ELVIS SHAKES

 What a fun evening we had last night! Wayne and I had bought some prime sirloin steaks and our younger son Patrick grilled them for dinner at their house. He also roasted some cubed potatoes on the grill and we brought salad makings, fresh strawberries, and a watermelon that we didn't cut, but left with them to enjoy this week. It was a meal fit for a King. 

Granddaughter Madison soon to be twelve which is so hard to believe, had found a recipe that she wanted to make since they had all of the ingredients, but her daddy told her to wait until after dinner. She showed me the recipe for Elvis Shake and it did look delicious. In fact I took a picture of the recipe so I could make it later for us. 

It didn't really register with me that she would make it while we were still there and we would get to sample it ourselves. I'm so glad she did though because it was heavenly. She had sliced the bananas and put them in the freezer in a bag so they would be ready when she made the shake. Now,  I can't wait to go buy some bananas and make it for Wayne and me.

Sure to please your kids (and maybe yourself) and it's so easy even a child can make it with a little supervision.

Print recipe.

ELVIS SHAKES

2        large bananas, sliced and frozen

1-1/2  cups milk

6        tablespoons creamy peanut butter

2        tablespoons honey

1/4     teaspoon cinnamon

3/4     cup crushed ice

slices of banana for garnishing

Prepare the bananas ahead of time. (Place in bag to freeze.)

Place milk and bananas in the blender.

Place lid on top and pulse several times to combine.

Remove the lid and

add the peanut butter,

cinnamon,

honey, and

crushed ice. 

Blend until smooth.

Serve into four glasses. Madison wanted to ad chocolate, so her mother Lori, drizzled some chocolate syrup on the inside of the glasses before Madison poured the shake into the glasses.

Add banana slices on a straw or short skewer to garnish.

FOUR-FRUIT SMOOTHIE

 I thought it was time to do something different for our Saturday special breakfast. One time I made a Bacon Quiche, but every other time I have made muffins or quick breads. Last Saturday when Wayne asked me what I was fixing, I surprised him when I said a smoothie. Truth be told, he asked me if that was all. So I also cooked him bacon and an egg. I also still had a Grape Nuts Muffin frozen that I heated up.

The smoothie was so delicious and we had enough for leftovers, two more servings for the next day. I used some fresh raspberries that I had frozen. They tasted so good.

FOUR-FRUIT SMOOTHIE

1     cup orange juice

1     package (10 ounces) frozen sweetened raspberries, partially thawed

1     cup frozen unsweetened strawberries

1     medium ripe banana, cut into chunks

6     ice cubes

1-2 tablespoons sugar ( I used 1 tablespoon stevia)

Add the ingredients in a blender in the order listed. Process on "crush" until smooth.

Pour into chilled glasses.  

Store any leftovers in glass container. Then when you are ready to serve any leftovers, you can pulse the ingredients for a bit and it's ready to enjoy.

This ended up being Wayne's special Saturday breakfast.  

HOT SPICED TEA MIX (SUGAR FREE)

 Have you ever enjoyed a cup of hot Russian Tea? That's what it was/is called. I admit it was a favorite hot drink of mine in the winter maybe because I don't drink coffee, never have. My mother bought Tang so it was easy to mix up a "batch".

I did a little research on Tang and discovered it was first produced in 1959 and didn't "take off" until the astronaut John Glenn drank it in space in 1962. I don't buy it anymore because of the amount of sugar in it. That means it has been a long time since I enjoyed a cup.

Imagine my excitement then, when I found this recipe for a hot spiced tea mix without all the sugar. The recipe was in the small plastic box of recipes I have been trying to go through. Fortunately I had all of the ingredients and was able to enjoy of hot cup right away. You could try different flavors and have a change of taste if you liked. The recipe was an advertisement for Crystal Light products. I used a sugar-free equivalent product I buy at Aldi.

The recipe suggested 1/2 teaspoon with 3/4 to 1 cup of boiling water. I personally like it not quite so strong so I use 1/4 teaspoon with 6 - oz of boiling water.

HOT SPICED TEA MIX

1     "tube" Ice Tea mix or Peach or Raspberry flavored ice tea mix - (mine was 0.28 oz)

1     "tube" Lemonade flavored soft drink mix - (mine was 0.58 oz)

1      teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Empty drink mixes and spices in a small container that has a lid.

Cover and shake to mix well.

You can also then store the mixture in this container if you like or some other tightly covered jar.

