Banana Rum Bundt Cake

Today I used two more bananas in this Banana Rum Bundt Cake. I haven't tried it yet, but the rum buttercream frosting was amaaaaaaazing!!!!!! The recipe is from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Banana-Rum-Cake/Detail.aspx

Banana Rum Cake

* 1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
* 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 2/3 cup dark rum
* 2/3 cup water
* 2 eggs
* 1 cup mashed bananas
* 1/3 cup chopped pecans
*
* 1/3 cup butter, softened
* 3 cups confectioners' sugar
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 2 tablespoons dark rum

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour bundt pan
2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, baking soda, rum, water, eggs, bananas and nuts. Bring together, then beat on medium speed 2 to 4 minutes.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Cool completely.
4. For the frosting: Combine 1/3 cup butter or margarine with the confectioners sugar. Blend thoroughly. Stir in vanilla and 2 tablespoons rum. Beat until smooth.

*I omitted the pecans. Here are the pictures:

Banana Bisquick Cake

My mom kept yelling at me to eat bananas because she keeps buying them, and then they sit in the kitchen until they go bad. So, instead, I made Banana Bread/Cake today and tomorrow I am going to make Banana-Rum Bundt Cake. I got this easy recipe from Cooks.com

BISQUICK BANANA BREAD OR MUFFINS

1/3 c. oil
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. mashed banana
2 1/2 c. Bisquick


Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom of loaf pan. Beat all ingredients vigorously with spoon for 30 seconds. Bake 55 to 65 minutes for loaf pan; 15 minutes for mini muffins; 20 minutes for regular muffins. Cool 5 minutes.

*I used walnut halves, because I was too lazy to chop them. Also, after I took it out of the oven, I put an aluminum foil tent on top because I heard that keeps it moist.

I haven't tried it yet, my mom is going to take it to work tomorrow so I will let you know the results, but here are the pictures:

Peach Cookies

I just wanted to put this in here because these are absolutely my favorite cookies in the world. I will find out this recipe if it kills me. Anyway, I think most people have had these at weddings, they are peach flavored and shaped cookies. There are actually two cookies per peach, and the inside has a hollow space that is filled with a white cream and a maraschino cherry!! I buy them from a local lady who has her own coffee shop and baked goods store in New Stanton, PA. Bev's Baked Goods/Bev's Coffee is the name.

Stuffed Tomatoes

Lately, everyone and their brother has been giving my mom tomatoes. She eats them plain, which I think is gross, so today I made a couple for her with a topping from a recipe I found online. Also, it was a good way to use up the extra Parmesan cheese I had left over from the Zucinni Pie.

Broiled Parmesan Tomatoes
http://southernfood.about.com/od/tomatoes/r/bl21210g.htm

INGREDIENTS:

* 4 large tomatoes
* 1 cup fresh bread crumbs
* 1/4 cup melted butter
* 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
* 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

PREPARATION:
Wash tomatoes; remove stems. Slice in halves crosswise. Place tomato halves in a large broiler pan. Blend bread crumbs, butter, cheese and seasoning; spoon over tomatoes. Broil 10 inches from heat for 4 to 5 minutes or until tomatoes are hot and topping is browned.
Serve immediately.
Serves 4.

*Don't use Italian Seasoning if you use Seasoned Bread Crumbs!!!!! Also, I salted and peppered the cut tomatoes before adding the topping. They came out good but I am not a huge Parmesan cheese fan, so I think Mozzarella would have been better.

**My mom said they were good but she still likes them plain. ew.

Pepperoni Rolls

I love those recipe books in the check-out isles at the grocery stores, but they are way to expensive for recipes you can just find on the internet for free. However, when I lived in Squirrel Hill a while ago I purchased on of the Pillsbury ones, for this Pepperoni Roll recipe. I make them pretty frequently, and I was hungry so I made some yesterday although I didn't realize until too late that I had the wrong rolls on hand, I had Honey Butter (my FAVE) when I needed Buttermilk. Oh well. Yummy anyway.

