With the MO grandchildren's ball games almost every night, I needed something easy to make after we got home around 9:30 Monday night to take to H(illcrest) P(latte) C(ounty) Thrift Shop on Tuesday.
Madison had a make-up softball game because of rain in Savanna, MO, about 45 minutes away at 6:00 and Tyler had a baseball game at "home" at 7:30. I drove her and Son Patrick to the game and my husband Wayne and DIL Lori went to Tyler's game.
We got back to Platte City just as Tyler was coming up to bat so we got to see him strike out. (They still had about 45 minutes to play.) The next time he came up to bat, he swung early, as usual, at the first pitch. The second pitch though he made contact with the ball and hit it foul down the third base line. He was so excited! He dropped the bat and threw his arms up in the air and cheered. He didn't care if it were foul; he had finally "hit" the ball! Everyone was so excited for him also. He struck out, but he didn't care. He had hit the ball. It was just priceless. I don't know how many times he told me that he hit the ball that night.
I had found this recipe for Mint-Chocolate Squares last week in my 1001 Community Recipes, Easy Everyday Favorites cookbook and thought I would make them, but it turned out I didn't have all of the ingredients. This time I didn't forget the recipe after I bought the missing ingredients.(That's what usually happens to me.)
Click here for a printable version of just the recipe.
MINT-CHOCOLATE SQUARES
2 cups crushed chocolate sandwich cookies or enough to cover the bottom of the pan (I used a few extras)
1-1/4 cups chopped walnuts
1 cup flaked coconut
1-1/2 cups mint-flavored chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 (14 - ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13 - inch baking pan.
Spread chocolate cookie crumbs evenly in the bottom of the pan.
(I crushed a few cookies at a time in a ziplock bag. I had to scrape some of the crumbs out of the bag with a spoon as the center frosting wants to stick to the bag.
When I spread the 2 cups in the bottom, I had some "holes" so I crushed a few extra cookies.)
Spread evenly with first the walnuts,
then the coconut, and lastly
the chips. (I used Andes chips.)
Combine the vanilla and sweetened condensed milk in a bowl.
(I just added it to the milk in the can.)
Drizzle evenly over layers.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
Cool in pan and then
cut into squares.
My husband eats frozen fruit every day mixed into his yogurt. He is always telling me I should make a pie or something with the frozen fruit. Well, one day I was flipping through my Hochstedler Family Coookbook, a collection of edible treasures from the family of Emanuel and Mattie Hochstedler. Emanuel was a Bishop of the Rich Valley Mennonite Church in Indiana. I have found so many fabulous recipes in this collection cookbook of the Hochstedler family.
This dessert is delightful at any time, but especially after eating a "heavy" meal. I treated our 8 - year - old granddaughter Madison to a piece and she loved it. The recipe called for 2 cups of fresh strawberries, raspberries, or blueberries but I decided to use 2 cups of Wayne's frozen berry mixture of blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. I also used only 1 cup of stevia for the 1-1/3 cup sugar. If it weren't for the sugar in the vanilla wafers, it would be a sugar-free or no-sugar-added dessert. We loved it, too.
Click here for a printable version of just the recipe.
FROZEN BERRY FLUFF
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 box vanilla wafers, crushed
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 egg whites
1 cup stevia (or sugar)
2 cups fresh or frozen berries (I used a frozen mixture of blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. Can use fresh strawberries, raspberries, or blueberries.)
1 8 - oz carton of whipped topping. (I used a sugar-free topping.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom of a 9 x 13 - inch pan. Set aside.
Mix butter and crumbs. You can do this very easily using your electric mixer.
Press most of the crumbs in the bottom of the pan. (Save a few crumbs for the top of the fluff.)
Bake in oven for 8 minutes. Cool on wire rack.
Meanwhile beat lemon juice and egg whites slightly in a large bowl.
gradually beat in stevia (sugar) and berries.
Beat at high speed for 12 - 15 minutes util mixture is fluffy and has a large volume. (I stopped at 12 minutes.)
Fold in the whipped topping.
Spread on crumb mixture and
top with remaining crumbs.
Cover and freeze overnight.
Cut in squares when ready to serve.
Bananas were recently 18 cents/lb at Aldi so I bought a bunch. I picked out yellow ones and green ones. They didn't have as many green ones as I would have liked, but I bought what I could. I guess you have figured out where I am going with this story. Right? I had five bananas not real ripe but riper than I will eat them. My husband likes them that way, but I didn't give him the option to enjoy them.
Instead I found this recipe in my Tasteful Treasures from the Horse and Buggy Country of Copewango Valley, New York for Pineapple Banana Bread. It calls for 2 cups mashed bananas which is just what I had. Most recipes call for only 1 cup of mashed bananas but since this makes 2 loaves ... It also calls for 2 cups of sugar which sounds like a lot, but if you consider that it makes 2 loaves that actually isn't much. Still, I decided to reduce the sugar calories and used only 1 cup of stevia/sugar baking blend since I planned to keep the second loaf. I'm sure the volunteers at H(illcrest) P(latte) C(ounty) Thrift Shop would have enjoyed the extra loaf, but we haven't had much sweet stuff in the house to eat lately so I wanted to keep one loaf. (As it turned out, the loaf was all gone (eaten) easily within two hours of my getting there.)