For a single serving: Measure 1/2 teaspoon of the mix into a cup. Add 3/4 (6-oz) to 1 (8-oz) cup boiling water. (I like using 1/4 teaspoon of mix with 6-oz of water.) Stir to dissolve. 

HOT DOUBLE CHOCOLATE PEPPERMINT COCOA

 I have been concerned lately since we are limiting activities again due to the COVID-19 pandemic, of my depression coming back. I have quit going to the Y and walking on the Lazy River, we already quit dining out (we do pick-up but not as often as we were), and my canasta friends have quit gathering in the park as the temperatures have cooled. We were having Worship on the Lawn at church for about a month, but that has also stopped because of the new restrictions on gathering outside. I can feel the walls closing in on me. I am going to continue to go to the thrift shop and clean on Monday mornings when the shop is closed except just for the volunteers. That will give me a reason to bake something and while I am usually by myself while cleaning, I do get to see some of the other volunteers at a distance.

You might be feeling the same way. I don't know. BUT do I have a pick-me-up to share with you today.

I was looking through my Blue Binder of Clipped Recipes from years ago and I found this small recipe I had cut from a Woman's Day magazine for Peppermint Hot Chocolate. It was just three sentences but three sentences that excited me. There is no telling how many times I have flipped through this binder and that little recipe finally caught my eye.

Like usual, my imagination has gone wild, and I have come up with so many other options. As I have always said, I am only limited by my imagination. I substituted Andes Creme de Menthe baking chips for the semi-sweet chocolate chips the recipe called for. BUT why not use peanut butter chips, or butterscotch chips, or caramel chips, etc. You see where I am going, don't you? You might want to stock up on candy canes/peppermint stick candy during this holiday season though. Wayne has started adding some hot cocoa mix in his cup of coffee. I bet he will be trying this in his coffee too. Will see.

I can enjoy this pick-me-up at least once a day without feeling too guilty because I use Sugar-Free Instant Hot Cocoa mix. I need to stock up on that. Just writing this post, my spirits have been lifted!😊

HOT DOUBLE CHOCOLATE PEPPERMINT COCOA

1     tablespoon chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips, etc

Instant hot-chocolate mix

Hot water

Peppermint stick

Place 1 tablespoon of chips in cup.

Add instant hot-chocolate mix and

hot water.

Stir with a Peppermint stick.

I left my peppermint stick in the cup while I sipped the hot cocoa. This is what the candy cane looked like  by the time I had finished it. 😁

Enjoy and hope your spirits are lifted!

UPDATE: Since I originally wrote this post, I have had a chance to try it with peanut butter chips. OMG! So-o-o-o Go-o-o-o-d!!!

SAUSAGE PANCAKES w/ APPLE SAUCE

I saw this recipe for Sausage Pancakes in the morning (before I had breakfast) and thought they sounded so good. The problem though was I didn't have any bulk sausage. Not to let that get in my way of making them (and enjoying them), I told my husband we were having "breakfast for supper" that night. (We do that often.)

So later in the day, I went to the grocery store and bought some bulk sausage. They only had mild so that is what I bought. I do think hot sausage would have given them more taste, but they were good anyway. Especially since we were able to enjoy them several days. We just placed one in the toaster and that heated it up. Since I ran out of the Apple Sauce, I just spread some of my homemade peach jam on it, and that was perfect.

SAUSAGE PANCAKES

1/2       lb. pork sausage meat
1-1/2    cups flour
2          teaspoons baking powder
1/2       teaspoon salt
1          tablespoon sugar
1          egg, beaten
1-1/4    cups milk
3          tablespoons sausage drippings (or oil)

Brown sausage well and

drain on a paper towel. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.

Add sausage meat and

mix lightly.

Beat egg in another bowl.

Add milk and drippings/oil. (I didn't have any drippings after cooking the sausage so I just added oil.)

Pour egg/milk mixture into the flour/sausage mixture and

stir only until the flour is moistened.

Bake on a hot griddle or skillet. (I used an ice cream scoop to dip out the batter.)

I cooked them 3 minutes on the first side (bubbles appear on pancake),

flipped them and cooked another 2 minutes.

I made 10 pancakes.

Serve with Apple Syrup.

Apple Syrup

1       cup diced apples
1/4    cup maple-flavored syrup
1/2    cup water
1/4    teaspoon cinnamon
1       tablespoon lemon juice

Combine ingredients in a small saucepan and

heat to boiling.

Reduce heat and simmer until apples are transparent, about 10 minutes, stirring.

Makes 1 cup syrup.









Virginia A. Godwin, Rochester, Mich - The Readers of Women's Circle