Banana Bread Muffins - Only 3 Ingredients (Gluten Free Option)

My favorite - okay, only - sister has been eating wheat free. While you do not have to eat gluten free to eat wheat free, wheat is pretty much in - well, everything. Except for gluten free flours, of course. We have been experimenting with all the different flours (I'm on a tapioca/potato starch kick lately), and we try to pick up gluten free mixes or treats when we're out to try which are best. One of the grocery stores near us had a huge selection of GF one day. She was stoked. While going to stock up the other day she was informed they were just running it as a test and they would not be carrying more gluten free products. She bought all the yellow gluten-free cake mixes that she could find, because that's all there really was left. 

So we have a lot of cake mixes. I ran across an idea for banana bread with cake mix, eggs, and bananas. We also had 3 over-ripened bananas sitting in the fruit basket at home. We thought to try to make them gluten-free and then made them into muffins. We're all about portion control. I lie, I ate two that night. We then decided to try some of them with the chocolate chips. These were, of course, even better than the "regular" ones. They're banana bread-y without being too heavy and positively divine while still warm out of the oven. 

While I'm a huge supporter of  making things from scratch when you can? I'm also a big supporter of being able to make something tasty and quick when possible, and I hate wasting fruit. So we solved all of those in one night. Bonus that we made our gluten-free. But I imagine they are just as wonderful with all the tasty glutens. 

So, try them for yourself. Let us know what you think. Go ahead, you know you want to. Go bananas. See what I did there? 

Ingredients:
3-4 ripe bananas
1 box yellow cake mix
2 eggs

chocolate chips (optional)

Other utensils: 

Bowl

Spoon

Cooking Spray

Muffin pan

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mash ripened (over is better!) bananas with fork until smooth.

Add 2 eggs and mix well.

Stir in cake mix and incorporate well.

Spray muffin tins with cooking spray.

Fill muffin tins 3/4 of the way. 

If you're adding chocolate chips I suggest adding a few to each tin and then stirring in well. You can add a bunch to the mix before pouring into the tins, but adding to the individual tin  promotes even distribution and stops you from having way too many or too little. 

Bake for 17-20 minutes or until tops spring back and toothpick inserted is clean upon insertion. 

Crock Pot Caramel (One Ingredient Only...Really!)

I'm sure that this "tip" (I can't really call it a recipe, seriously.) is all over the Internet. But I hadn't come across it until someone posted a recipe for a bundt cake in a crock pot with this caramel sauce cooking in the center (to create the hole in the cake). So I figure there has to be more people like me, who didn't know this tasty nugget of information. And who doesn't love homemade caramel sauce?

It's easy.

Take one can of sweetened condensed milk. 

Remove label. 

Set can into crock pot.

Fully cover the can with water. 

Set crock pot on high. 

Cook for 4 hours. 

Remove from crock pot. 

Let can cool. 

Open. 

Stir. 

That's it. Done. It looks like this after removed and put into a mason jar.

I wanted to save what we didn't use that night, and I was curious how much it made in regards to a mason jar, as I think it would make an amazing gift basket. Think: Caramel sauce in the center of a basket, some nice nuts in a tin, and a basket of delicious apples. What could be better? 

Mashed Cauliflower

I have a serious love affair with potatoes. I feel guilty cheating on them. But sometimes you have to be a little responsible, I suppose. And so I sometimes (sorry taters) make a mashed cauliflower. Tonight I omitted the chicken stock I usually use for a healthier take and it was actually fantastic. I was surprised and felt guiltier than ever. I still love you potatoes!

Ingredients:
1 head of cauliflower
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tablespoon butter
salt and pepper to taste

Other Utensils:
Large pot
Strainer
Food processor/blender/potato masher
Bowl
Spoon
Cutting Board
Knife

Directions 

 

Set large pot of water to boil. Salt water!

 

Cut head of cauliflower into small florets and wash.

 

When water reaches a roaring boil, toss in all the cauliflower.

 

Cook for 10 minutes or until veggie is very tender.

 

Strain, reserving 1/4 cup of the water.

 

Pour cauliflower into blender or processor (or mash by hand if you're not as lazy as I). Blend.

 

Add 1/2 of the extra virgin olive oil.

 

Add 1/2 of the reserved water.

 

Process (or mash) further.

Add the remaining oil.

 

Process more!

 

At this point it is up to you if you want to add more of the reserved water or not. As little or as much as you'd like to get the consistency you're looking for. The cauliflower retains water as you cook it, so if you "over water" it will be runnier. Still tasty, but watery.

 

Add butter, salt, and pepper and stir until butter melts completely. You can add more butter, I imagine a lot of people would. I just err on the side of letting people add it as they wish when they eat it.

