Paint Party Friday Banana Bread

 This is my contribution to paint party friday and art everyday month!I have been     creative everyday although this is all I can share as I'm doing a project for a friend.

Monday I reminded Beardo  to take his co-worker Banana Bread since  his cousin was being laid to rest after a sudden motorcycle accident last week. Like mother, like daughter Cupcake reminded him too!  Us girls felt so sad for this young mans loss. 

 This year a few of Beardos close knit coworkers have had recent break ups, so we sent  goody bags to work with a banana bread for the boys. Someone is sick, they get a banana bread. It's our way of saying feel better soon, our heart is with you! We give it away as a "thank-you" or a "just thinking of you!"  I have been making this recipe for 35 years. Everyone loves it so much.  I 've made it as Christmas gifts when money was tight, I have taken it as house warming gifts. It was always raved about, requested and enjoyed!

The last few years I passed the torch and now Cupcake makes all the banana bread sometimes Beardo does too!!  It is revered just as much as mine was, always with rave reviews! The last year Cupcake has shared the recipe with an out of towner and a few people she doesn't see often!

  Her hairdresser made it with healthier alternatives. It didn't bode well.  Her husband   complained it wasn't as good as  Cupcakes! Another girl was disappointed that  hers didn't taste the same when she made it.  Beardos female Coworker also complained that hers just didn't taste the same as Cupcakes either! So he teased her that she was missing the secret ingredient !! She begged him to tell her what the secret ingredient was!! He strung her along, giggling that he just couldn't tell her. So she text-ed Cupcake for the secret ingredient!! Cupcake, totally perplexed, asked her what she was talking about.... The woman persisted, begging to know the secret ingredient!! There were no missing ingredients when Cupcake gave her the recipe!! However there is something we always do. We make it with very ripe bananas, and love!! I'm posting the recipe for you to try, but don't forget the secret ingredient, LOVE!!

 I saw a cute gift idea where an artist painted a small canvas then added a favourite recipe. Do you have a favorite recipe you make that you share or don't share with others?

Reindeer Cookies

 Before they were dipped

I am so delinquent at blog posts but had to share this! On the weekend dear daughter decided to bake reindeer cookies for a family gathering next week. We ran around in search of  little pretzels for the antlers, returned home where she threw the ingredients together. Formed the reindeer's, added little raspberry flavored Swedish berries for the nose and smarties for the eyes. It was a labor of love!

After the first few trays of the double batch were done she asked me to taste one. I was too full, opting to wait until a cookie broke, or an antler fell off! Her hubby continued to help  put more cookie sheets together while we listened to Christmas music. After most of the cookies were baked I decided to try one..... It was a peanut butter cookie, a bit dry....and lacking flavor...Oh no I thought... Then she asked the dreaded question, " How are they?" 

Eeeks..... I didn't want to say.  She is such an amazing little  baker. People beg for her banana bread. But the cookie was flat. All I could taste was salt.  I hesitated. She knew something was wrong and demanded to know! As diplomatic as one could be under the circumstance I said, "Somethings wrong." 
"Do they have sugar in them?"  I questioned. 
She assured me they did, as she reread the recipe...It called for two cups of brown sugar and two cups of white. Some how she had  missed all the white sugar in the recipe. We were all pretty upset. All that work and the cookies didn't taste good.

"Never mind we'll  figure something out," I said, many great recipes are borne of mistakes.....I thought for a moment. We have these huge Cadbury chocolate bars in the freezer that we buy yearly when they're half price. Lets just dip the cookies   in chocolate, that will fix them up!

I got the double boiler out, put half a large bar into the pot with a bit of butter, milk and vanilla. Together we happily spread chocolate over the bottom side of about six dozen cookies...let them dry, then put them in airtight containers in the very cold garage. 

This evening we decided to have one with tea. They are the most delicious happy accident ever!! They softened up and melded with the chocolate making the most wonderful flavor! After all who doesn't love peanut butter and chocolate together!!! We'll probably do them that way every year!

