Fruit Roll Ups

The boys love fruit roll ups.  I have never been a fan.  I think they are a waste of money for a bunch of sugar.  But, I thought if I could make my own we could find a compromise.  I found this recipe on Pinterest and then added some honey to sweeten it a bit.  The boys LOVE these.  Plus, I can send them to school as a snack or put them in their lunch boxes.  I just store them in a plastic container.  

Fruit Roll Ups
From My Edible Advice

2 cups organic strawberries
¼ tsp cinnamon

(1-2 TBS honey...or to taste)

Blend the fruit until smooth, then spread onto a Teflex sheet or a parchment-lined baking sheet.

If using a dehydrator, dehydrate at 105 degrees F for 8-10 hours or until the fruit is pliable and easy to peel from the sheet.

If using an oven, leave it on at the lowest temperature until the fruit is dry (times will vary depending on the oven).

Cut into strips and store in a glass container in the refrigerator.

Creamy 5-Cup Fruit Salad

I am always looking for new fruit salad recipes. The boys didn't like this one as much (the didn't like the sour cream) but both Mike and I liked it alot. We tried it with and without the coconut and liked it both ways but we both agree that you don't really need the coconut. I don't feel it adds a whole lot to it. It's a super easy, fast recipe. I found it off of one of my favorite cooking blogs. We have tried a number of recipes from this blog and have liked every one so far. I just cut and paste this directly from her blog.

Creamy 5-Cup Fruit Salad
from melskitchencafe.com

*Serves 4-6 as a side dish

1 (10-ounce) can pineapple chunks (about 1 cup), drained
1 (11-ounce) can mandarin oranges (about 1 cup), drained
1 medium apple, cored and chopped (about 1 cup)
1 cup grapes, halved
1/2 cup sour cream, light or regular
1/2 cup sweetened, shredded coconut

Combine the fruit in a large bowl, tossing well so the apple (and other fruit that likes to brown) can get coated in the pineapple and orange juice to prevent browning. Stir in the sour cream and coconut, gently tossing to coat. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours prior to serving to allow the flavors to meld together. Serve chilled. You might notice that after a day or so of sitting in the fridge, quite a bit of liquid from the fruit pools at the bottom. If eating the leftovers, I like to gently pour some of this off before eating.

Recipe Source: adapted from my sweet and wonderful mother-in-law, Diane G.

Banana-Stuffed French Toast

I really like French Toast. We have a stuffed french toast recipe that I really like (I'll post later). I make breakfast almost every morning so I am always looking for ways to mix things up a bit. I found the Better Homes and Gardens Diabetic Living Cookbook at the library and tried this for breakfast. We liked it a lot. I'm not a huge fan of bananas and will probably try a different fruit next time but we still liked it!

Banana-Stuffed French Toast

Nonstick cooking spray
2 eggs
1/2 cup fat-free milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
4 1-inch thick slices French bread
2/3 cup thinly sliced banana
Sifted powdered sugar, light pancake and waffle syrup product, or maple syrup

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil; lightly coat foil with cooking spray. In a shallow bowl combine eggs, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon. Beat with a wire whisk or rotary beater until well mixed. Set aside.
2. Using a knife, cut a pocket in each bread slice, cutting horizontally from the top crust almost to, but not through, the bottom crust. Fill bread pockets with thinly sliced banana.
3. Dip bread slices into egg mixture, coating both sides of each slice. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown, turning once. If desired, sprinkle with powdered sugar or syrup. Makes four servings.

Fast Fruity Delight

Fast Fruity Delight

from the Food and Family magazine

3/4 cup boiling water

1 pkg. (3 oz.) Raspberry Flavor Gelatin (I used strawberry)

2 cups frozen raspberries (I used mixed berries)

1 cup thawed Cool Whip whipped topping

Add boiling water to gelatin mix in large bowl; stir 2 min. until completely dissolved. Add berries; stir until gelatin starts to thicken. Stir 1/2 cup gelatin mixture into cool whip with whisk until well blended; spoon into 4 dessert dishes. Cover with remaining gelatin mixture. Refridgerate 15. min or until set.

We made this recipe last night and it took me maybe five minutes to make. It was so easy and the boys loved it (as did Mike)!

Fancy Dipped Strawberries

I was looking for a fun treat I could make with the boys. They really enjoyed making these. They don't look very pretty (at least not as pretty as the picture in the cookbook) but they tasted great and the boys loved it. Try it, it's super easy!

