Best Ever Banana Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

George Oman asked for banana cake for his birthday and he loved this recipe. He is somewhat of a banana cake aficionado.

Ingredients:

Cake:
1 1⁄2 cups bananas, mashed, ripe
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 cups flour
1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking soda
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
3⁄4 cup butter, softened
2 1⁄8 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1⁄2 cups buttermilk

Frosting:
1⁄2 cup butter, softened
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 1⁄2 cups icing sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 275°. (Yes, that is correct)

Grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan.

In a small bowl, mix mashed banana with the lemon juice; set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and 2 1/8 cups sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in 2 tsp vanilla.

Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk.

Stir in banana mixture.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for one hour (mine took 1 1/2 hours) or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Remove from oven and place directly into the freezer for 45 minutes. This will make the cake very moist.

For the frosting, cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth.

Beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Add icing sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high speed until frosting is smooth.

Spread on cooled cake.

Sprinkle chopped walnuts over top of the frosting, if desired.

Scottish Shortbread

I just love Scottish Shortbread cookies and I found this recipe that I made with my kids when they came down for the summer from Chicago. Everyone loved this recipe, so I thought I'd share it.

TOTAL TIME: Prep: 15 min. Bake: 20 min./batch

Ingredients

2 cups butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

4 to 4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add 3-3/4 cups flour and mix well. Turn onto a floured surface. Knead for 5 minutes, adding enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

2. Roll to 1/2-in. thickness. Cut into 3-in. x 1-in. strips. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. (parchment paper optional) Prick with fork. Bake at 325° for 20-25 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. Yield: about 4 dozen.

Heath & Shannon's Crock Pot Chicken

When Heather was visiting us recently I told her about this recipe and she suggested I put it on our family food blog. I thought that was an awesome idea. It's a yummy and easy crock pot meal. (Beware: this meal is all brown, thus making it delicious.)

1/2 c. margarine or butter
2 boneless skinless chicken breast
1 pkg Good Seasons Zesty Italian Dressing Mix
1 can cream of chicken soup
1, 8oz pkg cream cheese
cooked rice to serve as vehicle for yummy chicken stuff

Place butter and chicken in crock pot and sprinkle with seasoning mix (dry). Cook on low 6-7 hours or high 3-4 hours. When done, melt cream cheese on stove or in microwave and mix in soup. Mix well! Shred the chicken with 2 forks. Add sauce to crock pot and mix well, again. Serve over rice.

Epicly Delicious Pizza Sauce

I was bored of our pizza recently (as you may know, we have a pizza and movie night once a week, so we eat a LOT of pizza) so I did some research and found this recipe. I totally heart it and you will, too.
ps- I'm also including the new dough recipe which was fabulous!

Sauce
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 medium onion
1/2 Tbsp chopped garlic
1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
1/2 Tbsp dried oregano
salt and pepper

In a pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute a couple of minutes. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for ~15 minutes. Run this through food processor or blender to make it a little less chunky.

Dough
4 C. bread flour (or all purpose. Bread flour makes it crispier, ap makes it chewier)
1 tsp sugar
1 envelope instant dry yeast
2 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 cups water, warmed to 110 degrees F
2 Tbsp olive oil, plus 2 tsp.

Combine flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and combine. While the mixer is running, add the water and 2 Tbsp oil and beat until the dough forms a ball. If it's too dry, add more flour, 1 Tbsp at a time until soft but no longer sticky. Scrape it onto a lightly floured surface and knead until it's a smooth ball. Rub the remaining 2 tsp oil into a large bowl, add dough, cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place till double, about an hour. When doubled, divide in half and let rest, covered for 10 minutes. Stretch into a 12-14 inch circle top with epic sauce, your choice of toppings, and fresh mozzarella cheese. Cook on HOT pizza stone at 500 degrees F for 10-15 minutes. Cool slightly. Scarf.

pps- I got the recipes off foodnetwork.com. The sauce is Sandra Lee's and the dough is Bobby Flay.
ppps- While looking for an accurate pizza photo on the web, I ran across this and just had to include it for funzies.

Outrageous Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is another recipe I took from Susy, because I know that several people have asked for it.  It is a recipe she got from our Aunt Julette.

1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter (or Susy suggests using 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup Crisco)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 cup flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1 package chocolate chips (6 oz)

Beat sugar, butter, peanut butter, vanilla and egg in medium bowl until creamy and blended.  Mix in flour, oats, baking soda and salt.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Using an ice cream scoop, drop dough 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 350 degrees for 12 minutes, and let rest for 3 minutes on sheet before removing to cooling rack.  Enjoy!

Kickin' Lime Marinade

This is a recipe I got from Susy.  She says that she will never post a recipe on here cause it is too much trouble to type it in.  I think she is ridiculous, but was tired of asking for this recipe, so while at her house on Sunday I took it and am putting on the blog for her.  So there.

This marinade is great for chicken or shrimp.

1/4 cup olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 Tbsp minced garlic
3 Tbsp orange juice concentrate
1 lime - juice and zest
3/4 tsp cumin
1 Tbsp grilling spice (use your favorite - or you can make a blend of salt, pepper, oregano, garlic)

Zest and juice the lime.  Heat oil and saute onion and garlic.  Add remaining ingredients and simmer until combined.  Marinate chicken or shrimp for several hours or up to a day.  Cook in the grill.  (Or you can put meat and marinade together in a large skillet and cook, then serve over rice.)

Hot Chicken Casserole

This is one of my favorite chicken casseroles.  It is especially good in the spring and summertime - at least I think it has the flavors for that time of the year...

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked, diced chicken
2 cups chopped celery
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
1/3 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
2 Tbsp finely chopped onion
2 cups cooked wild rice
1/2 lb cheddar cheese, cubed
potato chips, crushed (for top)

Dressing: 1/2 tsp salt, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, 3/4 cup mayo

Mix dressing in large bowl.  Add all remaining ingredients to dressing, except potato chips, and toss together.  Put in buttered or greased 13x9 pan and top with crushed potato chips.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.