The proper

REINDEER COOKIES

1 CUP OF BROWN SUGAR

1CUP OF WHITE SUGAR

1 CUP OF BUTTER, SOFTENED

cream sugar and butter together

then add

 2 EGGS

 1 CUP OF SMOOTH PEANUT BUTTER

2 TEASPOONS OF BAKING SODA

1/2 TEASPOON OF SALT

                                                        1 TEASPOON OF VANILLA

3 CUPS OF ALL PURPOSE FLOUR

mix together well!

Roll into balls then flatten and  form triangles

Place small pretzels in the corners for antlers

Place either a swedish berry or red m&m for a nose

Then place 2 green m&ms or smarties for the eyes 

Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown

Fun to make and kids love them!

Double up the ingredients for a double batch!

Enjoy

Baked Potato soup

I copied this post verbatim, picture and all from one of my very favorite blogs, Mennonite girls can cook! I had to because I made this recipe a few days ago, it looked exactly like this photo and I never want to lose this fabulous recipe! I made a few changes because I didn't have a few of the ingredients on hand. I used onions instead of actual leeks.Meduim cheddar instead of sharp! I only had two slices of bacon....so I didn't bother with it on my bowl...but the soup was still scrumptious...especially for those baked potatoes lovers such as myself. I also used the oxo dried chicken in a mug from Costco which I always have on hand in place of the canned low salt chicken broth. Oh and I DOUBLED IT!

Now in a comedy of errors while thinking this soup would be easy to make.... I didn't cool the broth down enough before trying to whirl it in my blender....Oh what a mess I had. A layer of starch on my cupboards, backsplash, stove, and anything int he vicinity including myself.... and yes I tried it again and again, ...with the same result..I just had to have this soup..now if that's not insanity I don't know what is! Note the red font as a warning...big warning...not to make my mistake! DO NOT BLEND INGREDIENTS IN BLENDER WHILE HOT!!! Unless you want to be cleaning up a hard to remove glue from every nook and cranny in your kitchen

Baked potato, leek soup with cheddar cheese and bacon!

Think of a loaded baked potato with butter, sour cream, onion, cheese, and bacon. Now picture it as a creamy bowl of delicious soup. Yum! Potatoes are used skin and all so be sure to scrub them well.

You might recognize this recipe from the front cover of 'The Rest of the Best of Bridge'!

Prep Time: 35 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hours, 30 minutes

Ingredients:
2 medium russet potatoes (about 1/2 pound each)
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
2 medium leeks (white and light green parts), sliced and rinsed well
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups homemade or low-salt canned chicken broth
4 thick slices bacon, cut into 1/2-inch dice
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup (about 1/4 pound) grated sharp Cheddar (see Cook's Note)
2 Tablespoons thinly sliced scallion greens or chives

Preparation:

Heat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Scrub the potatoes, pat dry, and pierce several times with a fork. Set them directly on the oven rack and bake until very tender, about 1 hour. Let cool completely on a cooling rack.

Melt the butter in a soup pot over medium-low heat. Add the leeks and garlic, season with salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the chicken broth and 2 cups water. Simmer until the leeks are very tender, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the bacon over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until browned and crisp. Transfer to a paper-towel lined plate to drain.

Cut one of cooled potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop the flesh out in one piece from each half. Cut the flesh into 1/2-inch cubes and set aside. Coarsely chop the potato skin and the entire remaining potato and add to the pot with the leeks. Puree the contents of the pot in batches in a blender until very smooth.

Return the soup to a clean pot and reheat over medium low. Whisk together the milk and sour cream and then whisk this into the soup, along with 1/2 cup of the cheddar cheese. Stir in the diced potato.

Season with salt and pepper. Serve garnished with the remaining cheese, the bacon bits, and the scallions or chives.

Celebrating the Love!

"Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it's Christmas."

Dale Evans Rogers

Despite the hoards of snow we got from a blizzard Saturday night and all day Sunday,my goddess ladies showed up to my intimate Christmas gathering. All day I awaited their cancellations.... each woman braved the slippery roads.One husband offered to drive his wife, then pick her up two hours later...after informing him she'd be staying at least four hours...he opted to let her take his truck instead. They look clunkier in person!

