Cake Mix Banana Bread

I'm not even sure where I heard about this recipe.  It is SO simple, you don't even need to write it down:)  It is quick, easy and yummy!!



Cake Mix Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1 cake mix (I used yellow)

2 eggs

1 cube of butter, melted (1/2 cup)

5 bananas

Directions:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all ingredients together, I didn't even mash my bananas before adding them to the mixer.  I just broke small pieces off the banana and added them piece by piece as the mixer was mixing.  Pour into 2 greased loaf pans.  Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.  I always allow my bread to cool for ~5 minutes when I take it out of the oven and then take it out of the pan to continue cooling.

Funny Video to share

I think this video is SO funny, but maybe that is only because it is my son :)  My older boys started playing a video game called Five Nights at Freddy's several months ago(actually it has been quite a few months since any of them have played it now).  One day they talked their youngest brother into trying it(I don't think he has played it again since).  They caught his reaction on video. :)  Click below to watch.

Spinach!!!

We LOVE spinach at our house, especially in our morning fruit shakes/smoothies.  We harvested all of our spinach from our garden last week and I don't even know how many sinks full of spinach I washed, soaked and rinsed!!

When I wash my spinach, I like to wash it and then soak it to make sure that I didn't miss any dirt, grass, bugs...etc.  Then I rinse it one more time.  After I rinse it, I put it in freezer bags and try to squeeze out as much air as I can.

I love having a freezer full of spinach for fruit shakes/smoothies, I bet I've got 30+ bags.  We have started putting spinach in ALL of our morning smoothies.  The frozen spinach works great, you can use the entire bag, or break-off what you want to use and put the rest back in the freezer.  It is also great because it breaks up easily, so you don't have one big clump of spinach you are trying to blend....and because we grew it....we know that it is all organic!!

Strawberry Salsa with Cinnamon Pie Crust Chips

I found this recipe at Crazy for Crust.  We LOVE strawberries at our house!!  SO....when I saw this recipe I knew we would need to try this at our house!!  AND....just as I thought....it is/was delicious :)

 

Strawberry Salsa with Cinnamon Pie Crust Chips

 

Strawberry Salsa

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups diced strawberries

1-2 teaspoons of sugar, (I used 1 teaspoon)

1 teaspoon orange juice

1 Tablespoon frozen limeade concentrate (thawed)

zest of 1/2 of a lime

 

Directions:  Mix all ingredients together.  Serve and enjoy!!

 

Cinnamon Pie Crust Chips

Ingredients:

2 pie crusts (homemade or from the refrigerated section at the grocery store)

melted butter (I used 2-3 Tablespoons....I love butter)

1/3 cup cinnamon sugar (I also really love cinnamon sugar)

 

Directions:  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Brush melted butter onto your pie crusts, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  Cut your pie crust into strip and then into triangles, a pizza cutter works great for this.  Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil and place your 'chips' on the baking sheet.  Bake for 6-8 minutes.  Serve and enjoy!

**I used more butter and cinnamon sugar than crazy for crust.  Feel free to cut back, if you would like.



No-Bake Peanut Butter Corn Flake Cookies

Am I the last person ever to make these cookies?  I have eaten these cookies many times, mostly when we get the chance to go to Utah to visit my family.  I love them, but have never made them.  Usually when I make no-bake cookies, I make these.  But....I will be making these more often now :)

 

No-Bake Peanut Butter Corn Flake Cookies

 

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1 cup peanut butter (I used creamy, but I'm sure crunchy would be delicious too)

6 cups corn flake cereal

 

Directions:  Measure corn flakes into a large bowl and set aside.  Combine corn syrup and sugar in a large sauce pan.  Bring to boil and remove from heat.  Stir in peanut butter.  Add to the corn flakes and mix well.  Drop by tablespoons(I use my cookie scoop that is approximately 1 tablespoon) onto wax paper.  Allow cookies to cool and set-up for ~30 minutes.....enjoy!!  Store in an airtight container.

Arches National Park with the family

We LOVE Moab, UT!!  ....and we REALLY love hiking and camping in Arches National Park!! 

 

This year we decided that over spring break we would do some hiking.  We left home and drove ~5 1/2 hours to Arches National Park.  The first day/night we did some back country backpacking.  It was GREAT!!  This was the first time that Zac, Ryder and I have done any backpacking.  It will definitely not be our last :)  The rest of the trip we stayed in a hotel in Moab at night and hiked more of Arches during the day.  We can't wait to go back!!

 

Below are a few of the hundreds of pictures that I took during our trip.

 

My 5 handsome boys loading up and getting ready to leave home.

 

Ready to head out on the trail.

 

On the trail....broken arch is up on the right.

 

Part of the trail was pretty sandy :)

 

When backcountry camping in the park you have to be at least one mile off the main trail and out of view of any arch.  You also have to camp on the sandstone, so bring your sleeping pad!

 

One of my tent buddies

 

Watching fun video that my husband took of the kids. It was pretty cool at night.  I forgot my jacket, but remembered my gloves :)  Good thing my husband is so prepared and had an extra jacket that I was able to use.

The view outside of my tent in the morning!  I LOVE it!!

 

Packed up and leaving our camp site.

 

Me and Ryan on the trail leaving camp.

 

The family at Delicate Arch.

 

The 'brave' boys under Delicate Arch.

We hiked to my favorite of the arches....Double Arch.

 

I can't wait to go back.  Might have to make it an annual trip!!  So beautiful and the weather was AMAZING over spring break.  This year the jeep safari started the weekend that we left to go home.  It was crazy looking at the line of cars lined up to go into the park.  We never had to wait in line.  I'd say we timed it perfectly....or actually just lucked out...since we had no idea when the jeeps would start to arrive! 

 

My husband made us some delicious food!!  Including peach cobbler on our little camp stove.  Maybe when we go on our next backpacking trip I will get some pictures of our meals to share with you all!

 

One last thing...if you are still reading this :).... I know some of the pictures are not very clear, you should be able to click on them and see them larger.

Cheesy Garlic Bread

Mmmm....this cheesy garlic bread is delicious!!  Did you know that when you buy a loaf of French bread from the bakery at the grocery store they will slice it for you?  Maybe I am the last one to know, but it is awesome!!!  My bakery will slice it half lengthwise(like I did for this recipe) or into slices.  Since I have found this out, I have had many loaves of French bread sliced for French toast.  I think it is especially great for crusty bread, since crusty bread seem to send crumbs everywhere when I slice it at home!

 

 I have other pictures of this cheesy garlic bread on my computer, but for some reason my computer is having issues and won't let me load them.  I thought....I'll just wait until tomorrow to post this recipe when my computer figures itself out....but then I thought.....haha....then that would mean next week or maybe next month.  SO, this will have to do for now and maybe I'll add more pictures when/if I figure my computer out :)

 

 

Cheesy Garlic Bread

 

Ingredients:

1 loaf French bread, cut in half lengthwise

8 ounces of cream cheese, softened

1-2 teaspoons of crushed garlic...I used 2.  If you don't LOVE garlic, you may want to use less

1-2 cups of assorted cheese...I used a mixture of Provolone, Monterrey Jack and Mozzarella

 

Directions:  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix the softened cream cheese and crushed garlic together until mixed very well.  Add in the assorted cheese 1/2 cup at a time, until you can't mix in any more :)  Spread mixture onto each half of French bread.  Cut each half into slices.  Place each half of French bread onto a piece of tinfoil and push up against edges of bread, as seen in the picture above.  Place both halves of French bread onto a baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and starting to brown on top.  Serve with something yummy to dip it in....soup, marinara, alfredo sauce, salad dressing, etc. :)