Banana-only ice cream

http://www.cometogetherkids.com/2012/05/banana-ice-cream-made-from-bananas-only.html

This is too good to keep to myself! It's ice cream and the only ingredient: bananas. Seriously.

More detailed info on the link, complete with photos.

Take your banana collection that's just a bit more ripe than you'd want to eat as is or grab some that you have already in the freezer. Cut the not-frozen banana into 1 inch chunks, lay them out in a single layer on wax paper on a baking sheet, freeze. Or if you're using an already-frozen banana, leave it on the counter just long enough so you can peel it. 

Grab a food processor or blender, throw in the frozen pieces, blend, scrape down if you need to, blend more until it's a smooth, creamy-looking texture. It's like soft-serve ice cream!

But, let's get creative! And if you've tried a variation on this theme, give me a holler and I can list if here if you like, to inspire others :)

I added fresh strawberries to mine. It tastes like a smoothie. Would be AMAZING on waffles.

Other additions:

peanut butter

coconut

pineapple
Nutella

Multigrain Buns

I've made this recipe a number of times, but not for a few years. It's from the white recipe book (I still have some if you want a copy and the money goes to our church missions projects.) This is Rachael Penner's recipe.

4 cups warm water

1/4 cup honey

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 Tbsp salt

1 tsp vinegar

2 egg whites, well beaten (or 1 whole egg)

1 cup powdered milk

1 cup bran

1 cup flax seed, freshly ground

1 cup rolled oats, ground in blender

4 cups whole wheat flour

2 Tbsp Fermipan yeast

6 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup crushed sunflower seeds, opional

Put water, honey, oil, salt, vinegar, eggs, powdered milk, bran, flax seed, oats, and whole wheat flour. Mix well.

As you continue to mix, sprinkle with yeast. Knead in the all purpose flour for 8 to 10 minutes. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size (1 to 1 1/2 hours). Shape into buns or loaves, cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size (1 to 1 1/2 hours). Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minute for buns, 35-40 minutes for loaves.

Notes:

Makes a huge batch! 2 large and 2 small loaves, 6 large buns and 6 muffin cup buns.

A coffee grinder works well to grind the flax.

Multigrain flour is fantastic in place of whole wheat.

I used 2 whole eggs instead of 2 egg whites.

Fried Rice

This is called "Fried Rice Restaurant Style" on allrecipes.com. It's very similar to how I throw together fried rice. This could be gluten-free if the soy sauce is GF.

2 cups enriched white rice
4 cups water
2/3 cup chopped baby carrots
1/2 cup frozen green peas
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 eggs
soy sauce to taste
sesame oil, to taste (optional)

In a saucepan, combine rice and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

In a small saucepan, boil carrots in water about 3 to 5 minutes. Drop peas into boiling water, and drain.

Heat wok over high heat. Pour in oil, then stir in carrots and peas; cook about 30 seconds. Crack in eggs, stirring quickly to scramble eggs with vegetables. Stir in cooked rice. Shake in soy sauce, and toss rice to coat. Drizzle with sesame oil, and toss again. 

Notes:

This is a great way to use leftover rice. If you plan to prepare rice for dinner one night, make extra to use for this purpose. I personally prefer brown rice and I don't know how to link to it, but if you search my blog, I have a good recipe for that.

The first review on this recipe on allrecipes says: "really easy and yummy! IMPORTANT NOTE: if you want it to taste like true restaurant style, you need to put the rice only in a pot over high heat and stir it around for about 5 minutes or so before cooking. it helps the grains of rice to stay separate (more like restaurant style) and less sticky. i also used frozen peas/carrots from a bag...worked great!"

The second review says: "This is a great recipe! The only thing I want to add is that to get that authentic "taste" of restaurant fried rice, you should add about half a bottle of Oyster Sauce. Easily found in the asian section at the grocery store. Back off on that much if it tastes too strong, but after years of living in Japan and trying many versions of fried rice recipes, oyster sauce is the ticket!"

I typically saute onion and frozen-veggies-from-a-bag together, add the rice, then the eggs, and then the soy sauce and a little sesame oil at the end. It can be a pretty simple and complete meal on its own, especially if you have meat in it.

Iced Coffee

I take no credit for this recipe! You can follow this link for helpful instructions and step-by-step photos: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/06/perfect-iced-coffee/

The basic foundation of her recipe, and if you've had iced coffee and especially if you've attempted to make your own, are these two concepts:

1) iced coffee is easily diluted and therefore bland. 

2) it must be super cold; the colder the better!

First things first: the next time you make a pot of coffee, make extra or save the leftovers and freeze it in your ice cube trays!!! Make lots of them. Once they're frozen you can store them in a plastic storage bag or in a container.

The original recipe is roughly this:

In a large container (it will need a lid in a minute), combine:

1 lb coffee grounds

2 gallons COLD water

Stir to ensure all grounds are soaking in the water. Put the lid on, toss it in the fridge for a minimum of 8 hours. The longer it sits, the more the grounds can settle and therefore easier to separate it later.

