Yummy Banana Bread

One of the things that I do to try to keep the stress & crazies from our morning routine is to have breakfast items in the freezer ready to defrost and quickly eat. I usually have waffles, pancakes, homemade french toast sticks, etc. in the freezer. Yesterday I saw this recipe for banana bread on one of my favorite blogs, Who Says Eight is Enough, thanks Debi! I thought if I used my Perfect Brownie Pan (I absolutely love this thing) that I could freeze the little squares and they could be defrosted one or two at a time for breakfast.

My Favorite Banana Bread

Ingredients
1/2 c. unsalted butter (I have replaced this MANY times with 1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce)
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour, sifted
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 c. ripe bananas, mashed (about 5)
2/3 c. nuts, chopped (optional)
(I have also substituted chocolate chips, or coconut & dried pineapple)

Preheat oven to 325.
Grease a 2 qt. loaf pan or two 2lb. loaf pans*
In a large bowl, cream butter & sugar. Add eggs, vanilla & bananas. Blend well.
Beat in remaining ingredients.
Pour into loaf pan.
Bake 1 hour & 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Remove from pan while still warm.
Cool before slicing.

The only things I did differently to this recipe was that I didn't use nuts but I did put about 3/4 c. mini choc. chips in. I also used the Perfect Brownie Pan and a 9x9 square pan instead of two loaf pans. I cooked mine for about 28 min. For freezing I just let the bread cool then put the individual squares into a gallon ziptop bag and threw in the freezer.

You could also do muffins and cook for 15 - 20 min

Strawberry Freezer Jam

This is the recipe from the Sure Jell packaging.

Strawberry Freezer Jam

Ingredients:

2 cups mashed strawberries (with potato masher)

4 cups sugar

1 package Sure Jell Premium Fruit Pectin

3/4 cups water

Mash up the strawberries with a potato masher, leaving some small pieces of strawberry. Add sugar and stir, let sit for 10 min. In saucepan put Sure Jell and water together and bring to boil, boil for 1 minute stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add to strawberries. Stir for about 3 minutes. Pour mixture into freezer containers. Makes about 5 cups. Let sit on counter for 24 hours to set. Refrigerate for up to 3 weeks or freeze for up to a year. Thaw in fridge.

Our Review: This is a memory from my childhood when my great grandma Koppes would always have this jam on hand. Yummy on biscuits, bread, pancakes, etc.

French Toast Sticks

I found this one at http://www.recipezaar.com/.

French Toast Sticks

Ingredients:

8 slices Texas Toast bread
1/4 cup melted butter
4 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 t. cinnamon
2/3 cup milk
3/4 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Cut each slice of bread into three "sticks". In a bowl, mix together melted butter, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and milk, beat well.

Dip sticks into egg mixture and place on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray. If there is any dip left, you can drizzle it ove the sticks.

Bake for 25 minutes on middle oven rack of oven. Turn halfway through baking time. Allow to cool.

To Freeze for later: flash freeze on cookie sheet, remove and place in a ziplock bag.
To Reheat: place 3 sticks on a microwave-safe plate and heat on high for 1 minute until warm. Serve with syrup.

Our Review: These were very yummy. I doubled this recipe. They did tend to stick to the pan even with spraying the pan. I think next time I'm going to try holding out the sugar and cinnamon (mixing them together) and after dipping in the egg mixture dip in the sugar/cinnamon mixture to cover. Thinking maybe that would help with the sticking problem and be super yummy!

Crockpot Fiesta Chicken Soup

Made this one up.

Crockpot Fiest Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

2 cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 - 1 1/2 lb. chicken breast
salt/pepper
1 can corn
1 pkg. taco seasoning
2 cans diced tomato

Put all ingredients into crockpot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Pull out chicken and shred and then return to crockpot. Serve with crushed chips, cheese and sour cream.

Our Review: This was good, nice flavor and filling! We froze half of this for a later date in a ziplock bag and it turned out well!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Not sure where this one came from.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups mashed banana
1/2 cup grated carrots
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil (I used 1/2 cup oil & 1/2 cup applesauce)
1 t. vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 t. baking soda
8 oz. chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350. Put liners in muffin pan. Mix banana, carrots, eggs, oil and vanilla. Add sugar then flour, baking soda and chocolate chips.

Pour in muffin cups and bake for 20 minutes.

Makes about 2 dozen

Our Review: These were absolutely delicious. I froze them for quick breakfasts and they were gone quick!

Banana Bread

Not sure where this one came from.

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 cup margarine
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas

Heat oven to 350. Lightly grease 9x5 loaf pan.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt. In seperate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and banana until blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture, stir to moisten. Pour into pan and bake for 60-65 minutes or until knife in center comes out clean. Let cool 10 minutes and remove from pan.

Our Review: YUM! This could be cooled, wrapped in foil and froze for later easily.

Freezer Day

Between yesterday and today I made...

Blueberry muffins (from store bought mix)
Applesauce muffins
Cinnamon waffles (bisquick w/cinnamon added and cinnamon/sugar sprinkled on top)
Peanut Butter waffles (bisquick w/peanut butter chips added)
Chili
Taco Soup

I have found that I have good luck just putting the finished products into good ziplock bags and putting it directly into the freezer.

Freezer Cooking/Baking

I love having quick meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) in the freezer for those busy or lazy days! I'll be sharing what I add to the freezer on my cooking days.

A couple of weeks ago I was in need of some quick breakfast choices for Brooke & Lexy so this is what I made up for the freezer...

Regular pancakes (from cheap pancake/waffle mix)
Chocolate Chip pancakes (from same mix)
Blueberry Cheesecake muffins (from a store bought mix)
Peanut Butter muffins