Snow...snow....snow...

I haven't seen this much snow since year 2000. We've been hit by multiple snowstorms and I can't tell you how many days of classes I haven't attended because of either delays or cancellations. Campus is still covered in a blanket of white stuff, and the grass hasn't seen the sun for weeks.I have been living off of pizza and spaghetti for far too long.(Not that the cafeteria food we live off of isn't much better....) And, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I hope we don't miss anymore classes. I'm starting to get bored and I'm off of my routine!! I don't know what the professors are going to do to catch up on things, its not like high school where you had designated make-up days. Hmm...we shall see what happens...

As for spring break, I can't wait to get home and start trying all of these new recipes I've been collecting from blogs and websites to try! Ugh. I feel so behind!

Hope you all are staying warm!!

Best Banana Bread

Taken from the Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove Cookbook that my grandma got me for Christmas. :) Yay!! Thanks grandma!! It was just something I decided to do to occupy my time after dinner tonight. After it was out of the oven and on the rack, my mom and I went on a walk while waiting for it to cool. Of course, when I got back I just had to try it, it just smelled too good! I cut the first slice and shared half with my mom, but had no choice but to go back for another slice, my taste buds were screaming. It'll most likely be my breakfast tomorrow morning.

Makes 1 loaf.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 very rip bananas
1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for pan
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup toasted walnuts, chopped (optional - I only didn't add these due to allergies :( but the recipe called for it, I'm sure it'd be even better with it, but the bread turned out fine without it too. )

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly butter bottom and sides of a 9-by-5 inch loaf pan; lightly coat with flour.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, mash bananas with sour cream or yogurt until blended. In a large mixing bowl with electric mixer on high speed, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until combined.
3. Fold banana mixture into batter until blended. Lightly fold in dry ingredients and walnuts until just combined. Batter will be chunky. Scrape batter into prepared pan. Bake about 1 hour, until golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes. Run a knife around edges of pan to loosen bread. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Creamy Noodles with Ham and Peas

Mom made this for "dinner" today, which turned out to be more of a mid-day meal. When I asked where she'd gotten the recipe, it turns out that it came off of a package of egg noodles. What I liked the most about it was it reminded me of a lunch meal that my host mom used to make for us while I was in Germany. Only difference I could find was there was no peas. Good recipe for when you want to use up some leftover ham from dinner the night before. Really yummy!!

Time: about 20 minutes

4 1/2 cups Market Pantry Wide Egg Noodles (about 1/2 pkg)

3 Tsp. butter or margarine

1 cup ham, diced

1 cup fresh sliced mushrooms, larger pieces cut in half

2 Tbsp. diced onion

1 cup frozen peas

1 1/4 cup whipping cream

1/3 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper

1. Bring 4-6 quarts of water to a boil, add salt to taste if desired. Add noodles and return to boil for 7-8 minutes or until noodles are tender, then drain.

2. While noodles are cooking, melt butter in large skillet. Add ham; cook and stir until lightly browned. Add mushrooms, onions and peas; cook about 4 minutes or until peas are hot and onions and mushrooms are tender, stirring occasionally. Add cream; simmer about 2 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring constantly.

3. Toss sauce with hot noodles and Parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately with additional cheese, if desired.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls

Our family borrowed this recipe from katesblog to try for the holidays. When first mixing all of the ingredients together we were sort of leery about how it would turn out. But ummmm were they good!! Even a friend of mine, who is usually not so crazy about peanut butter, absolutely loved them. In fact, the reason I'm putting this recipe on my blog is so she can have access to it, because she asked me for it over the holiday but we were away, so I couldn't get it to her. Enjoy!!

1 18oz jar peanut bar
2lb powdered sugar
1 cup butter, softened
chocolate almond bark (or melt 12oz bag of chocolate chips with 2 T shortening)

1. Mix peanut butter, butter, and optional 1tsp vanilla with electric mixer until well blended.
2. Add the powdered sugar, a little at a time, blending with the mixer until all the sugar is mixed in. The dough will be slightly crumbly.
3. Form the dough into 1-1 1/2 inch sized balls by rolling the dough between your hands. Set formed balls on a plate or cookie tray.
4. Mix all ingredients together except for chocolate. Shape into 1-inch balls. Cool in frig. Melt chocolate in microwave, or double broiler and dip balls in, being sure to cover completely. Put on wax paper to harden.
5. Once they are cool you can put them in plastic containers in the refrigerator or freezer. They will keep for several weeks.

Hamburger Soup

Hamburger-Vegetable Soup

Another famous recipe in our household. Quick and easy family favorite!

