Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I haven't had banana cake since the occasional office party when we lived in Oregon. I love it and was SO happy when I saw it at Gourmified. I didn't get a good picture of mine. You should go check out Lisa's picture of her cake here(seriously SO pretty!). If you have some bananas that are past their prime and turning black...try this recipe.

Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 c. flour
• 1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 2/3 c. sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp. soda
• 2/3 c. butter, at room temperature
• 4 mashed bananas, large
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 c. buttermilk or plain yogurt
• 2/3 c. chopped nuts (optional)
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together: flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and soda. Then add: butter, and bananas. Beat thoroughly, then add: eggs, buttermilk, chopped nuts and vanilla. Mix until well combined. Pour into a greased & floured 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. When cooled, top with Cream Cheese frosting. Recipe below.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

• 8oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
• 2 c. powdered sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 c. butter

Directions: Combine all ingredients until smooth.

Hot Chocolate Cake

I cut this recipe from a Real Simple magazine years ago...2005. I found it in a file the other day and couldn't wait to try it. The original recipe shows this baked in a mug. I bought some mugs, but didn't know for sure if they were oven safe or not....so I made it in my 10-inch springform pan. This cake is rich and super yummy. I am definitely going to find some oven safe mugs or ramekins to make this in next time. The cake was messy and hard to dish out, so the individual servings would be great!! I will definitely be making this again!

Messy to dish up, but SO yummy!!

Hot Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

• 8 T unsalted butter, plus extra for coating
• 3 T all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1/2 cup sugar, plus extra for dusting
• 10 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 4 large eggs
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/2 cup mini marshmallows
• 2 T unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Generously butter, flour and sugar eight 6-ounce coffee cups or mugs made of ovenproof stoneware. Wipe the rims clean. Place the 8 T of butter and the chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water and melt, stirring once or twice until smooth. Remove from heat and let cool 5 minutes. Using a handheld mixer(I just used my kitchen-aid), beat the eggs, yolk, vanilla, salt and 1/2 cup sugar at the highest speed until the volume doubles and mixture becomes foamy, about 5 minutes. Stir the 3 T flour into the chocolate, then gradually add it to the egg mixture, beating on low until it's fully incorporated. Ladle the batter into each cup until it's about 1/2 inch from the rim. Bake until the cakes puff and begin to crack but the centers are still a bit runny, 13 to 17 minutes. Remove from oven. Sprinkle with marshmallows, then return to oven for 2-4 minutes, until the marshmallow tops begin to crisp. Remove from oven; let cool about 5 minutes. Sift the cocoa on top.

To make a cake instead....butter, flour and sugar a 10-inch springform pan. Pour batter into pan and bake for 22-25 minutes or, if you prefer a more gooey center, bake for 17-20 minutes. Remove from oven, cover with marshmallows and bake for another 2-4 minutes.

Cafe Rio Chicken

When I go to Cafe Rio (which isn't very often, unfortunately) I always get the sweet pork. SO...I'm not sure if this tastes like Cafe Rio's Chicken, but I can tell you it tastes WONDERFUL!! Of course this chicken is great for tacos, quesadillas, burritos, salads and more. My mom gave me this recipe along with the recipe I have the the Cafe Rio Sweet Pork, Cafe Rio Black Beans(oops...thought I had posted this recipe before but can't find it. Guess I'll have to make them and post them soon along with the recipe for the Cafe Rio Rice) and my neighbor gave me the recipe for the Cafe Rio Creamy Dressing. Click on the links if you would like the other recipes.

Cafe Rio Chicken

Ingredients:

• 5 lbs chicken breast
• 1 small bottle Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing
• 1 T chili powder
• 1 T cumin
• 3 cloves garlic, minced

Directions: Cook all ingredients together in a crock pot for 4 hours(I cooked mine on high and it was done in just under 4 hours). Shred meat and cook 1 additional hour on low.

Heavenly Brownies

My family wanted brownies the other night. I was going to make applesauce brownies, but my oldest son requested Mississippi Mud Cake. I didn't have any marshmallows but I did have some marshmallow creme and then I found this recipe at cooks.com. I can't seem to find this exact recipe on their site this morning, but luckily I had printed it out. Try these brownies they are YUMMY!! I'm sure I could have gotten a prettier picture if I would have had the patience to wait until they were cool to cut into them...:)

Heavenly Brownies

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks butter (1 c.)
• 2 c. sugar
• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 1/2 c. nuts (optional)
• 3 T cocoa
• 4 eggs
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 jar marshmallow creme (sm jar)

Directions: Melt together butter and cocoa. Beat eggs and sugar together, and add cocoa mixture alternately with flour. Add nuts and vanilla. Bake in 9 x 13-inch pan at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Spread top with marshmallow creme as soon as it is removed from oven. Let cool and frost with the following.

FROSTING: Melt together 1/2 stick butter and 1 heaping T cocoa. Add 1/2 box Powdered sugar. Beat with 1 T milk. Spread on brownies.

**note...I used salted butter, if you use unsalted butter I would add a little salt to the brownie mix and the frosting. To make the marshmallow creme a little easier to spread, you could melt it a little by placing the jar into a bowl of hot water. I didn't have a box of powdered sugar, I just added until it was the consistency that I wanted.