 

Now then, taste it! Marvel at how you're eating cauliflower and not potatoes.

 

Tip: Not everyone loves cauliflower. To help those people along I suggest some parmesan cheese (grated) just sprinkled on top. Also awesome? Topped with green onions.

 

Note: Depending on size and consistency I would say a medium to large head will feed 3-4 adults very comfortably. But sometimes it doesn't seem like much when you're done. (Maybe because I am so hungry by the time it's over.)

 

Enjoy, but please don't tell potatoes I let you in on this secret. I think I'm already in hot water with them!

Cake Mix Cookies - 4 Ingredients!

I saw a recipe for this floating around Facebook a few weeks ago and decided to try it. I can't find an original poster. And was feeling guilty. Until I was given a box of recipes from the 70s-90s and saw that this was in there, too. Apparently it's been around forever. So we decided to try it. Each batch yielded from 28-36 cookies. Depending on size. That's up to you!

  

Ingredients:
1 box cake mix (any flavor)
1 container cool whip (8 oz.)
1 egg
1 cup of powdered sugar - just for dusting on top (the amount you use is really up to you)


Other Utensils:
Bowl
Whisk
Foil
Cooking Spray
Ladel (or small ice cream scoop/melon baller)

Directions 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line cooking sheet with foil. 

Spray foil with cooking spray.  

Combine egg and (defrosted) cool whip in large mixing bowl

Add cake mix and stir until all incorporated.

Ladle spoonfuls of batter onto foil covered cooking sheet. 
 

Sprinkle cookies with powdered sugar (or not, your choice).

 

Cook for 10-12 minutes.

Remove foil from pan and allow to sit for 3-5 minutes and then remove from foil gently. 

Try not to eat them all. That's the important step.  

Two other options we tried recently pictured below (Top: spice cake, bottom: pineapple)

 

Tips: 

* We used sugar-free cool-whip to cut back on the sugar content and there was no change in taste or texture at all.
* We only dusted half of them with the powdered sugar so that you had options. 

* Use a melon baller or small ice cream scoop to get the batter from the bowl to the sheet if you can, way easier and way less messy. 

* Pineapple was different and awesome. Next time I make it I think we'll throw in a handful of chopped up cherries, too!

* Spice cake tastes like Christmas, seriously. Try it. 

* Devil's food? Totally sinful and I'm not just saying this to be pun-ny.

* I tested my cookies, like I would a cake - by taking the largest one and poking it with a fork and cooking until it came out clean.

 

Crock Pot Apple Butter

Apple butter has no butter in it. I know, I know. Your mind is blown. You are welcome. Instead it is just a wonderful buttery like substance that comes from cooking down the apples with the right amount of spices and water. And then blending until perfection. It's easy.

This is how you take this:

And turn it into this:

And  yes, even with them being little apples. And even with them having bad spots (or some of them being that bad) you can turn them into delicious apple butter. Listen carefully, kids. (I'm kidding. It's so easy you don't even have to pay attention.)

• Get some minions. Have them core, peel, and cut the apples. I make them into smaller chunks because...well, my apples are small. It's easier that way. Plus, less blending.
• Throw the apples into a huge bowl. 

I used probably 30-35 of these small apples that someone graciously donated my way so I could figure out how to make excellent apple butter. I would imagine that a dozen or dozen and a half "normal" sized apples would suffice.

• The trick is take the amount of mixture I'm about to lay forth and make sure the apples are coated thoroughly. Not sprinkled upon. Coated. That's the trick, folks. They need to look brown and tasty. If you have extra "stuff" leftover after you coat your apples? Cut another. Seriously. Just do it. (If you need more to make them look coated? Make some. You seriously can't mess this up. Throw in a spoon of brown sugar, a pinch of cinnamon and half a pinch of allspice and go!)

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon allspice

• After you have coated them thoroughly, throw them in the crock pot. Take the bowl you were thinking about licking and don't. Instead add 1 cup of water. Swish around to get every speck of tastiness and then dump it into the crock pot. Stir it around. There should be enough water to at least cover the bottom of the crock pot. The apples do NOT need to all be covered.

• I cook mine on med or med/high until I go to bed and then turn it down to low. In the morning it will look like tarry, sticky (barely juicy) mess, more than likely. If it doesn't? Pop the lid and vent it and cook on high for a bit longer until it does. If you have too much juice (This has only happened to me once) just use a slotted spoon to remove everything else. Or strain it and reserve the juice in case your apple butter needs more liquid (mine didn't but you can never be too careful I suppose.)
  
• I have a ninja food processor. So I just throw it all in there and blend for maybe 20 seconds and it's butter consistency. Use your immersion blender or counter top blender the same way.  

Voila. Seriously. That easy.