1-1 1/2 pounds hamburger

3-4 cups of water

3 medium carrots, chopped (about 1 cup or more if you like carrots)

2 medium stalks celery, chopped (about 1 cup or more if you like)

1 large potato, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (about 1 cup or more if you like)

2 medium onions, chopped (about 1 cup or more if you like)

1-2 teaspoon salt

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of pepper

1 bay leaf

1/4 teaspoon dried basil leaves

1 can (14.5 ounce) Diced tomatoes with the liquid! ( or 2 cans if you like)(or a 28 oz. can will do)

Cook and stir hamburger in Dutch oven until light brown; drain. Stir in remaining ingredients; Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer just until vegetables are tender, about 20 to 30 minutes. (Depending on how small you chopped your vegies!)

Serves about 6, but in my household any leftover soup keeps for lunch the next day!

Orange Pumpkin Halloween Cupcakes

One of my friends loves to bake, so she decided that we were going to make Halloween cupcakes this weekend!! So last night we invited everyone over to the kitchen and made it a group project. They turned out so good! Everyone really enjoyed them. ;)


Lauren is wondering what exactly she's supposed to do with that stuff...lol. She couldn't figure out how much 1/4 of a cup was...so Becca just handed her a 1/4 measuring cup to put the batter into the backing cups..haha...guess she doesn't do this very often does she?


Becca, our head chef, creating the mix. :)



1 package yellow or white cake mix
1 cup solid pack pumpkin
3/4 cup water
3 eggs
2 tbs veggie oil
1 tsp ground cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice
orange food coloring
icing
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
optional- black gumdrops to put on top

recipe: preheat oven to 350F line 24 standard muffin cups w/ paper baking cups
beat cake mix, pumpkin, water, eggs, oil, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice in large bowl w/electric mixer at medium speed 3 minutes or until well blended. spoon 1/4 cup batter into each muffin cup

bake about 20 min. or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. cool cupcakes in pans 10min. remove to wire racks; cool completely

icing: cream butter and cream cheese till creamy,mix vanilla, gradually stir in powdered sugar. store in fridge

and then if you want to use the chocolate then you place 4 squares of semi sweet chocolate in a plastic resealable sandwich bag and microwave on medium 40 seconds

knead bag; microwave 30 seconds to 1 minute or until chocolate is melted. knead bag till chocolate is smooth. cut off tiny corner of bag. Drizzle chocolate in four or five concentric circles over top of cupcakes. Immediately draw 6 or 8 lines at regular intervals from center to edges of cupcakes w/ toothpick or knife to create web

for spiders, place one gumdrop in center of web design on top of cupcake. Roll out another gumdrop w/ rolling pin on generously sugared surface. Slice thinly and roll into "legs." Arrange legs around gumdrop to complete spiders

Allen's Chicken Enchilada's

One of my friend's father's sent her this recipe to try making here on campus. Sooo..guess what we spent last night doing. Haha, yup, cooking. All four of us helped make it and wow were they good!! I'm so glad Nora asked for the recipe. Definitely much better than having to eat campus food!

Ingredients:
1-2 lbs chicken, pre-cooked or self prepared (thinly cut into strips)
1 can enchilada sauce (mild or medium)
1 package of flour tortillas (dinner plate size)
1 package shredded cheese (either cheddar or Mexican mix)
Vegetable cooking oil
Optional: onions, black olives, peppers
Pam or other cooking spray
Salsa and/or sour cream

1. Cook chicken in a frying pan on medium heat using small amount of vegetable oil (about 1/2 capful).Or simply reheat if using pre-cooked, packaged chicken.

2. Mix in about half a can of enchilada sauce with the chicken in a bowl and set aside.

3. Set stove to medium heat. Add small amount of vegetable oil to the frying pan and cook both sides of the tortillas, one at a time. Cook about 30 seconds per side, or until bubbles form and is slightly brown. Stack the cooked tortillas on a paper plate w/ paper towel between each to soak up any leftover oil.

4. Prepare a casserole dish. Spray the bottom and sides with Pam. Pour in just enough enchilada sauce to just cover the bottom of the casserole dish.

5. Brush enchilada sauce on one side of the tortilla. Add chicken, shredded cheese, and if preferred, also the optional onions, olives and peppers. Tightly roll the tortilla by folding over each side and then tucking in the corners. Place each rolled tortilla in the casserole dish.

6. With remaining enchilada sauce, brush the tops of the tortillas and cover with a layer of shredded cheese. Optionally add onions/olives and peppers.

7. Cook in oven at 425 for about 20 minutes or at least until cheese has melted and bubbles.

8. Serve with sour cream or salsa