½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cups powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease light colored baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and juice. Scrape sides and mix again. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Cheesey Twice Baked Potatoes

I LOVE summer time and I hate to see it coming to and end already. However, I do love the hearty, warm comfort food of fall and winter and drinking hot chocolate just because it's the season. I first saw this recipe about 8 years ago in a Reader's Digest magazine of my mom's that was sitting on the counter at home. I happened to pick it up and flip through the pages and stumbled on this recipe. I ripped it out, tried it, and have kept it since. If you're having other sides, it would be wise to cut these in half because they are filling, and hearty, and warm. Just what you're going to want when it starts to get cold out.  

Cheesey Twice Baked Potatoes



Ingredients:

4 medium potatoes, baked

1/2 c. ranch dressing

1 10 oz. box frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and drained

8 slices bacon, cooked and chopped

cheddar cheese (sorry no measurement, add how much looks good to you!)

1 t. salt

1 t. pepper

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 425 deg F.

Cut lengthwise slice from each potato. Remove skin from top. Remove pulp leaving 1/4 inch shell, and put pulp in a large bowl.

Add dressing to bowl with pulp and mash to combine. Stir in broccoli, cheese and bacon. Equally spoon filling into shells.

Place on baking sheet and bake uncovered 15 min.

PayDay Bars

Here's another quick and simple dessert that feeds a crowd, making it perfect for group activities. I chose to take them to a bbq and let me just say, they didn't last long. I had someone come ask if I made them because he really liked them but they were gone when he went back for another. Being the chocolate fan I am, I had to add a layer of chocolate on top. In fact, next time I would even try using a chocolate mix for the crust. I guess that takes away from the whole "PayDay" thing, but my philosophy is if you can add chocolate, what better option is there?? ;)

PayDay Bars
Girls in Aprons

                                                   

Crust:

1 box yellow cake mix
1 egg
1/3 cup melted butter
3-5 cups marshmallows

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Mix all  ingredients together and press in a 9x13 pan sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 13 minutes then remove and sprinkle crust with 3-5 cups of marshmallows, evenly placing them over the entire crust. Bake an additional 2-3 minutes until marshmallows become puffy then remove and set aside.
Topping:
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup butter
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups peanut butter chips (like Reese's)
2 cups salted peanuts
1 1/2 cups rice crispy cereal
1 bag semisweet or milk chocolate chips

Directions:
Over medium heat, stir together all ingredients except peanuts and cereal in a large saucepan until melted then stir in cereal and peanuts. Spoon mixture over marshmallows and spread evenly. Chill in refrigerator for at least an hour. Melt chocolate chips either in the microwave at 50% power stopping to stir every 30 seconds or in a double boiler on the stove top. When melted, spread on top then return to refrigerator/freezer until set. Cut into squares.

Giant S'mores Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm sure if you're on pinterest you've seen this one floating around from Smells Like Home. With my love of cookies and smores, how could I NOT give it a try? I made it for dessert one night and decided on just doing 1/2 batch (2 large cookies) since I knew 1 would be plenty for both of us. It's always fun mixing things up and this was a really good cookie (best warm!) I was thinking it would even be fun to do mini smores (maybe even try roasting the marshmallows first??) inside regular sized cookies. I'll have to keep that in mind for next time :)   

Giant S'more Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Smells Like Home

For the cookie dough:

Ingredients:2 cups plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
12 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

For assembly:
1 cookie dough recipe, at room temperature
8 graham cracker squares, broken into halves
4 marshmallows, snipped in half lengthwise
1 full-size Hershey’s bar, divided between each of the cookies

Directions:To make the cookie dough: Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or by hand, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly combined. Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add dry ingredients and beat at low-speed just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

To assemble and bake: Lay half of the graham crackers out on the baking sheets – two crackers per sheet. Top each cracker with 3-4 pieces of chocolate then top the chocolate with two marshmallow halves, laying them side-by-side. Lay the remaining graham crackers on top of the assemble s’mores. Sandwich the s’mores between two large spoonfuls of cookie dough and using the remaining dough to wrap around each of the s’mores; the result should resemble a small cookie brick.

Space the cookies at least 4 inches apart on the two baking sheets. Bake for 20-24 minutes or until the tops and edges are lightly browned and the edges just lift off the pan with a spatula.Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks and cool the cookies on the sheets for at least 5 minutes. Transfer the cookies to the wire racks and cool for another 5-10 minutes before serving.