Banana Pudding

This recipe is straight off the Nilla Wafers box, but to me, it is by far the best one I've found. I'm kind of a snob about my banana pudding and don't like recipes that use instant pudding mix or Cool Whip. And this is easy and delicious!


Banana Pudding:

1/3 cup flour

dash salt

3/4 cup sugar, divided

3 eggs, separated

2 cups milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 cups milk

45 Nilla Wafers, divided

5 bananas, sliced


*Sorry this is showing up so funky! I can't seem to fix it!

HEAT oven to 350°F.

MIX 1/2 cup sugar, flour and salt in top of double boiler. Blend in 3 egg yolks and milk. Cook, uncovered, over boiling water 10 to 12 min. or until thickened, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.
RESERVE 12 wafers for garnish. Spread small amount of custard onto bottom of 1-1/2-qt. baking dish. Cover with layers of 1/3 each of the remaining wafers, bananas and remaining custard. Repeat layers 2 times. {I usually only do two layers of the bananas and end with the vanilla wafers on top prior to topping with the meringue.} 
BEAT egg whites on high speed of mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in remaining sugar until stiff peaks form. Spread over custard, sealing well to edge of dish.
BAKE 15 to 20 min. or until lightly browned. Cool slightly. Top with reserved wafers just before serving.

Potato Soup

I am all about soups this time of year, and with this pregnancy I haven't had much of an appetite, so I've really enjoyed soup. I cooked this last night and thought it was pretty good and easy. This is a crock pot recipe but I ended up putting it on the stove because I didn't want to wait the 6 hours it called for.

Potato Soup:
2 potatoes, peeled and chopped into small pieces
3 Tbsp butter
2 cups onions, chopped
1 cup water
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
4 cups low-sodium chicken stock
1 cup water
8 oz bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
1 cup half & half
1 1/2 cups instant potato flakes
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp basil
1 cup (4 oz) shredded cheddar cheese
2 green onions, chopped

Combine the potatoes with enough water to cover in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes and drain. Melt the butter in a large saucepan and add the onions. Saute until tender. Remove the onions to a bowl using a slotted spoon, reserving the pan drippings. Stir 1 cup water and the flour into the reserved pan drippings. Cook until a roux forms, stirring constantly.

Combine the roux, cooked potatoes, onions, stock and 1 cup water in a slow cooker and mix well. Mix in the bacon, half & half, potato flakes, salt, pepper, and basil, and cook, covered, on low heat for 6 hours. Ladle into soup bowls and top with cheese and green onions.

{I mixed all the ingredients in a big pot, brought it to a boil and then let it simmer until it was thick.}

Peach Crisp

I meant to put this recipe on here last summer but never got around to it. It's super easy and so good! The first time I made it, I used fresh peaches, but it was way too labor intensive, so I recommend using the canned peaches it calls for.

(I had a picture but I can't find it now.)

Peach Crisp:

1 (29 oz) can of sliced peaches, drained {I would recommend using two cans}
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white sugar {I think I do half brown, half white}
1 pinch salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup butter, chilled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Layer the peaches in a 9x13 baking dish. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon. Slice the butter into chunks and mix it into the dry ingredients until it looks like pea size crumbs {I use my mixer for this}. Sprinkle crumbs over peaches. Bake for 40 minutes or until lightly golden. Serve with vanilla ice cream.


Recipe from allrecipes.com. 

Blueberry Muffins

I prefer to make most things from scratch, but I have always thought that you can't really beat Duncan Hines when it comes to blueberry muffins. But recently my MIL gave me some fresh blueberries that she had picked on a friend's farm, so I decided I needed to make some muffins from scratch. It turns out that it's not hard and not much more time consuming than making them from the box mix. You just have to dump and stir a few more things into the bowl. :) And everyone seems to like these!

Sweetish Hill's Blueberry Muffins: {this recipe is from Nesbit Blueberry Farm}

2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup powdered milk {I didn't have this ingredient so I looked it up in my substitutions cookbook and it said you can use an equal amount of regular milk instead, so I used whole milk}
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup canola oil1 egg
1 1/2 cups water
2-3 cups blueberries (if using frozen blueberries, lightly dust them with
flour)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with paper or carefully butter and flour the cups. Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another. Reserve the blueberries. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet mixture. Mix with a wooden or nylon spoon just until combined. Do not over mix. Carefully fold in the blueberries. Fill the cups until almost full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack. Makes approx 24 muffins. (I usually end up with 28 muffins.)

