Very Moist Banana Bread

I got this recipe from a friend in Virginia. She gave us some bread for Christmas and I had to have the recipe after that! It's the most moist banana bread I've ever had, and everyone who tries it loves it! Oh, and it makes quite a bit!

Ingredients:
6 ripe bananas
4 eggs
4 cups sugar
1 cup oil
1 cup sour cream or yogurt

Combine ingredients then add:

4 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups chopped nuts (optional)
2 tsp. vanilla

Mix until well blended. Grease and flour your loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees. Turn out onto a cooling rack.

I usually put this in 3 large loaf pans. I have been able to make 11 small loaves from one recipe as well. For the mini pans cook about 45 minutes.

Super Moist, Super Awesome Cornbread

This recipe came from my husband's aunt, and it is my favorite cornbread ever. I just don't like the crumbly stuff, and this stuff is very moist and sweet and yummy!

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
4 oz. can diced green chilies
16 oz. can creamed corn
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup flour
1 cup yellow corn meal
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time. Add green chilies, creamed corn, and cheese. Mix well. Sift all other ingredients and add to mixture. Blend well.

Put in greased 9x13 pan. Reduce heat to 300 when you put the pan in, cook for 1 hour.

Tacos

I'm horrible at taking pictures, usually I'm so excited to eat that I totally forget to take a picture of our food before it's gone...so with that said, I'll have to add pictures in later. Sorry!

For our taco meat, I don't use a package of seasoning anymore, my mother-in-law gave me a "recipe" for some yummy meat (basically she just told me what she likes to put in hers and I adapted it to us!) So, here goes...

1 lb. hamburger
1 small onion, diced
1 can diced green chilis
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen corn
about a half a bottle of salsa
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 Tbsp. cumin


Cook hamburger with onion, then add rest of ingredients. Because this isn't exact, I would recommend tasting it after it's all cooked to see if you want to add more of anything-sorry to be so vauge. :)

We eat it with cheese and sour cream, and sometimes lettus, and always salsa. My favorite is homemade, but we use whatever we have.

Also, I used to buy cooked tortillas, then I discovered the ones at Sam's Club that you cook yourself and couldn't go back, then I decided to try making them myself. I've tried a couple different recipes. The first one didn't use as much shortening, which is good, but they turned out crispier than I wanted. The second one was awesome. I googled "Cafe Rio tortilla recipe" and that's how I found this one. I have no idea how close it is to the actual Cafe Rio tortillas, but they are yummy anyway!

I found this on SparkPeople:

Cafe Rio Tortilla (at home)
5 cups flour
1/2 cup shortening
1/8 tsp. baking powder
1 Tbsp. salt
1 1/2 - 1 3/4 cup water


Combine dry ingredients, cut shortening into dry mixture. Add water, slowly, until mixture is smooth.


Roll into balls (about the size of Clementine oranges). Roll flat with rolling pin as thin as possible. Put on griddle at 425 degrees, it only takes a few minutes on each side.


Makes approximately 20 tortillas.

Grocery List:
hamburger
green chilis
black beans
frozen corn
tomatoes
onions
lettus
sour cream
cheese

Easy Pesto

Ingredients:
1/4 cup almonds, toasted
3 clove garlic
1 1/2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste


In a food processor, combine all ingredients, process until a course paste is formed.

I usually do at least 2 recipes of this at a time - you don't need as much olive oil.

Grocery List:
almonds
basil

Pesto Meatballs

This is not only a new recipe, but one I kinda made up. :) I saw someone on a cooking show making pesto meatballs, but I only saw a couple minutes of it, so I thought I'd try my own version. They turned out pretty tasty, definately one I'll make again.

Ingredients:
1 lb. italien sausage
2 Tbsp. pesto (store bought, or homemade)
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 egg

Mix all the ingredients together and shape into 1 inch balls. Place on baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.

You could probably use ground beef if you don't want to use sausage, but I love pesto, so they had a great flavor.

Grocery List:
1 lb italien sausage
pesto

Chicken Bundles

This is one of our favorites!

2 packages refrigerated crescent rolls
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 cups shredded chicken
1 tsp. lemon pepper
2 Tbsp. onions, finely chopped
1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped (optional)
1/2 cup frozen spinach (optional)

Mix all ingredients except crecent rolls. Open rolls, put two triangles together to form a square. Place a heaping tablespoon of filling in middle of square. Fold edges up around filling and seal. Place on greased baking sheet and bake according to directions on crescent roll package or until lightly browned. Serve with gravy made from cream of chicken soup and cheese, or just chicken gravy.

Grocery List:
2 packages crescent dough
8 oz cream cheese
frozen spinach
mushrooms

Idea from Nicole

A friend of mine left this comment for me, and I thought it was a good idea that I'd share. I like the idea of trying the dish twice before you keep it or throw it out-my meals never taste the exact same twice! Also, I totally agree about taking a picture, that's a great idea!