Finding parking was horrific. I threw on my big clunky square toed shoes with a dress no less...very bohunk looking, I just needed a babushka to complete the look!. I can legitimately call myself that because I am one quarter Ukrainian and one quarter Russian...the rest is Irish and Scottish! I quickly jumped in my jeep....more like hobbled with my gimped knee. As I was driving to pick up one goddess who lives a few complexes over, I saw a kid laying in the middle of the road, while three of his cronies stood by watching. I think he was playing chicken...he stared at my car and continued to lay across the road way! Omg does this boy not know about MENTAL PAUSE!!!(MENOPAUSE)

Holy toledo! He didn't move and so I had to stop....I was yelling some expletives, he could probably read my ( are you a total EFFING IDIOT...OMG ) lips. Meanwhile the car behind me stopped too.. the kid then jumps to his feet forms his fingers in the gesture of an "L" for loser sign.... Thank goodness I wasn't driving around in my last years brakes that were over ten years old!

Was I not looking like a crazy woman, had I not had on my funny bohunk shoes with a dress....and if I was twenty five years younger....I would have jumped out of that car so fast...his head would have spun! He WOULD have been scared in my former days!

I also met my Fairy Goddess there too! I taxied them both to my place where the party began!

Welcome to my celebration of love!!
A joyful moment!

One goddess dawns a ceramic hand over her heart...... the surprise Christmas ring holder she received in our gift exchange! We can only imagine what freaky things she will do with that special hand.....threatening to take it to work today! Instead of our earth goddess she should be our court jester with her abundance of humor always right on the edge! I love it! Nature goddess turns sixty next September and informed me she's getting her nose pierced on that special birthday....... I had mine done to commemorate my fortieth. She's holding up the sweet ornament she brought as a hostess gift....I love the face on the little drummer.

As you can see we had a marvelous celebration with loads of laughter, great food made by all, and some cheer of course! Thanks girls it was so much fun! Unforgettable really! All the ladies were asking for my Raspberry delight dessert recipe which is actually Gypsy Goddesses recipe....so as my gift to all of you
I'm posting my new traditional Christmas dinner dessert.
Trust me this is a huge hit and beat trifle by far
, everyone loves it!


Raspberry Delight
2 cups of graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons of margarine
3 tablespoons of sugar

Mix those three ingredients together
pack down into a 9x13 pan
place in a 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes


Prepare 2 cups boiling water add 2 packages of raspberry Jello stir well
then add a 600 g package of Frozen raspberries to the hot jello and stir
Place the mixture in the fridge for a bit then stir half way through ...
so it's a thickened but not solid

Beat one cup of white icing sugar with one package of cream cheese 8oz
Then fold in the 500 g tub of Cool whip

After the graham cracker base cools,
put a thin layer of the cool whip mixture over the whole base
then spread all the raspberry mixture,
finish off with the rest of the cool whip mixture.....
sprinkle some loose graham cracker crumbs for eye appeal
Store in the fridge.....can be doubled and frozen too!
So yummy my brothers favorite dessert!

Rolo Cookies

Heat oven 375 degrees

Awesome Rolo Cookies

1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter (softened or melted) or marg
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
2 ½ cups all purpose flour
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
48 Rolo’s 5 or 6 packs

The secret to these cookies turning out well is to make sure the dough is completely chilled and stiff before wrapping the rolo!

Add sugar and melted butter in a large bowl. Beat until fluffy. Then add eggs and vanilla and blend well. In a smaller bowl add flour, cocoa and baking soda, mix well, then add to the sugar mixture and blend well. Stir in ½ cup of pecans then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 min to and hour.
With a floured hand take roughly 1 tablespoon of dough and wrap it completely around one rolo. Then press one pecan onto each cookie. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 7-10 min (until slightly cracked) cool 2 min and then remove from cookie sheet.