Pioneer Woman's Olive Cheese Bread

I think I gained 5 pounds when I made this. It's a lot like Pringles...once you pop, you can't stop! The only changes I made were using white onions for green, chopped black olives instead of sliced, and light mayo. Here's the original: Pioneer Woman's Olive Cheese Bread

Ingredients
1 loaf French bread
6 ounces, (1 jar) pimiento-stuffed green olives
6 ounces, (1 can)  weight black olives
About 1/2 cup chopped white onion
1 stick butter, room temperature
½ cups Mayonnaise
¾ pounds (1 1/2 cups) grated Monterey Jack Cheese (I used a mixture of jack cheeses)

Chop both types of olives. Stir together: butter, mayonnaise, cheese, olives and onions in a mixing bowl. Spread mixture onto French bread that has been sliced lengthwise. Bake at 325ºF for 25 to 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and browning.

Verdict: So rich, so good...addicting...do I need to go on?!

Zucchini Bread

Who doesn't love zucchini bread? It's one of those end-of-summer breads that I always look forward to. But, it's not even close to being the end of summer, as evidence of our 95 degree day today. Actually, I found some frozen, grated zucchini in my freezer and decided to whip up bread for my breakfasts for the next few days.  Don't worry, I try to cook and bake at night so that I don't make the house hot during the day.

About a year ago I came across this recipe from Heidi, and knew I had to try it! As usual, we ended up loving the recipe. And, I thought I had posted it on here, but turns out I didn't, so you're getting it now.

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda (OMG, as I type this out I realize I forgot to add this ingredient this time! GRRR!)
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups white sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
1 capful black walnut extract (or 1 cup walnuts), (I did not add this, because I couldn't find the extract, and I don't care for nuts in my zucchini bread)
2 TBSP sugar
2 TBSP butter

Mix flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon together. Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, walnut extract and sugar together in a separate large bowl. Add dry ingredients to the wet mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini until well combined. Pour batter into two greased loaf pans. Sprinkle each loaf with 1 TBSP of sugar evenly over the top. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Spread 1 TBSP of butter on each loaf of hot bread.

VERDICT: We absolutely love the flavor of this recipe!! And, as you can tell from above, I forgot the baking soda, the bread still came out well! It didn't rise as high as it has in the past, but I can handle that little mess up. Besides, after a breakfast of zucchini bread with butter, who couldn't be happier?!

Donuts

Tonight I'm cleaning up some pictures on my desktop, so I'll be adding recipes if I have time. I have a fabulous recipe for you, though. I first spotted this recipe at Cooking During Stolen Moments and wanted to try my hand at making donuts. I made these, and I had to freeze half of them right away, or we would have eaten them all. You must make these! 

Ingredients
2 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1 tsp salt
1 T baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 T butter, softened
1/2 c milk
1 beaten egg

Place dry ingredients in a bowl, add butter and beat until combined. Add milk and egg. Heat 2-3 inches of oil in a large pan or skillet. After oil heats, roll out dough on a floured surface (I used my hand and patted it down) to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut out into circles, and cut out a center (I used circle cookie cutters for this). OR (as I did for some of them), roll into 1 inch balls.

Fry donuts until LIGHT brown, about 2-3 minutes per side. Be careful though, some of mine got a little dark.

You may roll in powdered sugar, granulated sugar, or glaze the donuts. I divided the donuts into batches and did some in the sugars and some with glaze. We liked them both ways.

VERDICT: LOVE! I am only going to make these a few times per year, because we would gain some major poundage with them around all of the time. I did freeze some of the donuts, however, we found out that they freeze well and are are easy to eat right out of the freezer. Um, they are TOO much of a temptation if we found that out!

Sour Cream Banana Muffins

Last week our bananas turned brown very fast. I will eat them when they're brown, but Jeff will not. Since I had quite a few to use, I found this recipe over at Kara's Kitchen Creations and decided to give it a try. I'm so happy I did. 