Feel free to tell me how wonderful your version was.

I will say I used a Splenda blend on one batch and no one knows the difference. It tastes just the same to me, for sugar content conscious folks.

It is seriously that easy. And while it's good right away? It is even better after you put it into the fridge and let it get cold. It will firm up wonderfully and the spices seem to marry even more. It's fabulous on toast, biscuits, English muffin - pretty much anything.

I was given a ton of zuchinni around the same time and was making mass amounts of zuke bread, too. I had a few people put it on their loaf of zuchinni bread and rave about it, too.

Black Bean and Corn Tortilla Bake

I try to make a few meat free options when possible. Because why not? Also beans are fabulous. Especially black beans when you mix them with corn. So when I found a recipe much like this one (I have only done a little tweaking) in a cookbook my mother bought me for Christmas a few years ago, I knew I had to try it. 

The chopping and prep time for this was a little much. In terms of time before you actually cook the dish. So don't worry, I thought "ugh" as well. But there IS a payoff. Also some of it could be prepped earlier in a day or even the day before, I would imagine. And then you could throw it all together. It's most definitely worth it. I'm debating on making the "filling" just for rollups inside romaine lettuce or to put on top of rice for easy lunches. That's how good it is. Summation: It's worth it, trust me!

Ingredients:
1 large onion
1 medium green pepper
1 shallots (or garlic clove if you aren't a vampire and don't have shallots)     

1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cans (15 oz each) black beans
1 can (14-15 oz) vegetable broth
1 package (10 oz) frozen corn * thawed
4 green onions
Flour tortillas
1 cup shredded cheese (any kind would work)
Cooking Spray

Other Utensils:
Cutting board
Knife
Skillet
Spring form pan (I used non- spring form, it's just messier, but doable)
Spoons
Colander 

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

Chop onions, shallots, and green peppers (Author's note: You know how you always want a way to chop onions without crying? My sister has found the perfect solution. ....are you ready for it? Just let your big sister do the chopping. She was a very good supervisor. I only cried once. It was the onions, not her management tactics, I think. )

Heat oil in skillet and add onions, shallots, green peppers, cumin, and pepper to the skillet. Just heat until a bit tender.

Rinse the black beans. 

Add beans and vegetable broth to veggies in skillet. Bring the mixture to a boil. You will boil in until the liquid is almost gone. (That's a pretty exact measurement for you. Almost gone.) 

In the meantime, grab your green onions and slice them thinly.

Since you're bored and waiting for the liquid to vanish from your skillet feel free to add the corn and green onions together as they look so pretty in the same bowl, don't they? Not necessary...but hey, it's your cooking show. Do it how you like. 

When liquid is almost gone from your tasty concoction, stir in the green onions and corn mixture. Remove from heat. (Marvel at how tasty it looks. Feel free to grab a spoon and try it out. Because, seriously - it's good....)  

Here's where it gets messy. Grab a round pan. Springform would be best, but I didn't have one and so oh well. Which means my tiny 6 inch tortillas were a little bit too small. Just adds to the fun of trying to put it together. Who needs perfection?

Spray the round pan with a little cooking spray. 

Start your layering. It should go like this. 

Tortilla

Mixture

Cheese

Tortilla

Mixture

Cheese

Tortilla

Mixture 

Cheese

Tortilla

Cheese

I was messy. I only got two layers out of it and then I made two pans instead of one. Either way it's going to be tasty. Here's my messy little thing before it went into the oven and then after. 

To get from picture A to picture B just throw it into the oven for 17-20 minutes. It should be heated through and the cheese should be melty and fabulous. And when you cut it should look all messy and fantastic like: 

Tips: I am looking for a healthier tortilla for the next time I make these. The carbs and calories in a regular tortilla are a bit out there if you're trying to eat healthy. But if you eat a slice or two of this? I wouldn't worry. It's when you want to eat the whole thing you have some issues, I think.  (Which I wanted to.)

A gluten free version would definitely be possible if you used a corn tortilla or if you used another gluten free option. Or just skip the tortilla, make the filling, and enjoy. It's fantastic.

 

Dill Dip (and Dressing!)

In my last post I told you about this fabulous recipe that had shown up on my Facebook page for baked zucchini. We loved it! The dip that the original poster made (find her blog here) was fantastic. We cut back just the amount of one ingredient, added a bit more of one, and instead of season salt (as that has the dreaded garlic I have to avoid in it) we used a regular sea salt. It was fantastic! I think I owe her a Christmas present or something.

We used the dip with other veggies the next night, then with chips, and finally I turned the remainder into a fabulous dressing. As someone who can't eat Ranch dressing? I was pretty sure I should give her my first born child. I haven't had Ranch dressing in years. And there are just times you want a nice creamy dressing. She gave me that. Forever indebted, original poster. Forever indebted.