Strain it through a fine mesh strainer or use what you have on hand: I used a colander with a coffee filter in it. Put it into a (preferably glass) pitcher or container of some sort to store in the fridge. I find my Pampered Chef batter bowl works well, and I did NOT start with 2 gallons of water :)

When it's time to make your iced coffee mixture, fill a glass with coffee ice cubes OR throw them into your ice crushing blender :) LOTS of ice cubes! Add your coffee. I went for about 2/3 of the mixture being coffee, 1/3 any combination of milk and/or cream, vanilla or other flavoring you love, and sugar to taste. 

I just did a batch in my blender and it was approximately 4 cups of coffee, 1 1/2 cups of milk, 1/2 cup of cream (I know! right?), 1/2 cup of sugar, 2 tsp vanilla. I gave it a quick whip with the blender to mix.

Updated May 20, 2014:
I made a batch today:
2 cups cold coffee
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup cream
1 full tray of coffee ice cubes
No milk

The coffee isn't strong enough and I didn't add milk because it would dilute it further :(

Orange Muffins

I'm bored of all the usual things I have for breakfast, like toast with cinnamon and sugar, or cereal, so today it was muffins! I wanted to try something different, I already made banana muffins a couple of days ago and I knew I had a bowl full of oranges I could use. I wonder what allrecipes has for orange muffin recipes! This is the first one that came up, and wouldn't you know, the comment posted by the person who contributed the recipe said, "An old Mennonite recipe". Say no more!

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon grated orange zest

2/3 cup orange juice
1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup ground walnuts (optional)

1 tablespoon melted butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, white sugar and grated orange peel. Stir in orange juice, 1/2 cup melted butter, eggs and chopped nuts.

Pour into 12 muffin cups.

Blend 1 tablespoon melted margarine, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle on top of each muffin. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for 20-25 minutes. Serve hot.

Notes:

I didn't have white sugar, so I used 1/3 cup brown sugar. (I prefer to reduce sugar in most recipes.)

I pulled the insides out of the orange and used a hand blender to mix it with butter and eggs. May as well keep the fiber of the orange, not just the juice. I should have measured the orange juice because the muffins were a tiny bit dry, so I may have been a little short on juice. 

I made a small mistake with the topping. I did extra butter (of course!) so the topping wasn't crumbly. It still turned out okay (not ideal, just okay), but you'll definitely want to maintain that crumb texture with the topping.

This would probably work just as well with whole-wheat flour, to make it just a little bit healthier with a little more fiber.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

This recipe is from Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. Great recipe book to incorporate veggies and/or fruit into recipes. I highly recommend this book! As usual, I'll write the recipe as originally written, and then I'll add my variations at the end. I made these for a Mary Kay get together last night, and everyone seemed to enjoy them, especially Ella.

nonstick cooking spray

1 cup whole-wheat flour

1 cup old-fashioned oats

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

3/4 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar

6 Tbsp trans-fat free soft tub margarine spread, chilled

1/2 cup banana puree

1/2 cup zucchini puree

1 large egg white

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat two baking sheets with cooking spray, or line with cooking parchment.

In a bowl or zipper-lock bag, combine flour, oats, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, and shake or stir to mix.

In a large bowl, beat the sugar and margarine with a wooden spoon until just combined; do not overmix. Add banana and zucchini purees, and the egg white, and stir just to blend. Add the flour mixture, raisins, and walnuts, if using, and stir to combine.

Drop the dough by heaping tablespoonsful onto the baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch in between. Bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 4 to 5 minutes, just until they are firm enough to handle, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Notes:

I didn't have whole-wheat flour, so I used white.

I normally reduce sugar in recipes, but since this was the first time I made this specific recipe, I left it at 3/4 cup. Next time I'd cut back to 1/2 cup, maybe even a bit less.

I used butter. 6 Tbsp comes to 0.375 cup, so that's just over 2/3 cup.

I didn't have zucchini, so I did extra banana instead.

I didn't have eggs in the house, so I used ground flax seed. (1 Tbsp ground flax, soaked in 3 Tbsp water)

I rinsed the raisins in hot water a couple of times before putting them into the batter.

Ham Casserole

I don't know for sure, but I think this recipe is from my friend Melissa Cosens. I love a nice casserole for breakfast and this is what my family made for me for Mother's Day. It's also a good brunch potluck dish. It would be great with eggs on the side, and coffee of course.

4 cups frozen shredded hashbrowns
1 1/2 cups chopped ham
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 sm. onion, chopped (optional)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 tbsp. butter or margarine, melted

Mix hashbrowns, ham, cheese & onion in 1 L. casserole or 9X9 cake pan. Mix sour cream, milk & pepper lightly & pour over hashbrown mixture. Combine crumbs & butter, sprinkle over casserole. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

Notes:

Melissa's comments: I often don't bother with the ham & sometimes I add a can of corn. I don't either usually do the bread crumbs. Sometimes I find you need a little more of the sour cream/milk sauce & I usually add more cheese than it calls for.

My comments: I'm not a bread crumb topping kinda person either

I have not tried a can of cream soup, but I imagine you'd have a wide variety of options if you tried it. Cream of mushroom would be good. I'm not a fan of cheddar cheese soup, but I suppose that could work. Or swap out the ham for chicken and use cream of chicken soup. I imagine it would work well!