Happy 4th of July

Yes, I am late posting again but, I still wanted wish everyone a Happy 4th of July!!!

It was a bitter sweet 4th of July for our family. We had a wonderful time celebrating with family and friends, but our son in law left for boot camp. We know it was a hard decision for him, to have to leave his wife (Krystle) and his daughter for the next few months, but we are very proud of him. Good Luck in boot camp Tyler, we know you will do great!!!

Beach Banana Cupcakes

Aren't these adorable??

My father recently invited us to celebrated his birthday with him by watching the sunset at St. Pete Beach. So I decided to make some cupcakes. My fathers favorite cake is carrot cake, so I made him some carrot cupcakes and they were delish. (more about those on the next post).
But for the kids I decided to try something a little different. I had plenty of bananas on hand so I decided to try Banana Cupcakes. They turned out very yummy, my kids can attest to that. The cupcakes were not as dense as most banana breads are but, they were still nice and moist with a soft banana flavor.
As you can tell from the pictures I HAD to make them cute (for the kids of course, ha ha).
The beach balls were large gumballs, I added the stripes.
The people are Teddy Grahams
and the towels are "Rips" I picked these up at Walmart in the candy isle for under $2 but I am sure you could use fruit roll ups.

All the coloring on the Teddy Grahams and on the Gumballs were done with food decorating pens. I use Americolor Gourmet Writers. I find they work alot better than the Wilton Decorating pens.


Banana Cupcakes from allrecipes.com
3/4 cup butter
2 1/8 cups white sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (I used sour cream instead)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan. In a small bowl, mix mashed bananas with lemon juice, set aside. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and 2 1/8 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in 2 teaspoons vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Stir in banana mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour,(cupcakes-approx. 30 minutes) or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place directly into freezer for 45 minutes. This will make the cake very moist.

Orange Chicken

The kids and I decided to try something different for dinner. They wanted anything Chinese, so I found a recipe for orange chicken on allrecipes.com. Robbie, my oldest son was a great help. He told me to tell you all that I better give him credit and that he did most of it!

Despite how the picture might look. it was great, everyone loved it. We served it with sticky rice and of course we had to use chop sticks!

Sticky Rice
rice
water
coconut milk

Make your rice as directed on the bag of rice, except substitute part of the water for the coconut milk. For example, if you have 1 cup of coconut milk and your recipe calls for 2 cups of water; then you will add 1 cup of coconut milk and 1 cup of water, cook as usual. I hope that makes sense. If not, let me know.

Orange Chicken
Sauce:
1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons chopped green onion
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water

Chicken:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
Directions
1.Pour 1 1/2 cups water, orange juice, lemon juice, rice vinegar, and soy sauce into a saucepan and set over medium-high heat. Stir in the orange zest, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, chopped onion, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat, and cool 10 to 15 minutes.
2.Place the chicken pieces into a resealable plastic bag. When contents of saucepan have cooled, pour 1 cup of sauce into bag. Reserve the remaining sauce. Seal the bag, and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
3.In another resealable plastic bag, mix the flour, salt, and pepper. Add the marinated chicken pieces, seal the bag, and shake to coat.
4.Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Place chicken into the skillet, and brown on both sides. Drain on a plate lined with paper towels, and cover with aluminum foil.
5.Wipe out the skillet, and add the sauce. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Mix together the cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water; stir into the sauce. Reduce heat to medium low, add the chicken pieces, and simmer, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Today one of my kids woke up sick. He didn't have much of an appetite, but he needed to eat so I asked him what he would like and he asked for Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes. I really didn't feel like making them but how could I say no? In our house it is not unusual to have banana pancakes but, we have never had them with chocolate chips in them. I must say they turned out DELICIOUS! You don't even need syrup on them, but hey, why not. It just adds to the yummy goodness!
I managed to get a few pictures taken. However, I didn't get any pictures of the pancakes after they were cooked. The kids were gobbling them up as fast as I could make them.

I am big fan of making things "Semi Homemade", so for these pancakes I used a mix. However if you are a "From Scratch" only person I do know a great pancake recipe that I will share with you.
To make these pancakes make your batter as usual. Mash up 1-2 bananas and add it to your batter. Pour batter onto an oiled pan and sprinkle a few chocolate chips on top. Flip and you are done. See...super easy and super yummy!!!!!


Fluffy Pancakes (from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients
3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Cooking spray
Directions
1. Combine milk with vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to "sour".
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk egg and butter into "soured" milk. Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk until lumps are gone.
3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.

Happy Belated Father's Day!

I am sorry I didn't post this on time, but I still would like to say Happy Father's Day! I have an amazing dad, father in law, and a husband who is a wonderful father! I love you guys!!!

Getting Ready for Hurricane season

Hurricane season is already well underway, but are you and your family ready if one strikes?

Have you ever tried to go shopping for nonperishable food and water right before a storm hits?? Shelves are empty, traffic is a mess, and people are cranky. Save yourself some stress and get prepared before the storm!

There are many ways to be prepared. You can have a 72 hour kit, evacuation plan, legal documents in a safe place, a pet plan, document household belongings, house prepared (shutters, etc) and more. If you have children remember to prepare for them, some toys and games. If someone has a medical condition make sure you have enough medication for them. Please check the links for more information.
http://www.ready.gov/america/beinformed/hurricanes.html
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/english/disaster_prevention.shtml

Don’t be one of those people waiting on the Red Cross or FEMA to bring you food and water just so you and your family can survive. BE PREPARED!

If disaster doesn’t strike you, please try and help those that it did affect!

I would love for you to share your tips on being prepared.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

I was a little under the weather this weekend so my Hubby decided to step in and grill dinner. He decided to make one of his specialties; his take on Outbacks Aussie Chicken.
All you need is
Chicken
Marinade- he used Chipoltle and Lime
Bacon
cheese- He used Munster and a little shredded cheddar

First thing he did was line a pan with foil (easier clean up) put bacon on it and put it in the oven @375 degrees for approx. 25 minutes.

Next he basted the chicken and the grilled it. After the chicken and bacon were cooked he put some baocn on the chiken and then topped it off with cheese.
Last he closed the grill for a few minutes until the cheese had melted to perfection!
YUM!!!

Bacon and cheese on anything is good right?! Our family loves it!
We choose the Chipoltle marinade and Munster cheese, because that's what we had on hand. You can use what ever you want! However,Munster is a great melting cheese.

By the way, on June 10th, my Hubby and I celebrated 18 years of marrige.

I love you! You are an amazing hubby!