My new favorite Banana Bread

Cream Cheese Banana Nut Bread
***Makes 2 loaves***

3/4 c. butter, softened
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
2 c. sugar
2 large eggs
3 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 medium bananas)
1 cup roughly chopped pecans, toasted
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with
an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar,
 beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time,
beating just until blended after each addition.

Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; gradually add
to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until blended.
 Stir in bananas, pecans, and vanillla. Spoon batter into
 2 greased and floured 8x4 inch loafpans.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until a long wooden
pick inserted in center comes out clean and sides pull
away from pan, shielding with aluminum foil last 15
  minutes to prevent browning, if necessary.
 (I found that after one hour, my banana bread wasn't
 completely cooked through. I ended up baking it for
an extra 10-15 minutes.) Cool bread in pans on wire
  racks for 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool
30 minutes on wire racks before slicing.

Source: Southern Living magazine

Cheesy Quiche Crust

This is a super easy very tasty crust. I am sure you could use it for really anything, but it makes the best crust for quiche. It pairs well with just about any quiche.

3/4 cup flour
6 Tbl. cold butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
5 tsp. cold water

Place flour in bowl, cut in butter with knives or fork until it resembles crumbs. Stir in cheese. Sprinkle water 1Tbl at a time. Stir together until it forms a ball and comes away from bowl. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 min.
Roll out dough and place in 9 inch pie plate or quiche pan. Use fork and prick holes in bottom of pan.

Bake 10 min at 375.
Fill with desired quiche custard of your choice.

Pizza Dough

The best pizza dough ever. Of course it is from the pioneer woman again. Who else..

1 tsp. dry yeast
4 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

Sprinkle yeast over 1 1/2 cups warm (not lukewarm) water.
In a mixer, combine flour and salt. With the mixer running on low speed (with paddle attachment), drizzle in olive oil until combined with flour. Next, pour in yeast/water mixture and mix until just combined.

Coat a separate mixing bowl with a light drizzle of olive oil, and form the dough into a ball. Toss to coat dough in olive oil, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and store in the fridge until you need it. ***It’s best to make the dough at least 24 hours in advance, and 3 or 4 days is even better.

Cinnabon Rolls

These are so good. The name of them should be "I want to gain 9000 lbs rolls". These are not something to make if you are on a diet. I HATE to make cinnamon rolls, but these are worth it. They take a very long time (about 6 hours start to finish) but they are totally worth it. They are very moist and stay that way for a long time. It must be the pudding in them. Anyway, try them and just don't think about how bad they are for you because, just enjoy.

ROLLS:
1/2 cup warm water
2 packages dry yeast
2 Tbl. sugar
3 1/2 oz. pkg. vanilla pudding mix
1/2 cup margarine −− melted
2 eggs
1 teas. salt
6 cups flour
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup margarine
1 teas. vanilla
3 cups confectioner's sugar
1 Tbl. milk
To make frosting, mix all ingredients until smooth.
In a bowl combine water, yeast and sugar. Stir until dissolved. Set aside.
In large bowl, take pudding mix and prepare according to package
directions. Add margarine, eggs and salt. Mix well. Then add yeast
mixture. Blend.
Gradually add flour; knead until smooth. Place in a greased
bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled.
Punch down dough and let rise again.
Then roll out on floured board to 34 x 21" size. Take 1
cup soft butter and spread over surface. In bowl, mix 2 cups brown sugar
and 4 teas. cinnamon. Sprinkle over top. Roll up very tightly.
With knife, put a notch every 2". Cut with thread or knife.
Place on lightly greased cookie sheet 2" apart.
Take hand and lightly press down on each roll.
Cover and let rise until double
again. Bake at 350 15−20 minutes. Remove when they start to turn golden.
DON'T OVER BAKE.
Frost warm rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting

French Breakfast Puffs

I honestly can't say enough about these. I LOVE THEM!! If they were not one of the most fattening muffins in the world, I truly could eat the whole dozen myself. Did I say I LOVE THEM. They are SO easy to make and you can eat them warm so you don't have to wait forever after you make them. Zach wanted me to note: they get better with each day they sit. Ours lasted almost 3 days and the last one was just as good after a couple days. I got these from The Pioneer Woman blog. She is an amazing cook and funny too. I am going to just give you the website because she explains them so much better than I can. I hope you try these.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/12/french_breakfast_puffs/

Raspberry- corn muffins

This is from the Weight Watchers book. The point value is 4. You would never know these were good for you.

1 c. flour
3/4 c. yellow cornmeal
1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. canola oil
1 large egg- beaten
1 c. fresh or frozen raspberries (fresh is best)

Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl; set aside.
Beat the milk,oil and egg in a small bowl. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture, stirring just until cornmeal mixture is moistened. Gently fold in the raspberries.

Spray muffin tin with nonstick spray.
Fill each muffin cup 2/3 full. Bake until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean. About 12-15 min. Remove the muffins from the pan and let cool completely on a rack.

Ham and Swiss Calzone

This is from my friend Shannon. She has a cookbook, and I was looking through it trying to find something a little different to make one day. We tried this and loved it. We have made it a few times since.

2 Tbl. dried minced onion
2 Tbl. spicy mustard
1 Tbl. poppy seeds
1/2 c. butter
1 tube refrigerated French bread dough
1/2 lb. shaved ham
4 oz. grated Swiss cheese

In a small bowl, stir together the onion, mustard, poppy seeds, and melted butter until blended. Open tube of dough and unroll onto a cookie sheet. Spread 3/4 of the mustard mixture on the center of the dough, leaving a few inches on each side sauce-free. Pile ham onto the center of the dough. Sprinkle grated Swiss over ham. Drizzle remaining the mustard sauce over cheese. Fold long sides in over ham. Next, fold top and bottom ends over, to completely envelope the filling. Press to seal the seam. Slice two large slits to release steam, and place in a 350 oven for 25-30 min, or until bread is golden brown, and a little bit of the sauce is bubbling out of the vent holes. Allow to cool 10 min. before slicing to serve.

*I like to use pizza dough instead of french bread and I will also cut the butter in half. It is a little buttery for me.

Pizza Dough

I got this from my sister Courtney. She makes great pizza and this dough makes the pizzas even better.

1 c. water (lukewarm)
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbl. yeast

Stand 5 min.

Add:
2 1/2 c. flour
2 Tbl. oil

Mix

Let rise in warm area for 20 min. until double in size. Roll and bake at 400.

Best ever banana bread

This is seriously the best banana bread ever. This is the only one I will make. It is really easy, but beware it makes a lot. I usually half it and it turns out just as good.

1 c. butter
3 c. sugar
6 eggs
3 c. sour cream
4 tsp. soda
2 tsp. vanilla
4-5 mashed bananas
1 tsp. salt
5 c. flour

Cream together butter, sugar and eggs. Mix sour cream and soda together in seperate bowl and let stand until foamy. Add the sour cream with the butter mixture. Add the rest of the ingredients to the above mixture. Mix well. Place into 4 greased bread pans and bake 50 minutes at 350 or until toothpick inserted comes our clean.