Muffin Top Banana Bread

2 cups flour
1/2 cup wheat flour
1 cup sugar
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon maple flavoring (optional - but Yum!)
3 tablespoons oil
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (3 medium)
1 cup finely chopped nuts (optional)

Topping:
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix together in small bowl, set aside.

Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour 9x5x3 inch loaf pan (or use the best invention ever - Crisco spray with the flour already in it!) Measure all ingredients except topping into large mixer bowl; beat on medium speed 1/2 minute, scrapping side and bottom of bowl often.
Pour into loaf pan. Sprinkle topping all over top of batter. Bake 55 to 65 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from pan; cool thoroughly before slicing.
You can use all white flour if desired.

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

This is one of my favorite frosting flavors! I haven't met anyone yet that doesn't like it!
I did try it once using raspberries instead of strawberries, but it's not quite as good in my opinion. I've never had to use milk to thin it out, either, but I have had to use extra powdered sugar to thicken it up. Mmm...tasty!

Strawberry (or Raspberry) Buttercream Frosting
3/4 C. fresh strawberries (or raspberries), rinsed and drained
8 Tbsp butter, softened
3 3/4 C. sifted confectioners' sugar, or more if needed
Milk, if needed

Cut the green caps off the strawberries and puree the strawberries or raspberries in a food processor or blender. You should have about 1/2 cup puree. If using raspberry puree, rub it through a fine-mesh strainer with spoon or rubber spatula to remove the seeds. Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until fluffy, 30 seconds. Stop the machine, add the sifted confectioners' sugar and berry puree, and blend with the mixer on low speed until the sugar is combined, 1 minute. Increase the mixer speed to medium speed and beat until light and fluffy, 1 minute more. If the frosting is too thick, add up to 1 tablespoon of milk. If the frosting is too thin, add confectioners' sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Store frosted cake and extra frosting in refrigerator.

From The Cake Mix Doctor

Red Berry Risotto Oatmeal

I've experimented with this recipe lots to get it to work right for me (just the cooking method, not the actual recipe).  I got it from My Kitchen Cafe blog.  The original recipe says to use a rice cooker but it always overflows in mine so I've resorted to the stove.  I've also found that you should use a tall pot if you have one because it really boils up!
Also, it calls for Arborio rice which I've never found at all of the two or maybe three stores I've checked at (which makes me think it must be expensive and not readily available.)  So I just use regular white or brown rice.  I think it would be good with any kind of berry.

Red Berry Risotto Oatmeal
1/2 c. steel-ground oats
1 c. rice
1/2 c. heavy cream or milk
6 c. water
1 vanilla bean, scraped or 1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
Frozen raspberries OR 1 c. each ripe raspberries and strawberries, quartered

In a tall pot, add all the ingredients, except the fruit.  Bring to a boil, lower heat to a simmer and cook, covered, until done, at least 30 minutes. (Give it a stir and taste a bit to see if it's still crunchy). 
Spoon into bowls and let individuals garnish with berries, stirring to thaw the frozen ones and turn it pink!

Tomato and Avocado Egg Salad

Becky and I used some leftover deviled eggs for this recipe and quite enjoyed it.  Amelia too.  We also didn't let the flavors blend for an hour, but you surely could if you plan further ahead than I typically do...

Tomato and Avocado Egg Salad
6 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
2 avocados, chopped
1 c. chopped tomato
1/2 c. chopped red onion (or some green onions)
1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley or cilantro, optional

Dressing:
2 T. mayonnaise
2 T. sour cream
1 T. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. hot pepper sauce

Mix dressing ingredients in a small bowl. 
Combine eggs, avocados, tomatoes, onion, and parlsey in large bowl; toss gently to mix.  Add dressing, stir gently just until mixed.
Refrigerate at least one hour to blend flavors.  Serve on spinach leaves or as a sandwich filling or to fill hollowed out tomatoes.

From the American Egg Board

Oven-Baked Oatmeal Topped with Strawberry Jam

This is absolutely delish! Baking the oatmeal gives it more of a crumbly texture instead of your standard gooey oatmeal texture and then adding the warm milk softens it up again. Seriously so good. It's really pretty sweet too, so you could get away with cutting down on the sugar and you'd still be fine.

Oven-Baked Oatmeal Topped with Strawberry Jam

1 ½ C quick-cooking oats
½ C sugar
¼ C butter, melted
½ C milk
1 egg
¾ tsp. salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp vanilla
½ C strawberry jam (or any other flavor)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan. Combine all ingredients in large bowl except the jam. Spread into baking pan. Drop spoonfuls of jam on top of oatmeal – do not spread. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Spoon into bowls immediately. Top with warm milk.

