Oatmeal Banana Bread

1/4 c. shortening
1/4 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. oatmeal (the first time, I used quick-cooking rolled oats, but I was out for the second batch, so I used Coach’s Oats. They worked just fine)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 very ripe bananas
1/4 c. milk

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a 8½ x 4½” loaf pan with nonstick spray.

Cream together the shortening, butter, and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until fluffy.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

In a ziplock bag, mash the bananas until uniform. Add the milk and mush it into the bananas.

Add half the dry ingredients to the sugar and butter mixture, scrape the bowl, and then add half the banana mixture. Repeat. Mix gently until blended.

Pour into the pan, and bake for 50-60 minutes until a butter knife inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Ish. You may get some banana on it, but no batter.

Remove it from the oven and cover the pan with aluminum foil for 5-10 minutes. Remove the loaf from the pan and serve hot or let it cool down.

You can add raisins, walnuts, or dried blueberries – just fold them in just before you pour the batter into the pan.

Makes 1 loaf.

Banana Pancakes

3 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
3 ripe bananas

Melt the butter in a microwave-safe dish in the microwave (I use a pyrex measuring cup). Whisk together the eggs and milk in a big bowl until completely mixed (all one color, with no strands of egg).

In another bowl, mix the rest of the ingredients together. Add the (now slightly cooled) butter to the milk and eggs, and then add the dry ingredients and whisk together. You don’t want to stir it too much, or you’ll end up with rubbery pancakes. Just get the big lumps out – little lumps are okay. Let the batter sit for 10-15 minutes. Near the end of that sitting time, start heating up a big, flat frying pan on medium on the stove, or use an electric skillet to 350°.

Peel and slice the bananas about 1/4″ thick and gently fold them into the batter.

Spray the pan with nonstick spray (I like the butter flavor), and use a ladle to drop batter onto the skillet. You’ll thank yourself at turning time if you make a bunch of smaller pancakes instead of a few big ones. Watch the pancake – when the bubbles at the edges start leaving little holes when they pop, it’s time to turn the pancake. Cook until golden on the bottom side, too, and then put them on a plate tented with foil until they are all done.

Serve with butter and real maple syrup.

Makes about 16 4-5″ pancakes. (Try as I might, I cannot seem to make cute little silver dollar pancakes. I blame it on the bananas.)

This is a great recipe to get the kids to help with. They can measure, mix, slice bananas (with a butter knife), and help watch the bubbles if your kitchen is set up in such a way that there’s a safe place for them to sit while watching the stove.

*We went off-menu yesterday, too. Seems my boys don’t like Hamburger Helper, and my teen doesn’t like cooking it. Looks like I’ll be taking the box of Hamburger Helper to the food bank.

I just make two boxes of boxed macaroni and cheese according to package directions. Sometimes I add a can of undiluted cream of cheddar soup, but I didn’t tonight. Then I scoop out a serving for my youngest, because he doesn’t like tuna. Then I add two cans of drained tuna (I like Starkist), and scoop out a serving for my next youngest, because he doesn’t like peas mixed in his, or salt and pepper. Then I add salt and pepper and a drained can of peas (I know, but my teen and I love them), and dish out servings for the last kid (the teen) and myself. I put some peas on the side of the two boys’ plates, and we all eat happily.

For four pieces of French toast:

2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
Four slices bread – day old bread is best
Powdered sugar (to taste)
Jam or real maple syrup

Spray a skillet with nonstick spray and heat it to medium high heat. Beat 2 eggs in a bowl until no longer separated at all. Add milk, cinnamon, and vanilla (I use Vanilla Bean Crush from King Arthur Flour – I cannot tell you how amazingly tasty this stuff is, and how much it adds to your cooking and baking). Beat until as homogeneous as you can get it (the cinnamon kind of clumps around the top – I just deal with it, but if it bothers you, Baker’s Banter has a tip to fix that problem).