Ok I can't find the recipe or my book, so here is what you do:

Easy Pepperoni Rolls

1 Package Grands Style Buttermilk Biscuits
16 Pepperoni Slices
1 Brick of Kraft Colby Jack Cheese

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Slice the brick of cheese into 8 small squares. Flatten biscuits or use your fingers to stretch them out, insert 2 pieces of pepperoni and one piece of cheese. Wrap dough around to seal. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 16ish minutes. Watch carefully to avoid burnt bottoms!!

Usually the cheese leaks out and makes yummy cheese crisps on the cookie sheet. That is my favorite part. You can also use less pepperoni per roll.

Oatmeal Rum Cookies

I was watching Sandra Lee the other day and she made Oatmeal Rum Cookies from a store-bought mix, using only an egg, oil, and three tablespoons of rum. That sounded easy and fun to me, so I bought the mix (i even had a coupon!!) and then I went to the liquor store to buy some rum. They didn't have any dark rum in the little bottles so the guy picked this bottle for like $5. It doesn't say whether it is dark or not, and it looks light colored, but it worked fine. On the show, she made them huge and baked them for 9 minutes; I made mine smaller (it made around 20) but baked them for the same time, although my oven is tricky so I really couldn't tell you the exact temperature it was at, and they came out perfectly (soft).

Sandra's Recipe:

Oatmeal-Rum Cookies

1 (17.5-ounce) package oatmeal cookie mix (recommended: Betty Crocker)
1/3 cup canola oil
1 large egg
3 tablespoons dark rum (recommended: Meyer's)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, combine oatmeal cookie mix, canola oil, egg, and rum. Stir until dough forms.

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheet (only make as many as you need - keep dough in sealed container in refrigerator and enjoy later). Bake in oven for 9 to 11 minutes.

My pictures:

Green Funfetti

Today I made funfetti cupcakes from the regular box mix, but they were supposed to be for my friends birthday, and her favorite color is green, so I mixed in 3-4 drops of green food coloring to the whipped funfetti icing. Here are the results:

Zucchini Pie

I found this recipe in the local paper (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) a week or so ago, but couldn't make it until I had gathered up all the ingredients; namely zucchini. My boyfriend's mom grows it in her garden so i got one large one from her, then i had to buy parmesan cheese, which i've never bought or used in a recipe before. And then I realized i had no Bisquick, so I asked around and a friend gave me a box. Finally, I made it today and my mom shredded the zucchini for me (not the one in the picture, she shredded the other one before i brought my camera out). It came out like an omelet or quiche, really good but super moist. I don't know if you can re-heat it or not though.

Here is the recipe and pics:

Zucchini Pie

1 cup Bisquick
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup oil (we used safflower)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (we used a mixture of parmesan and Romano)
3 cups zucchini, unpeeled and thinly sliced
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon dried dill
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
Freshly ground salt and pepper to taste
Paprika

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix Bisquick, eggs, oil and cheese in a medium bowl. Add zucchini, onion, dill, oregano, salt and pepper, mixing well. Spray or grease a large pie plate or a 9-by-9-inch square pan. Add zucchini mixture and spread out evenly. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. (Ours took 30.) Let rest for 10 minutes before cutting. Serves 6.

Peanutbutter Cookies

Yesterday I made some really easy, quick, peanutbutter cookies from a recipe I found at cooks.com. Here it is, and here are some pics:

EASY CHEWY PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

1 c. peanut butter
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix ingredients and roll walnut size balls. Bake at 325 degrees for 13 minutes.







*It didn't say to roll them in sugar, but I did it anyway, and also I squashed them down with the back of a spoon, even though it didn't say that either, though it didn't matter because they flattened out on their own. This batch made 21 cookies, the first tray is the one pictured, it came out nice and soft, the second tray of 9 cookies I accidentally left in for an extra 2 minutes so they came out much crisper, but not burnt.