Ingredients
1/3 c soft butter
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1 c sour cream (I used light)
3 very ripe bananas
1 tsp vanilla (I used homemade)
2 1/4 c flour
1 1/2 tsp salt (I add about 1/2 tsp because I used salted butter)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c chopped nuts, optional (*I used pecans and only put them on the top of the muffin)

Cream butter and sugar. Mix in wet ingredients. Slowly add in dry ingredients and mix until moistened. Fill muffin tins about 1/2 full (I used cupcake liners). *After filling the tins, I added chopped pecans to the top of the dough and lightly pressed it into the mixture. Bake at 325 degrees for about 18 minutes (I think I went 20 or so). Makes 2 dozen.

VERDICT: Fabulous. They are moist, freeze well, and have a fantastic banana flavor. We've been eating these for breakfast, and sometimes we'll sneak one during lunch or for dessert. I want to keep this recipe in rotation, because it's cheaper than buying breakfast foods.

Cheese Puffs and Maggots with Eye of Newt

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Originally uploaded by IowaSunshine

I was being creative last night and trying to gross out my husband, so I came up with this festive menu.While the Maggots with Eye of Newt is my design,the cheese puffs are courtesy of Cooking During Stolen Moments.

Ingredients for Maggots with Eye of Newt
2 cups of elbow macaroni, cooked to al dente
1 small jar spaghetti sauce
1/2 jar green olives
1/2 lb. hamburger

After cooking macaroni, add sauce, meat and olives and cook until hot. Garnish with strips of Parmesan cheese.

Ingredients: Cheese Puffs
1 1/4 c. finely shredded cheddar cheese (I used Colby-Jack this time)
2 1/2 T. butter or margarine
1/2 c. flour
1/2-3/4 tsp spices (I used garlic and paprika)
1 small jar of green olives

Mix everything together except for olives until it resembles a dough. Then flatten out a small round of dough and wrap it around the olive (I always put too much on and then take some off). Repeat until dough is gone. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.


VERDICT: What a yummy meal! I've made the cheese puffs before, and we always like them! And, as you can tell, we are HUGE fans of olives, so the cheese puffs are great with the olives, but we have used jalapenos in the past. The Maggots with eye of newt is pretty good, too!

Easy Banana Muffins

1 Banana Cake Mix
1 egg white
1 1/4 C Diet 7-UP

Mix together until moist and fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake 20-24 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from pan to cooling rack.

Glaze:
1-2 drops almond extract
powdered sugar
warm tap water

Mix to taste and consistency desired. Drip by teaspoon full in middle of muffin and place sliced almond on top.

IDEA: I like to place 1 bar of chocolate in the middle of the hot muffin for a sweet treat.

Yields: 18 Muffins

I usually put the chocolate bar in the middle of the muffin. I really like how easy it is to make muffins from cake mixes and will be trying different mixes in the days to come, because Jeff and I love these. I will often put a batch of baked muffins in the freezer and take out one the night before and put it in my food bag for breakfast.

French Toast

Simple Version. My mom taught me to make these when I was knee high to a grasshopper. I continue to make it like this today. This is enough to make 2-3 slices. For more just increase the amount of each ingredient.

1 Egg
Splash of milk
dash of cinnamon to your liking (I use A LOT)

Mix together to form batter.

Take bread and dip both sides of bread in batter and put on hot non-stick fry pan or griddle. Cook until the egg is done and the bread is fresh.

This is my all-time favorite French toast recipe!!

Banana Bread

Sometimes I add a couple of chocolate chips when I'm PMSing, so I can get a little chocolate in without feeling quite so guilty. Always be on the lookout for cheap bananas that are over ripe. Today I got about 6 pounds of bananas for 99 cents, because they were over ripe and the store needed to get rid of them.

1 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 egg
1/2 c sugar
2 very ripe bananas (mashed)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Mix dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients. Then mix them all together and do the hokey pokey and turn yourself around, cuz that's what it's all about. Put into a greased bread pan and bake in a moderate oven (350) for about 1 hour.

May substitute 1/4 cup of sugar-free apple sauce for the vegetable oil.