Dip each piece of bread in the batter for a few seconds and turn it over and let the other side soak for a few more seconds, and then put it in the hot pan. (I use tongs.) Once you’ve got all the slices in the pan, the first slice is probably ready to turn – take a peek and see if it’s golden brown. Once they’ve all been turned and cooked until done, put them on a plate and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve with real maple syrup and/or jam.

I double or even triple this recipe, but I mix a new batch of the batter when I run out instead of making it all at once – that way, if my bread is less absorbant that day, or moreso, I don’t waste any eggs and milk.

My about-to-turn 12 year-old son told me that he is thinking about choosing French toast for his birthday dinner, because “it’s one of my very favorite meals.”

Tonight’s dinner was grilled cheese on sourdough, using leftover smoked gouda and cheddar, with sliced tomato and avocado. Oh, yum.

Forgot to take pictures, though.

French Dips
Steak-Umms (2 for each person)
Hot dog buns (2 for each person – I’ve also used hoagie rolls, but hot dog buns are cheaper and the kids don’t notice a difference)
Frozen crinkle-cut french fries
Packet of au jus mix

Start the oven heating for the french fries, according to package directions (mine heat at 450°). Lay the fries out on a large cookie sheet – I cover mine in parchment to minimize the cleanup. Get the fries in the oven and start preparing the au jus according the the package directions.

About 5 minutes before the fries are done, heat up a large skillet to medium high. Drop two of the steaks in, making sure they aren’t overlapping. Let them sit for just a few seconds and then start tearing them apart with the edge of a spatula. You want raggedy edges here. Add a little salt and pepper, and keep stirring them around while they cook. It should only take a minute (literally) to cook the meat, so have two buns ready on a plate and fill them with the cooked meat.

Repeat until you’ve got enough sandwiches for two per person. Right before you’re done, the fries should be done. Salt them and stir them around and add some fries to each plate, and ladle out some au jus for everyone who wants some (my boys don’t like the au jus).

Sometimes I butter the buns and heat them up in the oven while the fries cook, but on nights like tonight, when I had no butter softened, nobody seems to notice the difference (except me).

You could easily make this into cheesesteaks by adding some cheese and onions to the sandwiches.

Chicken Parmigiana

Four chicken breasts, either sliced thin or pounded thin
Flour
One egg
Dried herbs (oregano, basil, thyme)
Salt and pepper
Vegetable oil
Two slices provolone cheese
Half a pound of spaghetti
Can or jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce (or the equivalent of homemade)
Fresh parmesan cheese

Grease a cookie sheet and heat the oven to 350°. Heat about 3 tablespoons oil in a large skillet on medium high, and start water boiling for pasta. Add seasonings to the flour in two plates.

Coat each breast lightly in flour, beaten egg, and then flour again. Fry on each side until golden brown, and place on greased cookie sheet.

Top each breast with a spoonful of spaghetti sauce and half a slice of provolone cheese. Bake for 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta and heat up the remainder of the sauce.

Serve each chicken breast with 1/4 of the spaghetti and sauce, and top all with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Serves 4.

Click for bigger.

Wow, you can totally tell the littler kids set the table. I hadn’t even noticed before.

1 box of yellow cake mix (and the eggs and oil, etc. that it requires)
1 small box of whatever flavor Jell-o you want
1 cup of boiling water
About 4 ice cubes and enough cold water to make that into 1/2 cup
1 tub of Cool Whip

Bake the cake according to package directions in a 9×13 pan and let cool. Leave it in the pan. Poke a bunch of holes all over the top of the cake, using a fork.

Boil 1 cup of water and mix it with the Jell-o. When the Jell-o is all dissolved, add the ice cube/cold water mix and stir until the ice cubes are all melted. Pour over the top of the cake, making sure to get Jell-o into all the holes. Refrigerate the cake for a few hours and then frost it with the Cool Whip and devour. Refrigerate the leftovers.

Strawberry Jell-o is divine. Peach is amazing – peaches and cream! Chocolate cake with cherry is yummy. I’ve heard spice cake with orange Jell-o is good, but I haven’t tried it yet.

We loooove poke cake around here!