Toppings:
Miniature semisweet chocolate chips
Chopped nuts
Colored sugars and candy sprinkles
Grated chocolate
Shredded coconut

Dipped Berries:
1 quart fresh whole strawberries wit stems
1 cup vanilla ready-to-spread frosting

1. Tear off 1 piece of waxed paper. Put it on a large cookie sheet. Put some of each topping in separate bowls.
2. Rinse the strawberries and pat dry.
3. Measure out the frosting. Microwave frosting on high 15 to 20 seconds, until it is melted. Stir the frosting once with the spoon.
4. Dip the bottom of each strawberry halfway into the melted frosting. Right away, dip the strawberry into 1 of the toppings you selected. Put the strawberries on the waxed paper-lined cookie sheets and place in fridge until frosting is hard, about five minutes.

Note: We also used dipping chocolate and that was great too. We didn't use all the toppings listed but replaced them with some of our own picking. You could really use anything you wanted.

Spiced Apple Banana Cream Cake

This cake was made up by me. I went to make a spice cake the other day because it sounded good, on the package it said for a twist add in apple pie filling. I thought why not add pudding in as well (because that usually helps cake rise).

The cake was so incredible that Jason said it was the best cake he had ever had in his life. So either he was super hungry or it was really that awesome. Everyone in the house loved it, or said they did. Even those that claim to not like apple pie filling.

Spiced Apple Banana Cream Cake

Ingredients:

Spice Cake mix (any brand, however I prefer Betty Crocker)
ingredients to make spice cake (water, oil, eggs)
1 can apple pie filling
1 small package instant banana cream pudding/pie filling

Directions:

Make Spice cake according to package directions, add in pudding, mix well. Then add in apple pie filling, mix well again.

Bake about 5-10 minutes longer than package says to.

Frost with cream cheese frosting.

YUM!

Best Ever Banana Bread

We haven't had a lot of luck with fresh fruit lately so we've had lots of yucky bananas. I tried a recipe last week with some good reviews and it was ok. This week we tried another one and it was awesome! The title was the Best Ever Banana Bread and I totally agree. I got it off of Allrecipes.com. I read the reviews and made some changes as suggested and we love it.

2 eggs, beaten
1/3 c. buttermilk
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 c. mashed bananas (I used 4 bananas)
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. chopped pecans (I left this out)
1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray one 9x5 inch loaf pan (I used two small ones) with non-stick cooking spray. Blend together the eggs, buttermilk, oil, vanilla, and bananas. Stir the sugars, flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to banana mixture and stir in pecans. Mix well. Make a mixture of sugar, brown sugar, nutmeg, an cinnamon. Sprinkle a little on the bottom of the pan. Pour bread mixture into loaf pan. Sprinkle the remaining sugar mixture and some chopped walnuts on top. Bake 1 hour 20 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. After it cooled enough to touch and not burn us (but still a little hot) we took them out and put them in a zip lock bag, stuck it in the fridge, and waited until it was cool. It was so moist!

Blueberry Sour Cream Pancakes

We found this recipe from The Sisters' Cafe. We have tried it twice. The only change we made this time was to put half white, half wheat flour. So good!

Blueberry Sour Cream Pancakes

2 c. all purpose flour
1/4 c. sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. milk
1 c. (8-oz) sour cream (can use light)
1/3 c. butter, melted
1 c. fresh or frozen blueberries

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. In another bowl, beat the eggs. Add milk, sour cream, and butter; mix well. Stir into dry ingredients just until blended. Fold in the blueberries. Pour batter by 1/4 cupfulls onto a greased hot griddle; flip when golden on bottom. Cook until the scond side is golden brown.

Peaches and Cream

This may or may not be a recipe in some eyes, but I feel it's a wonderful snack and must be tried if you haven't yet in your life. I think it's awesome.

Peaches and Cream


Take the best smelling and tasting peach you can get your hands on. (usually these are found on roadside stands or at Farmer's market or if you have to resort to the grocery store produce, leave the peach in a paper bag for 3 days until nice and ripe.

Cut it into slices or small pieces.

Put it in a bowl with 1/2 to 3/4 cup of skim milk.

Add 1 Tablespoon Sugar or Splenda

EAT!

Chicken Enchiladas and Berry Yumminess

Enchiladas

Tortillas
Two small cans of green enchilada sauce
Two chicken breasts
1 small can of green chilies
2 Tbs. sour cream
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1/4 a can of nacho sauce (more or less depending on your tastes)
Mozzarella cheese

Cook chicken. Shred. Add everything together except the enchilada sauce, tortillas, and mozzarella cheese. Fill the tortillas, roll. Put a little enchilada sauce on bottom of 9 x 13 inch pan. Place filled tortillas in pan and pour remaining sauce on top. Sprinkle with cheese. Cook on 350 degrees until bubbling.

Berry Yumminess

Two cups frozen mixed berries
One four once container of Fiber One Strawberry yogurt
Two spoon fulls of Cool Whip

Slightly thaw berries and mix everything together. As with most of my recipes you can add more or less of anything.