Cornbread

I got this recipe from Jon's Step Dad. It is amazing! It has become somewhat of a staple here pretty fast. Bake and enjoy!

1 c flour
3/4 c cornmeal (not coarse)
2 T brown sugar
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 eggs
3/4 c milk
3 T butter, melted
1/2 c unsweetened applesauce
2 T maple syrup

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 9 x 9 baking dish with butter or something similar.

In medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In another medium bowl, whisk together very well the eggs, milk, butter, applesauce and maple syrup. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir to incorporate (do not overmix). Pour into the prepared dish and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.

We have also tried this eggless. I replaced the eggs with Applesauce. 1/4 c for each egg. Worked well! A tad heavier but still delicious. Make this and let me know what you think! Great with chili, or great with just butter and honey.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pie

1 cup sugar

3 T Flour

2 packages softened cream cheese

1 t cinnamon

1/4 t nutmeg

1/4 t ginger

1/4 t cloves

3 eggs

1 can (15 oz) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

1 T milk

I used a freezer pie crust for this. So cook the crust, then preheat oven to 375. Mix sugar, flour and cream cheese together until smooth. Save about 1 cup of cream cheese mixture for later. Add all remaining filling ingredients except milk to cream cheese mixture. Beat on medium speed, scraping constantly until smooth. Put in pie crust. (This recipe was originally a Betty Crocker recipe but I tweeked it. So this makes like 1/2 pies. So you could do a pie and a mini pie!)

In a small bowl mix saved cream cheese mixture with milk. Spoon over pie, get knife and create fun designs in the top. I did a bunch of S's. Cover side of crust with tin foil. Bake for 40 minutes, take aluminum foil off side for last 15 minutes. Cool 30 minutes, let be in fridge for at least 4 hours, I did overnight. 

When I cooked it, it was my first time ever making a pie. I didn't wait until it cooled (and therefore looked better) before getting a picture. So sorry it looks weird. But here it is, the pie I made for Thanksgiving.

Bread Crumb Chicken

This will be a quick blog post. I mostly just don't want to forget it before I blog about it. This is a recipe I made up so we could use our frozen chicken and have it be more delicious.

Chicken Breast (however many you desire)
Italian Bread Crumbs
Parmesan Cheese (grated)
Garlic Salt
Butter
Eggs

Defrost chicken, cut off any gross fatty parts. Coat on both sides with egg. Mix bread crumbs, parmesan cheese and garlic salt. (I do more bread crumbs then the cheese and salt as extras) coat chicken with mixture. Sprinkle extra mixture on top. Don't be stingy, the more the better! :) Put little squares of butter on each side of chicken in sprayed pan. I think it was about 1/2 tablespoon on each side. I used a glass pan. Bake at 400 for 30-45 minutes

Super easy to make, few ingredients and tastes pretty good! I also cut up some carrots, drenched them in melted butter and cooked them with the chicken. Rice as a side. Easy, delicious meal. Let me know if you try it! :)

Homemade Lemonade!

This recipe is from allrecipes.com. It is surprisingly delicious!

1 3/4 cups white sugar
8 cups water
1 1/2 cups lemon juice

In a small saucepan, combine sugar and 1 cup water. Bring to boil and stir to dissolve sugar. Allow to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until chilled. Remove seeds from lemon juice, but leave pulp. In pitcher, stir together chilled syrup, lemon juice and remaining 7 cups water.

I only had one of those small pitchers, and it ALMOST overflowed. So if you have a bigger pitcher use it, if not, just be super careful when stirring and such :) This drink is tart yet sweet. My super picky daughter will even drink it! That is most likely because it tastes like a delicious spoonful of sugar, but still, great! Try it, let me know how it goes in the comments below!!

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

I got this recipe from Rachael Ray's website. I think it worked out really well! I've always avoided making banana bread because I thought it would be difficult, turns out it isn't.

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 bananas, mashed
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Grease and flour a loaf pan, or use baking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Mix in the oil bananas and eggs. Stir in the chocolate chips (do not overmix!) and pout into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 60-80 minutes. Cool the loaf pan for 10 minutes, then turn out and cool completely, right side up.

Don't use mini chocolate chips. I made that mistake, they go everywhere and seem a little overwhelming. Unless you like a ton of chocolate chips, then use them! And the bread will look like it is burning, it most likely is not. The bread just gets dark. Drop a comment below and let me know how it goes if you make this! Sorry the picture is poor, the camera was in my daughters room while she was sleeping, so I just used my phone.

Mom's Pancakes

So I don't eat pancakes often because I can never find delicious ones. Well my mom changed all that for me! She gave me her recipe and oh my...it is wonderful. Stirred up in less than 5 minutes and can keep for several days in the fridge. Very impressed with this recipe. Fluffy, great pancakes!

2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
4 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 cups milk
1/4 cup butter, melted

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Add eggs, milk, and melted butter.  Cook on hot griddle.

Sorry there is no picture this time. I ate them before I remembered to get one.

Parmesan Popcorn

So i'm not going to post a picture because for one, I don't want to get up. And 2, it looks like popcorn. I'm sure you know what that looks like. So I'm a very buttery person and so I bought Pop-Secret's brand of popcorn-Extra Movie Theater Butter. Sadly, still didn't have enough flavor. So I thought I would spice it up and it tastes DELICIOUS!!

Bag of Popcorn
3 or 4 tablespoons melted butter
Parmesan

Instructions on this seems sad...but i'll include them. Pop popcorn, add butter then desired parmesan cheese. I used the grated stuff. It's yummy :)