Reese’s PB Banana Bread

Posted on May 28, 2012 by katandcompany

I tried this recipe the other night and we had mixed reviews.
My guy didn’t like the big chunks of candy and I really didn’t like the bread itself.
I fixed it though.

Well, fixed it for us.
You might like it too, so I’m going to share.

I took my favorite recipe and doubled it.
(It took less than 12 hours for the last single batch to disappear.)

First things first, unwrap your Reese’s and chop them up.
If you do it first you can take a bite or two.

First, you mash a few big ripe bananas.
(I used my Ninja to mix and mash but you can do by hand.)

Then add a couple cups of sugar, two eggs and a half cup soft butter.
Mix well.

Mix 3 cups flour with 2 teaspoons of baking soda and 1 teaspoon of salt in separate bowl.
Mix.

Mix until most (not all) the flour is moist.
Then toss in the chopped candy.

Pour into well greased pans and bake at 325 degrees for 60 min.
You’ll know it’s done when you can insert a toothpick and it comes out mostly clean.

Place pans on a wire rack to cool for 10-15 minutes.
Then remove from pan to complete cooling.
Or just slice it up and taste it right away.
Note: the chocolate will be hot so be careful if you don’t let it cool completely first.

Enjoy.

Adventures in Bulk Cooking

Posted on May 7, 2012 by katandcompany

Sometimes I bite off more than I can chew.
I am woman enough to admit it and stubborn enough to deny it at the same time.

I knew that I was going to be having surgery last month, so I decided to cook and freeze as many meals as possible at the beginning of the month in order to take care of my family without having to actually do anything.

I found the site 30 Meals in One Day and started planning meals for the month with the program I purchased.
I added some recipes from other cookbooks and adjusted the instructions accordingly for freezing.
The program makes it really easy to create a single shopping list and print all the recipes and labels.

These are how I used my recipes. I hung them up with magnets over the stove.

Let me show you how much food I bought for the month.
(3 meals and 2 snacks a day for 4 people. I guess that was more than 30 meals… Hmm.)

My dining room table was FULL.

Crazy right?
And that’s not all of it.
There was more in both of my freezers.

I didn’t manage to get all the meals done in one day, but I did get it all done before surgery thanks to a little help from my favorite Butthead.

I am so glad I did it though.
Actually, I hope to do again soon.
Maybe not meals for a month, but even 15 frozen meals stashed away in the freezer could really make mealtimes easier. Especially on the days I just don’t feel like cooking.
(I know those nights are going to happen more often once the weather starts heating up.)

It’s too bad you couldn’t smell how good this one was…

Personal Pizza Problem

Posted on May 4, 2012 by katandcompany

Last weekend my guy went out of town to work so Miss Margaret and I were home alone.
He also had the car so we were stuck eating whatever was in the house.

We found some boxed pizza dough and some pizza sauce.
We decided to each make our own personal pizzas.

I totally let her make hers all by herself.
So funny.

While the dough was a sticky step, the sauce step went smoothly.

Having eaten the olives as a snack the day before, we were sadly lacking in toppings.
We had some deli ham though that Miss Margaret snipped up to put on her pizza.

Our pizzas went into some round cake pans and tossed them into the oven.

I think they turned out pretty good.

I put some yellow bell peppers on mine.
Simple but good.

They were the perfect size for a plate.

Look at that proud little chef.

They looked so much better than they tasted.
That was too bad but it was fun.

Party Tray Baked French Toast

Posted on December 30, 2011 by katandcompany

This is the second (very successful) meal created using leftover party trays.

*****

I was checking the mail and a friendly neighbor was carrying two party bread trays that the food bank she volunteers at had an excess of.
She asked if I could use one.
Though we really don’t need the extra calories, I thought I could use them to make a meal.

It’s a bit like the other french toast, but tastes more like…

Cake!

Yes, you read that right.
It tastes like cake.
No wonder the girls liked it.

All you need is some bread, butter, eggs, milk, and some whipping cream.

First you grease the baking dish and then stack the bread.
I broke up a piece to fill up any holes.

For an 8” x 11” baking dish you’ll need 4 eggs, 1 cup whipping cream, and 2 cups of milk. I used a mixer on low to make sure it was well blended.

Pour the eggs and milk mixture over the bread.
Pop it into the oven at 350* until toasted on top.

This 8” x 11” dish took about 45 minutes.
My smaller dish took 30 minutes..

We put a little butter and powdered sugar on top.

Here’s to using what you have to make a yummy meal!

Party Tray Omelettes

Posted on December 29, 2011 by katandcompany

Do you have some leftover cheese and/or veggies from a party tray?
I have an easy solution to use up the last of them.

I had some leftover broccoli and cauliflower as well as several kinds of cheese.
I also had a bunch of eggs.
So I threw them all together to make some Party Tray Omelettes.
(I even used the dip.)
It was a big hit with me and the girls!

Start by chopping up the veggies nice and small.
They can be any veggies you want really.
Then shred or chop up the cheese.
(I had small blocks, so I shredded a couple kinds into a small dish.)

Sauté the veggies a bit.
You really just want to soften them up a bit so they’re not raw inside the eggs.
Remove from the pan and set aside.

Pour those eggs in and season however you see fit.
I used seasoned salt for Miss Margaret and garlic salt for me and Miss Rose.

Once the eggs start bubbling up and the edges start solidifying, sprinkle the cheese in.

Then toss the veggies in and spoon a little dip on top.
Now you want to fold the eggs in half.
Note: Ignore the placement of the veggies here.
They should be only on one half of the mixture.
This bit in the middle made for a very messy fold!

This is what it may look like if you only put the veggies on one side.

So darn good!

Baked Acorn Squash

Posted on October 25, 2011 by katandcompany

I had a friend visiting last week and made some acorn squash to go with our pork for dinner one night. She didn’t know how to bake so I gave her a quick lesson.
I figure she’s probably not the only person either,
so I made a tutorial as we went along.

You can prepare other winter squashes like this as well but I prefer acorn.

You’ll need squash, butter, and brown sugar.
You’ll also need some foil.