Ingredients:

1 cup Sour Cream
3/4 cup Mayo (I used just under 3/4 cup. Exact measurements be darned!)
1 Tablespoon Parsley Flakes
1 Teaspoon Dill Weed
1 Teaspoon Sea Salt
1 1/2 Tablespoons Minced Onions

Other Utensils:
Bowl
Spoon


Directions:
Mix all ingredients
Taste
Love it
Decide to make a second batch

The original poster said to leave it in the fridge for 2 hours. I thought, psh, it's fabulous now. Guess what? over night? EVEN BETTER. She was right.

Pictured: 

Dill Dip with it's distance cousins eggplant and zucchini.

Tip: The original poster nailed it with the idea of using the low-fat sour cream and mayo. I would definitely stick to that if you're looking to keep any sort of healthiness to this recipe. It's tasty either way. I have made it enough times to tell you there's no difference there. And it's amazing. Each and every time. 

Dressing: Take a spoonful of the dip and a few splashes of milk (I use 1% but any should work) and whisk with a fork until you have the desired consistency. Trust me, it's worth the effort and delightful as a salad topping. 

Baked Panko Zucchini and Eggplant

Facebook has become the new Pintrest. There are recipes at every turn. For me? A dream come true. For others, probably an annoyance. Most recently someone posted a picture of baked Panko zucchini to their page. (Link to original post here.)

It was an amazing recipe. I'm unsure if that was the original poster or if she had taken it from somewhere else. But you know, credit goes to where it is due. That's the post that gave me the main recipe. I only added a few tweaks.

Ingredients:
Zucchini (this recipe is for one medium sized)
1 cup Panko
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 Eggs
1/4 cup Milk
2 Tablespoons Flour

Other Utensils:
Knife
Cutting Board
Three bowls
Cooking Sheet
Cooking Spray


Directions:
Preheat oven to: 400 degrees

First, find out what works best for you. The original post used bags (gallon Ziploc like) for their mixtures. I like the bowl method better. Either way you're going to be dumping veggies in there and coating them. So bags if you have kids and want to cut down on mess. Bowls if you are like me and want to be quick and easy and make sure everything is coated well. (And I'm messy but I am okay with this.)

Spray a cooking sheet with non-stick spray

Put your flour into one bowl.

Mix eggs and milk into a bowl. 

Mix the Panko and Parmesan cheese into another bowl.

Feel free to set up a cute little cooking station. I certainly like to. It's more fun, more efficient, and bonus - you're totally on your own cooking show. Try to keep the talking to yourself to a minimum as you will look crazy. And no one wants that. 

Cut the zucchini into small rounds. Thin is better, for sure. More uniform the better, for cooking time.

Dip cut rounds into the flour mixture.

Dip floured rounds into egg wash. I suggest putting them in and then using a fork to dip them out to cut down on mess. You will receive extra points if you yell "Man overboard" every time you push a veggie into the wash. ...not that I did this. ...or did I?

Transfer from egg wash into Panko mixture.

Make sure they are coated evenly. Suggestion: fork works best here too. Saves your hands and makes sure you don't have any of those corners empty that you were holding to dip them into any of the mixtures.

Transfer your fabulous concoction to the cooking sheet.

Pop into oven. Set timer for 20 minutes.

Wait and wait and wait. Pretend you aren't THAT excited about them.

At 20 minutes flip them over. Marvel at how adorable they already look and salivate a bit.

Pop back into oven. Set time for 15 more minutes.

Depending on how crunchy you like the outside/how soft you want the inside you may need to adjust your cooking time. Original poster cooked for 30 minutes and mine were maybe a bit thicker than theirs, which meant I had to cook for just a bit longer. I also liked them pretty crispy.

Take them out and pretend you are on a cooking show as you grin at how delightful they look.

Serve them with the poster's fabulous Dill Dip. Enjoy!

My next post will include the dill dip that we later turned into salad dressing as well. And trust me, you don't want to miss it.

Variation: I also had Japanese eggplant from the neighbor's garden. So I made some eggplant as well. Truth be told? I liked that even better than the zukes, which were fantastic. On the eggplant we followed the same recipe, but cooking time was 15 on one side, 10 on the other. They were fantastic. She's already promised me 4-5 more of them in the next few days. And I think that one night for dinner next week we will just have breaded eggplant. Yum. In the next few days I will post a homemade marinara sauce that we'll be trying with the next eggplant batch, made from tomatoes from Dad's garden.

Here are the cute eggplants. I would apologize for it being such a sad picture of them. But we ate so many so fast, right off the cooking sheet - we just didn't have time for pictures. (Check out that dip. Her dip recipe was fantastic!)