Friday Foodie

Yesterday morning Les said, "Those bananas are looking pretty bad, you need to make banana bread."  It was raining at the time and I was not opposed to the idea.  I thought I might have a banana bread mix in the cupboard, but I did not.  I did have a spice cake mix.  I turned to Google and searched "banana muffins with cake mix."  There were over 13 million results!  I clicked on the first link and knew this was the site for me - "The Lazy Dish" is all about quick and easy recipes and I feel sure I'll be going back to this site for more.

 

Three Ingredient Cake Mix Banana Muffins

Servings: 12 muffins

Ingredients

1 (15.25oz) box of cake mix (yellow or chocolate)

3 large very ripe bananas 

2 eggs 

1/2 cup mix-ins of your choice (nuts, chocolate chips, etc.)1/2 cup mix-ins of your choice (nuts, chocolate chips, etc.)

 

Instructions 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease or line a muffin pan. 

In a medium size bowl, mash the bananas until smooth; combine with the cake mix and eggs. 

Fold in about half a cup of chocolate chips and/or nuts (optional).

Evenly fill your muffin cups and bake in the center rack for 15-20 minutes or until no longer doughy in the middle.

 

Recipe Notes

You'll just be using the DRY cake mix for these muffins. No need for the ingredients on the box.

 

I did not have a yellow or chocolate cake mix, but spice worked just fine.  It added a more cinnamon flavor to the muffins that we both really liked.  They definitely needed to bake the entire 20 minutes.  I don't mind a lazy dish when it turns out yummy!

Friday Foodie

Two Friday Foodies in one week!  This time it's all about pizza.  A few months ago Les asked me to make homemade bread.  I've owned a bread maker for years but I've never really cared for how the bread turned out.  The crust is almost burnt while the middle isn't quite done.  I ordered Krusteaz Hawaiian Sweet No Knead Bread Mix from Amazon and just baked it in my oven.  It turns out perfect every time.

About a month ago I made spaghetti. Les suggested that I use the sauce as a base for pizza.  We then decided that using homemade bread for the crust would be an excellent idea.  The Krusteaz website had a recipe for Sourdough Pizza, so I knew it was doable.  It finally happened this week.

Homemade Pizza

Ingredients:

One box Krusteaz Hawaiian Sweet Bread mix (or Sourdough bread mix)

Spaghetti sauce

Pepperoni

Salami

Olives

Italian cheeses

Garlic salt

 

1. Prepare spaghetti sauce and let simmer in crock pot all day.  FYI - My spaghetti sauce is NEVER the same!  Sometimes I use ground beef, other times I use ground sausage or sausage links.  I usually add diced tomatoes, bell peppers and mushrooms and season to taste.  A great starting point is Rosalie's Marinara Sauce.

 

2. Prepare dough as directed on package adding water and yeast.  Let dough rise as directed (about 2 hours.)

3.  Preheat oven to 400°F.  Punch dough down and transfer to lightly floured surface. Press dough into 14-inch circle. Place on lightly greased pizza pan. Let rest 10 minutes. Press again to edge of pan. Pierce with a fork at 1-inch intervals.  Sprinkle garlic salt on dough.

4.  Bake 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Top with your favorite pizza toppings. Bake an additional 10-15 minutes.

This is exactly what we were looking for!  So many wonderful flavors.  As you can see, my #1 taste tester was thrilled! 

This won't be the last time I make pizza this way!  There are so many ways you can make this.  Choose your own toppings.  Go with a white sauce.  You could also split the dough in half and bake two smaller pizzas if you want to keep toppings separate.  My side had about twice as many olives!  Les even got a small bowl of the sauce to dip his pizza crust in.

Next up, I'm making fresh bread on Saturday so we can have French toast for our Christmas day brunch.

Friday Foodie

This week's recipe started with an email from Les.

Les: You know what sounds good? Homemade bread from the breadmaker.
Me: Mmm... I'll make a quick grocery run. What's your pleasure - just plain old white bread or wheat or Italian or sourdough or blueberry??
Les: Blueberry

So, how do you make blueberry bread in a bread maker? VERY easy!

Ingredients
1 Bread machine mix (I used Whole Wheat)
1 16 oz. can of blueberries

Drain blueberries, saving the juice.
Add dry ingredients (yeast and mix) to machine.
Add 1/4 cup of juice to blueberries and enough water to make 1 1/3 cups total, add that to the machine.
Turn machine on and wait for your house to start smelling delicious!!


I have had my bread maker for many years, but don't use it very often. I made blueberry bread years ago and had forgotten how wonderful it is! Now for the good news:

Nutritional info: 136 calories, 1.3 g fiber, 1.75 g fat, ONLY 2.6 WW points per slice! Makes 12 servings. This is a dense bread and one slice is very filling.

The best way to cut it? If you have an electric knife, use that. It cuts right through, making smooth pieces without mutilating the loaf, and you can eat it while it's still warm!!