Gran Gran's Brownie Bites

These are really good and really easy, and always a crowd pleaser! This is my grandmother's recipe.

Brownie Bites:

4 squares unsweetened chocolate

2 sticks of butter

1 1/2 cups pecans, chopped

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 cup flour

4 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

In a double broiler {or saucepan- I use a double broiler because I feel like it's less likely to burn} melt the chocolate and butter. After they are melted, stir in the pecans. {I'm not a fan of nuts in my dessert so I always leave them out.}

In a bowl, sift the flour and stir in sugar, eggs, and vanilla until well blended. Add the chocolate mixture. 

Pour into a {very liberally} greased mini muffin tin {I put the batter in a big measuring cup and pour from that because it's very thin and liquid-y and can be quite messy}. Cook at 325 degrees for 20 min or until a toothpick comes out clean. Makes approx 48.

Zucchini Bread

This is one of the first things I made for Curran when she started eating table food, and she has always loved it {and you'll see why when you see the sugar content}. But it is also a way to sneak in a few healthy ingredients, too.

Zucchini Bread:

3 1/4 cups flour

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp nutmeg

1/4 cup ground flax seed

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs, beaten

2 cups grated zucchini

{I also sometimes add in grated carrots}

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients. In another bowl, combine all wet ingredients. Mix wet ingredients into dry. Coat pans well with nonstick cooking spray. Can bake in two standard loaf pans, or sometimes I split batter between one loaf pan and one 12 cup muffin tin. Bake loafs for about one hour, or muffins for 16-20 minutes.

You can really alter this recipe any way you want. I decided to split the sugar content between white and brown, but you could do all one or the other. I also added the flax seed and carrots to the original recipe I found. I have also seen recipes add chocolate chips and orange zest.

Chicken Spaghetti

This is a recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman's version. It is really easy and makes a lot. It is by no means healthy, which is just fine by me.

Chicken Spaghetti:
3-4 chicken breasts
3 cups spaghetti noodles, broken into small pieces
1 cup chicken broth
1 can Rotel
2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper
1 tsp Lawry's seasoning salt
salt and pepper to taste

1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded {save to go on top of casserole}

Cook noodles and cook chicken {I boil my chicken for this recipe}. Cut chicken into small pieces after cooked. Mix all ingredients together and pour into a 9 x 13" baking dish. Sprinkle 1 cup cheddar cheese on top of casserole and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Can't get much easier, and it leaves plenty of leftovers!

Taco Soup

This is a staple around our house. I know a lot of people only like hearty soups when it's cold outside, but we eat it all year long. It's super easy and makes enough for leftovers!

Taco Soup:
1.5 lbs ground beef, browned and drained
1 can corn, drained
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 can beef broth
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 small onion, diced
2 cans kidney beans


{I leave the beans out because I don't like them. Also, I have gotten lazy over the years and usually leave out the onion and bell pepper. The Rotel contains both of those vegetables anyway, plus John doesn't really like them.}


After browning the meat with the onion and bell pepper, put all ingredients in a big pot and stir. Bring to a boil. Then turn it down to simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. {Can simmer longer.} Serve with grated cheddar cheese and tortilla chips on top.

Just about as easy as you can get!

Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

I'm not a big casserole person. In fact, this is the only one I cook. Our neighbors brought us something similar to this when C was born and we really liked it, so we added it into our usual dinner rotation.

Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole:

1 box Uncle Ben's Wild Rice {original recipe}
1 pkg chicken breasts {I usually get the chicken tenderloins since they are smaller and easier to cut up}
1 pkg fresh sliced mushrooms
1/2 small onion, diced
8 oz sour cream
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
Cheddar cheese, grated
Ritz crackers, crumbled

Cook rice according to package instructions. In a sauce pan, saute onions {in either vegetable oil or a little butter} for a few minutes. Add cut up pieces of chicken. I let that cook a little while and then add mushrooms and let saute until done.

Once rice is cooked, stir in sour cream and Cream of Mushroom soup. {You can also mix in some cheddar cheese at this point, but I really don't think it needs it, and I try to cut calories where I can.} Mix that with the chicken and mushroom mixture. Poor mixture into a 9 x 13" baking dish {or I split it into two 8 x 8" pans and freeze one}. Top with shredded cheese and Ritz crackers. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes or until bubbly. {If frozen, it cooks for about an hour.}