"I have been typing up my recipies as well, i found this idea where you have 2 binders 1)-tried & true 2)yumm & new. You put all your recipies typed in the binders but new recipies can't be moved over to the tried & true untill you have made it 2x. And they said to take a picture of your meals and put it with the recipie, you are more likly to make something if you see it first. any ways just thought I would share."

Thanks Nicole!

Pad Se-Iw

In addition to the recipes I know my family likes, I decided to try a new recipe at least once a week, this one is a new recipe, but not a new dish. My husband served a mission in Thailand 10 or so years ago, so we've always loved Thai food and are always looking for and trying new recipes. This is one that I saw on Good Things Utah from one of our favorite restraunts, Thai Siam. I tried it last night, and it was good, but I think next time I'm going to double the sauce, it just wasn't enough. And, I didn't have my camera last night, so next time I make it, I'll take a picture and post it. :)

Don't be scared of the ingredients, I believe you can get them all at a regular grocery store, but they are much cheaper if you go to an Asian market. (And, the amounts here have not been doubled)

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. oyster sauce
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. sweet soy sauce
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 egg (I did two)
3 oz. broccoli
5 oz. chicken, cut up into thin strips
9 oz. wide rice noodles (fresh is best, but if you can't find any, use dried. Boil a large pot of water and add about a Tbsp of oil to it. Put in half a pound of rice noodles and boil for 4 minutes. Rinse well.)
black pepper to taste

Heat oil in wok. Add egg, scramble in oil. Add chicken and stir unti chicken is just cooked. Add oyster sauce, sweet soy sauce, sugar and soy sauce (already mixed together). Mix in with chicken and egg. Add broccoli. Stir everything to mix thoroughly. Add noodls. Stir again until noodles are hot. Serve garnished with black pepper.

Again, super easy, and the oyster sauce and sweet soy sauce will last quite awhile. I have at least one other recipe I'll post that uses them. (Also, again, my 4-year-old loved this and asked for seconds!)

Grocery List:
oyster sauce
sweet soy sauce
broccoli
eggs
chicken
wide rice noodles

Beef with snow pea pods and mushrooms

Sorry, the picture of this was taken with my phone half-way through my dinner, so it doesn't look nearly as good as it could! This is one of our favorite recipes. If you like mushrooms, you'll love it, if not, you can probably substitute other veggies for the mushrooms-the sauce is very good!

Also, one thing I have learned about stir-fry dishes, cook it fast, then serve it as soon as it's done. If you cook it too slow, or overcook the meat or veggies, the meat comes out too tough and the whole dish is too dry-same if you cook it ahead of time and let it sit, it just gets too dry. Have everything cut up and ready to go so all you have to do is dump stuff in the wok (or frying pan because my wok is in storage somewhere...)

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. grated fresh ginger root
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
a handful of snow pea pods
1 lb flank steak, cut into thin slices (I use whatever is the cheapest)
1/2 cup chicken broth or water (either one works great)
1 Tbsp. cornstarch in 2 Tbsp. water
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
cashews or peanuts

Heat oil in wok and stir-fry the ginger, garlic, and mushrooms 1 to 2 minutes. Push aside. Stir-fry the pea pods 1 to 2 minutes or until they are bright green. Push aside. Stir-fry the beef 2 to 3 minutes. Return the vegetables to the meat. Add the broth, cornstarch mixture, and soy sauce and heat until sauce boils and is thickened and beef and vegetables are heated through. Add nuts and serve at once with rice.

Super easy, and last night when my 4-year-old tasted it he said "mmmmm! This is awesome!" so, it must be good!

Grocery list:
mushrooms
pea pods
ginger root
steak
cashews/peanuts

The Goal

Ever since I started hearing "didn't we just have that?" I decided something needed to be done. I ran across a blog that suggested putting together a list of 30 meals your family likes and then rotating through them each month so you never have the same thing more than once each month. I really liked the idea and have wanted to put it together for my family, but it's been slow going. I've finally made a list of meals, and I was surprised that I came up with more than 30 (the hardest part of dinner for me is coming up with something). I've made a monthly calendar, just so I don't repeat anything too close to the prior months meals. It's been great because I don't have to agonize over what to make for dinner anymore!

I'm also attempting to make it easier on our budget and quicker by trying to figure out what things I can buy in bulk, or on a good sale. I'm really good at buying things on sale and then never using them. I want to build our food storage, but I want to fill it with things we actually use and eat. So, this blog is a place for me to keep track of my recipes. I want to post each recipe with a shopping list included. Hopefully I can get it organized enough to be able to do a big shopping trip for bulk/food storage items at least once a month or so-I really want to take advantage of case lot sales for once!

So, there's my goal, now lets see how long it takes to reach it!