It is super moist and I love the pineapple and banana together.
Click here for a printable version of just the recipe.
PINEAPPLE BANANA BREAD
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar (or 1 cup stevia/sugar baking blend)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 eggs
1-1/4 cups oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 (20 oz.) can crushed pineapple, undrained
2 cups mashed bananas (about 5 bananas)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray two 9 x 5 - inch loaf pans.
Combine the flour, sugar, salt, soda, and cinnamon in a large bowl with a whisk.
Oops! Almost forgot the cinnamon.
Add the eggs, oil, vanilla, crushed pineapple, and bananas to the dry ingredients and
stir with a wooden spoon until well mixed.
Oops! Almost forgot the bananas this time.
Pour batter into loaf pans.
Bake for 65 minutes.
Cool 10 minutes in pans on wire rack. Remove and finish cooling on wire rack.
Wrap in foil to store in refrigerator.
All cut ready to take to the thrift shop. (Interesting picture. Not sure why it looks this shape. 😊)
When I saw this recipe for Mozzarella Cutlets in my 1001 Community Recipes, Easy Everyday Favorites cookbook I had ever intention of following the recipe and using chicken breast halves and flattening them. Every time I intended to make them, something came up and I postponed it.
Then one day, I got to thinking (I know, that could be dangerous!) about making the recipe truly easy. (The cookbook is called Easy Everyday Favorites.) A couple of weeks ago I bought a package of frozen breaded chicken tenderloins. I really thought they were going to be chicken strips, but when I opened the package to cut two for us one night, we saw they were larger fillets. I baked them as directed on the package and we ate them as a fried chicken sandwich. I decided I would make it easy and just use two of the tenderloins and save beating and coating two chicken breast halves as the recipe directed.
Well, it worked out great. The chicken was so moist and tender and the breading wasn't crispy. I'm sure the recipe would taste just as great if you used chicken breast halves, but if you want to take the easy way out, use frozen breaded chicken fillets. The good thing is you can easily prepare it for just one or two people instead of four as the recipes states.
If you want to print the recipe, scroll down to the bottom of the post and use the print icon on the left. You will have to option to omit the pictures if you like.
MOZZARELLA CUTLETS
Boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, fresh or frozen breaded chicken fillets
1 cup Italian seasoned dry breadcrumbs, if using fresh chicken
1/4 cup prepared spaghetti sauce for each breast half
1 slice mozzarella cheese for each breast half
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking dish big enough for the chicken halves.
If using fresh chicken, pound each chicken breast to flatten slightly. Coat chicken well in breadcrumbs. Arrange chicken breasts in dish.
Place 1/4 cup of sauce over each chicken breast.
Place one slice of cheese over each and garnish with remaining breadcrumbs.
(I just sprinkled some Italian breadcrumbs over the top of the cheese.)
Bake for 45 minutes.
This is the dessert that Friend Barb served to the Farkle group last week. She also served the Cowboy Salsa which was a big hit. This Lemon Cake Dessert was so light tasting. The only added sugar was in the cake mix as everything else in the cake, was sugar-free. If you want to print the recipe, use the print icon at the end of the post. You will be given the option to print without the pictures.
LEMON CAKE DESSERT
Cake
1 Duncan Hines Lemon Cake Mix
4 eggs
3/4 cup oil
1 11 oz can of mandarin oranges (undrained)
Topping
1 pkg sugar-free instant vanilla pudding
1 20 - oz can crushed pineapple (undrained)
1 8 - oz container of lite whipped topping
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 - inch baking pan. Set aside.
Combine cake mix, eggs, oil, and oranges in large mixing bowl on low until moistened. Then increase speed to medium and beat 2 minutes. Pour and spread in cake pan.
Bake for 30 minutes or until done.
Cool in pan on wire rack.
Mix the pudding mix with the crushed pineapple; stir til thoroughly mixed. Fold in whipped topping. Spread over cooled cake.
Cover and refrigerate.
Cut into squares to serve.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13 - inch baking pan.
Spread chocolate cookie crumbs evenly in the bottom of the pan. 
(I crushed a few cookies at a time in a ziplock bag. I had to scrape some of the crumbs out of the bag with a spoon as the center frosting wants to stick to the bag.
When I spread the 2 cups in the bottom, I had some "holes" so I crushed a few extra cookies.) 
Spread evenly with first the walnuts, 
then the coconut, and lastly
the chips. (I used Andes chips.)
Combine the vanilla and sweetened condensed milk in a bowl. 
(I just added it to the milk in the can.)
Drizzle evenly over layers.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
Cool in pan and then
cut into squares.