From Beyond Oatmeal by Carlene Duda

Strawberry Vanilla Pancakes

We made these yummy pancakes one morning in Utah. I had lots of helpers which is always exciting. They even had to line up to help there were so many helpers. :) Imagine trying to do math (to triple the recipe) with all those little helpers too...

Strawberry Vanilla Pancakes

1 1/2 C flour

3 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs

1 container (6oz) vanilla yogurt

3/4 C water

3 Tbsp butter or margarine, melted

Fresh sliced strawberries

Strawberry syrup or maple syrup

Heat griddle to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients; set aside. In a medium bowl, beat eggs, yogurt and water with wire whisk; beat in butter. Pour egg mixture into flour mixture all at once, stir until moistened.

Pour slightly less than 1/4 cup batter for each pancake on griddle. Cook until bubbly, then flip and cook the other side.

Top with strawberries and syrup and enjoy.

Cucumber Sandwiches

This is another delightful treat Molly turned me onto. I always thought cucumber sandwiches sounded kind of weird but let me tell ya, they're goo-ood. The various parts of this recipe should be made no more than 1-2 hours ahead of serving time. Do not assemble the sandwiches until right before you serve them. You do need to use an English cucumber because they have fewer seeds and are less watery.

Cucumber Sandwiches

1 loaf square white bread (not the rounded top kind and not super cheap, you don't want it to fall apart)

1 English cucumber (these are the kind that are wrapped in plastic wrap)

1 lemon

Salt

Pepper

1/2 tsp Dill

8oz cream cheese, softened

Cut crusts off bread and cut each slice into 4 pieces. (Or you can use a cookie cutter or biscuit cutter and cut circles or flowers out of the bread and get about 3 per slice of bread.) Place in a zip-top bag so they don't dry out while you finish the rest.

Finely chop 5 slices of cucumber and set aside. Thinly slice* the rest of the cucumber and place in medium bowl. Squeeze the juice of 1/2 a lemon over cucumber slices. Add 1/2 tsp dill and salt & pepper to taste. Stir gently then put aside to marinate for about 1 hour.

In another bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Stir in the reserved (finely chopped) cucumber.

Spread cream cheese mixture onto one side of each slice of bread. Top with one slice of cucumber.

These are best served immediately but if you aren't serving immediately, cover sandwiches with a wet paper towel (get paper towel completely wet then ring all the water out) and plastic wrap so they don't dry out.

If you do the round cut outs this will make about 50 sandwiches.

*If you have a mandolin it makes slicing these a breeze and keeps them all uniform in size - fabulous!

Devonshire Cream

This is so yummy with Cream Scones or really any type of scone and so easy to make. I did forget a picture so just imagine a cute bowl with fluffy white stuff in it...

Devonshire Cream

1 C heavy whipping cream (no cheating here - you have to use heavy whipping cream)

1/4 C sour cream

2 Tbsp powdered sugar

Whip cream until peaks form. Add sour cream and sugar and stir in until incorporated and thick.

I do this in the Bosch or Kitchen-aide and it works perfectly - just do the last part with the low setting.

Cream Scones

We serve yummy cream scones at Molly so I've been looking for a good recipe and this one is just lovely. I've made it with 1 C all-purpose flour and 1 C bread flour and that worked as well. The bread flour makes them nice and light.

Cream Scones

2 C bread flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

4 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

4 Tbsp cold butter, cut into cubes

3/4 C heavy cream

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla

Sugar for sprinkling

Heat oven to 400˚. Place flour, baking powder, sugar, salt in a large bowl and mix lightly. Cut butter in using a pastry blender or two knives until it resembles coarse meal. Stir in heavy cream, egg, and vanilla and mix by hand until it forms into a slightly moistened dough.

On a floured surface, grab enough dough to fit into your hand and gently roll it into a ball. Flatten the ball (and shape the edges) until the disk is about 1/2” thick. Repeat with rest of dough. Cut each disk into 4 or 6 pieces and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Sprinkle tops with sugar. Bake for 15 minutes until the bottoms are golden brown. Remove from pan to cooling rack.

Serve warm with butter and jam, or Devonshire cream and jam (my favorite!), or lemon curd.

Makes a ton of bite size scones. (“ton” being a very accurate cooking term for when I forget to count... every time I make them...)